There are 130 villages in the Chandur Bazar block. Trained & qualified doctors are available at Chandur Bazar & few other bigger villages. Majority of villages are devoid of any scientific health services. So many illnesses remain undiagnosed & untreated. The people have to spend extra time & money to get proper medical help. The government health facilities are inadequate & inefficient to cater the health needs of the rural people.

PRAYAS aimed at providing rational & low cost health services at the doorsteps of the neediest people, who do not have an easy access to these.

1. Dispensaries at Chandur Bazar and nearby two villages Madhan & Kajali since 1994.
2. Mobile Clinic since four years for tribal population – benefited 15 borderline remote tribal villages of Baitul district of Madhya Pradesh & Amravati district of Maharashtra on weekly basis. There are no transport facilities available and people generally have to walk 2 to 5 km for anything. Treated about 15000 patients.
3. Diagnostic and awareness camps in about 100 villages of Chandur Bazar Tahsil where no qualified doctors are available & treated 6000 patients.
4. Health Education to rural population & children by way of lectures, slide shows, posters exhibitions etc. regarding common health problems like malnutrition, communicable diseases- malaria, diarrhea, tuberculosis.
5. Disease Prevention & Health Promotion by way of Life Style Modification’ is another major program, Prayas has undertaken since last 5 years. The illnesses prevailing in literate urban population like Diabetes, Hypertension, and Heart Attack etc. are caused mainly by the faulty life style. There is no permanent cure, unless one changes the living style. Furthermore, these illnesses are preventable by taking care of our daily routine like diet, exercise, abstaining from addiction, & effective stress management. All these modifications can not only prevent & cure the illnesses, but also transform the lives of the people, to a peaceful & satisfied life.
6. We have organised more than 300 awareness programs at many districts of Maharashtra. It’s a two hour long interactive speech, which succeeds in putting certain basic questions in front of the audience, regarding our present living style & the need for transforming those urgently. We observed that some people start changing their daily routine from the very next day, like using bicycles instead of autobikes, changes in the food habits, start doing exercises & practice yoga & meditation, get freed of the addiction etc. They found PRAYAS as a facilitator & companion in this transformation process. Now we are getting regular invitations, by various organisations from different parts of Maharashtra for the Awareness programs. We have published a booklet in Marathi & Hindi on Heart Attack Prevention & Control by Life Style Modification. It is very well appreciated by the people as well as by the doctors. It helped many to transform their lives to some extent. We have been able to reach to more than 30,000 families by way of these programs.
7. We also started workshops on this subject at Amravati & other places. Nearly 4000 people have participated in these workshops. It gave them a live & practical experience of the Yoga, Dietary modifications, stress management etc. It also provided a platform to share their worries & problems, & given a ray of hope to come out of that because of the confidence building & warm & friendly informal atmosphere at the workshop.

The health program provided treatment to about 70,000 patients during last thirteen years. The cost of each patient visit was nearly Rs.10/- saving about Rs.40 for the patient, which otherwise he has to spend for securing the treatment. This program has thus made a saving of Rs 28,00,000/- to the community. This benefit does not include the cost to the patient in terms of travel & lost wage days to avail of medical service.
The ‘Mobile Clinic’ had reached to 6000 patients of 100 villages. It also provided treatment to 18000 remote tribal patients, during last 9 years. Many major & chronic illnesses have been diagnosed & got cured with subsidised & affordable costs at the doorsteps of the people.
With our Heart Attack awareness program, we believe that we have prevented many Heart Attacks & also bypassed the need for bypass surgery or angioplasty in hundreds of patients, which otherwise would have costed many lives, lot of sorrows & tensions & millions of rupees.

