Sehgal Foundation: Empowering rural communities

A country of contrasts, India is home to some of the richest billionaires in the world

and millions of extremely poor people. More than 250 million people living below

the poverty line in India reside in rural areas. For over fifteen years, Sehgal

Foundation, a public charitable trust registered in India since 1999 has been

working exclusively on rural India to design, implement, and further refine

development initiatives to help communities achieve the Gandhian ideals of self-

reliance, economic well-being, and dignified living.

With support from government and private donors, the foundation has worked

alongside communities to manage water resources, increase agricultural resources,

increase agricultural productivity. The team’s emphasis on gender equality and

women’s empowerment is driven by the realization that human rights are central to

developing every person’s potential. The foundation also manages a community

radio Alfaz-e-Mewat, set up in 2012, which gives a platform to villagers to discuss,

debate and talk about issues that matter to them the most.

How Sehgal Foundation connects with rural India

Our team visits rural villages to understand their needs and offer community-led

development solutions that are empowering, low-cost and sustainable. The

Foundation team’s commitment and our desire to accelerate the very slow process

of development, we moved forward, learning along the way, shifting gears as

needed, and building on our successes. Empowering rural women is central to our

mission for strengthening community-led development and achieving social,

economic, and environmental change. Because of this citizen participation, several

villages are on a path to becoming models.

What Sehgal Foundation offers

Emphasizing rural governance: It has been well said, “Democracy, good

governance, and modernity cannot be imported or imposed from outside a

country”- Emile Lahoud. This is practically applicable to rural governance as well.

Good rural governance can actually enhance the condition of a society and is quite

imperative for the development of rural India. Sehgal Foundation’s Good Rural

Governance program has a two-pronged strategy to deal with these challenges. On

the one hand, Good Governance Now! empowers individuals in the community by

making citizens aware of their legal and constitutional rights, entitlements and

accountability mechanisms. On the other hand, the strengthening village level

institutions initiative works with panchayats, and village-level institutions.

Water management solutions: Exploitation of groundwater for farm irrigation

has reached critical levels in many areas across the country. Groundwater aquifers

are being sucked dry. Half

of the water supply in

rural areas is routinely

contaminated with toxic

microbes and chemicals.

To address this critical

need for water security,

Sehgal Foundation’s water

management program

focuses on the collection,

storage, and access to

safe drinking water. This

entails a rejuvenation of

the old traditional village

methods such as rainwater

harvesting systems to

capture water from rooftops and the creation of many small storage structures

(lakes, village ponds, wells, check dams) all across the country.

Agriculture development: Our agricultural development program is focused on

soil health, nutrient management,

balanced fertilization, good seed,

management of pests and

diseases, and water management-

the keys to sustainable

agriculture. Special emphasis is

laid on educating and engaging

women farmers in this process.

Information communication

technology (ICT) in the form of

mobile telephone recordings,

voice messages are provided to

thousands of farmers on crop and

livestock management.

We welcome partners and others to collaborate with us to being substantial change

to the lives of the poor.

Head Office

Plot No.34, Sector 44, Institutional Area

Gurgaon, Haryana – 122003

INDIA

Tel: 91-124-4744100

Fax: 91-124-4744123

Email: smsf@smsfoundation.org

Website: www.smsfoundation.org