Jee-news - Summer 2008

Letter from Andrew

Top-down or bottom-up? It is now 2 years since India's UPA coalition government responded to the rural voters who had elected it by launching India's most ambitious scheme ever to help the rural poor. The National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme was designed to provide work for one person in every one of India's 60 million rural households. At an estimated of £20billion a year, day wages equal to 75 pence a day were to be guaranteed over 4 years for up to 100 days per year of manual work on road, water and other public projects.

The scheme is now exhibiting the usual symptoms of highly centralized 'top-down' schemes in India - massive central funding breeding corruption, poor execution, failure in precisely the poorest areas it was designed to help most. More important - when it is over, what permanent difference will it have made to the skills and self-dependence of the rural people it has used?

There can be no satisfaction in the failure of such a vast scheme to help the poorest in the way it intended. But why should anyone be surprised? Time and again over 60 years the government has tried to make a dent on the vast inertia of rural India through 'top-down' plans, and time and again poor administration and official corruption has let it down. Why not accept that government cannot do it alone? Why not change tack? Why not harness better the immense goodwill, diversity, energy and local knowledge of NGOs all over India who are committed to building the viability of village life, and put £20 billion a year behind building their capacity to bring about change through 'bottom-up' initiatives?

'Bottom-up' may sound like jargon, but it is real. India's 600,000 villages are infinitely varied in climate, needs, language, traditions, culture; monolithic central schemes cannot cope with this variety. However fallible small NGOs may be, they can be the government's best allies in bringing about change in villages: only they have the time and the knowledge to sit with village communities and help them work out their priorities - safe water? child health? literacy? income for women? Then work out practical plans, how to get funding and training, and then stay involved until results are delivered.

This is what Jeevika Trust does with and through its sister organisation, Schumacher Centre in Delhi, and its other partners. This is why we need your help.

Andrew Redpath
Executive Director, Jeevika Trust

Letter from India

I am happy to report that Schumacher Centre (SCD) has just linked up with a new Indian group to focus on the threat of climate change and its impact on rural life and livelihoods.

The new Institute for Climate Change & Ecology (ICCE), set up by a team of Indian, Chinese and EU experts, is dedicated to researching and raising awareness of the effects of climate change, especially in rural India. This new collaboration between SCD and ICCE brings together the science of climate change and the pursuit of Millennium Goal 7 on the environment, with down-to-earth projects designed to help rural populations to mitigate and adapt to the expected impact of global warming on access to water and food, weather patterns and so on.

The rural poor are the people most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and SCD is deeply interested in programmes which will help them establish sustainable livelihoods through deployment of knowledge and technologies appropriate to village life, and ensure that their succeeding generations inherit a stable and healthy environment in which to live and thrive.

While ICCE will seek to influence international negotiations on climate change, we and they will work together on planning and delivering projects. With SCD's skills in networking and interfacing with village communities, I am very optimistic that we can bring a new and important dimension to our work, and reach some of those most at risk from the impacts of climate change and economic globalisation.

(Dr.) D.K.Giri
Director, Schumacher Centre for Development,
NEW DELHI, India

Rural India Awakening

Our Partnership Capacity-building Programme - pilot projects in Orissa and Tamil Nadu

One of the lessons we have learned - which derives from our past work as the India Development Group as much as it does from our recent activities - is that India has large numbers of small grassroots voluntary organisations that are keen to meet the needs of the poorest of the poor but quite often do not have the organisational capacity, funding or project skills to put their worthwhile aims into action.

As highlighted previously in Jee-News, over the past 18 months we have formed collaborative partnerships with three small and one medium-sized reputable grassroots NGOs - one in Orissa and three in Tamil Nadu - and has worked closely with each partner on a one-year pilot project to help build their organisational and project delivery capacity. All partner organisations have strong links to the most disadvantaged Scheduled Caste, Tribal and dalit rural communities - and especially with women from these communities.

As a result:

Social Change & Development has completed the building of 3 ooranie or water catchment systems which will harvest water for agricultural production and household use and, ultimately, will produce a supply of fish for eating and selling locally with overall benefits for 940 dalit families.
Jeevan Rekha Parishad has now provided the expertise, training and equipment for 60 tribal women to become viable beekeepers, all of whom now maintain kitchen gardens and generate a small income.
By the end of August, Mithra Foundation will have supported 127 village families living with HIV/AIDS by raising awareness of HIV/AIDS within the village community, strengthening links to medical resources and providing families with goats to help increase household income.
Annai Mary Foundation is also about to complete its pilot which has provided 100 tribal/dalit women with the training and resources required for them to become beekeepers while maintaining kitchen gardens and growing medicinal herbs, both as a source of income and to improve household nutrition.

Building on these four pilot projects, we, in collaboration with these same four partners, have already put plans in place to expand the pilot activities into three-year projects that will widen their outreach, improve the quality of outcomes and sustain these activities for the longer term. As a consequence, partner organisations should ultimately be able to demonstrate the level of skill and professionalism that local government and other India-based funders will readily support and, in this way, our capacity-building role will have achieved its purpose.

India visit

Would you like to see how your support and money actually makes a difference? Would you like to meet some of the people you're helping?

Jeevika Trust is considering organising a trip to enable a small group of our friends to visit some of our projects in Spring 2009 and we would like to know your thoughts. Would this interest you? What would you like to see? Who would you like to meet? What would you like to do?

Please send Rosemary an email to rosemary@jeevika.org.uk and let her know what you think and to register your interest.

A Big Thanks!

Thank you so much to everyone who came on the first ever Jeevika Walk for Water in France. The walk took place on 16th May around a lake in Provence. An even bigger thanks goes to Anthony and Danielle de Moubray who organised such a successful afternoon. Anthony and Danielle and their friends raised an amazing £2600, by Walking for Water followed by a lavish lunch prepared by Danielle and auction of items their walkers had kindly donated.

Would like to organise your own Walk for Water? Why not get in touch now by emailing rosemary@jeevika.org.uk or ring us and discuss your ideas on 020 8973 3773.

A massive thanks to all the Walkers who came to our second annual Walk for Water on Sunday 8th June. We are still collecting the sponsorship money in but a great afternoon was had by all and we were even very lucky with the weather this year!

A final, very special thank you to John Mallord who took part in the Edinburgh Marathon for us on Sunday 25th May. John and his friends have helped us raise over £1000 - congratulations!

Put It In Your Diary!

You still have time to buy tickets to Serena Fass' Textiles and Jewellery of Royal and Rural India - an Illustrated Lecture on Tuesday 8th July. All proceeds will go to helping our work in villages across India. For full details and a booking form for tickets please visit our website. We hope to see you there!