Yuva Rural Association

ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018

Plot No. 23, Datir Building, New Amar Nagar, Chikhali Road, Manewada Ring Road, - 440034 Mob. +91 7083328154 OUR VISION "An empowered and capable society with all human rights; equity, peace, justice and security; without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, ethnicity, religion, gender, age and language; leading towards Sustainability".

OUR MISSION "YRA is committed to facilitate social transformation through the socio-economic, empowerment of The Rural Poor by establishing their access over rights & resources that will promote social equity, ecological balance and enable them to participate in good and responsive governance through their Organizations and Institutions".

CORE VALUES OF YRA Gender Justice : We strongly promote gender equity and engaged in building a gender snsitive society. Social Justice : We are committed to achieve inclusive development without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, ethnicity, religion, economic status etc. We strongly believe the empowerment processes, of all such social sectors will bring in total social justice. Democracy & Secularism : It is our mandate that social division on the basis of race, religion, cast creed do not hurdle the development process. We always practice and promote democratic approaches in our work wherein all the stake holders are involved and have a say in matters concerning them. Thus, we practice democratic and secular approach in our work. Ecological Justice : We know that the nature is supreme and its sustainability only can enable human sustainability. Hence, all our efforts must be towards sustain our ecology and environment. Honesty & Integrity : is part and partial of our work culture. We ensure all the members working with us follow this culture and strengthen us. Profession and passion in our work goes hand in hand. Our honesty & integrity, including all above values, is nonnegotiable.

Finance & Accounts Policy

Wistle Blower's Anti-sexual Policy Harassment YRA'S POLICIES Policy YRA has mandated own policies for the smooth functioning

as below Gender Staff Policy Policy

Conflict of Interest Policy INDEX

BACKGROUND – YUVA RURAL ASSOCIATION ....

OUR VISION ...

OUR MISSION ...

FOREWARD ...

CORE VALUES OF YRA ...

YRA'S POLICIES ...

MAJOR INTERVENTIONS OF YRA ...

DESI COTTON INITIATIVE ...

ADDRESSING ANEMIA AMONG WOMEN & GIRLS ...

STRENGTHENING IRRIGATION SYATEM ...

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION PROCESS ...

HOLISTIC RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME ...

WASH (WATER,SANITATION & HYGIENE) INTERVENTIONS ...

WOMEN'S COUNSELING CENTRE ...

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS ...

OUR BOARD MEMBERS ...

GOVERNANCE ...

HUMAN RESOURCES ...

OUR DONORS ...

AWARD & RECOGNITION ...

AUDIT REPORT ...

1 Background

Last sixteen years YRAhas been restlessly contributing in development of rural and tribal areas of region directly and across the state indirectly with the collaborating partners. We feel proud to claim that we have been successful and instrumental in changing the lives of thousands of rural poor, dalit and tribal people as farmers, landless, women and youth. YRA believes that the concept of sustainable livelihood offers more coherent and integrated approach to the poverty.

This year also maximum planned efforts of YRA were focused on "family" as unit. Convergence of government schemes was one of the main operational strategies we adopted. Direct participation of the direct constituency groups also is another operational strategy we adopted in our work as usual. YRAalso is engaged with many such processes at state and national level and so has the good rapport with many actors in this field.

Yuva Rural Association continues to work hard for the development of the rural & tribal poor. The zeal to empower the deprived sections of rural and tribal society continues and YRA is intervening in the areas of livelihoods, gender, natural resource management and advocacy to achieve its goals for the betterment of the constituencies. The organization has tried to consolidate its growth and now has four district offices - , Parbhani, Bhandara and Nagpur - catering to the direct interventions in the 8 districts of Vidarbha.

YUVA Rural Association (YRA) evolved out of the rural intervention initiated by YUVA -i.e. Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action, Mumbai. YUVA initiated a process of capacity building programs through networking of grass- roots voluntary development organizations in Vidarbha region in 1994. Under this a Vidarbha Development Perspective Plan was prepared and implemented for a period of 6 years. It was comprehended that apart from the Liaoning and capacity building role, the situation compelled YUVA to intervene directly on the ground on certain developmental issues and thereby rural interventions of YUVA took off in 1998. Gradually, it became the rural unit of YUVA. In 2002, Yuva Rural Association was registered under society registration act, Madhya Pradesh as an independent organization.

YRA initiated direct interventions in Madhya Pradesh (MP), Gujarat and Maharashtra mainly in issues revolving around overall rural development but by 2006-07 withdrew from MP and Gujarat Due to lack of capable and committed local leadership.

Since 2008-09 YRAhas been focusing on the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. YRAhas established its own identity and credibility in the sector by experimenting and establishing successful Models of overall transformation of ruraland tribal territories.

YRA's first Strategic Plan was developed in 2003 for next three years i.e. up to 2005. YRA intends to be a relevant organization in the changing context by experimenting and designing new models of interventions. In the recent years with rapid socio-economic changes, YRA propelled to peep into the activities enumerated in previous strategic plan, successes and failures. Comprehending these aspects, it plans to design a new strategic plan to adapt to the changing context and compliance to new policies - both nationally and internationally.

