RISTA’s focus is on Indicators of QPE through building partnership with School & Mass Education (S & ME) and strengthening community led monitoring system. RISTA strongly believes that teachers & context specific teaching learning materials, students & community (SMC and PTA/MTA) and positive school environments play measure roles in QPE. Besides this, through its promotional measuring programs on child rights, RISTA makes aware the target community on UN Convention on Rights Child & Child protection issues, prevention of child marriage, prohibition of child labour, Right to Education, National Education Policy-2020 and early childhood care.
Through school level program, RISTA emphasizing for hand washing and maintaining personal hygiene. RISTA firmly believes that hygiene promotion is behavioural aspect and both water & sanitation are structural aspects like construction of toilet blocks or drilling bore wells. Hygiene awareness is about changing mind sets which should result in behaviour change. Thus, RISTA’s approach is to form & strengthen students’ peer groups where children can play major role as change makers in school as well in the society. RISTA is also focusing to build capacities of children & SMC on WASH through series of meetings & orientation programs in collaboration with teachers & Govt. officials.
RISTA through its Governance literacy programs orienting and making aware the target community on different social security & developmental Govt schemes including MGNREGA and FRA. RISTA is educating the target community on 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act & 3-tier Panchayat Raj systems. Besides this, RISTA’s main thrust area is to identify youth volunteers and train them as change makers. The main roles of the volunteers are to facilitate the target community for formation of CBOs & producers groups and strengthening women collectives. The volunteers also stretching helping hands to community for development of land based participatory planning & community contingency planning under community based disaster preparedness.
RISTA always stands with the flood & cyclone victims in the river catchment & coastal areas and stretches its helping hands. It is natural that cyclone or the cyclonic storms and high winds are originating in the Bay of Bengal in the monsoon & post monsoon months. To add this, sun stroke and heat waves are now natural phenomenon in Odisha due to global warming as well as climate change. RISTA, with its trained volunteers facilitates the disaster prone population to develop their Community Contingency Plannings and village development plans with application of PRA/RRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal or Rapid Rural Appraisal) tools. At the same time, RISTA facilitating the farming community to take some practical action or measures in crop planning, seed selection on the basis of the land & soil pattern and irrigation facilities due to seasonal & climate changes under community based resilience. RISTA, in partnership with GP and other line departments also makes aware the rural community on benefits of plantation in the fallow land.
RISTA always focuses on updating the farming community and orienting them through series of meetings on value addition in a simpler way in the existing farm practices to enhance the production & productivity of the soil. Thus, RISTA emphasizes on replacement of old seeds with new ones or verities, seed treatment, preparation of seed beds, broadcasting sowing the seeds in lines and transplantation seedlings in line & weeding in time at regular intervals. RISTA also facilitating the farming community to develop the crop plans season wise as per the land & soil type and irrigation facilities. RISTA always advocates for organic vegetable cultivation to reduce the expenses and go on crop diversification, if needed. RISTA is trying at its level best through its trained volunteers to facilitate the farmers to be federated under Producer Groups (PGs) & Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs).
RISTA focuses on ideal self help groups with Panch Sutras through its orientation programs on financial literacy under the institution building process and promoting income generating programs among members. RISTA also motivates the mothers groups for raising nurseries & nutri-gardens supported by the Govt of Odisha. In partnership with ICDS and health functionaries at GP level, RISTA makes aware the women collectives on prevention of Child labour & harmful practices of child marriage, issues related to gender discrimination & sex selective abortion and orients the WSHGs on gender rights, harmful impact of domestic violence and Gender Based violence.
Every year, RISTA organizes special events to make aware the target community on communicable and Non-Communicable diseases through observation of health related important days like World Cancer Day, World TB Day, World Health Day, World Diabetes Day, World AIDS Day.
Learning: -The sudden outbreak of ‘biological disaster COVID-19 pandemic in the last quarter of FY 2019-20 affected badly the lives & livelihood of the people, not only in Odisha but also across the world. It was unprecedented by nature and impacted the socio-economic condition & health situation of the entire humanity. No doubt, it was a new challenge for us, but at the same time it has taught/train us on how to deal with & face such extraordinary situation with great patience. And this was a new challenge for us to fight against it and to explore opportunities for living on. During this emergency & critical situation, RISTA was making aware the community on preventive measures, such as maintaining social distancing & proper hand washing. RISTA, with its own limited resources, distributed low cost masks and helped the community people for online registration of their names via Arogya setu app and CO-WIN website to be vaccinated with Covid-19 vaccines (Covaxin & Covishield).
Miscellaneous: – RISTA has been observing International Volunteer Day and rewarding the best volunteers every year. Apart from this, every year, RISTA celebrates Human Rights day, Labour day, National youth day, International Women’s day & International Girl Child day & Girl Child day of India, National Panchayt Raj day, Kisan diwas, World Environment day and Habitat & Nature Day, World Earth Day and Disaster Reduction day