Padma Library
Established on the occasion of the International Day of Peace in 2021, the PADMA Library is located at the SNEH Centre in Mayfair Nagar, Saliasahi, Bhubaneswar. The library was created with the vision of offering children from slum communities a peaceful and motivating space to learn, read, and grow, especially for those who lack a suitable study environment at home. The library provides access to the collection of storybooks, picture books, magazines, educational materials, indoor games, and craft resources. Beyond being a place for learning, it also serves as a safe and better environment where children can spend their time positively and creatively. 
Open from Monday to Friday between 4:30 PM and 6:00 PM, and on weekends from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM, the library actively promotes the intellectual, creative, and social development of children. Activities conducted at the library help improving vocabulary, learning skills, technical understanding, and communication abilities. Group games and collaborative activities foster teamwork, friendship, and mutual respect among children. In addition, the library organizes fortnightly storytelling sessions led by SNEH staff members and invited storytellers. These interactive sessions inspire imagination, creativity, and attentive listening, helping children develop a love for reading and learning.Shakti Sadan
Location: Rayagada District, Odisha
Under the Mission Shakti Scheme, SNEH established Shakti Sadan – an Integrated Relief and Rehabilitation Home in Rayagada town during 2024–25, creating a safe and supportive space for women and girls facing domestic violence, trafficking, abandonment and other forms of distress. Shakti Sadan is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, with funding shared between the Centre and State in a 60:40 ratio.
As the only shelter home of its kind in Rayagada district, Shakti Sadan provides an integrated package of safe accommodation, care and protection, counselling, healthcare, legal assistance, psychosocial support and rehabilitation services. Beyond immediate protection, the programme focuses on helping women rebuild their lives through vocational training, livelihood opportunities and pathways towards social and economic reintegration.
During 2025–26, Shakti Sadan provided shelter and support to 125 women and 25 children and successfully facilitated the rehabilitation of 104 women and 18 children. Through legal assistance, counselling, skill development, awareness activities and community engagement, the initiative addresses both immediate vulnerabilities and longer-term recovery. Shakti Sadan ultimately seeks to enable vulnerable women and girls to move from crisis and dependency towards safety, dignity, confidence, self-reliance and resilient futures.
Promoting Youth-Driven Community Changes for HIV Prevention:
Location: Salia Sahi Slum, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
The “Promoting Youth-Driven Community Changes for HIV Prevention” project, implemented by the Society for Nature, Education and Health (SNEH) in Salia Sahi, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, has concluded. The initiative aimed to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and other health issues while actively engaging local youth in community development. Throughout the project, Youth Cell members organized various activities such as World AIDS Day observances, wall painting campaigns, cleanliness drives, distribution of health-themed greeting cards, street plays on HIV/AIDS awareness, counselling sessions on menstrual health, and health camps addressing HIV/AIDS and other health concerns.
These efforts helped dispel misconceptions, break long-standing taboos, and encourage open discussions on sexually transmitted diseases, sanitation, and nutrition. As a result, community awareness improved, and young people emerged as leaders of positive change. SNEH trained 40 youths (both boys and girls) from nine habitations of Salia Sahi to take on grassroots leadership roles. These young leaders acted as change agents, spreading awareness and strengthening peer learning networks. Their capacity was further enhanced through structured programs such as mentoring for holistic development, peer educator training, safeguarding and “Do No Harm” principles, self-improvement initiatives, and team-building exercises. These interventions fostered confidence, leadership skills, and a sense of purpose among participants. To address menstrual health awareness, SNEH celebrated Raja Utsav on June 14, 2025, focusing on breaking stigmas surrounding menstruation.
The event provided a platform for women to relax, participate in activities, and showcase their talents while promoting awareness about female health. Adopting the “Discover, Develop and Deliver” approach, SNEH identified individual talents, nurtured their skills, and encouraged youth to lead community initiatives. The Youth Cell also organized a candle march in memory of a local Peace Committee member who lost her life during the Rath Yatra in Puri. During a dengue outbreak, Youth Cell members collaborated with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation to conduct surveys in vulnerable areas. Ten members were selected for this initiative, contributing to community safety while gaining valuable experience. Overall, the project significantly strengthened community participation, leadership, and social cohesion. It not only improved health awareness among residents but also transformed the participating youth into responsible and proactive community leaders, fostering lasting positive change.
