VAAGDHARA will create and nurture vibrant partnerships with community institutions working on behalf of the poor in tribal regions of western India, with the aim of inculcating appropriate scientific and indigenous technology and knowledge to achieve sustainable livelihoods and realization of true childhood for their children.

The following programmatic strategies will be adopted to carry out this initiative:• VAAGDHARA will spread its work in more locations, it will form and nurture vibrant community institutions such as self-help groups of women (SHGs), federations of SHGs, school management committees, etc. It will help poor and tribal access government programs and projects which are meant for their development, and explore their ultimate potential to develop their own work on sustainability. • VAAGDHARA will continue piloting innovative livelihoods initiatives to generate knowledge and develop appropriate technology for the local context. It will feed the knowledge and technologies to policy makers and strive for better interventions (programs) and enabling policies for integrated development of poor and tribal. • VAAGDHARA will also support other grass root organizations to implement integrated development programs in other tribal areas where VAAGDHARA may not implement directly- such as resource support organizations for sustainable integrated farming systems, and horticulture development programs.• VAAGDHARA will not be a hard core activist organization, rather it will organize people to leverage the government programs and also put pressure to get their rights. We will aim for constructive collaboration with government and other mainstream institutions without losing the focus and intensity of people’s concerns.• VAAGDHARA will develop local development resource pool thus it will identify local people from the community it works with, build their capacities and involve them in development initiatives.• VAAGDHARA will promote the adoption of appropriate technology (simple yet scientific technology) which will be specific to the local context and which community can adopt easily. Adequate care will be taken while selecting the technology that there is no adverse impact on the local climate and people are able to manage the adverse impact of climate change. For example, preference will be on use of compost manure and Integrated pest management & integrated nutrition management in agriculture over chemicals.

VAAGDHARA has learnt that strong community institutions are indispensable for sustaining any development intervention. Different institutions will be formed and nurtured, including various stakeholders at different levels. Community resource persons and community leaders will be developed at local level to manage the interventions/initiatives, and they will be trained on managing community-based organizations. These institutions and individuals will pass on the message to their respective communities and will involve maximum number of people in this initiative to achieve the goals and targets. VAAGDHARA has also decided to develop a local resource pool, thus it will identify local people from the community it works with, build their capacities as per the decided goals and involve them in development initiatives to reach the maximum number of people. All the above mentioned institutions/ initiatives will be governed by our organization’s team members and volunteers.

In order to achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030, VAAGDHARA has a strategy to promote and nurture vibrant institutions working on behalf of the poor such as self-help groups (SHG), SHG federations, farmer producer organizations, etc., who will be sensitive towards child development and can also work on livelihood, education, health, and nutrition. These institutions will be the key for the sustainability of interventions. VAAGDHARA will play the role of a catalyst and facilitator for institutions and networks of communities in remote and resource fragile regions so they start their journey towards sustainable development.VAAGDHARA has experienced team members and subject experts who are skilled in providing trainings on various subjects. Those team members and the subject experts will impart training to the above-mentioned stakeholders, including volunteers. Training of trainers will also be done, considering the reach of the initiative. Apart from this, piloting of innovative livelihoods initiatives will be carried out to generate knowledge and develop appropriate technology for local contexts. The organization will also support other grassroots organizations willing to implement integrated development programs in other tribal areas where VAAGDHARA may not implement directly, and will act as a resource organization to them.

VAAGDHARA, community-based organizations, federations