Event Calendar

December 2007

• A six-month electrician course started at Aravali Public School in Fiorzpur Jhirkha block.
• Training on importance of hygiene and sanitation was organized with school children of 4& 5th classes all across Mewat organized by the block level health volunteers.
• World AIDS Day was celebrated in three villages with a day long training session by health volunteers and specialists. A rally was taken out in villages to sensitise the villagers on HIV/AIDS.
• Training of our focused villages under Rural Health program on how to use new delivery helpline set up the Haryana Government w.e.f 2nd Oct 2007.
• Village Education Committee (VEC) training held in Goela community center attended by government school teachers and VEC members.
• Graduation ceremony of 100 girls across four batches in Dhamala and Uletha in Mewat and Jyotisar and Bhore in Kurukshetra.
• Rabi crop training with 50 farmers and PIT by Agri development officer and SDO Taoru.
• Rangala FVGA tied up with National Safal Commodity Exchange-Delhi for starting marketing of vegetable through internet. Full swing marketing will start in the first week of March.
• EM (Effective Micro-organism) techniques for preparing compost introduced in Firozpur Jhirka and Nagina Block. EM is a bacterial solution and helping to decompose the organic materials. Two demos of EM in villages have been established in Taoru and Ghaghas.
• Tap campaign, deepening of a pond and water literacy drive conducted in Santhawadi covering 275 households.

November 2007

• Jyoti kala Manch, the dramatics group of 19 young people was invited to stage a performance at Dilli Haat during the Diwali Festival ‘Deepotsav.’
• Vegetable Marketing Training was held with 20 FVGA members, VCs, Facilitators and Kisan Mitras by representatives from Mother Dairy.
• Two eye care camps in collaboration with Dr. Shroff’s Charitable Eye Hospital were held. 156 patients were screened from Firozpur and Nagina blocks and 16 successfully operated.
• Certification of first batch of 14 students at the Computer Literacy center in Ghaghas. Nine students successfully passed the examination.
• Training on RTI conducted with 40 field staff of the foundation by Program Leader, Community Mobilisation.
• Development of recharge well in Pathkhori.
• Door to door campaign on water conservation conducted in Dingerhedi.
• Maintenance of water trap of two soak wells in Goela and earth filling of low lying area around well by community in Agon facilitated by the foundation.
• A library introduced at every Life Skills Education Center, with 50 books.
• 76 girls completing the computer based literacy program, Tara Akshar were given certificates of accomplishment.

October 2007

• Film ‘Chak De’ screened for the Field staff of the Foundation at Community centre Ghaghas aimed at team building.
• Participated in Kisan Mela organized by the Haryana Government in Nagina, Nuh and Beriwas by putting up a stall depicting all our agricultural interventions.
• Training on HIV/AIDS with 55 field staff of the Sehgal Foundation by the Counselor & Coordinator ICTC Mandikhera Hospital, Mewat.
• 27 latrines in Kurukshetra and 19 latrines were built in Mewat in the quarter taking the total number to 1114 in all the 17 villages.
• 40 Self Help Group (SHG) women were trained on production of handicrafts by faculty from Shri Krishna Museum, Kurukshetra.
• Graduation ceremony of girls of Life Skills Education centers in Pathkhori. 25 girls had participated in the six month course giving them cutting and tailoring skills.
• 29 vermi compost beds, 173.5 acre under micro nutrients, 120.5 acre under intercropping, 11.5 acres under horticulture, 22.5 acre under vegetable cultivation covered in the quarter starting from October.
• Two new varieties of saline soil and water resistant varieties of wheat and Mustard introduced and given to farmers for demonstration in village Karheda with the help of CSSRI, Karnal.
• Introduced Napier grass in Goela to be raised on field bunds for evergreen fodder to animals.
• Organized a workshop at Gandhi Peace Foundation, Delhi in collaboration with Rajendra Singh, Tarun Bharat Sangh on the topic, ‘‘Water Crisis in Delhi and Surrounding Areas- What can you do?’’
• 34 soak pits installed in the quarter beginning from October, taking the total number to 502.

