Development Support Team (DST) has been working towards strengthening the organisational structure of the weaker sections of the society with a special focus on women for over three decades. The organisation believes and practices the ideology of people’s participation in self development and moving on to sustainable development of the community at large. DST lays emphasis on women’s active participation and involvement in the development processes.
DST works on “Building Bridges … Enabling Partnerships” in collaboration with various organisations and corporates to share challenges in the development sector and also provide linkages to the partner NGOs.
Socio-Economic empowerment of Women in Maharashtra through the Self Help Group model is an innovative attempt to energise the productive potential of urban and rural poor women. Promotion and strengthening of the community-based community owned institutions – Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Federations through Financial Inclusion, Financial Planning and Financial Literacy and Skill Development of the women. Creating awareness on various social issues, gender equality, continuing girls’ education, women’s health, diminishing sex ratio, domestic violence acts, etc through expert resource persons and various exposure visits.
Promoted 600 SHGs with a membership of 10,000 women in Pune and worked with a network of 10 CBOs (Community Based Organisations) in Rural Maharashtra with an outreach of over 20,000 women. DigiShakti, the Digital Empowerment program equips women with digital literacy skills to enable Digital Financial Inclusion training 1000+ urban and rural women in Maharashtra!
Recent Event: Consultation on Status of Women’s Health in Maharashtra in the context of Climate Change on 16th November 2022
Consultation on Status of Women’s Health in Maharashtra in the context of Climate Change organised by Development Support Team and Stree Aadhar Kendra, Pune On 16th November 2022 with KeyNote Speaker Dr Roxy Mathew Koll , Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and Chief Guest Dr. Neelam Gorhe, Deputy Chairman of Maharashtra Legislative Council and member of Maharashtra Legislative Council.
Interesting deliberations moderated by Dr. Anil Paranjape, Development Support Team, Pune on Addressing Mental Health Issues of Women, Dr. Mridula Apte, Vidula Psychological Consultancy
Status of Women’s health as seen by ground observation with the unorganized sector: Ms. Poornima Chikarmane, Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat, Pune and Access to Public Health Services::Dr. Pradeep Awate, State Surveillance Officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, Govt of Maharashtra
Sessions on experience sharing:
Response to COVID, engagement with community women using digital strategy, Ms Medha Ranade, Development Support Team, Pune, Addressing climate change and issues related to Gender equality - Relief, Rehabilitation & compensations on various recent Natural Disasters , Aparna Pathak, Stree Adhar Kendra, Pune and Advocacy concerning Climate change & action plans at the levels of community, State, National and global, Shirish Kulkarni, Development Support Team
The event saw a participation of 50+ from the urban and rural Civil Society Organisations, CSR and academia. Impact of Climate Change in all spheres, sharing experiences and best practices, learnings, led to a new enthusiasm to reconnect and provide support to each other to be more effective on the ground for achieving the SDG were some of the outcomes of the event. Way forward is to work through collective action towards these goals.
To bring together the grassroot NGOs/CBOs to understand how Beijing Platform for Action processes have progressed, DST and Stree Adhaar Kendra organised events on : "Civil Society Organisations processes for BEIJING+25" Read more...
MCCIA CSR Summit : To deliberate challenges and way forward in CSR activities of Indian corporate sector With a Panel Discussion NGO Perspectives Moderated by: Ms. Sonia Garcha, Development Support Team Read more
WCDC 2019 at Dundee: Unique opportunity to share perspectives on current contexts and challenges for community work. Read more
Daan Utsav, Pune : 5 NGOs together under the banner “Connecting People, Transforming Lives” to promote giving and making a difference through contributions and helping in transforming lives. Read more
Digital empowerment Training for community women Read more ...DigiShakti
Covid-19 Response
In response to the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in March 2021, DST has conducted health awareness programs for the community workers and for 50+ women in Someshwarwadi, Baner partnership with IWC Baner Hills.
Digishakti, DST's flagship program, gained even more relevance during COVID-19 to share relevant schemes, needs assessment and more importantly, a tool to stay connected with the communities we work with.
DST has been part of the Maharashtra Covid 19 response team. DST has worked with the Citizen’s Initiative in Pune, led by CYDA, Pune, a collaboration of donors, corporates, and civil society members. In response to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, a COVID Response Team was formed and CYDA joined by corporates, CSRs, individual donors and other civil society members, aimed to assist them through these difficult times.
Our community workers across the urban communities in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad and rural villages have played key roles in Covid response in assessment and facilitating distribution of food kits!
DST has conducted DigiShakti programs for 20+ grassroot organisations across Maharashtra!
Read more:Disaster Response
NEWS
The Global Ambassador Award was presented to Mini Bedi for the key role she has played in raising the profile of IACD and community development across India for over three decades.
IACD has Awards presented to members deemed by the Board to have made a significant contribution towards the work of the association and to the field of community development. Read more ...
Organisational Structure
DST is registered as a Society and a Trust and is governed by the rules and regulations applicable under the respective Acts. The governing body comprises social workers, activists, academicians and individuals committed to the field of development.
DST’s Objectives
To provide information, research, training, finance and other support to voluntary agencies working in the field of socio-economic development
To undertake and to assist studies and research in the field of development.
To provide facilities for the exchange of information and experience among different voluntary agencies working in the field of development.
To undertake and to assist organization of workshops, seminars and training courses for workers engaged in development.
To undertake all such programmes and activities as might help development.
Board of trustees
Mrs. H. Bedi, Managing Trustee
Mrs. Medha Ranade, Secretary
Mr. Shirish Kulkarni, Treasurer
Mr. S.T. Pillay, Trustee
Mr. Koushik Sekhar, Trustee