Our Initiatives

EDUCATION

DISHA has been holding alternative educational classes for approximately 1800 school going, school dropouts and non-school going children every year. The focus is on enabling children to gain knowledge and skills through participatory actions suitable to their needs. DISHA has aimed to use innovative pedagogy like puppetry, creative theatre mime, photography, storytelling and singing and using need based teaching learning material in education for enhancing the artistic bent of the child’s mind and help in increasing the technical ability. These are very popular way of attracting children, involving them through collective work, holding dialogues, motivating children for reading, writing and numeric indirectly. This way is effective to bridge gaps between children regardless of socio-economic level, gender and literacy level. DISHA has mainstreamed 3905 children in fourteen formal schools for completion of primary education and following these children for retention by holding remedial classes.

DISHA (Society for Rural and Urban Community Development) officially launches ''Leadership Program'' under which a set of bright and hardworking students are given an opportunity to realize their dreams and work towards a common goal of progress.

HEALTH CARE

DISHA is the Mother NGO for New Delhi district under RCH program of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India since 2004 and also provided direct services of family planning and reproductive and child health to underserved and un-served population. DISHA undertook IEC activities for increasing awareness and eerily health seeking behavior regarding Maternal and child health.The health initiatives provided by DISHA has improved the health status of women and enabled them to limit their family size, make informed choices of family planning methods and improve the maternal and child health by providing RCH services. DISHA has received support from state and central government in this endeavor.

DISHA has trained 6480 frontline health workers from public and private sectors along with adolescents and youth by building their capacities in interpersonal communication skills and use of small media for Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS programmes. DISHA has been working with commercial sex workers and intravenous drug users by providing counseling and raising awareness on various aspects of HIV/AIDS and STDs. DISHA has involved these high-risk groups in programme activities of community mobilization, STD treatment, and condom promotion, counseling and support services as part of the targeted intervention.

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

DISHA has undertaken activities for empowerment of 8850 poor women by organizing them into 825 Self-Help Groups, building their social and economic assets and enhancing their status in their communities, training them in micro-credit/finance, legal literacy, reproductive health, functional literacy and raising their awareness of their rights. Through this forum women are involved in implementation of preventive health care, education, legal aid, water conservation and sanitation programs and are being capacitated to work towards grass roots democracy for housing and land rights. This has been done for effective implementation and long-term sustainability of the program.

GENDER AND GOVERNANCE

DISHA has empowered 3150dalit women members of 256 SHGs to participate in the governance process, overcome social exclusion; provide means to make themselves heard especially by government for realizing their entitlements for an improved quality of life. DISHA takes up these activities at the Panchayat levels by forming ‘Mahila Shanti Dal’(Women’s Peace Corps). Along with the members of the Mahila Shanti Dal, DISHA works for finding solutions to peace, justice, harmony and development by organizing women in enhancing every day skill of peaceful problem-solving and conflict resolution in families, neighborhood and among different social, cultural, religious and ethnic groups within and between societies.

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Roof water harvesting (RWH) is an option, which has been adopted in many areas of the world where conventional water supply systems have failed to meet the needs of the people. The main objective of rooftop rain water harvesting is to fulfill the water requirements at individual level throughout the year. Excess water is being recharged into the ground through recharge tube well. DISHA has been working in this area from last five years and has initiated the following:

• Storage capacity for seasonally available water by construction of 462 individual RWH structures of 2000 liters in eleven villages and underground rainwater harvesting structures of 50000 liters in eight government schools in Gaya district in Bihar.
• Addressed non optimal use of water in agriculture by repairing de silting and widening of community water bodies including three AHARSPYNES and ten wells.
• Installation of hand pumps in ten villages in Bihar to increase access to potable water.

LIVELIHOOD

DISHA imparts skill training in the informal sector for productive employment to 300 poor women and 200 youth in trades like tailoring, handicrafts, beauty culture, photography, knitting, grinding of ophthalmic lens and frame making, computers, motor winding, making of surgical bandages, household linen, assembling electronic transformers and audio speakers, bakery and food preservation, mushroom cultivation, agrabatti and candle making, cattle rearing etc. every year.

The approach for skill training based on the presumption that after the training program these women will turn the skills thus acquired into a small business venture in their localities as well as get jobs in the respective manufacturing industries. This would help in integrating women into the large work force and increase their access to credit institutions as well as improve their quality of life.

COMMUNICATION AND TRAINING

DISHA designs strategies and low cost communication material and training modules. DISHA has established 380 puppetry theater groups for presentation of puppet shows on HIV/AIDS in India and abroad. DISHA has presented over 1200 shows on HIV/AIDS in Delhi.

ADVOCACY &LINKAGE:

DISHA has been mobilizing the poor community to actively seek employment in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. DISHA’s efforts have helped 1405 mahadalit community members to obtain job cards and get work up to a maximum of fifty days.

DISHA has established networks for institutional services with government departments of education, health, police, social welfare, Municipal Corporation and other agencies working for children in difficult circumstances. DISHA provides direct services to children and adolescents in education, skill development and health care.