NGO: Yogoda Satsanga Society of India

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Vardan Seva Sansthan

Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS) of India, is a social-service organization that runs several programs throughout India in the areas of education, medicine, and disaster rehabilitation. YSS operates more than 20 educational institutions and 30 charitable medical dispensaries focused on free homoeopathic and allopathic medical care. These institutions are primarily centered in the tribal and economically disadvantaged rural areas of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Uttaranchal, Chandigarh and Delhi.

IDRF partner since: 2002

  • Focus Area:  Education, Health and Disaster Rehabilitation
  • Location: Tamil Nadu and West Bengal
  • Project Title: Corpus Fund and Construction of Meditation Hall
  • Details:  IDRF has been making significant contributions to YSS’s corpus fund over the past several years. These funds are used for running of the hospitals and dispensaries for the poor and underprivileged people. With a growing interest in Parmananda Yoganandaji’s teachings, a need was felt to have a new meditation hall/temple in Chennai that can accommodate more people. An eminently suitable building was gifted by an YSS devotee and IDRF’s funds are used for major renovations and expansions that will be able to accommodate 350 people in the hall and also include rooms for visiting monks. This building was inaugurated in 2017 during YSS’s centennial celebrations.

Please click on the link to learn more about Yogoda Satsanga Society’s various programs.

https://yssofindia.org/

Vardan Seva Sansthan

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Vardan Seva Sansthan

Vardan is a non-profit organization that is committed to provide high quality medical care to rural poor patients in Ghaziabad district in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR).

IDRF partner since: 2010

  • Focus Area: Health
  • Location: Uttar Pradesh
  • Project Title:  Vardan Multi-Specialty Hospitalof Science Laboratories and Classrooms
  • Details:  IDRF has been partners with Vardan Sewa Sansthan for several years now and supported their eye hospital in Ghaziabad. The Vardan Eye Hospital was inaugurated in 2001, and is the best eye-care center in the State with highly qualified surgeons and technical staff. It is equipped with latest instruments and machines imported from USA and Germany. The eye hospital also conducts free OPD camps at nearby villages and provides free transportation to bring rural patients to the hospital. The admitted patients are also provided food, post-operative overnight stay at the hospital and medicines to take back home. Free follow-ups are also done for the patients who have undergone eye surgeries.
    Vardan Sewa Sansthan has decided to build a 170-bed multi-specialty charitable hospital at Village Garhi Dhargal, District Ghaziabad, in the NCR. Vardan Hospital presently has 120-beds and is equipped with high quality facilities and competent doctors and staff to ensure quality health services to the poor from the nearby villages. The hospital campus is spread over an area of 2 acres, with 100,000 square feet of built-up area and 10 floors. The hospital was inaugurated in July 2015 by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. IDRF is not raising any more funds for the hospital.

Vardan Multi-Specialty Hospital

Vardan Hospital – Ambulance

Please click on the link below to know more about Vardan Sewa Sansthan.
http://www.vardan.org/

S-VYASA

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S-VYASA

Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana University (S-VYASA), was established in 1986, and is a charitable educational institution promoting the role of Yoga in the modern medical sciences and research. Based on the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, the four streams of Yoga, that are the key essence of Indian culture, are now being applied to bring health, harmony and peace to people all over the world. Suggested by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United Nations has declared June 21st as the International Yoga Day in 2014. The mission of S-VYASA, has been to combine the best of the east (Yoga and spiritual lore) with that of the west (modern scientific research).

S-VYASA has supported and enabled thousands of students with an interest in yoga and its connection to medicine to conduct research, both independently and in collaboration with dozens of medical institutions around the world. Stop Diabetes Movement (Madhumeha Mukta Bharat) is one of the important mission initiatives of S-VYASA.

IDRF partner since: 2002

  • Focus Area: Health and Women Empowerment
  • Location: Karnataka
  • Project Title: Construction of Eknath Center, Naturopathy and Ayurveda Center, and, Stop Diabetes Movement & Yoga Awareness
  • Details:  IDRF joined hands with S-VYASA in 2007 for the construction of Eknath Center –City Clinic in Bengaluru city. At this center yoga training and therapy are conducted. In 2010 and 2011, IDRF again teamed up with S-VYASA for the construction of a Naturopathy and Ayurveda Center on the campus of the university.

