Overview of Chairman’s Philanthropy Initiative in Chhota Udepur, Gujarat.

Report by Mr. Mahesh Doshi, Gujarat State Lead

The 30 villages supported by Executive Chairman Dr. Anil Shah falls under Devaliya Sanch (Devaliya Cluster) in the Pavi Jetpur block of Chhota Udepur district. There is ‘Ekal Vidyalaya’ (One Teacher School) in all these 30 villages. The Tailoring and Computer Training Center is a part of the Integrated Village Development – IVD program of ‘Ekal Gramotthan Foundation’ of ‘Ekal Abhiyan’. Presently, two training centers have begun operations.) 

In addition to the above training programs, the IVDC is also promoting organic farming by educating farmers with the latest techniques and equipment for soil, manure, and seeds. The unique effort of sustainable agriculture also includes Gaushala, Vermicomposting, and Nutritional Garden (Poshan Vatika) in the villages of Chhota Udepur district.

Healthcare support is provided to the villagers by disseminating health awareness information and distribution of Ayurvedic and herbal medicines free of cost by the IVDC health volunteers.

Life & Job Skills: Tailoring and Computer Training

One Tailoring Training Centre and one Computer Training Centre has been running since the inception of IVDC on 17th September 2021. There are 12 sewing machines for tailoring and 10 desk-top PCs for community computer training.

The first batch of both training centers was completed on 31st January 2022. A four-month course in the Tailoring Centre and a three-month course at Computer Centre are offered with a token fee of Rs. 600 only for the entire course.

• 45 students in tailoring and 24 students in IT Training completed the course in the first batch. The second batch is currently being trained with 40 students in tailoring and 21 students in the computer center. The students come from surrounding villages within a radius of 2 to 22 kilometers every day.
• The Centre Head and Instructors regularly keep in touch with the candidates who have completed the training and continue to help and mentor them. Almost 50 percent of the candidates who completed the tailoring and computer courses have started working on their own and more than 30 percent have got a job in the related field. Remaining 20 percent candidates are either studying further or have joined other activities of livelihood earning.
• Since the inception of the IVD center, more than 200 villagers in the 30 villages have started ‘Poshan Vatika’, a nutritional garden and the other 100 are going to start before the next monsoon.
• Healthcare support activity to commence shortly under the Pavi Jetpur IVD Centre.