Thiruvananthapuram, Moopen Institute for Local Empowerment - MILES is a community organization developed by Padmasri Dr Azad Moopen established in 2010 and is now into wholesome development of his home village Kalpakanchery Panchayath in Kerala's Malappuram district.

Dr Azad Moopen, an alumini of the prestigious Calicut Medical College has established several hospitals within and outside the country and alongside his professional commitments as a medical doctor is engaged in total and comprehensive development of his home village, Kalpakanchery.

The organization has been working in areas of Education, Employment, Human Resources Development, Community Health, Women Empowerment and Environmental studies since it was established in 2010. The study conducted by MILES in association with Kalpakanchery grama panchayath has found that almost all sections of the civil society has benefitted from the involvement and intervention of MILES in issues that the panchayath was not able to handle on its own.

MILES is now conducting a comprehensive study in Kalpakanchery panchayath in collaboration with IRDP (Initiative for Development Research and Practice) and panchayath. The study mainly focusses on Youth, women, children and general public.

Kamarudhin, Administrative Officer of MILES who manages the institution while speaking to IANS said, "The program is being organized with the support of Kalpakanchery Panchayath and elected ward members are totally in support of our project and in each ward elected members lead our program."

The organization conducts Village walk which is an effective tool to touch the rural life and to know more on it for further studies and research before intervention in the specific issues pointed out during the walk. Specific data will be collected through questionnaires from youths and general public.

Focused Group Discussions(FGD) will be conducted with a maximum of eight participants drawn from the sections of the ward which include ward member (Current member, Past member (optional), Social activists (2), Youth representatives (1 male, 1 female), Professionals 2 (Preferably from social sector), Anganwadi Teacher (1) and Kudumbasree members (2). This group will conduct a one hour focused group discussion and implement the projects which are in the priority following these discussions.

The organization uses Participatory learning and Action (PLA) and Participatory Rural Apprisal (PRA) in the study and brings out solutions and executes the necessary requirements.

Khadeeja, (61) who lives in Kalpakanchery grama panchayath, 2 ward while speaking to IANS said, "MILES has now become a household name in this area and we are all benefited by the intervention of the organization. The young team of MILES comes to our homes regularly, ask questions and if we need anything including issues like drinking water, environmental pollution, education of children, health issues and electricity problems, they intervene and either bring to the notice of the panchayath or they directly provide the solution. Slowly but surely there is a major positive impact since MILES was launched here."

With the support from Dr Azad Moopen and his family trust, the organization is managing a good team of professionals who are highly educated in social sciences and who know the requirements of the village.

Dr Azad Moopen while speaking to IANS said, "It is largely true that India lives in villages as told by Gandhiji a century back. Our panchayaths are powerhouses of human potential with over a billion people, which is yet to be unleashed for our nation building. Our efforts through establishing MILES, has been to make Kalpkanachery a model panchayath and uplift the people through various initiatives and enablers. We undertake many programmes in education, career development, women's empowerment, environmental protection, health and wellness etc at the grass root level, in association with local bodies."

MILES is being curated as a Proof of Concept that can be replicated across other panchayaths in India which would pave the way for overall development of our country as vast majority of our people still live in villages."