    S-VYASA was in the forefront to organize “Madhumeha Mukta Bharat Yoga Saptaha” for a week, in June 2015. Stop Diabetes Movement (SDM) camps were organized to spread awareness about diabetes and preventing diabetes among the Indians across the country for the well-being of the nation, by using ancient holistic approach of Yoga. This mission has been an ambitious movement to prevent India from becoming “Diabetes Capital of the World”. This meteoric increase in numbers is primarily driven by rapid changes in diet, demographic transitions, and sedentary lifestyle in the background of genetic predisposition. India’s economic boom has been accompanied by not only an increase in the number of people with diabetes but also those at risk for the disease.

    IDRF partnered with S-VYASA in 2016 for organizing the 1,426 SDM camps conducted in 21 states in India. The participants received CDs and booklets and, availed of the benefits of Yoga therapy in the management of diabetes. Blood samples were collected for laboratory tests (sponsored by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India) and follow-up action plans were prepared under which the participants were monitored for one year to continue Yoga therapy and laboratory tests were repeated at the end of third, sixth and twelfth months.

    S-VYASA has received positive feedback from people representing all walks of life that there has been no negative effects of the module and a large number of participants showed a 20% reduction in blood glucose levels within one week. Encouraged by these positive results, the program is going forward and aims to significantly reduce this growing epidemic in India.

Construction of Sanitation Units

Naturopathy and Ayurveda Centre

Naturopathy and Ayurveda Center

Please click on the link to learn more about the S-VYASA’s various programs.

http://svyasa.edu.in/

NGO: Economic Rural Development Society (ERDS)

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NGO: Economic Rural Development Society (ERDS)

Economic Rural Development Society (ERDS) is an NGO established in 1982 in  West Bengal. ERDS owes its existence to the dedication and hard work of Mr. Madhu Basu, who wanted to combat the growing poverty in rural and urban areas. It is a non-profit, secular and non-political organization dedicated to the mitigation of misery and poverty, and upliftment of the impoverished.

The primary objective of the organization is to engage in sustainable development techniques to empower the local rural communities, especially women and children. In the initial years it concentrated on non-formal and adult education. Gradually ERDS has diversified its activities in other fields such as women empowerment, children education, health & nutrition, low cost sanitation, care & rehabilitation of the elderly.

IDRF partner since: 2005

  • Focus Area:  Health, Education, Women Empowerment and Disaster Rehabilitation
  • Location: West Bengal
  • Project Title: Rural Sanitation Project
  • Details:  Open defecation poses a serious threat to the health and dignity of women and encounter dangers such as snake bites. Poor sanitation also cripples national development as workers produce less, live shorter lives, save and invest less, and are less able to send their children to school. The Government of India is aiming to achieve Open Defecation Free -India by October 2, 2019- the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 12 million toilets in rural India. While Swachh Bharat Abhiyan became household word since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s launching this campaign on Gandhi Jayanti in 2014, IDRF has been actively involved in this mission since 2010
    IDRF has joined hands with ERDS to expand its rural sanitation program for 3,000 Below Poverty Line (BPL) families living in Gajole, Malda and Dakshin Dinajpur in West Bengal. This project will benefit 18,000 people by providing low cost sanitation facilities at the household level and create a healthy and safe environment for better living. ERDS identifies BPL families without the sanitation units in the beneficiary villages. The NGO staff conducts awareness sessions and trains them for the use and maintenance of the sanitation units. Each eco-friendly sanitation unit is consisting of two alternating pits. Overtime human waste is dewatered and turns into organic manure.
    The construction of sanitation units has started with great enthusiasm in Malda and so far 606 units have already been constructed. We have a long way to meet our target of 3000 units. It takes about 3 days for the construction of one unit at the cost of $250. In this area the beneficiaries are not yet getting the government funding for constructing the sanitation units due to inordinate bureaucratic hurdles. As an integral part of IDRF’s policy, an active participation of beneficiaries is expected and encouraged. Therefore, INR 4,000 is contributed by the beneficiary households in the form of shramdan. Hence, the overall financial cost met by IDRF is INR 16,000 for each sanitation unit. Mr. Madhu Basu, ERDS was invited by W.Bengal radio on April 20, 2017 to talk about their ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ programs.

