Committed to Building
A Better Tomorrow
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Smart Village Movement newsletter's August edition and our world of rural development and empowerment. Here we showcase SVM-Berkeley Haas' most significant milestones and inspiring moments of the recent weeks and hope that you too will share in our vision of building smart villages in India and eventually, around the world. We continue to closely monitor the pandemic's lingering effects on the rural economy with our own data sources, feedback from our frontline team and partners, as we take steps to ensure that marginalized and vulnerable communities are on the road to gain economic and social stability.
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Launch of the First Farmer Development Center (FDC) in Meghalaya
The first Farmer Development Center starts operations in Jaintia Hills. This now strengthens and empowers the local farmers by connecting them to an agriculture ecosystem that interconnects all the critical nodes, Agri-advisory, and Market Linkages.
Water Testing to Ensure Quality & Safety of Water in Villages
In collaboration with Watsan Envirotech, we continue to test the quality of water bodies in the villages of Meghalaya and highlight the importance of a clean water supply for the safety and health of the community.
Salesforce sets Inauguration Date for Solar Powered Trailblazer Labs
Our Education Partner Salesforce Labs brings technical training and entrepreneurial skills to rural youth along with Curiosity Gym Innovation Hubs by commencing operations in Meghalaya on August 10. Energy Partner Hygge contributed its solar power grid set up for the lab keeping things eco-friendly.
SVM and Apollo Clinics Advance Healthcare Access to Rural Meghalaya
SVM brought in Healthcare Partner Apollo Hospitals to scout potential pilot locations offering access to super-specialty medical professionals via TeleMedicine to Meghalaya.
Vaccination Drive Seeing Promising Results
SVM Meghalaya COVID-19 Campaign continues in full force in the rural areas to stop the spread of the New Delta variant with frequent Vaccination Drives and awareness campaigns.
Scroll ahead to read more in our August 2021 Newsletter.
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Launch of the First Farmer Development Center (FDC) in Meghalaya
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Smart Village Movement-Agriculture, in collaboration with Agribusiness solutions partner eFresh Global, has launched Farmer Development Centers (FDC) in strategic locations around Meghalaya. These FDCs will work to create an agriculture ecosystem for the farmers- a one-stop shop for all farmer needs, knowledge from Agri-Advisory to Market Linkages.
Our FDC in Jaintia Hills launched operations becoming the first functioning FDC in Meghalaya. With the help of the women-run local Self-Help Groups, the FDC will be selling a wide range of farm products like the renowned Lakadong Turmeric and indigenous handicrafts. Launching online sales via social media with the help of a detailed catalog is in the works for this FDC.
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Water Testing to Ensure Quality & Safety of Water in Villages
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Smart Village Movement, in association with Watsan Envirotech, is taking steps to ensure the villages of Meghalaya have a good quality water supply for the community. Using water testing kits, our team has started conducting tests at water sources in and around the villages. We started our village-level water source quality tests in July from a Spring Chamber in Tyrsad which showed good results.
Conducting these tests with community involvement helped create awareness of the importance of drinking clean water and how harmful some water sources can be. SVM aims to take this test to all the area villages to ensure communities and families drink and use safe water.
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Salesforce sets Inauguration Date for
Solar Powered Trailblazer Labs
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Salesforce Trailblazer Labs at Sunei and Sohrarim, are set to open to the public with a solar power grid completed by Hygge. These education labs house a community library, computers, and other educational tools. In the Lab premises, Curiosity Gym's "Innovation Hubs" will also begin their operations bringing learning opportunities to children and youth, or anyone seeking job and livelihood skills.
With the human resources and other parts of the labs already set for the operations, the Salesforce labs will launch to the public on August 10.
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Vaccination Drive Seeing Promising Results
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The COVID-19 campaigns and the vaccination drives which began in May 2021 continued with more coverage in the month of July. Vaccine Hesitancy in Meghalaya continued to slow down the vaccination which was catalyzed by the continued spread of fake news among the rural community. With the aim of achieving 100% vaccination coverage in all the villages within our reach, we conducted focused vaccination awareness campaigns for the communities and the individual households in all villages. Our team travelled to villages with very poor road connectivity to understand their concerns over the vaccine and organize vaccination drives.
