The Microproject Fund is a model developed by AVAG that concentrates on providing the villagers with the basic infrastructure to organise and take responsibility for their own village services. Most villages do not have proper roads, drainage, electricity and drinking-water facilities, and many of the school-buildings and public places are badly dilapidated and need urgent attention.

The Village Council first decides on a project they believe is the most urgent. The villagers then plan and make an estimate. They try to secure funds for the project from the established government sources, as AVAG keeps the Councils well aware of all the government schemes accessible to the villages. If government funding is not forthcoming, the Council calls upon all the villagers to try and raise the funds themselves.

If the amount is too large to raise within the village, the Council can apply to AVAG's Microproject Fund. To be eligible for AVAG's support, the villagers themselves must provide one third of the cost, in cash, in kind or labour. AVAG also ensures that the Council has a proper plan to maintain the asset.

AVAG helps them build the skills and the leadership qualities they need to undertake projects, as well as facilitating them to look in-depth at issues and schemes affecting them.

The end result is that when a village has worked together to implement a project, they end up with not only an improved facility for the village, but a sense of "can do" about themselves, and the readiness to take up more and more community work together.

In the month of December 2002, ten women's clubs and two men's clubs of Vanur village cleaned up the area around the Health Centre. About 200 people worked together for two days and cleared up an area of three acres. They also cleaned the centre thoroughly and got rid of all its unhygienic waste.

The condition of the Health Centre of Vanur village was miserable just a month back. The place was surrounded by thick, thorny bushes. The unhealthy waste of the centre was lying all over, inside and outside the complex. The doctor, nurse and the staff members were often negligent towards the patients. The villagers were reluctant to go there to be treated even if they required urgent medical attention.

Today all this has changed because some members of AVAG's women's clubs had the vision of a better health service for their village. They approached the doctor and told him about AVAG's Microproject Fund and the possibility of an improved health centre. The doctor was overjoyed as he too was disgusted with the place and was thinking of resigning from the job. The matter was then brought to the club meeting and got the approval of AVAG's development worker. The news of this Herculean microproject spread and finally all the twelve clubs of the village decided to participate. All the club members contributed Rs. 40 each to help the project and they bore 2/3 of the total cost.