Guiding Principles
At GRAVIS, how we attain our goal is as important as the goal itself. The values that guide our strategies and processes are in deep cognizance with the attributes of fairness and sustainability. Our key guiding principles are as follows:
Community Participation
When GRAVIS implements a project, representatives from the beneficiary community participate at every stage of the process, from planning to implementation to monitoring. These representatives are often part of people’s organizations that GRAVIS has helped to establish, where they gather with other members of the community to discuss issues and decide on action. We highly value the wisdom and experience of these individuals, and their participation ensures that our projects are need-based and community-driven.
Inclusion
GRAVIS has a deep concern for the wellbeing of vulnerable and marginalized groups. In all our projects, we make sure that no one is excluded due to gender, age, caste, or religion. We also target groups that are particularly in need of care, such as pregnant women and infants.
Capacity Building
Every project is a reason for us to strengthen our capacities as a team and enhance our skills on programme implementation and knowledge transfer to communities. This also builds capacity within the beneficiary community, forming structures and organizations that can facilitate future efforts.
Self-reliance
In order for GRAVIS’ projects to be sustainable, communities must ultimately take ownership. We promote self-reliance in our activities by raising contributions from the community members and generating support at a grassroots level. Many of our projects are either planned or carried out with the help of village volunteers.
Blending Science & Traditional Knowledge
GRAVIS firmly believes in the importance of local wisdom. Rather than ignoring local knowledge, we embrace it and complement it with modern techniques developed scientifically. This marriage of science and tradition has proven effective in a variety of our interventions and helps to build support from villagers.
Co-operation
Although GRAVIS encourages communities to be self-sufficient, as an organization, we cannot operate on our own and provide every support needed for implementing a plethora of interventions. Hence, we depend on our extensive network of partnerships with other organizations, government agencies, and experts. These entities provide essential resources and support for all of our efforts.
