village upliftment programme 18-month report ... bona/18 month report...deivanai’s husband is a...

Address: Hand in Hand, SEED Trust Training Centre, Nasarathpet Village, Opp Pachayappa’s Men’s College, Little Kancheepuram, Kancheepuram District 631 503, Tamil Nadu, India

Phone: +91-44-420 293 60 • Fax: +91-44-272 693 01 E-mail: [email protected] • Web: www.hihindia.org

Village Upliftment Programme

18-Month report

Konerypattiagraharam, Tamil Nadu, India

Submitted to

Bona AB, Sweden

Submitted by

Hand In Hand India

December 2017



Introduction

Thank you for your support of Konerypattiagraharam panchayat. Please find below the 18-

month’s report covering successful stories of people benefiting from Hand in Hand India’s

interventions as well as challenges in implementing the programme.

Empowering people

Situated in Salem district of Tamil Nadu, Konerypattiagraharam panchayat is known more for its

proximity to its block Sankagiri.

Eighteen months ago, Hand in Hand India introduced the Village Upliftment Programme-VUP in

Konerypattiagraharam panchayat. Since its launch, the VUP has implemented interventions in

the areas of self-help group and microfinance, education, health, environment, and IT and

governance. The integrated development approach has not only brought out a progressive

change but has also laid the path for a better quality of life for villagers in Konerypattiagraharam

panchayat.

Empowering women through Self Help Groups (SHGs)

Poverty affects women and children the most. Illiterate poor women in rural India have, for long,

confined themselves to the conventional way of life — household chores, working as labourers,

or assisting in family-based enterprises. By forming self-help groups and providing affordable

microcredit they are now away from the web of poverty in Hand in Hand India’s self-help groups

(SHGs) and microfinance programme has helped poor women emerge from a cocoon existence

and carve out an identity of their own. With the backing of the microfinance programme, women

have received business training, and enterprise creation initiatives and marginalised women have

emerged as change agents in their communities. Based on the need, Hand in Hand India also

conducts skill training to self-help group women. For many women, the SHG programme has

given them the life of hope, dignity, and choice. Women receive microfinance loan to create and



strengthen their family based enterprises and some women were linked with banks to receive

loans.

SUSTAINING THE CHANGE

Rajamani lives in

Konerypattiagraharam panchayat with her husband Velusamy and three daughters; the elder

daughter is married and two sisters following her are still studying. Her husband Velusamy is a

farmer and has been a collaborator ever since their small provision store was established several

years ago. He stood by the initiative Rajamani took to establish the provision store on a big level,

even in the situation of obtaining loans from the money lenders at very high rates of interest. But

they noticed that profit was not sufficient for their daily bread and economic needs. However,

the local people as well as the travellers of the temple are provided with the essentials which

they need. Rajamani, at 45 years of age, looked for alternatives to upgrade her business and

simultaneously she required a loan that wouldn’t charge her high rates of interest. Amidst all this,

the interactions and frequent visits of Hand In Hand India’s staff and the local mobilizers provided

food for thought for developing her business to the next level. She was motivated to join Hand

in Hand India’s Self Help Group (SHG) named “Annai Theresa” facilitated by Hand in Hand India,

about two years ago. She has been very regular in attending the meetings and trainings provided

by Hand in Hand India. Consequently, she went on to obtain a loan amount of INR 15000/- from

her SHG that helped her in several ways; she stopped approaching the money lender for loan on



higher rates of interest, she expanded the space within the shop and included the edible and

non-edible items which she did not sell earlier in her shop. So she proudly says that there is an

absolute spike in the profits from INR 300 to INR 500 per day. Though, they have not maintained

a book-keeping system so far, they realized it is necessary now. The daughters have grown up

now; one is married and two others require financial and moral support, so she is convinced that

this business will be a sustainable home-based livelihood. She observes that the shop helps them

sustain their livelihood and that it will continue to happen in the days to come. She will opt for a

better loan option to expand the shop on a large scale to provide more materials than needed,

for the people. She is also skilled at tailoring that she is thinking of taking it up simultaneously,

facilitating her husband to be fully engaged at the shop. “On behalf of my family, I thank Hand in

Hand India for bettering my family’s economic status towards a sustainable mode,” stated

Rajamani.

