Consultation Workshop of NEAC
One day consultation workshop was organised at the Centre on August 08, 2008 for seeking application for National Environmental Awareness Campaign (NEAC) programme. The workshop was attended by NGOs from Udaipur division. The theme of the campaign is ‘Climate Change’ for the year 2008. The Centre has decided to engage local schools in the implementation of the programme for better results. Application from 25 schools from Chittorgarh has been submitted to CUTS CART.
CHD Advisory Board Meeting
CUTS CHD Advisory Board meeting was held on August 08, 2008. The purpose of the meeting was to apprise the board members about the Centre’s programme & project activities. The meeting was chaired by the Chairman of the Advisory Board, Metha Lal Mehta, Chairman, Rajasthan Mission on Livelihoods (RMOL). Bhanwar Lal Sisodia, Senior Advocate and Indramal Sethiya, Chartered Accountant were the two members present in the meeting. Navaratan Patwari, a social worker; Dr Chetan Khamesra, Environmentalist Hindustan Zinc; Jai Prakash Bhatnagar, a social worker running school in Chittorgarh; and Dinesh Joshi, an NGO worker and Kanyani Dixit, Principal, Government Girls School, Chittorgarh were special invitees.
Amit Chowdhury welcomed all participants on behalf of CUTS and presented the status of all ongoing programmes as well as future projects. The achievements and problems were discussed in detail and suggestions were sought from the committee members. The Board members and other participants praised Centre’s initiatives in various fields.
Strengthening Capacity of SHG Members
Under the SGSY scheme, training programmes were organised for SHG members in Chittor, Nimbahera and Gangrar blocks of Chittorgarh district. The training programme in Nimbahera block was held on September 22-23, 2008 at Panchayat Samiti Parisar, in which 33 SHG members from 3 SHGs participated. The Project Officer-SGSY, Chittorgarh; Block Development Officer, Nimbahera block; Bank Manager, Central Cooperative Bank; Block Coordinator, SGSY; local NGO representative and Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) member attended the programme as resource persons.
The training programme in Chittorgarh block was held on September 24-25, 2008 at CUTS CHD, in which 69 SHG members from 6 SHGs participated. Another training programme for 7 SHGs of Chittor block was held at Gharwara village on September 27-28, 2008.
Rajeshawri Meena, Pradhan, Chittor block and representative from Krishi Vighyan Kendra were present along with local school teachers and village leaders. In all, 72 SHG members attended the meeting. A two-day training programme at Gangrar block was held on September 26-27, 2008 in Gangrar in which 76 SHG members from 7 SHGs attended the training programme.
Workshop on quality education for media
A District Level Orientation-cum-Consultation workshop on quality education for media was organised at CUTS CHD on September 26, 2008, in which 16 people from local electronic and print media attended. Representatives from Rajasthan Patrika, DainikNav Joyoti, Jan Agni, Jan Nayak, Rastra Dut, Panjab Keshri,Daspur Darshan, ETV News, etc., along with Suresh Chandra Sharma, Additional District Education Officer (ADEO), Sarwa Sikhsha Abhiyan (SSA) Chittorgarh shared their views on quality education.
The findings of the survey were discussed and suggestions were sought from participants on how to improve the standard of education. The survey findings showed that schools do not have toilet; water facilities; teachers coming late; and drop out rate especially of girl child. Media was very critical on the survey findings and raised concern on efforts of SSA. The ADEO requested the media to play constructive role and join hands with the local administration and CUTS to sensitise people on the issue.
District Level Orientation-cum-Consultation workshop
CUTS CHD organised a District Level Orientation-cum-Consultation workshop on quality education for policy makers at its premises on September 25, 2008, in which 39 participants attended.
The purpose of the workshop was to sensitise local leaders and district administration and devising mechanism for supporting government and NGO initiatives in promoting quality education.