Jan Seva Mandal

Project Brief: Jan Seva provides lodging and boarding facilities in Nandurbar for about 60 tribal boys. The boys come from villages located around 40-50 kms away. These boys attend schools close to the boarding facility.
Project Type: Other (description)
Primary Focus: children of dalits/tribals (description)

Secondary Focus: to go to formal school

Area: Rural
Supporting Chapter Contact: Seattle
Status: current / ongoing
Project Steward: Deepali Bhagvat
Project Partner(s): Godfrey DLima
Other Contacts: Shilpa Karve
Project Address: , Near Mhada Colony,Korit Road,Nandurbar,
MAHARASHTRA  425412
Tel: 9969801037
Stewarding Chapter: Seattle
Oct 2023SeattleUSD 8098
Jun 2022SeattleUSD 17294
Oct 2020SeattleUSD 9074
Sep 2019SeattleUSD 8564
Nov 2018SeattleUSD 8601
Nov 2017SeattleUSD 24114
Jul 2017SeattleUSD 14008
Oct 2016SeattleUSD 8329
Jan 2016SeattleUSD 14200
Dec 2014SeattleUSD 6105
Mar 2014SeattleUSD 6273
Mar 2013SeattleUSD 6670
Nov 2011SeattleUSD 387
Nov 2011SeattleUSD 3380
Jul 2011SeattleUSD 3680
May 2010SeattleUSD 3530
Feb 2010SeattleUSD 3525
Jun 2009SeattleUSD 3440
Oct 2008SeattleUSD 3380

Total = $152652

Jan Seva provides lodging and boarding facilities in Nandurbar for about 60 tribal boys. Nandurbar is near Maharashtra-Gujarat boarder. It takes approximately 10 hours by road from Mumbai and Pune and approximately 3 hours from Surat and Nashik. The premise is located a few kilometers from the center of Nandurbar town. The boys who avail the benefits of this facility come from villages located around 40-50 kms away. These boys attend schools close to the boarding facility. Boys are from 5th to 10th grade and belong to poor families. Most of the parents in this area are farm workers.

Jan Seva only provides boarding and lodging facilities for the boys. So there are no classes or teachers. The main building on the campus of Jan Seva has two floors.
First floor has a large room that all the boys share. They use mats on the floor to sleep. There are shelves along the walls where the boys keep their belongings. Kitchen, store room and an office for the staff are also on the first floor. There is a big room on the second floor with some tables and chairs that the boys use as a study room. There is also a computer lab for the boys, staff rooms and restrooms. Another small building next to the main building houses toilets and bathrooms for the boys. There is a yard around the buildings that is used by the boys as a playground. One cook is employed by Jan Seva to cook boys' meals.

Boys pay yearly fees of Rs. 3000 to stay at Jan Seva. They are encouraged to be independent and disciplined. They wash their own utensils as well as their clothes. They have a set time-table that gives them enough time for both studies and play. They are offered tutions for difficult subjects such as Maths, Science and English at Jan Seva. Jan Seva and Jeevan Vidya staff as well as some local volunteers tutor these subjects. They are also taught to speak, read and write the local language, Marathi as most of the kids speak in Ahirani at their home. They also get to learn cycling and using a computer. They can enroll in karate classes as well as personality development classes. They are encouraged to participate in various competitions outside such as drawing, essay writing and sports. This helps increase their confidence significantly.

The goal of Jan Seva is to provide lodging and boarding to help kids from the nearby tribal areas in their education. However, this hostel goes above and beyond the official mandate by not only tutoring the difficult courses in the school but also teaching them life-skills through extra-curricular activities. True to their name, they rightly do Jan Seva of the tribal kids in the area!
Jan Seva provides lodging and boarding facilities in Nandurbar for about 60 tribal boys who come from villages 40-50 kms away from the schools.
Jan Seva Mandal was started in 1969 by Bernard Massat, a Spanish gentleman for the upliftment of the tribal population. It is part of the Jesuit organization Bombay Xavierant Corp. It had boarding facilities in Shirpur, Khandesh, Manor and Thalassari. This boarding in Nandurbar has been around for the past 15 years. Since its inception, Jan Seva Mandal has been working with the tribals of Nandurbar District – particularly the Bhils and Kokanas. Through various interventions particularly in the field of agriculture such as watershed management, seed banks, self-help groups, promotion of herbal medicines, legal awareness and education, the Mandal has strived to bring development and empowerment of the tribals.