Food for Life Vrindavan Key Issues and
Operational Areas, Major Activiities & Achivements
Operational Districts: Mathura
Operational States: UTTAR PRADESH
AchieveMents: Food for Life Vrindavan is dedicated to serving the poorest of the poor residents of Vrindavan since 1990 particularly girls and women by providing comprehensive, essential human services which empower them to pursue fulfilling lives and become exemplary members of society, and by protecting the natural environment in which they live.
Our work includes free meal distribution, providing water wells for villages which have no access to drinking water, Care for cows, Medical camps, Environment projects, Cleaning and Planting trees, a Paper Recycling factory, an Organic farm, Sewing and Embroidery Centre providing employment opportunity for village women.
Most prominently, however, FFLV provides free education for over 1,300 girls who could not otherwise attend school.
For the past 25 years Food For Life Vrindavan has been working in Vrindavan area. We have noticed that many of the young girls studying in our schools have faced intense hardship in the form of child marriage, child labour and other forms of abuse in which young girls are forced into adult roles at an early age.
To prevent this we introduced the Sponsorship Program. It is a unique innovative programme that is aimed at preventing child marriage and keeping the young girls in school until the age of 18 through an incentivised scheme. A girl can be sponsored at $45 per month. Out of $45, $40 is used towards their education, uniform, meals, skill development, medical care etc.
At the same time it confronts the issue of child marriage on multiple fronts, providing free insurance, guidance, and incentivizing the girls and their parents to pursue education.
Each month as the girl attends school, $5 is held per month in a special fund until the girl is 18 years old. After which she will get the funds and be able to choose how she would like to spend it. Education is proven to pave a pathway to employment, enabling the girls to explore alternative life choices to early marriage. It would also benefit the family by ending the cycle of poverty.
FFLV has received the following awards for its work till date:
On the 14th of December 2016, Food for Life Vrindavan received the Swayam Award 2016. The award was given by the honourable CM of Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav. The award ceremony was organised by Gaon Connection Foundation.
Food for Life Vrindavan has been awarded certificate of excellence in the field of Girl Education by Bharat Vikas Parishad, in year 2016
Rupa Raghunath Das (Founder FFLV) was awarded Human Achievers Award for the year 2012 by the Human Achievers foundation in India. The award was given based on the revolutionary work Rupa Raghunath has done in the field of empowering women and children of the Braj area, transcending racial, national and religious barriers.
Rupa Raghunath (Founder FFLV) won the Life Time Achievement award for the year 2006, awarded by the Indian Institute of Human Rights.
Food For Life Vrindavan received the 8th World Human Rights Promotional Award for the year 2006.
FFLV-Social Development Department received the 6th World Human Rights Promotional Award on the occasion of the World Human Right Congress held on 10th December 2004 at New Delhi, India.
