Activities
What AWARD TRUST is doing right now
AWARD TRUST has undertaken and implemented programmes for the welfare of women, children, youth, elders, Dalits and other marginalised sections across Cuddalore District.
Field reach
Extending into remote rural areas
Being an organisation committed to bringing about healthy change in the social and economic life of the community, AWARD has extended its activities to remote rural areas of the district — creating awareness on water and sanitation, solid waste management, and training for rural women, panchayat leaders, self-help group members, elected representatives and school children.
Nearly 1,560 people were reached through this work in Keerapalayam block alone. The activities of every field unit are regularly monitored by the organisation.
Ongoing programmes
Core activity areas
Socio-economic survey
To strengthen our activities and programmes, AWARD conducted a socio-economic survey to update the previous year’s data. Trained volunteers gathered information across 7 community development clusters in Cuddalore District, forming the data base used to plan and implement projects.
Children’s education & school re-entry (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan)
AWARD TRUST implemented the Central Government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme through the Cuddalore District Chief Educational Officer, with approval from the District Collector, across three blocks: Kurinjipadi, Keerapalayam and Neyveli.
Through this programme we identified more than 756 school drop-out children (aged 6–14) across various villages. These children were welcomed into our residential bridge camps — run in a gurukulam-style residential education model — with free books, food and clothing provided for 10 months by well-qualified, socially committed staff.
By the end of the residential programme, 856 children’s education had been mainstreamed back into regular school.
Women’s empowerment through educational awareness
Women’s emancipation depends largely on the power and strength gained through better education and economic independence. With that twin objective, AWARD organised trainings and seminars across 39 village panchayats in Kurinjipadi and Keerapalayam blocks, shifting how communities engage with the problems and issues women face.
Our programmes concentrate on women gaining knowledge and self-confidence. The self-help group (SHG) model is central to this: individual women who once felt they had no solution to a problem find one collectively. AWARD has formed 50 self-help groups in rural areas, using them as a base to strengthen micro-credit activity and income generation — while approaching financial institutions and funding agencies on their behalf.
In the villages
Signage you’ll actually see
AWARD TRUST’s programmes run inside real government schools and community halls across Cuddalore District — not a rented office. This World Earth Day 2017 sustainability session, organised with the Ministry of Earth Sciences, ran at Thiruvalluvar Higher Secondary School, Orathur.
See more from the field