Advocacy And Outreach
For successful completion of any project of this kind, active participation of citizens and general population is required. For this to happen, knowledge about rivers and information about their state and health must be made accessible to people thus spreading awareness about river health. This will not only inform people about the various activities undertaken in the direction of river health, but also spread general awareness regarding environment preservation and conservation. Such outreach activities go on at various levels varying from word of mouth, to social media, newletters, print and electronic media.
Such outreach actiivities achieve special importance when the audience themselves are involved in activities having implications on river health, e.g., and farmers. In the particular case of agriculture, involvement and participation of mentors is important which ensures that knowledge is accessible to farmers. Usually farmers depend on local service providers such as shopkeepers and sellers for suggestion and solutions, so that in spite of existing knowledge and recommendations, they may not make correct decision.
In addition to the various modes of communication listed earlier, there is a need to look for a platform where ideas on successful techniques could be exchanged. Presence of such a platform would facilitate the process of scientifically updating the traditional knowledge.
Another example could be given of organic farming and products. In this context, general public should be made aware of methods to identify whether any product is indeed organic, e.g, using some certification. Farmers — who are interested in improving their income and not just crop production — need to be told that organic farming will lead to increase in productivity as well as income.
The objective of cGanga is not to promote any particular method or approach, instead only to make information available to the general public. In other words, the objective of cGanga is only to create and disseminate information.