Village Program

ADAS VILLAGE PROGRAM (2018-19)

This year Adas village was adopted by Paryavaran Mitra under Green Catalyst program to create awareness about major environmental issues such as pollution, waste management, water management, soil management, biodiversity preservation, etc. Green Catalyst under the guidance of Paryavaran Mitra team has initiated the work and has visited 5 times till now.

Objective:

• To sensitize the village communities about environmentally sustainable development and protection and conservation of natural resources
• To build community driven approach for preservation and conservation of the environment.
• To work with the local government bodies and give technical support and enable setting up of community driven projects such as solar energy, bio-gas, compost, etc through participatory approach.
• To train the village community in the operation and maintenance of such projects.

Approach:

• Assessment of the present status of the village through available information on parameters like population, topography, education facilities, agriculture practices, solid and liquid waste management practices, water sources, water balance, cleanliness, sanitation, etc.
• Identification of gaps in the development of village and develop a programme to encourage best practices and improvement of deficient areas.
• Awareness through community-focused programme by the means of different media like skits, film, workshop etc.
• To take up community driven projects to build sustainable village.

Focus areas:

• Cleanliness
• Waste management
• Plantation
• Organic farming
• Environment Education

Description:

1. Assessment of present status of the village:

On 14/08/2018, GC team visited Adas Village to do preliminary survey. A meeting was held at primary school of the village by Green Catalyst team. Available information like village map was obtained to get information on parameters like roads, pond, schools, dairy, market etc. Observations were also made through primary survey by the team about basic facilities present in the village. Then a village profile was prepared under the guidance of Dr. Vipin Makawana (resource person) and a questionnaire was prepared to know more about problems that villagers are facing. As per GC’s observation, although people are wealthy and have a good standard of living, cleanliness is a big issue here as plastic bags and other waste is lying near school area and near the entrance of the village. Also there is less greenery within village and school area.

Photo: Visit to Adas on 14^th August 2018 for preliminary survey

2. Identification of gaps:

Adas village, like other villages in Gujarat has been facing challenge of disposal and management of waste. GC team visited the village again on 6^th and 14^th April 2019 to identify gaps that are causing the issue.

Photo: GC interacting with villagers during visits on 6^th and 14^th April 2019

As per GC team’s finding, village Panchayat is currently collecting waste and dumping it outside the village near pond (though this is not done regularly) and that is not a sustainable solution because the waste remains untreated in open area and is polluting pond water. The gram panchayat does not have enough funds to pay salary to the sweepers and as a result of it the work of waste management gets hampered.

GC team through subsequent visits has built a good rapport with the community and the sarpanch. The team has good acceptance in the village. The sarpanch (actually, husband of the sarpanch who acts on behalf of his wife who is elected Sarpanch) and village youth are concerned about the issue and are willing to cooperate with GC team to find out amicable and sustainable solutions. This is an opportunity to capitalize it for the work on waste management.

Based on discussion with youth, there is need of conducting a baseline survey that can give an idea on per day quantity of dry and wet waste.  After the survey, disposal of dry and wet waste can be planned separately in sustained manner.

3. Awareness:

During survey, GC realized that to make village sustainable firstly they need to spread awareness about conservation of resources and then involve villagers in survey also. GCs have planned to perform skit on various environmental issues and carry out rally in the village on 11-12 May 2019.

4. Community driven project:

On May 4^th 2019, GC team visited Adas village to consult community and explore opportunity for dry and wet waste management at village level. They were accompanied by an expert Mr. Kuldeep Sagar, who has vast experience in community and rural management. Under his guidance GC have also proposed in a meeting to form a Green Brigade that should include women, youth, teachers and elected leaders of gram panchayat and religious leaders of the village.  This can work as a pressure group in the village e.g. to make it compulsory for each shop to keep dust bins next to shop.

Photo: GC communicating with Panchayat and other people

A large number of youth are attending religious lectures in Swaminarayan Temple every week. This is a good platform to involve them in the cause.

The school can play an important role through involving the students. It is always good to catch them young for such activities. The students can bring plastic waste from their homes and it can be deposited in a dustbin near the school and collected plastic can be sold for reprocessing (they already have plastic reprocessing machine).

At this stage GCs has initiated community interaction and have worked out following solutions to village problem:

1. Biogas that can be run as a business model by unemployed 3-4 youth from the village.
2. Procure dustbins to reduce littering plastic and other waste in the village.
3. Plantation in the beginning of monsoon.
4. Cleaning and deepening of village pond through Government scheme “Jal Sanchay Abhiyan”.