Population First

Although mandated by law, Mahila Gram Sabhas (exclusive women's gatherings at the village level to address development issues) often do not take place. Population First actively promotes Mahila Gram Sabhas by raising awareness among women regarding their rights and responsibilities. It encourages women to organize and lead these meetings, enabling them to voice their opinions on community development matters.
The Mahila Gram Sabhas are structured to facilitate information dissemination and discussions covering essential topics such as health, sanitation, unauthorized encroachments, and various governmental schemes at central, state, and district levels (e.g., Nav Sanjivani Scheme, Maharashtra Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MREGS), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), among others).
The organisation’s intervention has resulted in empowering over 500 women across 20 villages.

In many villages, it was evident that the Gram Sabhas were not conducted effectively, and members lacked awareness of their responsibilities. A significant portion of the Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members had never undergone any training and possessed limited knowledge about budgeting, available developmental schemes, PESA (The Provisions of the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act) fund, Vitta Aayog (Finance Commission), among other crucial aspects.
To underscore the authority and obligations vested in PRI members and establish a more transparent and accountable system for village development, PRI training sessions were arranged. These training programs aim to impart fundamental knowledge about conducting Gram Sabhas/Mahila Gram Sabhas and drafting proposals and budgets for various schemes.

The objective of these camps extends beyond merely delivering health services to those in need; it aims to foster an environment where the entire community becomes more aware and sensitive to health-related concerns. These camps usually consist of interactive sessions focused on health topics for youth and children, counselling sessions tailored for adolescents, as well as film screenings and entertainment programs embedded with messages promoting health and overall well-being.
These well-attended health camps, organized in partnership with health institutions, serve as a demonstration to service providers on effectively communicating health issues to the community in an engaging and interactive manner.

The Shahapur block faces elevated rates of infant and maternal morbidity and mortality, notably within tribal villages. Educating pregnant women and nursing mothers about ante-natal and post-natal care is crucial in addressing this issue. The organisation conducts regular sessions, covering various topics such as immunization, nutrition, sufficient rest, supplementation, breastfeeding, contraception, and more. These sessions involve the Anganwadi worker, ANM, and ASHA, aiming to enhance their communication skills in effectively addressing these issues with women.

The efforts to tackle malnutrition prioritize behavioural changes among both Anganwadi workers and parents. Parents constitute the primary target group, as the health of children greatly relies on the attention and practices adopted by parents concerning diet and hygiene within the household. Effective utilization of resources available to Anganwadi Centres, including funding and supplementation from the ICDS department, significantly contributes to formulating strategies to combat malnutrition in these villages.
Regular village-level meetings, conducted in collaboration with existing institutions such as Anganwadi Centres, Primary Health Centers (PHCs), Sub-centers, etc., bring together parents, community members, and health service providers. These gatherings are focused on addressing malnutrition issues among children.

The Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH) programs entail regular interactive sessions designed for adolescent girls and boys. These sessions aim to familiarize them not only with the human body and its functions but also with crucial skills necessary for making well-informed decisions. These include assertive communication, negotiation, leadership, and alliance building.
The public health team collaborates with Anganwadi workers to deliver nutrition services specifically tailored for adolescent girls, pregnant, and lactating women. Simultaneously, the team focuses on empowering adolescents by imparting life skills and knowledge about sexual and reproductive health issues. These workshops create a supportive and non-judgmental social space where adolescents can openly discuss their lives and learn coping strategies. Key concerns such as physical relationships, pregnancies outside marriage, and contraception represent core areas of focus for girls in many villages.

The School in Development (SID) program aims to empower school children as "messengers of change" (Vikasdoot) concerning health and sanitation matters within villages. This intensive 5-day training program involves 40 carefully selected students from the 5th to 7th grades of Zilla Parishad schools. Through interactive activities, the SID program equips these students with the skills to effectively communicate health and hygiene messages.
This training initiative places emphasis on fostering communication skills, team building, leadership qualities, collective decision-making, and understanding the workings of local government systems at the village level. The program culminates in the establishment of a Bal Panchayat through a proper election process among the students. The elected Chief Minister and cabinet members take charge of improving hygiene behaviours and ensuring good sanitation practices at personal, school, household, and community levels.

The central objective of the project was to align income generation with improving the nutritional well-being of vulnerable women and children. Following a thorough needs assessment, 18 women were identified from the community and subsequently trained. Each woman was provided with 10 chicks by January 2020. Initially, the eggs were consumed by the women and their families, and surplus eggs were sold to neighbours. As egg production increased, the AMCHI team facilitated connections between these women and the Anganwadi Center, as well as their local village market, enabling the women to sell their eggs.

