We often hear that people need food, shelter and clothing to survive. While a few of us are privileged to have this need met over generations, others may not be so lucky. The middle class in India has grown in the past 20 odd years, but there is a significant number that continue to struggle to achieve the bare minimum needed to survive. Our effort here is to look for ways to improve people’s lives in a sustainable such that they can fend for themselves and achieve the basic needs of food, shelter and clothing.
There are several organisations that support people in a variety of ways. There are those that focus on the child, its care, education and growth. There are others that work with adults in terms of providing basic skills that enable them to take on jobs. There are yet others who work on other dimensions of the problem. Is this all happening at the urban level, or are there initiatives at the rural level that help avoid or reduce migration to cities?
Why are we doing this?
We have been supporting several causes in India over the years. We are constantly provided with progress on the children or adults we support. A well oiled machinery then taps you every few weeks to fund something or the other, support a surgery etc.. Our donor information is now available to every agency that is looking to tap us on the shoulder for donations. We need to be able to distinguish between the genuine and the fake.
How do we help people in an environment where every person you talk to is involved in some sort of social work? What should our priorities be? What existing support infrastructure should we leverage? What should we create anew? How do we bridge initiatives to build an environment that can be as well connected and coordinated as possible? Is the focus the rural environment or is it the urban setting? What would that blueprint look like?
We are seeking views from experts in the field who can work with us to clear the misconceptions we may have; we believe we have many, help us build a blueprint that we can work with over the next few months.
All comments and feedback are welcome.
Wide Angles 