DA News Update

  
     
 

Development Solutions Branch (DSB)

  
 


l Conducted a capacity building workshop on January 20, 2012, on the subject of bank linkage for credit at TARAgram Orchha. The session was attended by 60 members of 41 Women’s Self Help Groups.

l Hosted a National Workshop of Gaushala and Cattle Breed Improvement at Manas Bhavan, Bhopal, on the 9th and 10th January, 2012. More than 1500 people from all over Madhya Pradesh participated in the workshop. The function was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Sri Sivraj Singh Chauhan and attended by three Ministers, four MPs and national leaders of the cattle movement, along with the leaders and members of MP Gaushala and the Pashu Samvardhan Board. The Chief Minister presented awards for outstanding work to 10 gaushalas, and announced that annual awards will be granted to gaushalas using innovative approaches.
 

  

 

Technology and Action for Rural Advancement (TARA)

  
 


Programme Management

l TARA commenced the three-year Rockefeller Foundation-supported SPEED (Smart Power for Environmentally sound Economic Development) Programme to develop innovative models for sustainable rural electrification.

l VE-SuRE project inaugurated a biomass gasification power plant in Behratola, Singrauli district MP on 27 January 2012.

TARA Livelihood Academy

l Inaugurated the Micro-Enterprise Development Centre (MEDC) at village Raksa, Jhansi under HP-LIFE, and initiated training on Cutting & Tailoring for 70 women at block Shahnagar (MP) and 40 women at village Odhi under DPIP, Panna.

l Conducted a 15-day training event for 90 participants of Presidents and Secretaries of Watershed Committees 2-16 January 2012 at TARAgram, Orchha under the Rajiv Gandhi Watershed Mission, Bhopal (MP).

l Organised a two-day exposure visit programme for 11 participants of Room to Read-a Girls’ Education Programme, New Delhi.

Green Products and Services

l MPREIS project that is playing the role of an aggregator by supplying cotton canvas bags to MPREIS-a shopping chain in Austria, successfully completed its first cycle.

l The TARA Environmental Monitoring Facility (TEMF) installed Rotary Club sponsored Jal-TARA filters in seven Delhi schools, providing safe drinking water to 15,000 School Children; supplied 100 Jal-TARA water testing kits to UNICEF in Phillipines, Mindanao Province.
 

  
 

Innovation Systems Branch (ISB)

  
 


l On January 4, 2012, Dr. K. Vijayalakshmi, Vice President of Development Alternatives, gave a keynote presentation entitled ‘Innovation to Empowerment and Inclusive Development - Harnessing Women Power’ for the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Training (KIIT), Bhuvaneswar, Orissa, in connection with the 99th Indian Science Congress.

l A day-long workshop on ‘Accelerating Low Carbon Pathways for Climate Change Mitigation in Bihar - Enabling a Transformation in the Brick Sector’ was organised in cooperation with the Bihar State Pollution Control Board and took place on January 31, 2012. The principal secretary, Department of Environment and Forest, has made the decision to set up a task force on the issue of cleaner brick production technologies.

l Under the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust project entitled ‘Integrating Livelihoods Approach into Conservation Strategy Being Implemented by DA, two multi-stakeholder workshops were held in the villages of Gopiyakhar and Bacheddi. The purpose of the workshops was to mobilise participation of the community to take up alternative livelihood options.
 

  
 

Communication Solutions Branch (CSB)

  
 


l The basin-South Asia secretariat elections were successfully conducted and the platform’s new secretariat comprises Development Alternatives, India; the Auroville Earth Institute, India and Practical Action, Sri Lanka.

l The TARA Akshar+ programme for 400 women has been rolled out in the Tikamgarh and Shivpuri Districts. This project, which will teach the tribal women to read and write in just 49 days and basic mathematics, is supported by the Ministry of Human Resources Development.

l DA Group participated in a Post COP Regional Debrief on Durban Outcomes 02 and 03 February 3, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka – the meeting was organised to strengthen the role of Non-State Actors in Climate change policy formulation in South Asia and enhance their capacities to influence global climate change negotiations.

  
 

 

    

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