YRA has been demonstrating new alternatives in the social sector. The organization has been successful in evolving with the organizations and Institutions of the constituent communities at local, district, regional and state level, capacitating them as empowerment process. YRAhas been developing a cadre of volunteers to enrich strength of the organization to achieve envisaged goals

YRA introduced its new Strategic plan in the year 2016, aligning its interventions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Sustainable Development Goals have set a benchmark globally on the serious

2 issues faced by the world. In order to decrease these issues, every nation ought to work towards the 17 Global goals to make our planet a better place to dwell in.

YRA has been majorly working in the rural areas of Vidarbha & Marathwada districts of Maharashtra since year 2002. There is a need of making these rural communities self-sustainable and self-reliable in order to bring in positive change. Keeping this as the objective, the theme "Better Livelihood Promotion towards Poverty Alleviation" was selected as a focused intervention for the period 2016-2020. The core purpose of the strategic plan is to facilitate empowerment of the under-developed, distressed communities and provide them service towards their overall development. Since Better Livelihood Promotion towards Poverty Alleviation is a broader term, YRA has categorized the broader theme into programs which will ensure sustainable growth in the Rural and Tribal communities.

The programs include sustainable agriculture through strengthening irrigation, soil, water & forest conservation, Small ruminants based livelihood, health programs, quality education, sanitation and safe drinking water, non - farm micro enterprises & Financial inclusion.

Presently,YRAexists with more than 525 villages in 18 blocks in 8 districts of Vidarbha region and Parbhani district Marathwada region of Maharashtra. All these interventions have been addressing and resolving various development issues in these villages.

H H H

3 Foreword... Yuva Rural Association is evolved out of the need to address various development issues identified during the process of Capacity Building and Networking of Civil Society O r g a n i z a t i o n s in Vidarbha region during 1994-2000. The i s s u e s in adjoining districts of Madhya Pradesh and need of continuation of interventions after rehabilitation phase in Gujarat it was realized that a regional level interventions covering Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat need to be planned. In this scenario YRA was registered as Society under MP Society Registration Act 1973, in May 2002. Last 16 years YRAhas been helping people help themselves through various levels of interventions such as education, training, exposures, demonstrations, policy level interventions, grass-root advocacy, policy advocacy, actions leading towards change through building people's organizations and people's institutions.

Right from the beginning YRA developed Strategic Plans those guided and directed YRA teams focus their energy. In the course of timeYRAclosed processes in Gujrat and Madhya Pradesh and currently focusing on Vidarbha and Marathwada region of Maharashtra strategically.

YRA's focus remained on Millennium Development Goals from the perspective of Human Rights and now we focus on Sustainable Development Goals mandated by UN and our own Government. Not all but certain SDGs such as No Poverty, Good Health and Well Being, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Clean Water and Sanitation are the motives. YRA's primary constituencies are the farmers, Tribal, youth, women and children from the vulnerable communities and Below Poverty Line families. Our approach is to facilitate the poor, vulnerable and empower them so that they become actors of their own development collectively.

Strategically YRA decided to reduce dependency on foreign funds and increase local funding support that came true in this particular financial year. Almost up to 90% funding support is coming to YRA from CSR, which are Indian funds. We experience the CSR work culture is faster result oriented and look for quick delivery which should be accepted, but the “development! is a process that has element of slow steady and long term link which requires time and hand-holding for attitudinal change among those who really need such support.

The overall environment is not enabling for the sector from various angles but still YRA has strengthened base in this particular year.

I wish to share my appreciation to my grass-root champions and overall staff for their tireless work and deep commitments. It takes lot of courage and requires passion to reach most disadvantaged for making change in their lives by addressing local politics and the whole attitudinal hurdles. My Board has been always supportive, reflective, critical and strategic that encourages us. I thank all my Governing Council and General Council members for their continuous support.

On behalf of all in YRAI take this opportunity to thank all funding partners in this particular year and expect their continuous support in the serious cause.

Datta Patil Director General Yuva Rural Association

1 4 Major interventions of YRAin 2017-2018 Desi Cotton Initiative Yuva RuralAssociation, in collaboration with Indian Cotton Network is promoting indigenous cotton seeds among the selected farmers in the Vidarbha region. This is under wider paradigm of Peasant's movement to preserve 's traditional farming practices and conserve the rich biodiversity of indigenous crop varieties. The goal is to review and rejuvenate our dying villages as cotton is the main cash crop of Vidarbha. The initiative also aimed to promote the use of indigenous seeds to get the best cotton quality. This was tried in Dhanaj, Bembala, Shemlai, Ladegaon villages of Karanja lad block of of Maharashtra. In year 2017-2018, it has supported 25 cotton growers with Phule Dhanwantri variety (Parbhani Variety of cotton). Use of this verity has drastically reduced input cost of the cultivation and farmers have saved Rs. 6,000.00 per acre per season. This has helped farmers to opt and replicate desi cotton cultivation practices. One of the major limitations to promote this variety was to face severe pink boll worm attack on all cotton crops. It affected the yield drastically. Further fair and assured market was another problem faced.

Monitoring visit in Phule Dhanwantari plot at Bembala Cotton growers meeting at Dhanaj Village AddressingAnemiaAmong Women and Girls

It is observed severe anemia among women in rural areas. To address this issue at least in the villages wherein other development interventions of YRA exist, YRA developed comprehensive intervention with TheAnemia Free Vidarbha Forum (AFVF). It is to empower village stakeholders on preventive and curative measures from anemia. The programme is presently being run in 38 villages in 5 blocks of 4 districts in Maharashtra. It has reached up to 1540 families through this programme. The major components in this programme are awareness camps, health checkup camps, establishment of kitchen gardens, maintaining and use of vegetables in daily food. This program helped stakeholders, especially women, to ensure proper treatment on anemia at the preventive level and curative level if found somebody with it. The team organized series of training programs in Wardha,Washim, Parbhani and Bhandara districts and 12 health camps in four districts. There has been tremendous growth in kitchen gardens since the program implementation.

