Meenvallom Small Hydel Project
The three megawatts Meenvallom Small Hydro-electric Project is the first SHP taken up by the Palakkad Small Hydro Company Ltd, a company promoted by Palakkad District Panchayat. All the data including year-round inflow, flow duration curves, alignment of roads, penstock alignment, etc. required for its design were generated by the Integrated Rural Technology Centre (IRTC). The IRTC functioned as the Technical Consultant to the Palakkad District Small Hydro-electric Power Company and supervised the construction and commissioning of the Meenvallom Small Hydro Project. Currently, the IRTC is functioning as a Consultant for the second power station, the one MW Palakkuzhy SHP project of the PSHC.
Sustainable watershed development project (SDP)
From the NHWDP implemented watershed, 22 best performing watersheds were selected and Sustainable Watershed Development Project (SDP) was implemented in 22 watersheds in Palakkad district with IRTC as Technical Support Agency, this project is funded by NABARD. The important activities implemented under this project include livelihood activities, capacity building, exposure visits, organic vegetable cultivation, watershed development projects, etc. The process is going on for establishing weather stations in all the SDP watersheds to do the measurement of local climatic parameters such as rainfall, temperature and evaporation.
Role of Model Residential Schools in the Educational Attainment of Tribal Students: An Analysis of performance of Tribal Residential Schools in Kerala
This was a study sponsored by Kerala State Planning Board and conducted during January to December 2019. This was an evaluation study to understand the role of Tribal Residential Schools in the educational attainment of tribal students in Kerala. The study covered all twenty Model Residential Schools across the State. Detailed analyses of the academic performance of students have been done by analysing the results and also by conducting evaluation tests. Post schooling experiences of the students have also been gathered by Focus Group Discussions among alumnae from different tribal locations viz., Attappadi, Wayanad and Marayur. Interviews of Teachers and Administrative staff have also been conducted to explore the dimensions of governance and administration. The study has adopted a mixed methodology approach for exploring the comprehensive picture about the functioning of the schools. The detailed report is available in the following link : https://www.irtc.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/MRS-Final-Report_compressed.pdf
Exploring the Potential of Local Governments in Improving the Quality of Secondary Education: Mapping Experiments and Prospects of Thrissur District Panchayat, Kerala
This study supported by UNICEF and conducted during January and July 2020 is an attempt to document the interventions of Thrissur District Panchayath in secondary education. For this study, a detailed enquiry to document the interventions from 1996 to 2020 was carried out. The details of entire exemplary projects undertaken by the District Panchayath were documented as promising practices. The budget and expenditure analysis of District Panchayat for the last five years was also done in detail. In order to explore the reflections from the field, case studies of ten schools across the district were also conducted. This study attempted to map the potentials of a District Panchayath in transforming secondary education
A Web Enabled Initiative for Developing Scientific Temper among Secondary School Students in Kerala
The project was funded by UNICEF and implemented during November 2019 to March 2020. This project was intended to conduct an online quiz programme focused to nurture the scientific temper and scientific knowledge of secondary students. This programme was named as LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor) Quiz Programme and was totally administered on a web-based platform. The different domains of science such as Natural science, Physical Science, Earth Science, Mathematics and Information Technology were covered under this programme. Questions for the programme were developed from a series of workshops of experts conducted across the State. More than 17000 students participated in the programme.
DBT Foldscope Project
Participatory Microbial Count Assessment and water conservation training in Malampuzha block, Palakkad, Kerala and water quality profiling
This project was funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India. The project objective was to assess microbial count, pH and perform GIS enabled profiling of drinking water in Pudupariyaram panchayath in Malampuzha block.
One and two day workshops were conducted on “Assembly and Usage of Foldscope”. A total of 36 workshops were done from August 2018 to June 2019. Through the workshops, we introduced foldscope to 1,113 students, 137 teachers and 74 trainees in KILA, Thrissur. We trained 48 Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad activists from various regions in Kerala to form a resource team for the introduction of foldscope among children throughout the state.
We conducted eight awareness programmes for more than 400 individuals in four panchayats in Palakkad district- Akathethara, Keralassery, Pudussery and Puduppariyaram. The program organised shortly after Kerala floods and landslides 2018 helped the public in the affected area to understand the microbial presence in their drinking water sources.
The study of freshwater zooplankton present in the wells using foldscope was conducted for the period 2019 January to March. The study was conducted in Puduppariyaram Panchayat, Palakkad, Kerala.
Sanjeevani Women Labour Bank
When the Holistic Watershed Development project started in Muttuchira watershed, there was scarcity of labour for doing different soil and water conservation activities. The women labour used to do only paddy related activities and were inept in other labour activities. After so many rounds of discussion in the Village Watershed Committee the idea came to form a women labour bank trained in doing all activities related to watershed development and also agriculture. Thus a 100 member women labour bank called ‘Sanjeevani’ was formed. The activities of this labour bank could produce marked improvement in the living condition of the women labourers.
Impact Assessment of KILA Training Programme on Capacity Building for Urban Local Body Officials
This was a study undertaken for KILA to understand the changes in Child Friendly initiatives by local bodies before and after Child Friendly Local Governance programme organised by KILA. This evaluation study emphasised on understanding the impact of the programme in disseminating the concept of Child Rights among different stakeholders and to analyse the budget allocation and expenditure of Local Bodies towards Child Friendly initiatives. It has also attempted to describe the initiatives of LSGI for protecting Child Rights in the domains of Survival, Development, Protection and Participation. This programme was implemented in 140 Gram Panchayaths and six municipalitie. Out of these, thirty Grama Panchayaths and two municipalities were selected as samples for the study. The study was conducted during the period of February to June 2019. The overall results of the study attempted to highlight the initiatives of Local Bodies to uphold the Child Rights in the context of the CFLG programme. The detailed report is available in the following link.
NABARD Holistic Watershed Development Project (NHWDP)
This project was implemented under Prime Minister’s distress relief package during the aftermath of the farmer suicides in the districts Palakkad, Wayanad and Kasargod in Kerala. In Palakkad district, this project was implemented in 12 watersheds with IRTC as Project Facilitating Agency (PFA) and in two watersheds with Akathethara GP as PFA and IRTC as Technical Support Agency during the period 2009-14. IRTC also functioned as Resource Support Organisation (RSO) for the eight PFAs engaged in NHWDP implementation in 45 watersheds covering an area of 30547 Hectares.
The project achievements are:
- Improvement in production and productivity of crops such as coconut, paddy, rubber, etc.
- Improvement in groundwater table (bringing drinking water in tanker lorries stopped at Muttuchira watershed because of increased groundwater availability)
- An appreciable increase in fodder grass and milk production in watersheds Cherambi, Ancham mile, etc.
- Improvement in soil nutrient content
- Improvement in the livelihood of landless and women and an increase in bank credit for women
- Formation of Paddy Farmer’s Producer Company (FPO) ‘Susthira’