A look back at Pragya's work in 2018... and a look forward at what's to come this year!

As is often the case with the coming of a new year, Pragya UK’s transition into January is serving as an important time of reflection! Here we’ve had a look back at Pragya’s work and progress in 2018, as well as a moment to look at what we hope to achieve going forward into 2019.

2018 was a busy year for Pragya’s programme in India. Our Food Security for Himalayan Smallholders project continued to go from strength to strength, empowering farmers to adapt their practices in response to changing ecosystems, guided by each other as well as through services provided by Pragya-supported Agri-Advisors, including soil testing and weather information. Farmers were also supported to add value to their produce with services established to provide them with information on prices, buyers and markets, in order to enhance their revenues and help move their communities out of poverty. We trained women’s Self-Help Groups in Nutri-dense farming and dietary requirements in order to increase each family’s calorific and micronutrient intake, helping lift communities out of hunger and food insecurity. Pragya UK made a field visit to project sites in and around Uttarkashi, meeting with members of a farmers’ cooperative supported by Pragya for local value addition and the development of ethical trading links, and also visiting Pragya-supported crop research plots that provide insights enabling the Agri-Advisors to assist farmers in crop diversification and Climate Smart Agriculture.

A Schools on Wheels lesson in Bhapkund camp

In 2018 Pragya further developed its programme for migrant communities in the Indian Himalayas. The past year has seen an emphasis on the importance of reducing levels of educational exclusion suffered by children of migrant road workers, providing the basis for our ongoing ‘Schools on Wheels’ campaign which transports learning materials and a trained teacher to migrant workers’ camps. The classes introduce basic literacy and numeracy and encourage both the children and their parents to develop an interest in education, with some adult classes being run as part of the programme. The project staff have also made progress in their liaisons with local schools near the camps, encouraging admissions of the children of migrant workers despite lack of documentation.

We also made significant progress with our project establishing DMS-Himalaya, a community-led disaster preparedness model for the Himalayan region. With the aim of increasing the resilience of neglected communities particularly prone to natural disasters due to the region’s unique climate and geography, Pragya have introduced the citizen-led disaster management system in order to empower communities for grassroots disaster risk reduction and response. In the project’s recent year, Pragya-established Disaster Response Teams received further intensive training and orientation, the integration of the model within existing disaster relief programmes was heavily promoted in meetings with state government officials, and the project was enhanced by the addition of a new element, Eco-DRR, an initiative that incorporates community-based monitoring of ecosystem health as part of their disaster preparedness. The DMS-Himalaya system was even successfully employed on several occasions as a response to incidents over the year – a positive step going forward in the development of the project.

Establishing a fodder farm at Simpani

In Nepal, 2018 saw the continuation of Pragya’s post-earthquake rehabilitation projects, primarily focused on communities in the disaster-struck rural districts of Dhading and Sindhupalchowk who continue to suffer from the long-term impacts of the earthquake such as the loss of livestock and damages to housing, community water sources and cultivatable land. Combatting the earthquake’s negative impact on WASH practices in these districts, Pragya’s implementation of the rehabilitation project included the installation of water tanks and community toilet blocks in the regions where such facilities had been damaged, the formation of Women’s Water and Sanitation Councils to ensure the sustainability of WASH improvements, and workshops in schools and in the wider community to raise awareness and provide training on community hygiene, sanitation and waste management practices. The earthquake’s threat to Nepalese livelihoods also continued to be addressed with repair of irrigation structures and pipelines to increase farming productivity, as well as the establishment of community fodder farms in regions that would benefit from shared farming space. Pragya also helped rehabilitate livelihoods, supporting disaster-affected families with livestock and poultry packages, and providing training in fields such as organic farming, goat rearing, and candle making. These projects helped build local enterprise capacity for sustainable income generation.

As part of our initiative to combat trafficking and other gender-based violence (GBV) in Nepal, an issue which had particularly escalated in districts where economic distress caused by the earthquake has been highest, Pragya continued to monitor the previously installed Women’s Helpline Centres and conducted further discussion and training with the Women Vigilance Committees. Helpline leaders and committee members have received further training in effective support to victims of GBV and awareness raising of the issues within their communities. Extensive efforts have also been made to establish linkages with police and government departments to foster an integrated response to GBV and a comprehensive support network for victims of GBV and those at risk.

