The Rural development Program of The Art of Living is predominantly driven by the yuvacharyas. The yuvacharyas are the youth from the local communities in the villages who have undergone the Youth Leadership Training Program (YLTP). This gives them the skills, motivation and abilities to initiate and lead service projects in their own villages and localities based on their needs.
Only a strong spiritual foundation brings self-esteem and self-confidence that is unshakeable. It is this combination of personal inner strength, as well as skills and leadership training that ensures the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of this programme.
Waves of Breaths in Mitchell's Plain
Dr Parusha Pillay, an Art of Living teacher in Cape Town, shares her experience of teaching Breath Water Sound Workshops - Thee workshops have been conducted at Mitchell’s Plain Community Health Center in Cape Town since December 2011.
Observing the drastic chnages in the patients (who were mostly suffereing from depression) has requested to continue these workshops at a regular basis. Dr. Parusha also shares transformational experiences of some of her participants.
The various initiatives taken up by the yuvacharyas are listed below.
Holistic life through 5H Program (Homes, Healthcare, Hygiene, Human values and Harmony in diversity)
The 5H program aims at ensuring that every rural area/village has Homesfor the homeless, Health care, Hygiene, Human Values and Harmony in diversity. Set up in 1997, 5H catalyzes social transformation. The program aims to eradicate poverty, misery, disease and to ensure peace and harmony in rural and tribal areas worldwide.
The individuals and communities at the grassroots become self-reliant both socially and economically, this ensures the effects of the program are long-term and sustainable.
5H Achievements
- Reached 40,212 villages
- Trained 110,000 rural youth in YLTP
- Conducted 165,000 free stress-relief workshops benefiting more than 5,688,000 people
- Conducted 49,500 hygiene camps and 25,950 medical camps benefitting 2,582,500 people
- Planted more than 10 million trees
- 1895 homes, 5418 toilets, 1152 bore-wells and 904 bio-gas plants built
- 55 model villages developed benefiting 115,000 people
- Trained over 6000 people in organic farming
Rural Electrification : Light A Home
Light A Home initiative laid its foundation during October 2012. The aim of this initiative is to bring clean and affordable lighting to 360 million people in India living in 74 million rural households who do not have access to electricity. A majority of these people rely on kerosene and other fuels to meet their lighting needs, which is hazardous to both their health and to the environment.
Till now, the Light A Home Project has touched lives of more than 6,000 such people by providing solar home lighting systems to 1,100 such homes in Bihar, UP, Assam and Jharkhand. The vision is to reach out to 1,00,000 unelectrified homes by 2015.
Organic Farming
The Art of Living has been conducting Chemical Free Farming Workshops since 2007. Over the past years, more than 32,000 farmers have taken up the workshop. The workshop covers techniques for organic farming, making the farmers aware of the harm that is caused by the usage of chemicals in the fields and how the yield decreases gradually due to the usage of chemicals.
Join the revolution for change
- Are you inspired and ready to take on social responsibility?
- Want to be focused and be the part of the change you want to see?
- Are you ready to be committed and build a team of leaders?
Then join the Family - Contact a YLTP Coordinator
