Utthan Centre for Sustainable Development & Poverty Alleviation (Utthan)

Organisation name

Utthan Centre for Sustainable Development & Poverty Alleviation (Utthan)

Country 

India

Contact details 

Website http://www.sietalld.org/
Email utthan_jhalwa@sietalld.org

Testimonial

"The recognition of Jatropha plantation for clean energy by the President of India, bamboo plantation for reclaiming degraded areas by INBAR, and promotion of medicinal plants by AYUSH Department, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and WHO are some of the key honours bestowed on Utthan."

Financial resources

US$962,832 (2005-06)

Geographical focus

India/Asia

Issue focus

Poverty alleviation, environment, health, education, technology

Key achievements

• Converting one million hectares of degraded land into productive biodiesel smallholdings and reclaiming 85,000 hectares of mined areas
• Educating one million adults through literacy and adult education programmes
• Regenerating and planting 62,500 hectares of degraded forests and promoting one million hectares of agroforestry

Mission

Utthan's mission is to create opportunities for sustainable economic, social and ecological development by adopting and promoting schemes/programmes that are pro-disadvantaged community and pro-environment. It does this through:

• Enhancing the ecological, economic and social development of disadvantaged communities and their empowerment
• Managing and transforming natural resources into assets for economic and environmental sustainability
• 'Greening' for ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation and mitigation and adaptation of climate change
• Aiding human development for adopting ways of economic growth and lifestyle that promote harmonious co-existence of human beings with nature
• Providing research and development support

Background

Founded in 1996, Utthan operates in surface soil mined areas around cities, degraded forest lands, dry lands and wastelands. Its projects cover distressed migration areas; backward and inaccessible areas with poor community and communication; and areas with deficits in food, nutrition and health support. These include ten districts in Uttar Pradesh, two districts in Chhattisgarh and four districts in Madhya Pradesh States. Utthan's main activities are:

• Demonstrating and promoting agroforestry models in different ecosystems
• Promoting herbal medicines
• Developing technology for cultivation of Jatropha curcas in degraded lands for biodiesel production
• Demonstrating watershed management, rainwater harvesting and ground water recharge for augmenting water availability
• Reclaiming degraded land through watershed development.
• Implementing Joint Forest Management strategies for curbing deforestation
• Literacy and adult education programmes
• Health and Sanitation programmes and health fairs
• Environmental fairs

Partnerships

Utthan has developed partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders, including beneficiaries of its programmes, the farming community, the agro-tech industry, local governments, NGOs and international research centres. Other partnerships include linkages with selected countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Impact achieved

Utthan has had an impact on a wide range of areas that relate to sustainability. Some key examples include:

• Demonstrating agroforestry models that ensure security in food, fodder, fuel, herbal products bamboo and sustainable productive potential of an area of one million hectares
• Identifying 'super clones' of Jatropha curcas, a plant used to make biodiesel, developed propagation techniques and demonstrated its successful growing on degraded lands which had no other economic use with community involvement. Now Jatropha cultivation has spread over an area of more than one million hectares in South Asia, primarily in India
• Regenerating and planting 62,500 hectares of degraded forests in Chhattisgarh which has helped 85,000 tribal families to secure their livelihoods and income
• Reclaiming 85,000 hectares of surface soil mined areas around cities, directly benefiting 90,000 families by adopting watershed development programme and promoting plantation of Bamboo, Jatropha and medicinal plants. This resulted in a decline in the frequency of dust storms
• Demonstrating watershed management, rainwater harvesting and ground water recharge in 20 community blocks
• Collecting superior clones of 40 important medicinal plants, developing their propagation and cultivation techniques and harvesting, processing, packaging and marketing herbal products. Utthan also prepared a national task force report on Medicinal Plants and published 30 books on important species for sharing the knowledge
• Immunising 0.6 million infants and children against 6 vaccine preventable diseases and polio and providing full health coverage to 0.34 million people in 96 villages of Kaurihar block of Allahabad
• Helping people become literate and economically productive through adult education programmes