Vision

A Just, enlightened, healthy and democratic Bundelkhand free from hunger, poverty, environmental degradation and all forms of exploitation based on age, sex, religion and ethnicity.

Mission

HARITIKA works with people whose lives are dominated by extreme poverty, illiteracy, disease and other handicaps. With multifaceted development interventions, HARITIKA strives to bring about positive change in the quality of life of the poor people of BUNDELKHAND region of UP and MP.

HARITIKA firmly believes and is actively involved in promoting dignity and gender equity through poor people's social, economic, political and human capacity building. Although the emphasis of Haritika's work is at the individual level and village level sustaining the work of the organization depends on an environment that permits the poor to break out of the cycle of poverty and hopelessness. To this end, HARITIKA endeavors to bring about change at the level of national   policy on poverty reduction, water and sanitation and social progress. HARITIKA is committed to making its programmes socially, financially and environmentally sustainable, using new methods and improved technologies.

Poverty reduction programmes undertaken so far have bypassed many of the poorest. In this context one of HARITIKA'S main focuses is the ultra poor. With multifaceted development interventions, HARITIKA strives to bring about changes in the quality of life of these people.

Short description of major projects undertaken and achievements in the past 3 years (Give one line information on the project title, funding agency, funding amount and project duration):

*UPRWSES: UP Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation (Project) also known as Swajal Project.
Organizational infrastructure (Staff strength, Facilities etc.)
Full Time              :        13
Part Time             :        25
Office                   :        Rented Filed Office: Three
Computer             :        Four
Jeep                     :        One   

Our Core Values

Excellence: A commitment to work efficiently and effectively, and to constantly strive to improve.
Individual Freedom: A belief that everyone has the right to be free from excessive controls, through acting within a responsible framework.
Teamwork: A commitment to participation and teamwork.
Equity: A commitment to work for an end to caste, class, gender & other forms of discrimination.
Honesty: a commitment to openness & transparency

About the Governing Board

Role of Governing Council

The governing council of the Haritika is to provide the required moral, legal and direction support. They also help in resources mobilization both financial and human. Besides this they actively participate in some events and provide inputs in some programmes depending on the need and demand from the team.

2.2.2 Strategy

The organisation’s programmes are based on broad precepts 

Organizational Infrastructure

HARITIKA has a strong infrastructure in terms of:
Full Time:            13
Part Time:            25
Office:                    Rented Filed Office: Three 
Computer:            Four
Jeep:                      One

Organization' s primary area of focus

HARITIKA primarily focuses on Children Education, Women Empowerment and Socio economic up-liftment of the Poorer in the community, Health and environment.  We have now started intervening in the panchayats, as all the developmental plans are now being initiated and implemented by the Gram Panchayats.  After analyzing the problems of the different ago climatic condition and in consultation with the members of various villages level institutions and community based organizations, Identifies following areas of interventions:

. HARITIKA Intervention is for:

 Target Group addressed

Women and children, poor and backward community especially poorer have been addressed so far from our project. Scheduled castes, ST, OBC, Poor, Women, Children, Landless, and Very Poor Community especially below Poverty Line have been our Primary Target group. Small and marginal farmers and socio economically very backward groups have been the target group in our entire previous project. We have also focused on the destitute children and initiated project for their rehabilitation.

 Organisation's main areas of expertise

Network / Collaborating partners:

Organizational reputation and the membership of the network so far it appears that Haritika have a clean reputation in the area of its work, Haritika;s membership in networks is as follows :              

 Systems in place for technical and financial management

Technical Management Systems

At the organisational level necessary management of information systems have been developed keeping in view the programmes and organizational structure of the organization. HARITIKA with the support of MPDPIP has been able to develop a better MIS system, which has been very useful. The necessary MIS system has been incorporated for regular follow up of information, which has been considered necessary for organizational effectiveness. Proper reporting system has also been developed for timely reporting.          

Regular meeting like monthly meeting with the entire staff is conducted every month. All programmatic decisions are taken in the monthly meeting.  Here the staff presents their accomplishments/achievement and key learning of the month and present the future plan of the work. These meeting are conducted in very participatory manner in which all have the openness to express their feelings. All idea generations are encouraged and worked out for future development.

There are rules and regulations for leave and work. There are holidays according to the general local situation for all staff members. The internal management system is being strengthened according to the need.
Collective sharing of learning and experiences are shared formally and informally.  Collective decision-making is done in all organisational matters.

Reporting relationships is also maintained both upwards and downwards with regular flow of information. The board also reviews the work of the organisation and gives regular feedback.

Financial Systems

HARITIKA has also developed a sound financial system and maintains one hundred transparency from the very beginning.  Different Project Books of Accounts are maintained it audited internally by and internal Auditor. Monthly expenditure budgets are prepared by each project coordinator and submitted to the finance section for approval. Monthly financial statement is prepared   to monitor the financial status.  All the accounts are computerized and updated every day.     

