The inception:

The idea of Navakerala Project came into inception during the World Malayalee Council’s conference during 1997. During the discussion many of the participants expressed their displeasure over the general temperament of their fellow Malayalees in Kerala. Despite being endowed with nature’s bounty and having the highest literacy rate, Kerala society still suffers from a kind of social malnourishment and lack of empathy that makes the people resist new ventures and violent to change. After further brainstorming the delegates came to a conclusion that though at the surface it looks like as if unemployment and indebtedness are the reasons for such behaviour, deep down there is a basic grievance that makes people react violently. The under privileged sections in rural areas have a wretched life without a minimum standard of living whereas the city dwellers have all the facilities. Probably that’s what that makes them intolerant and violent. Hence the solution is to address this part of the problem.

One of the ways of tackling this problem is to work towards the holistic development of the society. Presently several hundreds of projects are in operation in different parts of Kerala and in other parts of the country. Crores of money is being spent every year on different developmental projects. But a close quarter study will reveal that despite that there still has not been much change in the society so far. The reason for this failure is obvious. These projects emphasize only limited aspects of life. While doing so they neglect many others which are equally important for a healthy society. The members of WMC were of agreement that they would adopt a method that works towards a holistic development of society. That is, the activities undertaken by the projects will touch economic and social as well the spiritual levels of the people who participate in it.

One of the members came out with the proposal that the rural areas be upgraded to reduce the rural-urban continuum. That is to equip the rural areas with the same facilities as the cities have. He also gave the suggestion that interested members of WMC adopt a village and take care of its over all development. He had already decided to take up a village near Thiruvananthapuram and sponsor a few projects for the people of that village. However, many were not convinced about this kind of venture and expressed their skepticism about its feasibility. The members came to an agreement that Mr. Priyadas would go ahead with his idea as a pilot project. There would be an evaluation of the project on the next WMC conference. If his project yielded result, it could be replicated in other villages too.

Two years later, on the next conference the project was presented to the WMC. Many came forward to sponsor villages. The Navakeral Project became a mission. So far 8 villages in different parts of Kerala have been adopted. Projects like group farming, community marketing, training and capacity building are going on successfully in these villages.

Philosophy of the Project:

The Project is based on the basic premise that it is not charity extended to the poor and the down trodden of the society. It is rather like extending a helping hand to them so that they can come up to a level where they can take care of themselves and the development of their village. WMC will provide them monetary as well as administrative assistance till that time.

Secondly, the project aspires for a holistic development of the society. It operates on three levels namely economic, social and spiritual. Though the aim is to attain the third level, WMC believes that unless the first and the second are achieved we can not reach the third. In agreement with the Marxian paradigm of social change, WMC believes that economy is the infrastructure over which all other super structures are based. For the establishment of a healthy society, it is imperative to attain economic affluence. We can not expect a person to attain higher ideals unless his/her basic human need for food, clothing and shelter is met. Hence the stress on economic development.

Structural Hierarchy:

The members of WMC have been divided into different provinces namely the Australian province, the American province, the African province, the Middle Eastern province. There is an apex body comprising of -----members. This body appoints a chief co-ordinator for the overall supervision of Navakerala Project. Presently Mr. Priyadas is the chief coordinator. Under the chief coordinator there is a project coordinator who acts as a link between the adopted villages and the chief coordinator. He directly supervises the activities going on in different villages and report to the chief coordinator. In each village there is an anchor person who deals with the day to day functioning of the projects undertaken. Apart from them WMC has a group of competent counselors who conduct training and counseling programmes in different project areas from time to time.

Criteria of Choosing a Village-

There is no fixed criteria for choosing a village. It is left entirely to the wish of the sponsors. Usually the chief coordinator suggests names considering the applications from different areas in Kerala.

Who are the beneficiaries?

The projects are for the general uplift of the area. Generally the section below poverty line are chosen as the beneficiaries. Till date WMC has been sponsoring for group projects only since that ensures community development. WMC makes no distinction on the basis of caste, creed or religion.

Procedure:

After the sponsorer chooses a village, a team of experts are sent to the village concerned to study the socio-economic fabric of the area. They conduct a base line survey that gives detailed information about the demography of the village, the socio-economic status of the people, their needs and assets. Based on that they suggest what kind of projects will be feasible in that area.

The next step is to orient people to come together and to take up projects. This is a difficult task as it is very important to put the philosophy of WMC across to the beneficiaries. Before starting a project our counsellers and project coordinator have several sessions with the project beneficiaries. That in fact is the first step towards instilling a sense of social consciousness among them. In these sessions they are made to understand that Navakerala project aims at community development. Hence, after benefiting from the project they should be willing to extend it to others. Such projects are usual taken up which can be replicated within a short span of time.

