Nath and Nath

are self-employed on daily income basis. It is therefore obvious from the above

data that there is ample scope to take initiatives for sustainable human research

development.

Contribution of SNEHPAD in the field of Human Research and Development

The contribution of SNEHPAD in the field of human research development is

enormous. The NGO selects the village, identifies the areas for research, conducts

baseline survey for appraising the resources and needs. Interview schedule

is framed in connection to the selected areas of research. Data is collected and

analysed and an implementation model is developed on the basis of analysis. So

here in the Sonowal village, the NGO has identified 19 broad headings namely

Annual Income, Health, Nutrition and Food habits, Energy Sources, Cooking

Procedure, Resource – Biomass, Resource – Water, Resource- Soil, Vegetation,

Waste, Non-farm Skill, Market, Communication, Education System, Forestry

Products, Agricultural Development, Livestock and Animal, Transportation

System and Disaster Management, with an objective to determine and analyse the

local needs, local resources available and action plan to bridge the gaps through

positive efforts.

Table 1. Findings of the village survey

Broad Headings

Findings

The average income of the people of the area is much below

Annual Income

the national average in terms of per capita income.

The problems related to health are either lack of

information and awareness, or shortage in some of the basic

Health Issue

infrastructures needed for living. In particular, the problems

are related with Drinking water, Sanitation and Cooking

Procedure.

Due to their low levels of income, certain families cannot

Nutrition

and

Food

even afford two square meals a day. Another major problem

habits

is that the maximum number of families does not have their

own cultivable lands.

As more than 50% families of the area do not have access

Energy Sources

to electricity, the available bio-mass resources are exploited

by them.

Almost all the people of the area use traditional chullas for

cooking and a large amount of energy is wasted. Lack of

Cooking Procedure

public awareness in terms of efficient and hygienic means of

cooking is also an important matter of energy waste.

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