President Kalam at the Ship of Hope Exhibit IDM 2007
New Delhi — On 28 May 2007 the President of India H.E. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, inaugurated the India Development Marketplace 2007 (IDM 2007) organized by the World Bank in New Delhi. He visited a number of exhibits and spent time at the “Ships of Hope in a Valley of Flood” stall of the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research (C-NES) which had won an award for an innovative idea and meeting rural gaps in the India Development Marketplace 2004.
C-NES had been invited by the World Bank to showcase its success at the exhibition, having shown its efficiency in Dibrugarh district, upper Assam. A second ship, funded by a private donor, reaches the isolated villages of Dhemaji and Tinsukia districts.
The President appreciated the work and asked about the treatment and medicines given to villagers in the out reach programme. Dr. Kalam referred to the work in his speech at the IDM 2007. He said it was being used as a medical delivery system to an isolated region. The “Ship of Hope is now being used to ferry medical teams to deliver healthcare throughout the year to the people of Assam region.”
The Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research (C-NES), under the leadership of Sanjoy Hazarika, designed and developed the concept. Today the project provides training and awareness to thousands on health, sanitation as well as livestock care on the islands of the Brahmaputra. The ship is 22 meters long and 4 meters wide, has an OPD, cabins for medical staff, medicine chest, kitchen, toilets, crew quarters and a general store.
The target coverage for 2007-2008 is 25,000 in Dibrugarh district. Financial support and partnership has come from ONGC, IOC, OIL, tea industry, the district administration and department of health services as well as UNICEF.
The World Bank India Country Director, Ms. Isabel M. Guerroro, also met separately with the main figures behind the 2004 winning entries, Ship of Hope and Dew Harvesting in Kutch. She said the work of these and other winners of 2004 indicated how sustainable such ideas were and the Bank was proud to be associated with them.
Later, in her introductory remarks to the competition welcoming President Kalam, Ms. Guerrero described the C-NES experience of “one boat and several in the making, reaching hundreds of people” was an inspiration. She said that she hoped that in a few years, in similar fashion, the winners of the 2007 competition would report back on the successful things they were doing.
Please downlaod the complete speech here.