S M Sehgal Foundation hosted a Conference to share good practices and challenges in rural development initiatives in Aurangabad, Maharashtra on December 16, 2021.
The government, corporates and NGOs have been working together to address the development challenges in Aurangabad district, located in the heart of Maharashtra, also known for world famous tourist and heritage sites. The district often hits the headlines due to frequent droughts, errant rainfall and distress migration. Poor rainfall affects agriculture severely which ultimately affects the income of families. These challenges can only be tackled by appropriate development initiatives around water, soil conservation and, awareness of farmers on suitable agricultural practices.
S M Sehgal Foundation has completed a number of development initiatives in Phulambari, Sillod and Paithan blocks on improving rainwater harvesting capacity of the villages through resource augmentation, creating facilities for better access to clean drinking water, transforming schools, increasing crop productivity of farms through adoption of better agriculture practices and building capacity of communities to manage the development initiatives. The conference brought together stakeholders who shared their experiences given the geographical challenges, solutions implemented and the impacts.
CSR representatives of various companies working in Aurangabad and Maharashtra, progressive farmers of the district, government officials, faculty from universities and women elected representatives of gram panchayat spoke at the event. From S M Sehgal Foundation, Anjali Makhija, COO, opened the event and shared the journey of the Foundation team in Aurangabad from 2018-Present and also dedicated a video showcasing the impacts to the community. She remarked, “Our journey so far in Aurangabad has been possible only with the support of partners, including government and corporates. We are thankful to them for partnering with us in this process of development, working with communities to address the most pressing needs of the region.” Overall impacts in the district include 270 million liters water saving, 1500 farmers made aware of agriculture practices, 200 villagers actively participate in committees for village development, school management, and water management for sustainability, 1000 children in two schools have enhanced learning environment, and 200 women leaders now act as change agents in their villages.
Thematic session on water management and local participation was facilitated by Anjali Makhija. The speakers for the session included Vishnu Khedkar, Program Lead, Sehgal Foundation; Prafull More, Chief Associate Manager, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd; Deepak Lalwani, Regional Manager, Mahindra & Mahindra Kirsh-e, Maharashtra; Shailesh Parte, Lead CSR, Canpack India Pvt. Ltd.; Prof. P.M. Shahapurkar, Assistant Professor, College of Social Work, Dr. B. R. AmbedkarMarathwada University, Aurangabad and experience sharing by villagers. The other session, on agriculture development was facilitated by Pooja O. Murada, Principal lead, Outreach for Development and speakers included Prof. TulshidasBaliramBastewad, Dr. AnnasahebShinde College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology, Mahatma PhuleKrishiVidyapeeth, Rahuri, Ahmednagar; TusharChavan, Subject Matter Specialist, Mahatma Gandhi Mission, KVK, Aurangabad; SumitPatil, Hytech India and experience sharing by farmers.
Dr. VikasJha, Principal Lead, Local Participation and Sustainability, S M Sehgal Foundation gave the concluding remarks. Also present at the event were SubhransuBebarta, manager, Project Development; and the implementation team in Aurangabad.
(India CSR)
