Community Ownership and Development - Towards Sustainable Livelihoods!

After the interaction session on communal harmony the Bal Sansad children’s group decided to present a skit to the children of other faith on 27 th January 2018 at Manthanpada. These were the tribal children from the English Literacy Class.  The objective was to spread the message of communal harmony amongst the villagers. The ideas on the topic were given and through guidance the children took the initiative and prepared a street play. With the prior permission of Manthanpada’s English Literacy Class, Bal Sansad visited the Bastis. They welcomed the thirty children gathered, and after a brief introduction on the topic the skit began.  The children created awareness on harmony with one another through this skit. The play also gave the children from the village an opportunity to come as a group and witness the activity and performance of Bal Sansad. Children have become aware on respecting people from backgrounds of all faith and live in harmony.

On the 26 th January 2018, a session on drawing competition was held at Pali for 28 Bal Sansad children. The session began with the CCO staffs explaining the children the purpose for drawing on the three chosen issues of Pali village. These were namely, Uncleanliness & health issue, irregular water supply and lack of information on ration issues. The Bal Sansad were then made to understand the important roles each of them can play in creating awareness and as a result help solving these issues. It was decided that these drawing would be displayed at the church premises and on public places to create awareness amongst people of all religions. Three student volunteers from St. Xaviers College was present for this session and helped to monitor the drawing competition. Based on the issues the drawing would be judged by the Vice President of the Parish Council. The children were enthused and showed active participation throughout the competition which took place on Republic Da

In order to create awareness of uncleanliness among the people of Pali village, the members of the subcommittee for uncleanliness decided to request banners and posters from the Nagar Sevak of M.B.M.C- cleanliness department. They also decided to fix a common place for the youth to display the banners. A letter requesting the Nagar Sevak to provide the banners and posters was sent on the 23 rd January 2018 and in two days the subcommittee members received a positive reply. Eight big size posters were sent to the Pali CCO office. On 26 th January after the flag hosting programme, an announcement to create awareness through posters and banners was made. Youth members volunteered themselves to display the Awareness posters at common places in eight wards of the village.  The villagers were enthused at the willingness and cooperation of the Nagar Sevak and the involvement of youth to display banners and posters at common public places.

An exposure visit on candle making to Umed Organisation at Vasai as a part of the income generation program was conducted on the 27 th January 2018. Umed is an organization designed especially for the empowerment of Differently Abled persons and through guidance, the children themselves generate income source for their families. Mr. Rajesh Pereira the resource person for the program explained the different types and shapes of moulds which are used for making candles as well information on raw materials required in the process. He also gave a demo of the same. The exposure visit gave the group an opportunity to come together as a group and enhance their creativity and talents through innovative techniques in candle making. Towards the end of the programme, the 6 people who participated in the programme learnt the method to use wax formula and are keen on making candles for an income.

On 17 th Jan 2018 CSA organized a training program on Paper bag Making & Basic Sewing for fourteen Community Centre women at Muktisagar Prabhodan Kendra Hall, Uttan. Ms Anthiya Dias, a freelance artist and designer from Vasai was the resource person for the session. The main objective was to teach & provide guidance to women for promoting an alternate livelihood. Fr. Peter D’cunha Director of Snehjyot CCO, Uttan motivated the women through his speech. The first half of the session covered topics such as; the effect of plastic on the environment, to make different types of bags and envelopes from scratch, places to source the material and sell the product. In the second half, women learnt to use scrap fabric for make bags and duvets, to make flowers from fabric clippings, to cut and make basic garments, and places to source different fabrics. Next these women plan on having an exposure visit to the place from where the materials can be purchased. 

CSA trained SHG members conducted training on SHG Module II ‘Training the Trainers’ on 15 th Jan 2018 at Pali, Uttan. Self-help is a self-guided improvement - economically, intellectually or emotionally. The trainer explained the difference between an ordinary group & self-help group and its objectives through a game. Through this exercise the participants understood the benefits of an SHG and importance of team work. The functions of a SHG are regular monthly meetings, participating in solving social issues of zones /areas, increases in interaction, SHG benefits, decision making and networking with other NGOs. The members were further explained how an individual plays a vital role in the group for areas of development, leadership, motivation, and engaging in social inter-mediations benefiting the community. It is also important to build confidence, respect, and mutual understanding amongst each other and being patient to hear everyone’s views and ideas. Through a

On 11 th January 2018 a meeting was held at Pali with the CC & three issues subcommittees along with the CSA staff. A total of thirty people were present for the meeting to plan for the execution of various tasks. The chair person was the president of CC. The meeting began with reading previous meeting report by the CC secretary and preceded by two members. The following agendas were discussed: ·          Evaluating the activities done by the three subcommittees for uncleanliness & health issue, lack of information on rationing issue and irregular water supply. ·          Planning the requirements for Rationing camp, Wall painting, Banners & Posters which needs to be done. ·          Planning the requirements for the issue of septic tank, Dustbins, wall painting, posters, banners. ·          Planning the details for meeting the authority official for issue on water supply. ·          Plan for the Awareness Rally on 3 selected issues for all 9

The input session on preservation of environment was held on 7 th Dec for the Bal Sansad. The resource person Mr. Tennison Bleu, CCO staff had asked Bal Sansad to prepare creative items from waste materials and present them on 14 th Dec. 2017 at Pali as an action on input session. Each child took the initiative and interest in making the best out of the waste. The activity helped in nurturing the talent of the twenty eight children present for the session. Mr. Tenison appreciated the items that the children crafted and presented. Some of these items were decorations, paper bags, showpieces etc. The children thoroughly enjoyed the activity and felt great pride in creating these as they found this to be a personal contribution to save the environment

After many discussions and follow up meetings, on 7 th January 2018, a rally starting from Manthanpada village lower pada to upper pada, Khadi area Sonmai Talav right up to the main road was conducted by the English Literacy class students, Women (Subcommittee) youths, and Core Committee members. The rally was held to create awareness for Manthanpada villagers on cleanliness and shortage of water issue. All the sixty participants actively participated at the rally displayed creative posters. Slogans were sung and banners were displayed to create awareness of cleanliness and water issues. The planning and preparation was a huge success and the people in the ward have decided to keep their surroundings clean.