Pinki Kumari, case no 581 is a sponsored child of the village Nawadih of Bounsi Block of Banka district. She have completed her education upto standard 12^th and then dropped out of education. Her father is a marginalised farmer and could only fulfil the minimum requirement of his family. Her mother is a house wife. Pinki lives with her family in a very small thatched house and has one brother and sister, who is married.

Pinki has been enrolled under childFund India program and got sponsorship on the year 2002, since then Pinki participated in ChildFund India’s program regularly. When Pinki dropped out of her education Chetna Vikas ChildFund India staffs enrolled her in the beautician course as she showed interest in the beautician course and dreamed to develop as an entrepreneur instead of getting married. She received three months training in the Daksh Centre and because of her performance she was selected to get the material support for opening her own beauty parlour.

She also attended life-skill training which helped her in taking the decision of doing business rather than getting married. Though her family was never supportive and wanted her to get married as soon as possible, but her strong determination helped her to go against her parents.

Although she had all the necessary equipments but she lacked space to run her own beauty parlour, so ChildFund India team of Chetna Vikas helped her get a space for her parlour beside the CoE.

She is now doing carrying her business quite well and supporting her family. Presently she is earning less than one thousand rupees per month and is happy with her earning. She quotes  “it is because of ChildFund India and Chetna Vikas I have a career now and I can support my family”

This is a story of a WADI farmer, Mr. Chundda Murmu who is the best farmer of Bhaturia village. Before getting benefited by the WADI project he used to engage himself in day laborer. He used to migrate from one place to another as a seasonal labor and sometimes used to cultivate his own land but it was not so profitable. Because most of the land were not suitable for paddy cultivation. In 2017 he got saplings of mangoes, guavas and some boarder plants from Chetna Vikas.

Now he had 50 mango saplings, 20 guava saplings and 25 boarder plants in his agricultural land which was a wasteland few years ago. He is also doing intercropping which includes corns, beans and lady finger. His profession has been totally changed, from a seasonal laborer to a permanent and dedicated farmer of bhaturia village.

According to him “ Kheti ka jamin toh bohot hai lekhin pani ke kami ke  waja se aacche kheti nehi hota isiliye bahar kam karne jata tha lekhin WADI project aane k baat aab mein unn jamino pe aam aur amrud laga diya aur ye bohot lavdayak bhi hai. Aur aab mujhe bahar kam karne nehi jana padega.”

This story is of Mr. Ramswarup Singh who is the best WADI farmer of tetria village. Before starting agriculture profession he used to work in Chetna Vikas as a SHGs group facilitator in two villages. But in 2007 he was relesed as the project was closed. He then decided to engage in agricultural activities as he had much land to cultivate. But by doing paady cultivation he didn’t get much profit. So he decided to go for planting saplings in those lands.

 In the previous year and in current year he got 80 mango saplings, 40 guava saplings and 150 boarder plants from Chetna Vikas. At initial stage he had to face lots of difficulties in term of protection of those saplings and because of irrigation problems. But he worked hard and took care of those saplings by giving proper protection. He is very knowledgeable in agricultural activities. In previous year, he on his own cost he had arranged a hand pump to tackle the irrigation problem. Now he is successfully doing intercropping there. Some the intercropping were lady finger, pomegranate, chili, bitter gourd, brinjal and various kinds of flours and which was giving him huge profits. According to him “Pehle toh mujhe bohot dikkat jhelne padi lekin ab koi dikkat nehi. Aab toh intercropping karke bohot faida hota hai aur ummed hai ke aagle saal yeh amrud aura aam ke per se Rs.50000 to 60000 jarur aayega(we are making great profit through intercropping and we hope that we will make profit of Rs.50000 to Rs60000 in the coming year)”.

This is a story of a youth farmer Mr. Dhena Shoren. After passing the Matric examination Dhenna Shoren had to involve with agriculture activities. Because of poor financial condition, he was unable to continuing his study. While doing agriculture activities, at the initial stage he didn’t get much profit from it, because most of the lands were not suitable for paddy cultivation. One of his friend suggested him to plant saplings of mango, guava and some boarder trees which was very profitable. But he didn’t have that much money to buy saplings and plant it on one acre of land. Other farmers were also not interested in planting saplings instead of paddy cultivation.

He approached Chetna Vikas, and finally got some saplings of mango, guava and boarder plants in previous year and planted those in agricultural field. As intercropping he planted corns, lady finger, and nuts. At that time, no one supported him and stood beside him. But seeing the success and profit, many people got interested and planted the saplings of Mango, Guava and boarder plants provided by Chetna Vikas in collaboration with NABARD.  Now the number of farmer has increased to Thirty One and everyone is inspired by him at dondia village.

Acccording to Mr. Dhena Shoren “ Chetna Vikas ko dhhonyabad dena chahata hu mujhe itna kuch dene k liye. Mein bus aab mere gao ko aage le ke jana chahata hu. Aur mujhe puri ummed hai ke aane bale sal mein aacha khasa faida mujhe milega ish Aam aur Amrud k per se”.-  I would like to thank Chetna Vikas and NABARD for helping us in agriculture and I just want to develop my village and I believe in the coming years we will make good profit.

Basanti Devi is a permanent resident of Parasdah village. She is one of the most dedicated and hardworking farmer in her village. In a male dominated society, she faced a lot of difficulties when she decided to go for agriculture activities. At initial stage, she didn’t get much support from the villagers for her agriculture activities. Before coming under WADI project she used to involve herself as a household worker and sometimes daily labor in agricultural field.

