Total amount of Grant received / spent during the year :  Rs.8,00,521 / Rs.8,81,002

Goals

Goal-1 : Reaching MSM, TG, other high risk males (HRM), prisoners and single male migrants with HIV / STI and vulnerability reduction services.

Goal-2 : Identifying HIV positive MSM/TG and HRM cases and linking them to treatment and socio-economic welfare schemes.

Goal-3 : Enhancing uptake of STI, HIV, and reproductive health services amongst female partners of MSM/TG populations.

Objectives

The project seeks to leverage current test-and-treat paradigms to maximize immediate / early ART initiation for individuals confirmed as HIV positive, to reduce disease progression and further viral transmission. The prime objectives are

1. Increase uptake of HIV and STI prevention and reproductive health and rights related services through community-based screening amongst those, hard to reach MSM/TG and other HRGs and ARGs.
2. To identify and initiate early treatment for the HIV+ cases, identified under the project.
3. Enhance uptake of STI, HIV, reproductive health and rights services amongst female partners of MSM/TG, and other HRGs/ARGs.

 Other Linkage, Advocacy and Mainstreaming activities

Coverage:

The Undivided districts of Rangareddy, Medak and Warangal districts

COMMUNITY BASED SCREENING CAMPS CONDUCTED DURING 2019-20

Case Stories:

Linkage to treatment during lockdown: On 14th March 2020 a Community Based Screening (CBS) camp was organized at Sitampeta village of Warangal District, where 87 individuals were screened.

Sridhar, a 31 years old auto driver, was found to be single test reactive. The field worker accompanied him to the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC) where he was confirmed as HIV positive. He has a 7 years old son and a 9 years old daughter. For incremental earning he used to drive auto at night, especially in the nearby brothel area. He gradually developed relationship with female sex workers and had unsafe encounters. After screening, he brought his wife to the camp for screening. She was also found to be reactive. During counselling, she revealed that she had been suffering from lower-abdominal pain for a couple of months.

Before the couple could visit the ICTC, the government declared a lockdown due to COVID 19. Considering the emergency nature of the situation the staff requested the District Project Manager, District AIDS Prevention and Control Unit (DAPCU) to intervene. The DPM facilitated the issue of transit-pass for both of them to visit ICTC. Both were confirmed as HIV positive and subsequently linked to treatment. Their children are yet to be tested. His wife was referred to the nearest Designated STI/RTI Clinic (DSRC) for diagnosis of lower abdominal pain. She was diagnosed with having STI and is being treated for the same. The couple thanked the project team for the support and timely intervention to save their life and ensure good health.

Total amount of Grant received / spent during the year :  Rs.37,20,950 / Rs.36,95,917

OBJECTIVES:

• Continue to work for 90%-90%-90% (90% HRGS to be facilitated ICTC testing, 90% of the positives to be facilitated for ART testing and 90% of ART persons are on regular medication)
• Achieve 0-0-0 (0 new cases, 0 deaths and 0 stigma) for the HRGs

COVERAGE:

Both Bhupalapalli and Warangal Tis together have been working in 5 newly formed districts- Jayashankar Bhupalapalli, Mulugu, Warangal Urban, Warangal Rural and Jangaon districts, in 9 mandals and towns – Bhupalapalli, Parkal, Mulugu, Narsampet, Mallampalli, Warangal, Hanamkonda, Raghunathapalli and Jangaon. Both together are catering for 1910 FSWs, 1750 MSMs and 132 Transgenders.

STEPS TAKEN TO ENSURE SUSTAINABILITY

MARI formed community based groups in Bhupalapalli TI project and motivated them to work on self-help and together strive maintain their health. Totally MARI formed 34 FSW CBGs (12 in Parkal, 14 in Bhupalapalli, 6 in Narsampet and 2 in Mulugu). Totally there are 1422 members (398 in Parkal, 526 in Bhupalapalli, 210 in Narsampet and 145 in Mulugu). MARI is happy to report that 90% of FSWs are in the CBGs formed.

Grants received Rs.72,28,848/- and Spent Rs.74,80,807/-

MARI ensured sustainable agricultural production by promoting appropriate agricultural practices, by establishing farmers’ cooperatives and required linkages. The uniqueness is continuous engagement in finding appropriate solutions to farming challenges.   WWF supported Better Cotton Initiatives project is one such project.