A cultivation field demonstration session in Isecheno

In Kenya, the conservation and cultivation of medicinal plants in Kakamega Forest was a priority in 2018. The initiative saw Pragya addressing the depletion of threatened medicinal plant species by supporting Pragya-established Community Conservation Groups educating them on the importance of local biodiversity and building grassroots capacity for species identification, habitat monitoring, data collection and analysis. Awareness campaigns were also run in schools where children were encouraged to participate in conservation efforts and feed information learnt back to their families and peers, ensuring a greater scope of impact as well as the sustainability of the project. Pragya also expanded its earlier established plant nurseries in 2018, building propagation sites for important endangered medicinal plant species as a crucial conservation effort as well as a means of income generation for families within the community.

As for 2019… our commitment to transformational change for the communities with which we work of course lives on. Our efforts to strengthen community disaster preparedness remains a priority, with a view to the regional expansion of our work and the adoption of the latest appropriate and affordable disaster management technologies. We will significantly expand and enhance our Food Security work, helping secure the prosperity of smallholder farming communities in the face of climate change. We remain committed to serving the needs of highly disadvantaged ethic minority and migrant communities, supporting their access to education, health care, and rights, towards a brighter future. 

Our gender programme in 2019 will continue to challenge the many forms of violence against women that persist across the regions in which we operate, including work in south Asia to tackle the regionally-interconnected trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation and bonded labour. We will be exploring partnerships to further our maternal and reproductive healthcare work, working to improve the accessibility and capacity of community health services, helping to combat the appalling maternal and infant mortality rates commonly found in the marginalised and last mile communities that Pragya serves. Pragya will also strive to enhance access to safe water and quality sanitation in desperate communities deeply impacted by climate change, providing a vital lifeline in harsh environments and combatting the spread of water-borne diseases. We remain committed in 2019 to supporting the development of sustainable, culturally-appropriate livelihoods for those most desperately in need, with an emphasis on below-poverty-line and female-headed households. Our work in conservation will see neglected communities supported to conserve local biodiversity and protect habitats from anthropogenic pressures, through a combination of awareness-raising, community-led habitat monitoring, and advocacy. We will also support energy-deficient and under-electrified communities meet their energy needs by empowering communities to adopt and manage clean, off-grid energy technologies, which in turn will positively impact community education, healthcare and economic wellbeing.  

A flood affected Chars Community

2019 will also see the expansion of Pragya’s work in Bangladesh. Pragya has recently established its programme with the vulnerable communities of the Chars, or River Islands, in Bangladesh with the aims of enhancing disaster resilience, improving the standards of WASH and livelihood capacities, and empowering women and girls for their protection from trafficking and other gender-based violence.

This is just some of the vitally important work Pragya is committed to in 2019. Everything we do is only made possible through the generosity of our supporters. If you’d like to make a contribution to our work and join us on our journey, please visit https://www.pragya.org/donate.php - Thank you so much.

And this time it is Strawberries in the poly houses of Nepal

Maya Tamang a 40 years old woman lives in Gamailo and was selected as one of the farmers for poly house beneficiaries in Nuwakot district of Kakani Gaupalika. Maya has a family of 7 members and has 2 children. Being illiterate, Maya Tamang did not have enough alternatives for livelihood which made her a potential beneficiary and work as a farmer for poly house in Nuwakot District of Kakani Gaupalika.

Looking at the development indicators of life of villagers, Pragya implemented the project called “Improving Rural Livelihoods, Water & Sanitation in Earthquake Damaged Areas of Nepal” where a holistic rehabilitation programme is being delivered in Nepal. Current interventions are aimed at addressing critical needs of poor households affected by the earthquake in four disaster-affected districts in Nepal. The interventions are focussed on water and sanitation, short-term income generation, long-term livelihood development and protection of women from gender-based violence.

Selected as one of the livelihood package beneficiaries under the project, Maya decided to take this opportunity in the hope of providing better support to her family. Under the project staff’s supervision, she adopted poly house for strawberry production. After receiving support for the polyhouse like silpaulin sheet and bamboo, she zealously spent her time on the construction of poly house. Furthermore, the number of training she received from other organization during the previous year helped her to implement the technology, appropriately.

Maya Tamang in her polyhouse where she has planted strawberry

The variety of strawberries cultivated in Nepal requires an altitude of 1500 - 2500m with a temperature range of 4 - 25 degree Celsius and 3000 - 4000 ml of rainfall, making Kakani the ideal location for such cultivation. The preparation for strawberry cultivation begins around the month of June. After the months of tending, the actual plantation is carried out during September and the produce is ready by November.

