Sehgal Foundation’s water management program focuses on the collection, storage, and access to safe drinking water.

1. Sehgal Foundation: Empowering rural communities
A country of contrasts, India is home to some of the richest billionaires in the world
and millions of extremely poor people. More than 250 million people living below
the poverty line in India reside in rural areas. For over fifteen years, Sehgal
Foundation, a public charitable trust registered in India since 1999 has been
working exclusively on rural India to design, implement, and further refine
development initiatives to help communities achieve the Gandhian ideals of self-
reliance, economic well-being, and dignified living.
With support from government and private donors, the foundation has worked
alongside communities to manage water resources, increase agricultural resources,
increase agricultural productivity. The team’s emphasis on gender equality and
women’s empowerment is driven by the realization that human rights are central to
developing every person’s potential. The foundation also manages a community
radio Alfaz-e-Mewat, set up in 2012, which gives a platform to villagers to discuss,
debate and talk about issues that matter to them the most.
How Sehgal Foundation connects with rural India
Our team visits rural villages to understand their needs and offer community-led
development solutions that are empowering, low-cost and sustainable. The
Foundation team’s commitment and our desire to accelerate the very slow process

2. of development, we moved forward, learning along the way, shifting gears as
needed, and building on our successes. Empowering rural women is central to our
mission for strengthening community-led development and achieving social,
economic, and environmental change. Because of this citizen participation, several
villages are on a path to becoming models.
What Sehgal Foundation offers
Emphasizing rural governance: It has been well said, “Democracy, good
governance, and modernity cannot be imported or imposed from outside a
country”- Emile Lahoud. This is practically applicable to rural governance as well.
Good rural governance can actually enhance the condition of a society and is quite
imperative for the development of rural India. Sehgal Foundation’s Good Rural
Governance program has a two-pronged strategy to deal with these challenges. On
the one hand, Good Governance Now! empowers individuals in the community by
making citizens aware of their legal and constitutional rights, entitlements and
accountability mechanisms. On the other hand, the strengthening village level
institutions initiative works with panchayats, and village-level institutions.
Water management solutions: Exploitation of groundwater for farm irrigation
has reached critical levels in many areas across the country. Groundwater aquifers
are being sucked dry. Half
of the water supply in
rural areas is routinely
contaminated with toxic
microbes and chemicals.
To address this critical
need for water security,
Sehgal Foundation’s water
management program
focuses on the collection,
storage, and access to
safe drinking water. This
entails a rejuvenation of
the old traditional village
methods such as rainwater
harvesting systems to
capture water from rooftops and the creation of many small storage structures
(lakes, village ponds, wells, check dams) all across the country.

3. Agriculture development: Our agricultural development program is focused on
soil health, nutrient management,
balanced fertilization, good seed,
management of pests and
diseases, and water management-
the keys to sustainable
agriculture. Special emphasis is
laid on educating and engaging
women farmers in this process.
Information communication
technology (ICT) in the form of
mobile telephone recordings,
voice messages are provided to
thousands of farmers on crop and
livestock management.
We welcome partners and others to collaborate with us to being substantial change
to the lives of the poor.
Head Office
Plot No.34, Sector 44, Institutional Area
Gurgaon, Haryana – 122003
INDIA
Tel: 91-124-4744100
Fax: 91-124-4744123
Email: smsf@smsfoundation.org
Website: www.smsfoundation.org