Coochbihar is one of the northern most districts of West Bengal, around 700 Kms. from Calcutta. In the east, the district borders with Assam and on the south it has the international border between India and Bangladesh.

Being situated  far from the state capital, the district is deprived of many of the development activities in the State. It also lacks  proper infrastructure facility in  sectors like communication, education, health, drinking water etc.

The role of development actors is negligible as there are only a few NGOs in the whole of the northern West Bengal. The Dinhata Block-I, where SPAR is working, is in the southern part of  Coochbihar district. The villages are crisscrossed by various small and large rivers, which sometimes also mark the border between India and Bangladesh. The region being situated at the foothills of the Himalayas,  sudden and severe flood of the rivers is a common feature in the monsoon. Not only once, but the villages face several floods in one monsoon. Ironically, the  topography that is responsible for this flooding of the villages is also responsible for causing drought every year, as the water drains away quickly and the silted soil does not have much water holding capacity. No major forest area lies within the region, but there are many grass lands and wastelands. The presence of an international border has given rise to some peculiar  problems in this region. There is continuous infiltration of the Bangladeshis in the area, illegal smuggling of the consumer goods . There are  exploitation of the people and misuse of  power by the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel. The villagers who live in Indian enclave just beyond the Bangladesh border experience daily harassment. The BSF also unnecessarily raids the houses of the villagers, frequently disturbing their family life. Social  equality and justice are denied to the larger community.

Ethnic Groups
Ethnic composition of the region is also varied. There are both Muslims and Hindus; among the Hindus, the scheduled castes predominate.

Communal feeling is also not totally absent here though it has not yet reached any great dimension. Even though the economy is solely dependant on agriculture, no tangible measure has been taken to safeguard the interests of the farmers. The poor condition of the farmers has given rise to migration on a large scale. The small and marginal farmers are also oppressed by the higher caste farmers. The girl children is not  freequently sent to school, rather they are brought up  silently to tolerate all the injustices against women in the society.

Changes brought about by SPAR

| Working area | People | Programmes | Self Help Groups(SHG) | Region |

SPAR has been working in 314 villages under  Dinhata I & II, Mathabhanga - I & II, Sitai, Sital Kuchi, Tufangung- I & II, Haldibari, Coochbehar - I & II in Coochbehar district.   They  are more or less contiguous. SPAR deliberately chose contiguous villages so that the work can be concentrated and intensified. The villages are quite large, the number of households vary from around 100 to more than 700 per village. The total population in these villages is 634049. Most of the workers in the Coochbihar project are both from the referral  villages and some from outside.   The literacy rate for women is 53%.

 

Programme:

Under the programme of facilitation of people’s organization meetings, trainings,seminars and workshops were organised on different issues like food security, role of women in rural development, sustainable agriculture, formation of POs through SHGs etc.

As a support to people’s organisation. 100 families received Rs. 500/- each which would be revolved after six months within the community. They have also contributed their part as local contribution to implement the nursery and gardening scheme successfully. Another 140 villagers were supported with Rs. 500/- each for sustainable agriculture which would also be revolved after six months. One homeopathic clinic is running satisfactorily with the help of the people’s organization. 1740 villagers in this area have already been benefited from this clinic centre.

The people in this area are  trying to mobilise local resources.  They are making use of  vast wastelands that remain barren all the year through.  The people have started community farming on these lands.  They have cultivated papaya, banana, watermelon etc.  For these cultivations, SPAR is providing some support to the people. Motivated at this, many people in the area and adjacent villages are also doing the same.  This has considerably contributed to the development of local economy.

Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojona (SGSY) programme  is  going on in 154 villages of  Coochbehar district The  objective  of this programme is to make people aware about different aspects of village development and link them with District Rural Development Cell and banks for their income generation activities.  Total 1755 self help groups have been formed in this area. The members of these groups are engaged in income generation activities and they are getting an additional individual income of Rs. 460.00 to Rs. 950.00 per month. Total amount of revolving fund support under this programme now stands at 69,93,800.00 and credit linkage of Rs. 99,86,583.00

Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA): This programme is going on in 125 villages in Sitai and  Sitalkuchi block of Coochbehar district. During this period 187 women have already been trained for ASHA programme in Sitai and  Sitalkuchi block. They have completed  survey of  40862 households covering a total population of 267142. The low birth weight rate has improved to 22%. It was 48% earlier. Percentage of Institutional deliveries which was 65 has increased to 71. Adoption of family planning method(IUD) which was 28% earlier has now come to 41%.

Under  the programme of Total Sanitation Campaign 200 low cost toilets were installed in these areas. People in this area have slowly acclimatized themselves with the usage of  the sanitary latrine instead of using  the open field.  A sense of awareness regarding health and sanitation has been created among the villagers which has ultimately reduced the incidence of water and sanitation related diseases and mortality rate.

SPAR-Coochbehar has been selected as Mother NGO(MNGO) by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India, to implement the project on Reproductive Child Health (RCH) in the un-served and under-served areas of Coochbehar district through other Field level NGOs(FNGOs). Under this programme 240 institutional deliveries were recorded. Mothers now have better clarity on health behavior practices from the trained health workers. 676 lactating women received post natal care. 374 women got the benefit of Janani Surakha Yajona(JSY). Better utilization of JSY fund through coordination between PRI and health officials was recorded.The children and the women are receiving immunization. Total 726 infants were fully immunized during this period.919 new born babies received BCG. The awareness level of the general people on the health issue (specially for the pregnant women and children) has increased.

Child protection programme including child education : This programme is being implemented by Coochbehar project in 3 villages under 3 gram panchayats in Mathabhanga II, Dinhata I and & II  blocks of Coochbehar district  of West Bengal. The main objective of this programme is to create an awareness among the people, panchayat and development actors for preventing trafficking at the source and also ensure sustainability of the initiatives and replicate in other areas. 49 children have emerged as leader in child protection unit in 3 blocks.Villagers of neighbouring areas are requesting for opening the Child Protection Unit(CPU) in their localities. 4 children including 3 girls were rescued during this period.The bank authorities are cooperating with the children associated with CPU by opening their bank account.