Educational Activities

Educational activities of PRAYAS started with a view to provide the developmental opportunities to the urban & rural children of poor socioeconomic strata, which are otherwise available to the children of elite families only.
Prayas had implemented the Integrated Child Development Project with financial support from ‘Save the Children, Canada’. It started in 1995 for about 100 children of the urban slums of Chandur Bazar & extended to 800 children of 6–14 years, of nearby 6 villages after three years. It benefited about 5000 children during last 10 years. The project completed in 2002. Now we have limited these activities to a small number of children at Chandur Bazar. We are running the activities on our own during last two years, without the external support.
The project activities consisted of :-

1. Support classes to school going children of ages 6-14 years, by way of joyful & non-formal methodologies. It resulted in academic strengthening of the children.
2. Provided development opportunities to these children by organising many confidence-building activities in a play-way methodology, which charged the atmosphere with vigor and enthusiasm, increased the interest of children and parents in studies.
3. Hobby Camps, Art and Craft classes like Dancing, Acting, singing and various Craft activities, visits and excursions, children’s Films, gathering and camps organised for these children. Imparted functional literacy to the children.
4. We have been able to make various interventions in formal school system in the light of the encouraging positive experiences of the project.
5. We organised awareness programs at more than 300 schools of Amravati & few other districts. We have reached out to more than 2,00,000 children & 5000 teachers.
6. We organised 1-2 day’s personality development and hobby camps in more than 100 schools of Amravati district, participated by nearly 5000 children. These were mainly for the rural children, which otherwise don’t have the opportunity like the urban & elite children. We used to teach them, crafts & art, group songs, intellectual games & puzzles, street plays, dances, science experiments & many more. It gave them a chance to learn many things & they enjoyed it a lot. 
7. We have conducted the Excellence Enhancement Program for high school students. It’s a two hour-long interactive speech with some demonstrations on the techniques of study, study & time management, concentration & relaxation exercises. We have conducted the program in more than 100 schools, reaching to about 30000 students. The feedback from students & teachers is very encouraging. Many of the things were new for them & they find that it can definitely add to their performance at exams. We have also published a small booklet ‘`eñdr ìhm’ on this subject. Now we are getting invitations from schools of different districts.
8. Teacher’s training in play-way methodology, preparing and using of teaching – learning aids, communication skills etc.
9. Parental guidance and counseling, training, gatherings, library for development of ‘Conscious Parenthood’

Educational Sponsorship Program : We have started this program to support the needy & talented students for completing education & enhancing their talents. We have given financial scholarships to the tune of nearly 30000/- Rs. to 7 such students during last year. We are having a regular contact with them. They are doing well. We are planning to expand the scope of this program & reach to more no. of needy students.  

The Education program thus provided educational support to 5000 rural/urban children & reached to 2,50000 children in different schools of Amravati district & other districts. It costs about Rs. 15 lacks, to achieve it during last 13 years.

Youth activities

Personality Development and life management skills training, library, exposure visits to various organisations, cycle expeditions etc. for exploring and developing the potentials of rural and urban youths so as to face and fight out the day to day problems of today’s life with confidence. Reached out to about 1000 youths.
We have organised many youth camps ourselves & also we have been called as resource in more than 100 camps organised by others at different places. The interaction with more than 5000 youth participants proves to be very fruitful. We used to deal the subjects related with basic Life Skills like Goal Setting, Resource Management, Time Management, Communication Skills, Team Building, Strengths-weakness analysis. All these topics were dealt in participatory methodology. These trainings proved to be Eye-opener to most of them & practically relieved the stress of the problems they were facing.  
We organised Cycle Yatras participated by 30-40 village youths, few of them were girls also. The Yatra covered nearly 200 kms. in five days. We organised awareness programs in the about 15-20 schools & collages, reaching out to more than 10000 students & teachers, on the route. We received a very warm & lovely welcome everywhere. All the arrangements for food & stay were made by the people with a great pleasure. We organised such Yatras for three consecutive years. It gave confidence to the participants.
All the activities of PRAYAS were run by the local youths; who are not having any employment opportunities due to poor academic performance, nor being exposed or trained in useful skills. We picked up more than 150 such youths with learning attitude & enthusiasm, trained them & provided part time employment in our projects. Most of them worked for a year or two, gained confidence, and left with developed skill level, leading to better job opportunities & now settled at various jobs at different places.

