Lojhara: One Leader, Many Changes
Ranju is a 25-year-old youth leader from a tribal community in Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh. She is also a mother of three children. For years, the village of Lojhara had no electricity and no proper roads. Ranju took on the task of representing her community’s needs to local authorities.
She began by forming women’s collectives in the village and worked with them to advocate for basic infrastructure and services. As part of this effort, the collectives organised a signature campaign among residents and filed a Right to Information (RTI) application, seeking details of the funds spent by the Village Head over the past five years.
Their efforts brought results. Electricity reached the village. Measurement work for road construction began. A teacher started coming regularly to the local Anganwadi centre, giving young children in the village access to early education and care.
Ranju’s work shows how one person’s willingness to organise and advocate can bring lasting change to an entire community.
Azadnagar: A Community Finds Its Voice
Azadnagar is a slum settlement less than two kilometres from a coal mine in Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh. Coal mining has brought heavy pollution and serious health risks, and most residents work as daily wage labourers in hazardous conditions. Distanced by the village panchayat, the community had no school and no primary health centre.
Over six months, CNL worked with residents through community meetings and training on local governance, formal applications, and organising as a group. Women’s collectives soon formed across the settlement and identified clean water as their most urgent need.
Their advocacy brought quick results. Seven disused handpumps were repaired within a week of their demand letter. Encouraged, the collectives continued to organise, raising their concerns directly with panchayat officials and pressing for greater transparency in local development works.
Officials have since proposed housing for 103 households, and the Gram Panchayat Secretary now visits every week. Azadnagar shows what becomes possible when a community is given the tools, and the trust, to organise for itself.
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