It was a sunny day in Bhuj as we made our way to Faulaivanth village, in Abdasa block, in Kutch area of Gujarat. Seeing the arid landscape for a hundred kilometers and more, it was easy to understand why Kutch is one of the most unforgiving places on earth, with 36 of the last 90 years being drought years. Most Kutc... Read More
Little Wasima Khan, age 11 with bright, sparkling brown eyes is by far one of the liveliest characters I’ve ever met. Filled with boundless energy, you’ll find her dashing from one corner to another at Udaan Mewat’s campus. Last November, Wasima, along with about a dozen other Udaan students took part in a day-long school fair where th... Read More
This blog post was sparked off by an interesting and humorous video from the World Bank that I saw this morning (the picture above is also from the same video) which highlights a familiar problem that we face as we think about government services, particularly in two of the areas in which we work, health and education. T... Read More
More than 70 percent of the Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh, India lives below the poverty line – including KGBV student Ektarjahan and her family. On my visit to her school, which is supported by Join My Village, I met her mother Jahirul Nisa. Sadly, two of Jahirul’s sons died as teenagers and she carries this sadness with her to this da... Read More
This story is about three young siblings-- Ram, Shyam and Bandana, all of whom were affected by MDR tuberculosis. Ram & Shyam are twins. The disease affected the teenagers one after another in quick succession to justify its contiguous nature. While the disease spread fast and furiously like fire, the RNTCP team and CARE counselor wer... Read More
The story from the village is unbelievable. Rajnagar block is situated 50 kms from Chattarpur district headquarters. Khajuraho which is famous worldwide for its history, architecture and natural beauty comes within Rajnagar Block. While Rajnagar enjoys a great recognition for various reasons, Kurela, a village with population of ... Read More
Earthquakes, perhaps more than any other type of disaster, are a shelter disaster. In Nepal this is more the case than any disaster I’ve known – but the effects of the earthquake are far from simple, and the knock-on effects go beyond people just lacking a roof over their heads. During the second major e... Read More
Usha Verma is an Anganwadi worker (AWW) in Fatehpur block of Uttar Pradesh. As an Anganwadi worker, her role is to counsel the villagers and impart important health information on issues such as family planning, warning signs of possible health issues, breastfeeding, and newborn care. Usha also helps provide vaccinations for adolescent girls groups. Rec... Read More
Usha Karthikeyan of Mutharasankuppam village in Cuddalore, Tamilnadu has been involved in a small scale cashew processing business for the past 10 years. Before she got married, she knew only about raw nuts and had very little knowledge about cashew processing. She and her husband did not have any property except the house they lived in. As the... Read More
Over the past 20 years much has been done to ensure that responses to sexual violence in emergencies are put in place. Years of advocacy, lobbying and implementation on a shoe-string have ensured that gender-based and sexual violence is at least being talked about in the right places and at the right level (such as last year’s Global Summit to End Sexual Viol... Read More
Tentulipadar is an un-surveyed village in Karlapat Sanctuary in Kalahandi, Odisha. Prior to declaration of Karlapat as a Sanctuary in 1992, there were seven tribal families residing in Tentulipadar, all of whom were dependent on agriculture and NTFPs for income and survival. These tribals claim to have settled in this region even before Indepen... Read More
When I was an aid worker in southern Sudan in the 1990s, the fight for independence against Sudan had already been running for many years. It was Africa’s longest civil war - but there was hope. Hope that the fighting would one day end and South Sudan would become its own country with its own leaders, and that security, stability and deve... Read More
Mother’s milk is the best 4,667 | September 12, 2015 | HEALTH
Working in the Unorganised Sector 3,237 | June 5, 2018 | LIVELIHOOD
Children are most vulnerable during disasters 3,124 | March 25, 2017 | DISASTER RESPONSE