The Projects so far-

Presently WMC is operating in eight villages in Kerala. The details of the projects are given below.

1.Palakattumala Project-

District- Kottayam
Sponsor- Mr. George Kulangara
Anchor person- Mrs. George Kulangara
Ongoing projects-
  1. Tailoring unit
  2. Marketing textile products
Total no. of beneficiaries-

Palakuttumala in Kottayam district is only eight kilometers from Palai. The project started in 199- after Mr. George Kulangara agreed to adopt this village. (Demographic details of the village has to be mentioned here). His wife agreed to be the anchor person. With consultation with the baseline survey and the people of this village, it was decided to start a tailoring unit in the village where interested candidates can learn both stitching and embroidery. The project has been successfully running for the last---years. ----batches of students have already passed out from the tailoring institute and they have gone a step further by marketing textile products.

In order to accelerate the development process the members of the project had called for a meeting. In the meeting the committee members and the in charge of the project decided that a village level project coordinator be appointed for the effective supervision of the project. Since the in charge is loaded with other responsibility, she could not give adequate time for this work. Beena Biju, a student of the tailoring institute came forward to take up the responsibility. She has passed her SSLC and has completed nursing course. She will be given an honorarium of Rs.500.

Right now there are three machines in the institute. They are used both for teaching and stitching orders. The committee members feel that they is need for at least two more sewing machines. There is also a need for an embroidery machine and a locking machine to give a professional touch to the clothes stitched on order.

2. Choyikolly Village

District - Wayanad
Sponsorer-Mrs. Sicily Jacob and Mr. Jacob
Anchor person-Mr. V. Thampi
Ongoing projects-
   Cattle farming
   Honey selling
   Ginger cultivation

Choyikolly village in Wayanad district has a population of 3,500 with 12 tribal colonies. Most of the people belong to the below poverty line category. Farming is the main occupation of the people of this area. After the base line study our group of experts suggested three projects for this village namely group farming, cattle farming and soup manufacturing. Presently soup manufacturing unit is not functioning because of the price hike in raw materials. The price of coconut oil increased from Rs. 35 to Rs.70 within a span of one year. Because of this the manufacturing cost became very high and the village unit was unable to compete with multinational companies in the market. Secondly, self help groups in nearby villages also took up soup manufacturing. Hence the Choyikolly unit lost its consumers in those villages. Due to these problems this unit has been temporarily shelved. Now the members are thinking of ways to tackle both manufacturing and marketing problems and to reopen the unit. Some have suggested using low cost oil instead of coconut oil. They are also planning to go for commission based selling.

The literacy programme had started in this village with the aim to educate the tribal colonies. For this a teacher had been appointed. The idea was to literate a group of people who could take up the job thereafter. But unfortunately this programme also got stuck on the midway due to lack of supervision. WMC is trying to restart it with the help from Kerala Literacy Mission.

Group farming- Three groups were selected for this project. Each group consists of four persons and each group got Rs. 2000 as loan. They cultivated plantain and tapioca on an acre.

Cattle Farming- 15 families have been selected for this project. Each family received a sheep under this project with the condition that the first lamb should be returned to WMC, which will be in turn distributed among another 15 families. This project is running successfully. Some families have already returned the first lamb as per the condition. To quote one of the beneficiaries Alenchery Ameena “World Malayalee Council has done a great help to us. Now we are at least getting milk for our own consumption.” Now the members are planning to go for cow rearing.

Ginger cultivation- WMC has selected 20 families for this project. Each family was given one sack of ginger seed worth Rs.2000. They have to return this after the harvest. Presently cultivation is in progress.

Honey selling- The latest project going on in this village is Honey Selling. For this five families have been selected. Rs.8000 was released as a loan to these families. With this money they bought sixty kelograms of Honey from the tribal families nearby. Now they are planning to for door to door selling. They have bought bottles of 100ml and 200ml and label stickers to pack the product suitably

Apart from these projects activities like training, counseling is also going on in Choyikolly village. There was a day long counseling programme in September this year. Mr. George Karunackal headed the session. Three counselors from PADIM TRUST were also present there to listen to the problems of the beneficiaries and to guide them. Ninety people from forty identified families had participated in this programme. They were given an orientation on Empowerment of village folks and were also introduced to the Navakerala project.

Formation of family circles: The beneficiaries are proposing to form a family circle here. (Details about family circle to be given here.)

