Dear Friends,
We are delighted to share, Seva Mandir, has been awarded the Elinor Ostrom Award for its exceptional efforts in conserving commons in southern Rajasthan.
The Elinor Ostrom Award, named in honor of the late Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom, aims to acknowledge and promote the work of practitioners and scholars involved in the common’s domain. Ostrom’s work highlighted the value of community trust and collective action, ideas that are now at the heart of Seva Mandir’s work in the conservation and management of forest, waste, and agricultural land in Aravalli tribal communities.
Seva Mandir worked directly with villagers to end encroachment on community lands, facilitating the protection and restoration of 11,000 hectares in 700 villages, while generating 11,000 tons of fodder (enough for 2,888,000 cattle) and removing 3 lakh tons of carbon from the air, all while helping building community relationships through peaceful dialogue.
Receiving the Elinor Ostrom Award serves as a testament to the unwavering commitment and dedication in conserving commons in Rajasthan by Seva Mandir’s grass root workers who are the most defining factor in empowering communities and protecting the environment.
We thank all our donors for believing our work and helping us achieve this milestone.
We do hope that you will once again extend your generous support for our grassroot workers by donating through this link :
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/empathy-fund/
Our best wishes to you, and, again, thank you for supporting our marginalized communities. You are now a part of their lives, too.
Kind Regards
Ronak Shah
Chief Executive
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Dear Friend,
Greetings from Seva Mandir. We hope you and your loved ones are well.
It has been 55 years since Seva Mandir has been running its interventions under various thematic areas. Through GlobalGiving we at Seva Mandir always feel excited to share about our work, the stories of our village communities and the milestones we reach. In the last year, Seva Mandir has been able to:
All of this and so much more we aim to achieve, only with the encouragement and backing we receive from donors like you.
Today, we are delighted to share, our participation in GlobalGiving’s July Bonus Day 2023 Campaign, where your donations will be matched by GlobalGiving. The campaign will begin on July 12, 2023, at 09:00:00 EDT and will end when matching funds run out, or on July 12, 2023, at 23:59:00 EDT, whichever comes first.
Therefore, every donation will have deeper impact and will enable us to maximize our reach. We do hope that you will once again extend your generous support and enable us to move one more step ahead towards our vision.
Best Regards,
Links:
Women are often at the receiving end in societies of age-old patriarchy. When Seema’s family (name changed); a 21-year-old girl from a remote village in Kotra, Rajasthan; whose family fell afoul of loan sharks, what came to Seema was the stark reality of letting go of all her life plans, while her father pressured her to work in a brothel to earn quick money for the family.
Seema suffered severe pressure, blackmail and mental harassment over months. She was kept at an unknown place with her father’s strict vigilance on her and was raped for three days by a boy known to the father.
When she learnt, her father was planning to sell her, she realized she needed to flee her home. Fortunately, she was found by the police who brought her to Seva Mandir’s Shelter Home.
When Seema reached Shelter home she looked completely devastated. She was mentally disturbed, physically ill and emotionally wounded. She stayed in the Shelter Home for a period of five months, where she was counselled, and her health was revived and brought to a stable mind space. Furthermore, at Shelter Home, Seema found the company of other women who came from similar experiences. At Shelter home she was also given the confidence that she would be protected and legal assistance as well if she decides to take legal action against her preparators.
While Seema refused to take any legal action, she has begun her healing journey and continues to stay at the Shelter Home, which she considers as her safe space. She wants to continue her studies and she is trying to enroll herself in a vocational course while she is also making a a meagre earning by doing ad-hoc jobs.
Since 2004, Seva Mandir has been running shelter home to support women and their children in distress. The Shelter home offers support and rehabilitation, legal and financial counselling, legal aid, medical and psychological care, skills development, and take care of education of their children during their stay.
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Dear Friend,
From all of us here in Seva Mandir we wish you and your family Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May the New Year bring to you lots of love, laughter, and joy.
Your generosity is bringing cheer and hope to so many. Thank you! from Seva Mandir on behalf of 500,000 villagers whom we work with in Southern Rajasthan.
Mona (name changed) came in contact with Seva Mandir’s shelter home during the second wave of Covid-19 lockdown. She was not able to sustain herself and was not able to get back home. When she came in touch with Seva Mandir she was found extremely depressed, confused and numb. During her initial days she would not speak at all, was having sleep issues and would often break down crying during the day.
Initially Seva Mandir provided Mona with a simple routine for her day to keep her engaged. Mona in a span of 6 months then had completely submerged into her daily routine, where she particularly enjoyed cooking food and organising meals with other women and the TV watching hours where she felt lightened.
Mona was then initiated into counselling and given medication for her sleep issues. She was showing steady improvements in her mental and physical health. Her personal hygiene and habits also improved and she was able to protect herself from Covid-19 virus.
She then started to communicate with Seva Mandir staff members and after some inquiry of few months it was found that she had her family in Lucknow (1,000 kms away from Shelter home). Her husband, who was a fruit seller there, was contacted and it was found she was also mother of two children. During the lockdown she was unable to return home to her family and got stuck in Udaipur.
After 14 months of staying at Seva Mandir’s shelter home Mona finally made her journey back home to her family and reached safely. She is in contact with Seva Mandir through telephonic follow up and she often recalls about her time spent there and she tries to keep herself busy as she likes to have a routine for the day. She feels healthier and doesn’t feel distressed with her life situations and talks about hoping to have a food stall sometime in future in Lucknow.
This new life for Mona has only been made possible because of the support Seva Mandir receives from well-wishers like you. However, there are many more like Mona who are still remain vulnerable and need your support.
This New Year, you can give the gift of life to many more women in need. $10 from you will cover the cost of 15 day’s food, clothing and other personal hygiene products for 1 victim of abuse.
We would like to thank you from the bottom of our heart for joining hands with us. Once again wish you and your family a very HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Best Wishes,
Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team
Links:
Dear Friend,
Recently, Seva Mandir was elated to welcome 2019 Nobel Laureate Prof. Abhijeet Banerjee, Economist, Director J-Pal (The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab) and Mohammad Abdul Latif Jameel, Chairman and CEO, Abdul Latif Jameel Group and J-Pal team. This visit was a special visit for both parties due to the exciting exchange of thoughts and ideas shared on the mutual interest in the development of rural communities in Rajasthan.
Prof. Banerjee and Seva Mandir have had a longstanding and strong relationship since 1996. The Nobel laureate has worked extensively on studying various development problems and has helped in contributing to their solutions.
The few days of their Udaipur visit were jam-packed with visits and productive discussions. The J-PAL team, along with Seva Mandir’s team, traveled to remote villages Jalpaka and Jhabla; where they were formally introduced to Seva Mandir’s initiatives including natural resources, early childcare and nutrition, women empowerment and education.
A notable highlight of the visit was Prof. Banerjee’s enthusiastic discussion at a women’s Self Help Group (SHG) regarding the growing challenges of poverty and need for climate action in vulnerable regions and communities such as theirs.
During the community discussion, Prof. Banerjee vocalized, “Climate change and water scarcity are global challenges, and it will worsen in future. In India, the rural community has vast knowledge of water related challenges and its solutions. I look forward to understanding community perspectives and suggestions on tackling the future challenges and its solutions. This democratic approach will enable us to find collaborative solutions to the future challenges.”
Thank you so much for all your faith and continuous support to our programme.
Best Wishes,
Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir team
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