However, there were challenges in implementation especially, cultural, religious and behavioral problem with regard to set up of kitchen garden, limited cooperation of government health department and natural problem of lack of space and water for kitchen garden establishment. Moreover, as YRAs core expertise exhibits strong communication and convincing mobilization strategy, it has completed its goal of empowering people.

5 Success Story

Kitchen garden being visited by Public awareness program held for females at Agriculture expert AmbegaonVillage of Parbhani District.

CASE STORY “”Shaletil Parasbagh “Our diet is a bank account. Good food choices are School Kitchen Garden good investments” - Bethany Frankel Kamtha, Karanja Lad, Washim MANISHAGANSHYAMINDORE - "AKITCHEN GARDENADVOCATE"

Manisha begins her day at 10:30AM Kamtha ZP Primary School by cleaning the premises of the school, classrooms, preparing Mid Day Meal, and finishes by 2:30 PM after serving the warm mid-day meal to children. She has been committed to this service for the past 4 years. Her roots are fromAmravati city 30 km away from Kamtha. She was married to her husband Ghansham Indore. She mentions her expression of how she misses city glamour but has adjusted herself to village life and is happy that she is now working in a school as a helper, she is, even more, happier that because of her work in school she is able to spend more time with her three daughters as they study in the same school. Her family had been ever supporting to her and has never complained because of non-availability at home. She says "We want to support my daughters to the fullest of our capacity to provide children with a good education, I have seen poverty and it makes an individual vulnerable and weak in the society. I don't want my children to face any such situation, they need to be educated where they can empower themselves and provide for themselves".

Manisha is responsible for the mid day meal to the children of Kamtha. Kitchen garden through the HDB Financial Services WASH Project in Washim saw School Sevikas like Manisha to be included as stakeholders who would support the activities as well as strengthen the implementation in the right way. The process also aimed at physical improvement in the school system by introducing nutritious to the regular

6 supplies of mid-day meal. The transformation of theschool environment under WASH Project including the better sanitation facilities, planting of flowers and vegetable gardens, emphasis on cleanliness closer links with parent and community members, and better turn-out of students, help generate high morale.

The kitchen garden is used as an approach to have students, teachers, school sathi work together, at the same time improve the nutrition, reduce expenditure on the purchase of vegetables and increase the productivity of the underutilizes resources and assets. Because of the rural setting most of the students and Manisha had some prior experience in farming through an interactive process with an horticulture extension specialist they shared knowledge and identified the need for: Vegetable bed raising, Spacing of seedlings, Orientation of the beds, Ensuring seed quality and seed selection and multiplication techniques, ways to supply water at regular intervals, the need of fencing, weeding techniques, the use of natural fertilizers such as compost. The small size if the plots at the proximity to the school and the limited labour requirement were not perceived and an extra burden and the workload was mostly performed by Manisha. She volunteered for the most important activities like timely provision of water, fencing and protection from monkeys.

The establishment of the kitchen garden and adding to the skills of the student directly involved in the activities was only one way of building their capacity. This was not only limited of growing vegetables but quickly spread to include other issues they felt to be important. Different ways of preparing the vegetables were discussed among Manisha, School Sathi and Students for the ways that are more nutritious and healthy. Issues regarding general health were also brought up with parents. The initiative also saw the record the inputs and time spent on the kitchen gardening on the one hand and the produce they obtained.

Akitchen garden can be a catalyst to introduce a community-based approach and for setting up small groups, especially women group. This is a critical factor in the culture where physical and social mobility of woman is limited. For the children, the garden provides a context for understanding seasonality and life cycles, an opportunity to work cooperatively on the real task. The garden created a common experience to build on in multiple settings- from class-room to celebration. Students understand the role of food in life. The garden allows them to improve nutrition and highlight healthy foods. It offers the opportunity to teach life skills such as gardening and cooking. Students value the garden- of pride and ownership which discouraged vandalism. The skills and messages students learn about healthy food in the school garden can be transferred back to their homes soon.

7 TestimonialsaboutYRA

l Mr.Shankar Nande "Because of this ongoing social work awareness for severe disease like anemia among people has been created. We are ready to help you in every possible way in this health camp."

l Principal, Zilla Parishad School, Bhamdevi "This creation of "Parsabag? (kitchen garden) program in the school premises made it possible in providing vegetables in everyday meal for students which will help them in their intellectual growth."

l Female from Bhiwari village "We have never gone through any such blood tests or health checkups before this. Also there have never been any such health checkups conducted by government or any other organizations. This was the first social organization who took the responsibility of doing such social work."

Strengthening irrigation system Yuva Rural Association in collaboration with EdelGive Foundation is creating protective irrigation system in Ramtek block of Nagpur district in the Vidarbha region by providing them the Diversion Based Irrigation. This intervention aims at strengthening agriculture-based livelihood through environment-friendly water resource development, Soil Health Management and promoting agro-allied activities as nonfarm based livelihood amongst the small and marginal farmers in the rain-fed area. Diversion based irrigation is locally called PHAD, is a simple technique which do not require power for lifting water from water bodies and therefore it is affordable to poor farmers. During this year 6 such PHAD units were constructed in the Ramtek block of Nagpur district. 63 farmers benefited from this project and 237 acres of land has been brought under protective irrigation.

