Background Information on Neev
Neev is a small charitable society based in Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh that was started by four idealistic friends with similar mindsets who met while at university in England and wanted to work with the poor and underprivileged.
Poverty co-exists in Madhya Pradesh (M.P) amid vast pools of illiteracy, in a socio-cultural setting where women are accorded low status, under-age marriages continue, and the shortage of health services and trained medical personnel add to the risk of child bearing. 37 per cent of the population in M.P lives below the poverty line, significantly higher than the national average of 26 per cent. All these factors make for a lethal mix which results in among the worst maternal and infant mortality ratios in the country. MP scores the top position for highest Infant Mortality Rate, lowest life expectancy of 57.7 years in comparison to Indian average of 63.2 years and also tops the lists of Indian states with more than 60 percent malnutrition among children under the age of 5 years.
These are Neev’s long term objectives:
• To work with the poor and underprivileged, living in the village areas, particularly in Shivpuri district, MP.
• To work in collaboration with the villagers to understand their needs and help them to obtain sustainable livelihood opportunities and access to better services.
• To enable the poor youth to have greater access to opportunities for livelihood and education, so that they can make more informed choices
• To build capacity of the local bodies such as the panchayat and SHG’s through exposure and training, for effective planning.
• To instill ownership and communal responsibility amongst the community and facilitate an equal partnership between our organization and members of the community.
• To help improve access to health facilities and reduce malnourishment levels in the community with a focus on children.
• To build strategic partnership with various organizations and associations to facilitate self learning through mutual sharing of knowledge in the community.
• To facilitate dialogue between the community and various stakeholders including the government and bureaucratic officials.
• To enable access to financial services to help the community increase economic opportunities.
• To help the communities adopt water conservation practices and to enable access to alternate renewable energy sources in the region.
• To create awareness about gender issues and empowering women, by improving their socio-economic position.
Neev is currently working with women and children from Thakarpura, Nohri, Kathmai and Binega villages in Shivpuri.
• Paper Bag Project- Neev runs a project for women, to make bags out of waste newspaper. We sell the bags to various shops in Shivpuri town. Our project serves two purposes, giving livelihood to the women and replacing plastic bags in Shivpuri. Currently thirteen women are employed under this project.
• Handmade Paper Project- Neev is also making handmade paper to further provide livelihood opportunities to women. We have a trained resource person from the Aurobindo Ashram in Delhi. Currently we are aiming at expanding our range of handmade paper products.
• Education Project- Neev wants to enable impoverished youth to have greater access to opportunities for livelihood and education. It is working in collaboration with Happydays School to promote education amongst the Sahariya Adivasi tribal children.
Previously these children were enrolled in the local government school in their village but faced various problems such as absenteeism of teachers, overcrowding of classes etc. Upon enrolling six children in the M.P Board affiliated Hindi Medium Section of Happydays we realized that despite having finished Class 8 from the government school the children could not even do the work of Class Five. After six months of intensive coaching these children are now studying in Class 6. In July 2010 we enrolled 21 more Sahariya children in the school and in total have now enrolled 27 Sahariya children free of cost in Happydays School.
