Developing Indigenous Resources India

Developing Indigenous Resources India (DIR-I) is a non-profit and Charitable Trust which strives to uplift and empower the destitute, neglected, and Read morelow-income communities of our country. DIR has been actively at work in the urban slums of Punjab since 2006, focusing on preventative healthcare, primary education, and women’s income generation. By design, DIR positions the community members not as beneficiaries of assistance, but as implementers of change.  We employ women in low-income communities as Health Promoters. They are taught on a variety of topics relating to maternal and infant healthcare and nutrition and serve their community with this knowledge. Their tasks include: monitoring the weights of children under five, ensuring children are immunized, giving children Vitamin A supplements and deworming medicine, providing antenatal and postnatal care for pregnant women, and holding health/nutrition workshops in the community. We focus on preventative healthcare measures and equipping women from within the community with the necessary knowledge and skills to permanently solve their own issues.  Children who are malnourished and more than 3 kg underweight are invited to our Nutrition Improvement Priority Program. Here we feed underweight children and at-risk pregnant mothers low-cost, high-calorie, high-protein lunches, Monday to Friday. DIR also provides vocational training to girls and women through our sewing course, increasing their chances of employability and self-employment. The main goal of our income generation program is to empower women to become financially independent so that she can fulfill her personal needs and can raise the socio-economic status of her family.