Construction of Sanitation Units

The families for which the sanitation units have already been constructed are showing a marked difference in their health and hygiene conditions in the period before and after the construction. There seems to be an increase in their level of self-confidence and dignity. One beneficiary also mentioned that after the construction of a sanitation unit for their family, they are able to spend more money on food. As earlier they had to spend more money on doctors’ fees and medicines due to several recurring diseases like diarrhea, intestinal worms, and hookworms that cause malnutrition, etc.

Finished Sanitation Unit for a Family in Malda

Please click on the following links to see ERDS’s successful implementation of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Indian PM Narendra Modi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gH3f1JLOG4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4isMYz9-gOg&t=744s

Also click on this link to see some interesting figures associated with the Swachh Bharat Mission on this Dashboard- maintained by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India.

 http://sbm.gov.in/sbmdashboard/Default.aspx

NGO: Swami Vivekananda Rural Development Society

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NGO: Swami Vivekananda Rural Development Society (SVRDS)

Swami Vivekananda Rural Development Society (SVRDS) was set up to extend support to the rural poor, by providing them educational, social development and humanitarian services. SVRDS works in the rural parts of Tamil Nadu, where people are not only extremely poor, but also suffer from high rates of malnutrition, illiteracy, unemployment and perpetual cycle of poverty.

IDRF partner since: 1996

  • Focus Area:  Health and Disaster Rehabilitation
  • Location: Tamil Nadu
  • Project Title: Rural Sanitation Project
  • Details:  SVRDS has been running Single Teacher Schools mostly in the poorest communities, where public schools programs have not reached. They have decided to use its outreach for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) by engaging in rural sanitation program. In 2016, IDRF’s grant enabled 16 rural poor families to construct toilet-cum-bathroom units. Focused on the poorest communities in Tamil Nadu, IDRF’s Rural Sanitation program is expected to accelerate in 2017. Besides IDRF funds, SVRDS is getting support from the Corporate Social Responsibility program (CSR) for their rural sanitation program.

Inauguration Ceremony of IDRF funded Toilets-cum-Bathrooms for Rural Poor

Inauguration of Toilet-cum-Bathroom Units

Please click on the link to know more about Swami Vivekananda Rural Development Society.
http://www.singleteacherschools.org

NGO: Surabi Charitable Trust

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NGO: Surabi Charitable Trust

Surabi Trust is a non-governmental and philanthropic organization that was founded in 2008, by a group of socially committed youth in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.  The Trust is established with the ultimate aim to serve deprived children by providing them quality education, better medical and nutrition support and empower women to be self-reliant.

IDRF partner since: 2011

  • Focus Area: Health
  • Location: Tamil Nadu
  • Project Title: BalaMitra (Nutrition Supplement Program) and Healthy Mother Project
  • Details:  Many children from poor families do not eat breakfast in the mornings and attend schools on empty stomachs. Surabi has started the BalaMitra (Nutrition Supplement Program), with support from IDRF and other partners, to help such children. Nutrition balls made out of a variety of pulses, coconut and jaggery are offered as breakfast to about 650 children at six Chennai corporation schools daily. This program has received a positive feedback from teachers from these schools. The children not only like this food, but it has also improved their health and performance at school.
    IDRF has also supported Surabi’s “Healthy Mother” program for poor pregnant women by distributing 15-pulses mix packets. This powdered mixture provides the necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition in the unborn child and mother. This powder is distributed free of cost on a weekly-basis, starting the second month of pregnancy through child-birth and till the baby is two-years-old. This has led to mothers giving birth to healthy babies with normal weigh