Peace Building Programs
Location: Kandhamal District and Bhubaneswar, Odisha
The otherwise-peaceful state of Odisha has seen a spate of unprecedented communal violence in recent times, followed by a spurt of Left-wing extremism in different parts of the state. SNEH has initiated strategic peace-education interventions for school and college students in Bhubaneswar, and in the Kandhamal district of Odisha (the latter, following communal conflicts in Kandhamal in 2008). SNEH also conducts peace-building programs for slum communities in Bhubaneswar, and is an active member of the state-level citizen’s forum, ‘Odisha Nagarika Samaj’.
SNEH’s Centre for Peace and Non-violence in Bhubaneswar, called ‘SAMPRITI’, functions as a training-cum-resource centre for peacebuilding and reconciliation in the state. ‘SAMPRITI’ has a library stocked with resource materials like books, journals and research papers on peace and conflict studies. The Centre also provides a platform for regular interfacing among scholars, academics and activists who are also available for consultation and information-sharing on issues related to social unrest, violence and communal strife. At the time of social unrest and communal conflicts SNEH mobilizes the peace builders of the state to rush to the problem areas to diffuse tension and violence and usher in peace and normalcy. Training programs on various peace building and conflict resolution aspects are organized regularly for different stake holders at SAMPRITI.
SNEH has been working with the violence prone marginalized slum community in Bhubaneswar to minimize domestic violence and restore family peace. The slum youths are also mobilized through various sporting and cultural activities to wean them away from violence. SNEH has been organizing various training programs for slum women, community leaders, youths and adolescent girls and boys on peace building and conflict resolution in SAMPRITI.
Keeping in mind the growing violence and strife on educational campuses, SNEH has initiated peace-building and conflict-resolution activities by involving students from the various colleges of Bhubaneswar since 2010. Young MSW students undergo a series of training programs on peace-building and conflict-resolution. They subsequently work as peace ambassadors in their respective colleges, and in society in general.
Health and Livelihood program
Location: G. Udayagiri Block, Kandhamal District, Odisha
SNEH began its peace-building intervention in the G. Udayagiri Block of Kandhamal district in Odisha, in the immediate aftermath of horrifying communal conflicts in 2008. Initiatives on conflict resolution and restoration of communal harmony and peace were undertaken in the beginning. Later, endemic issues like malnutrition, health, hygiene and sanitation, and livelihood strengthening activities were also included in the intervention.
SNEH initially focused on women and child healthcare in 10 villages of the Ratingia G.P of G. Udayagiri block (the Infant Mortality Rate in Kandhamal district is the highest in the state). Pregnant women and lactating mothers have been included as the main stakeholders of the programme, and both curative as well as preventive healthcare practices have been adopted to improve the health status of the target population. A convergent approach was followed to integrate the intervention with government programs like Mamata and Janani Surakshya Yojnas. Various awareness and sensitization programs have been undertaken through trainings, workshops, camps, rallies and events relating to nutrition, health, sanitation and mother and childcare.
The main source of livelihood of the people of the district is agriculture and the collection of Non-timber Forest Produce (NTFP). Not having a rail head, Kandhamal has poor connectivity with the other districts of Odisha. Only 12% of its total area is cultivable, while 71% comprises forests and the rest is barren land. The farmers are mostly marginal or landless share-croppers who adopt shifting cultivation on the hill slopes. After a harvest of paddy in October-end, the rural workforce migrates to the neighboring states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in search of work.
SNEH has introduced modern farming practices through popularisation of SRI (System of Rice Intensification) and row transplantation of paddy. Farmers have been trained in ‘natural farming’ through the use of Indigenous Micro Organisms (IMO) prepared by using locally-sourced materials. This new technology has also contributed to improve the health and nutrition of the local people.
SNEH has also introduced new cash crops like maize, sunflower, pulses and mushroom in the area through crop diversification training programs. Capacity-building programs for women farmers have been organized to benefit the village women who have formed Self Help Groups (SHGs) linked to local banks. Vocational training programs like masonry, mobile-handset repair and IT and computer training have been organized to reinforce the livelihood activities of the youth of Kandhamal district.
Residential High School for Tribal Girls
Since 1995, the Society for Nature, Education and Health (SNEH) has managed Nalinee Vidya Mandir (NVM), a fully residential high school for tribal girls in Rayagada, Odisha. Supported by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, NVM currently provides education and residential care to 267 tribal girls from Classes I to X, primarily from remote and economically disadvantaged communities.
