We stand up for Youth Development Women Empowerment Child Care Water and Sanitation Environmental Awareness Health Care
Nothing liberates and empowers a person to self-sufficiency quite like an education. Without an education the cycle of poverty remains inevitable. According to UIS data India is home to over 20% of the world’s out-of-school-children and accounts for 20% of the world’s gender gap in elementary education. Adding to this is the staggering dropout rate among the rural children as they are often needed by their parents to work in the fields to support their family income. Our programmes promote education as a right and conducts adult literacy, non-formal educational programmes to the women, men, school dropouts, child labourers and street children and leads them to the path of progress.
Youth DevelopmentWomen EmpowermentChildcareWater and SanitationEnvironmental Awareness & ConservationHealth Care
Johnson Institute of Vocational Training (JIVT)
The youth is a crucial part of the social and cultural system in our society. Young people in the rural areas experience difficult challenges and face the burden of insufficient access to information, services and support. Even today, quality education and opportunities are a dream for many children and youth in the villages. They face the problems of poverty, unemployment and other obstacles. These kinds of situations may force them to take up the path of extremism and anti-social activities. To step up against this problem, SCAN-India conceptualized an exclusive skill training centre “JIVT” and launched it in the year 2010 in Chittoor town. It provides vocational skill training for the poor and unemployed to channelize their potential for their own development. We envision a world in which all the children and youth have quality education and job skills to reach their full potential and contribute to the society.
The JIVT (Johnson Institute of Vocational Training) is presently the most important project of SCAN-India. The JIVT offers courses to young people in Computer applications, Sewing & embroidery and entrepreneurship skills. It has been supported by the Rotary Club Schleswig Germany in the past. Furthermore, the National Council of Rural Institutes (NCRI) under the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India supported our youth sensitization and development programs. The centre has trained more than 1.000 youth from the rural areas so far and a majority of them are now employed in various companies.
JIVT Tailoring Courses
To support and empower women we offer a job-oriented tailoring and embroidery course. At first, the women practice with paper and other raw materials to get an idea on how to tailor. They also learn simple stitching techniques at the beginning of the course. Afterwards, the tailoring students expand their knowledge by creating small dresses for dolls. Hereby they learn all the different stitching methods, which form the basis for a comprehensive knowledge on the subject. Towards the end of the course, they upscale the sizes of the dresses for children and also for women. Our goal is to enhance the abilities of the students and to build up their self-confidence so that they have the opportunity to open their own shop one day. They may also get a job with a good salary. After completing the course successfully, they are enabled to become financially independent. Usually 15 to 25 women attend the tailoring course.
JIVT Computer Training
Nowadays a basic knowledge in computer applications is essential to manage the challenges in everyday life and a broad field of jobs require a good understanding in computer systems and their various programs. However, many young people from rural areas never got in touch with a computer and are therefore not familiar with those systems. Our 2-months computer course gives them the opportunity to learn how to work with the keypad and the mouse. Furthermore, often used programs like MS Word or Excel are introduced. During our computer course the students improve their skills in typing and get a comprehensive overview about how a computer works. After successfully completing the basics course, the students have the possibility to gain additional skills in entrepreneurship. Therefore, we provide a 3-months course in the accounting program TALLY. With a good knowledge in this commonly used program our young students can improve their chances of getting a well-paid job. Every day we offer three classes (morning, afternoon, evening) with up to 20 students each.
Women Empowerment
Women in rural India have historically been the victims of inequalities and vulnerable to economic and social exploitations. A vast majority of these women belong to the most backward communities in the Indian social hierarchy. They lack basic education, health care & social awareness and face various problems like poverty, unemployment, underemployment or landlessness.
One of the most important things we do in our work among the women is to organize these marginalized groups for development. Women self-help groups were formed to empower them socially and economically. These groups involve in savings and credit activities for income generation and take part in various leadership development programs. Through these programs we make them aware of their social and economic rights. We provide them functional literacy, accountancy and job-oriented skills to improve their socio-economic condition.
Furthermore, young women get trained in computer and tailoring in our Vocational Training Centre in Chittoor. For detailed information about our Vocational Training Centre see our activities for Youth Development.
Child Care Centres
SCAN-India is most concerned about the children as they are the future citizens and architects of the country. Improving the lives of young children is a major commitment of this organization. A large number of children in the villages lack basic education, health care and nutrition to grow strong physically and intellectually.
We try to offer these underprivileged children a childhood that will have a positive impact on their later lives equipped with good education and values. Therefore, we are currently running one childcare centre in Pulimadugu. It functions as a pre-school for the rural children within the age group 1 to 5. The centre provides them with fundamental primary education, health care, recreation and a nutritious meal. It is also equipped with toys and learning materials for the exclusive use of the children. After the pre-schooling the children are admitted in the regular formal schools for further education.
We plan to open two additional childcare centres to provide fundamental primary education and additional support for the children in Madhavaram and Mangasamudram. However, we are still looking for a financing of this project.
Water and Sanitation Programmes
Access to safe water is a fundamental human need and therefore it becomes a basic human right. But a large number of people in India have no access to clean water. It is identified that 21% of communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe water.
Ensuring clean water and sanitation for the people is an important task of our organization. Drilling bore wells, construction of overhead tanks with pumps and educate people on rain water harvesting and water conservation are some of our intervention activities.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the backbone of the country’s economy and most of the rural population practices agricultural activities for livelihood. But due to irregular rains and lack of water for irrigation, farmers who hold lands are facing many hardships in our region. Therefore to improve the agricultural output for better food security and to help farmers to generate regular income, SCAN assists the farmers by providing technical assistance in horticulture, organic farming, vermi-composting, waste land development etc., involving the experts in this field. Our efforts improve the rural economy and make the communities self-sufficient.
Awareness and Conservation
Schools are an ideal setting for promoting environmental awareness. SCAN-India conducts environmental awareness and conservation programs among the school children and the women groups in the community. Massive tree plantation programs, kitchen gardens, awareness on solar energy and medicinal plants conservation are some of the remarkable programs being organized to educate the children and adults on the protection of the environment.
Health Care Programmes
Despite the remarkable improvement in health indicators during recent decades, these benefits are not reaching the vast majority of the people in our region. Inadequate access to health care, low nutritional status and sharp economic poverty are common problems in the rural areas. The recent outbreak of diseases like HIV/AIDS, Dengue, Chikungunya virus are major concerns which needs to be tackled.
SCAN-India conducts health and hygiene awareness programs and provides health care to the poor and needy in the communities through health camps and clinics. Many poor people benefit from those medical camps. We believe that such programs make a major impact in reducing the illnesses and relieve the suffering of the poor from many diseases in the remote areas of our region.