Information about PVS (Pragathi Vidya Samasthe)

Forkids was born after a stay in India by one of the founders. The initial relationship with the Non-Governmental Organisation, Pragathi Vidya Samasthe (PVS), was formed during the collaboration of one of the founders of Forkids with this group during their stay of one year from 1999 to 2000. The efficient way in which the PVS functioned, the great involvement of those responsible and the enthusiasm of the community with which they worked made this person, once back in Spain again, decide to create the Forkids association. It was an answer to their request for help and to support their programmes.

PVS has been working in the field of social development for ten years. This NGO was formed thanks to the hard work of a country teacher who made great efforts to make sure that education reached even the lowest castes in this agricultural area of India. She started by giving classes in the evenings after the children and adults had finished their day's work. This teacher is now retired, but her early efforts have been rewarded with a rural school that gives lessons to 300 children.

PVS works in 25 towns and villages. In each one a self-help group is formed by the women. This is part of the first phase, where the ways in which the group is to function are organised, the equal rights that exist between women and men are discussed, the importance of possessing self-esteem is explained and the specific value of women in the development of the collectives is highlighted. Information is given out about the possible help and resources that they can obtain. And always, one of the first activities to be set up is the micro-credit and savings schemes. A moment eventually arrives when the women are successfully able to analyse their situation, specify the problems, decide on the priorities and start to resolve the situation themselves.

It is important to point out that PVS accompanies the women during these processes, but it is they themselves who make the decisions and who are co-responsible for the programmes that they initiate. In one such meeting with the women, when asked their most urgent priority, their answer was: "We want our children to have an education". And that is where we come in, working together to make this objective a reality.

PVS tries to ensure that all the children at least get to start school, but due to their family's lack of resources some of them unfortunately have to leave. The first programme initiated between Forkids and PVS has been that of the sponsorship of children. At the moment we have 200 boys and girls who are already receiving help from the programme. Simultaneously, we are working on other projects to stimulate the economy of the area, as our objective is to offer our assistance during a limited number of years only until the collectives are self-sufficient and we can then transfer our assistance to other needy communities.

The work of Forkids and PVS is rooted in the conviction that achieving self-sufficiency and autonomy for the collectives are the targets we want to achieve. And we work together towards this goal in a united and supportive manner. The level of involvement shown from the self-help groups right from the start is optimal. They know that they, the women, are the protagonists. It is something that is accepted with immense enthusiasm and pride as they understand that the opportunity of leaving behind a world of poverty and misery has been given to them, and their great desire to successfully make that step is unquestionable.

It is worth noting that PVS only enters a village because they have been requested to do so by the women. The level of acceptance of the work of PVS is high as it is the very communities themselves that ask for the intervention in the first place. They have seen the great degree of success achieved by some of the other Non-Governmental Organisations which take their social development work throughout India and function on the very important principals of respect and working jointly towards autonomy. The information about these schemes is transmitted by word of mouth between the inhabitants of the villages who sometimes even visit neighbouring towns to share their experiences. At the moment, PVS is working in 25 towns and villages, but the requests for help are constantly increasing.