The purpose of the visit was to show the staff of REDS how SEDS is active in its working area. In total 13 people came from all cadres within REDS. The visit lasted three days and the participants got a broad overview of all the activities within SEDS. Because of the nature of the E&E coalition most visits saw our community organisation programs. They attended meetings with our Village Level Volunteers (VLVs) and Village Health Workers (VHWs), saw two of our tailoring centres and the Balwadi centre. In order to see how we work in the villages they went to a Village Organisation (VO) meeting in Thungodu to see the working of our village structures. The last day there was a visit to the VTC, where local youth are trained in electrical wiring and motor mechanics, and the MFC where legal advice is distributed. 
Naturally they also saw our natural resource management, the project which constitutes as a major component of all our projects. The development of watersheds in our area is an immensely important aspect of the whole development of our area of work, as without it SEDS believe that sustaianability of programs is not possible without a livelihoods enhancement process.
This was also the reaction of Vibhawari Kamble, consultant with ICCO, who came to visit SEDS from the 20th till 22nd of May. On the first day she was taken to Gonipetta. The village is located between the rolling hills east of Penukonda where farming is a precarious occupation. During a meeting with the VO and some farmers the villagers were adamant that the watershed programme, introduced in 2002 with ICCO/EED funding, has brought the village a lot of relief. The water table has risen considerably, the landscape became greener and as a result of SEDS’ operations in the area, a lot of new Community Based Organisations (CBOs) have seen daylight. Vibhawari showed a lot of expertise in the field as her questions highlighted the different problems communities can face. Education, transport, youth development, employment possibilities, domestic violence, healthcare and general problems the community can face. The people themselves responded and gave her an adequate amount of information. Of course delicate subjects as in the cases of domestic violence will not receive a straight forward answer, but the reply of the women that every man who beats up his wife gets a beating himself shows that they are able to deal with this now.
Other places she visited was a tailoring centre, she saw the tank desilting, visited the VTC and attended a night meeting in Konapuram with the VO and SHGs. For our projects on watershed areas we took her to Thungodu and Sanipalli where she witnessed the first stage of such an undertaking and the astounding result that is only visible after thirty years of hard work. 
Both visits, although different in nature and undertaking, fulfilled all the needs and wishes of the participants. REDS was highly interested and appreciative in implementing watershed structures and tailoring centres in its working area. The ICCO representative saw many good points in our work and was quite satisfied with our projects.
