Digest - Grassroots Chronicles
March 2024
EVENTS
World Water Day 2024: Celebrating Water for Peace
In collaboration with esteemed partners, Development Alternative hosted impactful events for World Water Day, focusing on conservation, management, and cultural significance, urging collective action for sustainable water practices.
#water for peace
Civil Society Deliberates on International Climate Finance and MDB Reforms
Development Alternatives participated in the Climate Finance Capacity Building Workshop co-organised by Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) and Climate Action Network Southeast Asia (CANSEA) from March 12 to 14 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
#ClimateFinance
Bihar Climate Action Conclave: Spearheading Transformative Change
On March 4th, 2024, the Bihar Climate Action Conclave was organised by WRI India in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation. The primary objective of the conclave was to emphasise the urgent need for fostering climate-friendly development.
#BiharClimateActionConclave
Inauguration of Slipper-Making Unit
A slipper-making unit was inaugurated to promote women’s entrepreneurship and enterprise development enhancing livelihood for women.
#WomenLivelihood
National Level Workshop on Social Innovation and Inclusive Entrepreneurship by DA's Centre for Social Innovation and Inclusive Entrepreneurship
A workshop was conducted in Mirzapur on ‘Social Innovation and Inclusive Entrepreneurship’ in partnership with State Bank of India Foundation from 23rd and 24th February 2024. The 2-day workshop was attended by 35 mid-level and senior management teams from 24 organisations from across India.
#InclusiveEntrepreneurship
Waste Segregation Training with School Students
A training session conducted in Nikoowal village to educate students about the importance and process of waste segregation at the source.
#WasteSegregation
Fourth edition of Aarya Manch held at Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh
The Aarya Manch, a platform where women e-rickshaw entrepreneurs actively engage in dialogues with local system stakeholders, held its 4th edition to celebrate the milestone of 100+ e-rickshaw entrepreneurs.
#BecomingVisibleTogether
Session on Social Innovation and Enterprise Development at NILERD
Development Alternatives’ Centre for Social Innovation and Inclusive Entrepreneurship (CSIIE) conducted a session at National Institute of Labor Economics Research and Development (NILERD) on ‘Social Innovation and Enterprise Development’ under International Training Programme (ITP) on 1st March 2024.
#SocialInnovation
Benefits and Challenges of being a Fly Ash entrepreneur in Bihar
With the rise of the infrastructure sector in India, the demand for bricks has also increased simultaneously. Hence, the production of Fly Ash and Pond Ash bricks comes as a sustainable alternative towards bridging the gap between economic development and sustainable development. Some entrepreneurs in Bihar explain why the use of fly ash bricks should be promoted, while also explaining some challenges they face in this production.
#FlyAshBricks
STORY OF CHANGE
Miss Susama Bhuyan: A Successful Maize Farmer
Miss Susama Bhuyan, a tribal farmer from Odisha, overcame poverty through training and innovation. She became a successful maize grower, inspiring others and improving the lives of her family and community.
PUBLICATIONS
National Circular Economy Roadmap for Reducing Plastic Waste in India
This plastic waste-busting roadmap is the culmination of 3 years of research by TERI, CSIR-NEERI, CSIRO, DA and UTS, Sydney. It tackles plastic pollution from all angles, offering a blueprint for a circular economy revolution!
Our Ponds Need Our Ownership to Thrive: A collaborative initiative to rejuvenate ponds in Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh
Ponds in India are dying. It is time to Revive, Rejuvenate and Restore them. Development Alternatives collaborated with various stakeholders to take on this challenge and launched an initiative “Humare Talab Humari Pehchan” to work on pond rejuvenation
Toolkit for Facilitating Micro Fly Ash Enterprises
The Toolkit for Facilitating Fly Ash Brick Enterprises is an end-to-end guide developed by Development Alternatives Group with Bihar State Pollution Control Board to support ease of setting up & financing green enterprises in Bihar. A highly customizable tool, it provides business, market and financial knowledge to enable entrepreneurs start a fly ash brick unit or expand an existing one
PERSPECTIVES (Blog)
The Need for Novel Forms of Learning to Plan for Resilient Water Systems in Human Settlements
In this blog, Zeenat Niazi discusses the need for novel forms of learning to plan for resilient water systems in human settlements. Resilient systems require flexible internal structures that can adapt or transform to deliver desired outcomes in response to changing circumstances. Learning mechanisms within governance and management systems are critical to ensure adaptive capacities. However, most monitoring and evaluation systems used by local governance in India are merely trackers and do not bridge with learning to support planning and plan implementation. The editorial suggests four areas of consideration to address this issue.
VIDEO
Protecting our Lifeline River Ganga
Ganga impacts and touches millions of lives through its journey. But the ever growing tonnage of plastic being dumped into the river has made it one of the top 10 rivers in the world to carry plastic to the ocean.
This video highlights the initiatives taken up by Development Alternatives in the cities of Haridwar and Prayagraj in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh respectively, to challenge the plastic being dumped into the river by directly engaging with a variety of stakeholders including government officials, faith-based institutions, civil society organisations, volunteer groups and academicians.