In partnership with Urban Rural Management Empowerment Establishment (URMEE), and with the support of Tata Capital Housing Finances Ltd (TCHFL), water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities were provided to 61 government schools in the Karjat and Mangaon blocks of Raigad district in Maharashtra.

The entire project was undertaken in a bottom-up manner, with involvement of the education authorities, the school heads, teachers, children and the school management committees (SMC) which are representatives of the parents and community.

Awareness, motivation and maintenance support are being provided through the project. An internal impact assessment study confirms that the project has positively affected health and school attendance.

Water Conservation in Yawatmal: One of the initial projects supported by HCNF targeted the marginal farmers’ community in three villages of Yavatmal district of Vidharba region.

As the area is drought prone and agriculture intensive, water conservation was very important. The project on the entitled Right of children and young people to a healthy environment” constructed many water conservation structures like percolation tanks, ponds, irrigation tanks, cleaning and rejuvenating streams and rivulets.

Awareness and tree plantation, school gardens, land levelling and organic vegetable cultivation were initiated. The water availability in the three villages has increased and sustains to date. The four years project was supported by Forbes Marshal Foundation, Pune.

‘Green Catalysts’ in Ahmedabad was another important project which was completed. The three years project supported by Gala Freudenburg Group, focused on training university students as Environment Ambassadors.

These trained people undertook various project like awareness creation, segregation and management of solid waste, safe collection and disposal of e- waste, street plays and campaigns at different locations.

They also collaborated with the Ahmedabad pollution control board and arranged programmes in schools and also initiated school gardens. Many of these trained Green Catalysts are still engaged in environment protection initiatives at different levels. The project was implemented by Pariyavaran Mitra, Ahmedabad in full cooperation with HCNF.

Centre for Youth Development and Activities (CYDA), has been our partner right since the Covid19 pandemic, where support classes were started to try and prevent learning loss during the long school closures.

The project continues to provide children in the Tadiwala Road settlement in Pune with support for their school work, as well as other activities contributing to holistic development like art , music and sport. Where needed, career guidance and psychological support services are also provided.

All the children from the centres who appeared for the board exams after Classes 10 and 12 passed, with some scoring as high as 80%. The youngsters are growing in confidence and sensitivity, with leadership training programmes and other cultural activities. 153 students are currently benefitting from this initiative.

Association for Development (AFD) has been partnering with us for the last 4 years, with support from Hellman Worldwide Logistics and R.G Cargo Services. The project in Trilokpuri, one of the resettlement areas in Delhi.

Apart from support classes for education, community libraries have been set up so that a culture of reading is developed by people of all ages. The project works to engage communities on issues that affect them.

A highlight of the project is the youth group, which initiates action related to the environment and health. In fact the theatre group activities have enabled some of the youth to join professional theatre groups. The group also showcased their theatre skills for the staff and families of Hellman Logistics , and one of the young people, Sanjana, visited the head office of Hellman in Germany.

Another organisation called Paradarshita, working in similar settlements, has received support from RG Cargo to extend similar activities.

With the support of Dachser India Pvt Ltd, HCNF partnered with Society for Promotion of Integrated Development (SPID) to extend its involvement in education to the Nuh district of Haryana, where the focus was on building community resilience, and educational support to children.

Centre for Documentation, Information, Research and Training (Centre-Direct), along with HCNF and supported by Dachser India, to address the issues of education, training and employment of youth, especially girls.

As part of the project, children were motivated and empowered to maintain a clean school environment, improve teacher-student relationships and prevent corporal punishment.

Youth groups of girls were formed to involve them in social issues in the community, and mutually support each other in personal and familial challenges. 60 young girls were equipped with updated weaving skills, and could earn a supplementary income by producing silk yarn.

Support was provided for small and micro enterprises for families, thus helping them to promote children’s education development.

Improvement of educational structure like classroom space, drinking water access, hand washing stations and toilets are pre requisite for enhancing school attendance and learning levels.

HCNF is currently engaged in a project for reconstruction of two rooms in a Zila Parishad school which was destroyed by a strom and  heavy rains. The project is supported by NORMA Group of Products Pune. The structure is on its way to completion in spite of many constrains. The school is looking forward to enrolling more children with the addition of space and facilities.