Sr.no Name of Name of Farm area in acres No. of farmers covered Block Village 1 Ramtek Bhandarbodi 42 11 2 Ramtek Kirnapur 38 12 3 Ramtek Asoli 38.5 11 4 Ramtek Murda 38 9 5 Ramtek Ghoti (R) 44.5 11 6 Ramtek Hasapur 36 9 Total 237 63

The outcome of this intervention is seen as 63 Farmers started taking Rabi crops due to which altogether 68 farming families with 272 populations are directly benefited worth Rs. 12,000 per family average additional net income annually due to taking second crop as water availability has been increased. Green fodder availability for livestock increased by minimum 3 months and Groundwater level in the area has been increased by 15%.

8 Phad Construction at Murda Village The results of PHAD constructed. Organic Certification Process

Altogether 500 farmers from Karanja-lad block in Washim district are being facilitated in group for Sustainable agriculture mainly transforming from chemical to organic agriculture in two years with the help of IEC material which was prepared by YRA for sustainable agriculture campaign program in Vidarbha during January 2016 to December 2017. YRA initiated organic Certification process under PGS for the same 500 farmers from January 2017 onwards and it is still in process. Two years have been completed and where in first year green certification has been completed and final orange certificate is due in next Kharip season. The agriculture produce of these farmers is being tried to link up with open markets. Success Story Yeshwant Namdeo Sautkar, Male, 52 Kurhad, Karanja-lad, Washim

Yeshwant Sautkar is a resident of Kurhad village in karanja lad taluka of Washim district. He owned a truck in the early 1990s and used to be a logistic trucker in Nagpur. Back then his family of wife and three daughters used to live in Nagpur where he used to run his small business of transportation & logistics. Conditions were not that good in those days but since daughters were young the expenses of their schooling and other was minimal. In the late 90s he had to shift to Kurhad with his family because of economic reasons and the downfall in his business. When he shifted to kurhad he didn't owned any agricultural land, so he started purchasing lands with whatever

money he left from his previous business. The very first piece of land he bought for agricultural purpose was 3 acres. As other farmers he used to follow the farming trends and gain livelihood. With passing years he gradually realized that he needs to hold maximum land holding so that the overall income would increase that he requires to run his family, educate his daughters etc. Today he owns 12.5 acres of land which are of the good pieces available in kurhad village.

Nana, what people call him in the village, got in touch with Yuva ruralAssociation in 2013 in the Sustainable agriculture project. The journey with the organization taught him many things related to agriculture and changed his perspective towards business model. He enrolled himself as transforming farmers from traditional chemical farming to organic farming. He decided to give 2 acres of his land under organic production under the PGS India certification process. Since 2016 he is following the rules and regulations under PGS certification and cultivating crops as organic produce.

As a farmer his expectations were also very basic- to get market to the produce and a good price. He also became a part of YRA?s Producer Company named "Vidarbha Agriculture Producer Company Limited". 2016 he got all technical support for his green gram crop which was cultivated organically. The pest attack on his crop was very heavy compared to neighboring plots as the quality of the produce was good. He struggled and managed to get control over the pest attack by following the practices told by YRA. In the last year he produced pigeon pea (toor) in his land organically. This was

9 the period when the market substantially dropped for toor, he was sure that he would not earn any profit if he sells it in open market, and hence he approached to YRA for market linkage. As earlier years, VAPCL was not running any procurement center for government and henceYRAdecided to procure his toor for internal usage through VAPCL.

He produced 7.14 quintal of toor which was purchased on credit by VAPCLat a price higher than the market rate. During that period of year the market rate for Toor per quintal was Rs. 4200 whereas we offered him 1000 Rs more @5200Rs/quintal. His annual income increased by 7140 Rs only because of proper market linkage.

This money was used by him for his daughter's education purpose and the additional income was used for his family. He is happy that he got the opportunity to be associated withYRA Holistic Rural Development Programme

The program is being implemented under CSR support of HDFC Bank in Parbhani district mainly in Pathri block (3 villages) and Selu block (2 Villages). As its name reveals that the project aims to create sustainable communities while empowering them on developmental activities. The project demonstrates and implement some of the innovative technologies in the field of education, livelihood, natural resource management etc. the agenda behind these activities is to empower stakeholder to keep on sustaining himself/herself in future based on the foundations created under this project.

YRA focused more on promoting equal access to land, water, forests, energy and the other sources for the poor and marginalized to enable them to have access to adequate livelihood opportunities from the human rights perspective. A sustainable and complete improvement in the way of life of the rural and tribal people can only be attained through the promotion of sustainable livelihoods and income generation. In the geographical areas that YRA works in, this can be achieved through generation and equitable distribution of resources for the people to undertake income generating activities. The main livelihood interventions undertaken include sustainable agriculture and organic farming activities, kitchen gardens, agro-allied activities including dairy, goatery, poultry, agro-processing units, and training and capacity building activities to develop skills for undertaking livelihoods. Some of the major activities have been highlighted here as follow.