September 2007

• Training on importance of Immunization organized in schools of Taoru, Firozpur Jhirkha and Nagina Blocks by the health volunteers.
• Graduation ceremony for 22 girls after the successful completion the six month FLE course in Dingerhedi.
• TaraAkhar certification ceremony organized for 54 girls passing out from the first batch of a month long computer based literacy program to create a sense of accomplishment among the beneficiaries.
• Horticulture Center visit by 12 farmers and four field staff from Kotla and Goela village.
• Work for connecting the households with public water supply done in 50 households of Dingerhedi.
• Drawing competition held in four schools in Santhavadi, Uletha, Bhond and Pathkhori to mark the celebration of Teacher’s Day.
• A rally was organized in Pathkhori and Santhavadi to generate awareness about the importance of education among the villagers with the support of Village Education Committee (VEC).

August 2007

• The Foundation supported Jyotisar project selected as part of 15 projects (out of 36 projects) in which UNDP will extend the aspect of community involvement (software).
• Graduation ceremony for 19 girls in Bhond and 15 girls in Raniyala conducted at the successful completion of six month FLE course.
• A new FLE center opened at Kotla where 20 girls have enrolled for the six month FLE program.
• Capacity building training on Bio-sand filters by the Program Leader, Water Management attended by 30 community members of Uletha, Karheda and also PIT members.
• Training sessions on Pulse Polio, importance of Hygiene and Sanitation imparted to community members by the Program Leader and field team in Taoru, Nagina and Firozpur Blocks.
• Three eye camps were conducted in Nagina, Firozpur Jhirkha block in collaboration with Dr. Shroff Charitable Eye Hospital where 36 patients were successfully treated upon.
• Exposure visit of 14 farmers and four filed staff from Santhavadi village to Nunhems and Reliance Center.
• Two old ponds were developed in Bhond and Dingerhedi with the objective of water conservation.
• Community mobilization for safe water disposal and water conservation conducted in Jyotisar (Kurukshetra) and Santhavadi (Mewat).

July 2007

• Started a Nutrition Project in all the adopted villages in Mewat and Kurukshetra to assess the nutritional status and the use of kitchen gardens to improve the nutritional status of 0-5 years age group.
• A ‘Delivery Hut’ set up to ensure services at the doorsteps of the people in Raniyala which will cover 283 households.
• Constructed household latrines to 16 poor families in Notki village.  Funds for this project were used from SOW’s (Students of the World, US) fund raising project.
• Screening of the ‘Mahabharata’ play in Kurukshetra University Auditorium to showcase the youth talent who were trained for one month by National School of Drama in Dramatics who would stage plays in Jyotisar Tourism complex in future.
• Water Literacy Street Theatre conducted in four villages to impart awareness on water conservation practices in Karheda, Jaffrabad, Dingarhedi and Bhond.
• Conducted a survey to get the feedback on the water literacy camp to assess the impact.
• Organized graduation ceremony to 20 FLE girls from Bhond.  The  Panchayat of the village also participated in the event.

June 2007

• Held 21 Farmers meetings spanning across the quarter and all blocks in the Mewat region educating and providing information on the Foundation’s agriculture interventions. All program specialists and Kisan Mitras participated in the meeting.
• Submitted a presentation on NAIP to the Technical Advisory Group at ICAR Office, PUSA New Delhi.
• Capacity Building, Trainings conducted for Pulse Polio, Diarrhoeal Diseases & their management, Immunization, Infant feeding practices by Program Leader, Rural Health. This was conducted in Goela with all community health volunteers and health workers.
• Promotion of latrines under Hygiene & Sanitation Program conducted in all villages. 145 latrines have been set up in Kurukshetra taking the total number of latrines to 174.
• Organized comprehensive eye care camps in collaboration with Dr Shroff’s Charitable Eye Hospital to promote sustainable curative linkage for eye disorders in Nagina & Ferozepur Jhirka Block. 14 patients were successfully operated in the camp.

