International Women’s Day 2021
Encouraging women’s participation and celebrating their achievements, RDI celebrated International Women’s Day reflecting on the theme for the year #choosetochallenge. Marked annually on March 8th, International Women’s Day is a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and to celebrate women’s achievements and raise awareness about women’s equality. On this occasion, RDI conducted a mix of activities on-field which were then brought together via online sessions. Social media was actively engaged in propagation and awareness generation using audio-visual content.
At RDI, the entire group was connected through online sessions. Special Guest for the event was Mrs. Manju Nautiyal, Ex-Convener of Montessori Schools in Lucknow. She addressed the group and sensitized for gender parity by highlighting the role and contribution of women in the family, especially for raising their children and handling multiple responsibilities. Later on she gave nutrition kits to mothers of 30 scholars.
Field teams at Nagthat, Bahadrabad, Khadri and Vikas Nagar ensured participation of around 200 women. Among these some participants came dressed up to showcase their culture. A session on importance of water, its management and role of women towards water conservation was held by RDI team. Four women who did exemplary work towards the causes of disability were facilitated and four women with disabilities received nutrition kit. The event concluded with a reflection of field activities through an interactive session.
Save Water Campaign by RDI
Over the last two decades, RDI has been working on its aim to enable water, sanitation and hygiene in the remote rural hilly areas of Uttarakhand since 1998. As of now it has reached out to over 534 villages and implemented 270 water supply schemes. Advocating its water commitment for rural areas, RDI conducted a week-long water campaign from 15 to 22 March 2021 to sensitize people about water as a resource and how to conserve water to address the grim scenario of scarcity of water.
Water campaign activities were organized in the Kokliyalgaon village of Jaunpur block of Tehri district. Earlier there was no water in this village, local residents had to collect water from the local sources. For fetching water sometimes they have to walk one or two kilometers. This village was enabled with water in the year 2014 supply through gravity scheme and rainwater harvesting tank by RDI. Operation and maintenance of the water supply scheme is being taken care by the members of User Water Sanitation Committee (UWSC) and Gram Panchayat.
As part of the water campaign, a village level mini seminar was conducted with 50 women members of the local governance (Gram Panchyat) and community. They were told about the water related issues including its quality, filtration, conservation, recharge, catchment area protection, rainwater harvesting and filter at household taps, chlorination of water and disposal of waste water. After sessions, food kits were distributed among 17 families of the village and 3 nutrition kits were given to pregnant women.
On this occasion, a water quiz and drawing competition was also conducted with the children. Around 30 children alongwith school teachers participated and they were also sensitized about save water issues. Prizes were distributed to children. Finally water pledge was taken with all family members of the village followed by World Water Day celebrations and community rally. Save water slogans were also raised out by the community.
Besides conducting water campaigns in rural and hilly areas, RDI promoted Aquathon 2021 activity from 15 to 22 March. Part of this awareness week in SRHU campus was carried out with door-to-door campaign for creating awareness on water conservation. Campus residents were given a practical way out for water conservation by using a water bottle filled with sand in the toilet cistern. Many household leaking taps were repaired. Reverse Osmosis (RO) water filters were discouraged. Aquathon was organized to create awareness on water among University students and to showcase their innovative ideas on water challenges and valuing water. Over 450 students participated in this event. Top 3 winners of the Aquathon were awarded and 10 best students were given certificates on Water Day seminar.
Aquathon 2021 was concluded with the seminar which was organized on Valuing Water on 22nd March at the SRHU auditorium. The Chief Guest of the event was Dr. Vijay Dhasmana (Honourable Vice Chancellor, SRHU) and keynote speaker was Mr. H.P. Uniyal (Former Director and Advisor, State Planning Commission, Uttarakhand and Former Chief General Manager and HOD, Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan).