10 118 Since there have been tremendous and pioneering work in Parbhani, limitations are inevitable. Henceforth we had to witness with limitations such as limited support from government, community contribution, and individualistic approach of people, political interference etc. one of the major challenges in villages is organizing and establishing demonstrations. Here stakeholder thinks that it is a government scheme and therefore, everyone should get the benefit. When it comes to contribution, stakeholders get backward. Likewise,YRAhas been addressing and streamlining issues.

12 My name is Mr. Subhash Haridas Ambat aged- 31 years old. Living in the village named Patoda (Gangakinara) under Pathri block of Parbhani district. I have a family consisting of 6 members. My wife (Urmila -28 years) two childrens (Nilesh -11 years & Nikita 9 years). My parents are also residing with me. By occupation I am a small farmer having 3 acres of agriculture land where I grow crops like, cotton, soybean, sugar cane and Jowar. Apart from these crops I have grown up Guava in my field. In addition, I have kept 3 good quality cows and a calf for milking and 2 bullocks for plowing purpose. Purely my family livelihood is depends upon my said agricultural production and milk. I support my children to study well because I and my wife are less educated.

Since I have some domestic animals for my livelihood purpose but unable to afford a grass cutter and compel to feed my livestock without cutting the fodder which made more wastage in each feeding.

Meanwhile, I heard that YRA is working in our village with the support of HDFC Bank. They have multiple activities for famers and for their livelihood development. So I thought that, I will request YRApeople and get it.

I met Mr. Siddheswar (Village Facilitator) and requested him to avail the grass cutter machine from the project with needed contribution. Then Mr. Siddheswar had placed my name in the project office for necessary process. After that, he asked me contribute Rs.5000/- against which I received receipt from YRAand I received the grass cutter after 15 days.

Now I am using grass cutter since January 2018 for feeding my livestock. There is no wastage of fodder now. All my livestock became healthier compare to before. There is change in milk production also, earlier I used to get 37-38 liters per day but now I am getting 41-42 liters.

I am very glad to receive the grass cutter machine from YRA which I had been longing to afford it by myself. So I extend my gratitude toYRAand HDFC Bank for their handholding support.

13 BhagwatAshroba Sakhre is one of the villagers ofAmbegaon of Selu block in Parbhani district of Maharashtra State. He is a small farmer holding 2 acres of land for his livelihood. He is residing with joint family. He cultivates crops like Cotton, Turmeric and Soybean. His family fully trusts on the agriculture production. Last year they were unable to have much crop yield due to erratic rainfall in the area.

Bhagwat says “YuvaRuralAssociation has been involved in social development activities in our village since two years and conducted many program activities for the betterment of people such as, women empowerment, sustainable agriculture development, introduction of renewable energy equipment's, supporting allied activities to needy people groups etc.” He was having a problem of soil erosion in his agricultural land when rain fall occurs. In each season soil erosion arises due to rain and sloppy land pattern. The fertile soil of his land degraded in each season due to rain which causes fewer yields in each season. So he requested Yuva Rural Association staff to have one Recharge Pit in his land to recharge ground water also control the soil erosion. Due to his request they were agreed and dug one recharge pit in the field. The size of the recharge pit is 25 feet width and 21 feet depth.

Because of recharge pit work, nearby bore well water table has been increased, soil erosion controlled, moisture increased in nearby area and the stored water became accessible for domestic animals for drinking. In this year he is expecting more yields due to this recharge pit. He says “This is an excellent privilege that the YuvaRuralAssociation & HDFC bank given to me, so I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks from my end.”

TestimonialstoYRA n Smt.Sunita Gopne, SHG President, Niwali "I am very glad that through YRA we received guidance to form our SHG. We always felt bad about the migration that we had to do for earning. It affects our children education; we don't want them to be illiterate like us. We dream of creating some small business here in our village so that We will not have to go out of our village. This dream will come true in the near future" n Shri Shrikant Gube, Headmaster, ZP Primary Ambegaon Diger on the occasion of WASH Kit distribution "Children you are privileged that on the occasion of Children's Day you are able to receive the good things only the children of cities are able to get. It is your responsibility that you must continue to do what you have learned today and must also tell your parents the same." n Shri B.R Kundgir,District Education Officer , Parbhani "I must admit the fact that the quality of construction of the new classroom even surpasses the government standards of constriction. By this initiative I promise you all that I will take full responsibility of getting a new teacher as well as to get a new provision of classrooms in the coming days."

14 WASH(Water Sanitation and Hygiene) Interventions

These interventions are around the needs of a basic foundation of inculcating best practices on safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. It is being implemented with 1400 families residing in 4 villages under Karanja lad block under Washim district. There have been 2 major trainings on ensuring better hygiene practices with five schools. The training aimed to focus on children and parents both. Therefore, it has been received by 342 students' with 38 parents. Moreover there were people's awareness programmes, child parliament and establishment of Kitchen gardens as substitute activities to bring irreversible change. People?s awareness programmes involved various themes like, usage of sanitation units and health risks associated with it, safe drinking water and water borne diseases etc. There has been a good response from community as well as it was attainted by 940 stakeholders from five villages. Child parliaments have been formed in 5 schools with 30 students. Kitchen gardens have ensured that there is continuous intake of nutritious food for 200 children in five schools.

