Anchalika Jana Seva Anusthan

Interventions in FY14:

• Sustainable Livelihood (SL) & MGNREGA: This initiative was undertaken in collaboration with Western Odisha NREGA Consortium (WONC) and Ford Foundation.  The objective was to ensure 100 days of guaranteed wage employment (as per MGNREGA) and create employment opportunities, check distress migration and develop a rural asset base. Job Seeker Committees (JSC) are formed to ensure mass participation (nearly 40,000 beneficiaries). Around 550 trained job seeker leaders, volunteers and community leaders had helped AJSA address issues such as degraded natural resources, unemployment, distress migration, food insecurity, etc.
• Responding to Cyclone Phailin: AJSA helped the cyclone affected people by providing food and health related support, rebuilt their homes, counselled and rehabilitated them. It distributed immediate relief to 3,500 of the most affected communities. AJSA started voluntary road construction work by mobilizing the local tribal communities, cleaning of existing water bodies and formed linkages with the Government to help the affected get compensation.

Adarsh Gram Gathan Abhiyan (AGGA) is AJSA’s initiative which functions without any funding support, except for general donations. The activities in FY14 were:

• Empowering Women, Building Capacities: AJSA has formed 152 SHGs with 3,025 members and provides them with expert training, technical support and access to resources.  These SHGs focus on  helping women increase their savings and access small credits, teach them income generating activities such as agriculture, pisiculture, livestock rearing etc.
• Ensuring Food Security for the Poor and Protection of Forests: AJSA has started formation of grain and seed banks to address drought and food scarcity. The stock in the grain bank provides food security in years of crop failure. Villagers can also avail loans at times of need. So far, 16,224 hectares of forests have been protected by communities.
• Primary Health and Education: AJSA creates awareness on health and hygiene related issues through street plays, puppet shows etc. It organizes events such as Sishu Mela, Vigyan Mela, etc. to provide primary education. AJSA also works on RTE issues and actively promotes Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. It runs four night schools and has a library with 50,000 books.
• AJSA ensures effective implementation of social security schemes of the Government. It has also formed 33 disaster management committees to cope with natural disasters.