Programs

Vivek vardhini Primary School

Education is the doorway to the wider world and an exposition on rural infrastructure is incomplete without an assessment of the extent to which we have been able to open this door for the children of rural India. The Vivekvardhini Primary School is set out to achieve universal primary education for children up to the age of 14 years. It has successfully impacted enrolment numbers and the retention of girl children through formal and informal education systems in the rural areas of Latur District. The retention of girls in the schools set up under this program is four times that of schools set up elsewhere. The strength of the Vivekvardhini Primary School is its innovative approach, gender sensitivity and decentralized management systems that have ensured the sustainability of the initiative. The Program goals are to design, make and maintain the school buildings in accordance with the aspirations and needs of the children, their parents and the community, to develop the entire teaching learning environment in accordance with the dignity of the child and to involve the community in all aspects, so that they develop a feeling of ownership and guardianship towards the Program. The Vivekvardhini Primary School is at Raj Nagar, near Ambika Nagar, Udgir, and District - Latur since June 1990. At present 235 children (mostly from slum area & deprived communities) are getting educations in this school.

Swadhar Shelter Home

Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal believes that needs and difficulties of women, children and families can best be addressed by providing developmental support through education, guidance and life skill training. Over the years, the work of Swadhar Kendra by Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal has spread through various projects to reach beneficiaries across all age groups ranging from infants to adults. These projects address a wide range of needs, from support for survival and protection to building competitive ability for self-reliance and growth.

Savitri Bai Phule Balwadi Center

Lokmanya Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM) believes that child care is an integral component of social security for women workers. Child care provisions relieve the women of one of their multiple burdens, create time and space and work opportunities for women and support their empowerment. In the absence of adequate child care facilities, a working mother has no option but to leave the child with a slightly older sibling. A large part of sibling care givers are girls and the provision of child care facilities also releases the girl child to attend school and to enjoy her own childhood. Besides, the early years of a child need nurturing and care. Neglect can lead to adverse effect on the health, welfare, care, development and education of the child.

Lokmanya Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM) intervention in child care is more than two and half decades old as Savitri Bai Phule Balwadi Center was in existence from 1990 at Raj Nagar, near Ambika Nagar, Udgir. Children under 6 years are admitted to the Savitri Bai Phule Balwadi Center. Generally, most of the children are admitted when they are toddlers between 18 and 24 months of age. The duration of the working day is from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm. The mothers and the Savitri Bai Phule Balwadi Center workers are friendly with each other, as these belong to the same social group and neighborhood. At present, there are about 30 children in the Savitri Bai Phule Balwadi Center and are mostly from adjoining slums of Udgir town./p>

Savitri Bai Phule SC Boys Hostel

The main objective of the Savitri Bai Phule SC Boys Hostel is to provide free boarding and lodging facilities studying at Schools and Colleges/University levels. It is a "Home away from home". Here students are nurtured, pruned, disciplined and showered with love and affection.The occupation of 35% of the parents of inmates was cultivation while this proportion was higher (76%) in case of ex-inmates. Parent's occupation as agricultural and non-agricultural labour among inmates, accounted for 42 percent against 22 percent from ex-inmate category, about 78 percent of the inmates came from poor families having monthly income of less than Rs.3000 and 26 percent were very poor having monthly income up to Rs.1000 only. The Savitri Bai Phule SC Boys Hostel at Mahadev Nagar, Udgir Town is in existence since 2004 and annual 28 students benefited from this hostel.

Creche/Day Care Center

Effective day care for young children is essential and a cost effective investment as it provides support to both the mothers and young children. It is also a protection measure as it addresses issues such as child labour, school drop outs, child prostitution, outreach for medical and health program female literacy etc.All the 3 Creche/Day Care Center run by Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM) are all times equipped with a basic First Aid Kit containing pediatric medicines for common ailments like fever, vomiting, cough and cold, dehydration, common stomach ailments, minor injuries, ointments, band-aids, cotton wool, disinfectants. All the 3 Creche/Day Care Center run by Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM) have adequate cooking facility, cooking utensils, utensils to feed the children- which should be cleaned regularly before and after use. They should be kept in an identified space. All the 3 Creche/Day Care Center run by Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM) have a safe and regular drinking water source. If necessary, chlorination or boiling of drinking water is done. One unit is located at Dattanagar (slum area), near Mahatma Phule Nagar, Udgir Town and other two are located in the village named Wadhona(BK) Taluqa - Udgir Totally more than 90 children from slum area are getting care & pre-primary education in these 3 Creche/Day Care Centers run by Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM).

Old Age Home

The life expectancy in India has increased significantly after independence, particularly in the last 2-3 decades, due to availability of better medical facilities, improved health consciousness and increase in standard of living of the people. The percentage of aged persons has been steadily increasing. In Latur district, intense poverty, political violence, famine, drought, natural disasters, animal attacks, chronic endemic diseases and poor maternal health care, all are contributing in turning a large numbers of an old Aged person into helpless and destitute each year. There is generalized and pronounced lacking of health, nutrition, and caring services for indigenous poor helpless and destitute old aged persons interfering their physical, mental, social and spiritual development and well being, ultimately leading to a uncertain and frustrated life.

