Center for Social Innovation at Sahyadri (CSIS) organised Two-Day Social Immersion Visit to (SKDRDP), Dharmasthala
29-Feb-2020
The Center for Social Innovation at Sahyadri (CSIS) organised a Two-Day Social Immersion visit to Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP), Dharmasthala during 25th to 26th Feb’2020. The purpose of the visit was to find opportunities to develop social innovation projects that could improve the livelihoods of the communities in the region and attempt to support local enterprises improve their business potential.
Eighteen students of Sahyadri Launchpad from various engineering disciplines took part in this visit. The visit was organised in association with SKDRDP–BC Trust®, Dharmasthala; Center for Rural Excellence (CRE), Belthangady.
Sri K Boodappa Gowda provided an overview of the various programs under the umbrella of SKDRDP-Centre of Rural Excellency, shedding light on multiple activities like Jnana-Deepa, Grama Kalyana Yojane, Janajagruthi, SSI SRI Nabard, Niranthara Magazine and many others.
Following the inaugural programme, a motivational talk by Mr. Vivek V Pais, Director of Akhila Karnataka Jana Jagruthi Vedike on the ill effects of alcoholism and drug addiction, inspired the students. SDM De-addiction and Research Centre helped students understand the aftermath of alcoholism and the continued efforts of the organisation in the process of rehabilitation.
The next visit, Yanthradhara - an initiative to rent agricultural equipment at affordable rates in collaboration with the Government of Karnataka, familiarized the students on the current developments in technology implementations for equipment in agriculture. It kindled a spirit for engineers to work towards initiatives that could aid farmers increase their produce.
On Day-2 students were introduced to the livelihood activities under the SKDRDP’s initiatives where they were given the opportunity to observe and understand the process of Micro Financing by visiting one of the collection centres in Ujire. They were walked through the entire process by the Director of SKDRDP-CRE, Sri K Boodappa Gowda.
The students also got to interact with one of the Pragathi Bhandhu Groups (Joint Liability Groups/Labour Sharing) that shared their experience with SKDRDP and the process of documenting and overlooking their finances. Mention of shortcomings with regard to dimensions of the equipment from Yantradhara, showed an opportunity for engineers to create smaller machines for smaller holdings of land.
Following the Meet, the students also had the opportunity to witness a Self-Help Group (Swaha Sahaya Sangha) Weekly Meeting and exchange thoughts on the ease of claiming loans.
The centre also arranged a visit to the SIRI factory, a charitable company, which was started with a vision to empower women of the community by training and later employing them in Textile, Packaging, Agarbatthi making and various other verticals within the industry.
SKDRDP-CRE created a scope for root-level understanding of social and community problems that students can work towards. The one-to-one interaction with each group opened doors of opportunity for Community involvement of engineering students.
Center for Social Innovation is thankful to Ms. Mamatha Rao, Director, HR Development, Mr. K Boodappa Gowda, Director, SKDRDP-CRE and Mr. Chandrasekar, Principal, SKDRDP-CRE for creating such a well organised field visit and cooperating with the team in making the program a very successful one.
