ViDAL’s will be providing critical attributes in the following areas for realising the goals for rural development. This plan is for the coming two years.
Health
In health information service ViDAL aims to work on the following critical interventions.
o Two-way information dissemination for health emergency management.
o Facilitating treatment of small ailments by documenting and bringing back indigenous knowledge in alternative and therapeutic methods of healing.
o Quick referral for service management during outbreak of epidemics in the villages.
Currently COW is engaged in collaborating with IIIT, Hyderabad for incubating an emergency health innovation model where information on critical parameters like ECG, Blood Pressure can be sent through a mobile phone to the concerned doctor without time delays.
Rural enterprise
In enterprise development, ViDAL will nurture entrepreneurship by enabling following aspects of enterprise development.
o Learning, managing and developing entrepreneurship for creating niche` markets for special products like embroidery, organic agricultural produce, product development from agricultural residues.
o Creating links and access to information for creating efficiency in the enterprise model.
For creating sustainable livelihoods for young girls and boys in the villages an e.commerce model “rural e.vyapaar” is proposed by ViDAL. The proposal requires financial, manpower & expert support.
Water and Agriculture
Water requirements cut across human and animal consumption to irrigation needs for agriculture. ViDAL’s future initiatives in this area will be on the following areas.
o Facilitating installation of appropriate technologies for clean drinking water availability in villages.
o Harnessing knowledge and awareness on water management by restoring traditional water structures.
o Harnessing knowledge and awareness in indigenous knowledge for agricultural practices.
Currently “movie man” a proposal for video advocacy covering the above aspects is ready and requires financial support.
Education
Under education effort COW project had been working with village schools for providing value enhancement for quality education service.
o Providing electronic education material for quality science education in village schools.
o Combining approaches to education with local conditions and environment.
Currently ViDAL is preparing to work with Nelabanda Tanda School in Ghanapuram Mandal for enhancing quality education for the students.
Self Help Groups
Women in several villages expressed interest to build enterprise with their savings. COW future effort will be in creating links to these women in groups with special agencies working on women enterprise development. COW effort will be concentrated on
Providing access to information to all the members of the group, thereby providing transparency and efficiency in the system.
Compliment the system outputs with the needs of the banking sector so that women are entitled for any special benefits from governemtn, banking and other supporting agencies from time to time.
Traditional Occupations
COW shall support farming and traditional communities in restoring and advancing their skill base and knowledge for improved wealth creation.
Information Empowerment
Under Information Empowerment effort ViDAL will take critical information on adminstation, governance and development to the people’s doorstep for enabling them to make informed decisions. This effort will be anchored at the community level, where information design and visualisation will play key role in engaging communities for responsive activism.