Objectives:

• By 2021, at least 15,235 farmers to be empowered to produce better cotton
• By end of 2021, to strengthen the Farmers’ Co-operative Societies and Farmer Producer Companies to involve actively in project planning, monitoring and implementation
• To systematically document the project learning’s and challenges and report to WWF/BCI

Quantitative Indicators: 2019 – 2020

No of villages covered: 175

No of farmers participating in the project: 15,235

Volume of Better Cotton certified produced in MT: 7,707

Total farm area certified by BCI in Hectares: 12,321

Project Progress 2019-20: Activity with Achievements

IPM (Pest Management)

• PU Societies supplied 8,842 Pheromone Traps and 8,312 Yellow Sticky Plates
• 6,935 farmers adopted No pesticide spray in first 60 days and 6,075 farmers installed bird perches.
• 6,891 farmers from 115 villages participated in Rallies on storage, safe disposal, avoiding banned pesticides ; 45 rallies conducted in 45 hot spot villages to eradicate use of Monocrotophos, Triazophos and Carbondazim
• Application of botanical extracts and Neem oil adopted by 6,068 farmers

Soil Health Management

• Soil testing done in 20% of the 440 LG’s 3,599 individual Grid-based tests were done on site by project staff/ 200 by lab
• Soil test based fertilizer application taken up by all 3,599 farmers
• Refugee/border/inter-crop done by 7,009 farmers adopted
• Compost through waste Decomposer adopted by 476 farmers

Biodiversity

• Bio-diversity mapping (Off -Farm mapping ) was done in 175 project villages
• Farm Mapping Medal approach was done in 140 villages
• Bund plantation was take up and 12,300 plants were planted through Haritha haram

Water stewardship

• Water resources mapping completed PRA in 175 villages identified surface and ground water resources and recorded water levels
• Tank silt application was taken up with the government program MISSION KAKATIYA wherein 3,169 farmers benefitted
• Water conservation in irrigation; promoted minimum tillage; alternative furrow irrigation by 8,654 farmers
• 7,558 farmers were involved in safe disposal of pesticide and 6,867 farmers were involved in cleaning sites.
• 212 farm ponds constructed through NREGS

Decent Work

• Identified 2,824 daily workers, 262 permanent workers and 3,644 shared labourers in all 175 villages
• 2,824 landless labor, 695 single women, 4,626 women workers identified and listed
• Child labour policy was adopted by all the PU societies. Child Labour Protection Committees formed and their effective functioning was ensured in all the project villages
• Non discrimination policy was adopted by societies and as many as 154 village level awareness programmes were conducted
• 147 Awareness Programmes on negative impact of pesticides on women, pregnant and lactating Women workers and ANMs was conducted.
• 142 school meetings were conducted on preventing children from hazardous work
• 175 meetings conducted on the various government schemes to Support disadvantage groups by facilitating the women and farmers of disadvantage groups. Farmers received NREGS Job Cards (205), Kalyan  Laxmi (33 @ Rs. 1,00,116/-), Charging sprayers 62  etc

Fibre Quality

• 6,000 Cotton bags sold through Cooperative Society. 440 bags for lead farmers supplied through project

Trials and results

• Mobile Soil Testing Kits: Soil testing at Farm level was found very useful with its quick results & Motivation to farmers to
• Low cost PPE: Trial and error in preparing more adaptable, low-cost PPE
• Safe disposal of pesticide containers: Local vendors identified for collection of pesticide bottles – Discussions held with local pesticide dealers for collection of containers
• Regular performance / review of Staff: Written tests/ quiz in monthly reviews. PU Managers prepare materials, Questionnaires, presentations (PU Manager-INTL04 got second best in Water Quiz (southern) conducted by BCI

WaLC Alliance is a people’s movement with an appeal to action on reduction of wastage of water, economizing water use and promoting ground water recharge to conserve it for future generations in the Hyderabad City (Telangana State, India).

Total amount of Grant received / spent during the year :  Rs.7,25,000 / Rs.4,99,344

Objectives of WaLC :

• To nurture the responsible citizen and volunteer people’s action to address water supply related issues in the city of Hyderabad, contributing to conservation of precious water.
• WaLC Alliance will bring people together and their public representatives to promote leadership on urban water issues and conservation.
• Advocate for the recycle and recharge of water in the city of Hyderabad.
• To act as an interface; to integrate technical, economic and social dimensions of water.

In order to bring awareness in the citizens of Hyderabad City, HMWSSB sought the help of NGOs and as a pilot project to be implemented, SR Nagar division has been proposed and two NGOs were involved in the implementation of the project, of which MARI was one of the NGO.

After several meetings and discussions held during October, the program has been initiated from 1^st November 2019 in SR Nagar division-VII.  A total of four sections with 22 dockets with 19,056 connections were allotted to MARI for awareness creation and water auditing at customer premises.