She became owner of lands which were not suitable for cultivation at all. In such a critical situation Chetna Vikas came forward to help her by providing saplings of mango, guava and some boarder plants. She got some saplings previous year and some in the running year. Now she has 50 mango trees, 20 guava tress and 48 boarder plant in her plot. In this way she had transformed the wasteland in a cultivated land. She started intercropping and cultivated beans, lady finger and brinjal. Now she is successfully doing farming there instead of daily laborer and is self-depended.  According to her “Pehle toh mujhe bohot dikkat hoti thi lekin aaj mein bohot khus hu kyun ki  mujhe biswas hai ki aane bale sal mein mujhe bohot jada lav milegi ish Aam or Amrud ke  podha se . Aur abhi toh bahar se bhi sabji nehi leni padti ish kheti ke sabji se hi kam ho jata hai”-before we used to face difficulty because of the poor irrigation facility, but now I know I am going to make good profit out of the mangoes and guava, even now we do not have to buy vegetables from the market, which reducing our expenses.

On the outside, Sunita might seem as tranquil as the unruffled surface of the river, but she is bubbling over within.

After much pressure from her parents and taunts from villagers, Santhal tribe girl Sunita Kistu, 17, was married. Her wish to pursue her education did seem to be sinking in the tradition of child marriage but Sunita was determined and announced her husband that she will go to school. He agreed. She moved back to her parents home to finish her 12^th grade’s study and continue her passion of playing football. Goal Keeper in her team, she said “I didn’t want to get married at such an early age but my parents were afraid that villagers will question my morality, as a girl must get married by the age of 16 and they were apprehensive ‘who will marry me after I cross a certain age?’.” Not withstanding, Sunita, has taken a stand she will study till B.A. and she will try for state selection of football players this year.

Abdul Razzaq is a ten year old visually impaired child, who belongs to a village named Amba in the Dumka district. Due to his unfortunate condition he was totally confined to his home and absolutely depended upon his family for his everyday activities. He was not admitted to any school nor did his parents show any interest in it due to his condition. As he was totally confined indoors, he did not have any friends nor did he interact with anyone.

This is the story of 14 year old Aarti Besra, studying in class VIII. She is a resident of Banihathi Village, Panchayat- Dhanway. She is commended for her courage and determination to overcome her challenge and continue her education in Model School in Saraiyahat block with same standards as Kendriya Vidyalaya.

Aarti’s father is the sole earner for her family. His occupation is farming. Aarti’s story begins here, her elder sister was married off at the young age of 16. She could’t save the sancity of marriage and had eloped with another man thereafter. To compensate for the loss, Aarti was forcibly married to her brother in law by her father’s consent. The matter was later taken up by the police and cordially the matter was sorted and the marriage was considered null and void.

Today in a new light, Aarti is continuing her education from Model Schools run in Educationally Backward Blocks of India under the supervision of State Government. She commutes daily 8 km by her bicycle to reach her school. According to Aarti, Reading skill Improvement Program and Special coaching class supported by Chetna Vikas & Child Fund India has helped her build her foundation and clear her entrance exam. The medium of language can be decided by the State Government, although special emphasis has been given on Spoken English and English Teaching.

Through Child Club meetings, Aarti is now aware of the legal marriage age for girls is 18 and also learnt that with education one can fight against any odds. Her dream is to stop child marriage. She mustered the strength to stand up against her father with the help of her 3 elder brothers. Her father, Madan Besra, is guilty of his earlier decision and now supports Aarti to fulfill her dreams and become a teacher.

The School Management Committee of the majority of schools in the Santhal Parganna Division is inoperative and mere symbolic in function. The members are unaware of their roles and responsibilities in ensuring good school governance.

This is a case study of a village – Madhudinda in the Saraiyahat block of the project area. The school is situated at the outer area of the village. The total number of children enrolled are 214 but only 30-40 children are present. The majority of the community members are aware of education in shaping their children’s lives. This village has a feudal system where the positions of different CBOs are held by a particular group, hence the policy decisions are influenced.

We outlined a strategy with our core team of the project to handle this sensitive issue. Our role as a catalyst help us to engage with the negative stakeholders and work in coordination with the positive stakeholders. As per the capacity building programme of VEC, the project team ensured that it would be translated into action for the benefit of the children. The VEC members expressed that formal education was very important for the village children.

For further positive outcome the VEC members were assembled on a single platform and regular fortnight meetings were conducted. These meetings were held to enhance their awareness, increase participation of women and make them realize their responsibility towards the community. The attendance has increased by 70% due to regular home visits and counseling the parents of irregular children. The enrollment of girls has increased and teachers are regular to school imparting education. Monitoring and assessment is done by the VEC. The link has been developed by the VEC between Community and schools and it needs to be built stronger for the greater interest of the children.

This is a story of the Anganwadi Centre in Dumarthar where the Sevika, Lacy Teresa is responsible and accountable for the delivery services of the Government financed programs. However, the Community is unaware of the merits of per-schooling and nutrition in AWC. The project team’s review highlights the fact that although 40 children were enrolled at the center only 13 were present. The centre covered two villages. Thus, distance was undoubtedly an issue, but ignorance from parents was the major issue.

It was a joint effort of the Anganwadi workers and our project team who decided to visit the (identified) homes of the children. They counseled them on the importance of education and tried to convince them to send their children to school. Lacy ensured them that they will see a behavioral change in their children. She succeeded in her attempt by training the children in different co-curricular activities and feeding practice among the children. Presently the children are regular to these centers and enrollment has increased and crossed the prescribed limit. The children are performing well both physically and mentally. It has been recorded in Growth Monitoring Chart and daily evaluation of the lessons. The Mother’s committee has credited the services of Lacy and the ILP members, working for the interactive action of the children.