Milestones of Honor
Celebrated for our work in Health, Hygiene, and beyond
Awards
Dr. Sunil Chaturvedi Honoured with Medini Award
Dewas, 14 June Dr. Sunil Chaturvedi, Director of Vibhavari and author of the book “Pani De, Gud Dhani De” based on groundwater conservation efforts in Delhi, was honoured with the prestigious “Medini Award” at a ceremony held in New Delhi. The award was presented by the Union Minister of State for Rural Development in recognition of his significant contributions towards water conservation, particularly in rural schools and communities. Dr. Chaturvedi has been actively engaged in promoting water conservation awareness and implementing sustainable water management practices across the country.
Clean School Awards
In the year 2017-18, 17 out of 23 WASH projects in schools of Sehore, M.P., had received Clean school – Green School Award by Government of India in Sehore district. As extended achievements for Vibhavari’s WASH team, 2 schools got state-level Special Clean School Award and 3 schools received district-level rewards. Two schools, Government Middle School, Dudalai, and Government Middle School, Amajhir, were nominated for national-level honors.
Open Defecation Free (ODF) under Total Sanitation Campaign - Panchayat Award
Vibhavari adopted the village of Gola Guthan in Satwas Tehsil, Dewas District, and under the Total Sanitation Campaign facilitated its declaration as Open Defecation Free (ODF) in the district. In recognition of this achievement, the organization, represented by Vipin Pandya, along with the village Sarpanch, Mr. Prahlad Ji, and Secretary, Mr. Kedar Chouhan, received an award from the Hon’ble President of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil, at a program held in Pune.
Jal sainani - Amrit Sanchay Abhiyan
The concept of Amrit Sanchay Abhiyan was transformed into a mass movement in Dewas city, successfully conserving 250 crore liters of water in just three months. This was achieved by engaging 22 social workers of the city on a voluntary basis, with the support of the district administration and political leaders, and through the expertise of Dr. Sunil Chaturvedi, Hydrogeologist. For this remarkable initiative, Dewas city’s movement was honored by the State Minister for Urban Development, Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya.
Jal Jan Andolan - Amrit Sanchay Abhiyan
The concept of Amrit Sanchay Abhiyan was transformed into a mass movement in Dewas city, successfully conserving 250 crore liters of water in just three months, with the support of the district administration and through the expertise of Dr. Sunil Chaturvedi, Hydrogeologist. Recognizing this remarkable achievement, the Urban Development Minister announced its launch as a model for the entire state and its expansion from Dewas city to other districts of Madhya Pradesh. For this outstanding contribution, Dr. Sunil Chaturvedi was honored with an award by the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Mohan Yadav.
Achievements
Rewa Sagar Jila Panchayat Dewas FY. 17-18 Dewas (M.P.)
Vibhavari is proudly associated with the community-based water conservation program Rewa Sagar. The organization has worked in Tonk block of its home district, Dewas, providing support to farmers for digging their own farm ponds. More than 1,500 farm ponds were constructed by farmers themselves, serving as a live model for doubling farmers’ income. For this initiative, Collector Umakant Umrao received national and international awards.
Navankur
An innovation experimented in Pre-Primary Education Vibhavari deeply understood the vacuum of elementary education in government schools and prepared an innovative experiment model under the title Navankur, a pre-school education center in Anganwaries, which are the village-level institutions run by government’s Woman & Child Development Department. The pilot project had been conducted by the support of ITC MSK in two anganwaries of Sehore district. The program was inaugurated by Education Minister, Mr. Deepak Joshi, who appreciated the program for its uniqueness and potential.
Panpat Success
Panpat is a small village of Dewas district known for water scarcity. Situated in a hilly region where drinking water is not easily available, this area suffered water scarcity and barely afforded single non- irrigated crop a year. With majority population of small and marginalized farmers, people of the area used to stay unemployed for nearly 8 months a year resulting in high poverty. The water crisis was also at the root of multiple other social problems.
The local banjara women for the first time came to fore and formed a committee. This was the first committee in watershed management consisting only female members in the state of M.P. The committee is still active and working for various development al issues like TSC, Gram Shiksha Samiti, PTA and many other developments – oriented missions related to rural areas. Panpat became a model of successful watershed project through community participation.
Drinking water, which was once a scarce and precious resource, is now easily available to the villagers. With the development of irrigation facilities, the once barren lands have been transformed into fertile fields. Farmers, who previously depended on seasonal and unpredictable rainfall, can now cultivate their land throughout the year. As a result, they have begun producing up to three crops annually, significantly increasing food security and income.
This agricultural boost has also generated more employment opportunities within the community. Seasonal migration to nearby towns in search of work has reduced, as people can now earn a living in their own village. Alongside this, the dependency on forest resources for livelihood has drastically declined, helping to preserve the local environment and biodiversity.
Kalda Pathar Success
Kalda Pathar is on the ridge of Shahnagar development tal block, the most distant part of Panna district. Vibhavari has implemented watershed projects in 8 tribal populated villages of this pathar. The worst, in terms of water scarcity, among these 8 villages was Basoda. People of this village used to travel 6 kilometers on foot to bring drinking water from Dhunwara Hills. Vibhavari started watershed work among people living in such extreme situations. About 6000 hectare land was treated by building stop – dams, ponds, farm ponds, gabion, farm tranches, loose boulders, etc.
As a result, today these villages have much increased irrigated lands. Instead of one, farmers are able to cultivate two crops an year. This has changed the financial landscape of the area to a large extent. Farmers are getting 15-18 thousand/hectare more than before and with available water they started taking rabi crops of wheat and pulses after kharif crop of rice. This way the project benefitted all 406 families of the area.
