Project RISHI

Project RISHI (Rural India Social & Health Improvement) is a student run non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the sustainable development and growth of rural Indian communities. Currently, our chapter works in a village called Bharog Baneri in Himachal Pradesh, India on initiatives that include: rainwater harvesting, education, health camps, and women's empowerment.

We are currently expanding our existing projects to make a bigger impact on our 2019 India Trip, and we would love to get support to implement the following:

Rainwater Harvesting

• The funds for rainwater harvesting will go towards our rainwater catchment systems materials. This includes pipes, tanks, power tools, and informational guides. This is our most expensive project because we need to purchase the materials for each house.

Education

• Education is working to provide information and resources for post secondary education opportunities. This will include hosting a panel with working professionals to discuss different career avenues and distributing pamphlets for a tangible resource that students can refer to. Remaining funds from this event will go to teacher learning materials that are given to primary schools.​

Women’s Empowerment

• The funds allotted for our Women’s Empowerment project group will be directed towards the organization of a women’s health camp that will be held in Bharog Baneri. This camp will involve inviting health care professionals and doctors to speak to local women to better inform them about health issues that may be affecting them.

Health:

• The funds allotted for our Health project group will be directed towards the organization of local cancer screenings and implementing a telemedicine system in Bharog Baneri. The telemedicine system involves ensuring the technological capacity of the village’s local centers (such as the computer lab at the school) on top of funding remaining telemedicine infrastructure, such as necessary software.

Our crowdfunding budget breakdown is as follows:

Project RISHI Berkeley is excited to bring our passion for rural sustainable development to upcoming projects in Bharog Baneri this summer. At RISHI, making a difference is rooted in learning about other communities and listening to them rather than imposing our own vision. With your help, we as a community can work towards empowering others and confront the challenges that Bharog Baneri faces.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our Director of Fundraising at srividhyashanker@berkeley.edu or send us a message on our social media platforms:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ucbprojectrishi/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ucbprojectrishi/