Jeevika Trust & the United Nations Shared Vision!

Posted on 18 June 2013 by Andrew

The end of May saw the unveiling of the final report of the UN’s High Level Panel, co-chaired by David Cameron, on what will replace the Millennium Development Goals during the next chapter from 2015 to 2030.

The 12 new Goals proposed in the UN’s report remind me of the 6 goals in Jeevika’s own Operating Plan for our work in village India during the coming 3 years, and what’s nice is the key aims that we share – ‘empowering girls and women’ is the UN’s no. 2 priority, and ‘universal access to water & sanitation’ is their no. 6.

Actually these are very closely linked, and we rate water & sanitation as the top of our ‘conditions for livelihood’ in the villages where we work: two particular examples are restoring traditional village water resources to stop women wasting half their days walking for water, and channelling rain water from school roofs to supply toilet and washing facilities dedicated for girls to stop them opting out of school.

Ensuring health & nutrition are the UN’s new no. 4 and 5 Goals, and we see them as equally integral to village livelihood. For example, we support two of our Indian NGO partners providing specialised support to HIV/AIDS sufferers in Tamil Nadu, particularly women, while village seed banks and worm-composting techniques are two ways we help women to set up and maintain kitchen vegetable gardens for better family nutrition.

No. 8 of the new UN goals is ‘creating jobs and sustainable livelihoods’. Extra income generated by women through working in Self Help Groups typically finds its way to the heart of the family in a way that their husbands’ earnings don’t. In Orissa, one of India’s 3 poorest states, our projects for women’s honey-production, and for crab & prawn cultivation for export, are having measurable impacts on family well-being.

The phrase ‘Small is Beautiful’ constantly comes to mind when little organisations like Jeevika can contribute to universal development goals by leveraging their efforts through on-the-ground NGO partnerships and women’s groups in village communities.

To support our diverse livelihood development projects follow this link…

Broadcasting for a better future with Kingston Green Radio

Posted on 30 May 2013 by Becky

John Peel is one of my all-time heroes. His honeyed wisdoms, the depths of his respect for diversity and pure dedication to his beliefs (including seemingly hopeless cases like failing football teams) are still a cockle warming inspiration today. This International Women’s Day (8^th March) I had the pleasure of following in his footsteps, broadcasting the Jeevika cause into people’s living rooms via the wireless (or the computer, depending on how modern they are).

With Jeevika Trust’s focus on revitalising communities in village India through women’s livelihood development, I was invited to host(ess) an hour long slot. Kingston Green Radio is our local station featuring ‘quality informed programming in a discerning world’ and was on FM airwaves for an innovative Climate Week Special.

After getting lost en route in downtown Kingston I made it to the Kingston Environment Centre in the drizzle. Inside was a hive of volunteers, where I was made welcome and even offered a cooked breakfast! In our studio was veteran Sam, a founder of the movement, the lively Rosa my co-presenter and Kimberly who helped us find the music last minute online on an ipad!

In between Indian inspired tunes we shared stories of and debated travel, violence against women and cultures of inequality, including Bollywood movies (lack of) strong women and what an ideal nourishing life would involve. I repeated Jeevika’s appeal to find people to do sponsored individual challenges to raise funds for our work and for friends to help us out locally, either at events or in the office!

We rounded off the show with Tagore’s poem urging India to awake into a country..

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

The Kingston Green Radio ethos of connecting the community in an environmentally integrated fashion for a healthier, happier future is something we have in common. It’s gratifying to see practical solutions echoed globally! And in being involved to live the John Peel dream…

To listen to our programme visit mixcloud

If you can’t lend the women of India your time to make the difference then back us with your wallet by texting ‘JTGD01 £x‘ to 70070 (where x = sum you want to donate up to £10) or follow the link below

Voices from India, part 2: Priya in Tamil Nadu

Posted on 2 April 2012 by Candace

This is the second post in our series, “Voices from India,” in which we hear directly from women involved in our projects in India. Last week we spoke with Dhani in Orissa, who leads beekeeping projects in the Chandaka Forest. This week we travel further south to Tamil Nadu to meet Priya, a health educator and leader in her self-help group…

It’s late afternoon in the Tamil village of Kasturibai and nearly thirty women have gathered together for a meeting of their Self-Help Group (SHG). The group was started by one of Jeevika’s six Indian partners, Women’s Organisation for Rural Development (WORD), who have been based in the Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu since 1985.