May 2007

• The Sehgal Foundation in collaboration with Tarahaat, initiated the “Tara Akshar Project” which is computer based literacy program implemented in 6 Hindi speaking states of India. The Foundation initiated this project in three villages-Rangala, Agon and Khareda. This project helps literate (basic reading and writing) villagers in 30 days.
• Organized a graduation ceremony for the FLE girls in Jyotisar.  24 girls graduated from his batch who felt a sense of accomplishment.
• Inauguration of three new FLE centers in Uletha, Santhawadi and Pathkhori villages.
• Organized NAIP (National Agricultural Innovation Project) workshop to prepare a project proposal on sustainable rural livelihoods.
• Capacity Building training by MARG (Multiple Action Research Group) on Right to Information and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) conducted with 22 members of Field Team and 6 Core-Team members.
• Village Champions conducted baseline survey from five new villages - Patkhori, Uletha, Santhawadi, Kotla and Bhore..
• The Village Education Committee under the leadership of village champion organized a special campaign to decrease the ‘drop-out’ rate.  During this campaign, the committee members made home visits to discussed the reasons for drop-outs with the parents in Goela.
•  Training of Village Level Functionaries on Latest dairy Practices at Taoru. The training was conducted by Haryana Development Board and State Animal Husbandry Department. Our field staff and 14 farmers participated in this training.
•  Participated in Pulse Polio Immunization drive to ensure 100% coverage of 0-5 years age group children.  This was carried-out in Goela, Dalawas, Jaffrabad, Dhingerheri and their cluster villages.

April 2007

• Organized a meeting with the Panchayat Members of Jyotisar on the sustainability of the tourism complex after the project is completed. Guidelines for the smooth running of the project formulated with the Panchayat.
•  Selected a batch of 20 youth for one month ‘dramatics training’ by a team of professionals from National School of Drama as part of UNDP project.
• Nine youth participated in one month ‘Guides Training’, organized by the Shri Krishna Museum, Kurukshetra.  Topics included on the historical significance of Kurukshetra, important tourist destinations, how to link with tour and travel operators, kind of support a guide can provide to the tourist, first aid and site visits.
• Provided a popcorn vending machine to handicapped couple in Kurukshetra whose only income is the pension from the Government’s “Pension for handicapped”. 
• Organized a one-day workshop to all the FLE instructors and facilitators on how to make ‘hand-made paper’ by using old news papers.  This was organized at Ghaghas Community center.

• Construction of Latrine Block in Jafarabad and Rangala. In Jafarabad school, 4 non-functional latrines were made functional. In Rangala, 3 new latrines were constructed, 2 latrines were repaired and separate blocks were made for boys and girls.
• Constructed a roof water harvesting model in Dalabas.
• Constructed 2 recharge wells and 9 stand posts in Dingarhedi.
• Installed 12 solar lanterns and 8 water taps in Goela and Jaffarabad.
• Solar Desalination plant set up as a pilot study at village Karheda. The plant set up by the Foundation works on the dynamics of evaporation and condensation.
• Construction work of Check dam started in Kotla.
• Started community mobilization for the ‘development of pond’ in Santhavadi.
• Started construction of roof water harvesting model at handicraft bazaar in Jyotisar Tourist Complex, Kurukshetra.
• Conducted a baseline assessment in 10 villages of Mewat as part of evaluation of Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI) Program in India: An IPEN study supported by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, UNICEF, USAID, World Bank.
• Health Awareness sessions conducted in Schools of Nagina & Ferozepur Jhirka block.  Topics included were Acute Respiratory Infections, Diarrhoeal Diseases & their management, Importance of Immunization and Pulse Polio.

February 2007

• Organized graduation ceremony for the girls who completed Family Life Education (FLE) course from Bhond, Raniyala, Notki and Karheda villages.  A total of 68 girls graduated from these villages.
• A survey for the ‘short tem impact’ of the Family Life Education program completed.
• Inauguration of Model Kitchen at Goela to demonstrate to the same to the government for mid day meal cooking. The kitchen was built by the Sehgal Foundation.
• Identified and renovated places for FLE centers at Bhor, Santhawadi, Uletha and Patkhori.
• Held meetings with Tarahaat for setting up three computer literacy centers in Mewat and Sayeeda Hamid, Member of Planning Commission to discuss the development of Mewat.
• Held with Constructed a platform around the well in Agon, to provide safe access to drinking water.

January 2007

• Trained village champions of 5 new villages of Patkhori, Uletha, Santhavadi, Kotla (Mewat) and Bhore Saidan (Kurukshetra) organized First Community Meetings in their respective villages to explain the Foundation’s programs and its mission.  
• A pilot project “Strengthened Access to Justice in India” (SAJI) initiated by UNDP and Government of India having two components – Mapping Criminal Justice (research component) and Legal Empowerment (training component) is being implemented in 3 states, Haryana being one of them. For the Mewat district, the Sehgal Foundation partnered with MARG to conduct Training on Legal Issues to all the field team, who will further take the knowledge to the community. 
• Organized graduation ceremony for the girls who completed Family Life Education (FLE) course from Dingerheri, Soondh and Jafarabad villages.  A total of 64 girls graduated from these villages.
• Organized Republic Day Celebrations in Agon, Dingerheri, Jafarabad and Goela villages.
• Program Leader, Water management and Village Champion’s initiated a series of  capacity building trainings for the youth and school children on ‘Water Conservation’ in Kotla, Karheda and Jaffrabad.