3. Kunnethu Village-

Location: Nilambur, 8 kms from Chungathara
Sponsor: Andrew Papppachan and Mukul Babykutty
Anchor person: Mr.Mohanan and Mr. Narayanan
Ongoing projects:
    Pottery unit
    Educating the new generation

Situated in the Malabar district Kunnethu has a number of families who had migrated from Andhra Pradesh. The village is divided into two parts namely Andikunnu and Vellaramkunnu. This place is also known as Chukanthara. According to the base line survey done by WMC, there are around 540 families residing in this village. Comparatively the Andhra migrants living in this village are socio-economically backward. Socially, because of their different dialect and culture, they were isolated by the locals. The falling demand for earthenware has pushed them to the edge economically. But for the timely intervention of WMC and Helping Hand, a voluntary organization for the uplift of the people, the craft of pot making in this village probably would have been crushed under the ravage of time. While WMC provided financial aid to these people, Helping Hand helped in providing training and capacity building. WMC introduced them to new technology and modern design and arranged for the sales of their product through conducting exhibitions. This year two exhibitions have already been conducted. Though the first one had mixed reaction, the second one was a big success. The potters got Rs. 22,000 from the sales of their products.

WMC offered financial assistance to construct three borma and provided accessories to manufacture traditional pottery pieces like pickle vat, pitches, bowls and cooking pots. They have had a couple of exhibition and sale in different parts of the district. The money from the sale went to the corpus fund for future use.

There are around 42 families in Kunnethu who have knowledge of the traditional craft. But only a few practice it now. Others have diverted in search of other modes of livelihood and are reluctant to stick to their traditional calling. Due to lack of demand in the market, they have very less income. Only in the festival seasons like Pongala, their sales go up. The only way to preserve the traditional craft is to increase the demand for pottery in the market.

According to Kumaran, the team leader of the training centre, “We hope to do better if we get media coverage. We also need to get acquainted with a Architectural civil engineer who can train us in designing beautiful scenes from Indian culture.” The drive is there among the learners and the trainers are eager to do better. Now what is needed is to spread awareness about the goodness of earthenwares and to create a demand in the market.

Presently three women and six men are undergoing training. To attract customers they have diversified from the traditional pottery making into making ethnic murals, table pieces, miniature idols, masks, animal figurines and beer mugs. “The terracotta murals occupy a place of pride in all our exhibitions. Elaborate scenes from epics, figures of deities, and scenary attract the maximum attention. Each tile is fired on a different temperature and for certain duration of time in the kiln to produce a particular colour. So without any pigment, paint or dye these murals look colourful in an earthy way” says Narayan, the coordinator of the training centre.  

Though the project is running satisfactorily, a lot has to be done in terms of increasing demand for mud vessels. A massive awareness drive is needed making people understand the medicinal and hygienic value of earthen pots. Only when sales increases in the market more and more people from the potter communities will be encouraged to stick to their traditional occupation.

Apart from the pottery training centre, WMC has also financed for two papad making units. It gave financial assistance to construct roofs for both the units. According to the beneficiaries, the roofs are very useful for drying of papads and they are thankful to WMC for the help. This project is running successfully.

On the anvil are three more plans namely starting another pottery training center and starting a Halwa making unit. They are also planning to start a scholarship of Rs.1, 500 with the help of the sponsorer.

4. Villanthra project

Name of the district: Kollam
Sponsor: American zone
Anchor person: Mrs.Mercy Yesudas, Mr. Jayaprakash
Ongoing projects-
   Bakery unit
   Tailoring training centre.

The chief mode of earning livelihood for the people of this village was coir making and fishing. Most of the villagers belong to the backward caste and suffer from abject poverty. After adopting this village, WMC thought of sponsoring a few projects to help the villagers earn a decent wage. It also gave helping aid to handicapped people.

WMC had given assistance for a bakery unit in this village. This unit is run by three families. They make snacks like Unniappam, Achappam, chips and mixture. This unit is running successfully as there is always market for food items. Encouraged by the success of this project, the beneficiaries have come forward with the proposal to start a catering unit. they have already started on a small scale. They are preparing breakfast items like idli, Dosa, appam and curry to the labourers working in the cashew nut factory. But to have a decent set up of a eatery, they need financial aid from WMC.

Keeping in mind the plight of women in the village, WMC decided to focus on women’s empowerment programme as a strategy to uplift the condition of women. As part of this, a tailoring training center was opened where women were trained in stitching and embroidery works. in the first batch 14 students were trained. At the end of the training, they were given certificates to authenticate their training. Some of these students worked part time in the tailoring unit. The second batch has already been enrolled.