At the front of the group sits their leader, 30-year old Priya. Born in the village of Gobi, she studied through 10th standard before marrying at 18 and moving to Kasturibai. While her husband is frequently away as a truck driver, Priya raises their two children—a daughter aged ten and a six-year old son—in addition to playing an active role in the village.

Since joining two and a half years ago, Priya has been a leader in her SHG, calling twice-monthly meetings and recording minutes. But her involvement in Kasturibai doesn’t end there. While she spends ten days a month in agricultural labour, Priya also teaches at an afternoon tuition centre as well as educating villagers on health issues.

Drawing on prior informal training at a hospital, Priya has since received additional training through WORD, which she uses to promote proper health and hygiene in her village.

She says: “Now I’m working to talk about health in the village, taking people to the hospital for operations, and talking to families about family planning. Because I am a member of the SHG, I know a lot of people, so it’s easy for them to talk to me in confidence.”

While the diversity of Priya’s commitments in Kasturibai is great, what is equally as interesting to hear about is what has changed in her life since the SHG was formed.

Priya recalls: “Before we joined [the group], if we needed money, we had no savings. Even if we only needed 100 rupees, I would have to go and ask my neighbour.

“It’s a very drought prone area so there was little work if I needed money for emergencies. Finance was always the problem. We would have to borrow money from money lenders at 10% interest. Now it’s only 1% if we borrow from SHGs.”

And it’s exactly this 1% that enables women like Priya to not only begin to save, but to look ahead and explore new possibilities for the future.

An Inspiring Induction: Making a World of Difference with Vodafone

Posted on 29 March 2012 by Mark H

“There is wisdom in smallness.”
– E. F. Schumacher

As Andrew mentioned in his post last week, both Candace and I are winners of Vodafone’s World of Difference (WOD) programme this year. I think Vodafone deserves a lot of credit for coming up with such an innovative CSR initiative.

At our induction day in late February, I had the pleasure of meeting lots of other winners from diverse walks of life. Like me, many of them are being enabled to transform the fortunes of small charities by the WOD programme.

A very small world

By very happy coincidence, one of the winners I met was Tom Stedall. Tom’s charity, The Converging World, works with the same Indian partner as Jeevika Trust in Tamil Nadu, Social Change and Development (SCAD).

Jeevika runs Project Pisces with SCAD, which has brought three traditional water reservoirs, known as ooranies, back into use providing water for farming and domestic use. Here’s an idea of how the transformation takes place:

Additionally, in 2010 the ooranies were used for fish farming and the harvest was consumed and sold by 2,500 villagers in the Tuticorin area.

The Converging World supports SCAD community development projects on GP consultations, education and women’s self help groups and is also developing renewable energy and woodstove initiatives.

Connecting Schumacher with World of Difference

Both The Converging World and Jeevika Trust draw inspiration from the radical economist, E.F. Schumacher, author of the book Small is Beautiful: Economics as if people mattered.

Schumacher rejected large scale industrial development based on the exploitation of finite, non-renewable resources.

He instead believed in tackling poverty by revitalising rural communities, promoting inclusive, sustainable development and creating and sharing appropriate knowledge and technology centred around human well-being.

At Vodafone’s inspirational induction day, listening to the fascinating stories of so many activists that are improving the world through grassroots, community-based organisations, it occurred to me that Schumacher’s belief that “Small is beautiful” is also a very apt description for the WOD programme itself.

To learn more about our water projects, such as Project Ooranie in Tamil Nadu, visit our website. Have a question about ooranie pond restoration? Leave a comment below and we’d love to tell you more!