Activities undertaken

• Household baseline survey
• Water use Auditing
• Awareness on water conservation
• Listing of unauthorized connections
• Motivation to fix up taps / bib-cocks
• Colour branding to each house based on the assessment
• Identification of issues related to bills
• Representing issues to concerned officers
• Holding Rallies / Meetings

Each connection / household is marked with a water drop in four colour codes to reveal their water use efficiency. Red colour denotes maximum water is getting wasted at the customer premises; orange denotes moderate wastage; green denotes that there is no wastage and blue denotes there is water conservation at household level.  While Branding (colour code) is completed in 14 Dockets, 81.5% of the connections were marked overall by the end of March, 2020.  Due to lockdown, the programme has been stopped on 23^rd March 2020.

Abstract of Issues identified and Meetings held

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Project implementing from               : 2011 onwards

Grant Amount for 2019-20                : Rs.27,45,527 LOCAL FUNDS & Rs.21,23,382 FOREIGN FUNDS

1. OBJECTIVES:

• “Promotion of Small Water Kiosks in the villages in Telangana” To Establishment of Ijal Stations.
• To bring potable safe drinking water to village communities affected by fluoride and  other contaminants in groundwater and safeguarding the health of the poor.
• The initiative seeks to demonstrate the potential for broad scale replication in Telangana.

2. SCALE UP AREA

During the financial year 21 new Safe Water Stations were established across 18 mandals in 9 districts, catering to 5,177 families.  Totally there are 167 Safe Water Stations in 145 villages from 95 mandals spread over 15 districts which are catering to 70,496 families.

3. ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED IN 2019-20
[supsystic-tables id=2]
4. Achievements:

• Improve the awareness on Drinking Water in 419 Students
• 24 Hrs Safe water accessibility through ATW System
• Digital Payments
• Plant Down time Reduced to 48 hours
• 390 Members are Employed (145 EPs, 167 Ops, 78 Auto Drivers)
• Facilitating greater involvement of local leaders and village functionaries.

5. Innovations / Best Practices: (2019-20)

• Tools for improving governance:
  • Electrolyzed Demo, Charts, Broachers, Pamphlets, Survey formats, Handouts & Templates.
  • Canopy
  • Can Washer System
  • Special care in maintenance in Plant operation
• Reports, guidelines, posters and other knowledge material developed:
  • Charts, Broachers, Pamphlets, Survey formats, Handouts & Templates.
  • New RMS (Remote Monitoring System) Panel Fitted in all Sites for monitoring
  • Monthly Audit system

6. Challenges:

• Shifting & Relocation of Plants from non-beneficial villages has been a big challenge
• Repayments and Digitalization
• Competition with new Pvt. Plant owners.
• Mission Bhageeratha effect, affected water use by the users
• Long Distance of Operational area

7. Learnings:

• Coverage and adoption levels will determine operational self-sufficiency (OSS)
• Intensive efforts are needed to establish community-based units

8. Visitors:

• Local officials and public representatives frequently visited the plants and appreciated the plant functioning and management.

9. Convergence with Line Departments Achieved:

P.R Dept, Municipality, Revenue, Education, Health, ICDS, Police Departments, Local bodies, Public Representatives & Local NGOs.

Total amount of Grant received:     Rs.53,43,893

Spent during the year (2019-2020) :  Rs.59,39,426

Project Aim:

To increase attendance and/or retention of students in schools and decrease absenteeism especially amongst girls through improved access to WASH and changed WASH behaviour leading towards better education and healthy habits and surroundings.

Objectives:

• Provide Child-Friendly WASH Infrastructure in Schools
• Ensure that the same are maintained well to the satisfaction of the children
• Increase the WASH awareness levels among the children and involve them actively in achieving behavioral change.
• Make school children as a media to take the awareness and behavioral change into their families and communities

Coverage:

AWARE I project is being implemented in Mulugu district and AWARE II project is being implemented in Jangaon district. MARI is implementing this project in 33 habitations in 8 mandals (Mangapeta, Tadvai and Govindaraopeta in Mulugu district and Chilpur, Station Ghanpur, Raghunathapalli, and Jangaon mandals of Jangaon district). Total MARI is covering 15 ZP High Schools, 20 Mandal Primary Schools and 20 Angalwadi Centres (Preschools) with a total strength of 7966 students.

