“I was in trouble. Most of the times urinating became so difficult, and I was not recovering from the problem. A constant burning sensation and pain made me feel sick. Some said it’s happening because I am not properly washing myself after defecating in the open, some said open defecation itself was the problem. But what could I do? Neither could I carry a lot of water to wash myself thoroughly, nor our toilet, made with support from Swachh Bharat Mission, was functional due to its faulty drainage. Whenever anybody used it and washed it, water would get clogged, causing a bigger mess. Visiting the local para-medics and buying medicines was a crushing burden for us. I thought this disease will kill me some day” recalls Gita Devi, who stays in Dumar village of Tatijharia block in Hazaribagh district.
When WASH mentor Shivani Devi began building awareness upon the importance of water, health and sanitation through various trainings and capacity building sessions under the SWACHH project, supported by Water.org, Gita Devi started connecting the dots and got convinced about the cause of her health issues. Shivani’s trainings propelled the village SHGs to farm-out loans to their members towards issues related to potable and safe water, sanitation, and health. For Gita, it was a golden chance to stop the financial losses she had been bearing for so long on medicines and save herself from the harrowing experience of open defecation. Gita took a Rs.50,000 loan from her self-help group (Rekha Mahila Mandal) to build a toilet and a washroom in her home. And Gita received a wholehearted support from all her family members.
Answering nature’s call is no more a wee hour matter for Gita. She uses her toilet whenever she needs to and without having to endure the pain and uneasiness all through the day. “I feel so proud of Gita today, she took such a wise decision to take the loan and construct this toilet for us. All of us are using it every day, and night” says Hulash Prajapati, Gita’s spouse.
“For the last five months, I have not visited the para-medics – why should I? The need itself doesn’t exist anymore! My monthly medical expenses have become zero. And, more importantly, I don’t have to bother about the discreet onlookers any more. I had to save my own dignity and that of my kids’...” shares a proud Gita.
Edited by: Souparno Chatterjee, New Delhi
Founded in 1983, PRADAN has been at the forefront of innovations in rural development and has played a significant role in the design and implementation improvement of major rural development programmes. Given the deep deprivation in rural pockets, particularly among tribal and vulnerable groups, we promote sustainable livelihoods, integrated with work on issues of Gender, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Climate Change, Skilling and Governance. We currently work across 8 states, reaching out to 2.8 million households in collaboration with more than 100 NGO partners. PRADAN is an equal opportunity organisation. To learn more, please visit us at: www.pradan.net.
As an Executive (Communications), the incumbent is supposed to be a knowledgeable, self-motivated and passionate individual with a creative bent of mind. The major focus area would be to promote and help flourish the practice of reflective writing and process documentation. The role involves content generation, curation, presentation and publication of articles for internal forums and external agencies including mainstream media. The person will also be responsible for organising training events for the same. Creating and implementing the media strategy to showcase PRADAN’s successes and challenges will be another key aspect of the position.
The qualifying degree is a minimum of 16 years of education (A Master’s degree in English literature, or any other social science stream).
A degree or diploma in Mass Communication from a reputed institute is preferred
Nature of Engagement: Regular position with a probation period of six months.
Remuneration: Based on qualification and experience the CTC would be in the range of INR 8 to 10 lakhs per annum. The CTC includes basic pay and other allowances. Apart from this, provision of deferred benefits such as PF, Gratuity, NPS, Insurance (Term life insurance, hospitalization insurance for self and dependents and accident insurance policy) are provided.
Place of posting: In PRADAN locations (possibly district town or state capital)
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Those shortlisted will be invited to a selection process in Noida, tentatively in the first week of September 2024.
PRADAN is an equal opportunity employer. Women candidates are encouraged to apply.
Interested candidates with the relevant background and fulfilling the eligibility criteria are visit our website https://www.pradan.net/join-us/#careers and fill the ‘Application for Executive (Communications)’.Applications close by August 31, 2024.