Award by ASSOCHAM for Excellence in the field of Water Education & Awareness - 2019

The first project MPSSM got was from OXFAM U.K for Awareness on Employment Generation Scheme, Act in the year 1990-91 and the amount was Rs 40,400/-. It spread awareness to about 20000 laborers all over Maharashtra covering 27 districts.

It has trained more than 1000 small and marginal farmers in horticulture farming and helped them to link to horticulture scheme of Govt. of Maharashtra, through the support of funding agencies like Australian High Commission and Canada Funds.

It has provided houses to 12 nomadic tribe families in vicinity of our office, through the support of Karuna Trust London.

More than 2500 hectare land has been undertaken for watershed development activity in different villages in 4 blocks of Solapur district, thus helping more than 10000 farmers to improve their land productivity. The watershed programmes were supported by TDH Germany, OXFAM U.K, Intermon- Spain and AFPRO-SDC.

More than 350 farmers were supported through old wells deepening or by giving them new wells, these farmers were poor and most of them were from the backward class communities. This activity was supported by TDH, Germany. As a result of these types of individual investments on poor farmers have increased the poor farmers income levels and overall improved their standard of living. The children of these families could go to schools.

Through various awareness programmes, support class programmes at school level, the enrollment rate and drop-out rate have increased considerably in the project villages in 3 blocks of Solapur district. More than 1000 children have benefited from this.

Through more than 200 SHGs around 2500 women were involved in their own self-help programme activities. These women saved from their incomes and started their small micro-credit organisations. In these types of organisations more than out of 2500 women, 700 women were able to get small loans for various purposes. Not only this, these organisations also started doing some social activities, like solving drinking water problem, educational problems, etc.

MPSSM believes that if there has to be any sustainability in its programmes then it is necessary to build village organisation, by motivating village youth, educated and enthusiastic persons. Working on this philosophy MPSSM has formed village development institutions in each village it worked. It handed over the project responsibility to them. In order to enable these village development institutions to work on this philosophy, MPSSM has again developed its own policy and that is of revolving fund. Whatever individual investments are done on the farmers land or to any individual beneficiary, then the beneficiary has to return back the principal amount to the village development institution. In this way the village development institutions starts working. The village development institutions then invest the same amount in individual beneficiary, who again repays the amount. While working on this philosophy, MPSSM, enabled village development institutions from 30 villages in getting 15% of the revolving fund from the individual beneficiaries.

This programme promoted villagers from 15 villages of Karmala Block to stop use of stone while toilet and motivate the villagers to use water. This programme also promoted waste water disposal through developing more than 100 kitchen gardens and 125 soak pits. Further the drinking water problem was also solved by construction and restoration of 18 hand pumps. The disposal of solid waste was done by installation of 50 compost pit. One water-tank and one check dam was also constructed. To save trees and reduce the incidence of respiratory diseases among women more than 100 smokeless chullas are constructed till now. To give more impact on the programme it adopted child-to-child, child to parent and child to community approach. This programme reduced incidence of diseases like malaria, dysentery, diarrhea, etc in the villages to some extent.

While implementing so many programmes, MPSSM had to take various training programmes. The office space was not sufficient for undertaking these activities. Hence MPSSM requested the Consulate General of Japan, Mumbai to support MPSSM in order to construct a full fledged training centre. After careful investigations by the officials of Japanese consulate, the grant was finally approved on 29th January 2003. The construction was over in March 2005 and its opening ceremony was held on 11th May through the hands of Hon’ble Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Sushil Kumar Shinde and the Consulate General of Japan, Mr. H. Yasui. The cost of construction is upto Rs 30 lakhs and the Japanese Consulate supported MPSSM to about Rs 23 Lakhs.