Mr. Prakash Palande

Prakash Palande - Director, National Institute for Sustainable DevtPrakash has worked in social work in India for over 20 years.Being himself from the project area, he is very moved by the plight of cigaretter-rollers and their children and saw that no-one else was working in teh area.So he set up NISD to help both the poverty stricken Dalit (untouchable) and Tribal people in the area.

MANGAL KADAM - Project CoordinatorMangal was involved in social activities since her college days.She did a MSW to improve her knowledge of how she could help the most deprived.Mangal did not want to disrupt her work and commitment towards the poor so she choose as her partner a man who is also a social worker and willing to work with NISD.Now Mangal and her husband -Yashwant- both are pillars of NISD's work

National Institute for Sustainable Development (NISD) was started in 1994 under the leadership of Mr. Prakash Palande with the objective of undertaking developmental programmes in Sangamner block in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra.Mr. Palande, who is the President and Executive Director of NISD, hails from the operational area.He is a postgraduate in Economics and Social Work (MSW).He is also a L.L.B. from Pune University.Mr. Palande has worked for over 8 years in the different development agencies including Helpage India as project advisor.He has also worked as a consultant for Oxfam, before starting NISD.CRY has been supporting the efforts of the organisation since 1998/99.

The operational area of NISD covers 14 villages under Sangamner block in Ahmednagar and Pune district.The area is drought prone as a result, returns from agriculture is less than remunerative.Majority of the families is engaged in bidi rolling and live in extreme poverty.According to a survey conducted out of 925 bidi workers, only 94 are male workers and the rest female workers.The literacy rate amongst the women is very low.These women work 15-18 hours in back breaking conditions to support the families.These women are exposed to various occupational health hazards because of poor ventilation, sanitation and other unhygienic conditions.
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National Institute for Sustainable Development (NISD) was started in 1994 under the leadership of Mr. Prakash Palande with the objective of undertaking developmental programmes in Sangamner block in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra.Mr. Palande, who is the President and Executive Director of NISD, hails from the operational area.He is a postgraduate in Economics and Social Work (MSW).He is also a L.L.B. from Pune University.Mr. Palande has worked for over 8 years in the different development agencies including Helpage India as project advisor.He has also worked as a consultant for Oxfam, before starting NISD.CRY has been supporting the efforts of the organisation since 1998/99.

The operational area of NISD covers 14 villages under Sangamner block in Ahmednagar and Pune district.The area is drought prone as a result, returns from agriculture is less than remunerative.Majority of the families is engaged in bidi rolling and live in extreme poverty.According to a survey conducted out of 925 bidi workers, only 94 are male workers and the rest female workers.The literacy rate amongst the women is very low.These women work 15-18 hours in back breaking conditions to support the families.These women are exposed to various occupational health hazards because of poor ventilation, sanitation and other unhygienic conditions.

Mr Prakash Palande, Executive Director