FRAGRANCE OF BUSINESS



Nirmala and her husband Arumugham, who live at Konerypattiagraharam panchayat, found that

most of their customers are located within a mile radius and also from all over the district,

because the flower shop is located near a famous “Amman” (Hindu Goddess) temple. Flowers are

sold locally by other independent flower outlets and also in other areas such as bus terminals in

the town, a bit far from the temple. Nirmala’s marketing strategy was to sell primarily to visitors,

not to business people. She estimated the total market cost to be over INR 1,08,000/- per year

and an average of INR 400/- a day, based on the information obtained on wholesale deliveries

into the local supplies. She is so shrewd and calculative that she obtained estimates of volume

bought by her various competitors within the village from delivery personnel that come to her

shop. She continued to research the possibility of various ways to gain sales from local area

businesses within a mile of her shop. She began making notes from her discussions with tourists

as well as local customers about frequency of purchase and what kind of flowers they wanted

and the purpose for buying flowers for occasions/offerings in the temple. She enquired them

about the price the customers are willing to pay and the maximum amount they would like to

spend. She asked them about how satisfied they were with the flowers/plants they bought for

religious offering.

Nirmala’s husband is involved in the business along with his brothers. The business was setup by

his mother. Nirmala is a member of Hand in Hand India’s SHG named Shenbagam. Hand in Hand

India’s staff and the mobilizers observed her enthusiasm and motivated her to be part of this SHG

and she obtained a loan amount of INR 15000/- to support her husband in the business, on her

behalf. She utilized the amount and added different varieties of flowers in the shop, from her

town. Hand in Hand India’s entrepreneurship training helped her in upgrading her shop through

the strategies taught to her and because of her personal involvement with the staff members.

This made her reach the next level and also, she is ready to face the competition within the

village.



FROM SELLING DOOR MATS TO OWNING A HOME

Mrs.Deivanai and Mr.Iyyanar live

with their two sons in

Konerypattiagraharam Panchayat.

Deivanai’s husband is a day worker

who depends on his daily wages. His

wages were sufficient to educate the

sons up to a certain level and now

both work as daily wage workers

too. But Deivanai was capable of

buying a home and purchasing a land for her sons. All this was possible because of her amazing

skills in weaving door(foot) mats on contract basis for private companies. She has been doing this

since her childhood. On one hand, the business was picking up pretty well and on the other hand,

her effort to build a home and purchase a land was in full swing; Repaying the loan which had a

very high rate of interest was a hunch to her progress. She introduced to Hand in Hand India’s

entrepreneurship training and skill training on foot mat making and strategies and with the help

of the staff and mobilizers of Hand in Hand India; she found ways to enhance her livelihood. She

is an active member of the SHG called Varadharaja Perumal and she was provided a loan amount

of INR. 30000/-. Though she is obliged to repay this loan amount, according to her, it is a gift from

Hand in Hand India as she has to pay only a nominal rate of interest along with repayment of

principal amount. She viewed the loan amount availed through the SHG as an opportunity to

enhance her business, that paved the way for her to repay the housing loan as well as a source

that generated enough profit for the business. On the basis of orders received from the weaving

industry locally, she buys 1 beam known as “paave” that weighs 5kgs and costs INR 90/- and 20

kgs of waste cloth that makes her 20 pieces of door mat. One piece of door mat is sold at INR 12

in the local market and INR 8 to the industry. Selling it to the industry, however, makes her more

profit for there is an assurance of purchase. She makes an average of INR 4000 to 5000 per

month. “Hand in Hand India has provided me with a great platform to improve my socio economic



status step by step and it has made it possible for me to construct a home and acquire land for

my sons and thus helping me fulfil their dreams and mine,” says Deivanai.