• Completed six month training to the third batch of village champions. They will be assigned villages to start their work in January’07.
• Water committee is formed in Kotla to undertake water projects.
• Five new villages are adopted – Bhor (Kurukshetra), Pathkhori (Firozpur Zhirkha), Santhawadi, Uletha (both in Nagina Block) and Kota (nuh block). The new batch of VCs will start working in these villages starting from January 2007. With these new villages included the Foundation will be working in 17 villages.
• Provided comprehensive eye care in collaboration with Dr Shroff’s Charitable Eye Hospital in four villages – Ghaghas, Notki, Karheda and Ulheta. Out of the 101 patients screened, 15 were operated for cataract. Eye camps in collaboration with Dr. Shroff’s Charity will be an ongoing project till all the villages in three blocks are covered. Thereafter, Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital has a plan to set up a district eye hospital in Mewat in 2009-2010, which will eventually conduct camps on a regular basis.
• Established a Farmers Resource Centre in Goela.
• Seven boys selected for one year training conducted by the “Apparel Training and Design Center” at Gurgaon. They will be trained on the quality aspects of apparel production. After the training these boys will be able to find jobs at the export houses and garments production units.
• Facilitated in making a five minutes documentary on Jyotisar to promote it as a tourism site.
• To promote tourism at Jyotisar, street plays were organized to educate the community about keeping their village clean. A professional group was hired to organize plays based on the theme of hygiene and sanitation.
• Constructed a drinking water tank at the school premises in Agon.
• 25 taps installed, deepened a pond and constructed a recharge well to conserve water in Rangala Rajpur.
• In Jaffarabadh, 20 taps are installed and a recharge well constructed.
• Five solar street lights installed and a recharge well constructed in Dingerheri.
• Organized a graduation ceremony for the girls graduated from the FLE Course to create a sense of accomplishment among the girls.
• In collaboration with SHARP four general screening and specialist camps were organized for school children of Rangala and Notki. General screening for 381 children and specialist camps for 324 children was carried out from the two villages.

• After working for five years implementing its ISVD model in Ghaghas , the Foundation handed over the responsibility of village development to the Village Level Institution (VLI).
• Ten taps installed in Dalabas to prevent water wastage and promote conservation.
• Hand pump installed and a stand post and recharge well constructed in Dingerheri.
• Stand post constructed in Karheda.
• A hand pump installed at Raniyala school.
• Water literacy session organized in the schools of Agon, Rangala and Bhond to spread awareness on water conservation. 400 students participated in this session.

• A youth center is set up at Ghagas. This center will serve as the personality Development center for the village youth. Here they will get computer and spoken English education, career counseling and they will also be coached on life skills. The center has four solar powered computers.
• Completed construction of a recharge well in Notakee.
• Organized health screening of school children in Rangala and Notki in collaboration with School Health Annual Report Program in which 326 children were screened.

• Training session organized on the Burgeoning Population and Impending Water Problem worldwide for the core team and field staff of the Foundation.
• Organized an exposure visit to Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi to observe pulse fields station. All the village champions and 12 farmers from Taoru block accompanied during the visit.
• Organized exposure visit to stall goat farming at Madhu Farms, Chomu village. Kisan Mitra, 8 farmers and a Village Champion participated.
• Organized exposure visit to Agon village for students from Jesus and Mary College, Department of Sociology, New Delhi to familiarize them to the rural education system in the village.
• Five boys are trained in swimming and diving. These boys will receive boats from the district administration to start boating for the tourists and earn a livelihood.
• One week workshop was held at IRMA on “Institution building for sustainable tourism and livelihoods”. All the UNDP project partners from 36 sites attended this workshop. In the workshop there was discourse on various topics such as community mobilization, community organisations, cultural and environmental impacts on tourism, both negative and positive. Best practices, success stories, failures and subsequent learnings were also discussed.
• Established linkage with Larsen and Toubro’s vocational training center for civil and construction related jobs. First batch of 24 youth will soon attending the training and will receive stipend of Rs.2,000 per month during the training.
• Provided trainings on ‘Health Awareness’ to the health volunteers, Village Champions, health supervisor and block facilitators.

