Riddhi Centre for Studies and Development

Riddhi Centre For Studies & Development is a voluntary social service organization engaged in the development of women and children belonging to the disadvantaged section of the community. The mission of Riddhi is to promote health, education & economic self-dependance for the hapless victims of unfair social order. , The integration of the concern for the wellbeing of women & children into the development agenda is not a new phenomenon. Yet the picture is still very dismal. Cognizant of this fact, a miniscule group of perseverant women teachers of various colleges & schools in Kolkata took the concerted initiative to formally establish Riddhi . Its genesis goes back to 1998. Ever since, it has been working assiduously in the direction of realizing its avowed mission. , In the area of health, Riddhis concern spans the provision of comprehensive, affordable & quality health care to women & children. With this end is view, it seeks to organize regular health checkup , distribution of medicine, deliver prenatal & post natal services to pregnant & lactating women, ensure regular immunization for children & proliferate nutrition & health education data as widely as possible. First it started it services at Bagbazar area of Kolkata with permission of Kolkata Municipal Corporation which was later shifted to Birbhum District of W. B. for improvement of Reproductive & Child Health (RCH). Riddhi has launched it services in Saithia Block of Birbhum in two phases, each consisting of five villages with a population coving over 2500 people. , Children have manifold needs starting form health, nutrition, protection, education & recreation. Riddhi is committed to safeguard the rights of children. To increase the enrollment & retention rate of children at schools, Riddhi emphasized the need to strengthen preschool education. Running of preprimary school in the slum areas of Kolkata as well as in rural Bengal for children for their eventual admission to primary schools, organizing programmes aimed at providing recreational facilities as well as carrying on remedial coaching classes for retention of students at schools are the highlights of Riddhis agenda in education sector. , Economic self-sufficiency & empowerment through sustained employment is perhaps the most efficacious means of social empowerment. Riddhis service in this area include the organization of vocational training programme to develop income generating skills & the provision of help to rural women in forming selp-help groups for micro enterprise, entrepreneurship development & securing micro credit. Birbhum District Rural Development Cell has assigned Saithia Block to Riddhi for the promotion of Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yogona where 217 self-help groups were created. Riddhi aims at convergence of services that is adult literacy, health awareness building & capacity building of women. Riddhi has been appointed by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India as an implementing agency for capacity building of service providers with an aim to develop sustainable rural tourism at Antpur, Hoogly District of West Bengal. , During the span of its existence the ambit of Riddhis activity has widened & the range of its services has registered a study growth.