HISTORY

Several committed volunteers who had been serving the society for over 25 years in various capacities joined hands together to form the Society for Human Awareness & Rural Action (SHARA) in 1999. One of the founders of SHARA, Mr. Chuni Lal retired from army and has ever been award winning farmer due to his model sustainable agriculture practices. He also locally carried over for long period the conservation movement in the vicinity of famous Great Himalayan National Park. On the other hand, the co-founder, Mr. Lal Chand Rathore, had been the committed activist in literacy campaign and post-literacy campaign in the district. Having uncomparable qualities of community mobilization, he joined to found the organization.

Registration
The organization was registered under Societies Registration Act XXI 1860 on 29th May 1999 with the registration no. 14/99 in Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh.

VISION

SHARA strives for social change of Himalayan rural society with gender equity, sustainability, self-reliance and accountable governance as hallmark of human development.
OBJECTIVES

The organization has the following objectives according to which the activities are taken up:

• To empower the women and reduce the gender inequities.
• To organize the rural youth and streamline them in constructive activities and rural development activities
• To educate the farmers and village community about the environment and biodiversity for the long-term conservation of mountain ecosystems.
• To create self-reliance among the rural communities especially poor for poverty reduction through organizing the poor and dalits and inculcating the    micro-entrepreneurship.
• To manage sustainably the natural resources and improve the livelihoods of poor people.
• To initiate social change processes in the villages through organizing the people.  

AREA OF OPERATION
SHARA has the clear understanding about the development action that can be pursued with the local communities. The following attributes are the main features of development action at grassroots level:

Target Population
Target population mainly covers: (i) women, (ii) youths, (iii) dalits, (iv) farmers, and (v) poor families of the villages. School children are also considered for some activities.

Geographical Expansion
Activities of SHARA are expanded in at least 500 villages of Banjar tehsil of Kullu district. All these villages have hilly difficult terrain and mountainous geologies.

ACTIVITIES (THEMATIC) AREAS

According to the mandate of the organization, the following thematic areas have been selected to undertake various development activities:

RURAL LIVELIHOODS & NRM

- SHGs, microcredit and microfinance :: read more
- Income generation activities and entrepreneurship development :: read more
- Agrobiodiversity conservation, seed banks :: read more
- Sustainable agriculture, organic farming, fair-trade foods :: read more
- Water and land development
- Ecological restoration through forest conservation, biodiversity management, agroforestry, etc.
- NTFPs and medicinal plants
- Eco-tourism

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
- Engagement of youths to abolish the liquor consumption and narcotics use
- Preservation of culture and indigenous art by involving youths
- Farmers clubs of youth farmers
- Adolescent health education

WOMEN & GENDER
- Social empowerment of women
- Politico-economic empowerment of women
- Gender equity action
- Women’s engagement in social reform
- Women’s health and reproductive rights

 

For further information about the Activities, Achievements and Results, please see the ANNUAL REPORTS of organization.


    ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08

    ANNUAL REPORT 2006-07

    ANNUAL REPORT 2003-06

HUMAN RESOURCES

Organization believes in maximum output in least inputs. So this entails the basis of human resource management in the organization. It implies that there are only limited workers in the organization, who are as under:
Full-Time Staff
Mr. Chuni Lal
Mr. Lal Chand
Ms. Kamla Devi
Ms. Nirmala Thakur
Mr. Baldev Singh
Mr. Tilak Raj
Ms. Dhanvantari Devi
Ms. Kanta Devi

Volunteers
Mr. Kishan Chand
Mr. Mohan Lal
Mr. Mahendra Singh
Ms. Radha Devi

Researchers
Mr. Virendra Aryan
Ms. Seema Parihar
SUPPORTING/SPONSORING AGENCIES

- NEAC/ Ministry of Environment & Forests (Govt. of India)
- Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India
- NABARD, Kullu
- Department of Agriculture, Kullu
- G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Env. & Dev., Kullu
- SAMIKSHA, Shimla
- BMIT, Shimla
- PARA, Jogindernagar

                                          SHARA is Strategic Field Partner of GRASSROOTS INDIA TRUST , New Delhi


CONTACT

Mr.Chuni Lal
Director
Society for Human Awareness & Rural Action (SHARA)
Top Floor, Post Office Building, Banjar – 175 123 Distt. Kullu (HP), India
Tel: 01903-222803, 201201, 201202, 09418133427 Fax: +91-1903-222257
E-mail: sharakullu@gmail.com, Website: www.grassrootsglobal.net/shara