Future plans:

a) To start an embroidery class
b) To start a garment manufacturing unit
c)To start a Vanitha hotel
d) to start cattle farming for 15 families

5. Anjilithanam Project

Name of the district: Pathanamthitta
Sponsor: Houston Province
Anchor person: Mohan Philip
Ongoing project: Tailoring unit

Most of the people in this village are engaged in loading and unloading at the quarry and metal chipping. This project started in the year-----. This is a relatively new project and presently only one project is operating in this village. WMC has always stood for women’s empowerment. To help women be self reliant WMC started a tailoring center in Anjilithanam village. In this centre women are trained in stitching and embroidery as well as stitching order is taken for an extra income. Presently there are 18 students in the centre. A second batch will join soon.

6. Kanjar Project

Name of the district: Iddukki
Sponsor: Mr. Abdul Karim
Anchor Person: Mr. Haneefa
Ongoing project: Tailoring unit

The tailoring unit was started in order to enable women from the backward classes to be self reliant. There are 19 students in the first batch. They are being trained to develop their skills and to learn new technologies. They are also given intensive practical training to make them expert at their skill. The second batch started in September. This unit is running successfully.

7. Anchal Project: (demographic details not available)

Name of the district: Kollam
Sponser:WMC women’s forum
Anchor persons: Mr. and Mrs. Ajayakumar
Ongoing projects: Tailoring unit

This project started in the year-----. WMC thought of starting a tailoring unit keeping in mind to make the women folk independent and self reliant. On 23 May 2003 a tailoring training center started in this village with 16 students. Since then many more batches have passed out from the centre. They are given a four month training for which they do not have to pay anything. After the completion of the course, they come for practice for which Rs. 500 is collected from each student. Apart from cutting and stitching there is also provision for learning embroidery. The training centre is running successfully. Now they are thinking of expanding their work by starting a garment making unit.

8. Chenilode Project

Name of the district: Trivandrum
Sponsor: Mr. Priyadas Mangalathu
Anchor person: Mrs. Jessy

Ongoing projects: Training and placement of women as quality housemaids, home nurses and baby sitters and domestic helpers.

This small village is situated at the outskirts of Trivandrum city. This is pilot project of WMC village adoption project. It has been running successfully since 1997. This project concentrates primarily on the empowerment of women. There is a centre running successfully where women are given training to be quality housemaids, nurses and baby sitters. A number of women have been trained in this centre. Many of them have got placement through the centre and are earning decent salary every month.

This is a special project for different reasons. Firstly, it is the first village to be adopted under the Navakerala project. It was taken up as an experiment and also as a challenge to see if what the members envisaged sitting in the conference would really worked. The sponsor Mr. Priyadas and the anchor person Mrs. Jessy Priyadas are passionately involved in this project. Secondly, this is a project where maximum finance has been invested so far. Thirdly and most importantly, maximum work has been done in Chonilode village as compared to any other project under Navakerala project. It is a matter of great satisfaction that all that efforts have yielded tangible results.

9.LALOOR PROJECT

Name of the district: Thrissur
Sponsor: WMC Switzerland Province


Ongoing Projects:

1. Providing safe drinking water.
2. Training to Self Help Groups for manufacturing bath soaps and detergent powders.
3. Distribution of sewing machine
4. Setting up a Canteen.

Laloor, which comes under Aranattukara revenue village of Thrissur taluk, was a part of Ayyanthole Panchayat. Geographically it is a plain area situated 3 km south-west of Thrissur town. The female population here is higher when compared to the male population.
The major problem faced in this village is the scarcity of pure drinking water .Economic backwardness along with the greater degree of pollution due to disposal of wastes nearby were the main reasons for this scarcity. The organization in charge of this project is the “Association For Social Change’ headed by Dr. A.A.Baby and professor Abraham Thachel- both professors of St.Thomas College, Thrissur. Based on a survey conducted, they formed 16 Self Help Groups (SHG) for productive orientation and starting micro enterprises. These SHGs have had training for manufacturing bath soap and detergent powder and have been provided with moulds and kits for this purpose.

Through SHGs sewing machines have been distributed to eight poor ladies. They have been trained to use these machines properly and are remitting a loan as per terms and conditions. Loan has also been provided for starting a canteen near a college of Arts and it is running proiftably.

Navakerala Project Reports

1. PALACKATTUMALA PROJECT

EVALUATION REPORT

I visited this project on 12/01/05 and 13/01/05 as part of the monthly evaluation and to participate in the meeting of family circle.

