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Himmotthan The Himmotthan Society works in the field of rural development in the Central Himalayan regions of Northern India. Various programmes of the Society reach over 300 villages across the northern states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, involving over 50,000 families. Initially begun as an evaluation and monitoring unit, Himmotthan has grown over the years to incorporate strategy development and design as a major component of its activities. Piloting new ideas, piloting the scaling up process and building sustainable network strategies are other areas of intervention. As of now the organization is 15 strong and has offices in the state capital, Dehradun, and in Gopeshwar town in Chamoli district in the upper ranges. Himmotthan’s programmes are designed to be implemented at scale across many districts. Implementation is therefore designed to be done by village level organizations, supported and monitored closely by NGOs based in the area. The NGOs also liaise and fund raise towards the projects. As of now Himmotthan is working in eight districts, in close collaboration with about 35 partner NGOs, numerous local village level organizations, and with the support of Block level, district and central state administration. Website: http://www.himmotthan.in Possible volunteering opportunities There are five different projects, with which volunteers can potentially get involved. These are described briefly below. Project
1: “Integrated
Fodder and Livestock Development Project” Possible Internships:
1.
Study
of the village organization institutional structure and strengths and
help
design a village cluster based milk and milk product value chain, along
with a business plan for milk federations.
2. Veterinary doctors – the state of animal health
in
the regions needs desperate attention. The state is the only recruiter
of
veterinary doctors. This project has a programme on training village
youth as
para-vets, who then look after their cluster of villages – the
activity has had
good success. However a larger study of the situation is required, with
assessments of weaknesses, strengths and needs. Individual studies on
animal
(cattle and small ruminants) health, and general assistance are also
welcome. 3. Biomass production studies – The project has a large component of fodder plantations of different species at different altitudes and aspects. Biomass studies of these plantations, comparable to surrounding areas outside the plots are regularly required. Project 2: “Water and Sanitation Programme” Possible Internships:
1.
Study of impact
of the programme over time. Development of community based indicators
for
tracking impact over time.
2.
Study of the
community institutions developed by the project which are involved in
the
operations and management of the programme after the implementers have
moved
out.
3.
Study of
suitable sanitation designs for the middle and upper Himalayan regions.
4.
A part of this
project is catchment definition, protection and revival. In this
project
detailed hydro-geological studies are carried out for the upper
catchments of
source streams. These are ongoing studies and studies on new areas need
to be
done. Also, villagers and partner NGOs are being trained in the
understanding
of local hydro-geology. 5. Gharat’s are traditional water mills. Some of these are being revived and mechanized to produce electricity at night and to work as mills during the day. Village level organizations are being linked to the possible markets which may open with efficient mills. Both, Gharat revival and the village institutional structures may be studied, and assisted. Project 3: “Ecological tourism projects in the Central Himalayan regions” Possible Internship: Study the viability of ecologically sustainable projects being implemented on the ground in the region. Compare the success of the two different projects, strengths and weaknesses. Possibly design a model. Project 4: “Honey Production Increase studies” Possible Internship: Based on the traditional techniques used by high altitude villagers for honey production, develop indictors for high altitude honey production studies, including for pollen collection. Help design a project to increase honey production, value addition and marketing of high altitude Himalayan honey. Project 5: “High altitude Medicinal and Aromatic Plant production, High value-Low volume cropping” Possible Internship: These projects focus on the production, value addition and marketing of high altitude farm and forest species of medicinal, aromatic, culinary herbs etc. Studies on these could include biomass and production studies of different species; value addition and market linkage development. Preferred skills Open to students with both social sciences and physical sciences backgrounds.
Approximate cost £1400 for eight weeks, including flights (costed at £500, to be booked by volunteers), visa costs, board and lodging, local travel and Camvol administrative fee.
NOTE: Estimated costs for placements assume that flights to India are £500. However, applicants should note that flight costs can vary greatly depending on airlines and time of bookings, and adjust their budget estimates accordingly. Similarly, vaccination costs have NOT been included in estimated costs, and applicants should take this into account while planning their budgets.
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