The Palai Social  Welfare Society
Serve. Sustain. Stable

Save A Family Plan (SAFP) was started as a charitable society founded by Msgr. Augustine Kandathil in 1965. It was a response to Pope Paul VI’s call at the time of the Eucharistic Congress in Mumbai, in December 1964. It is a Canadian international development organization and a registered charity in Canada and the United States. SAFP Started as a charity. Now it has moved energetically to a systematic development program for the sustainable development of families and communities. The PSWS has been a partner organization of SAFP from 1989 onwards. The operational area of the project spreads over the Idukki, Kottayam, and Ernakulam districts of the Palai diocese.

The FDP Field Coordinator provides support and empowerment to the partner families. They conduct regular visits, evaluate the families’ growth, and hold meetings to provide instructions for achieving various goals. When a family completes six years of financial assistance through SAFP, they exit the program, making space for another deserving family.

 

Criteria For Family Entry into the Program

To be eligible for the Save A Family Plan – Family Development Program, families must meet specific criteria. The eligibility criteria are divided into three sections:

Mandatory Criteria (fulfill both):

• Have at least one child under the age of 13.
• Have at least one family member willing and capable of engaging in a small business initiative.

Additional Criteria (fulfill at least one of the following):

• Women-headed family (widow/abandoned/single mother).
• Family member with cancer/HIV/AIDS/tuberculosis/leprosy.
• Differently-abled family member (with at least 40% disability).

Supplementary Criteria (fulfill at least three of the following):

• Belong to Below Poverty Line (BPL).
• Lack a sanitary latrine or have a defective one.
• Lack of access to safe drinking water (more than 500 meters away from the place of use).
• Reside in inadequate shelter/homeless/poor quality roofing.

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Benefits of Save A Family Plan

 

The Family Development program offers several benefits to partner families, including:

• Financial aid is provided for six years (72 months).
• Periodical monitoring visits by the Coordinator to evaluate partner family development.
• Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) training to support sustainable livelihoods.
• Regional Level Cluster Meetings and orientation classes on social matters, government policies, and programs to facilitate progressive growth.
• Access to healthcare facilities through health insurance schemes and other initiatives.
• Participation in self-help groups and social empowerment groups to enhance societal engagement
• Teaching and assistance in mobilizing local resources for family empowerment.

 

Save a Family Plan (SAFP) is a Canadian-based international non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1965 by Monsignor Augustine Kandathil. Family Development Program (FDP) is the masterpiece effort of the SAFP for the development of marginalized families in India. The PSWS has been a partner organization of SAFP from 1989 onwards. The operational area of the project spreads over the Idukki, Kottayam, and Ernakulum districts of the palai diocese. Through FDP, about 2000 families became self-supporting within these 30 years. In the current year, 300 families benefitted and improved their lives through this program.

The objective of FDP is the all-round development of its partner families and PSWS effectively conducted and implemented many programs during 2019-2020 to achieve these objectives.

The objective of FDP is all-round development of its partner families and PSWS effectively conducted and implemented many programs during 2019-2020 to achieve these objectives.

Entrepreneurial Development Training Programme EDP Training

The Entrepreneurial Development Training session was conduction for newly Activated beneficiaries of family development program up to June 2017. EDP aimed for improvement of the skill of the benefactors and imparting new still in the newly active beneficiaries, creating new self employment opportunity at their local area with the support from the Save a Family Plan and with the mobilization of the local funds.

Regional Level Meetings

For the effective functioning of the family development program the geographic area is divided into three regions, Pala, Aruvithra and Mattuchira. The RLM are conducting at the region level. The aim of this meeting is the social, economic, cultural and intellectual personality development and empowerment of the partner families.

 

End User Training

An end user training was conducted by the Save a Family Plan India regional programme officer in the three regions of the Pala diocese. The program was for make aware about the Family Development Programme to all the beneficiaries.

Central Level Meetings

The CLMs are conducting in each centre twice in a year the aim of this meeting is the social, economic, cultural and intellectual personality development and improvement of the FDP families. The two subjects handled in the Central Level Meeting during the particular year were 'Waste Management' in the house and 'Kitchen Garden'.

New family selection

The total new families selected to the FDP family in the year 2017 to 18 was 40. The selection is from the pre-determined geographical area according to the criteria and instructions from the Save Family Plan India Office. The applications for the new family selection is submitted to the FFT selected the most deserved families according to the criteria, took their family photos, preared the applications and reports and send the applications to the SAFP India Office by an online.

Monitoring and Evaluation visits from the SAFPI

The regional program officer Ms. Anu Sebastian from Save a Family Plan India visited the beneficiary families for the monitoring of the beneficiary families and for the verification of the beneficiaries’ files. The RPO spent six days in the diocese for the purpose of monitoring, evaluation and for the verification of the beneficiary files interface meeting with the DSSS Director Fr. Mathew Pullukalayil, and with the SAFP team was also held in the PSWS office in connection with the evaluation.

Income generation program

Increase in income is a decisive factor for economic development. Income generation program requires financial intervention, skill, and marketing opportunities. It brings income and improves the living conditions of the family. In this financial year, we are assisting financially for starting various income general activities. The financial assistance is distributed after proper assessment and grading of the groups and on the basis of their activities and participation of members in group meetings and activities.

• Skill Development Program

The members of SHGs are being given awareness classes in health and hygiene, prevention of communicable diseases, parenting various income generation programs, organic farming, kitchen gardens, etc. during the year. With the assistance of Government Schemes, the SHGs are equipped with various entrepreneurship skills, value-added production techniques, collective farming skills, and the capacity to initiate weekend markets. They are also being exposed to a variety of integrated livelihoods like animal husbandry, poultry, pisciculture, beekeeping, etc. During the reporting year, the Society organized many exposure visits for the SHG/SS members to model farms and Government-owned production units to familiarize them with various income generation programs. The visit to CTCRI Thiruvananthapuram was a great inspiration to members of the farmers club to venture into value-added production unit livelihoods like animal husbandry, poultry, pisciculture, beekeeping, etc. During the reporting year, the Society organized many exposure visits for the SHG/SS members to model farms and Government-owned production units to familiarize them with various income generation programs. The visit to CTCRI Thiruvananthapuram was a great inspiration to members of the farmers' club to venture into value-added production units.

The vision of Save A Family Plan was inspired by a growing awareness in the mid-1960s about the immense suffering in India and other nations caused by conditions of extreme poverty. Founded in 1965 by Monsignor Augustine Kandathil, Save A Family Plan is a Canadian-based, registered charity that promotes social justice and sustainable life-changing solutions. Together with supporters across the globe, our mission to partner with the poor for a just world is realized through our two main programs: the Family Development and the Community Development Program.

 

HOW IT HELPS FAMILIES:

• Provides access to medical assistance
• Covers most education costs for their children
• Improves living conditions by helping repair/build homes
• Provides a support system within their local Sangham Offers financial support for their small businesses
• Offers skill development opportunities
• Reduces burden on a single parent
• Reduces any accumulated debt
• Increases access to clean drinking water

The Palai Social Welfare Society (PSWS) has been a partner organization of Save A Family Plan from 1989 onwards. The operational area of this project spreads over the Idukki, Kottayam, and Ernakulam districts of the Pala diocese. Through the FDP, about 2000 poor families became self-supportive within these periods of 34 years. Last year, income-generating activities worth INR 24,85,825 were conducted for 106 families, including cloth shops, tailoring shops, and rental shops.