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Meghalaya Government Officials Visit
SVM Project Locations in Sohrarim
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Sohrarim village in Laitkroh block is the location of several SVM Projects like Salesforce Trailblazer lab, Gramin Polyclinic center, and a Farmer Development Centre. Within 5 months of operations, the SVM-Berkeley pilot Gramin Centers show higher than average performance and sales of all Gramin centers in India. Government officials were able to visit and understand the working in this benchmark center in discussions with the clinic staff and SVM Healthcare Team.
The Salesforce Education Lab powered by Hygge Solar Power grid is set to open on August 10. Government officials visited the lab to tour the facility and inspect the solar power arrangement for the lab.
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UC Berkeley - Fall 2021 Projects begin
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The students of UC Berkeley will undertake research projects drafted by the SVM-Meghalaya team to work on solutions for various issues faced by the rural communities of Meghalaya. From a list of 'Grand Challenges' ranging from Water Management to Education Technology, these projects will be mentored by high-profile educators from Berkeley. This is, in fact, the synergy that sets SVM apart from all other social enterprises in the unique approach to economic and social progress in underdeveloped rural areas.
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Farmer Development Centers Start Functions In Other Regions
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With the Jaintia hills FDC starting operations in July, the other FDCs are also set to begin operations. FDCs in East Khasi hills (Sohrarim and Tyrsad) have all the pre-requisites to start and connect farmers to the agriculture ecosystem and partners in the villages of Meghalaya.
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SVM and Apollo Clinics Advance Healthcare Access to Rural Meghalaya
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Apollo Hospitals - TeleHealth Services proposes to offer specialty and super-specialty Teleconsultation services in the telemedicine facilities in Meghalaya. These services would be based on an online appointment booking system. The officials from Apollo along with the SVM Meghalaya team visited potential locations around Meghalaya. With the locations finalized, the services will be made available to the public soon.
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SVM-Andhra Pradesh and Greenworms Antarvedi Zero Waste Project gets UN Recognition
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SVM-Andhra Pradesh, in collaboration with Greenworms, initiated the “Zero Waste Village - Antarvedi” project. This project has been chosen to be represented at the United Nations by Mrs. Deepika Tadi. She addressed the selected delegates from across the world in an online conference organized by the United Nations (UN) on World Ocean Day
Deepika shared the story of her village working collectively to mitigate ocean plastic as part of the 'Zero-Waste Antarvedi Initiative'.Read More...
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Support SVM Rural Development Projects
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SVM needs your support- skills, knowledge, and financial donation to help us undertake our various projects on the ground in the rural areas of India.
Every small or big contribution will help us bring crucial development to the rural world that alleviates poverty and connects them to the global economy.
Learn more about our projects and please consider donating. Visit our SVM platform and sign up to know more details on all of our projects. We are so glad you are part of our community and engaged in helping build a better tomorrow!
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In addition to our website, SVM is now recognized and featured on large donation platforms like Global Giving and Benevity.
Benevity is exclusively for corporates and their employees for their workplace giving, matching, granting & employee volunteering programs. Global Giving can be accessed by anyone using the link below.
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Since 2018 Smart Village Movement has been undergoing ground interventions in the various rural communities of Meghalaya, Andra Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh in our mission to create Smart Villages.
Please access our resources to know more about our activities and impact.
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What is the SVM Platform?
The Smart Village Movement platform provides a digital platform for Governments, Educational Institutions, Business Organizations, and Village Entrepreneurs to come together in a collaborative effort to find innovative solutions in rural communities and build 'Smart Villages'.
Please sign up and access our platform engage with our movement and help us with creative & innovative solutions. Together we are all 'smarter'.
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Visit our website and connect with us on our Social Media to learn more about us
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