National Institute of Women, Child and Youth Development (NIWCYD) was established by development workers with Gandhian orientation in 1982 and registered under the Society Registration Act 1860 in the year 1985. The organization is of an all India character. Presently it is working in five states viz. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh, some part of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand states. NIWCYD started its journey of development work from 14 remote villages of Madhya Pradesh and is presently, working in more than 6000 poorest villages of Central India and Northern India. Over the past 38 years, NIWCYD has been working on the various basic themes of development, viz. livelihood enhancement, community organization, women empowerment, Child Rights and Education, Water and Sanitation, environment, Disaster Management and Coordination & Networking with various stakeholders including government departments.
NIWCYD has played a network role in various programs and has strengthened grassroots level institutions for mobilization of poor people and enabling them to reach out to the govt. programs, meant for the poor. NIWCYD started the work of mobilization of Tribal and rural youth for their participation in rural development. Through this process, the organization has trained more than 2000 tribal and rural youths as the Gramdoots (village Volunteers). These trained youths are working as the cadre in their respective villages for creating awareness among the communities on the various issues they face and also contributing in the development processes and programs. These cadres are also raising the issues of the people at the various appropriate levels such as Gramsabhas, Gram Panchayat and also at the block and district level and working as a bridge between people and local self-government.
NIWCYD has been the part of many networks in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Some of the key networks were the Home Based Neo Natal Care Programme implemented in rural and tribal areas of Maharashtra. The programme focused on the causes and the reasons for the infant mortality, child mortality and maternal mortality in Maharashtra. Through the programme, the local traditional daies were trained to handle the issues related to neo-natal care. It was a model which became very successful and later on was adopted as the ASHA model across India.
During the earthquake in 1997 in Jabalpur, NIWCYD coordinated with around 25 NGOs in Jabalpur under the banner of “Bhukamp Navnirman Samuha”. The group drafted the policy for the rehabilitation of Earthquake victims. Many recommendation of the policy were later on accepted by the Government of Madhya Pradesh for the rehabilitation of earthquake victims.
NIWCYD also spearheaded the Poorest Area Civil Society (PACS) Programme in the network of 9 NGOs in 450 villages of 4 districts of Madhya Pradesh. One of the key highlights of the network was the evolution and establishment of Gramdoot to work as the linkage between the community and the government stakeholders. Presently 2000 Gramdoots are working in the remote and tribal villages of Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.
NIWCYD has also formed the Federations of Women Self-help groups in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. There are 28 registered women federations working mostly in rural and tribal areas. Many of these federations have initiated economic activities. Nearly 6000 women SHGs are the part of these Federations.
NIWCYD has helped around 50000 small and farmers from Mahrashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Uttar Pradesh to get themselves organised in to Famers Producers Organisations. NIWCYD has promoted 50 FPOs in these states. This has helped the small and marginal farmers in developing forward and backward linkages for marketing of the agriculture produce, which has resulted in farmers getting the fair prices.