User:Jagorigrameen ngo/sandbox

 Jagori Rural Charitable Trust  is committed to the cause of building a just and equitable society. Its engagement with the community addresses all forms of discrimination based on gender, class, caste, religion, disability and other sources for social exclusion. Jagori Grameen seeks to protect the individual and collective dignity of the most marginalized in 109 villages across the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, India.

2.	OBJECTIVE

 * To work among the most marginalized communities in order to uplift them and bring them equality, justice, dignity and peace.
 * To encourage and strengthen the voices of women and girls and to ensure their rights to life and safety.
 * To ensure people’s right to participation and entitlement in social, political, and economic processes.
 * To increase people’s engagement on issues related to sustainable organic agriculture and environmental regeneration.
 * To increase people’s access to information.

AWAJ (Aware Women’s Action for Justice)
This team works through the formation of women’s collectives on a range of issues such as violence against women, sex selective abortion, neglect of girls, women’s right to bodily safety and women’s participation in governance.

1. Nari Adalats (Women’s Courts):
A cadre of 25 active community people have been selected and trained intensively on the issues of gender, patriarchy and domestic violence, relevant laws related to women’s legal rights, and feminist counselling. Three Women’s courts have been established and are functioning actively in 3 blocks (Kangra, Dharamsala and Rait) of the Kangra district. Now they are closely working with violence survivors and addressing cases of violence against women. With the help of barefoot lawyers, regular meetings are held in 15 villages on issues pertaining to domestic violence, eve teasing, sexual abuse and land extortion. Though officially the Nari Adalats have solved 258 cases, the real figure is much higher.

2. Women’s health and gynaecological issues:
The aim of this branch of the AWAJ program is to develop a health perspective to enhance women’s sense of well being through Women’s Well Being Week (WWW) and to make healing opportunities easily accessible and to frame health as a basic human right. A team of 10 Swasthya Sakhis counsel women who have health related problems. The Health team works in 20 villages with over 1000 women.

3. Women’s leadership program:
Regular meetings are conducted with women’s collectives in 65 villages of 3 blocks of the Kangra district on the multiple issues of local governance such as gram sabha, panchayat elections, right to information and community participation. In order to enhance understanding on the procedures, rules and regulations of Panchayat cluster level, leadership training are organized in three blocks of the Kangra district with 300 women.

SATH (Social Architects of Tomorrow in Himachal)
This team works towards increasing community mobilization through youth collectives. Young participants engage with issues of human rights and entitlements of marginalized communities, monitor government programs and ensure accountability. The aim is to expand their horizon and increase their interaction with their communities and their natural habitat.

1. Fellowship Awards
These are provided to young girls, to prepare them to work as women's rights activists and challenge the cultural subordination of women. Simultaneously, they are encouraged to pursue their formal education. All of them have been trained in different skills such as computers and multimedia, community activism, public speaking, and street theater, and on issues such as gender and reproduction processes, Right to Information Act and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, among others. They have become more aware of gender-based violence and discrimination issues and have incorporated a gender justice perspective into their daily work with Jagori Rural. Thirty girls benefited from the fellowship.

2. Knowledge Centers
In Khaniara and Shahpur, Knowledge Centers have been established to provide space for meetings, workshops, tutoring, self-education, creative learning and computer and library access to local youth. Information is collected and disseminated on-line.

3. School intervention:
These are carried out through workshops with school children, youth festivals, teacher-training programs, exposure visits, and tutorial support. Children from socially and environmentally marginalized families receive scholarships to study further under this program. There are sessions in schools to sensitize students on issues like gender, environment, violence, health and nutrition, drugs and body literacy from time to time.

4.Youth Collectives (Sathi samooh):
Youth collectives are formed in villages that encourage and ensure the involvement of youth in local governance. There are certain activities conducted in monthly meetings of youth collectives where they raise youth issues and local problems and try to find solutions and implement them.

6. Kishori Samooh/Sabla Scheme:
This scheme aims at covering adolescent girls in the age group of 11 to 18 years. The main objectives of the program are to enable self‐development and empowerment of adolescent girls and improve their nutrition and health status, spreading awareness  among  them  about   health,  hygiene,  nutrition,  Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH), and family and child care.

