Sambhav has been working in Shivpuri Block of Shivpuri District with UNICEF support now for almost 3 years. The intervention was initiated with the Behaviour Development Intervention aimed at addressing the “aspiration” generated among the people to change their current status by improving their existing knowledge, attitudes and practices and their demand for availability of services which are their basic rights. Village women identified and trained by NGO became change agents as animators, going house to house to converse and convince their own community members to strengthen and adapt good practices, which are beneficial for their children and women and to give up harmful practices. Significant positive change came in exclusive breastfeeding rates including colostrums feeding and improved personal hygiene. Animators formed a crucial link between the people and service delivery centers -  anganwadi, school or health sub-centre. However, it was realized that the services, in spite of the best efforts of NGO and his team, were not reaching the villages and more importantly the hamlets. The ANM would come to the main village but not to the hamlet, as people from the hamlet did not exert collective pressure nor had proper means to do so apart from the lone animator. At numerous villages the ANM would not come for months together or the Anganwadi worker will have no dalia to distribute. Again there was no effective means to inform the people about the prevailing state of services managed by the line-departments at the block and district levels or was there any way in which these departments can be held accountable. This led to designing of the Integrated Village Planning Intervention- Village Planning enables the community to use the constitutionally recognized forum of Gram Sabha to articulate their aspirations for change as well as to analyze and take action on issues that can be responded to at the village level. The need now is to support this with a structure, which is capable of responding to the demands articulated in the village plans that needs outside community interventions for realization. There is a further need to create a system whereby pressure can be exerted on this formal structure to respond in time.

Objective:

• Initiating efforts to identification of 4 key behaviors as a felt need.
• Ensuring 4 key behaviors are being practiced, sustained and promoted.
• Working in convergence with community based groups and other stakeholders to ensure a convergence approach to development.
• Amplify village planning as a mode to promote participatory development.

Strategies

• Strengthen IPC and community dialogue sessions to promote four key behaviours
• Strengthening local groups, PRIs and SHgs and ensure their involvement in promotion of key behaviours and linkages with services
• Strengthening system of service delivery by improve linkages of community with available services.
• Building leadership among excluded groups to ensure their full participation of service delivery system.
• Work closely with key service institutions ( health, ICDS, education, Rural
• Development, PHED ) and will further linkage with NREGA and BRGF
• Documentation of success stories related to behaviors, service delivery or community empowerment that would impacting women and children.

The 4 Key Behaviors

• Promoting and practicing girl child education
• Addressing HIV/AIDS spread and stigma
• Ensuring hand wash at critical times
• Exclusive breast feeding to combat IMR.

Key Outcomes

• Exclusive Breast/Colostrums Feeding

• 100 % mother initiate colostrums feeding in an hour

• 80 % mothers continue exclusive breastfeeding – no water, only milk until 6 months

• Hand Washing

• 90 % schools practicing hand wash with soap before MDM

• 80 % families practicing hand wash with soap before eating and after defecation

• Girl Child Education

• 100% out of school girls (aged between 5-14 yrs) identified
• Identifying 100% girls who are admitted in schools but not attending schools.
• 100% families of out of schools girls and the school girls not attending schools counseled and ready to send school from new sessions.
• 90 % girls completing class VIII
• HIV/AIDS
• 90% of youths (15-24 yrs) list at least three ways of HIV prevention
• 80% of youths (15-24 yrs) observe safe sex practices (use of condom, sex with single partners, etc.)

Impacts

• Voluntary turn-up for ICTC increased
• Some villages reaching the goal of
  • Exclusive breast feeding
  • Sanitation
  • Increased presence girls in school
• Volunteer motivational event signals administration on available pool of extra hands
• MSC stories make documentation of project achievements more authenticate
• Kyunki Jeena Isi ka naam makes women rights a living phenomenon among a small group of women

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"Striving for sustainable development processes and improvement in the quality of life of vulnerable people like Tribal, women and children through their organization and capacity building efforts. "