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Case Study

Seva Mandir

Rs. 10,670,524 awarded over three years to Seva Mandir

Seva Mandir has worked in southern Rajasthan for over 40 years. Its relationship with Paul Hamlyn Foundation began in 2002, with the conversion of village pre-school centres from half-day into full-day centres.

When the project started, southern Rajasthan was recovering from a severe drought. Full-day centres enabled families to participate in government drought relief works by freeing mothers from looking after small children during the day, and provided two meals a day for the children at the centres. A total of 200 centres operated under the project, and about 4,500 children benefitted. A PHF grant in 2006 met about 40 per cent of the project costs in 2006-09.

In the years that this project has been operational, we have experienced successes and failures, which were outlined in an independent review in 2009. An important success has been that an intervention of this magnitude has been implemented in a stable and regular manner. This has in turn enabled the regular operation of the centres with a high attendance rate – in sharp contrast to other pre-school programmes in the region.

Learning relationship: We have taken some important lessons from this project. On sustainability, some interventions will always require financial support from external sources, and this should not detract from a decision to support. On the issue of supporting a model intervention in the expectation that it will be scaled up and/or replicated, a key lesson has been that cost can be an even more critical factor than whether outcomes are achieved.