Vereinigung Junger FreiwilligerIndien (MTV)
Office hours: 09.30 AM to 05.30 PM
ORGANISATIONAL PROFILE
Rural Centre for Human Interests (known as RUCHI, which means 'interest' in Hindi) came into being as a non-profit, voluntary organization in October 1980, set up in the Himalayan foothills of the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, INDIA. RUCHI is legally registered under Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860.
Presently, RUCHI head office is located in a new complex called the Technology Resource Centre (TRC). The office a centre of technology transfer came into force, in the year 1994 as an extension program of CAPART, of the Ministry of Rural Development. The objective is to promote, develop and modify the rural technologies. Situated in the hills of Solan district in Bandh village, this centre has been the hub of all activities.
RUCHI has focused through the years on promoting sustainable anthropocentric development through empowerment - by providing assistance and technical support to the underprivileged, showing them the way to minimize dependence and thus attain a better life - rather than just through charity. RUCHI's founders felt there was a need for a committed workforce to initiate the process of development at the grassroots level, encouraging individual and community participation in the process.
Although Bandh is unlikely to be located on any atlas/map, it was added to WikiMapia in 2007 by a TOTEM
volunteer (www.wikimapia.org/#y=30958916&x=76917300&z=15&l=0&m=h&v=2). Nearby towns that may be
found on a common atlas/map include Kasauli, Chandigarh and Solan. The latter two are approximately two
hours drive from the main RUCHI complex, while Kasauli is closer. The local area is very hilly, with
spectacular views across valleys dotted with villages and terraced farmland. The RUCHI complex is located
at an altitude of 900 metres. You can also check it up on google map at
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=31.061169,76.834259&spn=0.289978,0.479965&z=11. Bandh village
is only 5 kms from the visible place Patta.
STRUCTURE
RUCHI has authorized an Executive Director for day to day administration. Over and above this the management of RUCHI rests with a Governing Body comprised of six members, each of whom is elected for a term of two years. RUCHI employs 22 full-time staff.
RUCHI firmly believes in team work and 'people power'. It fosters a team environment and has a base of experienced, hardworking and dedicated staff members who combine their skills, knowledge and experience to achieve the goals outlined above. Now more than ever before, RUCHI has long- and short-term volunteers participating in the programme, injecting fresh ideas and knowledge into the strong long-term employee base.
Places of interest near the projects:
1. Solan District: (Projects from 1 to 5)
* Kasauli hill station
* Old temples of Haripur and Johar ji in the project area
* Chandigarh city designed by a French Architect (65 kms)
* Shimla (the retreat centre for British Army during British rule - 80 kms)
2. Sirmour District: (Projects No. 6 & 8)
* Churdhar trek: 8 hours trek to teach old temple at 12400 ft above MSL
* Fagu valley famous for Asia's best peaches
* Thod-Muth: 700 years old ancient temple
* Lion Safari: At Renuka lake. It is touristic place and offers boating as well.
* Giri River passes through the project area
* Baru Sahib: Largest Sikh temple with an engineering college and a school.
3. Kangra District: (Project No. 7)
* Dharamshala is a Touristic place
* Tibetan Government Secretariat is located there in Mcleodganj and The Dalai Lama lives there
* Old Kangra Fort
* 3 famous ancient Hindu Goddess temples of Jawala Mukhi, Kangra and Chamunda Devi
* Golden Temple in Punjab (5 hours by bus)
RUCHI Bandh (Solan) office
Description of Middle & Long Term Projects:
General:
* Volunteers can stay as long as they want up to a maximum of one year. The minimum period of staying is one month,
* Volunteers will be involved in the ongoing humanitarian projects of RUCHI,
* Volunteers will have to follow the organization rules and culture and work with other staff as a team,
* Except dedication and commitment to a social cause to help rural communities, no special skills are required,
* Volunteers have to take care of their own travel costs and bear all personal expenses during free time.
* Volunteers have to be 18 years or older
* Living conditions will be simple.
* Volunteers must have a good conduct and be willing to understand and respect local as well each others culture.
* Volunteers must be prepared to live in harmony with others and work as a team.
* Personal Insurance is the responsibility of the volunteers themselves.
* Because of ongoing humanitarian projects at RUCHI, this programme is open all year round and you may join any time.
* Alcohol drinking and smoking is not encouraged in public and villages.
MLTV:
We encourage volunteers to apply and contribute to international youth exchange and community development through Medium and Long term placements of durations varying between 4 weeks to 24 weeks. From our past experience we have realized that majority of volunteers have opted for a placement of 12 weeks at RUCHI. This is a period when one feels comfortable and content to have really contributed to a cause with some visible results.
PARTICIPATION FEE: The participation fees are as follows:
a. For one/first month stay - 250 Euro.
b. For each additional month - 200 Euro
(The fee will be used for living expenses (accommodation, gas, water, electricity, food) and for materials used in projects/activities. Also some part of the fee will be used for administration and support).
