GRAMSHREE

At Gramshree we encourage each woman to be a seed of change, so that she may strengthen her family and inspire her community. With her own hands and our skill training in embroidery, patchwork, catering and stitching she earns her economic self-reliance. Through our programs in health, education, personal finance and leadership training she discovers her confidence. And amidst our loving and supportive network of women and staff she finds her family. In this transformational process, each Gramshree woman is able to redesign her destiny. We work with women in Ahmedabad and the rural regions of Patan and Kachchh.

Supporting the survival of artisans and preserving craft traditions is also part of our mission. We work with the artisans to innovate on designs, improve techniques and ensure fair wages. Our marketplace carries products from a variety of partner organizations that promote craft and social development.

PROGRAMS
Our trainings and income generation opportunities provide women with the path for economic sustainability. In order to nurture their overall wellbeing, we offer programs across four dimensions: health, education, personal finance and leadership training.

HEALTH
We issue each woman a security health card that she may use to access proper healthcare services at various clinics partnered with Gramshree. We also teach women about their bodies and healthcare through seminars and interactive workshops run by professionals and guide them on how to make conscious choices to promote health and prevent diseases. Gramshree holds regular medical camps to improve women’s health and provide them with direct medical care.

EDUCATION
Gramshree strengthens the education of our women’s children by helping cover school fees, admission costs and school materials. We organize tutorial classes for children in the 10th standard, the most critical year in the Indian schooling system.

PERSONAL FINANCES
Through our food security program we supply women with a year’s worth of grain, oil and spices that they repay through monthly installments. We also open a savings account for every Gramshree woman and teach them how to maintain their own accounts. We educate women on how to save and spend wisely.  Gramshree encourages the spirit of enterprise in women by putting her on a trajectory for what she can do and giving her financial support through micro-credit loans to accomplish her goals.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING
Through monthly Awareness Seminars, we organize guest speakers on various topics throughout the year to encourage positive thinking, improved living, family bonding and spiritual development. We provide women with unconditional emotional support and a community of friends and family on which they can always depend. Gramshree organizes fun tours, picnic, movies, garba, cooking classes and more to give the women a chance to enjoy life and gain exposure.
Sixteen years ago Gramshree started with just 11 women, today we have joined hands with 1500 women and work together to improve their lives and our community. 

Website: http://www.gramshree.org

E.S.I

About the Institution
The Environmental Sanitation Institute (ESI) is a non-governmental organization that strives to provide a better quality of life to rural people and the urban poor through improved sanitation. ESI was established in 1985 under the guidance of Padmashri Ishwarbhai Patel out of its mother organization Safai Vidyalaya (Sanitation Institute).

Vision
The Environmental Sanitation Institute (ESI) envisions an India free from practice of open defecation and the inhumane task of scavenging human waste by hands; ESI works for a country where all inhabitants have their basic sanitary needs met, thus improving the quality of life for all.

 

Mission
To provide the rural and urban poor with access to basic sanitary facilities.
To improve rural and urban health through education, motivation and community participation.
To uplift downtrodden people, especially sweepers and scavengers.
To establish awareness and respect for the environment based on Gandhian values.

Ideology and Strategy
ESI is founded on ideologies that encompass the spiritual, mental and physical well-being of people and their environment. Based on Gandhian values, ESI focuses on environment and eradication of untouchability. The institute encourages community participation and takes a demand-driven approach to providing sanitary facilities in order to ensure their appropriate use. The technologies designed and promoted by ESI are based on ecological sanitation, thus maintaining the environment while meeting basic human needs. ESI tackles the problems of sanitation with a holistic vision; sanitation awareness will lead to better health, improved education and a stronger economy of the whole country.

Activities

Informing and training government and NGO officials on India’s Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC).

Providing awareness and training to students, teachers, masons, health workers, etc. on sanitation issues.

Functioning as a nodal agency between the government and other NGOs in the construction of individual, household and school sanitation facilities, smokeless ovens and soakage pits.

Developing cost-effective and environmentally sustainable sanitation technologies and appropriate implementation strategies.

Creating cost-effective and environmentally sustainable sanitation technologies and appropriate implementation strategies.

Creating information, education and communication (IEC) material on sanitation.

Collaborators: Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India, Govt. of Gujarat, other Indian State Governments, WHO, UNDP, UNICEF, and Royal Dutch Govt.

NANDINI

In order to make significant progress in India’s current state of health and sanitation and considering 70% of India lives in rural regions, creating awareness among the rural masses is crucial to the overall sanitation progress in India. In an effort to impart health and sanitation education to rural communities, ESI introduced Sanitation and Health on Wheels, better known as Nandini.

A custom-built, professionally-designed bus, Nandini can house more than four staff members and volunteers. With sleeping and bath facilities, the bus provides the flexibility to visit any region at any time. A state of the art multimedia installation enables media rich educational programs. Utilizing ESI‘s extensive experience and commitment to service, by working alongside villagers and building a rapport with the inhabitants, the project aims to motivate rural Gujarat to take control of their village and make it model of cleanliness, good health, and environmental sanitation

Nandini’s objectives are 1) to raise awareness of prominent
sanitation and health issues, 2) provide basic health services, 3)increase the felt need for sanitation facilities, 4) provide an environment for volunteering at the rural grassroots and 5) foster an improvement in the general quality of rural life.

The mobility of Nandini allows the ESI training teams and volunteers (both domestic and international) to conveniently reach rural communities with all the materials and facilities to make these visits most effective. Since some of India’s rural population is illiterate, educational awareness must be conducted through creative verbal modes of communication. Nandini is equipped with media tools that allow communicating sanitation and health concepts through visual presentations, songs, plays, and hands-on experiments demonstrating the consequences of ill hygiene and unsanitary habits. Additionally, ESI’s experience in working with villages has proved that completely immersing into the village culture is the best way to earn the respect of the village residents. Although the issue at hand is education, ESI has learned that the relations formed with individual members of the community form the communication structure for gaining the trust of the community.

SEVA CAFE

In the face of increasing war, poverty, hunger and greed, we introduced a social experiment four years ago by the name of Seva Café.

Seva Café is an experiment in the shared joy that comes from humble giving and selfless service. Our wholesome meals are cooked and served with love by a dedicated team and volunteers and offered to our guests as a genuine gift, paid for in full by previous guests.
As more participate in the joy of giving, the more the experiment thrives. It begins with a single gift: first given, then received... multiplied, and given again, in a growing chain of kindness and care. We hope this Circle of Giving leaves our guests feeling more nourished, and inspired to carry the experiment forward.

All costs and income are made transparent, and profits are used to support social service projects.

Today Seva Café has slowly transformed into a movement that has inspired Karma Kitchen in Berkely, California (USA), Washington D.C. and Chicago. It has been a seed for Seva Café in Long Island, California and Pune, Maharastra.

Seva Café is based on five important principles: the spirit of volunteerism, Vasudeva Kutumbakam (Global Family), Atithi Devo Bhava (Guest is God), Gift economy (selfless and heartfelt offerings), Circle of Giving (supporting the experiment and creating a sustainable movement by contributing-what-you-wish).

Through the circle of giving, we can help shape a future rooted in celebration of abundance rather than fear of scarcity, trust rather than trade, in shared commitment rather than selfishness, in connectivity rather than isolation, in participation rather than exclusion.

Website: http://www.sevacafe.org