St Stephen’s Department of Community Health started an innovative IEC (Information, Education and Communication) based Community Health & Development project in 1991 covering 14,000 people in 8 villages of District Gurgaon, Haryana. Presently, the project is led by a senior social worker. He has a team that includes one Women Development Organizer, two Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs), two Development Assistants and a few part time Community Volunteers. The project’s main office is based at Dhankot, 5-6 Km, south-west of Gurgaon town. The project now covers 10 villages and 25,000 people.

This programme puts forward an indirect approach to health care without regular curative services (doctors and medicines). Like the urban programmes, the rural programme works in close partnership with the community and blends health with socio- economic development.

Key strategies of the programme include:

• Empowerment and capacity building

• Convergence and enhancement of utilization of available government and non government services and resources

• Reaching the unreachable