Maharashtra: Honeywell Hometown Solutions India Foundation (HHSIF), the philanthropic arm of Honeywell India, and Swades Foundation, a non-profit organization that has been uplifting communities in rural Maharashtra, have entered into a three-year partnership to create a holistic rural development program to empower rural communities in Raigad and Nasik districts of Maharashtra.
In the first year, the program will focus on drinking water, irrigation, education, sanitation, energy, environment and livelihood generation for underprivileged families in Raigad and Nasik districts, covering more than 10,000 people across 20 villages.
Ashish Gaikwad, President, Honeywell India and Director, HHSIF, said, “Honeywell’s partnership with Swades Foundation is a part of our larger commitment to make a sustainable and measurable impact on communities that we serve. In the next three years, we aim to address the fundamental challenges of affordability and access to basic health, education and safe drinking water, and empower communities with sustainable livelihoods.”
Mangesh Wange, CEO, Swades Foundation, said, “This partnership with Honeywell further strengthens our commitment to uplift rural families out of poverty. We support community members in aspiring for an “Adarsh Gaon” and build a can-do attitude to make their village a dream village. This partnership is a key to unlock the potential of many rural community members and help them live a self-sufficient life.”
The holistic rural development program seeks to improve the standard of living for villagers through access to piped drinking water, in-house toilets, and solar lighting in homes and streets. This will help rural women and adolescent girls overcome predicaments due to open defecation and reduce the drudgery of fetching drinking water from community sources. Solar-powered lamps offer an environment-friendly and sustainable alternative to traditional oil-based lamps.
The program will skill the youth, encourage entrepreneurship, and open up avenues for gainful employment. This will enable the rural youth to make a living in their own village and stem migration to urban areas. Some of the avenues include dairy farming, poultry-rearing, pisciculture, and setting up of mini flour mills.
The program offers full scholarships to students to pursue higher studies or vocational courses once they complete high school.
Swades’ holistic rural development model is scalable, replicable and sustainable. By building successful linkages between the community and government, the model becomes self-sustainable, with villagers owning developmental projects and scaling them up.
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