Before planting strawberry in poly house, Maya Tamang used to cultivate maize in her farmland. During that time the income she incurred was very less which was not sufficient for her family. But after the strawberry cultivation in the poly house, she is able to have a good yield. In Maya’s words, it was not only her effort alone, her family members have also contributed equally to the cultivation of the strawberries. They helped in watering the plants and put fertilizers and nutrients regularly in the soil. Maya has already sold about 100 kg of strawberry this season and earns 30,000 INR and is still selling the strawberries. Her target is to achieve an income of 1, 50,000 INR. She is happy and satisfied with what she has gained and wants to work harder to make more money from the strawberry fields.

Strawberry in Maya Tamang's polyhouse

“We have seen difficult times when we did not have money to pay for children’s school books for school. Now life has become easier as we are able to manage our daily expenses smoothly,” says Maya Tamang.

Together, Maya and her family have planned to save half of their income for their children’s education and invest the other half to buy food grains that will keep them secure for the entire year. She wants to bring women in the community together, who are interested in strawberry farming along with her and are willing to develop micro-entrepreneurs so that the women in that area do not have to migrate to other places in search of work which will also help in stopping human trafficking in this area.

Gaining their voices to say "No more violence!” through Know Your Rights Campaign

On International Women’s Day, Pragya in India mobilised communities in five districts across three states in the first phase of its biannual ‘Know Your Rights’ campaign under the project 'Comprehensive primary prevention programme addressing violence against ethnic minority women in India’ focussed on the community-led interventions to address violence both within family or private sphere and violence that occurs in the community or public sphere. The project is currently running in the states of Rajasthan, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh, with a special focus on the tribal population. In order to create safer and enabling environment for women and girls, Women Peer Group (WPG) leaders across 5 states are actively engaging the community members to provide guidance on health, nutrition, rights, and issues related to violence against women and girls (VAWG) and empower girls by taking collective actions to prevent VAWG in the target communities.

Women participate in KYR campaign in Lakhimpur, Assam

These WPG leaders, the anchors of the project conducted the KYR campaign by organizing an interactive street-play called “Ramli kyu maar khaye?” portraying one day in the life of a rural woman fictionally called Ramli, who faces domestic violence and how others in the village like mukhiya, Women Peer Group leaders and neighbours around her come forward to combat the violence done to Ramli and positively influence her husband (fictional name Devilal) to say no to violence by informing him about the adverse effects of violence on women and the existing laws that women can use to exercise their rights.  The audience applauded the performance of Pragya volunteers and had a lively discussion with the staff on countering violence against women.

The rallies conducted had the participation of both community members and school students. The posters which were developed for the campaign highlighted the issue of domestic violence, education of and celebrating the girl child. The message through these activities emphasized that as responsible citizens, we should not remain as mute spectators when we see any form of violence in our neighborhood and to deal with every act of violence in a collective and concerted manner. Around 731 people participated actively in the street play on domestic violence and the rally along with an extended outreach of over +1500 observers of the rally.

School children in Chamba participate in the rally

The campaign also employed stimulating media like SMSs in vernacular focussing on the messages related to eliminating violence and women and educating girl child. These messages reached out to over 10,000 people in the target districts. The campaign also underlined the need to ensure safe domestic spaces and recognize that domestic violence exists around all of us and there is a need to come together to uproot this evil practice which enabled a platform to villagers to voice out their concerns and emerging needs related to construction of toilets for girls in the government schools, safety of girls and domestic violence. The stakeholders also informed the villagers on various mechanisms and bodies functioning at the village and panchayat level to help and guide aggrieved women on violence-related cases and ease out the legal process.

The event saw a magnificent turnout from the local communities who were moved by the essence and spirit of the message, “Har vyakti ka hain yahi kehna, hinsa ko ab nahi hain sehna!” (Every person says, we won’t tolerate violence!). In some of the locations, like Sonitpur and Lakhimpur, people also traveled from different villages to the location of the campaign, sharing the need to have such campaigns in their villages for sensitization on the issue of domestic violence.

Our campaign event covered in Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan

The Know Your Rights campaign was also covered by the local vernacular newspapers in all the three states. The Know Your Rights campaign would continue for the next 2 months where Pragya will continue engaging the communities to create safer and healthier spaces for women and girls. 

Empowerment Center Caretakers provide information and referral services.

