Woman Empowerment & Gender Issues
It is said that if we educate and empower a woman, its impact becomes visible, not only in the immediate context but in next many generations as well. Ninth five-year plan took up 'empowering women as agents of socio-economic change and development' as a major commitment. It adopted National Policy for Empowerment of Women.
Institute has linked women empowerment with the concept of Entrepreneurship, in view of helping young women shape their career in the business world so that they not only get the economic independence but the informed choices for taking right decisions also, and could become Provider rather than seeker. Every year Institute designs and organizes many programmes for adolescent girls, young women, SHG members on skill development, capability enhancement, entrepreneurship and micro business development with the support of government departments at central and State level, international agencies, as well as other sponsoring agencies. Further, not confining to Women only, Institute has planned to expand its fold and work on Gender Issues through its proposed Centre for Women Empowerment and Gender Issues which would take up Gender And Development (GAD) approach as well as significant issues such as Gender planning, budgeting, responsiveness etc through research studies, consultancies and other activities.
Shgs Adoption And Nurturing
The Government of India and state authorities alike have increasingly realized the importance of devoting attention to the economic betterment and development of rural women in India. Since last decade, being the key instrument for supporting women empowerment, Self-Help Groups have emerged as a vibrant platform for many development projects, be it livelihoods, education, health or any other. These groups, organized by NGOs, and supported by government as well as other funding agencies, contribute to improving the overall status of women in terms of income, empowerment, welfare, etc. However, there are also a few challenges and concerns in relation to these groups. One of the major concerns is Capacity building of self-help groups, which are in need of support in accounting, financial management, and organisational development.
Institute has organized capacity building programmes for NGO functionaries and facilitators who are involved in the promotion of SHGs, now it is planning to go for adopting a few SHGs in districts where our offices are located and providing nurturing support to SHGs being promoted under various programmes such as State Rural Livelihood Mission, NABARD etc.
Corporate Social Responsibility
IEDUP had started its interventions long back with Gorakhpur Industrial Development. Authority, Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, Public Works Department (PWD), Border Security Force etc. when the concept of CSR was not widely recognized, rather it was more commonly known as Rehabilitation. It gives us immense pleasure to mention that initial 22 enterprises in Greater Noida were grounded as a result of our facilitative efforts and motivation.
Since last couple of years Institute has partnered with renowned corporate organizations and public sector enterprises viz. Hindalco, Jagdishpur, Telco, Lucknow, ONGC, Dehradun and all the three units of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) located in Uttar Pradesh who are among our satisfied clients. Our interventions have been a mix of Need Assessment, Survey, Skill Improvement (on multiple trades) and Entrepreneurship Development.
Social Entrepreneurship
Commendable are not only those who set up business enterprises and contribute to the growth of national economy, there is another set of people whose contribution is not less significant as they opt for setting up social enterprises. Role of these social entrepreneurs is equally important as they work towards beautifying social fabric of our society and improving the quality of people's life. In this social stream, demand for professionals, equipped with sectoral information, knowledge, and skills, is continuously growing. Realizing this, Institute has given an important space, in its Activity calendar, to the training and capacity enhancement of different level functionaries working in these social enterprises/NGO through a series of thematic workshops. Besides, we design and organize exclusive customized courses for NGOs, on the demand of implementing or funding organizations as well as government department.
Water And Sanitation
Since 1997 IEDUP has been closely working with UNICEF and Panchayati Raj Department, U.P. for Capacity building, IEC and Social Mobilization interventions particularly in the sector of Rural Sanitation. In view of the experienced gained over the years in the field of Rural Sanitation, particularly through training interventions, in the year 2005, State Water and Sanitation Mission had identified and recognized IEDUP as one of the Key Resource Centres under CCDU (Communication and capacity development unit) to play an important role for capacity building of different level of functionaries to help them effectively operationalize the activities envisaged under TSC and Swajaldhara programmes. Besides, IEDUP contributed in the monitoring and strengthening Child Cabinets in Bundelkhand region in collaboration with UNICEF and Jal Nigam, GoUP.
The Institute enjoys the privilege of being first of its kind among many states to give this social programme an entrepreneurial dimension in the sector of water and sanitation. Later on, the approach was replicated by few other agencies in and outside the State. IEDUP has organized more than 200 Training and Orientation programmes for DPROs, ADPROs, Gram Panchayat Vikas Adhikaris, Elected representatives of Panchayat, School Teachers and Motivators and Managers and Salespersons of Rural Sanitary Marts of U.P. Besides, a large number of training programmes were organized for Master Masons on Low Cost Sanitation Technology in many districts covered under Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC). Institute has also carried out a SWOT analysis of Women SHGs for their role in Child Environment Project in UNICEF's project districts viz. Lalitpur, Balrampur and Budaun districts.