Support girl child higher education through a BICYCLE

About the organization

Gram Vikas Trust came into existence as a result of the motivation and personal initiative of its founder, to better the socio-economic status of the underprivileged population. Hailing from a rural family, the Founder was no stranger to hardships. Having overcome economic and social challenges, due to the backing and economic blessings from certain elder society leaders, Founder set out to do his best to make a positive difference in the lives of fellow underprivileged. concerns of few committed people to secure integrated development through people’s participation. The key areas identified for interventions were Child Rights, Education, Health and hygiene, Women empowerment and Sustainable livelihood opportunity. Gram Vikas Trust (GVT) has come a long way after a small beginning in June, 2001 and in a span of 11 eventful years GVT has implemented a wide variety of projects covering activities like Child Rights for Change, Reproductive Child health care, Quality Education, watershed development, wasteland development, tribal development, low cost sanitation, alternate energy sources, self-help groups, projects for women up-liftment and employment generated training programmes, etc. in Bharuch and Narmada districts of Gujarat. While implementing different developmental projects, the thrust has always been to secure peoples participation. People at GVT always believed in the capacities and capabilities of the communities and have always strive to channel hidden and dormant energies of the people for the betterment of the societies at large. The efforts have always been directed in the direction of creating an environment conducive of giving opportunities to local people to think and act positively. GVT has always endeavoured to develop skills and competencies of local communities with a view to enabling them to manage, operate and maintain the assets, created through the implementation of various project on sustainable basis. This philosophy has led GVT to adopt a holistic and participatory approach to Rural development. GVT believes in covering all the sections of the society in a village and hence they work through the forum of village level meeting, which incidentally is a truly representative body. Further, GVT also makes optimum use of participatory rural appraisal techniques to understand people’s viewpoint and develop an appropriate model of development

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Please click here to view the financials for the year 2011-12

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Gram Vikas Trust started this initiative program in support of girls for who wish to continue higher education. Under this program young girls get bicycle to continue higher education. Lack of transport facilities force girls to drop out from school after 7th grade. Gram Vikas Trust have provided bicycle to hundreds of girls. Bicycle program helps them to travel and continue high school. After high school they also entered graduate program. Gram Vikas Trust also organizes five days residential “JivanUtkarshSibir” (career development) for these girls. The Aladarvillage of Vagra block have up to 6th standard Government run primary schools. Since 2009 none of the girl children enrolled in 7th standard. No girl child educated up to 8th standard from the village. The Female Literacy rate of the village is also lowest in the block. 100 % drop out rate among the girl children after 6th standard. In the year 2009 onward Gram Vikas Trust decide to provide Bicycle to each girl who passed 6th standard from the village school and enroll them in nearby village Goladra in 7th standard. Since 2009 onward 100 % girls from Aladar village enrolled in 7th standard and after 7th standard they enrolled in 8th standard in Kadodara village for studying upto 10th . This is the history in the village that bicycle motivate girl children and parent to reduce drop- out rate from 100 % to 0 %. Like most girls her age in Kapalsari village of Bharuch, Jaheda Bibi’s schooling came to a full stop as soon as she cleared her 7th std. that she was a promising student was of no consequence. That she wanted to grow up to be a teacher herself one day was brushed aside like one of those impossible daydreams. Dreaming after all was just an indulgence.Reality was that she had a paralytic father. Her mother had to work as a house keeper in the more affluent families of the village to make ends meet and even that fell short. Her 3 younger siblings needed care. And most of all, Jaheda was just a girl. The very burden of all these realties was sufficient to squash any dreams Jaheda’s innocent eyes nurtured. So Jaheda took care of her brothers and sister and an ailing father when her mother was away. During the cotton season she took the additional responsibility of plucking cotton for an additional income. And on other days you could find her selling potatoes in the village. Her childhood was so easy to sacrifice at the altar of duty and tradition. Niruben, the development activist from GVT Bharuch, was at her wits end to bring home to her parents, the gravity of the sacrifice that they were asking her to make. For three months Niru kept going back to her parents continuously and regularly. She invited Jaheda’s mother to attend the Child protection Committee’s meetings where discussions were on about children’s rights and their importance. Jaheda herself was absorbed in the children’s group where she got a few hours to live up her real age. The persistence finally bore results; Jaheda has been re-enrolled in school. Her siblings go to the aanganwadi. And for now Jaheda’s is reliving a childhood that she almost lost.

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S.No.	Name	Designation	Remuneration	Primary Affiliantion
1.	Ramesh Kasondra	President	Nil	Reliance Industries Ltd.
2.	Mulabhai H.Patel	Trustee	Nil	Hindalco Industries LTd.
3.	Vasant N.Santoki	Trustee	Nil	Laxmi Colur lab
4.	Manjula R.Patel	Trustee	Nil	House wife

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T-4, Yash Kamal Complex, Above Kotak Mahindra Bank, Shravan Chokdi, Bharuch-392001 Contact Person: Mittalben V. Gohil, Area Manager Phone: 02642-239001 Mobile: +91 9638768404 Email: gvt_trust@yahoo.co.in Website: