CHAUPAL

The following is the nature of Chaupal's work:

Village Level Committees Monitoring Food and Health Programmes
Village level committees have been formed in all the villages where Chaupal has been working. These committees monitor the various state-run food and health programmes, and identify gaps. They also act as resources for building awareness on these isues.

Village to District Level Collective Action on Gaps and Problems
The committees access grievance redressal on any problems or gaps, from the village level to the district level. The Gram Sabha is used to register any such complaint.

Mobilizations at the Block/District Level based on Emerging Issues
The organizations facilitate mobilization of people at block/district level on emerging concurrent issues which has bearing on them through community level meeting, workshops and conventions. One of the significant aspects has been training of communities on filing of RTI applications which highlights discrepancies in delivery of government services.

People’s Rights Support Centers (Jan Adhikar Sahyog Kendras)
Chaupal has established ‘Jan Adhikar Sahyog Kendras’ [ People’s Rights Support Centers] for generating awareness on basic rights of people and extending support in addressing grievances.
 
Community Action on Livelihoods and Nutrition
Chaupal encourages community-based action in areas of livelihoods and nutrition. Increasing access of communities to natural and technical resources for their livelihoods, through work on the Forest Rights Act and System of Rice Intensification has been the mainstay of Chaupal’s work on livelihoods. In Nutrition Chaupal is part of the Action Against Malnutrition network.

Engaging with Larger Campaigns
Chaupal and its core members are associated with several state and national level campaigns since its inception such as Right to Food and Work Campaign, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan [People’s Health Movement] and Right to information.

Research and Documentation
Chaupal engages in conducting field researches to document and highlight critical issues for advocacy. It also participates in larger research studies in order to evolve more people-friendly mechanisms.

Capacity Building of Community Based Organisations
Chaupal frequently conducts workshops and trainings to build capacities of CBOs in the state on issues of right to food and health, forest rights, right to information and gender. It also provides field level assistance to CBOs carry out activities in their project areas.

Policy Advocacy
The field surveys, community dialogue, programme data as well as other research studies helps to understand the situation of various programmes in the concerned districts and blocks. This forms the core for policy advocacy which aims to bring in positive reforms in state-run schemes and legal provisions which are inclusive and equitable in character and are pro-poor.