SERVING WHILE ENTERPRISING

Raja Mani was born in a small village about 25 kilometres away from Konerypattiagraharam

panchayat and she married Ramalingam several years ago. They have two children; a 12-year-old

girl and 10-year-old boy studying in school. This couple are famous in the surroundings of the

temple as they sell religious offerings to people within the premises of the temple for the past 15

years. The visitors have to travel to the temple located in Konerypattiagraharam over 30

kilometres from the Edapadi town. And the stall supplies the ready set for Pooja for the tourists

as well for the local community members. The Pooja materials (religious offerings) are

conveniently available for the tourists that would make their temple visit complete. “We are

content with the service we do to the tourists,” says Raja Mani. However, the capital for their

business is not from their pockets and they had to depend on money lenders for the same.

Mrs. Raja Mani in her grocery shop



She is an active member in the Hand in Hand India’s SHG named ‘Sri Amman’, for the past 8

months. She was hesitant to apply for loan in her SHG, as her husband was not in favour of it and

he thought that it might cost them more interest than the money lenders. On receiving INR

20,000/- towards the loan amount, they realized that the interest is much lesser than the other

loans obtained outside. She is thankful to Hand in Hand India as she utilized this amount to

purchase more Pooja (religious functions / prayer ) materials. She upgraded her shop by adding

more religious offerings and thus attracting the visitors. She is able to make a profit of INR 200/-

to INR 500/- a day and sometimes she makes even up to INR 1000/- a day during festival times.

She has been managing the shop till this day while her husband works in a company locally and

assists her business sporadically. Adding to the religious offerings sold at the temple, she has

introduced cool drinks and in order to sustain this effort and enhance their livelihood, she wants

to go in for next loan to establish an ice cream parlour.

REARING THE COWS IS A HABIT

Mrs. Chitra is the wife of

Mr.Rangarajan and a member of Hand in

Hand India’s SHG named Annai Theresa.

She has taken a lot of initiatives to improve

the livelihood of her family. She actively

participates in all the activities and aides

provided by Hand in Hand India. She has

taken a loan amount of INR. 15000/- from

her SHG and purchased a Cow. The cow

produces 7 litres of milk in a day; retaining

one litre for her family she sells off the

remaining 6 litres of milk at the cost of INR.

30/- and making a profit of INR 5400/- a



month. She has setup her own Azolla (a protein rich low-cost cattle feed) unit at home to increase

the quantity and quality of cow’s milk. Similarly, she was the first one to participate in the health

training organized for her village people by Hand in Hand India and she also helped Hand in Hand

India mobilize women of the village to attend the training. The staff happily expressed that Chitra

always takes the initiative to do things and that she learns enthusiastically. She aims to learn and

wants to utilize the time available at home to make her business more profitable. The women in

general as well as in SHGs are facilitated through VUP program by Hand in Hand India with special

focus in the areas of micro-financing, integrated development & training, job creation and

poverty alleviation. The intention is to make the undertakings of these women viable, so as to

empower them to come out of the poverty trap and lead lives with hope and dignity. Hand in

Hand India conducts these trainings for women’s empowerment and development. They identify

potential women during the training and enable them to train other women elsewhere through

an organization locally. Chitra could be one of those with a lot of potential, says the Staff. She has

ample space to make a cow’s shed. Chitra plans to buy more cows and setup a mini dairy business.

She also expects to take additional loan through her SHG for the same purpose.

Child Labour Elimination Programme-CLEP

"Making a “Child Friendly Panchayat” is the primary focus, where all 6 to 14 year old children are

in school, initiate Children Learning Centers (CLCs), having transit schools where necessary;

and create awareness on Child Rights and child protection. Also train School Monitoring

Committee (SMC) members on Right to Education (RTE) and monitoring 100% children

enrollment in school, providing quality education by the teachers and general function of the

school. Hand in Hand India works with such committees and provides them capacity building

training for regular and effective functioning.

Children Learning Centre is run in the villages for needy children in the age group of 7 to 10 years.

These classes help first-generation learners, children from disturbed families and others cope



with school work and prevent future drop-outs. Transit school is run for 8th, 9th and 10th grade

dropouts and 10th grade failures, at the age group of 15 to 18". Here the wards are coached to

pass out of the 10th grade exam so that they shall get into any vocational training or go for

higher studies.

