Flood 2011 & Response from BISWA

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Published on Monday, 12 September 2011 11:55

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ver the years, BISWA has endeavored to adhere to the principle of Transparency and Accountability. Undeterred by malicious campaigns to tarnish our image, me and my team at BISWA is set to address challenges of extreme poverty and sustainable development in India. I must thank all of you and expect your comments and suggestions to guide us in the years to come as usual.

As you all know that the income gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in India continues to be staggering. While the per capita incomes of the ‘well to do’ compared with the developed and rich countries, the poor still survive on less than 2 dollars a day. This sharp contrast between the developed India and the underdeveloped Bharat is manifesting itself in social unrest that threaten the very unity and sovereignty of the country. The underlying cause of the social unrest is denial of access and right to dignified living for an overwhelming majority of poor Indians.

Ever since its inception, BISWA has continuously endeavored to work for economic and social inclusion of the poor and excluded. Our focus has been women as they face the burden of poverty most, and till recently were excluded from the development planning and required resource allocation.

Through empowerment and financial inclusion women have demonstrated that they are the most effective catalysts of social change and sustainable development. This is a fact that has been demonstrated by over one million women members of the BISWA family year after year. BISWA as an institution and myself as a torchbearer have remained committed to our vision of brining dignity to the poor and excluded women. Our mission of '1 million job, 2 million toilets , 3 million water taps connections and 10 million trees by 2015' is an article of faith for the entire BISWA family and each one of us is determined to accomplish it .

FLOOD 2011 jagatsinghpur BISWA

The year just gone by brought many new challenges. The uncertainty and troubles in the Micro Finance Sector has been a setback. The required policy interventions were a long time in coming thus impacting our operations. We have accordingly re-organized and gathered our strengthens around social thematic areas Viz. Livelihood, Water and Sanitation, Health & Education, Relief and Rehabilitation and Natural Resources Management the respond to Climate Change. The strategy will be to create national advocacy for these and attract multiple funding sources to multiply our actions and scale up the interventions.

Our strategic development collaborations with national and state government and partnership with various agencies including corporate bodies and donors remain healthy and effectively functional in delivering public goods to poor. Coming years, we will further enlarge and strengthen this relationship in forging development collaborations with them.

BISWA, as an organization growing steady and its growth is fused and intertwined with growth and empowerment of women.