Dipali Mech [name altered], a domestic worker in Assam, wants her monthly wage to be paid on time. Renu Daimary [name altered] wants divorce and compensation from her husband for the years of emotional violence that she has faced. Jamuna Saikia [name altered] and Mandira Boro [name altered] want compensation from their employer for the physical assaults they had experienced at their workplace. In Rajasthan, Sharda Kumari [name altered] wants an end of the restrictions imposed on her mobility. All of these women had once approached the Empowerment Center [set up by Pragya with support from UNTF EVAW] in their vicinity, seeking information and guidance to solve their problems. At these centers, they met the women facilitators, who are very supportive friends and mentors to them now.

Semima Khatoon is the facilitator at the Empowerment Center in Sonitpur district, Assam. She hails from Keherukhunda village and has 10e11 years of experience in the field of social work. Before taking up this role, she has taught English, Hindi, and Assamese to children in primary school and run awareness campaigns on vaccination for a local NGO. Priyanka Kumari is the facilitator at the Empowerment Center in Dungarpur district, Rajasthan. She is a resident of Chak Mahori village and has completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in History, Political Science, and Geography. Both of them have been working untiringly to fight against illiteracy, poor access to information– that further exacerbate violence, and result in disempowerment of women and loss of their self-confidence.

Semima and Priyanka attend to people who visit the center or call on the helpline number seeking information or help. A vast majority of women approach them for seeking information on legal aid, women’s rights, workers’ rights, and career guidance. Semima recalls helping a man to get an ID for Persons with Disabilities for his daughter. She also gets calls asking about compensations/entitlements, punishments stipulated under various laws. Priyanka receives visitors asking her about training programs at the center, about government schemes and scholarship programmes for girls. Women also approach them to report incidences of eve-teasing, stalking, domestic violence, alcoholism, and polygamy. Once these cases are reported at the center, they ensure timely response by contacting the relevant authorities and support providers who can take up these cases. They ensure both prevention of and response to violence by helping women with information as well as judicial and social security services.

Semima Khatoon, Sonitpur, Assam

To be able to provide the correct information to the visitors and callers, Semima and Priyanka keep themselves updated with the latest news and legal provisions. “I have gained immense knowledge from working at the Empowerment Center. The information I share with the women also empowers me” reflects Semima. She maintains case log, visitor and call logs and promotes the services of the Empowerment Center at various events that she attends or organizes. Her day starts with reading the local newspaper and documenting cases of violence published in local news every day. This gives her a fair idea of the prevalence of different kinds of violence against women and girls in her district and new schemes that are launched. This, in turn, helps her give feedback to the Pragya team and local mentors, on the priority issues for village level campaigns. 

A diploma holder in Computers Application, Semima also teaches women to use the computer and helps them with application forms for higher education or job opportunities. Priyanka, like a skilled librarian, knows all the resources in the Center including which book is in which rack. She finds it easy to immediately take the relevant books/pamphlets out when people ask for them. Priyanka takes regular note of the problems reported by the women who visit the center. She finds that most of the problems are related to water access, shortage of food and violence in the domestic sphere. She feels that the Empowerment Center also provides women a safe space to take a break and use the toilet, in between their long journeys through the town or day-long struggle with paperwork and follow-ups at the government offices.

Priyanka sharing information with a visitor
at Empowerment Centre, Dungarpur, Rajasthan 

Semima and Priyanka have developed rapport, linkage, and contacts with local law enforcers and NGOs, from whom they seek advice and also refer the cases. “These linkages are essential to tackle the cases of child marriage, dowry-related harassment reported to the Center. I hope to see a gender-equal society and I know this would happen gradually. At least, for now, the women from the villages have a center, which they can call theirs, and feel free to step in for any of their queries,” says Priyanka. Today their peers value their opinion and have respect for them for the knowledge they have gained through their work experience. They are considered role models in their village for being the people who have not given up on their aspirations and for working passionately for a cause close to their heart.

Weather Monitoring Installations: Helping Himalayan villages prepare better...

Jagat Ram, a 40 years old Gram Pradhan of Durlekh panchayat of Didihat block, Pithoragarh narrates that cloudbursts and landslides are the main hazards in his Gram Panchayat and how on 15 Aug 2004, a landslide destroyed his house, killed a girl in his village, shattering many lives in front of his eyes.

31-year-old Pushpa Devi of Munsiyari block, Pithoragarh also shares that the villages in her Panchayat are highly exposed to landslides caused by heavy rainfalls and floods. She says, ”In both 2008 and 2013, many households and cattle were washed away by landslides in Bhadeli village.”

