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philosophy

Philosophy

Gram Vikas strives to improve the Quality of Life of rural poor, particularly adivasis, dalits and other marginalised communities through a process which engenders social equity, is sustainable and bears within it the seeds of regeneration and growth.

The mission of Gram Vikas is:
To promote a sustainable process towards a dignified quality of life of conscientised rural communities characterized by:

•  Opportunity for secure livelihoods

•  Ecologically sound upgradation of natural resource base

•  Access to basic education and primary health care

•  Access to safe drinking water and hygienic living conditions

•  Enhanced self-reliance and self-esteem

Gram Vikas' development policy is the one of Social Inclusion, which involves everyone in a village or habitation to partake in transformative processes for overall development of rural habitations, involving the entire spectrum of the community, cutting across barriers of caste, class, sex, etc. It believes that the energizing of collective action provides an effective springboard for poor communities to emerge from years of marginalisation and work together as a community, for both individual and collective gains.

Gram Vikas is proud of the fact that it is being able to demonstrate that even the poorest people are willing to and do contribute to any activity that may help them improve their standard of living and overall quality of life. It believes in turning the conventional development wisdom that, the poor will remain poor until and unless free goods and services are provided, on its head.

Development for them means empowerment of poor communities; building in them self-confidence by making villages livable through development of the habitat; rejuvenating local economies by augmenting livelihoods and above all strengthening local institutions of governance, so that the villagers regain their sense of pride and can live a life of dignity.

Gram Vikas believes that appropriate technology can be useful only when it can contribute to enhancing income and employment of the poor. Gram Vikas' participation in technology action research projects like the Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln has been to adapt the technology for use by poor village communities.