Love is the ultimate meaning of everything around us. It is not a mere sentiment; it is truth; it is the joy that is at the root of all creation. - Rabindranath Tagore

School Sathi Pallavi Rahul Banode (left) with her mother in law Mandabai Banode CASE STORY – “Moolanchi Pallavi Taai” School Sathi- Village Sirsoli, Kamargaon, Washim. Moolanchi Pallavi Taai” is the term villagers of Sirsoli often use to address YRA! s School Sathi Pallavi Banode. In Marathi “Taai” means elder sister and Moolanchi means “Children”. Pallavi has earned this title because of her loving and ever smiling approach with children in the village. Most of the children are associated with her because of the HDB Financial Services Project in their village where she works as School Sathi. The Project addressed to the ever struggling issue of sanitation facility for the school children in Sirsoli! s Zilla Parishad School by providing anew sanitation unit with running water.The school with 23 students now has access to clean and safe toilets. The project wouldn't have been successful if it had not introduced resources like Pallavi. As a School Sathi she was trained for WASH programs -Hand wash, utility of sanitation units, do's and don'ts for sanitation units, Bal Sansad (Child Parliament) and Kitchen Garden in School Initiative.

15 Pallavi is now 23 years of age and is from Dhaigaon Gowande village in district . She was married to Rahul Baban Banode 3 years ago and has been living in Sirsoli ever since. Pallavi now lives with her husband, father in-law and mother in-law. The family earns their basic income from farming and survives on their 3 acre farming with selling few of the produces and utilizing some for themselves. Mandabai BabanBanode works as anaganwadi sevika in the village. It was then when YRA organized a joint meeting with Sirsoli Schools Management Committee, Head Master, School Teachers and Anganwadi staffs. The meeting was to discuss the role of School Sathi and who as per them will be the right person to hold the responsibility of School Sathi. Pallavi's name was suggested by her mother in-law Mandabai as she new her that she would fit into the role perfectly. Manadabai says “Pallavi is smart; she can understand the concepts and had always the zeal to connect with children. Therefore I was confident that she would be selected for this role”. She was selected with few other nominees and were called for round of interviews at YRA! s Kamargaon Office. After detailed discussion with selected members Pallavi was selected as one of the School Sathi for the WASH Project-Washim. Pallavi underwent training for WASH program, Formation of Child Parliament and Development of Kitchen Garden in schools.

16 Impact of the project

17 TestimonialstoYRA n " Dr.S.R.Nande, TalukaHealth Officer,Karanja Lad taluka "It?s a good initiative your organization has undertaken to address the anemia, you will get support from health department." n " Mr.Dhaberao, Block Education Officer "This is a great initiative your organization is taking in the five villages, all the best for the activity, I am always there for any kind of support. Think of strengthening the SMC?s of the five villages you are working in." n " Mr.GajananAhamdabadkar,Zilla Parishad Member,Washim "I am always happy to help for development activities ifYRAplans in Karanja-Lad." n " Mr.Prasad Unthwal, Reporter Lokmat, PunyaNagri "It feels nice to know that your organization is working for people's benefit and providing them Safe drinking water."

ody was ever CASE STORY- “For Cleanness of B from a due "Aamchi Swaach Shala." esteemed to proceed , to society, and School Sanitation Unit-Malegaon, reverence to God Kamargaon, Washim to ourselves”. - Francis Bacon

Today the all the 83 children of Zilla Pardishad Middle School of Malegaon are celebrating the installation of new sanitation unit. The same children a year ago had a different look wherein the old sanitation units were ill kept and spoilt with human excreta, foul smell of the urines because of this most of the younger students used to do defecate in the open and the young girls would rush back home to relieve themselves. Students like Kushi Chauhan (11yrs) and Swapnil Karade (14yrs) had the desire to change this situation but were helpless as children subjected to the environment presented to them by the authorities and educational department. Kushi says that "there were times when girls had to be careful as the defunct units provided no protection from visibility while they used the unhygienic toilet there were also times when fellow girls used to stand guard while the other used the dilapidated toilet". However, construction of a new unit was not enough; YRA believed that there should be proper education on the WASH components in schools involving the School Management Committee, Head Master, Anganwadi worker, Parents and the students so that the toilets that are installed are actually used and continually maintained.

The combination of poor sanitation facilities and open defecation is a concern for both environment and human health. Poor health due to inadequate sanitation is a byproduct of a complex human environment cycle; public defecation in open fields enters and contaminates water sources, and these polluted water sources interact with crops, food, and flies among others and eventually transfer their contamination to humans. This cycle can be broken through installation of adequate sanitation measures, such as latrines and toilets which was achieved through WASH Project-Washim with support of HDB Financial Services. The Project supported the construction of new sanitation units in five villages in Karanja Block of Washim district of Maharashtra state. One among the five selected village was Malegaon with more than 204 households. The new structure is a 300 sqft structure with

18 separate space for girls and boys. Each space has 4 urinals and a WC for the students and separate provision with western seat is done for the students with disability. The whole unit has supplied with running water with a storage tank of 500 liters.

Swapnil says "the new sanitation unit has brought about a sense of ownership among the students as they have seen it being constructed before their eyes and some have even passed the bricks to the workers while the construction was in progress. What we like the most is the vibrant color and the slogan written on the walls". The most popular slogan is "Swachata theva" which means "Keep Clean". Rohan Ghate (14) is the health minister of the school; the ministry was by the process of election done for the Child Parliament or the Bal Sansad in each school under the project. It is the responsibility of Rohan to make sure that during break all the students are assembled at the hand wash station for hand washing with soap before and after Mid-Day-Meal. He also seeks assistance from his teacher Kiran Sir to maintain discipline. There were no hand washing station before and no practice of hand washing among the students. Now the hand wash stations and the urinals have running water this keeps the toilets odor free and clean. Rohan also fines Rs. 2 upon the students with untidy appearance and unhygienic habits, the collected money is submitted to Ishika Karde who uses the funds to purchase soaps for Hand wash stations.

