Sambhav is a voluntary non-governmental organization believing in an equitable, just and democratic society, where all classes of the society get the same privileges and rights as other communities, most importantly the socially powerful communities. The organization started as a grassroot agency engaged on the issues of land rights, child rights and bonded labor in neighboring regions of Gwalior, Ghatigaon and Mohana. Organizations like Ekta Parishad, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Voluntary Health Association of India and Christian Aid were one of the first ones to spread their support in helping Sambhav in doing grass-root level advocacy. Later the organization spread to Shivpuri, where programs on Community empowerment and health made a significant impact while changing the profile of Sambhav from a small to medium sized NGO. Over the years under the Guidance of some of the finest thinkers and sector faces, the organization has been able to spread to 7 districts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The start was not that easy, internal questioning and debates were making it difficult for the organization to change operational strategies. Later one year of trial and error implementation , helped the organization believe that microfinance is probably one of the most significant mode of helping people develop and create livelihood for better life. Sambhav has a deeply routed goal to bring about a change in the lives of deprived communities through peoples organization and capacity building. It has been actively involved in the organizing Sahariya Tribal communities to assert their rights of equality, Health, food and secured livelihood and a respectful place in the society. Sambhav’s core focus areas include:
Goal:
“Equality, Opportunity and Justice for All”
Vision:
“Striving for sustainable development processes and improvement in the quality of life of vulnerable people like Tribal, women and children through their organization and capacity building efforts.”
Aims and Objectives
To initiate the awakening process
To build up the people’s organization
To build the capacities of the people
To work with the poor and oppressed and not for them
To encourage development of a democratic process towards people’s solidarity
To strengthen women in the expression of their full potential and rightful place in the society
To try integrated and sustainable models of community health and rural development using, people’s participatory approaches. To strengthen community voices through advocacy efforts. History of Sambhav
Sambhav’s journey runs back 22 years from now to 1986. With some of the leading members of the national campaign to struggle for land, water and forest rights, Sambhav started up as a grassroot advocacy and awareness organization. The initial phase of the organization was in the Ghatigaon, a neighboring rural area of Gwalior district. Sambhav involved itself as an agency striving for basic rights and entitlements of the Sahariya, a primitive tribal group of Madhya Pradesh. Sahariya historically has been identified as one of the highest exploited and developmentally backward class. Sambhav’s initial intervention with the Sahariyas was to address the issue of Bonded Labor and Land Rights. Later on in 1992 Sambhav joined hands with Christian Aid to empower Sahariya and deprived classes of women to realize their aspiration through collective dialogue and community based intervention. The program followed a strategy of building village level community groups of women, who sit and discuss the developmental and rights based issues of their lives, and work together with the administration, panchayati raj institutions and village leaders. Further in the coming years Sambhav realized its heart in The Sahariya Tribe. Identifying its limited area of operation versus the large of spread of Sahariya throughout the Gwalior-Chambal region, and situation of the Sahariya going worst day by day, Sambhav spread out to the neighboring districts of Gwalior which included Shivpuri, and Bhind. The second phase of Sambhav’s intervention clubbed along health, education and women rights as its prime focus, with support extended by agencies like Voluntary Health Association of India, Action Aid and NABARD. Ever since 1988, Sambhav’s year of registration, Sambhav has been known in the Gwalior-Chambal as a right based grassroot advocacy organization. Sambhav’s span of operation extends to over 2500 villages spread through 9 districts collectively in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Sambhav’s prime focus of operations ever since inceptions have been:
Women Empowerment through community based group formation, which includes micro-saving at internal level through Self Help Groups and Financial Inclusion and Microfinance. Promoting better livelihood and standard of living through livelihood promotion programs, which include capacity building and direct/indirect support. Contributing to the sector goal of improving health and nutrition through health promotion programs. Improving access to sanitation, safe drinking water and better hygiene. Promoting water conservation and sustainable agriculture through watershed development. Ensuring community entitlement to right to food and related issues through integrated community development interventions. Working in close convergence with the government machinery to make ground level interventions and introductions sustainable and participatory. Sambhav was created to mobilize Sahariya population of this region in 1986 for their empowerment. Strategy adopted to achieve this objective included information sharing, group formation and collectivization of women for accessing the government schemes and raising the level of self esteem. Through direct program interventions, it has been able to develop rapport and wider base among the Sahariyas in Shivpuri, Sheopur and Gwalior. Some efforts to improve the status of the community included formation of Union, two Credit and saving cooperatives in Gwalior and Shivpuri, promotion of voluntary agencies in all the neighboring districts and initiating a program of SHG formation and Microfinance program. With the support of community volunteers from Sahariyas and emerging leadership, Sambhav has played significant role in raising the and dignity and respect in the eyes of administration and other communities. With a committed team of workers at all levels Sambhav is placed to undertake different activities for the empowerment of Sahariyas, in particular the SHG and microfinance initiatives. In the neighborhood of Karahal, an active microfinance program is in progress in Pohri. The staff from here is visiting the Karahal tribal villages quite frequently. Gradually debates within the organization arose on the organizations capacity and contributions to the livelihood dimensions at community level. There was a group that believed in grass root interventions without introduction of fiscal terms, where the other school of thought clearly identified and justified the need of direct funding and financial support to the community in order to ensure sustainable livelihood promotion. Series of discussions and debates happened within the organization. A purposeful discussion between the two schools of thoughts within the organization helped Sambhav identify microfinance as one of the strongest and fastest mode sustainable economic development.