Jagat Ram can be seen here

Like Jagat Ram and Pushpa Devi, a majority of the villagers in these Himalayan districts are farmers and their livelihood is directly linked to vagaries of weather conditions. On learning about the Pragya’s installations of weather monitoring stations in the number of villages, they appear hopeful that there would be less damage in such events now, as people could be alarmed beforehand. Pushpa Devi says, “It will not only warn us about the hazardous event but will also help us in getting adequate emergency supplies, in place, post-disaster.” 

Installation of weather monitoring stations is being piloted across 800 villages in 4 districts (Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, and Uttarkashi) under the project DMS Himalaya by Pragya. The project incorporates two tools namely “Go-Risk” which is an early warning tool with grassroots measurement grids and communication channels for pre-disaster use) and “RnR-Comm”, a component for relief and response information-sharing tool to help multi-agency response coordination for post-disaster use. These tools aim to enhance local self-reliance and improve the effectiveness of humanitarian support.

DMS Himalaya focusses on pre-disaster early warning system by strengthening the communities to be aware of early warnings through regular monitoring of weather conditions which can prevent loss of lives and damage to resources and livestock even if the disaster strikes. The young and enthusiastic local villagers are identified and trained to form Disaster Response Team (DRTs) to use these stations independently by conducting mapping, monitoring, and reporting on damage and relief, post-disaster. The identified Points of Presence (POPs), function as communication centers for isolated habitations in remote parts.  The initiative is further strengthened by forming resource hubs District Disaster Management Support Units (DDMSUs), for implementing DMS Himalayas effectively.

Weather monitor installed in  one of the clusters in Ukimath

“As far as I know this is first of its kind project. This will forewarn us about the disasters, and will save many lives” says Balwant Singh, a resident of Sitoli village of Didihat block in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand.

These weather stations are gradually enabling the villagers in the Himalayan districts to prepare themselves for forthcoming calamities and helping them to build a disaster-resilient future for themselves! 

A snow-ball of Transformation in the lives of Marginalized Communities in Rural Nepal.

The earthquake in 2015 brought immense destruction and loss of livelihood in Nepal with certain districts suffering particularly high levels of devastation with marginalized population losing their homes, valuables, resources for agriculture and allied livelihood means.

Recognizing this issue as prior and urgent, Pragya in Nepal works on the post-earthquake restoration of the disrupted livelihoods of vulnerable communities in three districts namely Sindhupalchok, Dhading and Nuwakot. In order to enhance the impact of our endeavour, we have simultaneously worked on local concerns like repairing shared livelihood structures which include creating irrigation channels to ensure proper irrigation systems for water supply to the agricultural fields. These irrigation canals get washed away and damaged during earthquakes and floods. We have also ensured creating poly-houses, which have enabled the farmers to grow a variety of crops for a better yield.  

In its initiative to help people in diversifying means of income generation, Pragya in Nepal supported the low-income groups specifically those dependent on seasonal farming or agriculture labour with low and unreliable income.

Beneficiaries receiving their beekeeping kits for the new venture

Such groups were supported with alternative income generation skills where harvesting natural honey from the wild is a significant indigenous livelihood and communities have been traditionally doing it, although in an unorganized way. Pragya extends its support by procuring new beehives with bees and some basic accessories. The initiative has supported individuals to diversify their enterprises to gain sustainable livelihood choices.

Sandesh is seen here carrying his beekeeping kit

Sandesh Dawadi, a 22-year-old young man was struggling to start some enterprise or in some way increase income of the household. With his father left him and his two siblings early, he was brought up single handed by his mother. Post-earthquake the inflow of farm income also reduced. He received the training on beekeeping by Pragya and started beekeeping. His bees have multiplied and now he needs a new hive to keep them. His interest in beekeeping springs from his observation that there is a demand for honey in this area. Despite neatly packaged honey available in the market people visit their area for the local/natural honey. Sometimes visitors have come to their house to ask for the availability of local honey.

Jasmine receives her beekeeping kit 

Coming from an indigenous community of Nepal, Jasmine Shrestha is differently-abled. Her family works on the land taken on a lease as they do not have land of their own. The earthquake caused major damage to their house and it needed repair. With no means of livelihood and lack of money, the family realized the necessity to diversify their means of livelihood. Jasmine wanted to take up some income generation skill-building training. As a result, when the beekeeping training organized by Pragya came up, she was selected for taking the training. Since she is orthopedically challenged and knows the wild harvesting of honey, beekeeping was an appropriate alternative for her. Her interest in beekeeping grew as she had seen others engage in beekeeping in the area. Aware of the good demand for natural unprocessed honey, she was looking for support to start beekeeping. She is growing her enterprise each passing day. 

