Current projects Recent projects

Current projects

Jeevika Trust’s approach to village livelihood is to integrate head, heart and hands. None of them alone goes far enough. Both we and our partners are motivated by a compassionate understanding of the needs of deprived groups in village India, directed by research, analysis and careful planning, and fulfilled through focused hands-on action among marginalised village communities.

Over the past 5 years we have expanded our operating partnerships to work with a number of small and medium-sized grassroots organisations. To find out more about these partners, click here

Our commitment for the future is driven by evidence of the changes we have been able to achieve, the livelihoods we have been able to contribute to, the women we have helped to find self-respect and rewards, and the communities who have worked together and developed a new sense of self-determination and hope.

Working with these India-based partner organisations, we are currently undertaking more than 10 projects in the States of Tamil Nadu and Orissa which are benefiting over 15,000 villagers in more than 25 villages, as well as extending our support in two areas where SCD has operated over recent years – in the northern state of Uttarakhand and in south west Uttar Pradesh. These include:

Project Madhu, Orissa (Jeevan Rekha Parishad)
Project Madhu is an ongoing beekeeping initiative for 100 tribal women who live in the Chandaka Tribal Forest Area. By providing Self-Help Group development, livelihood training and equipment for honey production as well as for vermicomposting, medicinal herb and kitchen garden production, women beekeepers are providing honey for their families, selling surplus honey at the village market and contributing to household income. These bee colonies also make a vital contribution to pollination of fruits and crops and help sustain the local ecology.

The Madhu Network Project, Orissa (Jeevan Rekha Parishad)
This project builds on the lessons learned from Project Madhu (see above) and extends its beekeeping activities to three Districts and 300 traditional women beekeepers who, prior to this project, worked on an individual basis in isolated areas to collect wild honey which they sold raw and unfiltered for a meagre price. This new initiative will enable these women to form networks to filter, pool, store and generate income from their honey in local and wholesale markets with the ultimate aim of forming a Women’s Beekeeping Association that will gain Fair Trade Registration.

Project Mousmi, Orissa (Jeevan Rekha Parishad)
Project Mousmi is an extensive three-year project which addresses the need of 1,600 tribal villagers living in two villages in the Chandaka Forest Area for safe clean water for household use and sanitation to improve health, small-scale cultivation and environmental sustainability. It covers a broad range of activities from rainwater harvesting and containment of water sources, to the provision of household toilets, a village awareness campaign and development of small-scale water-based cultivation and livelihoods. The project also provides access to clean water to a further 1,500 villagers who live in 3 villages downstream from the water development area.

Project Eco, Orissa (Jeevan Rekha Parishad)
Project Eco is a two-year initiative which operates to conserve the ecology of a lagoon island, Mahinsa, and its vulnerable eco-system located in the Chilika Lagoon. The island’s 150 households work to strengthen the island’s capacity to provide shelter from cyclones by planting coconut palms and fruit trees, and to develop its own source of food, and water for drinking and sanitation. The project’s lagoon-linked livelihoods such as the cultivation of crabs, prawns, fish, ground-nuts and vermicompost enable women and farmers to generate income and improve the quality and sustainability of island life.

Project Annai Mary, Tamil Nadu (Annai Mary Foundation)
Project Annai Mary works with 150 Tribal and Dalit women in 3 villages in Tamil Nadu, and includes a small number of women who have registered as HIV+. The women engage in beekeeping and goat-rearing. They use the honey for household consumption and medicinal purposes and generate an income from surplus honey and the sale of goats in local markets. Project activities also include organic compost and kitchen garden production, the vegetables of which improve family nutrition and generate a little income when there is surplus.

Project Mithra, Tamil Nadu (Mithra Foundation)
Project Mithra works across 9 villages with 165 families with HIV/AIDS and builds their capacity to generate income from candle-making, embroidered greetings cards and goat-rearing which it supports with a crèche facility for their children while the parents work. It also provides ongoing income-generation training and market outlets for the candles and cards. Ten local volunteers now support the project’s awareness-raising role in the wider community, which includes an annual march by volunteers and villagers to raise awareness on International HIV/AIDS Day.

Project Namakkal, Tamil Nadu (WORD)
Project Namakkal empowers over 180 Dalit women, including widows, in five villages in south-west Tamil Nadu by providing livelihood training so that they can generate income. A Revolving Fund enables these women to deposit savings and make loans so that they can invest in their activities, contribute to household income and improve the quality of family life. Other activities include raising the awareness of human rights issues among these women and villagers generally in an area which has a high-level of domestic violence.

Jeevika Stakeholder Workshops
Jeevika Trust provides Stakeholder Workshops which brings together its partner organisations annually so that they can network, share resource information, visit one another’s projects and strengthen their capacity for effective project design and delivery.