How the Volunteers' contribution is spent:
The contribution received from a volunteer is roughly spent as follows:
a) Food and accommodation and local travel of volunteer- 35%
b) Administration, hospitality and promotion - 35%
c) Exigencies - 10%
d) Works (community projects) in villages - 20%
Though volunteers are welcome to join us any time of the year in the ongoing projects of RUCHI, a few period specific projects for MLTVs are described below to choose from:
Project No. RC-MTV1: 2nd April - 24th June 2010
No. of volunteers: 2
Age: 21+
Location: Baddi- Sandholi village (Solan)
Placement: Placement is offered for 3 months.
Type of project: Education
Work: One volunteer will be involved in non-formal education of children. We are running an education centre in a village for the children of slum dwellers in the age group 6-14 years who mainly pick up trashes for a living. The focus of education here is on social aspects. The idea is to make education interesting and fruitful to them and encourage them to join formal schools subsequently.
The other volunteer will be involved in health and sanitation education in the same area and work with youth workers and community leaders to develop health educational activities for their well being. He will work on raising awareness on various health issues and wherever possible in seeking solutions as well.
The project where both volunteers will be placed is a 18 months project and we shall be happy to have continuity from volunteers. That means once a batch of volunteers leave the other batch can join the project where previous volunteers left and continue with actions.
Initial orientation to volunteers will be provided at RUCHI office.
Accommodation: This will be simple in the village and a room will be shared by 2-3 volunteers. We shall provide mattresses but the volunteers are required to bring their own bed sheet and sleeping bags.
Food: Food offered will be simple authentic Indian vegetarian and freshly cooked. Three meals a day will be served. Cooking will be done jointly by volunteers. Volunteers are free to cook meals of their country choice on every Sunday.
Project No. RC-MTV2: April - December 2010
No. of volunteers: 1
Age: 18+
Location: Bhogpur village (Solan)
Placement: Placement is offered for 3 to 6 months.
Joining dates: 2nd April to 24th June 2010
5th July to 28th September 2010 and
5th October to 28th December 2010
Type of project: Environment
Work: This village is water scarce. RUCHI has been successful in raising funds from Rotary International, New Zealand to make this village a model Rain Water Village and use all possible ways to harvest every drop of water. Administratively, the project will be completing in October but the educational and organizational aspects with back up support from RUCHI will continue for at least 2 years. The volunteers will be involved in environmental education in the village, train them in use and maintenance of built up structures.
Initial orientation to volunteers will be provided at RUCHI office. Volunteer with environmental or civil engineering background is preferable but not essential.
Accommodation: This will be simple and shared by 2-3 volunteers. Toilets are not available in the villages and hence they will be staying in RUCHI complex accommodation with basic amenities. The project area is 9 kms from the office and public transport will be used for accessibility. We shall provide mattresses but the volunteers are required to bring their own bed sheets, sleeping bags and personal toiletries.
Food: Food offered will be simple authentic Indian vegetarian and freshly cooked. Three meals a day will be served. Cooking will be done jointly by volunteers. Volunteers are free to cook meals of their country choice on every Sunday.
Project No. RC-MTV3: April 2010 - April 2012
No. of volunteers: 2
Age: 18+
Location: Jadla panchayat (Solan)
Placement: Placement is offered for 3 months to up to one year.
Joining dates: 5th of Every Month
Type of project: Environment
Work: Both the volunteers will be involved in environmental education in the same area and work with youth workers and community leaders to develop activities for the development and management of natural resources. They will work on raising awareness on various environmental issues and wherever possible in seeking solutions as well. This is a mountain area where people are purely dependent on agriculture for a living. However, due to shortage of water and small terraces on sloppy land do not allow for enough production for their round the year sustainability. The project was designed to work on these issues and volunteers are required to work with RUCHI team and local people to address some of them.
The project where both volunteers will be placed is a 36 months project and we shall be happy to have continuity from volunteers. That means once a batch of volunteers leave the other batch can join the project where previous volunteers left and continue with actions.
Initial orientation to volunteers will be provided at RUCHI office.
Accommodation: This will be simple and shared by 2-3 volunteers. Toilets are not available in the villages and hence they will be staying in RUCHI complex accommodation with basic amenities. The project area is 15 kms from the office and public transport will be used for accessibility. We shall provide mattresses but the volunteers are required to bring their own bed sheets, sleeping bags and personal toiletries.
Food: Food offered will be simple authentic Indian vegetarian and freshly cooked. Three meals a day will be served. Cooking will be done jointly by volunteers. Volunteers are free to cook meals of their country choice on every Sunday.
Project No. RC-MTV4: 1st April 2010 to 31st December 2010
No. of volunteers: 3
Age: 21+
Location: Bandh village (Solan)
Placement: Placement is offered for 3-5 months.
Type of project: Old Age
Work: All the volunteers will be working with elderly people above 60 years of age. Many of them are 80+ and disable. RUCHI is supporting and sponsored 128 such elderly people. The main work will be to work closely with these people and help them psychologically for well being. Besides social and economic activities for these grans they will work with them to plan cultural activities and ensure that they live a life of dignity.
Initial orientation to volunteers will be provided at RUCHI office.
Accommodation: This will be simple and shared by 2-3 volunteers. The project area is 25 villages spread over 10 kms in a direction from the office and public transport will be used for accessibility. RUCHI being the central location for the project, volunteers will be staying in RUCHI campus. All bare minimum basic amenities are available at RUCHI. We shall provide mattresses but the volunteers are required to bring their own bed sheets, sleeping bags and personal toiletries.
Food: Food offered will be simple authentic Indian vegetarian and freshly cooked. Three meals a day will be served. Cooking will be done jointly by volunteers. Volunteers are free to cook meals of their country choice on every Sunday.
Project No. RC-MTV5: February 2010 - March 2011
No. of volunteers: 2
Age: 21+
Location: RUCHI office in Bandh village (Solan)
Placement: Placement is offered for 3-6 months.
Joining dates: 5th of Every Month
Type of project: Capacity Building
Work: 2 volunteers are required as a part of organizational capacity building. RUCHI is located in a remote village and hence we do not get highly qualified or specialized people who are willing to work with us on part time basis.
One volunteer is required for general administration of organization and be involved with correspondence, writing reports and help the Director manage day to day activities. In free time, he will be required to go to villages also along with other team members and learn and contribute.
Another volunteer, preferably with accounting software knowledge, is required to help data entry and maintain accounts. He will also be training other RUCHI staff/volunteers in the data entry work and basic use of excel etc..
Initial orientation to volunteers will be provided at RUCHI office.
Accommodation: This will be simple and shared by 2-3 volunteers. Both volunteers will be staying in RUCHI complex accommodation with basic amenities. We shall provide mattresses but the volunteers are required to bring their own bed sheets, sleeping bags and personal toiletries.
Food: Food offered will be simple authentic Indian vegetarian and freshly cooked. Three meals a day will be served. Cooking will be done jointly by volunteers. Volunteers are free to cook meals of their country choice on every Sunday.
Project No. RC-MTV7: During March 2010 to March 2011
No. of volunteers: 2
Age: 21+
Location: Dharamsala (Kangra District)
Placement: Placement is offered for 3-6 months.
Joining dates: Every 30th of a month round the year
Type of project: Capacity Building
Work: 2 volunteers are required as a part of organizational capacity building for sustainable development. There are many visitors/tourists who visit Dharamshala which is on the international tourist map because of the residence and secretariat of the Tibetan spiritual leader, The Dalai Lama. RUCHI has decided to promote its TOTEM Volunteers Programme in this new area.
Two volunteers are required to work as a team, make a study of the potentialities of the programme in this area and help us promote and market it to raise additional funds for community development activities. In additional to that they will also be helping us creating awareness of people on environmental issues, teach young children in pre-education centre and implement other projects.
Initial orientation to volunteers will be provided at RUCHI office.
Accommodation: This will be simple and shared by 2-3 volunteers. Both volunteers will be staying in RUCHI complex accommodation with basic amenities. The accommodation in the village is located at the outskirt of Dharamshala town. This is very well connected by public transport and evenings and week ends can be spent at Mcleodganj (Dharamshala) which is only 10 minutes by bus. We shall provide mattresses but the volunteers are required to bring their own bed sheets, sleeping bags and personal toiletries.
Food: Food offered will be simple authentic Indian vegetarian and freshly cooked. Three meals a day will be served. Cooking will be done jointly by volunteers. Volunteers are free to cook meals of their country choice on every Sunday.
Project No. RC-MTV8: 1st October 2010 to 25th December 2010
No. of volunteers: 1
Age: 18+
Location: Mangan village (Sirmour -Rajgarh)
Placement: Placement is offered for upto 3 months .
Work: The village is situated at a height of 1000 meters above MSL and is located in a valley near a river. This is the time when nursery is prepared and saplings are readied. The volunteer will work on farm/poly green house and fill up poly bags, plant seeds, prepare beds and tender the saplings for transferring them to farms/orchards in February.
Initial orientation to volunteers will be provided at RUCHI office.
Accommodation: The volunteer will be staying with a host family. This will be simple and shared by 2-3 volunteers. We shall provide mattresses but the volunteers are required to bring their own bed sheet and sleeping bags.
Food: Food offered will be simple authentic Indian vegetarian and freshly cooked. Three meals a day will be served. Cooking will be done jointly by volunteers. Volunteers are free to cook meals of their country choice on every Sunday.