Awareness camps are conducted using programs like rallies, street plays, dance and theatre

workshops, poster campaigns etc., to motivate the community to minimize child labor,

strengthen education, and regularly send children to school."

ALTERNATING WITH PROPORTIONATE EDUCATION

“Vanakam Sir, Vanakam Madam” (traditional greeting in Tamil Nadu) is what one would

hear from the children when they enter the Child Learning Centre (CLC) at Konerypattiagraharam.

Gokila, who is the CLC teacher, spends time with the children from 5pm to 7pm. CLC helps girls

and Boys Bridge the learning gap in their subjects, especially, mathematics and Tamil. These

children were looked down upon as slow learners and they had a tough time mingling with their

smarter counterparts. CLC provided these children with an environment that was conducive for

their learning and clarifying their doubts. Apart from studying, these children were also engaged

in recreation and fun activities. “The children are encouraged to perform better with each passing



day,” opines Gokila, Mobilizer and the CLC teacher of the panchayat. Working for Hand in Hand,

she identifies low performers who score C and D grades with help from Hand in Hand staff. The

assessment conducted by Hand in Hand India’s staff once in three months revealed that the

children are making progress from D grade to C grade and also from C grade to B and A grades.

Some teachers have even appreciated the performance of CLC children at school and encourage

other children to go to CLC. One of the boys named Thamizh from Class 1 learns Mathematics

under Gokila’s guidance and she engages him in doing mathematical problems in a recreational

manner. The parents are happy with the progress children make in CLC and they encourage the

children to attend CLC regularly.

THE POWER OF EDUCATION

Munish is an

8-year-old boy and

studies in class 3. He

lives in the

Konerypattiagraharam Panchayat with his parents, Kavitha and Nagaraj. His mother is a

homemaker and his father is the sole breadwinner of the family and he works as a daily-wage

earning labourer. Consequently, when CLC teacher, Gokila, approached his parents, they were

open enough and encouraged their son to go to CLC for an improvement in learning. Munish’s

father, Nagaraj works extremely hard as a daily-wage labourer to take care of his family needs



and to feed them the daily meals. Hence, Nagaraj feels it’s important for his child to get educated,

so the child can afford a better life. Children love to coming to CLC and they enjoy the process of

learning. Munish is being tutored and encouraged to study by Gokila in CLC and there is a

remarkable improvement in his grades. He has been scoring B and A grades and earlier he used

to obtain C grades. This was made possible by both CLC and the government school he studies

in. He is a regular at CLC and is present from 4 to 6 PM every day. He is happy to come to CLC and

he says that all the methods for teaching, such as charts and paper cuttings, are an innovative

way to learn the subjects. He has been taught mathematics recreationally and he loves learning

the subject. He will now motivate his younger brothers to join CLC after completing UKG. His

efforts have been appreciated by his father and mother.

CLC IS A TEMPLE OF LEARNING

This is

an anecdote

about Navina, a

child

beneficiary of

CLC. The

teacher happily

states that

Navina is

obedient and

respectful

towards elders

and she is

amicable with her friends. She is from a family, where the parents are daily labourers. Her mother

Kala and father Perumal are usually out of home during day time for their work. Her elder brother



is studies in class 6 and she is in class 4. As she was the CLC teacher’s neighbour, she was brought

to CLC as she was unable to concentrate on studies due to family problems. The teacher teaches

Maths and Tamil in the centre and Navina has shown more interest in Tamil. She has improved

in terms of her grades and she went on to score A grade from C grade and she was appreciated

for her efforts at school as well. Her father is happy about the care and guidance given by Hand

in Hand India’s staff and the mobilizer at the CLC. She says that she will concentrate on studies

and score better marks in the other subjects as well. As she learns Maths and Tamil at the centre,

she has more time for other subjects at home and she is able to complete her homework on time.

However, she overcame the instabilities and restored her capability to study. She also helped the

CLC teacher mobilize children from her village, who were irregular to the centre. Navina and her

family are thankful to Hand in Hand India.