Youth Motivation Program (SEVANKUR) : It is a program for the students, particularly of professional collages of Vidarbha, who want to live differently & who aspires to make difference in other’s life. The long term objective is to enhance their spirit of voluntarism & sharpen social sensitivity, so that they can get involved in social activities in some or the other form in the future.

One such motivational workshop was organised at Anandwan on Feb. 17-18, 2007. Nearly 225 students from 20 different professional collages of Vidarbha participated in this workshop. The participants got an opportunity to see & understand the different activities of Anandwan, to interact with nearly 10 highly qualified, committed  & dedicated Path Finders, who are living differently & have made difference in other’s life. They shared their experiences with the participants regarding their life journey. The workshop moved the students & they decided definite action plan to be undertaken in next year at individual level, at collage level & at orgnisation level. Now the units of SEVANKUR had been organised at Akola, Yavatmal, Wardha, Nagpur & Amravati. They had undertaken some small but very concrete initiatives. We have a regular contact with all of them. We have the ambitious aim of involving 1000 students in this activity in next two years.

GEETAI Cycle Yatra :

On the occasion of 75 th year of GEETAI, the book written by Vinoba Bhave on GEETA, Geeati Mission of Wardha organised a Cycle Yatra of 40 youths from 22 nd Dec. 2004 to 18 th Feb. 2005. PRAYAS was one of the organizers. The Yatra traveled through 20 districts of Maharashtra, in 58 days. It crossed about 3000 kms & reached to more than 200 schools, collages, communicated with more than 5000 teachers & One Lac of children. It was a very different experience with lot of learning & networking with many enthusiastic individuals & organisations at different parts of Maharashtra. It enriched & opened many opportunities for PRAYAS to reach to almost entire state. The awareness activities of PRAYAS had already followed at most of the places of the entire route in last 2 years. It had strengthened the rapport & helped in motivating many small groups & individuals to take up some or the other social issues at local level & to act upon their own.       

Rural Development :
PRAYAS is engaged in Rural Development activities with the help of the organization SAMWAD, mainly in Warud tahsil of Amravati district. It undertook the awareness camps & Farmer’s gatherings & also training of the rural youth in Watershed Management, Organic farming, Water & Soil conservation. It also facilitated the process of organising rural women against the ill-legal country liquor in Rawala village of Warud tahsil. Since last year it has been totally banned in Rawala. Now the movement had taken momentum & spread over to nearby 7-8 villages.

Helping Farmers Program : 
The condition of the farmers of Vidarbha is critical since last few years & suicides of farmers became a daily routine. To alleviate the miseries of farmers, PRAYAS had started working with many like-minded organisations. We had facilitated a Vidarbha level workshop at Sevagram in Feb. 2006 participated by various organizations & individuals to discuss & evolve a action plan to work on this issue. Accordingly we have started working in Yavatmal district with seven NGOs at present. Each organisation had selected one village each to develop it as a Model village & undertaken activities like Watershed Management, Organic farming, Water & Soil conservation, youth training, self help groups, labor sharing in these villages.

We have also campaigning at Vidarbha level for the problems of farmers at mass level by publishing two small booklets, writing articles in local newspapers, organising meetings of farmers at different places. We had organised a seven days Yatra in Amravati district in May 2006 to make farmers aware regarding the hazards of BT seeds & importance of low input farming practices. 