Women's Counseling Centre

This activity of YRA is part of massive processes of women's empowerment since 1999 aiming to address and resolve cases against gender bias and empower women to fight back with the social constraints posed by culture, religion, ethics and codes. This centre is being run since 2002 in Bhandara district. YRA has empowered 15000 women and resolved 7000 cases of vulnerable women. In year 2017-2018, YRA organized 7 trainings and workshops to empower women community. Additionally, there have been 45 social awareness camps in 58 villages of 2 blocks. We have targeted 10.990 households in its reach. Out of these households, 290 households have filed new complaints about the issue they are facing. As mentioned earlier as well, YRA's strength lies in communication and mobilization, it could mobilize 28 women have walked down to the government office and have registered 15 new cases.

19 Sustainable Development Goals

On September 25th 2015, most of the countries adopted set of goals toend poverty , protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all as a part of new sustainable development goals. Each goal pertains to specific targets to be achieved over the next 15 years. TheSustainable Development Goals ( SDGs ) consist of 17 global goals set by theUnited Nations in 2015. Achieving all 169 targets are said to be a signal of accomplishment of all 17 goals. The SDGs cover social and economic development issues pertaining to poverty, hunger, health, education,climate change, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, urbanization, environment and social change.Yuva Rural Association contributes in accomplishing this targets by working with aspects like livelihood promotion and poverty alleviation, quality education, gender and social equity, clean water and sanitation to name a few projects like Biogas chamber installations in villages, Kitchen garden, Phad systems (Irrigation techniques in farms), installing toilets, etc. For the instance, it facilitates the process of development through a broad perspective of sustainable livelihood promotion with an integrated approach focusing rural and tribal constituencies-(women, youth, children, Dalits, landless, small and marginal farmers, people living below the poverty line). It has initiated projects like Biogas chamber installations in villages, Kitchen garden, Phad systems (Irrigation techniques in farms), installing toilets, etc

Quality Education Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to improving people's lives and sustainable development. Major progress has been made towards increasing access to education at all levels and increasing enrolment in schools particularly for women and girls. Basic literacy skills have been improved tremendously, yet effective efforts are needed to make even greater strides achieve universal education goal.YRAdoes focus on Quality Education.

Gender Equality While the world has achieved progress towards gender equality and empowerment of women under the Millennium Development Goals (including equal access to primary education for girls and boys), women and girls continue to suffer discrimination and violence in every part of the world. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. It is believed that providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large. YRA consciously promotes and works hard for Gender Equality all over it's spread.

20 Clean Water and Sanitation Safe, clean and accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in. There seems to be sufficient fresh water on the planet to achieve this. But due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, every year millions of people, especially children die due to diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene. Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation have negatively impacted food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world. Drought afflicts some of the world! s poorest countries, worsening hunger and malnutrition. YRA strategically in to achieving this goal.

Affordable and Clean Energy Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today. Be it for jobs, security, climate change, food production or increasing incomes, access to energy for all is essential. Sustainable energy is opportunity – it transforms lives, economies and the planet. Biogas promotion and solar power are two major activitiesYRAis in to.

Livelihood and poverty alleviation YRA focuses on promoting equal access to land, water, forests, energy and the other sources for the poor and marginalized to enable them to have access to adequate livelihood opportunities from the human rights perspective. A sustainable and complete improvement in the way of life of the rural and tribal people can only be attained through the promotion of sustainable livelihoods and income generation. In the geographical areas that YRA works in, this can be achieved through generation and equitable distribution of resources for the people to undertake income generating activities.

21 OUR BOARD MEMBERS

Dr.Mrunalini Fadnavis- President Dr Fadnavis has PhD in Economics and has been associated with Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Nagpur since 1983 and in 2003 she was appointed as the Principal. She is a renowned economist and associated with National & International forums and organizations. She is now The Vice- Chancellor of the prestigious Solapur University. Dr Mrunalini Fadnavis is appointed as the Vice-chancellor of Solapur University.

Ms. Seemantinee Khot- Vice President Sustainable Development Professional: Equity, livelihoods and Corporate Social Responsibility.Over three decades of experience in the development sector, 20 years of direct implementation with NGOs, 7 years of Bilateral Aid and UN assignments and 7 years in CSR and Sustainability Consulting. Completed several professional assignments across all the continents.

Mr.Laxmikant Padole- Secretary Mr. Padole is the Director & Head of operations of Neem Foundation Research and Technology development Centre, Nagpur. He has developed & implemented several innovative ideas in the development of Neem processing machineries, Neem products, and awareness among the farming community from the year 2000.

Dr. Deeplaxmi Kulkarni -Joint Secretary Dr. Kulkarni has completed her PH.D. In Human Rights and has 16 years of Research experience. Currently she is Assistant Professor and HoD of Zoology at BharatiyaMahavidyalaya, Amravati with rich research background onAnimal Physiology, Entomology and Ecology.