Health

One of the indicators of a developed community is health of the people and efficiency of health

care systems. HIH India understands that duplicating government systems and building parallel

structures are not sustainable in the long run, so we work towards filling the gaps in the

government initiatives. Preventive health and attitude change is the key area of focus of the

health project. VUP works with the local people in identifying the prevalent health problems and

create awareness about them amongst the public and help them in finding a solution.

It has been noted and experienced by Hand in Hand India that basic health care services continue

to elude large parts of rural India. Many villagers have to travel a long distance to visit the nearest

medical facility; this often means forgoing a day’s wage, a factor which prevents villagers from

seeking immediate medical attention. The health interventions of Hand in Hand India focuses on

making health care services accessible and affordable to the rural population. Attention is also

given to sensitize villagers on basic health and hygiene, malnutrition, anemia, and other health

concerns which are often neglected by villagers.



HEALTH AWARENESS BENEFITS

Vijaya, who is the wife of Thangavel, hails

from a peasant family in Konerypattiagraharam

Panchayat. The family has five members in total,

including her mother, father-in-law, her

husband, and a three-year-old child. The family

owns land and also owns a house. Though

economically better compared to other

households, the family was not aware of the

health and hygienic risks involved in open

defecation. They never gave open defecation a

thought earlier. Through the awareness drive

organized by Hand in Hand India to construct

and use household toilets, she wanted to have

one for her family after she became a member

of the self-help group. This was possible for her by subsidiary assistance extended by the

Government of Tamilnadu. The whole cost of construction went up to INR 25,000/-. The health

awareness drive enabled her to contribute INR 13,000/- along with the amount INR 12,000/-

received as subsidy from the government.

STABILIZING A CHILD’S HEALTH

Konerypattiagraharam Panchayat does not have regular access to public nor private

health care services in the village premises, except for the periodical visit by the Village Health

Nurse (VHN) from the closest Primary Health Centre(PHC). Among many found to be

underweight, Yogeshwaren is a 25-months-old child and his mother participated in all the regular

awareness drives conducted by Hand in Hand India. Yogeshwaran is the son of Perumal, a worker

in the local mill and Kala, a homemaker. The child was in a state of despair and he was severely



malnourished. He was pre-weighed at 7 kg three months ago and his post-treatment weight at

the moment is 11 kg.

A diet rich in protein such as pulses, millets, vegetables,

eggs was given to him for the past couple of months and

his weight has considerably improved. After the intake of

nutritious food he is more active and playful. He is healthy

and growing. Mothers who consumed less nutrition

during pregnancy and did not pay attention to their health

generally delivered children who were anaemic and

malnourished, as stated in the records of Anganwadi

Centre.

CONSCIOUS OF BEING HEALTHIER

Health camps are organized by Hand in Hand

India on a regular basis and that benefits the old, the

women, the children and general population alike.

However, women, who rarely go out of the village were

amply benefited from these camps. In order to cater to

the health care needs of the women, children, men and

the elders, few medical camps were organized by Hand

in Hand India, which proved beneficial to all. Vasuki, a

27-year-old woman is an anaemic person. She was not

able to concentrate on her work as she couldn’t bend or

straighten her legs easily and she also could not work at

home. She lives in Konerypattiagraharam Panchayat.

Vasuki



She appeared lethargic and insipid all the time. But the medical camp helped improve her health.

She had a HB (Hemoglobin) count of 10.6 during the camp and now she has improved to 12.6.

She was advised to eat vegetables. She did get better after she regularly consumed the iron

tablets given to her by the doctor at the medical camp.

REMARKABLE IMPROVEMENT

Sulochana is a 65-year-old woman who has

been suffering from severe chest pain. A hard

worker and a farmer by occupation, she

experienced constant pain in the chest that

continued even after taking locally prescribed

treatment and consuming medicines. She expressed

that the medical camp organized by Hand in Hand

India has helped reduce her chest pain. The doctor

at the medical camp diagnosed the issue and

referred her to the primary Health Centre located

near the Panchayat. Though she hasn’t completely

recovered from the pain, her progress in recovery

has improved substantially.

