in 1989 as a small Integrated Rural Development project, SAMUHA has evolved over the last 15 years to develop core competencies in these diverse areas:
- People and Environment
- Participative Information Processes with People Living in Slums (Jana Sahayog)
- Counselling, Care & Support of People Living With HIV/AIDS (SAMRAKSHA)
- Community-based Rehabilitation of People With Disabilities (SAMARTHYA)
- Integrated Rural Development (SAMUHA PLAN)
- Innovations in Development
These areas of specialisation, or ‘Sectors’ as they are called, emerged in response to field needs or as a by-product of them, and in direct relation to SAMUHA’s vision statement. They function on a semi-autonomous basis, working with different areas of development, while keeping with the philosophy of SAMUHA Central.
The core of this sector is the 13,000 ha Kanakanala Watershed Project, covering 24 villages and 22 communities, which aims to reduce poverty and enhance choices and opportunities for people in the project watershed areas through the restoration, improved management and sustainable use of natural resources. Other projects include the SAMUHA Naglapur Project, the Community Monitoring Project - UNICEF, Pampa Nagara Mahila Abhivrudhi Samstha (PNMAS), the SAMUHA-NABARD watershed project and the Munjavu Programme.
SAMRAKSHA began to operate as SAMUHA's HIV/AIDS programme in 1993 to combat the challenge of the epidemic, and its impact on development. From its initial team of four, it has evolved to a range of projects with 45 full-time staff across 8 programmes. Its current areas of operation are Bangalore Urban, Raichur, Koppal and Karwar districts. Over the last year, SAMRAKSHA has broadened its focus to help developmental NGOs initiate HIV preventive interventions.
SAMUHA PLAN is an integrated rural development project working to improve the lives of 9642 families in 91 villages of Deodurg Taluk, Raichur District; and Koppal and Gangavathi Taluks of Koppal District in north Karnataka. Incorporating activities like disability, watershed management, and formation of self help groups, SAMUHA PLAN consistently aims to facilitate holistic, or integrated rural development in some of the state's poorest regions.
Since 1989, SAMUHA has worked with people with disabilities (PWDs) through its community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programme called SAMARTHYA. The SAMARTHYA CBR-D programme currently works in 102 villages with a range of disabilities including locomotor, cerebral palsy, mental impairment, hearing impairment, visual impairment and the mentally ill as well as conditions such as tuberculosis, leprosy and epilepsy.
SAMUHA Communications was developed over the last year to be the in-house resource centre for development communications with three major objectives:
- to address, explore and express certain developmental issues that emerge as relevant and needful of attention
- to provide communication solutions to the voluntary sector, and bring to these solutions not just an understanding of the way the media works, but also of the way the field functions
- to meet communication needs within the organisation in terms of fund-raising, PR and documentation
The Centre for Remote Sensed Micro Applications (CReSMA) aims to understand and promote the use of remote sensed micro applications for development. It believes that information from high-resolution satellite imagery and detailed ground surveys can be gathered, organised, analysed and regularly updated; and that it can be communicated - through a package of expert systems and ground infrastructure - to the farmer, the banker, the development worker, the trader, and the salesman.
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