Mr.Raghunath Chauvan- Treasurer Mr Chavan is Commerce graduate and an expert in Credit and Co-operative Societies. He has conducted extensive studies in the Rural Areas. Handling 12 different cooperative credit societies withA+ grade classification certified by auditors

Mr.Mohan Surve - Member Mr. Surve has completed his Masters degree in Social Work from Mumbai. Currently he is the CEO of Vikas Sahayog Pratishthan (VSP) a network organization working on the issues of poor and deprived sections of the society in Maharashtra. He has been working in the development sector for the last 20 years.

Dr. John Menachery - Member Dr. Menachery is the Principal of MatruSewaSangh Institute of Social Work, President of Varadaan – Indian Institute for Promotion of Adoption and Child Welfare, and General Secretary of the Maharashtra Association of Social Work Educators.He was also the professor and Dean of School of Rural Development of TISS and Director of Tata LAHDC Development support program. He is a consultant to the Govt. of India for various Governmental Project and Schemes.

22 GOVERNANCE

YRAfollows the practices of good governance and does not provide any sort of honorarium or remuneration to its Governing Council members and the services provided by them are voluntary. YRA does not do payments to the members through Honorarium or as Consultancy but only provides actual reimbursements on expenses incurred for travel, lodging and boarding for the board meetings and any other work. There are no direct relationships with members andYRAstaffs as also within the members The Governing Council and the General Council meetings are regularly held at the intervals of every three months. In this year 4 meetings of Governing Council were conducted. It is specified in the Memorandum of Association-YRA that the quorum to be at 3/5 in the General Council meetings and 2/3 in the Governing Council meeting of YRA. The minimum quorum of 50% for Governing Council and 60%for General Council was achieved in all the meetings. These meetings help in providing YRA Management Team with the required inputs and strategic directions for future interventions. The Governing Council meetings were conducted on following days;

9th August 2017 6 members attended the Governing Council meeting 10th October 2017 5 members attended Governing council meeting 12th December 2017 5 members Governing Council Meeting 20thMarch 2018 6 members attended Governing Council meeting

AWARD AND RECOGNITION

l CredibilityAlliance (CA) adhering to the desirable norms- Good Governance, March, 2014 l CAF India (Charity Aid Foundation), Delhi for its commendable work in the field of social development. l HelpYourNgo that redefines the relationship between NGOs and Donors. l FMSF Delhi did the financial assessment ofYRAand graded as a one of the good organizations having all the policies and systems in place. l Enrolled onIICASAMMAN Project l Registered under NEETIAayog ( NGO DARPAN) l Registered under NASSCOM Social Innovation Forum (NSIF). l Registered under Project Heena, CSR Engagement & Outreach Platform. l Registered under Guide Star, portal for promotion of NGO's and a platform for fund raising opportunities for NGOs. l Registered under EuropeanAid PADDOR

23 OUR DONER

24 HUMAN RESOURCES The staff members have mainly located the districts of Nagpur, Washim, Bhandara and Parbhani to undertake the interventions in these graphical areas. The below list is of the staff members who were part ofYRAfamily in the year 2017-2018. u Ms. Jyoti Nagarkar, ... Chief of Operation u Mr. Ratheesan. P.V, ... Sr.Program Coordinator u Mr. Abbey Andrews, ... Fundraising & Communications Manager u Ms. Ankita Likhitker, ... Manager Accounts & Finance u Mr. Chandrakant Kapse, ... Account Executive u Mr. Sahebrao Somkuwar, ... Project Coordinator u Ms. Vaishali Padole, ... Account Executive u Mr. Devraj Patil, ... Assistant Program Coordinator u Ms. Swati Bhagat, ... Admin Assistant u Ms. Mrunal Munishwar, ... District Coordinator u Ms. Suparna Deshpande, ... Administrative Officer u Mr. Burhanuddin Bohra, ... Program Coordinator u Ms. Puja Patil, ... Agricuture Expert u Mr. Diwakar Deshmukh, ... Project Coordinator u Mr. Sachin Sidgur, ... Field Coordinator u Mr. Rahul Lawhale, ... Field Facilitator u Mr. Pankaj Sautkar, ... Field Facilitator u Mr. Pankaj Sautkar, ... Field Coordinator u Ms. Savita Gaware, ... Field Coordinator u Mr. Lakhan Dangde, ... Field Coordinator u Mr. Parmeshwar Sakhare, ... Village Facilitator u Mr. Siddeshwar Ambat, ... Village Facilitator u Mr. ShyamJ Ogdand, ... Village Facilitator u Mr. Amol Dongre, ... Support Staff

25 26 27 28 YUVA Rural Association

HEAD OFFICE ADDRESS Plot no. 23, Datir Building Chikhali Road, New Amar Nagar, Manewada Ring Road, Nagpur - 440034

PATHRI(PARBHANI) FIELD OFFICE C/o.Shri. Madhukar Kulkarni Plot No.10, Behind PanchayatSamiti, InfrontGanpatiTemple, Nagar, Parbhani - 431506

BULDHANA FIELD OFFICE C/o. Sneha Tapare WadiKhurd, Nandura Road, Jalgaon Jamod, Buldhana - 443001

BHANDARA FIELD OFFICE Bhandara Counseling Centre, Beside Police Libraray, Police Head Quartar, Bhandara - 441904

WASHIM Shri. Bhagwan Nagulkar Deshmukh Wadi, Near Bus Stand, Kamargao, Washim 444110