Development of rural employment and land valorization

Project region : PrPuram village, Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu region.

Duration : Two and a half years (September 2007 to May 2009)

Aim : improve the environment and living conditions in 5 villages.

Course of action :

• Food processing training and farmers organization (training of young leaders)
• Creating new jobs opportunities in the food iprocessing sector (production of oil from peanuts and cachou nuts)
• Mango tree plantations
• Establishing a network between organic farmers and local markets
• Converting to organic farming (assola)
• Raising awareness to the rights of the women on their lands through the creation of women’s self help groups

A successful agricultural chain

Part of this project was implemented by LAFTI, an association inspired by the works of Gandhi, which Ekta Parishad has been working with for a number of years: LAFTI have given 84 hectares of land to the local farmers, all registered in the women’s names.

400 women have been training. 200 farmers have started organic farming, 400 young people have been training and 2.5 km of irrigation pipelines have been installed.

Subsequent to our last assessment, we have decided to continue supporting Ekta Parishad. In this respect we have sent over two volunteers for an internship with this partner. They are currently monitoring Ekta Parishad’s activities and studying its program to assess their new propositions.

Partners : Ekta Parishad and LAFTI

Securing means of support for communities affected by the tsunami (December 2004)

Project region : Pr Puram village, Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu region

Duration : 2 years (September 2006 to December 2008)

Aim : Strengthen the capacities of the population for its emancipation.

Course of action :

• leaders training
• farmers training
• video documentaries of post-tsunami operations
• creating a rural polytechnic training centre: CESCI Organics

Reorganising villages

After their training courses, many youngsters establish projects for their own villages: street cleaning, tree planting, evening classes for children etc. In order to improve their means of support, many farming courses have been implemented: vermicomposting, food processing, crop rotation etc.

Leadership training courses have also been set up for the elected Panchayats (members of the village council) to address the village’s inherent problems.

Local partners : Ekta Parishad

haut de page