National Geographic features Jamkhed, a learning partner of Future Generations

Future Generations Master's Degree Students in JamkhedThe December, 2008 issue of National Geographic features Jamkhed, a community-based rural health program in India.  Future Generations has worked closely with and continues to learn a great deal from the Comprehensive Rural Health Program of Jamkhed. As part of their India residential, Future Generations Master's Degree students reside at Jamkhed and learn from a vast range of community experience. 

Tina Rosenberg's words and Lynn Johnson's vivid photography tell the story of village health workers, impoverished women from India's Untouchable castes. Through their training at Jamkhed, these women are transforming their villages as well as their own lives. See the full article online.

In operation in Maharashtra State in India since 1970, Jamkhed has worked with impoverished communities to assist them in defining their priorities for development and to nurture the community's own human resources for addressing these priorities. Thus, illiterate volunteer Community Health Workers have been empowered to address the great majority of health problems within the community, leading to an eradication of childhood malnutrition, an infant mortality rate of 22 per 1,000 live births, and a maternal mortality ratio of 70 per 100,000 live births even though 85% of deliveries take place in the home. Problems of water, sanitation, reforestation, income-generation, and basic education have been overcome through empowering the community to work together.

Empowered Community Health Workers have carried their knowledge to tribal areas under their own initiative. The program operates a regional and global learning center where people from throughout India and, in fact, from throughout the world come for training and where practical research is carried out. The program, which has been serving 300,000 people, is now scaling up to serve 5 million  people through a collaboration with the state government of Maharashtra.