Gram Vikas

Origins

In 1971, Joe Madiath led 400 volunteers from the University of Madras' Young Students' Movement for Development to West Bengal to manage relief camps for refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War. Witnessing the devastation of the 1971 Orissa cyclone, and realising the comparatively little attention received by the disaster victims, Madiath and a small group of 40 volunteers shifted their attention there.

The group decided that the best way to help the cyclone victims was to provide irrigation facilities. Once these efforts were completed, the group handed over the facilities to the villagers and left. But Madiath and a small group of YSMD volunteers came to the realisation that the irrigation facilities benefited mostly the landlords, and decided to stay in Orissa to become social activists.

Joe Madiath and remaining volunteers moved to Ganjam district at the invitation of the local authorities, and established Gram Vikas in 1979.

Adivasi social activism

Gram Vikas initially focused on social activism in support of adivasi communities who were being exploited by landlords and liquor merchants. Gram Vikas spearheaded a movement to organise adivasi communities to reclaim land, chase out moneylenders, and free themselves from bonded labor and alcoholism.

Activities

Since its inception, Gram Vikas has worked on a variety of development issues, including biogas promotion, community forestry, rural habitat development, and education. Over the years, however, Gram Vikas have focused their efforts on mechanisms that ensure sustainable solutions for water and sanitation.

Water and sanitation

Prior to founding Gram Vikas, Joe Madiath worked on a project in Cuttack district to build toilets for villagers. However, because the burden of carrying water from the nearby pump to the toilets befell the women of the village, they rejected the approach, and the villagers eventually reverted to unsanitary practices.

As a result, Gram Vikas decided to approach water and sanitation by first building solid partnerships with the villages, insisting on gender equality. Villagers are asked to contribute to a “corpus fund”, which is invested in an interest-earning deposit and used to pay the costs of families moving to the village.

Gram Vikas also require that all villagers, regardless of economic, social, or caste status, receive the same types of toilets and bathing rooms. Additionally, the entire community must be involved in the planning, construction, monitoring, and maintenance of the system. Finally, Gram Vikas promotes gender equality as an inherent part of their programs.

By their own admission, the Gram Vikas approach is difficult to implement due to the requirements for 100% participation and community equity. However, Gram Vikas claims the solution leads to socially sustainable solutions, thus making it a “good but difficult model”.

Other development programs

Gram Vikas also carries out programs on the subjects of community health, education, natural resource management and food security, as well as renewable energy.

Outreach

As of March 2011, Gram Vikas has carried water and sanitation in 1089 villages in the states of Orissa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh, for a total population of 298,000 individuals.

Awarded to Gram Vikas

Awarded to Executive Director Joe Madiath