5.Library programs:
Libraries are set up at the village level to give young people easy access to different books. The team conducts various activities in the libraries to inculcate reading habits in children.

SAFAL (Sustainable Agriculture, Forest and Land)
SAFAL aims to revive and strengthen traditional agriculture practices while recognizing the identity and contribution of women farmers. SAFAL is motivated by environmentally friendly practices and the preservation of traditional knowledge – these principles inform the program’s engagement with the farmers. Updated farming practices and increased knowledge of sustainable and organic practices holistically benefit Kangra farmers and give them the reliance to produce quality products.

1. Green Leaf Organic Market
Since its inception, the SAFAL Team has worked with community people to introduce vermi-compost practices for use of organic manure in their kitchen garden. From time to time, organic agriculture workshops are organized for farmers to formalize their organic practices and create a collective of organic farmers. Their produce is being sold in McLeod Ganj through Green Leaf.

2. Forest Festival
The SAFAL team, in collaboration with the other teams, conducts a two-month long Forest Festival each year. The themes in the past have included re-thinking the use of plastic and its effects as well as water conservation. This yearly event is part of the Jagori Rural Expansion Program, which reaches out to college students, farmers, women and youth collectives, the local media and the bureaucracy, as well as the larger society. The terrain of activism in the past has included workshops with school children on the importance of conserving water, filing a petition to the Panchayat against cementing of perennial water sources, production, distribution and airing of multi media educational material such a films, radio programs, newsletters leaflets etc. – all focusing on the water crisis.

3. Activism
Various activities were conducted with school children in order to make them sensitive towards environment issues. Street plays on global warming have been performed in 5 blocks of the Kangra district. Four hundred representatives from NGOs, the Forest Department, the Block Office, SS and women collectives participated in an environmental awareness rally organized in Dharamsala. In collaboration with the Forest Department, herbal plants were distributed in 45 gram panchayats. This event was extensively covered by the media. The organic farm at TARA has been producing vegetables and fruits. The excess produce is being sold in the market.

TARA (Training and Research Academy)
TARA is a feminist and eco-friendly retreat and training centre in Rakkar, Himachal Pradesh, India. Jagori Rural Charitable Trusts main office is based at TARA. Various training programs/project works of Jagori Rural Charitable Trust take place here.

16 Days Campaign for Violence against Women:
Every year intensive sixteen days campaign is organised in 4 blocks (kangra, Dharamsala, Rait and Dehra) of Kangra district. Day and Night meetings are held in 50 villages with women, men and youth and discussed the invisible nature of violence against women and girls.One of the main objectives is to break the silence of women around the issues of gender based violence and discrimination. Different kinds of issues such as violence and discrimination within homes, eve teasing at public places, sex selective abortion and identity of women as human being are discussed and shared in the meetings. Storytelling, film screening, case studies and group exercises helped to motivate women to open up their voices.

Kishori & Kishore Utsav
The Kishori & Kishore Utsav took place from March 26-March 29 in 2 blocks. The Jagori team created various educational stalls to engage youth in the area on environment, health, sustainable living, and body image.

Maa Beti Mela:
In the months of September and October 2012, Maa-Beti Mela were organised in two blocks. These were attended by 684 adolescent girls and 250 mothers who also participated with enthusiasm. The main Objective was to strengthen friendship between mothers and daughters, improve their communication with each other and break silence on their issues.

One Billion Rising Campaign:
During One Billion Rising Campaign, in collaboration with 15 local NGOs various sensitization activities have been conducted by Jagori Rural in two districts (Kangra and Chamba). Approximately reached to 30000 people from Rural and Urban Community including women, young girls and boys and students etc.. In order to sensitize people the issues of domestic violence, sexual violence and eve teasing street plays were performed in 8 different locations of Kangra district including bus stands, schools Approximately 2000 people have watched it and male participation of the audiences was truly remarkable.

Van Mahotsav:
Objective is to spread consciousness around the issues of environmental degradation and motivate communities to increase green cover. This campaign was carried out in 50 villages and 1500 households were covered. With the help of women’s and youth collectives, street plays were performed, film shows were organised in different government schools. It has sensitized students on the issues of environment degradation, deforestation, water conservation, enriching soil health, the harmful impacts of plastic, and climate change.