Functional Literacy Program

The program on adult education aimed at persuading illiterates to voluntarily undergo instruc­tion to read and write. We promote literacy among all illiterate persons, particularly in the age group of 15-35 years. The Functional Literacy Program was expected to lower the rate of infant mortality, reduce the number of school drop­outs, improve health, produce better environmental conditions, create awareness of rights, help neo-literates acquire skills to improve their economic standing, motivate them to adopt small family norms and better the status of women.

These illiterate people are very poor and need of literacy. Due to illiteracy they are facing lot of problems in transportation, finance, Agriculture, Health, Social Injustices, Emotional and also in every aspects of her life are cheated by other people. So we take this issue as a challenge to educate them and bring them up to 5th class standard by systematic teaching, observation and also by fallow up. As soon as they educated, we also encourage them to go for higher studies if they interested.

In this program we provided Literacy Primers, Teaching Aids, Honorarium for Teachers, Slates, note books, charts, Medicinal Plants, Fruit Plants and Self help training. Our concern is not only educating them but also want to give some self help training will bring their economical standards to the higher level. We give Social, Health, Environmental, Economical and Spiritual Awareness to each person in the class. We are going to achieve these 5 goals through this program.

The first and foremost reason for starting the Functional Literacy Program (FLP) is to help the people to read and understand the Bible. Literacy will enable these people to be more productive members of society. Apart from educating them to read and write, they were also taught on social, economical, health and hygiene awareness. On the final day, these students will demonstrate their reading and writing skills in front of the dignitaries gathered. These learners are now able to read the word without anyone’s help. The people now count their wages and receive and sign. This project would bring community development among the learners.

1. Literacy is Empowerment - being educated and literate empowers an individual in making choices for their own and their families' happiness, and in being productive citizens of the world.
2. Literacy is Education - Education in our minds has evolved from the 3Rs (Reading, wRiting and aRithmatic) to the 3Es (Education, Employment and Empowerment). Our intervention programs embody this philosophy - the programs don't stop just at enrolment, but addresses quality and sustainability via community ownership, leading to an empowered population.
3. Literacy is Development – Literacy will develop you in each and every area. We are developing in only few areas, but we need to develop Mentally, Socially, Health, Physically, Morally, Ethically, Technically, Environmentally, Economically and finally spiritually. Unless and until you are not transformed SPIRITUALLY, you can see transformational change in other areas.

"Illiteracy is our sin and shame and must be liquidated." - Mahatma Gandhi

• Each literacy class will be 30 illiterates. Education, Health, Social, Economical and spiritual information will be taught in the class.

Each center cost $1000 per year.(including Literacy Primer)

After School Programs

1 out of every 5 children on earth lives in India.

The After School was started with the dream of helping these under-privileged children by providing them with basic education and training to enable them as a disciplined life. Slowly with the help of extensive counseling and persuasion, more families learned and appreciated the importance of having their young ones educated and the number of students started to grow. ASP Assistants are committed not only providing quality education but also mentor the children on other soft skills such as Leadership, good social behavior, good communication practices etc which will help these children fit better in today’s society. We also are providing some sports materiel to the kids for their physical fitness.

Children in the school are provided free snack and biscuits 5 times in a month. The children and families greatly appreciate this. Most of these families count on the daily income their children bring in by working, to feed everyone in the family for that day. Having the school provides these biscuits and snack lessens the burden on these families and children.

We offer

Medical Awareness & Free Medical Camps

Towards creating a healthier society by popularizing preventive measures, SM Trust organizes awareness programs on various issues of health and hygiene. For this purpose, SM Trust makes use of visual media which communities are familiar with … like street plays, Kalajatha, puppet shows etc. Another strategy employed is involving children and youth in awareness programs like rallies, debates etc. because, children are the best messengers to carry the message to their parents, family and other community members. Health-weeks and health camps are also generally organized in villages for different age groups. 

Information about the conduct of health awareness sessions and camps is widely canvassed by SM Trust well in advance. These sessions and camps are organized in coordination with the community keeping their time and other constraints in mind. Through these activities, SM Trust ensures that such programs reach maximum number of people.

