New warriors on the block

This small team of voluntary workers are addressing a crucial missing link in girl child education and working to prevent girl child dropout. And they work with the government to this end

When a few young people seek to spend their days at a remote village, well away from their exciting life in the city, you know something really significant is happening. When their trip is not a mere picnic but on a serious mission to probe the issues that ail the rural areas, you know there is hope for the nation. When that team has not only passion but also a vision, a clear road map emerges as we watch.

Aloka is one such team. Comprising of a small group of young people, like-minded, committed, curious and pragmatic, they have embarked on a long journey, now taking the first tentative steps. The team, working under the banner of a not-for-profit organisation called Aloka Mathru Chaya Foundation, has not only managed to get familiar with ground realities but has already built crucial bridges between various sectors of society, making them complement each other's efforts at development.

“There is enough evidence to prove that girl child dropout is directly linked to lack of infrastructure in Government schools, especially toilets and kitchen facilities that affect the quality of mid-day meals. We have decided to address this issue in a constructive manner and have taken up construction of washrooms and repair of kitchen facilities,” explains Sanjana Devarakonda, one of the core team members.

Aloka has so far completed works at 20 government schools in Hyderabad and neighbourhood and has many more in the pipeline. In the schools that the organisation adopted, 41 IWCs, 17 urinals, 13 hand wash units, one kitchen shed and a compound wall have been built. The works happened with corporate funding from CYIENT, Knoah and RMSI.

They have also launched a programme called SMILE that addresses the childhood turmoil in distressed families, taking care of their education, nutrition and health in three different packages, adopting girl children.

“There is very little funding needed for the actual works. It is the process of identifying gaps in infrastructure and then carrying out a plan that is important,” says Vikram Reddy Vangala, founder of Aloka. An even more important intervention the team is making is their Model Constituency Programme, a grassroots initiative that involves mapping of each single habitation in a constituency, interacting with the villagers and identifying issues.

A detailed pen profile of each village is then prepared and then handed over to the MLA with an unspoken challenge to address those issues and develop his own constituency.

“So far we have worked in two constituencies Achampet and Narayankhed but a very comprehensive job has been done in Achampet. We have covered 125 villages, each one a veritable sample,” says Vikram.
The team recalls its marathon survey in 125 villages in the Achampet constituency.

“Every day we would wake up with new enthusiasm. Those were long, hard days of toil and strenuous travel. Though we returned late at night, we still sat down to digitise the entire data we collected during the day. And next day was again a new mission,” Vikram recalls with a smile.

“We had become so immersed in our work, asking people about schools and roads, govt schemes and power and water and every issue, that we carried the mood home with us. In fact, whenever and wherever I spotted an elderly person, I would instinctively think ‘is he getting pension?’” Sanjana laughs.

Though the model constituency programme is chiefly meant as a real-time ground report for the MLA of that constituency, Aloka could offer on-the-spot solutions too. Rainwater harvesting pits to save water or tailoring training, for instance.

“There was in one village a choked drain that has been a festering problem for months. We had suggested to the community that they should just do their little bit and solve it instead of waiting for the Government to do everything. It was a satisfying experience.”

Vikram recalls the very human experience in their work narrating an incident when they walked upon a solitary old woman eating her food. “She had no one with her and she told us how the old age pension helped her some food on her plate. It was gratifying to see how pensions really reach people and save lives.”

AMCF now has its sights set far. Apart from extending the Constituency programme to all MLAs in Telangana, they are soon going to launch a three-pronged approach to supporting girl children’s education. Helping to build up infrastructure, especially washrooms with a target of 15,000 toilets by 2022, supply sanitary napkins to all girl students in all schools in their purview. And launch an awareness campaign, addressing nine different issues pertaining to girl children, including health, hygiene, education opportunities, career counselling, etc.

Vikram, Sanjana, Sandeep PSV, Soujanya, Adarsh, Yadagiri and Durga – a small team that is doing an army’s work. A team that has mastered the art of implementing its plans. And doing something that is an effective mantra for inclusive development – engaging with people’s representatives as well as the corporate sector, working with the Government rather than against it. A strategy that makes Aloka a classic case of participatory democracy in action.

By: Usha Turaga-Revelli