The Laadli Change Makers Club was launched to mark a shift in strategy for the NSS and WDC departments in collaboration with Population First to orchestrate gender sensitization programs in colleges. The primary goal was to instigate discussions among college students about gender-related topics and empower them to lead further initiatives in this realm.
The Change Makers Clubs engage in a variety of activities, including debates, panel discussions, workshops focused on gender issues, showcasing 1-minute movies followed by group discussions, organizing street plays, competitions for street play performances, poster making contests, and various other initiatives centred around these themes.

Population First has been actively striving to incorporate gender sensitivity into classroom curriculum delivery. To facilitate teachers in initiating dialogues with students, a resource CD was created. This CD focused on the foundation course topics, employing engaging presentations, audio-visual content, statistics, and information about NGOs dedicated to these issues. The resource CD was widely distributed through the Women Development Cell of Mumbai University.

Recognizing the need to integrate gender discussions effectively into classrooms, it became evident that teachers required enhanced facilitation skills. In partnership with SNDT University’s Women’s Resource Centre and Department of PGDSR, Population First developed four modules aimed at promoting these facilitation skills among educators. These modules were widely disseminated among teachers to support their ability to engage effectively in gender-sensitive discussions within educational settings.

Theatre and activity-based gender sensitization workshops and discussion forums constitute a crucial aspect of the youth initiatives. These workshops offer a safe, open, and non-judgmental environment for students to engage in discussions concerning gender discrimination, stereotypes, and gender-based violence. The primary goal of these workshops is to empower young individuals to redefine gender roles more equitably and strive towards creating environments—whether in colleges, communities, or homes—devoid of violence and discrimination.

Laadli, initiated by Population First as a girl child campaign in June 2005, initially aimed to tackle declining sex ratios revealed in the 2001 Census. As time progressed, the project's focus evolved to collaborate with media, advertising, and youth, aiming to confront the societal issues behind the undesired perception and undervaluation of daughters.

Action for Mobilization of Community Health Initiatives (AMCHI) was launched in 2007 as a field-based initiative aimed at pursuing two primary objectives: empowering communities and encouraging service providers to deliver high-quality health and social development services to the community. Central to this approach is the recognition that the absence of people's participation in monitoring and ensuring accountability from service providers is the key reason why quality services fail to reach the populace, rather than a lack of government provision. Other contributing factors include ignorance, apathy, and a scarcity of local leadership.

Village Micro-planning lies at the core of the AMCHI Initiative, serving as an empowering process that enables communities to evaluate their present socio-economic status, identify responsible factors, and collaboratively develop action plans. This approach emphasizes community participation and forging alliances with governmental and other organizations. The journey began by implementing village micro-planning in Shahapur block of Thane District in 2004, funded by UNFPA. This initiative was reintroduced as AMCHI in 2007, supported by Mahindra & Mahindra and HDFC.
These initiatives serve to reinforce and emphasize several crucial aspects:
• The significance of local service providers in ensuring the delivery of quality services.
• The entitlements of individuals under various government schemes.
• The roles and responsibilities of village-level monitoring committees.
• The evolving socio-development landscape in villages, emphasizing the need for planned and systematic change.

Launched in 2007, 'Amcha Gaon Amchi Shaan' (AGAS) is rooted in the belief that sustainable development in Indian villages can only be achieved when the community actively engages in the development process. This campaign serves as an inter-village contest, where each village identifies 2 to 3 pressing issues that demand immediate attention and devises strategies to address them.
The winners across various categories are not merely selected based on the impact of their initiatives but also on the sustainability and collective responsibility instilled by the activities. Population First utilizes this award ceremony to acknowledge sustainable development efforts within villages and to inspire responsible groups to persist in their endeavours.

AMCHI provides comprehensive training to women, guiding them through the production, operation, maintenance, marketing, and sales of vermi-products. With great enthusiasm, these women have taken on this initiative, gaining hands-on experience in tasks ranging from constructing their own pits—assisted by community masons—to maintaining, loading, and unloading these pits. They also actively promote and market the produced items. Additionally, they are encouraged to utilize vermi-products in their own farms and kitchen gardens.
Furthermore, the AMCHI team organizes demonstrations for farmers interested in utilizing vermi-compost and vermi-wash in their fields. These demonstrations, particularly for farmers, serve as pilot projects before committing to purchasing vermi-products from the women's groups.
Presently, around 500 women from 55 women's groups are involved in the vermi-composting project, generating an average income ranging from Rs 4,500 to 5,500 per month per group.