Organisation
Poverty leads to poverty unless external as well as internal interventions are made in developing the mindset of the community to look ahead for development, and some minimum but critical support is provided to break through the vicious circle of misery that they might have been trapped into. On this postulate, some likeminded people from a cross section of developmental fields came together sixteen years ago, and formed an organization to work towards sustainable development of such regions, which are at the rock bottom of the country's socio-economic ladder. Manav Sadhan Vikas Sanstha (MSVS) was thus born.
A charitable trust registered under Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950, MSVS has been implementing a unique model called the Parivartan Kendra Model- for the sustainable development of the country’s backward regions for more than a decade and a half. MSVS facilitates the human resource in the under-developed regions to become economically self-reliant and empowered. It employs a community-led, participatory approach to development, and relies on community participation and creation of strong local relationships with all the stakeholders in the area.
A high degree of flexibility and capacity to reach out to the marginalized sections of the society, and a keen pro-people orientation and approach, have collectively enabled MSVS to attain specific goals in health and computer education, and also vocational training. In the background of MSVS, there is also the experience of effective implementation of camps of employable youth, focusing on the necessity of linking the various developmental policies/schemes with local human capital and natural resources.
The Ratnagiri-Sidhudurg resource region on the west coast of Maharashtra, also known as Konkan, has been taken as a target region for the initial activities of the MSVS, and for demonstration of the strength of its replicable model of holistic human development. MSVS’s thrust areas include:
- Education
- Employability skills
- Entrepreneurship development
- Employment generation
- Women empowerment
- Health care
- Environment awareness and ecology protection
- Sustainable agriculture
- Technology
- Industry
- Rural development
- Tourism
- Recreation
- Information technology and rural development database
MSVS aims at:
- Optimal utilization of natural resources for generating employment
- Prevention out migration of the residents by creating sustainable livelihood opportunities
- Making use of technology to improve traditional practices
MSVS has now spread its wings to the other parts of the country. It is actively working in Mumbai’s slums for providing employability skills training to its underprivileged people in partnership with leading corporates and other likeminded philanthropic organizations. It will soon launch vocational training programs in Goa, parts of Eastern UP and Gurgaon.
