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New Year Message

On behalf of all the Sehgal Foundation teams, I wish all our readers of Connect a very Happy New Year

    I thank all our partners for believing in Sehgal Foundation's work and supporting our work to empower the rural poor. We were all faced with uncertain times at the beginning of 2020, and the pandemic lockdown stalled some implementation work while also bringing anew and unprecedented set of challenges for the rural communities—especially with loss of or adverse effects on livelihoods and reverse migration to the villages. 

    S M Sehgal Foundation teams used this time to further enhance the internal capacities of team members, preparing for the new normal and providing a timely and effective response to the pandemic by reaching out to the communities at “the last mile.” Our response was multifaceted, providing access to immediate information through the foundation’s community radio station that operates in Nuh district in Haryana, and assisting with the sanitization of villages, distribution of masks, crop inputs to farmers, and dry rations to people in greatest need, etc. 

    Amidst the COVID-19 response that continued with support from our partners, we organized a series of webinars across diverse themes with esteemed experts who contributed to the knowledge domain. Sehgal Foundation was honored to receive a very prestigious award from the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India for Best NGO in Water Conservation.

    In the coming year, we will garner more strength as we work toward our mission to achieve positive social, economic, and environmental change across rural India by addressing critical issues concerning food security, water security, local governance participation, and information asymmetry, with a continuing focus on the empowerment of women and children. Sehgal Foundation now operates across 34 districts in ten states, in over 1,000 villages so far, reaching more than 2.5 million people. In this New Year, we will reach out and serve even more rural communities with your support. I wish you all the best in the coming year! 

    Stay safe and be healthy!

    Anjali Makhija

    Chief Operating Officer

Holiday Giving

This holiday season, young people in the US provided inspiration with their drive to make a difference in the lives of their counterparts—schoolchildren in rural India. 

Middle school and high school students Shreeya Yarlagadda, Adhitya Ajith, Rahul Chimata, and Rohan Chalamalasetti each created remarkable programs to benefit schoolchildren in rural India based on their individual passions for topics ranging from girl's education to bringing safe drinking water to schools! With your support for their projects, all proceeds raised by these students' projects go directly to Transform Lives one school at a time being implemented by S M Sehgal Foundation in India to make schools into safe and stimulating places of learning, to transform the lives the students so they have a brighter future. Join these students in achieving their goals by donating to their projects here!

Women in Gram Panchayats


Enjoy the second in the series of videos showing the powerful impact of S M Sehgal Foundation's work with women leaders in gram panchayats. 

Meet the woman representative, Rajbati, from a gram panchayat of village Kharkhari in district Nuh in Haryana, who together with the community wrote a new prescription and made people aware about immunization and safe delivery. 

Latest at Sehgal Foundation

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Sheeshram adopts scientific soil-testing-based Package of Practices

Sheeshram is a progressive farmer from Sareli, Nangal Chaudhary block, Mahendergarh. Read about how Sheeshram adopted scientific soil-testing-based Package of Practices! 

Read more . . .

   
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Webinar on Changing Dynamics of Poverty and Agriculture in the wake of the pandemic
On December 21, Sehgal Foundation’s Rural Research and Development team presented a webinar on Zoom titled “Changing Dynamics of Poverty and Agriculture in the Wake of Pandemic.” Experts in the field of agriculture shared about the emerging challenges, especially for resource-poor small and marginal farmers in India and promising measures for addressing the situation.  
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Webinar on Water Management
Sehgal Foundation COO, Ms. Anjali Makhija, spoke at the CSR webinar on Dec 9 organized by Sehgal Foundation partner, Pernod Ricard India Foundation. The theme of the webinar was Water Development: Creating Resilient Communities. Anjali shared about the partnership project in Behror, Rajasthan, supported by Pernod. As part of her presentation, she also shared a virtual walk-through of the Sehgal Foundation's green building headquarters in Gurugram.

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IRMA Water Center Inauguration
Mr. Lalit Sharma, principal scientist, Water Research and Training, Sehgal Foundation, was an invited panel speaker at the virtual inauguration of IRMA Water Centre on Dec 14. The panel theme was Water for Rural Livelihood (drinking water and health) Improvement.

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FICCI Annual Expo (FAE) 2020
S M Sehgal Foundation, a FICCI water award winner for Innovation in Water Technology for creating freshwater pockets in saline aquifers, was invited to set up a virtual exhibit at the FICCI Annual Expo 2020, a one-of-its-kind virtual event help Dec 11–14, showcasing core programs and interventions.

Sehgal Foundation is Podcasting!

SMSF Connect Podcast features a bouquet of interesting programs about rural development and other social issues and themes.  TUNE IN to our podcast channel on I-RadioLive. Podcasts also available on:

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HWTS Network Synergy Meeting
In partnership with CAWST and NIRDPR (National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj), an HWTS (Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage) Network India meeting was convened on December 8 to explore and build synergies for strengthening the network. HWTS provides villagers with safe drinking water through affordable and effective technologies. HWTS Network India supports its members to improve and scale up WASH services to increase access to safe drinking water.

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Webinar on Promotion of Vikaspedia through Community Radios 
Alfaz-e-Mewat FM 107.8 conducted a webinar attended by 45 people on Vikaspedia Promotion through Community Radios on Dec 11 under its project by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing: C-DAC Vikaspedia. The webinar was opened by Sehgal Foundation COO, Ms. Anjali Makhija and moderated by Ms. Pooja O Murada, principal lead, Outreach for Development. Mr. Deepak Ratnani, project officer, CDAC shared about Vikaspedia, and Mr. Abid Husaain shared about the CDAC project presented on radio. Participants were happy to learn about Vikaspedia, a platform that provides information about government programs.

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Project Pragati launched in Punjab
Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. partnered with S M Sehgal Foundation for Project Pragati, an integrated three-year program benefiting villages in Bassi Pathana block, Punjab. The program interventions include rainwater harvesting structures to conserve rainwater and recharge the groundwater table, development of soak wells for sanitation, wastewater disposal, and promoting better farm practices to tackle problems associated with stubble burning. The inaugural project meeting was held online on Dec 2 between community members of village Chunni Kalan and team members from Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. and Sehgal Foundation.
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Publication
S M Sehgal Foundation: Transforming Lives with People-Driven Work, a case study published in Global Standard, Accountability Practices and Indian CSOs in times of COVID-19 by VANI

Sehgal Foundation’s people-driven approach rests on the belief that peoples are organization’s greatest assets and all our interventions focus on building resilience of rural communities, with a lasting impact. Read more . . .

   

Join Us!

Sehgal Foundation invites interns to join us in the cause of rural development by sharing their skills and experience for empowering people in rural areas. We are only accepting select virtual internships until Dec 2020due to COVID-19. See the list of projects available for virtual internships.

   

News and Media

COVID-19 Radio Corner

Editorial Team: Arti Manchanda Grover, Marly Cornell, Pooja O. Murada

Contributors: Amba Mukherjee, Anjali Godyal, Ellora Mubashir, Naveen Pratap Singh, Navneet Narwal, Shipra Baduni, Susmita Guru

Photo Credits: Sehgal Foundation staff

Design and Production: Communications team

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S M Sehgal Foundation | Plot No. 34, Sector 44, Institutional Area | | Gurugram, 122003, Haryana