South Central India Network for Development Alternatives

SCINDeA collaborates with partner organisations and local communities, including Dalits, fisherfolk, quarry workers, slum dwellers, Adivasis, and small farmers, to uplift their lives. Through sustainable income generation and skill training, SCINDeA improves livelihoods. The organisation also guides youth groups, facilitates career guidance, and promotes self-employment. To maximize impact, the concept of add-on families is encouraged, where initial beneficiaries give back to the community, ensuring programme sustainability. Additionally, SCINDeA provides income-generating activities to deserving households, prioritizing vulnerable groups like widows and those facing hardships.

SCINDeA focuses on empowering rural and tribal children in their rights-based child and youth development programme. With limited access to quality education, these children, often first-generation learners, face challenges in reaching schools located far away. SCINDeA addresses this by providing awareness of child rights, child protection, and life skills through tuition centres, children's clubs, and summer camps. These initiatives aim to bridge educational gaps and foster holistic development, offering opportunities for growth and empowerment.

In its community development and strengthening of federations programme, SCINDeA addresses the challenges faced by the poor and marginalized sections of society. With limited access to higher education, healthcare, and employment opportunities, these communities often suffer from cultural myths, misconceptions, and gender-based violence. SCINDeA focuses on empowering the community through organizing and linking various sectors with Government schemes and village infrastructure development. It also emphasizes the training of village youth and cadres to effectively advocate for their concerns and needs to local panchayats and state governments. This strategy aims to create sustainable and independent federations that can bring about positive social change and improved livelihoods.

In its health and sanitation programme, SCINDeA addresses the significant challenges of unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation prevalent in the south-central region. With a high percentage of people lacking access to hygienic toilets and practising open defecation, it poses health risks and particularly affects the safety of women, young girls, and the elderly. SCINDeA takes a comprehensive approach by educating families about the importance of toilets, constructing them in three phases, and ensuring post-construction maintenance. Additionally, the organisation has installed borewells for 463 families, with ongoing responsibility for maintenance falling on the families and water committees. These efforts contribute to improving overall health and hygiene in the communities served by SCINDeA.

In its education development programme, SCINDeA, in collaboration with Fincare Community Development Foundation and its partner organisations, establishes and manages 21 tuition centres across Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in India. Each centre is supervised by a volunteer from the local village and caters to around 30-35 children aged 6-17 years. These tuition centres serve as coaching classes, providing support to first-generation learners in subjects like English, Tamil, science, and math. It also engages the children in extracurricular activities such as singing, dancing, competitions, and sports. Through innovative and interactive teaching methods, the programme aims to motivate the children, identify their skills, and create an inclusive and engaging learning environment.