Deep Griha Society
Deep Griha works for the empowerment of the marginalised through capacity building and sustainable urban and rural development programmes.
In 1975, medical practioner Dr. Neela Onawale and her husband Bhaskar Onawale started a one-room clinic to treat the residents of Pune’s marginalised community. With the help of likeminded friends, Deep Griha Society began operations in July that year, and within a further two years, was serving more than 100 people a day.
From treating patients, Dr. Onawale quickly realised that many of the medical conditions affecting the slum community were caused by malnutrition and Since 1975, Deep Griha has constantly expanded and adapted its services to empower the disadvantaged community through support and education, giving people the skills and confidence they need to improve their lives.
The Community First…
Over these 40 years, Deep Griha has developed a strong rapport with the community by ensuring that community members have a platform to participate in the initiation and development of programmes. This ensures that programmes are relevant and valued by the community. Deep Griha’s field workers are present in community every day to follow up with participants and ensure their opinions and experiences are fed back to the Deep Griha’s decision makers.
One of our aims is to always ensure that our funds are spent where they are most needed. With this in mind we have been responsive to the changing needs of the community, and to the work other organisations so we can avoid duplicating services.
Tadiwala Road
The slum community of Tadiwala Road is home to around 70,000 people, many of whom are enrolled in our programmes or join in our frequent celebrations. The Head Office of Deep Griha Society is located in the Family Welfare Centre on Tadiwala Road in central Pune, not far from the railway station.
The main problems faced by this community are poor healthcare, hygiene and poverty, which in turn leads to a low standard of education and high illiteracy rate. Because of the large population of this community, many of our programmes operate from this Family Welfare Centre – not only to provide immediate care and support but also to empower our beneficiaries to become more self-sufficient.
From the Tadiwala Road Family Welfare Centre we operate the Medical Clinic, Childcare programme, Youth Empowerment, in the form of the DGS Tech Mahindra Smart Vocational Training Centre, Child Development, and Women’s Empowerment. Birthday parties are also frequently held in the Family Welfare Centre for the children enrolled in the Aadhar Kendra Child Sponsorship scheme.
Field workers also serve the community here, in the form of maternal healthcare delivered by the SureStart programme, HIV awareness with DISHA, and medical health-checks.
Ramtekadi
The Ramtekadi community of Pune was the first location where Deep Griha started working in, to provide nutrition and healthcare to the marginalised slum community. Over the years, the programmes here have continued to expand, with the most prominent programmes being delivered in DIYA – Deep Griha’s Integrated Youth Resource & Activity Centre.
With over 35,000 people living in the marginalised community of Ramtekadi, many programmes operate from DIYA, including Childcare, Youth Empowerment and Child Development, in the form of recreation activities and English lessons. Birthday parties are also frequently held in the DIYA Centre for the children enrolled in the Aadhar Kendra Child Sponsorship scheme.
Field workers also serve the community here, in the form of maternal healthcare delivered by the SureStart programme, HIV awareness with DISHA, and medical health-checks.
Bibvewadi
The slum community of Bibvewadi is home to a less number of people, so the support we provide here is still extensive but on a smaller scale, when compared with Tadiwala Road and Ramtekdi.
The main problems faced by this community are similar to the other marginalised communities that we support. Lack of space and housing forces families to live in cramped and unhygenic living conditions, and a lack of medical care and good nutrition results in poor healthcare in adults and children alike.
From the Bibvewadi Family Welfare Centre we have a small creche facility, adult education classes and the SureStart programme provides maternal and newborn healthcare. Volunteer and full-time doctors also perform frequentmedical health-checks with the children who visit the centre.