Projects

UNDEF (The United Nations Democracy Fund) supported Project on
FEDAM (Fostering Ethical Democracy and Advancing Microjustice in India)

DHAN Foundation has received grant support from UNDEF for implementing project on "FEDAM" to promote democracy and informal citizenship in select rural & tribal areas of India.

This project will be implemented from 1st June’15 onwards for next two years in 5 regions of India namely: Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Orissa. The project will focus primarily on tribal and rural communities, and women, youth and students. The project will build capacity for 7,500 women, 1,000 youth and 1,000 students by informing them on their rights and training them on identifying gaps in public service provisions and requesting the local authority to respond to their needs. More specifically, the project will support them in strengthening and forming respective organizations and in implementing their "democracy action" initiatives with small grants. The project will also promote the Right to Information Act through information campaigns initiated by trained target people to local communities and to provide information on their interests through "democracy action" initiatives. Finally the project will begin micro-justice initiatives by mobilizing 250 trained participants as para-legal volunteers to provide para legal services to communities in cases where there are serious violations of rights to development that are not being addressed by authorities.


    Duration : 24 months (June 2015 – May 2017)
    Amount of UNDEF Grant in USD : US$ 225000


Over all development goal of the Project:

To enable citizens to make informed choices, active participation and contribution in democratic practices.


Project Objective :

To empower tribal and rural women, youth and students with democratic principles by increasing their knowledge on citizen rights, providing exposure to tools to perform democratic responsibilities, action and practices alongside initiatives for community outreach on the Right to Information Act and Micro justice services.


Outcomes of the Project

1. Develop the capacities of women, youth and students on democratic practices and tools, ensuring their practice and participation in democratic processes.

2. Democracy initiatives through dialogue meetings with local authorities and elected representatives, alongside facilitating increased awareness of the Right to information Act and Paralegal support.


Project locations :
Tamilnadu (South Region) : Madurai Dist. Alanganallur block
Karnataka (South West Region) : Mysore Dist. – Bannur – T. Narasipura Block.
Rajsthan (West Region) : Banswada Dist. Bagidora Block
Madhyapradesh (Central Region) : Ratlam Dist – Piploda Block
Odisha (East Region) : Koraput Dist – Koraput Block



For More Information on this Project

Kindly contact : Mr.S. Singarayar
Programme Leader
Working with Panchayats
DHAN Foundation
1A, Vaidyanathapuram East
Kennet Cross Road, Near Seventh Day School
Madurai 625 016, Tamil Nadu, India
Tel: +91-452-2302500 / 2302524 / 2302526 Fax: 2602247
Email: dhancoastal@dhan.org Website: http://www.dhan.org