Once Bapu thought of a welfare society where one can get astandard living but it remained a dream. And to fulfil the noble wish of Gandhiand motivated with the ideology of Sister Nibedita Purulia District AgragamiMahila O SisuMangal Samiti (Purulia Agragami) was formed in 1992 by agroup of enthusiastic, hardworking women and now it has completed 25 years ofdevelopment service. From the initial stage of ActionProgram started in aremote area in Purulia district bordering Jharkhand state, Purulia Agragami isnow working at Purulia, Bankura, West Medinipur & Birbhumdistrict of WestBengal. The Organization has initiated a multi-pronged developmentalapproach covering areas of Health & Hygiene, Nutrition, Water &Sanitation, Education, Micro Credit, women empowerment, preventive health,imparting different training programme, encouraging small entrepreneurship forself-reliance etc. to stand side by side of rural people to help them havefaith in themselves, manifest and develop their leadership potentials thusdeveloping the confidence to make communities self-propelling &self-supporting.The intervention of PDAMSMS has been cementing the gaps with the tiringefforts at the different tires of the community for socio-economic enhancement.The organization looks forward to unfolding the activities by serving humankindwith devotion and sustained efforts.
The motto of this non – government organization is the totalupliftment of the society(especially the all-round development of children andwomen of the remote villages)
Board Objectives :
To develop and implement programs so that we can :
i)Assist and indigent get quality healthcare; ii)Provide Health Education; iii)Supportyoungsters in rural areas to get, opportunities for skill development and lively-hood & iv)Protect and empower Women & Child Rights
Development of Livelihood resource base through Natural ResourceManagement and Human Resources development emphasizing optimum use of localresources, strengthening the capacity of the community and utilizing differentgovernment and on-government developmental projects. Addressing the issuesrelated to Water & Sanitation, Health, Nutrition, Education, IncomeGeneration, child marriage, human trafficking and violence against womenthrough awareness, campaign and legal support. Transparent andAccountable Governance through Community mobilization, Rights education, Knowledgeand skill-building, Preventive and promotive health services through people’seducation, streamlining of service delivery and creation of communitycadres
AGRAGAMI always carries these following values to achieve itsmission and objectives
Teamwork – AGRAGAMI believes in Teamworkand has been giving importance to act as a Team in decision making,implementation and excitation of works.
Transparency – AGRAGAMIhas been maintaining transparency in all its works and Records for public andCommunity.
Community Participation – AGRAGAMIhas been ensuring participation of the community in the planning, execution andimplementation of its programs.
Gender Justice – AGRAGAMIrespects and gives equal opportunity to women and creates an environment forGender Justice.
Respect to Community Value – AGRAGAMI alwaysgives respect the Community Values of Natural living thoughts, culture and the tradition for social harmony and traditional knowledge related to nature.
Protection of Constitutional values and rights – AGRAGAMI gives importance to protect the values related tosecularism, communal harmony, Sovereignty and democracy and creates awarenessto perform citizens’ duty to protect Constitutional values.
AGRAGAMI is a team of strong and vibrant development activists, experiencedand dedicated workers, professionals and intellectuals. The ratio of womenworkers is nearly 50%, whereas above 90% of workers are from the district andworking area. AGRAGAMI alwaysemphasizes to develop the skills and capacity of the worker through training,workshop and exposures.
AGRAGAMI’s field operations are organized under different projects intheir respective areas of implementation. It has four broad wings i.e.Programme, Administration, Accounts and Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.
The Secretary issupported by Executive Director, Programme Coordinators, and Finance Officer.Programme Coordinators are supported by Field Supervisors and Field levelWorkers. Governing Body of the Organisation are Activists with representationfrom different social groups supported by Advisory Team Members with DevelopmentProfessionals.
Agragami has set forth and establishedHolisticDevelopment Approach (HDA) as a means of achieving its developmentgoals and activities. It is t6he principal strategy of Agragami. HolisticDevelopment approach is a participatory development approach involving andactivating both the stakeholders and the beneficiaries’ development partners.Agragamiconsiders a holistic development approach as the most appropriatestrategy for sustainable developments of the beneficiaries. Agragami’s program interventions are developed or designed in the line with Millennium Development Goals(MDGs)and with the current transition to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for addressing the priority issues like health, water and sanitation, women and child development, etc. of the beneficiaries.
AGRAGAMI has undergone growthin terms of expansion of geographical area and programmatic intervention duringthe last 25 years. Its engagement with the community encompasses broad sectoralinterventions such as: Natural Resource Management, Livelihood Promotion,Advocacy for the rights of the weaker sections, Prevention of child marriage andal type of violence against women, Health, Governance, Education and YouthMobilization for VoluntaryAction. The Field operation of the Organization isspread across all 12 blocks& Jhalda Municipality of Purulia District, 6Blocks and 2 Municipality of Bankura District, and all the12 Blocks &Municipalities of Paschim Medinipur District of West Bengal.
Grassroots mobilization, communityparticipation,community-led targeting process local government involvement for transparent implementation and participatory assessment
Agragamigives high priority on good Governance, Accountabilityand Transparencyoperating according to the approved constitution of theOrganization. It has a two-tier structure namely 1) General body and 2)Governing body. The general body comprises a group of social-minded women. Thegeneral body consisting of 21Members hold at least one general meeting annuallyin a transparent and democratic process. The General body approves all theactivities of the Governing Body. The General body members elect 9 membersGoverning body after every alternative 3 years. The Governing body is thesupreme authority to frame policies, guidelines and decision to run theOrganization. The Governing Body members continually contributing toOrganizational growth and development by providing their valuable advice andsuggestions in the formulation of policies and guidelines. The GB holds at leastfour meetings in a year.