Agnimitra Boruah

DRISHTEE

Drishtee is a social organisation working with rural communities in 6000 villages across India, we have an extensive presence in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, with few initiatives in parts of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Orissa, M.P., Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and other North Eastern states. Drishtee aims to develop and nurture 500,000 sustainable rural enterprises in the next 5 years, the partnership is with local communities and in collaboration with other stakeholders. To accomplish the objective of formation of enterprises Drishtee requires to play the role of a facilitator for community building within the villages, this entails a continuous and holistic understanding of rural landscape for sustainable development of enterprises and possibilities of forging partnerships. Approach: Progress and development of villages is possible only when families realise and accept the value (intangible & tangible) of coming together as a community for fulfilling their basic common needs. It is important that they recognise that their economic unsustainability may have external influence but the core of the solution lies in their aggregation. Drishtee is relying on the willingness of rural families to commit, invest, and contribute towards this common cause of unification and working towards their own empowerment. When the village embarks on the path of organising themselves, the focus is on identifying their core needs, existing skill set and resource requirements. These would be broadly – capacity needs (training &development, design, management, planning & structuring) , capital needs (human capital, financial ) and channel needs ( marketing , networking , linkages ) for accessing global markets. Drishtee analysis these needs and connects with relevant stakeholders such as local government, civil society organisations and CSR of large corporations seeking partnership support on behalf of the community organisations. Sectors Addressed: Agriculture and allied services Apparel Construction Beauty and Wellness Banking and Finance Tourism and Hospitality Plumbing Handicrafts IT. Vision: Drishtee envisions a world where all communities are empowered to achieve shared prosperity. Mission: To facilitate development of rural community organizations and delivery of business services to demonstrate a model of sustainable living on the planet. *Community Organisation: An organised & registered collective of groups, where members are open to share resources & responsibilities in order to achieve sustainable common well being