Prava

PRAVA aims at ensuring food and livelihood security to the target beneficiaries of the need areas. The areas are mostly hilly, mountainous and tribal dominated. The major livelihoods include i.e crop production, labour, collection and sale of minor forest produce (NTFP). The productivity of crop and livestock is very low due to a number bio-physical, socio-economic, institutional, technological and cultural constraints. Hence the standard of living of people is very low. Improvement in existing livelihood condition can be made through increase in farm productivity and profitability, emphasizing on off-farm activity, increasing employment opportunities and capacity building of farmers, farm women and forest dependent communities.

Cooperative & Enterprising: Self help is the best help. Believing in this hypothesis.

PRAVA works to

• Bring effective co-ordination among the village level institutions like SHGs & their Cooperative, VSSs & their federations and FGs.
• Ensure community based organisations establish good linkages and mobilise resources from the government and other institutions.
• Encourage women folk to participate in the decision making process.
• Establish linkages with local resource centres for capacity building of the partners and the community.
• Motivate rural youth to work in the development process and contribute positively to community development.
• Increase awareness of rights and duties.

Health and Hygiene: Health and health care remains a big issue for rural communities. Diseases like T.B., Malaria and diarrhoea continue to claim many lives each year. These communities also have no access to health care. Government programmes dealing with this issue do not reach all. Women's health problems also need to be addressed with greater urgency. HIV/AIDS and its increasing incidence are taking on epidemic proportions. The HIV/AIDS infected/affected people are socially discriminated and economically marginalised.

Hence PRAVA worked to

• Increase awareness of rights and duties.
• Increase the outreach of health care facilities.
• Build awareness on health and related issues.
• Train health workers / service providers to provide better service to a community.
• Check the spread of the AIDS and HIV through awareness programmes.
• Activate the government health system through lobbying, advocacy and people's participation.

Water and Sanitation: Water is a prime natural resource and a basic human need as well as all life forms. Water should make available to all not only quantities but also qualitatively. Availability of safe Drinking water in rural areas is a big problem. Cleanliness and sanitation is another issue in rural areas. Ensuring Safe Drinking Water and Capacitate the Community for Healthy living & Sustainability is the need of the moment.

Hence PRAVA work to

• Build capacity of the stakeholders.
• DNH for Health ( safe drinking water, nutrition, sanitation and hygiene for health)
• Drudgery reduction of water collection- reducing the burden from women.
• Expansion of preparing the future generation through school education ( operational DNH) and wider dissemination.
• Technology mix for dealing with quality problems.
• Advocacy for water security.
• Develop design that is community friendly, manageable at the community level and futuristic that take care of the increase in demand and emerging problems relating to climate change.
• Development of models of meeting recurring and replacement costs through user fees and corpus fund.
• Streamlining the maintenance system.
• Ensuring role clarity ( GP hander over and line responsibility)
• Finding simple solutions to make the transitional sources relatively safe (platform, treatment)

Climate: The state’s fluctuating weather conditions suggest that it is reeling under climatic chaos. For more than a decade now, it has experienced contrasting extreme weather conditions: from heat waves to cyclones, from droughts to floods. They have not only become more frequent, but have hit areas that were never considered vulnerable. The frequency of cyclones has increased on the Orissa coast. Temperature data of the coastal region in the last years shows wide fluctuations and average temperatures have risen. Change in climate alarming for preparedness and management.

Hence PRAVA work to

• Develop preparedness plans to reduce the impact of possible emergencies.
• Establish greater capacity and preparedness measures to deal with any emergencies arising from disasters or conflict.
• Reduce the risk and vulnerability of the affected communities.
• Provide basic amenities and rehabilitation support to the community.
• Form a coalition among the government, NGOs, resource institutes to ensure pro activeness and sustainability of measures.
• Conduct research and documentation for information sharing on disasters and disaster mitigation.