Many people like Jasmine and Sandesh in rural Nepal are slowly adopting the new methods to generate their livelihoods and support their families to bring back the strength, hitherto lost in the tremors of the disaster. Pragya in the near future aspires to reach out to more number of households to ensure a holistic development in the lives of the marginalised communities of rural Nepal. 

Pragya’s engagement with ‘Sustainable Development Goals’

On 25 September 2015, world leaders agreed to a definitive plan for the planet and its people by adopting 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with specific targets, officially came into force on 1st January 2016 and which are to be achieved by 2030. Through the 17 goals, the nations across the world strive to achieve development that is fair, equitable, inclusive, environment-friendly and inspires harmonious relations among living beings.

Hence, the SDGs are a universal call to act on the challenges our generation face e.g. poverty, hunger, health, quality education, gender equality, clean water, proper sanitation, clean energy, decent work opportunities, economic growth, reduced inequalities, climate action to name some.

On the 2^ndanniversary of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN, thousands of organizations and individuals came together to support and commit towards fulfilling the goals through Global Day of Action where they pledged for #Agenda2030 and demanded to #ACT4SDGs. The campaign saw events in marginalized communities through mobilization and engagement of such communities and with politicians along with photo stunts, making their demands and voices heard regarding inequality, poverty and other concerns of the people. The idea was to provide an insight into different perspectives, and a window into the situation of communities and where we all are, in our journey to SDGs.

#Act4SDGs” is a joint campaign convened by The UN SDG Action Campaign, the World We Want 2030, the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) and Action for Sustainable Development. Various highlighting initiatives included were, Thunderclap, MY World 2030 survey, and sharing the messages on social media to encourage citizens to take action for the SDGs.

In the next 5 years, as the march towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) begins in earnest, Pragya will be hyper-focussed on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, the most persistent and intractable issues, and unwaveringly committed to transformative change. The organisation’s work will have a special concern with addressing the SDGs’ commitment to Leaving No One Behind. Pragya’s work in 2016-20 will focus on the 4 Priority Issues namely 1) Deepening inequality and multi-dimensional poverty, jobless growth and exploitation, neglect of deprived areas and groups, 2) Persisting inequality for women and other vulnerable and disempowered groups, 3) climate change, biodiversity loss, natural hazards, resource stress and the energy deficit and Governance and institutional failures, protracted conflicts and disenfranchised groups. The interventions are already taking place on the areas of focus.

The 2 years of SDGs give us the opportunity to share the commencement of our priority issues. To communicate the same, Pragya was involved with SDG by being a part of the APSD-GCAP Webinar on Global Day of Action - #Act4SDGs on Sep 18, 2017 to understand various initiatives and strategies that people and organizations are adopting, in order to address the issues concerned. The discussion helped us to learn from the work done by organizations across the world and provided an opportunity to present our work & plan ahead.

The emerging take-away from the discussion helped Pragya to initiate the process of the online advocacy. From last two weeks, the online advocacy has been done through strategized social media content-sharing in sync with the SDGs. The social media content was based on the work that Pragya has been doing since last 25 years for the energy conservation in Himalayan region, and the social development of people in such remote places. The strategies for interventions on projects have complemented the goals/themes covered in the SDGs.

The platforms used for this activity were Facebook and Twitter, where we covered themes of SDGs like no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, climate action and strong institutions.

The number of reach and the retweets achieved during the process were quite satisfactory. We could also receive commensurable visibility to share our work along with propagating SDGs. The first tweet (Link: https://twitter.com/PragyaNGO/status/909719555080990720) on September 18^th 2017, was quite well received, and as per Twitter analytics, that tweet managed around 1,718 impressions*.

The subsequent tweets commutatively gain around 3,204 impressions* on Twitter since we started tweeting on SDGs.  On an average, we encouraged 2 retweets and 1 like per day according to our Twitter activity.

Reaching out to a good number of audience for the campaign would have not been possible without the followers who have been engaging with us all this while, our partners, grassroots workers and community members. Pragya is thankful to all of them along with being grateful to Act4SDGs campaign and the organizers who provided us the platforms to be a part of this global campaign.

We believe that the campaign has been able to set a reminder worldwide to all of us to remain vehement and passionate to continue achieving the development goals, to hold on to the commitments we made two years back, and to make SDGs a definite reality. With this, we call for a continued support from our audience and continue strengthening and working towards SDGs.

*No. of times users saw the tweet on Twitter. Pragya can be reached out to @PragyaNGO.