• Members of the Village Level Institution from Goela and Agon reviewed different projects that were completed in their village and started working on future plans.
• Organized Independence Day celebrations in Ghaghas, Goela, Dingerheri and Notki, to instill in the children and community the importance of National festivals.
• A friendly cricket match was organized between youth of Dingerheri and Khori. These competitions provide recreation to the youth and creates a platform to bring the youth together to involve them in various village development projects.
• Exposure visit to Khareda, Goela and Ghaghas was organized for 35 students and two professors of the Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon to create awareness among the student about rural issues.
• Aravali reforestation project completed successfully, the total number of beneficiaries are 18 SHG women and the number of plants raised is 58,450. Each member of the SHG earned Rs 5,000.
• A craft production center is set up at Jyotisar. A technician is appointed to oversee the production and quality control. The first lot of production of garments is completed and is ready sale.

• Established linkage with Blue Cross Consultant of Gurgaon for livestock intervention and stall goat farming concept. In stall goat farming, goats don’t graze outside but are confined to a specific area which has many advantages.
• A training session was organized on the implications of Burgeoning Population on human society, in which all the core team members and the field staff participated. Data on increasing world population was presented along with its implications.
• Organized training on ‘Cultivation of pulses’ to over 60 farmers from different villages and the filed staff of the Foundation.
• An exposure visit to a goat farm at Chomu, Rajasthan was organized to introduce live stock management to 30 farmers from different villages.
• Organized training to the field staff on ‘Principles of working with the community.’
• Exposure visit to Pardada Pardadi (an NGO) in Bulandshaher to understand the craft production process and learn from their experience.
• Income Enhancement program established linkages with Vardhaman Fertilizers, PUSA Pulse Research Center and Reliance Agro so as to extend other agricultural facilities to the villages.
• In collaboration with the School Health Annual Report Program (SHARP) the Foundation initiated general health screening of school children from Dhingerheri and Goela. A total of 282 students were screened.
• Visited various organizations like DHAN, Byraju Foundation, Ibtaba and Dr. Reddy’s Lab to understand different approaches adopted in income enhancement program and possible synergies.
• Baseline survey to collect primary data for the four new villages - Dindarhedi, Jafarabad, Raniala and Bhond is completed.

• Selected six candidates out of 30 participants for the third batch of Village Champions, their six month training will start in May’06.
• Two eye camps for the elderly organized in collaboration with AIIMS Restore Eyesight. All villages in Taoru, Nagina and Ferozepur Jhirka blocks (including model villages) availed the facility. A total of 935 patients were screened and 141 patients were operated free of cost.
• School Health Program in collaboration with SHARP to screen the general health of school children was carried out in Ghaghas, 148 children were screened.
• Organized farmers exposure visit to Kisan Mela, Bilaspur, Gurgaon. The visit was aimed to expose farmers to the better agricultural practices and to witness performance of improved vegetable varieties. 13 farmers visited the mela.
• Organized exposure visit for 20 farmers to drip system of International Development Enterpirses & Nunhems demo site.
• Started a new FLE batch at Jyotisar, a new batch was started covering 3 hamlets, around 6 km away from the site.
• Provided 35 benches to Agon Elementary School.

• Trustee meeting held at India Habitat Center, New Delhi.
• Organized two specialist camps - Ophthalmology and Dentistry in collaboration with SHARP for 494 primary and secondary school children.

• Trustee meeting held at India Habitat Center, New Delhi.
• Registration of Goela’s Village Level Institute (VLI) under the Registration of Indian Society Act completed.

• Assessment camp organized in collaboration with Delhi Council for Childwelfare (DCCW) for physically disabled children in the age group of 0-16 years.
• Assessment camp organized for physically disabled children of ages 0-16 from all the model villages. The camp was organized in partnership with Delhi Council for Childwelfare.
• School health program started in collaboration with SHARP, to provide complete general health check-up of all school going children from the model villages. Periodic check-ups will be carried through out the year by SHARP.
• A disability camp in collaboration with Delhi Council for Child Welfae (DCCW) was organized for all the model and satellite villages for rehabilitation of differently-abled children. About 118 children were screened out of which 58 children received disability aids, 22 were given physiotherapy and 29 were short listed for surgery.