Primary Areas of Intervention
In developing our community projects, we will typically consider six primary areas of intervention (PAIs) or areas in need of ‘development’. From initial, on-the-ground consultation with the community, any one of these PAIs may emerge as the starting point, with some or all of the others having to be addressed for the potential project to qualify as fitting our mission.
Our PAIs, which to a large degree are interdependent in achieving a sustainable change, are:
In addition to the PAIs, there are some ‘cross-cutting elements’ which need to be addressed in all our projects:
- Training – systematic training opportunities are key to every kind of project – from goat-rearing or bee-keeping for women’s income generation, to construction of low-cost shelter, or awareness-building for HIV/Aids and village democracy. Women find that self help groups (SHGs) provide a good context for learning, and opportunities for them to become trainers in turn.
- Gender equality – traditional discrimination against women in almost every aspect of life is a huge barrier to individual self-fulfilment, family progress and community life. Women are pivotal to livelihood at every level.
- Environment – awareness and sustainable management of natural resources including care and proper use of trees, small scale cultivation of land, ‘water wisdom’, recycling etc.
- Village democracy – collaboration with panchayati raj institutions (traditional village councils), access of women to village decision-making and participation of village leaders and communities in project development are all important to the success of our projects.
