PROJECTS

Kolkata Trust for Human Development (KTfHD) had started working with the target group of children under a structured plan for intervening into respective families, engineering changes in respective communities and securing the changes as permanent social behaviour. The various projects undertaken by the Trust overs the years are given below.

Green Pen – Use and Grow

It is a unique concept owned by KTfHD, which has two benefits: i.e- environment friendly in terms of replacing an essential plastic material of daily life; women empowerment through small scale income generation.

Green Pen is made with used papers like old newspapers, magazines, torn books etc. It is a “Plantable pen”, it has good quality of seeds inside mixed with excellent vermi-compost and sealed by the soil (a tight mixture made with glue and soil) from outside. Thus, after use, it can be planted and vegetables or nice flowers, can be grown.

Not only does this pen reduce the use of plastic, unlike other pens available in the market which are “use and throw”, it also reduces energy cost and water wastage involved in re-cycling of paper as it re-uses old paper for making it. It is highly durable pen (will not break for being made of paper) and ensures smooth writing. The pen is being made by women from nearby slum areas of Kolkata Trust for Human Development (KTfHD) in Kolkata under the leadership of Ms. Shibani Das, who has been a long-term promising employee of KTfHD. The concept is developed by one of our Trustees Ms. Rusha Mitra. The cost of each pen is Rs 10 (ball point pen) and Rs 15 (gel pen). The women involved in the making of these pens are being paid Rs. 2-3 per pen, thus leading to their income generation. The “Green Pen” initiative is a stepping-stone for promoting Green and Sustainable environment to ensure a quality life for our beloved children.

The use of Green Pen will create awareness amongst our next generation and sow the seeds of love and responsibility towards nature and environment from their young age. Thus, we request you to use and promote this Green Pen –Use & Grow an alternative, to give a Chance for a sustainable Change to life!

Green Pens

Community members making green pens

Initiatives taken during Covid times

With the lockdown imposed in India from end of March 2020, to combat the coronavirus situation, millions of people were not able to work. With no livelihood and income source, they are left with no money to buy food and other basic necessities. Hunger and starvation have emerged as major threats to communities living on the fringes.

Various initiatives were taken by Kolkata Trust for Human Development (KTfHD) to provide the necessary dry ration in form of puffed rice, biscuit, eggs, rice, potato,soyabean etc. to the neediest families of Anandapur, Madurdaha locality (75 families) and Khalpara slums (9 families) of Kolkata get the necessary dry ration in the form of rice, dal(pulses), soyabean and biscuit.

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Both the location of the distribution was finalised based on the assessment and as recommended by the Board of Trustees.

Children having warm cooked lunch at MCW

MOTHER AND CHILD WELFARE CENTRE (MCWC) PROJECT

This holistic program for right based community development focussing on children and their mothers. MCWC was conceptualized to provide a support system to children and mothers under difficult circumstances of living from socio-economically under privileged section of the locality. On 4th November 2015, Kolkata Trust for Human Development launched the Mother and Child Welfare Centre (MCWC) near the Khalaparaslum settlementnear Rajdanga Main Road, in Ward number 107 at Vidhan Sabha Constituency under Kolkata Municipal Corporation in West Bengal. Under the project there was a daily crèche service of six hours for children of 1-5 years of age.

Other related activities were also conducted to provide support to the families and educate them on the aspects of nutrition, health, education and social security / dignity.

The variousactivities under MCWC:

Daily Creche Service - for maximum 25 children from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm for six days a week from Monday till Saturday.The Creche service provided early childhood care for the enrolled children focussing on proper nutrition in order to reduce malnourishment, improved health conditions and hygiene, school readiness, and obtaining citizenship records for the children and their parents.
Learning by doing for mothers - The mothers of children enrolled in the creche were encouraged to visit the Creche during the creche hours for an hour on a fortnightly basis, for observing the methodology of care giving to the children, cooking low cost nutritious food, maintaining hygiene and cleanliness, etc. so that children get to practice at home what they learn at the creche and mothers become educated themselves.
Mother’s meeting - Mothers of children enrolled in the creche were invited to gather for a learning discussion cum development meeting twice a month.
Mother’s Contribution and Bank Account opening - A very important component of the Project was to introduce Savings habits among the members of the Community which was done through a contribution pool created together by the mothers of the children enrolled in the creche and by the organization.
Home visits in the community - Crèche staff team, comprising of 3 creche mothers, visited the home of each child enrolled in the creche services twice a month, following up on the holistic development of the family.
Community Meeting - Meetings were conducted to reach out to people in the target community and to keep them informed about the Project activities and the objectives behind the activities.
Linking the families with the Government Schools and Health Departments and helping them to obtain the citizenship records - Liaison was maintained with the nearest Government Schools, ICDS centre and Health Centre and local administrative bodies.

KTfHD ran the MCWC creche till 31st March 2020 after which the project was handed over to another like-minded organisation (Lake Gardens Women and Children Development Centre) due to post covid financial constraints and challenges faced by the Trust.

SHISHUMELA - A CELEBRATION OF CHILDHOOD

It is an initiative towards helping the children achieve their rights- ensuring their protection and eradicating child labour from the society. The event is organized by other like-minded NGOs in different districts of West Bengal that KTfHD actively participates and supports the cause. The celebration is done in the form of a 3 days fair open to all, holding stalls on Education, Nutrition, Health and Social securities. Children in utter needs are selected from the neighbouring schools and are given scholarships of Rs. 200 per month for a year in the form of bank deposits and a closing amount of Rs. 500 to help them pursue education. Children from different local schools also participate in cultural programmes.