ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 RURAL COMMUNES 70, 2nd Floor, LIC Building, Anandilal Poddar Marg, Mumbai – 400 002 Tel: 022-22050426 / 22085601 Fax: 022-22015357 Email: [email protected]; website: http://ruralcommunes.org TRUSTEES Dr. Murlidhar Ms. Salma Alavi Gode Secretary Chairman S. S. Bagul M. S. Mathpati Trustee & Dr. R. D. Trustee & Member Hanbar- Member Deshmukh Trustee & Member Dr. Himanshu Dr. Sudha Dr. Bhanu Kulkarni Kothari Pratap Singh Trustee & Trustee & Trustee & Member Member Member D. K. Ved (IFS), Vaishali Kadulkar Retd. Trustee & Member Trustee & Member TRIBUTE TO FOUNDER 3 C O N T E N T S ORGANISATIONAL PROFILE RC’S MISSION Rural Communes (RC) came into existence through a The stated Mission of RC is very innovative programme of the University of To work for the development of the Bombay. Under the Graduate Volunteer Scheme marginalised and deprived sections of (GVS) initiated in 1974, the University developed a society - landless, marginal, small farmers, one-year programme in which graduates from all women and adivasis. faculties had to live and work in rural Maharashtra. To provide a platform for youth to Through this new type of education and learning organise and bring about change – a youth process, which brought the students out of the movement for rural development classroom to learn the realities of the world, RC believes that the roots of the problem understand the problems of the rural peoples and lie in the unequal social structures, which initiate programmes for the development of rural promote the process of marginalisation poor. Through this programme, the students and deprivation of the weaker sections of developed the collective efforts of people towards society. the solution of problems. They became good RC believes that youth have a capacity to organisers and local organisations sprang up. bring about change in society through GVS won the “Commonwealth Youth Award” for organised collective effort and such 1976 for the involvement of youth in Community change has to come from the grass root Development, on the strong recommendation of the level involving people. Government of India. After completing their period of learning with GVS, some opted to continue to stay on in the villages and RC’S APPROACH working with the people. The people in turn indicated willingness to support the students in kind. The Approach of RC is based on the principle Since GVS was working under the set-up of the that: University of Bombay was unable to provide support People should be involved in the to the students for more than a year, it was development process from the beginning subsequently decided by the staff and students of and structural changes can only be GVS to register an independent organization - RURAL brought about by informed collective COMMUNES (RC). Rural Communes was registered action. in 1976, both under the Societies Registration Act Women as a group are one of the most and the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950. deprived and marginalised sections of society and the hopes and aspirations of Rural Communes since 1976 has actively trained and women need to be addressed in an supported rural groups in a decentralized manner. integral fashion. Therefore, after a period of 4/5 years these groups A Comprehensive Sustainable became self-reliant and were registered Development Approach towards independently. Such 31 EX-RC Groups are now Conservation & Management of Natural functioning as active agents of change in the field of Resources, Water, Land and Agriculture rural development. has to be for collective approach for the benefit of the community. Training and Capacity Building RC believes that capacity building at the grass root level for collective empowerment of weaker sections is the primary requirement of sustainable community development. Consequently one of RC’s core concerns is in capacity building of young people through a process of experiential learning to create and avenue for involving them in the rural development. RC believes that the development is a process of creating critical awareness and organised collective efforts leading to structural change in society. Following RC’s main believes of Experiential Learning i.e. Learning by Doing, RC during 2017-2018 trained various target groups under various project and programmes. The main target groups trained during this year are small & marginal farmers, women, landless, Government Field Officials, PRI members and Watershed Committee Members. The training modules covered mainly included Sustainable Agriculture, Watershed Development & Management (RC Programme and under Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan), Women Enterprise Development, Inland Fisheries, Livestock Management