OUTREACH, An association of volunteers for rural development, was established in the year 1992 and registered under the Karnataka State Societies Registration Act 1960, in May 1993. Its registered office is in HBR layout, Bangalore. Currently it works in three southern states of India in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamilnadu.

OUTREACH is managed by its execitive commitee members and represented by Secretry/Executive Director ,Mr.N.D.Tiwari,I.F.S.(Rtd)

During its 20 years of existence, OUTREACH has covered approximately 900 villages along with 36 grass root NGO partners to whom technical and managerial support services are provided. The main thrust of OUTREACH is community based poverty alleviation and restoration of degraded primary environments in drought prone areas in South India.

OUTREACH is also a leading resource and training organization in participatory approaches. It has pioneered and developed the use and application of Participatory Rural Appraisal [PRA] techniques in a wide range of development situations, nationally and internationally.

OUTREACH has been conducting developmental work through community based organizations i.e. Self Help Groups [SHGs], Cluster Level Associations [CLAs], Federations of SHGs and user groups. This approach aims at sustainability of the programmes, managed by client community. As of now, it has 1525 regular SHGs in addition to 2165 SHGs under Joint Forest Planning and Management [JFPM]. Other types of communities organized by OUTREACH are Village Forest Committees [VFCs] , Watershed Development Committees [WDCs], Crop Interest Groups [CIGs] and Tank User Groups [TUGs] etc for better facilitation of the interventions. As the SHGs are able to avail only small and short term loans through formal financial institutions and banks for income generating activities, OUTREACH started micro enterprise through revolving fund made available by its donors supporting people for land based as well as non-land based income generation activities.

Vision

“Reach out to the rural poor for creating self-reliance for improving the quality of their lives”

Mission

 

To work with vulnerable rural communities of degraded and drought-prone regions to enable them to organize themselves into viable institutions

To empower these communities to place legitimate demands on the system to address developmental needs for sustainable livelihoods.

A NON GOVERNMENT & NON PROFIT ORGANISATION COMMITTED TO SERVING THE RURAL POOR

Areas of Interest

• - Natural Resource Management- Social Forestry, JFPM, Tank Rehabilitation, Environment sustainability etc.
• - Skill development of Rural Youth, Livelihood improvements
• - Education – education programme for the construction workers children and Science Technology and Maths for students
• - Water ,Sanitation and Hygiene
• - Capacity building of Self Help Groups, NGOs, Panchayats, Corporate Banks and Government Officials.
• - Women empowerment - Formation of SHGs and other relevant Community Based Organizations
• - Research and Evaluation
• - Livelihood, Revolving Fund for Micro Enterprise Development
• - Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Food security
• - Policy analysis
• - Climate change and related challenges have become an emerging theme in many of the OUTREACH projects and programmes. These changes pose enormous challenges to food and nutrition security of poor and vulnerable communities in developing countries. Climate change, coupled with new demands for renewable resources, agro fuels and changing land use patterns intensify concerns about food security, nutrition and health in the near future. Causes of climate change indicate role of human activities which have contributed to the increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters and global warming. In this scenario, there is an urgent need to act to combat the problem by reducing emissions, awareness and capacity building to withstand climate change impact in both short term and to develop carbon sequestration strategies in the long run programmes. For the benefit of small farming community, OUTREACH shall develop strategies and programmes towards future activities to combat the climate change impacts.
• - Another area of future activities for OUTREACH is Rainwater harvesting by means of direct collection of rain water which can be used for drinking both in urban and rural settings, in situ moisture conservation for agricultural lands and recharge of ground water to store 70-80 percent of run off.
• - Rain water harvesting can be done at individual as well as in a community level. This way we can be self sufficient in terms of domestic water requirements and not just dependent on the actions initiated by government or any other local body. Awareness and capacity building about the importance of sustainable development and implementation of Rainwater harvesting principles could be the lead role which OUTREACH can play.
• - Other areas of future intervention could be Organic Farming , Rural Sanitation and Health.