Introduction

From childhood, Prathamesh Pomendkar was introduced to social change through the work of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He decided at a young age to contribute and bring about positive social change. In college, through volunteering with the National Service Scheme (NSS), he worked in different activities for various social causes. After his college education, in 2015, he worked with a social institute, CFI which was focused on bringing educational reforms. Through CFI, he was involved in helping kids from economically weaker sections of society reach their educational goals. In 2017, he started working with ANULOM, an NGO that works with all sections of society to bring awareness about various government schemes. 

Background

There are various government schemes instituted to help various sections of society. However, in most cases, the information about these schemes does not reach the target population and these schemes fall short of their promise to bring about positive social change. In this scenario, through an organisation like ANULOM, Prathamesh worked on approximately 250 schemes and helped over 2000 individuals get access to them. Through other NGOs, he worked on solutions like water conservation, healthcare, women’s saving groups (microfinance) and entrepreneurship. 

Success case 

Having worked with various NGOs and with different sections of society, Prathamesh was asked by Prasanna Karandikar to lead the Outreach efforts at TWJ-The Social Reforms. Started working with the NAAM foundation’s efforts to clean the Shiv River through dredging and debris removal. He also worked on building 8 small vanrai dams ‘ponds’ to raise the water table through the ‘arrest water conserve water’ (पाणी आडवा आणि जिरवा) technique. 

Future 

Prathamesh focuses on TWJ-TSR outreach efforts. Within TWJ-TSR, he works with various verticals of Bhavartha, healthcare, Mental well-being, education, agriculture, plantation, and arts, to reach their external NGO counterparts so that their outreach efforts are seamless and far-reaching. So far, he has visited over 50 NGO partners and introduced them to the work of TWJ-TSR. In future, TWJ-TSR will focus on connecting people to the various government schemes they can access and the Outreach wing, headed by Prathamesh Pomendkar will play a huge role in this effort.