When Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in November 2000, the local tribals had a dream to regain their dignity. They had a dream that their aspirations would come to completion and struggle for self-rule will yield results. Tribals have their own way of self-rule what one can call rural governance. Panchayats play an important role in such communities so development has to be tribal-centric. Tribals have been the real owners of forests and agricultural lands, but tribals have been dispossessed of their resources by creating an "illusory perception of development”.
Secondly, Jharkhand has the repository of 40 percent of nation's minerals but has no clear policies that are acceptable to indigenous tribals as well. Thirdly, Cultural discrimination of tribals, by the outsiders, has been one of the major issues. Therefore, Preservation of Tribal Identity is one of the major thrust of Social Initiatives for Growth and Networking (SIGN), Jharkhand. SIGN would like to focus on tribals as well as all the marginal and deprived section of the society in all its Strategic Pillars.
SIGN believes when women, men, and youth can discover their voice, assert their rights, and mobilise action to achieve their aspiration in their respective community, then the real development takes place. SIGN likes to promote the process of working together to create and achieve locally owned visions and goals, therefore in coming years SIGN, instead of working on Charity mode, rights based mode and project mode, it would adoptthe Community-led Development mode.
Therefore “Preservation and Promotion of Tribal Identity” and “Community-led Development” will be the cross cutting issues in all our Strategic Pillars as well as in our projects.
In spite of mineral-rich state, Jharkhand is predominantly an agricultural state and at SIGN, we strongly believe that the communities in Jharkhand should get benefit of these natural resource available to them. They should go back to traditional organic farming with food security as priority and commercial farming for sustainability. At present only about 70% of the area during Kharif is under paddy cultivation, whereas most of this area remains fallow during the Rabi season. Therefore, SIGN aims at enhancing food security and sovereignty of community in Jharkhand through a) Climate Adaptive Agriculture, b) Sustainable Farming and c) Sovereignty:
From ‘Agriculture development’ to ‘Climate adaptive agriculture development’
Macro level Farmers’ producers’ / processing / marketing organization(s) (including women)
By 2025, SIGN and its partners will have created a community led profitable macro level economic entity at Jharkhand level to process and market the farm produce of farmers (including women farmers) at a collective level and increase the incomes of member farmers
From ‘Food Security’ to ‘Food sovereignty’
SIGN and its partners will have moved from ‘Food Security’ to ‘Food sovereignty’ in their program, facilitating the communities to work towards food sovereignty
Adolescence is a phase of rapid growth and development with physical, physiological and behavioural changes. They have poor knowledge and lack awareness about physical and psychological changes that are taking place within them. Teenage pregnancy and early parenthood is a major barrier to the successful development of the youth in Jharkhand. Beside this, Child labour, street children, child abuse, child migration never allow the children to go through their childhood. Hence, SIGN, within its scope, envisages the protection of children from all forms of abuse and promotion of healthy environment in the place of program interventions for the full-fledged development of children through Children’s Parliaments of adolescents:
Once Swami Vivekananda said that no society could prosper if it neglected women. In the same breath, the former Governor of Jharkhand DroupadiMurmu said that without the participation of women in development, the situation is akin to one-winged bird flying in the air. It is not possible to achieve human rights and social justice without equality between men and women. To make the growth process inclusive for women, SIGN envisages to create an appropriate socio-economic environment for women by making different interventions like, expansion of livelihood generation activities to include women, ending violence against women and ensuring access to basic services like health and education.
The world is uniquely treasured with diverse resources and one has to be aware of using them in an appropriate manner. Be it natural, human and even monetary resources all of them must be used with prudence and discretion to build a better society. SIGN envisages to mobilize resource not only from the foreign donors and with some funding agencies, but also mobilize funds from rich and middle class and from poor communities at local level. At the same time mobilize funds from Corporate under CSR.
By 2026, SIGN and its partners will start raisingminimum of an income of 5% of their total budget from local Indian and Jharkhand sources through following ways
Out 35 states and Union territories, Jharkhand stands 34thin elementary education, as per National University Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA), 2012. A large number of children in the state do not go to schools, as per Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC), 2012. As per the Annual Status Education Report (ASER) 2011, out of enrolled children only 59% children attend schools. The quality of learning is also very poor and the quality of teaching has also declined in the last few years, as the teachers who are attending schools are not very well qualified, therefore SIGN envisages to promote Quality Education for all
Health is always a major concern for poor people. The incidence of poverty in Jharkhand is estimated at 46%; however, 60% of schedule caste and schedule tribes are still below poverty line, therefore, Health of the poor and the Marginalized is major concern for SIGN. Nevertheless, mother and child health care takes priority for SIGN because Jharkhand has one of the country’s worst maternal mortality rates. The Jharkhand Economic Survey 2015-16 says more than 90% expectant mothers in rural areas are unaware of health and nutrition issues. More than 40% pregnant women are unhealthy and anaemic
In recent years, Jharkhand has emerged as a vulnerable state for trafficking of women and children for forced labour and slavery. Most of the trafficking from Jharkhand is of tribals for domestic labour to metropolitan cities where there is a demand for such work. Jharkhand is not only a source but also a destination for the victims trafficked for sexual exploitation. Out of 24 districts, 14 districts are trafficking affected. Most of the women trafficked from Jharkhand belong to Oraon, Munda, Santhal and Gond tribes. Illiteracy, lack of sustainable employment, poor irrigation facilities for agriculture, single crop patterns, lack of awareness, political instability are some reasons that make people vulnerable to trafficking, therefore SIGN aims at Anti-Trafficking and safe Migration program – with local youth as volunteers
Volunteerism has been one of the salient features and a major pillar for any development activity. SIGN, being the regional forum the organization thrives to encourage volunteerism in all spheres of its activities. At SIGN, we believe that every person is precious and uniquely entrusted with inborn talents and capacities. Therefore, as an organization we hone those skills and help them become responsible individuals by contributing their potential towards the welfare and wellbeing of the community as a whole.
People and organization must increase their abilities constantly to achieve their objectives effectively. So this includes improving skills of individuals or enhancing the performance of the organization. Time to time, SIGNenvisages to enhance the capacities of its partners
‘United we stand divided we fall’ is an age-old saying that emphasized the importance of unity and coalition. Especially, in the field of development mutual help and sharing are the most effective principles of success in the recent times. Therefore, SIGN envisages to establish mutual relationship with the other entities working for the similar cause.
SIGN RANCHI