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| Mr. C. T. Lepcha |
Mr. C. T. Lepcha is a wholehearted social activitist working in the field of development since last more than two decades being key facilitator of poorer community. As basic academic, he graduated in English literature from Delhi University, India. His excellence rendering youth, women, children & other socioeconomic development efforts built him to achieve District Youth Award from UNICEF. Presently and simultaneously he has been able to play role as General Secretary of DYWA as well as Principal of SPRINGDALE SCHOOL, Dikchu, which is another wing of education for children promoted by the organization DYWA. Community always appreciate and respect his motto in life i.e. "Help the poor and needy to help themselves in a sustainable manner".
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DYWA is striving to provide capacity, opportunity, security and dignity to the rural poor communities by adopting its development rules in all its initiatives. DYWA gave priority to building communities prior to building projects. It follows this approach in order to ensure that development is driven by the communities themselves. The capacity building activities organized at various levels for women, youth, farmers, artisans and local people are playing transformative role, contributing towards the success efforts of DYWA in development of people. The movement initiated by DYWA to provide security, opportunity and dignity to the poor is very well recognized and fast spreading. Through its initiative communities are provided with regular counseling and motivated to understand the situation of poor and recognize them as human beings and respect them as equals. This movement which is intended to bring thousands of women into main stream of society has lead to public discussions and transformed the mindset of general public leading to change of attitude towards women & youth in the villages.
I would like to begin by taking this opportunity
as Secretary to congratulate Dikchu Youth Welfare
Association, which
is familiar to the people as DYWA for successful initiative of pursuing the
agenda of development sector with other activities concern. Along with the
efforts in pursuance of the goals, it is also heartening to see that more
people have faith in the ability of it. This is quite
evident in the number of women SHGs as well as the general
members who decided to come into its fold with constructive support and
guidance. I am happier because most of the people come from the under-served
society of the state basically. The
vision statement of DYWA
holds good today. The thrust area of
working has been to work for creating self employment avenues for the un –
employed and income generation by the rural poor for self reliance. With the
initiative to sustain the platform created as facilitator for the society, DYWA
always realizes that the NGOs role should be professional as systematic as
distinct, so that the key developmental inputs as holistic approach for
economic empowerment can be run by the society itself with the concept by the
people, for the people and of the people. DYWA is evolving as “Center of
Excellence in Community Development” by providing not only the required
knowledge and skills to the target group but also contributing for a change in
their attitudes towards community development.
The relevance and effectiveness of DYWA capacity building programs is fast
spreading and putting concerted efforts to further learning and sharing.
DYWA addresses the need of NGOs to access
unaffordable but much required skills and professional talent, as well as the
aspiration of a section of people who believe in social change and want to
contribute their time, skills and talent for the benefit of the community, but
are uncertain about the approach and methods to be adopted. We act as an
interface between our partner NGO’s and the aspiring individual to come
together on issues which engage them to work towards a common cause. DYWA is seeing this as a privileged to work
for upliftment of the rural poor and the disadvantaged and will work hard for
fulfillment of our cherished objectives with zeal and dedication. The seed sown
appears to have started giving flowers and we are waiting to see the unlimited
fruits the true of development bears. We have patients to endure courage to
work with the seemingly impossible task of mitigating suffering of the
disadvantage, weaker section and the poor.
I take this
opportunity to especially invite the donor community to join hands with DYWA to
broad base the sector in a way that most areas are effectively covered through
civil society efforts and that these organizations can play an important and
efficient part in the state’s and country’s development. DYWA is
also conscious of the fact that the sector is being invaded by a large number
of players who have motivations other than public benefit and are misusing the
partnership frameworks for their own vested interests. Together with the
networks and voluntary organizations in the states, DYWA
has initiated discussions on issues such as self-regulation and organizational discipline;
it has also brought in a greater amount of rigour
in its work with the government on important issues that affect partnerships.
We hope to strengthen these efforts and invite the government to take advantage
of DYWA’s understanding and experience in making the
partnership process more effective and meaningful and directly beneficial to
the poor for whom we are working. With several up & downs experiences have
strengthened and given it the confidence and the staying power. It has
demonstrated its utility and proven its relevance in the development
environment. I am confident that the team will be able to respond effectively
to demands and set the tone for partnerships’. We are pleased that most of DYWA
initiatives are setting new trends in community development. The effectiveness
of DYWA community development has measurable indicators which are not only
satisfactory to DYWA, but also inspiration to many. As members of DYWA and of this significant
framework that allows interaction and exchange of expertise, we hope to keep up
communication and networks with our current and potential partners in order to
realize all the set goals. We ultimately aim at achieving reform and
modernization through mobilizing all capacities, as well as establishing
economic reform that provides us with a true role in the national economic
arena.
