AID Launches One For India Campaign

Aims to raise $300,000 for grassroots development

A health worker in a forest village hands over a blood smear of a patient suspected of being infected with malaria to a boy on his way to a school, eight kilometers away. The smear is then relayed to the conductor of the only bus in the region who drops it off at a hospital 40 kilometers away. Within two hours, the blood report makes the arduous trek back to the hands of the health worker on the very same day. This is a glimpse into how Jan Swasthya Sahayog (JSS), a long term partner of the Association for India’s Development (AID), engages the community in building a framework of affordable healthcare amidst highly impoverished conditions in Chhattisgarh in central India.

The existence of two Indias is starting to sound like a cliché but it is a reality that millions of people living on as little as Rs. 26 (less than 50 cents) must contend with. India doesn’t shine for all of its citizens. As Nelson Mandela asserted, “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice”. AID aims to address the issue of sustainable, equitable and just development in India with special emphasis on empowerment, social justice and accountability in governance.

This week, AID launched its annual “One for India” (www.oneforindia.org) fundraising campaign - a call for people to engage with the development of India. AID aims to raise $300,000 to fund projects that work on diverse issues ranging from agriculture, anti-corruption, education, health, environment, livelihood, women’s empowerment, disaster relief and rehabilitation. AID is a volunteer driven organization and every project in India is visited by its volunteers. In 2013, AID supported over one hundred partner organizations in India with over 1.5M.

The transformative impact of the work that AID’s partners have been engaged in can be glimpsed through small examples. AID’s partner organization - Janpath conceptualized and implemented a mobile, van-based project called RTI on Wheels. By helping people use Right to Information (RTI) effectively for ensuring transparency and accountability in governance, the RTI on Wheels project empowered over 200,000 people across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Goa.

Prerna Grover, an AID volunteer from Pittsburgh says, “In a rapidly globalizing world, people’s lives are increasingly intertwined. We live in a time where we have the opportunity to not only learn about acts of violence and injustice from all corners of the world, but we are also empowered with opportunities to impact these situations.  The One forIndia campaign presents an opportunity to engage with these issues in our quest for a just world where every dream has a fair chance”.

As little as $60 can provide health workers in Chhattisgarh with bicycles to reach remote parts of forest villages, $300 can support the training of 100 farmers in methods of sustainable agriculture and $1000 can help teach 10,000 rural families to use the Right to Information (RTI) Act effectively to fight corruption.

Kiran Vissa, a full time social activist in India who was a volunteer with AID says, “Today, a typical project that AID supports is not just an isolated effort; it is often a crucial link in a chain causing a larger change in people's lives, a broader transformation in the system. It is exciting because the value of each donation, each volunteer-hour is much more meaningful and rich than we might imagine."

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