Citizens’ Centre

Bridging the urban-rural digital divide, the Citizens’ Centre Enterprises are helping rural

communities reap the benefits of the digital age. The social component of this initiative focuses

on promoting grass-roots level democracy in villages. The Citizens’ Centre not only helps spread

e-literacy in the village but also provides a gamut of services, including online bill payments,

photocopier, internet service, to name a few. While the Government offers several welfare

schemes for the underprivileged, many remain ignorant of it. The Citizens’ Centre not only

spreads awareness of the various welfare schemes but also facilitates the process for the poor.



Empowering rural communities with access to information and technology, the Citizens’ Centre

is spearheading the IT revolution in rural India.

PROVISIONING SKILL SETS

Nalini lives in Konerypattiagraharam and she has completed her BA. BLIS (Library). She

has also completed a computer professional course in a private institution. She is well-informed

and aware that the Skills Development and Technology Centre (SDTC) aims at bridging the skill-

deficit gap among women, youth and farmers and thus creating sustainable livelihoods. This

helps in enhancing their skill level and boosts entrepreneurship and employability.

She knows that the Citizens’ Centre serves as an IT (Information Technology) window to facilitate

the villagers in accessing information on various government schemes and online services besides

offering E-literacy programme to school children and women.

She devotes her time at the citizen centre from 4 to 6pm every day and she is happy that she is

able to share her skills with the students of Konerypattiagraharam Panchayat.



Karthikeyan studies in class 9 and he is 14 years old; His father, Arumugham, is a daily labourer

and mother, Shanthi, is a home maker. He has an elder sister who is married. He is a student in

CC and he is one of those who keep Nalini coming back to CC to teach. He is talented in painting,

formatting, excel and word. He appeared to be confident in doing paint and art work on the

computer. Hand in Hand India identifies skilful people like Nalini to implement each of its

activities. The students in the Government middle schools are often visited by the Citizens’ Centre

coordinator to facilitate E-literacy programmes and the students are encouraged to learn and use

computers available in the school. This program allows children to get introduced to various

aspects of a computer like the advantages of using a computer, its various parts and functions,

basic tools such as Microsoft Word, Excel and MS Paint. One of the main components in Village

Uplift Program is to establish the skills development and technology centre. This centre, with the

local resources available, conducts E-literacy and ICT (Information and Communication



Technology) programmes; It also spreads awareness of Citizens’ rights, duties, and government

welfare schemes by providing income-generating activities.

PROVIDING ACQUAINTANCE

K.R. Nivas is a 9-year-old

boy studying in class 7. He has

two younger brothers who study

in class 5 and UKG respectively.

He lives with his mother, Kavitha,

and father, Rajendren, in

Koneripattyagraharam

Panchayat. He is fondly

addressed as KRN (Nick name) at

the centre due to initials taken from his father’s and mother’s name. He is proficient at painting

and also in Word, Excel and PPT. He handles his tasks with seriousness that his instructor is sure

of his commitment towards it. He spends time to watch stories in the computer after making a

request and taking permission from the instructor. His father is very thankful towards Hand in

Hand India for this service.

INTO THE MINDS…



Kausalya is an 8-

year-old girl studying in

class 3. She too hails

from

Konerypattiagraharam

Panchayat. Her parents

affectionately say that

Kausalya is a responsible

girl who teaches

computer operation to

other children at CC. She

is good at excel, painting, word, and PPT. But her special interest lies in typing words and letters

in MS Word. All these children are trained at the centre since the last three months. Kausalya’s

favourite part of the day is spending time with the computer at CC, she says. When asked for the

reason why, she says that using computer at this age is a privilege. Nalini conveyed the

gratefulness of students studying at CC to Hand in Hand India.

Environment

A poor environment has a profound impact on people’s health. Simple measures can go a long

way in ensuring a cleaner and healthier environment and preserving the natural resources of a

place.

Hand in Hand strives and commits to a GREENER pastures through a combination of effective

solid waste management practices and natural resource management projects, Our Solid Waste

Management or SWM intervention strives to facilitate local bodies to handle the garbage

waste. Villagers are encouraged to segregate waste, reduce the use of plastics, and keep their

environment clean. Through our Natural Resource Management (NRM) programme we guide

poor and landless farmers in villages to build on the existing resources as base and create



livelihood options from them. This is done through developing the existing natural resources

(especially water and soil) and conserving them by various kinds of interventions.

