VW Charitable Trust - Responsible Holidays

Village Ways Charitable Trust

The trust enables the last mile rural communities of the remote mountainous areas of Uttarakhand to access preventive and primary health care.

The Trust

Though Village Ways is a social enterprise with responsibility and sustainability at its heart it was important to us to reach out further. In 2008 a separate Charitable Trust was established to run alongside the village tourism enterprises to offer further important charitable assistance to remote villages.The Village Ways Charitable Trust is then a separate organisation, run by its board of trustees and is a not for profit organisation registered under the Indian Trusts Act 1882.
Leading with a vast network of trained grassroots level cadre, the Trust enables the last mile rural communities of the remote mountainous areas of Uttarakhand to access preventive and primary health care.

What the trust Does

Over the years, the Trust has been working to empower families, especially women, located in remote rural areas with health care knowledge to encourage adoption of healthy behaviour and reduce risk of diseases and malnutrition and thus bring change in health status at the level of individual and community. To ensure comprehensive primary health care, the Trust also enables primary health services in these remote areas through sophisticated and sustainable telemedicine solutions.

Where the trust works

Project areas includes Betalghat, Ramgarh and Dhari blocks in Nainital district and remote mountainous areas of Saryu and Pindar Valleys in Bageshwar
district and Ramgarh and Dhari blocks in Nainital district. The trust also works in Narsan and Khanpur blocks of Haridwar district.

why the trust choose these sites

The remote mountainous rural areas of Uttarakhand, having a scattered population, lack proper access to doctors and quality primary healthcare. Lack of connectivity with towns due to difficult terrain, lack of road and limited access to public transport has inhibited exposure to preventive healthcare knowledge and health services. In the light of such grave constraints, VWCT seeks to enable comprehensive primary health care services in the heart of such last mile communities.

OUR FLAGSHIP PROGRAMS

Delivering preventive health awareness

VWCT worked with BSR (Business Social Responsibility) initially to develop the Tulsi Network model. Working relentlessly on women’s health issues, Tulsi Network is based on mobilizing women from within the communities to act volunteers and change agents for their 20
neighbourhood households. The volunteers are trained on how to educate their peers and their
families to bring sustained behaviour change and lead them towards improved health outcomes, good hygiene, nutrition, menstrual health, sanitation and importance of seeking timely healthcare for disease prevention.

TULSI TELE-HEALTH CARE - IMPROVING ACCESS TO PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

Our telehealth clinics, set up at grassroots level, is staffed by trained health assistants, chosen from within the community, ensuring a deep understanding of local needs and customs. Using tab-based software, these clinics connect patients with experienced doctors for medical advice and consultation remotely, ensuring that even the most isolated communities have access to quality medical care. Beyond consultations, our health assistants educate patients on preventive healthcare measures, empowering them to lead healthier lifestyles and prevent diseases before they occur.

Mobile units are set up as community health desks (CHDs)

MOBILE COMMUNITY HEALTH DESKS (CHDS)

Tulsi Health Assistants visit remote villages at vantage points, as per prefixed schedule, to connect patients living in remote rural mountainous areas with the doctors at the backend through a web-based communication system and provide primary diagnostics. It tremendously helps vulnerable groups such as elderly people with limited mobility, women and children, especially pregnant and lactating mothers to easily access quality primary health services right at the village.

TRUST MISSION

The trust mission is to bring comprehensive and sustainable primary healthcare to the doorstep of the last mile marginalized communities of mountainous state of Uttarakhand to ensure improved health status. In order to realize this mission, our flagship programs seek to

Equip the youth of the remote rural communities with skill sets and resources for improved community health outcomes in a sustainable manner.

Encourage the community to take collective ownership of improving the health status at individual, household and community level

Motivate people and communities to practice healthy living and improve socio-economic status by reducing out of pocket expenditure on treatment.

Promoting quality access to health services through telemedicine and improving health care seeking behaviour at individual and community level.

OUR FOUNDERS

Founded by founding members of Village Ways and luminaries of the country including Ms Anita Lal (Creative Director- Goodearth), Mr Pramod Bhasin (Founder and CEO– Genpact, Founder and Chairman- Clix Capital), Dr Vandana Lal (Executive Director- Dr Lal Pathlabs), Mr Rahul Kohli (renowned Pranic Healing Master) and led by Managing Trustee, Mrs Ratnamala Kapur (Founder Director- Village Ways Charitable Trust).