Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), is the social arm of TVS Motor Company and Sundaram Clayton Limited. The community program of these two companies through the Srinivasan Services Trust (SST) is also a journey — one of learning and development on a road towards prosperity for millions of Indians in underserved communities create a prosperous rural India.

SST works in over 5000 villages across 5 states in India: Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. SST does this by helping villagers find solutions that are sustainable in areas ranging from economic development, education, health, infrastructure, environment, social and cultural development

SST managed program of constant improvement which involves changing the attitude of the community. This way community know that change must come from within and it is up to them to sustain that transformation. This was done closely with communities and governments to empower underserved through awareness, skills and training programs

SST starts by finding ways to help people earn more. We do that through self-help groups, by skilling people and helping those with an occupation optimise their work through smarter practises, introduce better farming methods to farmers, so their yields improve and income shoots up. Once they find they are able to earn enough to meet their daily needs, they look upon improving other aspects of their life -- usually it starts with better hygiene in their environment, schooling for their children and healthier food and timely medical help.

• Financial freedom among women self-help group members through earning from income generation activities.
• Enhanced agriculture productivity and income from livestock
• Financial security and sustainability in SSTworking villages.

SST is working with parents and government schools to eliminate imbalances. Our approach has been to create awareness through parent and teacher interactions, so that parents feel motivated to send their children to school and keep them there. We are also helping schools be better places to learn in, by helping improve school infrastructure, mobilising quality teachers and offering career counselling. We involve communities in helping maintain the school infrastructure and ensure that villagers invest in this, so they remain committed to these projects. By improving anganwadi centres in villages, we hope to teach them basics such as hygiene and nutrition at an early age. At adult education centres we focus on functional literacy so older people can be more independent and avoid being victimised.

• Conducive environment in schools for students and children in anganwadis.
• Motivated teachers in schools and anganwadis
• Better involvement of communities on school and anganwadi development initiatives.

The focus of our health related programs is preventative health care so women and children can survive childbirth, avoid malnutrition and have access to regular health check-ups. SST support to organises regular health camps that offer primary health care services to catch common deficiencies including anaemia. We create awareness on hygiene and sanitation to avoid communicable diseases. SST support government programs such as providing clean drinking water and providing nutrition have vastly improved the well-being of communities.

• Easy access to health care services within the villages.
• Better adoption of personal hygiene and sanitation practices among communities.

SST works hard with communities to encourage a range of conservation measures. We start by teaching farmers better methods, from drip irrigation which uses less water, to mulching which improves yields. We also create awareness about soil erosion and deforestation and encourage the planting of trees in denuded patches. Most of our villages understand waste segregation and do so. We also teach them recycling and encourage them to find local solutions to their problems, be it in keeping their water-ways clean or harvesting rainwater.

• Greater awareness among communities on keeping villages clean and green.
• Better utilisation and conservation of natural resources.

SST approach has been to assist rural communities in building better infrastructure. We have discovered that communities take great pride in maintaining infrastructure once they are provided with basic facilities. SST partners with the villagers, schools and local bodies to improve infrastructure be it water catchment tanks, school buildings, community hall or communal toilets, building water catchment areas, desilting tanks, building a boundary wall around a school or sprucing up a primary health-care centre. We let villagers prioritize their needs and then work with them and government agencies to provide the facilities.

• Availability of basic infrastructure facilities in villages.
• Better utilisation and maintenance of community structures by villagers

SST hold trust as the greatest medium. We use this to convince communities to work with us for sustainable change and development. The development model we follow needs the collaboration of everyone in the community. This breaks down caste barriers. We also emphasise on solutions that come from the villagers, so they can lead the change they want. This has helped create leadership, foster pride and nurture harmony. Village bodies then act as influencers for social change and are able to demand better public services. Our approach has been to work with those most willing to change, then helping them be role models for others.

• Better social and cultural interactions in the community.
• Empowered communities by way of collective decisions through gram sabha.