NVM provides an enabling environment that combines quality education, nutritious meals, safe accommodation, academic coaching, computer education, vocational skills, sports, cultural activities and personal care. Its holistic approach has contributed to a remarkable zero-dropout record since inception, while students have earned recognition at district and state levels in sports, science, art and other co-curricular activities.
The school also promotes future readiness through vocational skills, including tailoring, embroidery, traditional crafts and basic IT education, while preserving tribal culture and knowledge. A participatory School Management Committee and Mother’s Committee ensure strong community involvement and accountability.
Recognised with the Prakruti Mitra Award in 2016 and 2021, NVM now aspires to strengthen digital and STEM learning, life skills, leadership and career readiness—enabling every tribal girl to learn confidently, lead with dignity and build a future of her choice.
Youth Volunteering
Location: Various places in Odisha
SNEH has always encouraged the participation of youth in social development. Students from local colleges and professional institutions are involved in various programs and events organized by SNEH. Every year, students from the Masters in Social Work (MSW) institutions come to SNEH for internship programs, and these young professionals are groomed by our resource persons and staff with real-time exposure to various projects being implemented by SNEH. In this way, SNEH has developed a pool of volunteers who work as change agents in their respective communities.
Tutorial Centre
Location: Salia Sahi slum, Bhubaneswar
To compensate for the poor quality of education provided in government schools in Odisha, SNEH has started special morning and evening free tutorial classes for children from the Salia Sahi slum in Bhubaneswar. Most slum families are below the poverty line (BPL) and cannot afford the coaching their children might need, to do better in the board-level examinations.
The Tutorial Centre has not only helped many slum children improve in their studies, it has also checked the drop-out rates in schools in the vicinity of Salia Sahi. The students benefit from individual attention and a customised learning approach that is sensitive to their circumstances and community problems. This keeps them engaged, interested in education and away from petty crimes and substance abuse that is common among children growing up in slums around the country. Providing coaching and bolstering education efforts are a part of the wider community intervention undertaken by SNEH. Currently, more than 50 children attend these tutorial classes, which have four teachers.
Greening Odisha
Location: Erasama Block
The 1999 supercyclone uprooted and destroyed over nine crore trees across 14 districts in Odisha. In 2000, SNEH started a ‘village greening’ initiative among the women and children of the worst-hit Erasama Block in Odisha. More than 500 children and 300 women planted fruit-bearing and shade-giving trees that they still tend to today, after so many years, by frequently de-weeding, watering and putting up protective barriers. In 2010, more than 1,000 saplings were planted to further the program. In 2002, 500 schoolchildren participated in SNEH’s ‘Campaign Coconut’ — an effort to regenerate coconut palms in the area and restore a small but significant part of Odisha’s green cover.
A part of SNEH’s reconstruction program in the supercyclone-affected areas has been largescale plantation activities and avenue plantations, and restoration of village forests and back-yard vegetable gardens.
SNEH has also helped schools students ‘think green’ and contribute to conserving the environment by organizing special programs for them. Working to save the environment started indoors – with sit & draw and poster competitions, debates and essay writing. From a crash course in bird-watching and wilderness survival skills, to cleaning up the forest and learning to identify trees, SNEH has helped a large number of schoolchildren to discover the naturalist inside them
SNEH has been actively participating in the National Environment Awareness Programs (NEAC) every year since 1997.
Disaster Management Program
Location: Kendrapara District, Odisha
The floods of 2014 left more than nine lakh people, across 23 Odisha districts, marooned and homeless. The worst affected were the people of Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts, where the district administration, in the aftermath of the floods, focused its evacuation and relief work. But the biggest challenge faced by the administration once the waters receded, was a plethora of ailments and epidemics like diarrhea, cholera, skin diseases and general fever, cough and colds among the flood-affected people. A more long-term problem was that the open wells, which were a primary source of drinking water for the people in these districts, had become contaminated. Urgent steps were required to clean and restore the wells, and spread awareness among the local people about purifying their drinking water.
SNEH rushed a team of doctors, paramedics and volunteers to Patamundai Block in Kendrapara district, to administer emergency healthcare to the flood-affected people. SNEH organized health camps in the remote areas and distributed essential medicines, while simultaneously carrying out awareness programs about flood-related health hazards.
Apart from providing on-ground logistical support — transport, hospitality, food, snacks, bottled water etc to the medical teams — SNEH distributed generic drugs for ailments like diarrhea, cholera, fever, cough and cold, and skin diseases. Affected people were supplied with halogen tablets and bleaching powder, procured from the district health authorities, to purify their drinking and other water sources.
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