Annual Report 2014-15 ASSIST BUILDING RURAL INDIA OUR REACH OUT . S. TotaL FAMILIES Area Villages No. SC ST BC OC MIN Total Male Female Total GUNTUR 1 Bollapalli 26 1,733 2,035 998 191 7 4,964 11,545 11,231 22,776 2 Chilakaluripet 21 1,590 738 480 132 - 2,940 5,489 5,267 10,756 3 Gutlapalli 25 618 1,987 1,173 402 158 4,338 9,160 8,475 17,635 4 Piduguralla 12 2,024 694 1,747 381 506 5,352 10,965 10,569 21,534 5 Vinukonda 10 830 106 912 1,517 18 3,383 6,805 6,627 13,432 Total 94 6,795 5,560 5,310 2,623 689 20,977 43,964 42,169 86,133 PRAKASAM 6 Markapur 23 1,949 55 2,447 1,748 111 6,310 13,779 13,208 26,987 7 Ongole 34 6,425 536 3,786 5,035 0 15,782 31,812 31,410 63,222 8 Vetapalem 19 80 644 1,713 253 40 2,730 4,638 4,573 9,211 9 Pullalacheruvu 48 3,281 2,207 4,353 3,511 148 13,500 28,083 26,424 54,507 Total 124 11,735 3,442 12,299 10,547 299 38,322 78,312 75,615 153,927 RANGA REDDY 10 Pudur 44 3,111 403 4,270 913 1,286 9,983 24,047 23,948 47,995 Total 44 3,111 403 4,270 913 1,286 9,983 24,047 23,948 47,995 KRISHNA 11 Avanigadda 11 4 39 3,677 26 - 3,746 6,599 6,363 12,962 Total: 11 4 39 3,677 26 - 3,746 6,599 6,363 12,962 ODISHA 12 Ganjam 2 82 - 51 2 - 135 300 298 598 Total: 2 82 - 51 2 - 135 300 298 598 Grand Total 275 21,727 9,444 25,607 14,111 2,274 73,163 1,53,222 1,48,393 3,01,615 Percentage: 29.70 12.91 35.00 19.29 3.11 50.80 49.20 SC - Scheduled Caste; ST - Scheduled Tribe; BC - Backward Caste; OC - Other Castes; MIN - Minorities Annual Report 2014-15 contentsCONTENTS ◆ Foreword ... 02 ◆ Corporate Social Responsibility ... 03 ◆ Socio-Educational Development ... 05 ◆ Infrastructure Development ... 09 ◆ Economic Development ... 13 ◆ Executive Committee Members ... 19 ◆ Current challenges ... 21 ◆ Partners in Progress ... 22 ◆ Auditor’s Report & Financial Statements ... 24 ◆ Future Thrust ... 28 1 Foreword FORFOEWOREWORD RD With more than one third of its population below 18 years of age, India the new State and the priority on welfare schemes spending is reduced. has the largest child population in the world. Amongst, ironically girl This forced the government to reallocate the annual spending on child population is in a declining mode across the Country irrespective children health and education, youth welfare and women empowerment of regions and communities. The large child population does not attract programmes. This may result to unhealthy growth in the community and policy- maker’s attention to provide appropriate health, nutrition, amongst children become more vulnerable. education and social security for children as per the CRC (Child Rights Major concern being faced by us, though the children are enrolled in Convention) framework. India has made some significant commitments the primary school in the 1st standard, there is drastic reduction in the towards ensuring the basic rights of children. There has been significant number of children completing 5th standard and entering into the High progress in overall indicators: infant mortality rates down, child survival School in the 6th standard and the same reduction is noticed even at up, literacy rates improved and school dropout rates fallen. But the the admission into the College after completing 10th standard. In order issue of child rights in India is still caught between legal and policy to overcome this situation, strenuous efforts have been made by ASSIST commitments to children on one hand, and the fallout of the process of in its operational areas by introducing monitoring systems both by the globalisation on the other. organisation and the community managed monitoring mechanism. Over the last few decades, countries across the World have been Another factor contributing to this drop-out is the unending cases of changing their existing economic models in favour of free market, female child abuses coming into focus daily all over the Country. With incorporating processes of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. the increased awareness and sensitisation levels among the public and The direct impact of free trade on children may not be observed the special attention of media, these incidents are publicised at no time immediately in broad context, but it is visible that globalised India is and developing sense of fear and lack of confidence among the female witnessing worsening levels of basic health, nutrition and shelter at adolescents and parents. It is herculean task to change the mind set of micro level. Children are worse affected and their vulnerability is high in people and to give them courage and confidence in the interest of the the process of globalisation. Beyond children, larger community’s lives future of children. in rural India are getting deprived in terms of social sector cutbacks/ In this context, giving greater stress on children and their development, policies and losing their control over land, forest and water resources ASSIST responded