HEWMEP reaches Rajasthan

As part of the project “Onsite Training Programme on Biomedical Waste Management”, Rajasthan, training programmes focussing on categories of bio-medical waste (BMW), their segregation, collection, treatment, storage, disposal and relevant rules and regulations were conducted by CEE under its initiative 'Healthcare Establishment Waste Management & Education Programme' (HEWMEP). Divya Pant and Priyanka Porwal of CEE along with ESA personnel Mr. Raju Saraf conducted the trainings under guidence from Dr. Shyamala Mani, Programme Director, CEE. The team visited some of the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in Rajasthan.

PHC and Health Camp at Reelavan

The trainings included assessment of awareness levels of PHC staff about health and BMW-related issues and added to the knowledge base through interactive training methodologies like audio and video spots, films, games etc. The trainings were followed by visits to Palaita and Reelavan to survey PHCs there to identify BMW management problems and suggest strategies. More information about the HEWMEP and BWM initiatives of CEE is available at http://www.bmwmindia.org.

The World Bank staff along with Rajasthan Health System Development Project officials observed the visits and commented "CEE is doing a quality work at the level of PHCs of Rajasthan and CEE's formats for using the data collection and to provide training at PHCs should also be used to provide the training programmes at Community Health Centres as well"

Swajadhara for Local Self-governance in Gujarat

For its project Samvardhan , Rural Programmes Group of CEE in collaboration with Water and Sanitation Management Organization (WASMO), Government of Gujarat has been working in the three districts of Valsad, Tapie and The Dangs in Southern Gujarat . The project has played a critical role in improving local self-governance in rural water supply through a strong association with the local community.

Samvardhan is now in its third phase in focus areas of both Water and Livelihoods. The 60 villages wherein it implements Swajadhara , a government scheme in collaboration with WASMO have now been gradually seeing success.

A bi-monthly regional meeting of Samvardhan staff was held in Dangs. It allowed the field personnel to discuss and collaborate for common issues

Over the last few years, visible changes have been witnessed in the areas. CEE Project Director Atul Pandya, notes that the people express a genuine sense of ownership over the drinking water supply and water-related infrastructure. Schemes that demand 10% community contribution ensure higher involvement of the community. This project has gone a long way to ensure safe and accessible water through a transparent process. Areas like The Dangs district now envision a village water supply, previously an impossible dream in their immediate future. RPG now operates four projects in southern Gujarat , Samvadhan, Wasmo, Sanjeevani and Saral Shiksha.

International Conference on Global Warming: Agriculture, Sustainable Development and Public Leadership  

Approximately 300 delegates gathered in the auditorium of Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad to be part of the International Conference which was held from 11to13 March, 2010 organized by the International School of Public Leadership, Indian Society for Community Education and Manthan Educational Programme Society, India . To find strategies to strengthen and expand the agriculture in a sustainable way, as well as to develop an appropriate leadership model in community and public education were the major concerns of the summit.

Various experts from the science, political and economical sector interacted with the audience. Amongst them was Dr. Gopichandran, former Program Director at CEE, who summarized the outcome of the conference on the last day and opened the discussion to the audience. The students of Management Education Centre on Climate Change, initiated jointly by the CEE and Gujarat University have noted all the valuable inputs from the speakers in five different sessions as planned. Mr. Shalin Shah, Program Manager, Industry Initiatives Programme at CEE provided help for compiling the valuable inputs from the speakers and preparing the final presentation on Summary of Recommendations. Moritz, intern with CEE and Rixa of CEE Germany also participated in the conference.

Ship for World Youth Program

One hundred and thirty five youth from Japan and 144 youth from 12 other countries attended the World Youth Programme's 22nd Ship. N.Ramjee of CEE Tamil Nadu conducted a session on Climate Change.

The Ship for World Youth (SWY) is a unique international cultural exchange program organised by the Government of Japan. The Ship visits several countries in two-month journey. The purpose of the program is to broaden the global view of youth, to promote mutual understanding and friendship between Japan and different countries, as well as to cultivate the spirit of international cooperation and the competence to practice it, and furthermore to foster youth with capability of showing leadership in various area of international society.

The session included discussions on the science, causes and impacts of climate change

Considering role of youth and citizens to combat climate change, issues such as international politics, India 's position on climate change, various mitigation and adaptation policies planned and implemented by the Indian Government and role of youth were discussed through interactive sessions.

DéCEE Updates

CEE's Information Facilitation Centre (DéCEE) organised a diverse set of programmes over last fortnight.

A group of 40 Masters in Social Work (MSW) students from Adarsh MSW Collage, Botad visited CEE as part of their exposure visit to development agencies in Ahmedabad. The visit focused on exploring linkages of Environment Education with Social Work. The visit enhanced their understanding about CEE, its programmes, importance of environment education and sustainable development. The participants explored the CEE campus to understand how campuses can be green and environment friendly. Human and Institutional Development, Industry Initiatives and DéCEE teams facilitated the visit.

Interactive activities involving demonstrated how learning could be joyful and experiential.

Holi Safe Festival Campaign was conducted at DéCEE to propagate the use of natural colours and create awareness about the harmful impacts of the synthetic colours sold in the market for the festival of Holi .The campaign included display of posters at different locations and tips on making organic colours at home as well. Natural and Herbal colours were sold from different outlets.

The colours were procured from organic products entrepreneurs in Ahmedabad.

CEE Himalaya inspires ‘Sweet' Profit

CEE Himalaya has been organizing a series of livelihood training programmes in villages like Maya, Bijhama and Reshawariis as part of its project 'Rebuilding Trust' with support from Welthungerhilfe (WHH-formerly German Agro Action).

Mr. Mohammed Siddiq, a resident of Bijhama village of Uri district attended the training programme and developed interest in Apiculture. Mr. Siddiq, a Tailor by profession, was provided one unit of apiculture consisting of eighteen boxes by the CEE Himalaya . It produces a quintal of honey, half of which is left in boxes for honeybees to survive in freezing winters. In spite of investment in transporting units to warmer regions during winter and monthly rent towards the unit, Mr. Siddiq is happy with the profit. Though currently he caters only to the local market, he hopes to export honey in the future.

CEE