We conduct awareness camps on Environment and mass cleaning programs with the support of

village community. Dustbins indicating degradable and non-degradable waste segregation are

installed and awareness on segregation is done for villagers. We provide horticultural plants and

facilitate in planting them in vantage locations. Through our SHG members kitchen garden units

are promoted and "Reverse Osmosis (RO) unit (mini) is installed in village middle schools" based

on the need. Added to these, we promote model vermi compost units and Azolla (zero cost,

protein rich feed for milch cows) units in the Panchayat.

IT’S ABOUT EATING HEALTHY FOOD

Latha, who is 45-years-

old and married to Ravi, said

that Hand in Hand India has

introduced us to sourcing

vegetables naturally by

providing awareness along with

the seeds of multiple vegetables

such as ladies finger, lentils,

guards, greens, beans, radishes

and tomatoes. Surprisingly, she

has also tried several other vegetables in her kitchen garden. Kitchen garden is an innovative

concept that she was not aware of in the past or even thought of. But now my children are

healthy and we eat organic vegetables, says Latha. She acknowledges that the food is hygienic

and that her children eat nutritious food and fresh vegetables available at the door step.



PROTEIN RICH FODDER FOR CATTLE

Chitra is a dairy farmer with an undying spirit and will.

She owns a few acres of land and is one of the several

beneficiaries who have set-up an Azolla (a low cost protein

rich cattle feed) unit. Her husband supports all her efforts.

She learned the technique for maintaining a small tank with

Azolla plant to feed the dairy animals. This is something for

which she sought assistance from Hand in Hand India Staff

and the mobilizer, a few months ago, as she maintains a cow.

The cow is given fodder mixed with Azolla ever since she

started maintaining this unit. The Azolla unit has had a

positive impact on the quality and quantity of the milk

output. The production of cow milk has increased from 1.5

liters to 2.5 liters per day. The quality of milk has also

increased. She has already completed a cycle of three. She

has 4 cows, 2 buffaloes, few hens and roosters.

CONCERN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

The Public Education Programmes were

continuously conducted for informing the

community members about their role in

the segregation of waste at source, Door

to Door collection, eradication of

indiscriminate disposal of solid waste on

road side / drainages and requesting the

public to cooperate with Municipality workers to make the effort to keep the environment clean

and secure. Handouts, audio canvassing through several, frequent visits to the households was

also done for many days in a row. Sustained education and awareness programs have been

Village garbage collectors

Chithra, with her Cow and Azolla unit



launched at schools and common places in the community for the boys and girls and the

community members at large. The awareness programs were conducted by Hand in Hand India

staff through cultural programs. The mobilizers and local leaders turned into implementing and

monitoring authorities of the solid waste management due to the sensitization on environmental

awareness. Prominent members of the village, Entrepreneurs, organizers from service

organizations, local leaders of various political parties, officials and women representatives were

briefed about the initiative. They became representatives for this effort on behalf of the public

and were instrumental in getting the whole-hearted cooperation of the public for this project.

Accordingly, the municipality workers were supplied with the essential supplies and resource tool

kit to implement the activity by Hand in Hand India staff members.

Challenges and lessons

• Making marginal farming as a viable economic option seems to be a necessity at a time

when farmers commit suicide due to failure of crops and debt burden.

• Village families require more than one livelihood opportunity for even subsistence,

agriculture the major livelihood option is seasonal and became risky.

FURTHER PLAN OF ACTION

- Strengthening Village Development Committee

- Social audit exercise

- Working towards sustainability mechanism

FUTURE REPORTS & INDIA CONTACT

We look forward to submitting the final 24-month report March 2018. If you have any questions,

please contact [email protected] or +91 9500041800. Thank you for your

generous support to Hand in Hand India.

village upliftment programme 18-month report ... bona/18 month report...deivanai’s husband is a...

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