Veerni was established in 1993 with the mission to improve the reproductive health of women in the desert areas of the Thar who had no access to health care. From 1993 to 2005 Veerni workedclosely with local teams in rural villages. The entry point for Veerni was mother and child health. The Veerni project with the assistance of a doctor, two nurses and two social workers visited villages on a daily basis in two vehicles. In every village, Veerni identified a promoter, both male and female to mobilize the community for the Veerni activities. Over the years Veerni worked in 45 villages in the area of reproductive health, nutrition of mothers and children, the treatment of anemia and all aspects of maternal care. Villages were selected according to need and when progress was made in a village with improved services, Veerni moved on to more disadvantagedvillages. Following the success of the health centers, Veerni also established sewing in several villages to help the women to earn money for their families.
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Creation Of The Veerni Project
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Creation Of Village Based Literacy CentersAt that time, less than 5% of rural women were literate in the adopted Veerni villages. It was at the express demand of the village girls,literacy centers were established in 10 villages for girls to study from class 6 to 8. Because of the lack of access to secondary schools in remote villages most girls finished their schooling at the age of 12. The majority of them never picked up a book again and their education was lost resulting in the high rate of illiteracy among women in Rajasthan. Veerni ran the literacy centers for 5 years bringing teachers to the villages.
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Establishment of a boarding facility (The Veerni Institute) located in Jodhpur with access to quality secondary schools. This approach was aimed at optimizing the education of the girls and allowing them to enter a formal education system to a senior secondary level, graduating at the age of 18, in class 12. The Veerni Institute started with 35 girls in July 2005.
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The demand for the Veerni Institute had increased and the number of girls was 97, with a waiting list. At the beginning the school attended by the girls offered graduation in the stream of arts which limits options for higher education. By 2012, the two other streams of graduation were introduced, commerce and science, opening many more opportunities to graduating girls to study in higher education. As a result, many of the girls who graduated have chosen to go to college in science subjects, studying public health and nursing.
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Establishment of the Veerni Project as an independent Indian NGO, Veerni Sansthan. The Veerni project is run by a dedicated staff. The local team operates all aspects of the project on a daily basis. The Veerni also moved to new location. Due to a move from the old facility to a new one, a much better equipped and modern building, the number of girls accommodated has fallen to 70.
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The Veerni Institute moved to the new location. Number of girls increased to 85 in 2017. The Veerni institute moved to the new location with much more facilities for the girls.
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Creation Of The Veerni Balika ProgramNumber of girls increased to 110 in 2019 with the establishment of a second project, Veerni Balika Program with 20 girls.
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The Veerni project is currently functioning with on two programs; "The Veerni Institute and The Veerni Balika Centre", both provides lodging, meals, tuition, healthcare and supplies for 112 girls to attend school from classes 6 to 12.