to the needs and demands of the respective families they have traditionally depended on. and communities through the various interventions for their sustainable The negative fallout is visible: children are being deprived of even the development. Accordingly, child-centred comprehensive community scarce social benefits once available; they are displaced by forced and development process has been either initiated or strengthened in the economic migration, increasing the number of children subsisting on the course of the year. streets; more and more children are being trafficked within and across On behalf of these children, families and communities, ASSIST is borders; and rising numbers of children are engaged in part or full-time extremely grateful to all its partner organisations for valuing this labour. development process which is imperative to attain sustainable In India, child population below 6 years of age is approximately 160 development in these communities. million, which approximately exceeds the entire population of Japan. It is said that one in every five children in the world is Indian; however, the actual status of early childhood care and education (ECCE) for children in the above age group is almost unknown. In response to these circumstances, ECCE programs, which are offered by various types of organisations, have been managed individually as there is no official framework to regulate ECCE activities. Along with the current political movement for children’s rights, however, the Indian government is now working to establish a sufficient regulatory system to ensure ECCE quality so as to provide appropriate standards of ECCE to all children. Amongst all the states in India, combined Andhra Pradesh is having second largest working children population next to Uttar Pradesh. Poverty is the major reason for the increase in number of working children, but besides that there are other non-economic reasons too. With the division of State into two – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, JASHTI RANGA RAO Andhra Pradesh is striving hard to invite the stakeholders to establish Operational Director 2 Annual Report 2014-15 CORPORACORTEPO RASTEOCI SOCIAALL RESPONSIBILITY RESPONSIBILITY Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is no longer an obligation that trust and confidence on the community on the business organisation corporations feel they need to take on, but has become central to the effort in their real development. ASSIST is trying to integrate community operations of many of the best companies today. The importance of investment strategies align internal community related issues and link the corporate in promoting sustainable development, from the local business goals with community needs. to the global level, is undeniable. Businesses are making ever greater ASSIST believes that partnerships and collaborative relationships are commitments to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through their critical to deliver results for the communities. ASSIST is facilitating involvement in community development initiatives. its corporate partners for applying their management best practices Although in general the majority of businesses are still in the early to philanthropy as they do in other areas of the business, and that is stages of developing collaborations with NGOs, a wave of companies translating into more strategically driven societal investments, increased both new and long standing are taking the lead in bringing business measurement and evaluation of the results, and a refinement of goals financial and human resources as well as a systems approach to the and partnerships to drive efficiency. job of bridging India’s wide gap between rich and poor. Drawing on As corporate funders focus efforts and financial resource for more a historical precedent, these businesses recognise the pivotal role of impact, they are also more concerned with measuring the outcomes of businesses in nation building and are building relationships with NGOs their efforts. More companies are reporting on CSR activities, realizing to create a real change. A vital opportunity exists to achieve a step the importance of transparency, especially as social media becomes change in our country’s inclusive growth and prosperous development more prevalent. However, effective community development is complex. by companies working much more extensively in partnership with NGOs. Businesses can benefit from working with ASSIST that has a wealth of CSR initiatives in our country are driven in part by the CSR guidelines technical expertise, community knowledge and local networks. ASSIST that either compel state-owned companies or put pressure on non-state- also learn from business approaches and material and non-material owned companies and also derive from company-driven moral drivers to assistance to improve its work.