United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Bangalore is a metropolitan city. MASARD emerged over 3 decades ago and reached out to abandoned children and destitute in the city. Today its efforts has reached even remote villages in Tamilnadu. A large number of slums are reached where people are being organised and a number of development enterprise has been going on in the years past.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
 Operationalisation of 5000 Biogas Plants  Installation of 75 Home Lighting Systems  Distribution of 300 Solar Lamps  Income generation for 4170 women through Micro-credit Enterprise  Rehabilitation of 2315 Street Children  Care for 56 aged destitute slum women  Rehabilitation of 129 children of AIDS afflicted parents  Organization of 570 AIDS Awareness Camps  Plantation of 6000 Saplings  Educational Assistance for 11613 slum & village children

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Friends and well wishers of Dr.Fernandes proposed the idea when he himself was moving from place to place for organizing them into People Groups. Latter the well wishers together with some benefactors from within the country and abroad the efforts of MASARD lead to children and women empowerment in the slums and in the villages of both Karnataka and Tamilnadu.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The target people were first organised. The children in children parliament, women in neighborhood parliaments,aged in the care of both children and women groups, environmental issues tackled through small measures such as eco lights, village camps on environment etc., The main strategy was organising people under one umbrella of people groups.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
About Us MASARD Welfare Society came into being in 1986 as the culmination of a long cherished dream of Dr J.L. Fernandes. Dr Fernandes is an accomplished social activist who together with other like-minded academics and professionals commissioned MASARD as a movement to work towards eradicating poverty in Bangalore ’s urban slums and surrounding rural villages. MASARD’s vision is to build a society devoid of all forms of disparities where communities are capable of sustaining themselves without poverty, disease or hunger. MASARD pursues this vision in harmony with the environment. MASARD aims to promote economic independence and social dignity through strategic participatory planning to ensure that all projects are implemented effectively and have minimal impact on the environment. MASARD has made a significant contribution to the lives of many people in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and is presently working to empower the poorest of the poor in 10 urban slums and 80 rural villages. Bangalore city has an estimated 800 slums that grew up following an influx of small-scale farmers and landless agricultural labourers into the growing city. The number of children under 15 residing in the slums is approximately 46 percent. Each family has an average of five children. Many parents are unable to afford education for their children and thus many children are forced into the labour market. MASARD’s administrative base is centrally located in Bangalore . Its field bases comprise welfare centers, training centers and community halls in Egipura, Rupenagrahara and Koramangala in Bangalore city, Nelamangala and in Mysore . MASARD is also running an orphanage in Egipura and has recently established a temporary orphanage in Tamil Nadu to care for children orphaned by the tsunami that hit coastal areas of India in December 2004. Some of MASARD’s key achievements to date include: Residential care of 30 orphaned children at Ashanilaya orphanage in Egipura. Community based care of 350 children living with bereaved single parents in slum areas. Establishment of 480 Biogas plants. Installation of 25 home lighting systems and 100 solar lighting systems Distribution of 460 solar lanterns to street vendors and women in rural villages Establishment of microcredit programmes that have enabled 173 women to generate income through small enterprises. Rehabilitation of 2315 street children Care for 56 destitute elderly women. Rehabilitation of 29 children of AIDS afflicted parents Organisation of 57 AIDS awareness camps. Plantation of 6000 saplings Educational assistance for 1613 slum children.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The major obstacle was counter forces of people themselves not understanding our efforts and latter regretting for their mistakes. Implementing any development event in a city like Bangalore is always a tedious task.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Volunteers to take up educating children in the evening, volunteers to lead village programmes, technical support from resourceful volunteers to guide in eco programmes like ecolights, resources of well wishers and so on.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
PROJECTS MASARD Welfare Society works with local communities in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in southern India, empowering them to actively participate in their development. Ashanilaya Orphanage In 2004 MASARD established Ashanilaya orphanage in Egipura, Bangalore to care for orphaned and abandoned children from surrounding slums Tsunami Relief In the aftermath of the devastating tsunami MASARD rushed to affected areas in Tamil Nadu, providing emergency relief and helping survivors rebuild their lives. Ecolight Ecolight is an innovative microcredit project developed by MASARD that not only helps street vendors run small scale businesses, but also contributes to the maintenance of Ashanilaya orphanage. Self-Help Groups MASARD works with a number of women's self-help groups located in rural areas around Bangalore. MASARD helps these poor and marginalised women work together towards a brighter future. Marching towards SELF RELIANCE

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Development is an unending task. We have set the light to burn dispelling darkness of ignorance and dismal from the lives of children and women. We do find changes as the rising generation of children who benefited from MASARD have become its backbone. We will be happy to do the needful to the society unmindful of different disparities which are inevitable in the country of ours where our people are shattered and dispersed in to castes, communities and racial differences. MASARD aims at finding a world full of triumph and as it is already witnesses hope from those people it built from powerlessness to powerfulness, it is waiting to find a great change very soon as it has encountered certain areas quite well already.


Institution Name:		MASARD
Institution Type:		Non-Governmental Organization
Contact Person:		DR.J.L.FERNANDES NIL
Title:		THE DIRECTOR
Telephone/ Fax:		09445020873
Institution's / Project's Website:
E-mail:		masard@masard.org
Address:		#107 AKN NAGAR, PERUMALPET PO RAILNAGAR, THIRUVALLUR DT
Postal Code:		602024
City:		TIRUVALLUR DT
State/Province:		TAMILNADU
Country:		India

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information