SAHEE is an NGO working on health, education, environment and employment for people in rural areas of the States of Bihar and Jharkhand in India. All work is with the local communities.

Health: Access to local, timely and good quality general healthcare is greatly lacking in rural India. Of the total expenditure on health in India, 50% is spent on specialised hospital based care. The government also has schemes for immunisation and institutional deliveries, some facilities for maternal and child care, and to a lesser extent for nutrition. There are hardly any low-cost good quality services available for looking after general health, chronic illnesses and long term health conditions. This lack contributes to enormous suffering which can be avoided by taking certain practical measures.

SAHEE has developed an algorithm based Android App for Tablets to be used by Community Care Providers who will be trained to provide systematic support to people so that they can take better care of themselves for prevention and care of minor and chronic health problems. A key feature of the App is to help people separate serious health problems requiring urgent medical attention from minor and chronic problems which can be taken care of by simple advice and commonly used over the counter allopathic, ayurvedic, herbal or homeopathic medicines but about which people may not have adequate knowledge. The App also aims to provide the public with information on self care to help them prevent ill health and promote good health habits. For example, poor hygiene and bad habits such as putting sticks and pins in ears to remove wax are causing ear infection otitis externa amongst children as well as adults, and this seems to be one of the commonest illnesses found in rural Bihar and Jharkhand. Ear wax actually protects the ear from getting infected. Otitis externa can be dangerous and can progress to middle ear and subsequently inner ear problems, which can lead to permanent hearing loss. SAHEE aims to prevent such avoidable infections and stop any existing infections from progressing. The new cadre of Community Care Providers will be available in each locality and will work towards prevention of illness and promotion of good general health such that people are able to look after themselves better without unnecessarily having to run to distant doctors or specialised hospitals wasting precious money. The Community Care Providers will also be trained to assess needs in the areas for sanitation, drinking water, drainage and recycling of disposable items.

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Education: Access to education in rural Bihar and Jharkhand has recently seen significant developments. However, there is substantial need for education to help develop citizens with strong moral values. SAHEE has developed value based stories for children. Sessions are held to tell stories to children and they are also trained to tell stories to each other in order to develop their ability to be creative and confident while inculcating traditional ethical values so that going into adulthood their thinking and action are driven by these values. Engaging children in communication through story telling also develops their ability to communicate effectively with confidence. SAHEE also aims to set up small libraries for children in the villages drawing on the vast selection available from value based stories from India's diverse traditions as well as from other countries.

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Environment: SAHEE aims to establish projects for recycling of disposable plastic and other solid items and composting of bio-degradable leftover items to help clean up and prevent any ensuing illness in some of the rural areas and small towns of Bihar and Jharkhand. Work is continuing in Jharkhand on watershed development to prevent soil erosion and water runoff and production of biogas for cooking and cottage industry uses.

During the lockdowns in COVID pandemic (2020-22) in partnership with Goonj., SAHEE provided employment for a period of 2 years to hundreds of people who had returned home from cities, engaging them in building water harvesting structures on their own farmlands to reduce rainwater run-off, prevent soil erosion, improve groundwater percolation and increase soil fertility, thus protecting the environment and raising the water table in these areas.

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Employment: Poverty is one of the major determinants of health and the consequent malnutrition and low weight of children is well documented. The WHO World Health Report (2002) and other research evidence clearly indicate that malnutrition and resulting low weight is the underlying cause of 50 to 60% of deaths among children in India. Of all States in India, Bihar has the highest proportion of underweight children (58%), compared to the national average of 46%. The proportion of women in Bihar and Jharkhand with low BMI is 40% and with iron deficiency and anaemia is 67% which is the highest in India. Improving earning capacity for the unemployed and under-employed by creating local employment will help address these issues.

One of key activities of SAHEE has been to create employment opportunities in rural Bihar and Jharkhand by initiating small scale industrial units owned and run by the rural people including production of healthy nutritional food snacks; production of small solar lamps and cookers to support household needs for light and fuel; replace harmful crops such as tobacco by equally if not more lucrative cash crops such as bamboo and other suitable horticulture. People are also employed in water purification and water harnessing projects for augmenting provision of water for drinking as well as agriculture.

During the lockdowns in COVID pandemic (2020-22) in the villages of Jharkhand, with support from Goonj. SAHEE distributed tons of grains, cooking oil, blankets and related commodities to households of workers who had returned home having lost their jobs in the cities. SAHEE also organised and facilitated the return home of workers to their families during these dire times.

Our other employment generating activities include involving the local people in construction of buildings with rammed earthen walls which require very little cement but which at the same time can last 100 years. In addition we have been involving the communities in production of different shapes and sizes of compressed stabilised earth blocks (CSEB) which are earthen bricks dried and hardened in the Sun and which do not require to be burned in a bhatta (kiln). There is clear evidence that firing bricks causes emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. All of the soil organic carbon present in preburned bricks is combusted and emitted as carbon dioxide during the brick firing process. Our method completely eliminates this process. Moreover, the soil we collect for producing earth blocks does not use the top soil, whereas the conventional burned brick preparation involves using the top soil rich in clay and organic matter, leading to considerable degradation of fertile soil depleting it of nutrients and reducing agricultural productivity. Our brick producing method will conserve the precious top soil and help sustain the environment in more ways than one. To see a video of CSEB being produced by SAHEE in Jharkhand, please contact us. The double block as well as the round CSEB are being well appreciated in the region. CSEB production area of SAHEE is made of our own round blocks.

In the years to come, SAHEE aims to reach a significant proportion of the underprivileged in environmentally sustainable and productive endeavours, raising their income levels while protecting the environment.

SAHEE contact details:    Mobile: +91 9958285624     eMail: sahee@sahee.net     Website: www.sahee.net