NGOs can play a variety of roles ranging from leadership to support. There may be several NGOs in your locality where you can help by volunteering time or by donating money or helping to raise funds.

The Satpuda Foundation
The Satpuda Foundation is engaged in defending the wilderness of the Central Indian Highlands and specifically aims to spread and strengthen the wildlife movement in Vidarbha. Its work is concentrated around the Akola, Wardha, Gondia, Yawatmal, Washim and Buldhana districts of Vidarbha.

The Satpuda Foundation is involved in the following activities:
1. Imparting conservation education to young conservationists.
2. Imparting anti-poaching training to Forest and Wildlife Wing staff and other select individuals.
3. Conducting anti-poaching operations to stop the illegal wildlife trade in central India.
4. Conducting workshops for enforcement authorities, government agencies and NGOs.
5. Conducting detailed field investigations in areas that are considered particularly important for the tiger.
6. Assisting villagers seeking voluntary rehabilitation from Protected Areas.
7. Assessing the environmental impacts of developmental projects such as dams, mines, etc.
8. Undertaking specific research programmes to guide the framing of wildlife conservation policies.
9. Research and conservation programmes for specific threatened species in the Satpuda region.

The Satpuda Foundation is also working to establish a Wildlife Research Centre in Kanha National Park and has also undertaken vulture protection at Navegaon Bandh National Park, besides the development of dormitory facilities for wildlife enthusiasts at Navegaon Bandh National Park.

You could volunteer to share your time and skills, donate materials or make monetary contributions.

Nature Education
The Satpuda Foundation is involved in conducting the Kids for Tigers programme for children in 30 schools in Nagpur. Teachers' training programmes will also be organised to sensitise primary and high school teachers to the importance of nature conservation in consultation with the Education Department.

Nature Conservation
- Participate in the campaign to ban the trade in Japanese quail in Vidarbha.
- Important Bird Areas of Vidarbha (May-June 2003)
- Tourism plans of MTDC and FDCM.
- Forest Owlet Survey in and around Pench.
- Tiger Mapping from Pench to Pachmarhi WLS. Wildlife Protection
- Gathering intelligence about poaching and wildlife trade. - Arranging raids to curb wildlife trade in Vidarbha.

You can be a Green Force Donor by donating Rs. 500 and a Green Force Patron by donating Rs. 10,000. Satpuda Foundation is a non-profit NGO registered under Society's Registration Act, 1860 (Sec. 21).

Please send your donations by demand draft or cheque to: Satpuda Foundation, Pratishtha, Bharat Nagar, Akoli Road, Near Sainagar, Amravati – 444605, Maharashtra (India).
Tel.: +91-0721-2511966(O)/9422157123(Mobile)
E-mail: satpuda_found@yahoo.com

(Posted on: June 20, 2003)


Samrakshan Trust invites donations for drought relief work in villages displaced from Kuno.
(Donations eligible for tax exemption under Section 80G of Income Tax Act).

Dear friends,

Samrakshan Trust has initiated emergency wage works for drought relief in the villages displaced from Kuno Sanctuary as a consequence of the lion reintroduction programme. These wage works, apart from providing immediate relief through cash flow and food-for-work, are of a nature that will enhance the future income earning potential in the displaced villages through creation of useful community infrastructure.

We appeal to you to assist this effort in whatever manner you can. Any assistance, however small, would help. Please get in touch with us for details of transferring funds.
All donations to Samrakshan are eligible for tax exemption under Section 80 G of the Income Tax Act.

In several villages, people are voluntarily coming forward to help the Samrakshan team in organising drought relief. Disbursal of food grain as part of Samrakshan's "food-for-work" programme, maintenance of attendance records and muster rolls and the planning of all wage works (measurement, budgeting, site-selection, etc. ) is being done by the villagers themselves, with support from the Samrakshan team. The villagers decide what community assets should be created using the funds available (and the preference so far has clearly been for rainwater harvesting structures that would help to tap water and recharge the groundwater table, so that such crises do not recur regularly). They also decide voluntarily what proportion of the works would be done through community contribution, to demonstrate their sense of ownership for the work. Nearly 4,000 kg of bajra has been distributed among the affected villages. The total number of beneficiary families for these wage works is 50 in Jakhoda, 50 in Durredi, and an estimated 80 in Laddar (if and when the work is initiated). Discussions and village meetings are underway in four other villages to investigate the possibility of starting work soon.

Progress of work:
Village Jakhoda: Barbed wire fencing has been completed around the perimeter of agriculture plots of the entire village, covering a distance of over four kilometres. While villagers provided free labour and locally available raw material for this, Samrakshan made available barbed wire worth nearly Rs. 54,000 for this purpose. An earthen pond for storage of rainwater has been constructed, partly with community contribution, on a patch of revenue land outside the village. This has generated nearly 500 person days of employment, and all payments for this structure have been made in cash. Another earthen pond for rainwater storage is currently under construction in this village, and is located partly on the agricultural land of local residents and partly on undistributed land belonging to the forest department. This has generated 250 person days of employment till date. Payments have been made to villagers for this structure partly in cash and partly in the form of bajra (procured by Samrakshan from the local market).

Village Durredi: Work is currently ongoing on an earthen pond for storage of rainwater, which has so far generated nearly 300 person days of employment. The pond is located on non-cultivable rejected agricultural plots around the village. Payment was made partly in cash and partly as bajra.

Village Laddar: There are plans to initiate work on an earthen pond on rejected agricultural plots of the village (provided it does not rain too heavily to hamper earthwork on the structure). This is likely to generate an estimated 700 person days of employment for the residents of Laddar.

Emergency Medical Relief: Given the vulnerability of the community to disease during the crucial monsoon months (July-October), we have set up an emergency medical relief facility in partnership with the government health centre. Under this scheme, all poor and needy families from over 20 villagers are provided free medicines on receipt of a proper prescription from the government doctor who is the officer in charge of the Primary Health Centre (PHC) at village Agraa. Our attempt is to provide medicines that are either not available with the PHC, or are of sub-standard quality.

We are urgently looking for additional funds to support other wage works that we hope to initiate in the coming weeks. These could be in the form of watershed structures, bunding of agricultural fields to prevent soil erosion, fencing of field boundaries for entire villages (to prevent crop raiding by stray cattle), digging of drinking water wells for use by villages with chronic water shortage, etc. We appeal to you to support this endeavour wholeheartedly.

For details of fund transfer, please contact us at the address given below.

Warm regards,

Arpan Sharma, Asmita Kabra
Samrakshan Trust
E-314, Anandlok,
Mayur Vihar Phase - I,
New Delhi-110091
Tel. 279 5088, 275 1907, 371 5385
E-mail: arpan@samrakshan.org

(Posted on: August 11, 2002)

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