INFRASTRUCTURE

PRAYAS developed from scratch, to an influential & credible Organisation at regional level in field of health & education during last 10 years. The major strength of PRAYAS is the widely spread over network of sympathizers & well-wishers from different walks of life. PRAYAS consciously nurtured this relationship towards it & to the cause. It reflected in the contribution of about Rs. 2.5 lacks in 1999-2000 for purchase of ‘Tempo Traveler’ vehicle to be used as Mobile Clinic & also for educational activities. It also resulted in regular financial help every year since last few years. 
PRAYAS has succeeded in obtaining participation of school children for resource mobilisation. Nearly 2000 children from 30 schools of 25 villages, collected about Rs. 50,000 by using collection card methods, by contacting more than 30000 persons in year 2001-02.
PRAYAS believes in using the modern science & technology towards attainment of its objectives. It is having a suitably functioning office setup, with telephone & Internet facility. It has got the audio-visual aids for awareness activities like, tape recorder, TV-VCR, slide projector, Overhead Projector, public addressing system, LCD Projector, laptop etc.

‘Heart Attack Prevention & Control’ Awareness Programs
Organised in following Districts & Tahsils.

1. Ahamadnagar – Ahamadnagar, Shevgaon
2. Akola -            Akola. Akot
3. Amravati City
4. Amravati -        Chandur Bazar, Chandur railway, Chikhaldara, Daryapur,

Dharni, Morshi, Anjangaon, Warud, Tiwsa, Nandgaon

5. Aurangabad - Aurangabad
6. Beed -              Beed, Ambajogai
7. Buldana  -        Buldana, Chikhali, Deulgaon raja, Meheker, Khamgaon,

Shegaon, Malkapur, Sindkhed raja, Jalgaon Jamod, Sangrampur

8. Chandrapur -    Chandrapur
9. Dhule -             Dhule, Sakri
10. Jalgaon -          Jalgaon, Bhusawal, Parola
11. Jalna -              Jalna
12. Latur -              Latur, Ahamadpur
13. Mumbai -         Mumbai
14. Nagpur -          Nagpur, Hingana, Kalmeshwar
15. Nanded -         Nanded, Kinwat, Mukhed
16. Nasik  -            Nasik, Malegaon
17. Pune -              Pune, Hadapsar, Pimpri - Chinchawad
18. Raigadh -         Panvel
19. Solapur -          Karmala
20. Wardha -         Wardha, Arwi, Ashti, Pulgaon, Hinganghat, Deoli
21. Washim -         Karanja, Malegaon
22. Yeotmal  -        Yeotmal, Ghatanji, Maregaon, Ner, Digras, Pandhrkawada, Pusad, Arni

Working with other Organisations

We also have a network of volunteers at different places, which used to support & participate voluntarily in different activities of PRAYAS. We are closely associated with few organisations & trying to help in resource mobilisation for their projects. Dr. Avinash Saoji is one of the founder trustees of these organisations, except Matrubhumi Foundation

MAHAN : Working in Melghat tribal region of Amravati district mainly in providing Health care & Health Awareness. Dr. Ashish & Mrs. Dr. Kavita Satav, both of them are post-graduate doctors, physician & ophthalmologist respectively are full timers, looking after MAHAN activities. MAHAN is presently undertaken a project to reduce the problem of Malnutrition. It also started setting up a hospital in this tribal area of Melghat.

SAMVAD : Founded by Vasant & Karuna Futane, a committed full timer couple working on Gandhian ways in Warud Tahsil of Amravati district since last 25 years in field of Natural Farming, Environment awareness, De-addiction movement, youth activities etc. 

MATRUBHUMI FOUNDATION : Founded by Harshawardhan Sapkal, a young, enthusiastic, sensitive worker, working in Buldana district. They have a very strong group of volunteers & working till now mainly in youth activities, sanitation, water shade, relief work at natural & man made calamities. At present working with the 200 BHILLA families at Buldana town, encouraging them to leave their liquor business & also trying to rehabilitate them in some other income generating work and also looking after the education of their children. They are planning to work in rural & tribal area of Buldana district for overall development on regular basis.

THE PRAYER  : Founded by Dr. Premchand Pandit & Dr. Ravindra Kolhe, ophthalmologist & community medicine expert respectively. It is working in tribal area of Melghat in youth training, agricultural development, and health care. It also works in field of Eye care & Blindness control in Buldana district.