1.Project Title:    Empowering Women through Sustainable Agriculture in Bundelkhand, Block: Nowgong,

District Chhatarpur, (M.P)

2.Background:  According to the latest estimates, 46 per cent of Chhatarpur and  population lives below the poverty line. Life for this group is characterized by poor survival chances, landlessness, malnutrition, environmental pollution and social exclusion arising out of caste and gender discrimination and not necessarily linked to income in a predictable manner. Also with land-based resources becoming scarce and more degraded, the balance between what people need and what they can obtain shifts.

Recognizing that the poor and the under-privileged have not gained substantially from the development process, The proposed project participatory planning as an essential precondition for ensuring growth with equity. Some major objectives are: (i) Priority to agriculture and rural development with a view to generating adequate productive employment and eradication of poverty; (ii) Ensuring environmental sustainability of the development process through social mobilization and participation of people at all levels; (iii) Empowerment of women and the socially disadvantaged groups and; (iv) Promoting and developing people's participatory institutions, such as Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), co-operatives and self-help groups.

3.Brief description of the Proposed Project: Chhtarpur  district are situated in the semi-arid region of the VINDHYA region in MP. Low and erratic rainfall, coupled with severe deforestation, have resulted in significant lowering of water table in the area, which was once covered with thick deciduous forests with abundant biodiversity.  Nowgong  Block in particular has a major problem of low water tables and increased levels of hard water. The decreased water availability and hard water has had an adverse impact both on drinking water and agriculture. Consequent decrease in agricultural productivity and fodder availability has completely eroded livelihood opportunities leading to migration from the areas of up to 70 to 100 per cent of the population.

The area has two major communities – the Sahriya /Ahirwar(ST/SC), who constitute 60% of the population and are primarily subsistence farmers in the plains area, and the  (OBCs) comprising 25% of the population who live in the backward areas and are engaged in animal husbandry. There are few completely landless families (mainly belonging to SC population), with the average landholding being around 1.5 acres. Besides subsistence agriculture, the forests, grasslands and animals make up the food security system of the area. These are considered as common property resources and were traditionally managed by a set of strict rules, which ensured optimum utilization, preservation of biodiversity and regeneration. With the takeover of forests by the government, these systems are breaking down. Over the years, these sustainable means of livelihood have been systematically destroyed in the various developmental initiatives. Industrial processes initiated by the state and the central government led to excessive mining and the consequent large-scale deforestation for timber resulting in severe land degradation, which increased the frequency of flash floods and unnatural droughts. Migration was the end result.

In the course of evaluations, it has emerged that women have been the primary beneficiaries of the regeneration of water sources and forests, and there have been improvements in the conditions of their lives. However, their position and social status continues to be defined by traditional norms, as is evidenced by their lack of access to education, poor health and exclusion from decision-making on ‘public’ issues. In spite of the fact that women are the primary managers of natural resources, particularly water and forests, they are still seen as consumers and users of natural resources, rather than as planners and managers.

The issue of gender equality is critical to the vision of equitable and self-reliant communities living in harmony with nature. The experience of the organization has demonstrated that sustainable resource management demands equity in access and control, with all sections of the community taking informed and responsible decisions. Empowering women to come together and take an active role in management of natural resources is therefore an essential prerequisite for sustainable resource management.

Haritika has started some preliminary work in taking up issues of water, sanitation and health with women’s groups and integrated water resource development. The need is now to build on the gains of the earlier work in order to ensure that women become active participants in the entire resource management process. Their traditional knowledge of biodiversity and herbal lore can become a valuable resource for the community, and a good starting point for women’s empowerment.

Another problem has been that the existing groups do not have strong linkages with the panchayats. It is critical that these women groups (Women SHG) formed in the area with Haritika support be linked more closely to the local government, which would be to the advantage of both. Panchayats would become more accountable to the local community and through panchayats, the community could access more resources from other departments and institutions. This would also serve as a platform for the emerging women role in the development process.

Objectives:
The overall objective of the project is to support state efforts toward empowerment of women for poverty alleviation through a process of mobilization and people-centered development.
The specific Objectives are

The approaches followed in implementing the project will be an issue-based approach and area-based approach. In the area-based approach, specific geographical areas will be identified where a process of social mobilization will be initiated. Social mobilization must lead to a process of formation of women.  organizations,leveraging stakeholder resources and implemented by the community institution for effective use of local resources..

Major Activities:

Projected Outcomes:
Social mobilization and people’s empowerment are relatively long-term processes. Nevertheless, at the end of the project it is expected that:

4.Co-funding by other sources and contribution on cash or kind:
Rituraj Ranjan
State Coordinator
Planning, Implementation & HR
MPDPIP, Bhopal
Ph. : 2460242, 2460244
M. : 9425004848
Water Aid, India

Arera Colony

Bhopal, MP
6.Duration: Three Year

7.Target Group/Beneficiaries: 

Women. PRI representatives, SC/ST community of the  Suda village of the Nowgong Block of District Chhatarpur will be covered under the project