and others. The highest numbers of participants trained on Sustainable Agriculture. The following graph and table depict the number of stakeholders trained as per Training modules and category of participants: No Category of Training Beneficiaries Participants 52 1 Farmers 1528 448 2 Women SHG Members 60 46 3 Farmers under Inland 46 Fisheries 60 4 VWC Memebrs & Local 400 1528 Communities 5 PRI members and Agriculture 48 Officer 0 500 1000 1500 2000 5 Women & Small & Marginal 52 Sustainable Agriculture Enteprise Development farmers under Livestock Inland Fisheries Watershed Management Livestock Management Sustainable Agriculture Rural Communes for last 10 years laying main emphasis on Sustainable Agriculture following the System of Intensification for Crops and Trees as well as Package of Practices for each crop. The improved technology has been communicated to small & marginal farmers, progressive farmers and landless families through Training and Capacity Building and organizing live demonstration at farmers own field. During 2017-2018 following training and capacity building programme have been conducted. No Training on No of Participants 1 Nursery Technologies 226 2 System of Crop Intensification 1072 3 Field Water Management 113 4 KSS and Farmers Producer Organisation 117 The main topics covered were Nursery Technologies: Soil selection Preparation of Raised Bed Nursery & Mat Nursery Seed Treatment Cutting Treatment using Root Care Sowing Period Pest, Water & Weed Management System of Crop Intensification Seed Treatment & Germination Sowing Land Preparation Transplantation Distance Maintenance Training on system of crop intensification Pest, Water & Weed Management Field Water Management Importance of Water Management Various systems of management – Drip & Sprinkler KSS & Farmers Producer Organisation What is KSS Importance of KSS How to register Farmers Producers Company Structure of FPC Members Selection and Management Body selection Role & Responsibilities Seed Processing Training Documents for FPC registration 7 Enterprise Development Rural Communes actively involved in empowering women through skill training and building their capacity to initiate small enterprise development activities to enhance their livelihood and income. During this financial year 2017-2018 we have trained Women SHG Members in small scale enterprise development activities. The trainings covered the following topics – Product Making Various types of Papad Various types of Pickles Operating of Cashew nut Processing Unit Account & Record Keeping Importance of Record Keeping Name the different record kept by SHGs Importance of Account Keeping How to write Account How to maintain sale & purchase record Marketing How to develop market linkages Storage, Packaging, Labeling & Pricing Marketing of various products With a special request of Rural Communes, Vigyan Ashram Pabal has organized the pickle making training for our SHGs. The training includes – theory and practical demonstration. The group has been trained how to make various pickles such as mango, lemon, green chilli, lemon & Chilli; how to apply & get license; label preparation, pricing, etc. Training on Papad making, pickle making and how to use solar dryers Inland Fisheries The farmers from our Bhivpuri and Thokerwadi Cluster areas have been encouraged for inland fisheries in their farm ponds which they are practicing. To further strengthen their skills & capacity and to enhance their knowledge in inland fisheries series of trainings have been conducted by RC and by the external expert like Dr. Vivek Vartak from Khar Land Research Station, Panvel. The topics covered are Importance of Inland Fisheries Inland Fisheries Management – Pond, Water, Seed, Feed Making of Low Cost Fish Feeds Quality Fish Use of Crates / Boxes for Fish handling Personal hygiene Details on Proper Waste Disposal Training on inland fisheries Other than the theoretical topics actual field visit to natural pond has been organized for practical learning. Field Visit to Natural Pond Watershed RC has been actively involved in conducting the training under IWMP and Jalyukta Abhiyan Shivar. Following are the details Training under IWMP - YASHADA No Date of Training Training details Participants Target Group 1 13th to 15th December Strengthening of SHGs 42 Community Organiser 2017 Livelihood Experts 2 20th to 22nd December Strengthening of SHGs 42 SHG Leader 2017 Livelihood Experts 3 10th to 11th January 2018 Livelihood Revision 43 Livelihood Experts 4 18th to 19th January 2018 Livelihood Revision 43 Agriculture Supervisor 5 24th to 25th January 2018 Climate Change 43 Agriculture Experts Adaptation and Mitigation 6 1st to 2nd February 2018 Climate Change 43 Agriculture Supervisor Adaptation and Agriculture Assistant Mitigation 7 6th