Senior Citizen Home for Elderly Women

Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM) is running Multi facility Care Center for Destitute Older Widowed Women from April 2008 at Osmanabad, Ta. Osmanabad, Dist. Osmanabad. The main objectives of the center is to maintain well being of older widowed women, to provide social and emotional services, recreation and health care etc. 50 Destitute older widowed women from rural area who have no means of subsistence and are in need of protection are admitted and provided with food, cloth & shelter.

Integrated Rehabilitation Center for Addicts

Alcohol addiction or abuse is a global problem. No Country is free and Hundreds and Thousands of young men and girls are today victims of the evils and curs of alcohol addiction. There are innumerable causes for alcohol addiction. Some of them are Socio-economic condition and environment, psycho physical behavior problem including frustration, indiscipline acts, personality disintegration, low mentality, handicapped, anxiety, tension, conflicts, psycho neuroses etc. Using of alcohol starts out of Curiosity or to have pleasant enjoyment. People are generally induced to alcohol addiction through their friends or peer groups. Often these are initially taken to overcome boredom, depression and fatigue. Parental negligence, frustration in life, broken family unemployment may also lead to the initial use of alcohol and thereafter its easy availability makes the user dependent on its. Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM) started de addiction treatment cum rehabilitation center at Osmanabad city. District - Osmanabad from 2008 and at Indapur town, Taluq - Indapur, District - Pune since 2011. Both centers are 15 bedded.

Shelter Home for Deserted Animals

From the year 2010-11 Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM) is running shelter home for deserted animals. Around 13 animals are maintained in this shelter home and is looking after the following five basic needs for the deserted animals:

Physiological needs - e.g. food and water, appropriate temperature/humidity, air and light conditions etc.
Social needs - preference for living in solitude, in pair bonds or in a group.
Psychological needs - appropriate stimulation and activity to prevent boredom.
Environmental needs - suitable home, space and territory.
Behavioral needs - e.g. hibernation, nest building, burrowing.

Watershed Development Awareness Program under IWMP (Integrated Watershed Management Project)

Watershed development refers to the conservation, regeneration and the judicious use of all the resources - natural (like land, water plants, animals) and human - within the watershed area. Watershed Management tries to bring about the best possible balance in the environment between natural resources on the one side and man and animals on the other. Since it is the man which is primarily responsible for degradation of environment, regeneration and conservation can only be possible by promoting awakening and participation among the people who inhabit the watersheds. It is clear that the watershed development cannot be done in isolation. It is a natural entity and may contain different types of lands namely, forest lands, community lands, government lands or private lands. These lands can be treated on "ridge to valley" approach.

Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM) implemented watershed development awareness Program as a Project Training Organization (PTO) in three districts viz. Latur, Nanded & Ratnagiri. Under this Program seventrainings were conducted in each village viz. Awareness generation training, UG (User group) training, SHG (Self help group) training, Livelihood Study Tour, Watershed Study tour, Watershed committee Implementation Stage training, Crop Pattern management training.

Livelihood Training Program under IWMP (Integrated Watershed Management Project)

To restore the ecological balance in the degraded watersheds through sustained community action, mass mobilization is needed. The Program can only succeed when the community is motivated enough to realize that the Program is not only for eco-restoration through watershed development but also to addresses their other pressing socio-economic needs. The activities under this community organization include organizing Self Help Groups and User Groups, Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercises, awareness camps, exposure visits & programmes on literacy, family welfare, social services, income generating activities etc. giving small contributions to SHGs or other village institutions like mahila mandals/ youth clubs/ anganwadis which are considered important for people participation. Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM) conducted Livelihood Training Program as a Livelihood Resource Agency (LRA) in two districts viz. Latur, and Beed. Under this Program Livelihood Trainings were conducted in 19 villages as follows.

Livelihood Training Program under IWMP (Integrated Watershed Management Project) as DRO (District Resource Organization)

Lokmanya Sikshan Prasarak Mandal (LSPM) conducted Training Program as a District Resource Organization (DRO) in LATUR district. This training Program was conducted for the village level Watershed committee members, Watershed Development Team (WDT). The details are as follows:

a) Watershed Development Team:-The Watershed Development Team is a multi-disciplinary team responsible for technical and financial supervision of the project activities. The team consists of field level officials drawn from various disciplines like forestry, soil conservation, horticulture, social sciences etc. These officials are key functionaries in sensitization of Self help Groups/User Groups and villagers at large.
b) Watershed Committee: - Watershed Committee (WC) is the key institution at Watershed level consisting of about 2-3 representatives, each of UG, SHG, Panchayat and women etc. Committee also appoints a Watershed Secretary preferably a local man graduate from the same area.
c) PTO (Project Training Organization):- PTO (Project Training Organization) is the key institution at Watershed level consisting of about 2-3 representatives, each of UG, SHG, Panchayat and women etc. Committee also appoints a Watershed Secretary preferably a local man graduate from the same area.