Recent projects

Over the past 3 years Jeevika Trust (India Development Group) have moved our focus of activity away from supporting campus-based training near Lucknow and outreach into a single cluster of neighbouring villages, to expanding our presence and the impact of our operations to an ‘all-India’ basis. This has reflected the conviction that E.F.Schumacher’s thinking about rural poverty in India deserved to have far wider application, and to reach and touch far more rural people, than it had in the previous 25 years.

Working with Schumacher Centre for Development, our sister organisation set up for this purpose in 2001, we have made big strides in connecting with village communities, and working with the most marginalised people in those communities, in the north, centre, east and south of the country.

Our determination for the future is fuelled by evidence of the changes we have been able to bring about, 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 got together and developed a new sense of self-determination and hope.

Among projects we have successfully completed over the past three years:

Our Integrated Women’s Rural Development project in 11 villages in the Lucknow district of Uttar Pradesh (funded by UK Community Fund, from 1998 to 2004). This directly benefited 2,546 scheduled caste and tribal women and their families through mint farming and craftwork skills and the provision of crèche-schools for over 200 children to enable the women to work in the fields. By freezing the mint oil at harvest-time, and releasing it on to the market when prices had risen again, women beneficiaries were able to generate better income to contribute to the household.
Working alongside CARE India, the Integrated Nutrition & (reproductive) Health Programme has helped benefit 40 villages in Uttar Pradesh (2001-2004), directly touching at least 40,000 people and indirectly many more. The project strategy was to sensitise health service providers and generate demand for them by the rural communities. The biggest achievement of the project was to enable women (adolescents, as well as pregnant and lactating mothers) to stretch beyond the traditional taboo of discussing issues of reproductive and child health. SCD aims to replicate this within other of their project communities.
The Community-Based Drought Response Programme in western Orissa, working with the drought-induced migrant population who were living in ‘Kaccha’ (temporary) mud housing without electricity, water supply or sanitation facilities. In January 2004 CARE India looked into the social housing project called ASHRAYA judged to be one of the Global Best Practices by UN-Habitat (2002). They approached SCD to provide training to landless, marginalized farmers and women in building-construction technology and material production under the programme called ‘Construction Artisan Promotion Initiative-CAPI’. In collaboration with Cooperation for Rural Excellence (CORE), SCD trained 1384 artisans out of which the 418 were women, forming 60 Artisan self-help groups.
The British High Commission funded a pilot project (completed in August 2005) promoting Health Education, and focusing on Reproductive and Child Health – touching 2000 people in 4 villages, near Agra, Uttar Pradesh. This project has had a ‘multiplier effect’, through training animators and health workers, and expanding into other nearby villages.
During 2005, our initial tsunami response projects on the Tamil Nadu coastline (Cuddalore, Karaikal, and Nagapattinam) provided a much needed mobile hospital unit, rehabilitation of fishing communities through repair of tsunami-damaged boats (both funded from donations by Friends of Jeevika). By putting 100 fishing boats back to sea, we restored livelihoods to some 500 fishermen and their families, touching about 3,000 lives.