Heartiest Greetings!

CYSD was started in 1982, as an organisation to address the training and capacity building needs of NGOs in Orissa. Since then we have expanded our work, on one hand, at the side of the people in some of the most challenging areas of Orissa, and on the other hand, on complex policy issues such as local self-governance and citizen accountability.

The training and capacity building we have undertaken over the years has created change agents, social mobilisers and entrepreneurs. Many of these people are now leaders of diverse social development organisations, or belong to the development community within the state, nationally and internationally.

Over the years we have established deep relationships with the tribal communities we are working with and learning from, and have worked alongside them to translate the dreams of their own development into reality.

We have engaged with the state government on policy related issues, particularly on state budget spending on social services; with the national government to create an enabling environment for civil society; and with the United Nations through our Social Watch work.

The Self Help Group initiative, begun in the early days, has matured and developed, and is now a well-recognised concept across the country. Other NGOs as well as the state government have now mainstreamed the land and water management efforts, which we started in a small way in Choudwar. We feel some pride for these small efforts. However, we are still struggling to find satisfactory solutions for the continuing grave issues of rural livelihood and the challenge of promoting quality primary education and people -centred participatory governance.

The super cyclone provided the scope for us to work with fellow civil society organisations in responding to the unthinkable horror of the aftermath, in which human casualties and the devastation of livelihoods affected half the state. CYSD built its perspective and experience in disaster response during this terrible time. We are amply rewarded that this experience is respected and shared within the country and outside.

It has been a long, arduous yet rewarding journey, which began in a small way. Some of the seeds of change that we sowed along the way have borne fruit; a few did not flourish. We must therefore constantly improve our approach and methods to ensure that all the seeds sown in future are indeed seeds of change.

We wish to take this opportunity to extend our sincerest thanks and gratitude to all who have made this 25 year journey possible - all of our colleagues, both present and past; the communities we work with and their inspirational leaders; fellow civil society travellers; partners; donors; supporters; government officials, corporate and the media.

We are relying on your unstinting and generous support for the coming years of our journey ahead .......