Sahay Samridhi Yojana
Social
Upliftment Initiatives
of OSF
OSF has diverse initiatives under Sahay Samridhi Yojana to address the vulnerabilities in societies. The projects are designed to addresses themes like poverty, safety, unemployment and social justice. We respond to calamities, doing rapid assessments, setting up channels to distribute emergency supplies like food, essential non-food items and facilitate community rehabilitation.
Our Work Themes
Project Cruse-Monthly Aid for Single Parents/Orphans
Project Cruse, is a monthly support system for:- families of single parents; children whose parents have expired; families with one or no functional parent (where the other parent is invalid, unable to earn etc. We maintain a verified list of deserving beneficiaries who struggle to meet their basic needs.
Now we support 62 families and the target is 75 families this year with support ranging from Rs.1000 to Rs.3500. The expected outcomes are:
- No drop-outs from education (for lack of money)
- Inspiration to study. Earn better grades
- Enhanced self-reliance and saving
It is our desire that they hold up to the present challenges and garner some certainty for their future, leaving behind the bitter experiences of the past.
Calamity Relief
We intervene in situations that need urgent attention at the ground to moderate the sufferings of the poor and vulnerable.
As relief materials, we provide Dry Rations (rice, lentils, sugar, salt, biscuits, tea, onions, potatos etc.), non-food products (soap, detergents, tooth-paste) with other essential provisions that will sustain the families for a few weeks.
OSF has responded to Kerala Floods 2018 with kits for students and is now active in Covid19 Relief work.
Sahay Skill Training Centres
Resource and opportunity deprived communities are common in India. Many young women in such areas have no skills to engage in an income generating activity. Lack of finances, apprehensions to work outside of their communities and poverty forces them stay at home even after school education.
OSF’s vision is to equip these young women in remote areas and small towns so that they earn their livelihood. The training centres impart the needed skills through a vigorous 6-month certificate tailoring program with periodic tests and a final practical examination.
On completion they are encouraged to start a tailoring centre or form a SHG. We also inform them options for employment in townships close to their villages.
Community Interventions
Observing villages and communities, we formulate customised solutions to the issues faced. Some examples:
- Weighing Machines for Farm Clusters – this initiative is to enable farmers realise the right price for products they sell to middlemen in local markets. Tampered machines at the procurement end, curtails the reasonable income realisation for farmers. In a few places where we knew this was happening, we provided weighing equipment for the farmers. They assigned educated youth to weigh the products and give the readings in a slip. This slid is then shown to the middlemen who now go by the accurate readings claimed by the farmers.
- Lighting Products – Emergency lighting products where there are power outs and power quality issues