Promoting Economic, Social, and Environmental
Well-being in Sonbhadra

To promote the development of progressive and sustainable villages of tomorrow embodying the pillars of sustainable development – economic, social, and environmental well-being, Development Alternatives started implementing a three-year project titled ‘LIC HFL Hriday’, funded by LIC Housing Finance, in April this year. To move towards the goal, this project aims to enhance the economic, natural, and social capital base as building blocks of five villages in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, leading to their holistic development with three specific objectives, as follows:

• Promoting environment well-being through optimising the productive potential of the local natural resource base,
• Stimulating economic development by fostering the creation of diverse livelihoods that invigorate the local economy, and
• Enabling social well-being by facilitating access to basic needs, health, and education and promoting a culture of shared benefit in the community.

Key problems

The people in the district suffer from water scarcity, lack of healthcare and employment opportunities, and other human development issues. Though the region has many rivers, it is known to be drought-prone. Tribal people in the district are forced to work as labourers, working in mines for remuneration, which does not match the market rates, or migrate to cities in search of employment.

Activities during the reporting period (April–June 2022)

1. Bal Mela:
Four festivals for children, or Bal Melas, were organised to celebrate the Environment Day. The Bal Melas aimed to aware children about the importance of the environment and environmental conservation. We conducted door-to-door mobilisation in the villages to inform the community about the event.

Bal Mela organised on the occasion of Environment Day 2022

2. Induction meetings
Induction meetings were organised in four villages to aware the community members about the project activities and the critical interventions of all stakeholders including the gram panchayat members. Approximately 250 community members participated in these meetings.

3. Health camp
A health camp was organised in Negai village to provide basic health check-ups and health aids. Households were informed by the community mobilisers and then the camp was held in a school in the village. Based on the doctor’s prescription, about 150 participants were provided with the medicine and other healthcare-related supplies.

4. SHG formation
To create and support effective and resilient institutions, such as strong and sustainable women’s self-help groups (SHGs), and help them improve their access to formal credit and livelihoods, we formed an SHG in each village. The aim was also to create awareness and enable them to avail their rights, entitlements, and opportunities.

Discussion with the interested community members for the formation of SHG group and WADI in the village Chachi Khurd

For this activity, a series of meetings was conducted with the residents and interested women were identified. The selected women were given basic induction and informed about the benefits of SHGs. Now, the field team regularly meets the SHGs to help and strengthen them.