Goodyear India joins with International Association for Human Values for ‘Healthy India’ Program in Maharashtra

New Delhi, 27^th March, 2016: Goodyear India today launched its ‘Healthy India’ program in partnership with the International Association for Human Values. The program supports the Prime Minister’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ national campaign, and is aimed at addressing the sanitation needs of communities in nine remote villages across four districts in Maharashtra.

Based on a sustainable model, the project aims to sensitize and empower the local community on sanitation issues in rural Maharashtra. The ‘Healthy India’ initiative is focused on robust awareness campaigns on issues related to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), village cleanliness drives and the construction of household toilets. The vision of the project is to create nine ‘open defecation free’ villages in the districts of Amravati, Washim, Satara, Ahmednagar and Jalna by 15^th April 2016.  The villages that will be covered by the project are Dhanora, Hiwara Rohila, Jaigaon, Pimplalgaon Turk, Shirasgaon Bodka, Khandaviwadi, Kadaki, Edlapur and Nandra.

“We hope the ‘Healthy India’ initiative will help address some of the issues related to sanitation and hygiene by mobilizing and empowering local communities, which is the need of the hour. This is part of Goodyear India’s continued commitment to building and supporting collaborative programs that create positive outcomes for the people and communities around us. We are pleased to work with the International Association for Human Values who have strong experience in implementing socioeconomic development programs for rural and impoverished communities,” said Mr Rajeev Anand, vice chairman and managing director of Goodyear in India.

Good sanitation is one of the most basic human needs and yet remains one of the toughest challenges for India today. More than 72 percent of rural areas do not have access to even the most basic toilets, and India accounts for nearly 600 million of the 1 billion people in the world who have no access to toilets.

“Our association with Goodyear is a definite step towards tackling one of the most serious concerns that we as a nation face today. Our program will focus on creating empowered young leaders within the community who in turn become agents of change and ensure that community transformation is a sustainable process,” said Mr Darshak Hathi, board member, International Association for Human Values.