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Cover Story:
A Year of Gratitude
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A heartfelt thanks for your incredible support for transforming the lives of rural children. You are the reason we can continuously support rural communities in need! The nationally award-winning Transform Lives one school at a time program of S M Sehgal Foundation is ensuring that rural government schools have functional toilets, drinking water stations, secure boundary walls, and stimulating school environments—which are creating significant increases in school enrollment and retention.
As a rural development organization, I feel proud to see ourselves as contributors to sustainable development and positive social change in rural communities. Best wishes for a prosperous 2023!
Suri Sehgal |
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Catalyzing women leaders for collective action at local level By Vikas Jha
Ela R Bhatt, the founder of SEWA, says, “There is ample proof to demonstrate that women can and do build strong and vital organizations around issues that relate to them, and find viable solutions out of their own experiences.”
Women Leadership Schools (WLSs) promoted by Sehgal Foundation in rural villages enable women to organize at the village level, so they can discuss, raise, and plan collective action on the issues that affect their lives. Read more . . .
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MoU signed between SF and NIRDPR A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between NIRDPR (National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj) and S M Sehgal Foundation in the presence of Shri Narendra Tomar, IAS, Director General of NIRDPR, and Ms. Anjali Makhija, Trustee and CEO of S M Sehgal Foundation, to jointly work for knowledge dissemination, conferences, consultations, training curriculum and programs, and action research on rural development.
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CSR-supported project transforms schoolchildren’s lives CANPACK India Pvt Ltd, in association with S M Sehgal Foundation, inaugurated the newly transformed Government Middle School at village Thekarka, Nuh, Haryana, on December 13, 2022. This project facilitates better quality education for children in villages by providing a higher standard of school infrastructure and higher-quality study materials. In addition, a rainwater harvesting system with 75,000-liter capacity ensures the availability of drinking water. Students have been given new uniforms and shoes, school bags, books, and stationery items. The new stimulating environment has already led to increased student enrollment and retention. |
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Student groups visit project locations S M Sehgal Foundation teams in Haryana and Hyderabad facilitated a one-day field immersion for students of TERI School of Advanced Studies in Hiramthala village, Nuh, to understand rural development and final-year Rural Management students from XISS, Ranchi, Jharkhand, respectively. The students learned about the work of the foundation team and enhanced their knowledge of rural development approaches and participatory methodologies.
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Farmers’ Day celebrated Local teams engaged with farmers of Behror, Rajasthan, and Kanpur-Dehat in Uttar Pradesh, to celebrate Kisan Diwas, nationally observed on December 23 each year. Representatives from block and district-level government agricultural departments imparted knowledge on soil health management, sustainable agricultural practices, and water-saving techniques in agriculture, and provided information on various government schemes for farmers. Beneficiaries from the foundation’s ongoing projects shared their experiences and the benefits received through the different interventions. Representatives from local plant teams of the supporting partner, Pernod Ricard India Foundation, attended and actively participated in the events. |
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Presentations and Conferences
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Goalmakers Conference by Global Washington Ms. Anjali Makhija, CEO and trustee, S M Sehgal Foundation, spoke virtually on a Panel Zero Hunger (SDG 2): Community-driven solutions for food security at the 2022 Global Washington Goalmakers Conference on December 7. Mr. Jay Sehgal, executive vice president, Sehgal Foundation, also spoke on a panel on December 8, sharing about various agricultural initiatives contributing to Zero Hunger. |
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Resolving Water and WASH Challenge
Ms. Anjali Makhija, trustee and CEO, and Mr. Salahuddin Saiphy, principal lead, Water Management, Sehgal Foundation, spoke about the Foundation's work related to SDG 6 at the UN Global Compact Network India (GCNI) high level stakeholder consultation
on December 9, 2022,
with industry experts and practitioners on the theme "Resolving Water and WASH Challenge from the Ground Up."
S M Sehgal Foundation is the knowledge partner for the UNGCNI's Water & WASH Workstream. |
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Knowledge Sharing on Community Radio Ms. Pooja O Murada, principal lead, Outreach for Development, presented at the National Workshop on Science Communication Popularization and its Extension (SCoPE) through community radio in regional languages. The program was held December 15–17, 2022, organized by SCoPE National Institute of Technology Warangal at Tirupati. |
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Workshop on the Adoption of Practices on Efficient Water Use S M Sehgal Foundation participated in the national-level training cum workshop, "Adoption of Practices on Efficient Water Use," organized by Atal Bhujal Yojana, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt of India, at HIRMI, Kurukshetra, Haryana. About sixty officials participated including state government officers, agriculture experts, irrigation experts, water resources experts, groundwater experts, and hydrogeologists from the seven states covered under Atal Bhujal Yojana. |
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Take a look at the Sehgal Foundation Annual
Report 2021–22 that highlights achievements and updates. Thank you for being our
partners in progress as we continue the work to bring positive social change
across rural India.
Read the full report here.
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SMSF Connect Podcast features a bouquet of interesting programs about rural development and other social issues and themes. TUNE IN to our podcast channel on I-RadioLive. Podcasts also available on Spotify
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"I learned about the water challenges in rural
Indian villages and about S M Sehgal Foundation’s successful approach to creating sustainable safe
drinking water solutions for households." - Karl Zimmermann PhD Candidate, Environmental Engineering, University of British Columbia, Canada UBC Public Scholar and Friedman Scholar in Health, “Tools for Community Water Partnerships”
Read more . . . |
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S M Sehgal Foundation invites interns to join us in promoting rural development by sharing their skills and experience for empowering people in rural areas. See the list of projects available for virtual internships. Also see a video tutorial on Internships.
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Editorial Team: Arti Manchanda Grover, Marly Cornell, Pooja O. Murada Contributors: Karl Zimmermann, Vikas Jha Photo Credits: S M Sehgal Foundation staff Design and Production: Outreach for Development team |
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