Jeevika Trust has recently begun a 3 year Water Advocacy Project in 25 tribal villages in Odisha. The project aims to deliver high quality WASH projects and improved nutrition, through partnership building and advocacy.

In 2022 Jeevika Trust began a partnership with award-winning NGO, Kheyti, to trial Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) in the form of low-cost greenhouses with women farmers and SHGs in tribal villages in Odisha.

Empowering women & girls through awareness & training to promote menstrual hygiene & to provide access to sanitary napkins (SNAPS) is of utmost importance to break the culture of silence & to be able to discuss the concerns of women & adolescent girls related to reproductive & sexual health.

Mushrooms are more than just a delicacy —they are a game-changer for small-scale farmers in Odisha. With minimal land, low investment, and high returns, mushroom cultivation can uplift tribal communities, women’s self-help groups (SHGs), and marginal farmers, turning agricultural waste into wealth in the process.

We know what you’re thinking… We’ve faced this question many times before. Why, when there is such distressing poverty in other parts of the globe, why should we spare the time to think about poverty in India, a country who seems to be getting more and more affluent every day? India may have more billionaires than the UK and an international aid budget of its own, but this means nothing when hundreds of millions of people in rural India are still suffering, out of sight and o

On 15th October Jeevika Trust's annual 'Walking for Water' event took place. This fundraising walk raises vital money for our water and sanitation projects in India and has become a real highlight of our events programme.

Ambika and Murugesan from Thottipalyam village in the Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu were struggling to generate adequate income from the tapioca crop their three-acre farm. They had to wait for over ten months to harvest the crop and income could vary between Rs 60,000 (£600) to over Rs 1 lakh (£1,000) per acre. However the monthly cost of pesticides, fertilisers and labour ate into their profits and there was little guarantee that they would meet their family's needs.

60 million people in rural India live without access to safe, clean water. As a mother myself who spent her early parenting days endlessly sterilising bottles, dummies, rattles etc I can’t imagine the anguish mothers in rural India must feel knowing that their only option is to allow their precious children to drink unsafe water. Water that accounts for 21% of all diseases and deaths in India… it’s every parents’ worst nightmare and a completely unacceptable reality.

Serena Fass, who lives in London and takes tours to exotic places in India and the middle-east, served a period as a trustee of Jeevika Trust and has remained a firm friend. She is an India veteran and a tireless traveller, researcher and scholar, with a particular specialisation in subjects revolving around the life, times and disciples of Jesus – her book The Journey of the Magi published last year received great acclaim from people such as John Julius Norwich.

Back in July we ran our first crowdfunding campaign designed to raise funds for the next stage of one of our flagship projects, Project SNAPS.Our Project SNAPS, launched in 2015 and delivered by our partner Jeevan Rekha Parishad (JRP) in Odisha, gives girls and women access to hygienic, cost effective, eco-disposable Sanitary NAPkinS (SNAPS). We couldn’t have been more delighted with the success of this campaign!

“Beekeeping and Toilets change the status of Tribal women in Udada.” Udada is a remote Tribal village located in the hilly forest area of Daspalla Block in the Nayagarh District of Odisha. There are 45 Tribal families living here, all belonging to the Parija Tribe. Government officials rarely visit the village. There is no school, no electricity, no toilets and a lack of safe drinking water. All the villagers, including children, are illiterate.

On Sunday 9th July we held our first ever Bee & Honey Fete at The Glass House, Barge Walk in Hampton Wick. Our family-friendly fete coincided with the national ‘Don’t Step on a Bee Day’ and was a real celebration of India, bees and the precious honey they make for us.

“Thanks to Project SNAPS I now know the importance of menstrual health and hygiene.” As part of its Project SNAPS activities, JRP and Jeevika have worked closely with two local high schools to raise awareness of reproductive health and hygiene, and how sanitary napkins (SNAPS) provide a viable and healthy alternative to traditional methods of dealing with menstruation.

How did you celebrate International Women’s Day this year? Earlier this month saw the annual return of International Women’s Day – a day dedicated not just to celebrating “the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women” but also to promoting the need for accelerated change if women are to enjoy gender parity by 2030. At Jeevika Trust we believe that women’s empowerment and equality is vital – not only for women, but for the development and progress of hum

“Thanks to Project Mithra, my children and I have enough to feed ourselves.” Dhanalakshmi has been on Anti-Retroviral therapy (ART) for 12 years and still finds it difficult to accept the fact that both her children are HIV positive and are on ART. After her husband’s death, her mother-in-law introduced Dhanalakshmi to Mithra’s staff when Dhanalakshmi was finding it difficult to make ends meet.

“Beekeeping makes me so happy!” Jani lives in Badakuradangi village in the Chandaka Tribal Forest area with her husband, Sudam, and their son and daughter. The family lives below the poverty line on less than £1.50 per day and they own no property or agricultural land. To survive and to help send their small children to school, both Jani and her husband have traditionally gone to the forest to collect wood, fruit and wild honey to sell at the local market, earning less than

Back in October 2016 a number of our supporters took part in Walking for Water to raise vital funds to continue delivering projects in rural India. Catherine Purvis, one of our Trustees took part on the day and has shared with us her thoughts on the walk and why fundraising events like this really matter.

Our Jeevika Lecture 2016 will be exploring the theme of “INDIA and CHINA : Modern Travels in Ancient Civilisations”… and who could be better to illuminate us on this subject than the popular broadcaster and historian Michael Wood?

There has to be a fair chance that Sunday 16th October will be a beautiful autumn day of russet colours, peaceful deer, blue skies, sparkling Thames – all just perfect for a Walk, starting and finishing in Hampton Wick, with a gentle October sun overhead and good walking company. Up through Bushy Park, then through Hampton Court Palace, and down Long Water to Barge Walk for a really nice tea and talk at the Glass House. Will you join us?

“In January, when the crop was harvested, for the first time ever, the yield was high” Women’s Organisation for Rural Development (WORD) identified 50 beneficiaries in the Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu and conducted a workshop on organic farming. Kamalam and her husband were selected to take part in Project SEED, a joint initiative between Tamil Nadu-based WORD and Jeevika Trust, and provided with sorghum seeds for cultivation.