Registration Details

Society for Community Health Awareness Research and Action NGO Organization Members

Society for Community Health Awareness Research and Action Source Funds

Contact details

Society for Community Health Awareness Research and Action Key Issues and Operational Areas, Major Activiities & Achivements

Operational Districts: Bagalkot , Bangalore, Bangalore Rural, Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur, Chamarajanagar, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga, Hassan, Haveri, Kodagu, Kolar, Koppal, Mandya, Mysore, Raichur, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi, Uttara Kannada,Balaghat, Barwani , Betul, Bhind, Bhopal, Chhatarpur, Chhindwara, Damoh, Datia, Dewas, Dhar, Dindori , Guna, Gwalior, Harda , Hoshangabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jhabua, Katni , Mandla, Mandsaur, Morena, Narsimhapur, Neemuch , Panna, Raisen, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Rewa, Sagar, Satna, Sehore, Seoni, Shahdol, Shajapur, Sheopur , Shivpuri, Sidhi, Tikamgarh, Ujjain, Umaria, Vidisha, West Nimar, East Nimar, Anuppur, Burhanpur, Ashoknagar, Alirajpur, Singrauli,Chennai, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Erode, Kancheepuram, Kanniyakumari, Karur , Madurai, Nagapattinam , Namakkal , Perambalur , Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Sivaganga, Thanjavur, The Nilgiris, Theni , Thiruvallur, Thiruvarur, Thoothukkudi, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli , Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Viluppuram, Virudhunagar, Krishnagiri, Ariyalur

Operational States: KARNATAKA, MADHYA PRADESH, TAMIL NADU

AchieveMents: SOCHARA has worked on various health and development issues, towards the goal of ‘Health for All’. - SOCHARA has primarily been a professional resource group in community health and public health – for other NGOs and the government. The organisations role has been critical in Karnataka’s health policy, the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (WHO), and the National Rural Health Mission or NRHM (India), and the National Mental Health Policy. - SOCHARA has been a hub for networking, because the ethos is that more can be done by getting together and working together. Networks such as All India Drug Action Network, and Medico Friend Circle have been created or nurtured at SOCHARA. Several local networks in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have been supported. - SOCHARA has been a place where several young health leaders have interned over the past 3 decades, and have been mentored continuously. A formal one-year community health fellowship programme for young interested persons was conducted since 2003, through with over 300 fellows have graduated (either as full time or flexi fellows). - More recently, SOCHARA has been engaged directly in community level action. In Tamil Nadu, being the state nodal NGO for Community Action for Health (part of NRHM), our team was directly working in over 446 panchayats in Tamil Nadu towards establishing and training Village Health and Sanitation Committees to create village health plans, and engage in monitoring processes. Some colleagues also work on low-cost toilet model construction in rural areas of Karnataka over the past 8 years. Our colleagues in Madhya Pradesh are working with Anganwadis covering 4000 children, towards improving nutrition. - Support has been given to several local organisations in rural Karnataka to take up sanitation as an important issue, and to provide technical information on construction of low cost toilets and to leverage governmental funds - Evaluations have been conducted by us for large organisations and programmes such as the Mitanin Programme (health workers) in Chhattisgarh, Catholic Health Association of India (golden jubilee), St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences (golden jubilee). - Support has been given to research activities to bring forward the plight of marginalised groups – such as women suffering burns due to domestic violence, rural communities impacted by heat waves, and women having poor access to toilets in rural areas - SOCHARA has continuously supported communities affected by natural and manmade disasters, to rebuild their lives by using a community health approach. This work has included the latest Chennai flood in 2015, and the earlier Tsunami, Gujarat earth quake, Orissa cyclone and Bhopal disaster - Since late 2016, we have started engaging with rural people in facilitating experiences of local problem solving in food, water, sanitation and healthcare systems. The vision is to wipe out seasonal hunger from 50,000 villages in India over the next 5 years, among other things.