Major activities implemented:

1. Baseline Survey

Baseline survey was implemented only in Jangaon district. MARI conducted baseline survey in the selected villages to get actual strength of the schools, availability and status of existing WASH infrastructure, assessing the knowledge and practice of WASH habits both at home and at school, availability of space for construction of new WASH infrastructure in the selected schools. Totally 30 villages were surveyed and identified the required number of High schools, Primary Schools and Preschools for implementation of the project.

The baseline survey revealed that the existing WASH infrastructure in schools was not only insufficient but also in a condition that children were not able to use the same. The children were practicing the open urination and defecation and the grown-up girls (adolescents) were going to their homes to attend to the nature calls. The teachers also felt that the children who go out for urination or defecation not only miss that particular class but also not likely to come back to the school as they could be engaged in their household tasks.

There were also umpteen number of occasions where children did not attend to the school during the water borne diseases and during menstruation.

Hence, this project was appropriately visualized conceptualized and designed to enable the children to spend most of their time in educational pursuits

A special baseline survey was conducted with women SHG members in all the project villages to assess the present knowledge and practices related to Menstrual Hygiene so that during the discussions with the SHGs their unhygienic practices could be highlighted and appropriate and acceptable practices can be promoted both with adult women and adolescent girls both school going and non-school going.

Construction of Child Friendly WASH Infrastructure in Schools

During the year 2019 ( April – Dec ), MARI constructed Child Friendly Toilet Infra-structures in 16 schools ( Pre-Schools = 1 ;  Primary Schools = 8  and  Secondary Schools =5 ) and also provided western toilets for disabled children in 5 schools (Primary and High schools in Pasra, Primary schools in Katapur and Kamalapur  and Anganwadi centre in Tadvai in Mulugu district; High Schools in Chagal and Malkapur, Primary schools in Yerragollapahad, Nidigonda and Pallagutta). After the toilet construction was over, MARI handed over the same to HMs/AWTs and obtained an written assurance from them on proper maintenance.

2. Training of Stakeholders

MARI conducted Teachers’ training on “WASH practices in Schools” on 1^2th July, 2019 at MARI’s office-Jangaon.  MARI made 38 participants aware of importance of 4 themes – toilet usage, handwashing, general hygiene and menstrual hygiene and promote their appropriate behavioural practices so that the children can participate in learning effectively and efficiently. Thirty Eight ( 38 ) Anganwadi Teachers, School teachers / HMs participated with enthusiasm. Later, the teachers were assigned the action plan regarding the above subject matter.

3. Conducting Awareness Sessions for Children

MARI has produced a set of 9 posters based on which the awareness could be promoted. The posters produced, depict the importance of the theme and identify the appropriate habits to be followed. Each awareness session in the class ended with selection of student volunteers, who can ensure that their classmates follow the habits identified.

4. Formation and functioning of WASH Clubs in Schools

The student volunteers from all the classes were formed into WASH clubs. In order to link the WASH awareness and practice with education, the clubs were appropriately called AWARE Clubs. There are 350 children from 15 high schools and 20 primary schools at the rate of 10 students in each school. These children were divided to 4 categories again to oversee the habits being practiced by all the children in all the project focused 4 themes.

5. Strengthening of School Management Committees

MARI has actively involved the School Management committees of High (12) and Primary (15) schools in the construction of WASH infrastructure, ensuring the transparency of the expenditure incurred in construction, ensuring the quality construction and also made them responsible for proper maintenance to meet the requirements of the children of their own village. SMCs in Mulugu district were totally inactive and could not be strengthened as they were made up of members from very backward tribal communities and were engaged in daily wage works to earn their daily bread and butter.

6. Gramasabhas

MARI conducted Special Grama Sabhas on a half yearly basis. Totally 52 Grama Sabhas were conducted in 33 villages where in the teachers and AWARE Club. The posters produced for promotion of awareness were also exhibited and the children impressed the participants in following appropriate WASH habits to lead a healthy life. Later the teachers project focus schools in each village highlighted the WASH problems in schools. Over 8000 persons participated in 66 gramasabhas in 33 villages. The Gramasabhas were not only the platforms for promotion of WASH awareness and practice but also involved the Grama Panchayaths to ensure water supply and supervising the SMC in proper maintenance of the WASH infrastructure in the schools.

7. Participation in SHG/VO Meetings

MARI project staff participated in the 107 VO meetings and informed them about the WASH interventions in the schools, where their children are studying. They were impressed upon the fact that it is not enough if children practice WASH habits only in schools. The whole village including adults and children irrespective of their age and gender are required to follow the same so that all people can live healthily. They were also informed about the importance of menstrual hygiene and practicing the same. Totally 800 members were covered.