What we did in past three decades- a Summary (for detailed one , attached)

 

About us

VACHAN, a development group, has been working with tribals in Nashik district, Maharashtra, for over three decades. Their projects focus on Primary Education, Primary Health, Livelihood, and Governance. VACHAN has expanded from 20 villages to 60, highlighting the concentration of poverty in specific pockets with common parameters.VACHAN has been focused on community health challenges with similar social, economic, and psychological contexts in the past two decades.

About the people

The population 16000 is spread across villages with less than 400 households per village, with most having hamlets. The area is hilly and experiences high rainfall, with tribals like Mahadeo Koli and Ma Thakar inhabiting small hillocks. Farmers grow Paddy, Khurasani, and Ragi on small patches of land. Some villages are on dam reservoirs, but agriculture is mainly rainfed. Recently, VACHAN also works with mainly migrated slum dwellers in Malegaon.

Our reach

VACHAN has worked in 409 villages in Igatpuri, Trymbakeshwar and Peint blocks, extending to Nashik, Niphad, Dindori, Nandgaon blocks of Nashik District, Pachora of Jalgaon District and Chalisgaon block of Dhule District. VACHAN is a member of the State Level Core Committee on child deaths due to malnutrition.

Our Vision:    

Empowering the marginalized and vulnerable people

Our Mission:  

To empower families in tribal dominant areas and urban minorities with rights to health, education, and better governance for dignified livelihood

Our approach

VACHAN believes that the development of the poor families can best take place by

·         - Encouraging the community to take initiative

· - Encouraging involvement of women in the development process

· - Emphasizing on the hamlets away from main roads on priority as they are the most vulnerable

· - Complimenting the government’s efforts, not duplicating structures / system by creating a parallel one

Reducing Neonatal Mortality and Severely Acute Malnutrition in Nashik District

• Neonatal mortality in tribal blocks Igatpuri and Trymbakeshwar reduced by 32% and infant mortality rate by 33%.

• Decreased Severely Acute Malnutrition prevalence in Malegaon and Nasik from 10.98% to 3.78% in 3 years.

• Decreased Severe Acute Malnutrition prevalence in Trymbak taluka from 7.5% to 2.5% in 2 years.

• Transported 409 pregnant women for institutional delivery and 63 for emergencies during the pre-Emergency transport service era. All survived. It also transported 74 children for life saving intervention.

• Reached out to 1300 People Living with Mental Health in Igatpuri and Trymbak blocks, Nashik District, after appropriate medication, counseling, and social support.