Nutrition Balls as breakfast for children

A pregnant woman receiving a packet of the Health Mix Powder

Health Mix Powder for Pregnant Women

Please click on the link below to know more about the various programs carried out by Surabi Trust.
http://www.surabitrust.org/

NGO: Samerth Charitable Trust

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NGO: Samerth Charitable Trust

Samerth was founded in 1992 as a non-governmental, charitable trust that works towards development of a humane, sustainable and equitable society. The trust’s main focus is on improving the conditions of marginalized communities and to that extent Samerth helps vulnerable communities in gaining access to their social and economic rights. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched “Clean India Mission” on October 2nd, 2014, but IDRF had initiated work on sanitation issues along with Samerth in 2010. With the initiative and benevolence of a NRI family from Massachusetts, this partnership was done with a vision to provide basic sanitation facilities to the poor and marginalized people from various villages in Nakhatrana block of District Kutch, Gujarat.

IDRF partner since: 2009

  • Focus Area: Education, Health and Eco-friendly Development
  • Location: Gujarat
  • Project Title: Rural Sanitation
  • Details:  A safe and sustainable water supply, basic sanitation, and good hygiene are fundamental for a healthy, productive, and dignified life. And yet, many of India’s poor rural lack access to them. Samerth has constructed over 1,707 sanitation units for marginalized rural families living below poverty line (BPL) (most of whom are first generation toilet users!). After the initiation of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) , people are becoming aware of the various advantages of having a sanitation unit near (or inside) their house over defecating in the open or fields nearby.
    Samerth conducts village level meetings with the community leaders and uses a set of guidelines to choose families for receiving their support for the project. The communities are involved in every stage and activities of the program-from formation of their village level committees to the construction of the sanitation units. Since IDRF’s policy is to encourage and expect active participation from the beneficiaries, the selected families contributed labor (shramdan) equivalent to 40% of the cost per unit. The community members are also supporting those beneficiaries who do not have resources to construct the toilets and as a result the cooperation amongst the community members is also increasing. Samerth tightly monitors the work progress during the construction activities and supports them in finishing the construction on time. The quality control of the construction material is looked after by the Samarth-approved vendors and the beneficiaries are also made aware about how to clean and maintain the sanitation units.
    The sanitation security experienced by villagers through this program has had a great impact on improving the overall standard of living. As a result of this, the communities from other villages in the block have also started demanding toilets. The government authorities saw IDRF and Samerth have constructed 1,707 sanitation units, and each and every sanitation unit is functioning, so they have decided to lay down drainage pipe-line in 26 villages. Now, running water is also supplied to the bathrooms and toilets.
    Upon the construction of the sanitation units, Samerth team helps in the preparation of applications by individual beneficiary households to receive a subsidy from Drinking Water and Sanitation Department. As a result of the excellent execution of this project, Samerth has been granted entire funding from Government agencies under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to scale up the project.

Community leaders participating in a meeting at Bhojrajvandh

Construction of a Sanitation Unit

Beneficiary Khatubai Kasam Bakali of Village: Jinjay

Please click on the link to know more about Swachh Bharat Mission on this Dashboard- maintained by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India.

http://http://sbm.gov.in/sbmdashboard/Default.aspx

NGO: Sahaj Seva Samsthan

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NGO: Sahaj Seva Samsthan

Sahaj Seva Samsthan (SSS) is formed by followers of a spiritual way of living propounded by Mahatma Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. This society is focused on propagating the philosophies of selfless service, sacrifice, moderation, and co-operation. They have been working on uplifting the impoverished people of Telangana by providing them low-cost or free medical care and education.

IDRF partner since: 2005

  • Focus Area: Education and Health
  • Location: Telangana
  • Project Title:  Hospital operations and construction of a new hospital
  • Details:  IDRF supports Samsthan in running of its hospital that provides modern medical services at an affordable cost to the common man.

    Starting in 2017, IDRF is working with SSS to construct a 50-bed general hospital (adjacent to the existing hospital) with facilities like: general surgery, laboratory, and emergency services for the urban and rural poor in Hyderabad. The Samasthan takes up health education and nutrition supplementation and nutrition advice to rural population in addition to providing curative health services to rural areas.