The specific objectives of the program which were to:

• Raise awareness on the various aspects of preventive healthcare measures;
• Educate the villagers on information to identify and prevent common diseases;
• Raise awareness on the nutritional needs of young children;
• Build capacity and develop skills within the community health workers to handle local health issues effectively;
• Promote overall good health of the local community.

Each Medical Camp will cost $200.

Women Empowerment Programs

We have transformed hundreds of lives through evidence-based programs that focus on expanding women’s economic opportunities, increasing women’s rights and security, and advancing women’s political participation. Sahara Ministries practices an integrated approach that promotes gender equality across all programs.

Our projects expand opportunities for women through education, entrepreneurship, and vocational training. We provide women the knowledge and skills to earn an income and lift themselves and their families out of poverty, including through scholarships. In the workplace, we address constraints faced by women entrepreneurs. By providing networking opportunities, mentoring, access to information and credit, and business management training, we foster environments where women can advocate for improved policies. We work alongside local partners to provide women with vocational training to break into higher-paid employment.

Each Program cost will be $300 per year.

Income Generating Programs

Financial tools and training, empower entrepreneurs to build businesses, support their families and transform their communities

IGP consist of small businesses managed by a group of people to increase their household income through livelihood diversification. After a group has been in a Saving Group Scheme for 1 year, the group receives an introductory training to IGPs (“creation and management of small businesses”). During the second year the group can put into practice what they have learned through a small IGP before receiving full training on IGPs at the beginning of year 3. After the training, participants submit their proposals (either in small groups or the whole group) to SM TRUST and after a careful evaluation we select the most sustainable projects to partially support and fund.

To support the creation of these initiatives, we offer kick-off grants to the most sustainable proposals. This provides a much needed boost to their business at the initial stages while also encouraging individuals to take responsibility and ownership of the project through direct investment of their own savings. We continually support our entrepreneurs during the design, implementation and monitoring of their chosen IGP through training and ad-hoc support.

Each Training cost will be $300 for 20 people per 3Days.

Girl Child Education

Education of girls has been a high priority with in the India. The National commitment to provide free and compulsory education to all children in the 6-14 years age group is now a Fundamental Right of every child in India after the passing of the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act in December, 2002. Reaching out to the girl child is central to the efforts to universalize elementary education. ‘Education for All’ program recognizes that ensuring girl’s education requires changes not only in the education system but also in societal norms and attitudes. A two-pronged gender strategy has therefore been adopted, to make the education system responsive to the needs of the girls through targeted interventions which serve as a pull factor to enhance access and retention of girls in schools and on the other hand, to generate a community demand for girls’ education through training and mobilization. Efforts are being made to generate a community demand for girls’ education and enabling conditions for people’s and women’s participation, to create the push factors necessary to guarantee girls education. Motivation and mobilisation of parents and the community at large, enhancing the role of women and mothers in school related activities and participation in school committees, and strengthening the linkages between the school, teachers and communities are some of the ways in which the enabling conditions are being created.

$50 each for girl education help. We have 35 girls are waiting to receive your helping hand

Environmental Activities

The world's population is young, with nearly 2.2 billion people under the age of 18 of which 85 percent are living in developing countries. As the reality and the impact of climate warming have become clearer in the last decade, researchers have looked for possible engineering solutions such as removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or directing the sun’s heat away from Earth to help offset rising temperatures. Climate change is one of the major issues being faced by all the communities.

We have organized climate change awareness programs in Khammam District among the School Children. We have demonstrated the various climate change LCD presentation, posters among women, children and youth to sensitize them about weather, global warming and green house effect. Our volunteers visited the villages, distributed literature door to door and mobilized the public to improve awareness on adverse effects of climate change. We also have taken up action component like digging of pits and plantation of trees. The impact of the program is good.

We teach the children and go for a quiz and competitions to know about their Environmental standard. We also provide the certificate and gift to the students who win the competitions.
We teach to Children the following subjects: