Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) is a development organization based in Saragur near Mysore in Karnataka state in India. The organization is engaged in building a new civil society in India through its grassroots to policy-level action in Health, Education and Community Development sectors. Acting as a key promoter-facilitator in the community's efforts towards self-reliance and empowerment, SVYM is developing local, innovative and cost-effective solutions to sustain community-driven progress. SVYM is also rooted to its values of Satya, Ahimsa, Seva and Tyaga, which is reflected in its program design and delivery, transactions with its stakeholders, resource utilization, disclosures and openness to public scrutiny. Buying in support from the community, working in healthy partnership with the Government and corporate sectors and sharing its experiences with like-minded organizations have been the hallmark of SVYM's evolution over the past 27 years.
History
The year was 1984. A group of young medical students led by R.Balasubramaniam at the Mysore Medical College (in Karnataka State, India) were starting to feel that the career in medicine they dreamt of pursuing was very different from the practice of medicine around them. They believed that they had in them to make a difference and make a positive impact on the lives of the poor and the marginalized. And so, they started the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM, for short), with initial assets of high ideals and all the positive benefits of inexperience.
Their initial intention was to provide rational, ethical and cost-effective medical care to the needy. They started small – collecting physician samples of medicines and distributing them to poor patients, organizing blood donation camps and weekly rural outreach clinics around Mysore. In 1987, destiny took them to Heggadadevanakote Taluk, the home of the displaced and dispossessed forest-based tribes. These indigenous people, belonging to five different clans – Jenukuruba, Kadukuruba, Yerava, Paniya and Bunde Soliga – had been displaced twice from their natural habitat by development projects of the Government, namely ‘Project Tiger’ and ‘Kabini Reservoir’, and were forced to live in penury on the fringes of the Bandipur National Park.
The medicos set up a clinic at a tribal hamlet named Brahmagiri, at a distance of about 80 km from Mysore city, with a little help from the Mysore District Administration. Realizing early that medicare by itself is not enough and hoping education to be a panacea to the gen-next, they opened an informal school for the tribal kids in a cow-shed in Brahmagiri. They were able to sail through the initial days of extreme uncertainty and struggle (and even ridicule!) by pluck, some luck and with help from unexpected quarters. As days passed, more people joined hands and the work took a definite shape. Socio economic empowerment activities were added to health and education, and the rural poor were also brought under the ambit - as the organization moved from the role of a ‘provider’ to a ‘facilitator’. A 10-bed hospital was started at Kenchanahalli, along with a host of community-based programs in Health and Education. As the medicos returned in batches after completing their post graduation, the multi-specialty Vivekananda Memorial Hospital took shape at Saragur, with generous help from donors, friends and well-wishers. The organization continued to grow and expand in the 90s, with a definite vision and strategic direction.
Activities
SVYM's principal area of operation is Mysore District of Karnataka, India. Here they have various institution-based and community-based Health and Education projects running and also undertake several Community Development Initiatives, catering to a populace of about 400,000 comprising both tribals and rural poor.
SVYM has a state-of-the-art training cum resource center called Vivekananda Institute for Leadership Development at Mysore, which also serves as a base for urban-based interventions and also houses their registered office. They work in the most backward regions of North Karnataka, particularly in the districts of Bijapur and Dharwad. Here, in addition to direct intervention in Health and Education sectors, they also train and build capacities of like-minded budding NGOs. They also have a full-fledged education project running in Bangalore. Their Training, Research, Advocacy and Consultancy (TRAC) activities give them a pan-India footprint.
SVYM’s chapters in Hassan, Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts are run by members of SVYM, and they carry out locally and contextually relevant projects, with guidance from the administrative office.
Healthcare
The institution-based services under health are provided through the Vivekananda Memorial Hospitals (VMH) at Saragur and Kenchanahalli. VMH–Saragur is a 90-bed facility offering multi-specialty secondary care at an affordable cost to the rural and tribal populace. It is affiliated to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), Bangalore and offers the India’s first post-graduate fellowship course in HIV medicine for medical and dental professionals. VMH – Kenchanahalli is a 10-bed facility offering primary care, along with options for ayurveda chikitsa. SVYM hospitals are recognized training centers for capacity building of entire gamut of health professionals – from specialists to grassroot workers.
Community based services are provided in the key focus areas listed above, through the outreach program and a network of grassroot level health workers called health facilitators. Their HIV control program, that offers comprehensive, inclusive and end-to-end care, is rated as one of the best in the country and has been hailed as a best-practice model by UNAIDS.