Livelihood Related Programs
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Our Livelihood Related Programs aim to strengthen existing community-based organizations and build more local institutions to enhance social mobilization. These programs mainly target those groups who have previously been excluded from ongoing governmental efforts focusing on livelihood security, such as farmers, women, people with disabilities, and local artisans.
These programs span such areas as sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, and income security for local farmers through the increased value of their food production.
A focal point for the upcoming years of this program is to investigate the latest cultivation techniques available to prepare the agrarian community for future climate changes.
 Bamboo artisans |
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 Dhokara artisan making bags (from wool) |
 RCHSS introduing wool materials for the first time to add value to their livelihood |
 Learning measurement for the first time |
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 Completed dhokara fabrics |
 PLA (Participatory Learning and Action) |
 Earlier, it was common for children and families to eat many meals without any vegetables. |
 Explaining nutrition and the importance of variety |
 Sapling distribution |
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 Amarath, a leafy vegetable rich in nutrients |
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 Checking for ripe brinjal |
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 Harvesting ridge gourds from the canopy of their growing nutrition garden |
 PLA (Participatory Learning and Action) |
 Diagramming the Stages of SRI (System of Rice Intensification) |
 Illustrating the benefits of rice planted with the SRI method |
 Teaching how to separate out the bad seeds from a batch |
 Submerged in salty water (enough to float an egg), the bad seeds will rise up. |
 Preparation of seed bed with organic compost. |
 Planting germinated seeds |
 Planting saplings with enough space for each to achieve its maximum growth |
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 Checking for weeds |
 After weeding |
 Bountiful harvest |
Child Centric Programs
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Our Child Centric Programs are mainly related to maintaining two legal provisions of our country: free education for all people under 14 years of age and child labor prohibition. Our programs, which focus on children from birth to age 18, thrive on the principle of education accessibility for all children who have traditionally been left out of this free education system.
A major initiative of RCHSS to end child labor in our region focused on the children of the brick kiln industry. Our programs have succeeded in bringing over 12,000 children out of brick kiln labor and into the mainstream education system.
A focal point for the future of our Child Centric Programs is to introduce vocational skills training for children over 14 years old who reach beyond the age of free schooling.
 Distribution of materials to the newly enrolled students |
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 CRC Week 2009 (Child Rights Celebration) |
 CRC Week 2009 |
 CRC Week 2009 |
 Last day gathering of 5-day CRC Week '09 (Child Rights Celebration), Malda Indoor Stadium |
Reproductive and
Child Health Programs
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The Reproductive and Child Health Programs focus on providing quality healthcare and raising awareness of major health-related issues affecting women, adolescent girls, and children from birth to age 5.
These programs include initiatives in child growth monitoring, establishing relationships to connect mothers and children with local health centers, educating adolescent girls on women's health-related topics, creating child development and nutrition centers, and teaching families to build nutrition gardens in their homes.
The future of our Reproductive and Child Health Programs is focused on our dedication to ensuring that maternal and infant mortality rates continue to decline and that each child exhibits healthy growth and developmental patterns.
 Administering Polio vaccine on Polio Sunday |
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 Collage made for Polio Campaign |
 World AIDS Day 2006 |
 World AIDS Day 2006 |
 World AIDS Day 2006 |
 RCHSS worker explaining baby's normal growth stages to new mothers. |
 RCHSS worker explaining baby's normal growth stages to new mothers |
 Teaching to prepare oral rehydration salts at home |
 Discussing materials to use in making home-made baby food |
 Producing the baby food together |
 Producing the baby food together |
 Home-made baby food, the final product of their efforts. It's also nutritious for the elders! |
 Home-made baby food, the final product of their efforts. It's also nutritious for the elders! |
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 Adolescent girls performing a play |
 Small awareness meeting |
 Dance group |
WASH
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The Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) program focuses on maintaining hygienic practices of water use, especially in regard to safe drinking water. Other measures include promoting proper sanitation through the installation of latrines into villages where they previously did not exist and teaching children proper handwashing methods through interactive events.
The future of this program will be to promote open-defecation free villages and to continue to expand the program into new regions.
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 Arsenic-free, filtered water hub |
 PHE government project to provide water for every household within a 5km radius, Rajadighi |
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 Sanitation talk |
 Children learning to hand wash |
 WASH Rally |
River Basin Focused Programs​
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Our River Basin Focused Programs were preliminarily concerned with flood relief measures, but over time our strategies have evolved to include capacity building and disaster preparedness efforts as a preventative measure to combat the issues of river flooding and droughts. The changing environmental situation of the West Bengal region over the past decade has been so drastic that RCHSS has taken aggressive measures to devise solutions to the negative impacts these changes have on our local rivers.
Our aim for the future of River Basin Focused Programs will cover the introduction of modern water resource management strategies to protect the river basin region against continued devastation due to the increasingly difficult drought-flood cycles of the river.
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 Floods wash the land away from government-built bridges |
 Ruined dam |
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 Temporary shelter for flood victims |
 The river basin during the dry season |
 During the flood |
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Environmental Programs​
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Since the earliest days of RCHSS, programs promoting environmental awareness have been of utmost importance to us. Today, over 1 million trees have been planted through RCHSS environmental programs. We are currently focusing on creating nurseries containing local food varieties, such as papaya, guava, mango, and beetroot, to address the issue of nutrition deficiency prevalent in the villages.
Another problem that is currently being addressed by our Environmental Programs is human-animal conflict arising from confrontations with elephants entering villages in search of food. We are in favor of peaceful coexistence, and our efforts aim to decrease tension among the villagers and provide the skills needed to effectively handle elephant emergencies in ways that ensure there will be no animal or human deaths.
The future of RCHSS environmental programs will concentrate on adapting to the severe impact of climate changes through conservation-focused agricultural practices.
 Human Elephant Conflict Management awareness meeting |
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 Elephant tracks in the field |
 Destruction by elephants |
 Sirens given to villagers to warn greater area of elephant intrusion |
 An experiment to deter the elephants to make it look like electric fence |
Research Programs​
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RCHSS is a proponent of continual research advancements as a means of helping to shape a progressive future. Thus, we have always dedicated a portion of our efforts and resources toward supporting research and training programs. In addition to frequently hosting on-site training programs for various local groups, we have coordinated numerous research efforts since the foundation of our organization.
Our extensive history of research projects has spanned over three decades, and countless topics have been addressed at this time.
RCHSS has supported many local Indian and international students in the preparation of graduate-level thesis work. We have supervised Rural Management students in the composition of reports about the local villages. RCHSS has further supported student and volunteer research efforts by providing researchers with free food and accommodation for the duration of their stay with us.
We look forward to continuing our role in supporting research pioneers of all backgrounds.
Read more detail on our research work in our history.
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