General surgery facility at the hospital

Please click to know more about Sahaj Seva Samasthan’s programs.

NGO: Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama

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NGO: Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama

Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Kankhal (RKMS), is situated in the city of Haridwar, Uttarakhand. This 150-bed multi-specialty charitable hospital was founded in 1901 and caters to the medical needs of people in the Himalayan mountain region, neighboring states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Since its foundation, RKMS has treated more than 10 million patients and is spread over a sprawling campus of about 18 acres. The hospital houses various departments like: Obstetrics-Gynecology, Pediatrics, NICU, ICU, Pathological labs, Blood bank, Operation Theaters, etc. The campus also has a dairy farm and agricultural land, and their produce is used for feeding poor in-patients.

IDRF partner since: 2016

  • Focus Area: Health
  • Location: Uttarakhand
  • Project Title: Hospital capacity augmentation and remodeling
  • Details:  The multi-specialty hospital treats about 100,000 patients in a year. Due to the deterioration in provision of medical services by the government hospitals and unaffordable costs of private providers, this hospital is experiencing a rising demand from poor patients. With partial government and donor assistance, the hospital is expanding its existing facilities to add two more floors and additional equipment. IDRF has supported RKMS’s expansion and modernization program by financing medical equipment and air-conditioning of the newly added patient-care wards.

Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama Hospital Building in Kankhal, Uttarakhand

CT scan facility at RKMS Hospital

ICU at RKMS Hospital

Please click on the link to know more about the various charitable programs of Ramakrishna Mission Sevashram in  Kankhal, District Haridwar, Uttarakhand.

http://rkmkankhal.org/index.html

NGO: Public Health Concern Trust-NEPAL

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NGO: Public Health Concern Trust-NEPAL

Public Health Concern Trust, Nepal (phect-NEPAL) is a secular, non-political, not-for-profit national level Non-government Organization (NGO) committed to health development. It was founded in 1991, with the overall objective of developing a model of sustainable community health care throughout rural Nepal. Despite the progress in development made in Nepal in recent decades, life for the majority of the people remains well below a satisfactory level.

IDRF partner since: 2012

  • Focus Area: Health and Disaster Rehabilitation
  • Location: Nepal
  • Project Title: Managing Genital Prolapse in Women
  • Details:  A genital prolapse is a downward or forward displacement of one of the pelvic organs from its normal location in females. In Nepal over 25% women are estimated to be suffering from Utero-Vaginal Prolapse (UVP) that causes genital organs along with urinary bladder and rectum to come out from their original location. As a result, these women have a miserable and degraded life. Majority of women with prolapse cannot make use of surgical services as they are concentrated in or near large urban areas and they also lack the financial means required to cover the cost of the treatment. IDRF has helped conduct free surgical remedies to needy women with severe prolapse at Kathmandu Model Hospital. In 2019-20, with grants from IDRF, 38 women had successful surgeries and in-patients’ post-operative care for a week at no cost to them. Several outreach free health camps are also regularly organized that address the awareness and preventive measures for pelvic organ prolapse.

Success Story

Rudra Kumari Shreshtha, 58, was suffering from pelvic organ prolapse for 25 years and was reluctant to share her problems. When her daughter-in-law forced her to seek medical consultation, the doctors found out that she was suffering from pelvic organ prolapse, stage 3. Despite her financial hardships, she underwent a surgery and one week of free post-operative care supported by IDRF and phect-Nepal. When she was discharged, she left the hospital with a big smile on her face and feeling free from 25 years of suffering.

Menuka Basola, a 67 years old female was brought to the hospital after suffering from prolapse for three years. She as very reluctant to share her medical problem at home and finally one day, when her son saw her in great discomfort, he immediately brought her to the hospital. Upon examination, the doctors found out that she was suffering from pelvic organ prolapse, stage 3. She underwent a successful surgery and was given one week of post-operative care at no cost to her.  When she was discharged, she left the hospital with a big smile on her face.

 Please click on the link to learn more about Public Health Concern Trust http://phectnepal.org/