At present the main activity of the project is stitching nighties and selling them in the local market. They are getting orders from shops and individuals which is a positive sign. There are only three students for the tailoring classes and five for embroidery. I gave the loan amount for purchasing of cloths and to buy the embroidery machine. I also made arrangement for the purchasing of the embroidery machine. Aby Vijayan and I visited Rosamma teacher. From her I came to know that Mr. George Kulangara (Sponsor) was out of station and was supposed to be back on the next day. We explained to Rosamma teacher about the ongoing activities and informed her about the family circle meeting which was decided to be conducted on 13/01/05. I tried to contact Mr. George Kulangara over telephone to invite him for the meeting, but could not reach him.

On 13/01/05 the meeting of the family circle was convened at 2 pm at the tailoring centre. Twelve members participated in the meeting and a serious discussion was held about starting a new small scale project for the members. Some members suggested a pickle making unit, but they were not confident about marketing. It was decided to hold an Executive meeting where the matter can be discussed in detail.

Since both Palakattumal tailoring unit and Kanjar Tailoring unit were planning to purchase cloth for nighties, I thought of buying cloth in bulk and dividing it between the two units. That way they would save a sizeable amount. The teacher and the Co-coordinator visited Kanjar unit and suggested that we buy cloth from Ernakulam. So I accompanied them to Ernakulam for the purchase of cloth. There we purchased cotton cloth costing Rs. 26 per meter.

On 16/01/05 the teacher and the co-coordinator of Kanjar project visited Palackattumala project. There they discussed about the happenings in both the projects. It was a good experience for the teacher and the coordinator of Kanjar project to learn from the experience of the Palackattumala project.

ANIL JOSEPH

2. KANJAR PROJECT

EVALUATION REPORT

I visited this project on 14/01/05 and 15/01/05 as part of the monthly evaluation process. Fifteen students were present in the tailoring class. It is running well. Both students and the teacher were satisfied. Now they are learning cutting and stitching of shirts and midis. The students came up with a request for a day long outing. I responded positively and asked to fix a date and to make the necessary arrangements with the help of Mr. Hassan. (sponsor’s brother, who is the local in-charge of the project.)

I gave Rs. 3000/ for purchasing of cloth for starting a garment making unit. I arranged for a combined purchasing of cloth for the Kanjar tailoring project and the Palackattumala tailoring project as both the units were planning to buy cloth for stitching nighties. The teacher and the co-ordinator of Palackattumala project visited Kanjar project. They suggested that we purchase the cloth from Ernakulam. We purchased cotton cloth for Rs.26/ per metre. On 16/01/05 the teacher and the co-ordinator of Kanjar project visited Palackattumala and learned from the experience of the later.

ANIL JOSEPH

3. VILANLTHRA PROJECT

REPORT

I visited this project with our Director Mr. Priyadas, his wife Mrs. Jessy Priyadas and Valayudhan on 14/12/04. We were there to join them for the inauguration of the garment making unit and as well as go participate in their X’mas celeberation.

To start with ten students have taken Rs300/-each as a loan and have started a small garment unit. They purchase cloth materials from Kollam and plan to stitch nighties for local sale. The first sale was done to Mrs. Jessy Priyadas by Lathika Anil. Mr. Priyadas addressed the members of the family circle, tailoring unit and the bakery unit. The members requested for some necessary items like stools, iron box, almarah, and a blackboard. They also requested to make arrangement for starting up the vanitha hotel. All the above said request was sanctioned by the Director. He promised them that the above said items will be provided within a few days.
Valayudhan also addressed them .

The X’mas celeberation started with the cutting of a X’mas cake.

VISIT ON 23/12/04 AND24/12/04

Visited the project to purchase the above said items for the tailoring unit. I made arrangement for erecting a shed for the Vanitha hotel and also purchased the utensils for the hotel.

VISIT ON 19/01/05

Visited Vilanthra project on 19/01/05 as the part of the monthly evaluation process. Presently there are twelve students learning stitching in the tailoring school. Now they are being taught how to make Syrian Jackets, long blouses, midi-top, frocks, underskirts, petticoats, Churidaars and Nighties.

As per the report of the garment unit, so far they have sold 14 nighties forRs.1370/. They have got a local order and are working on it presently.

The bakery unit is going well but the hotel has still not started. The reason is no arrangement could be made for a proper tea stall. It is expected to start on 27/01/05.

ANIL JOSEPH

4. PALACKATTUMALA PROJECT

EVALUATION REPORT

I visited this project on 02/12/04 ,03/12/04 and 04/12/04 as part of the monthly evaluation process and also for the formation of the family circle.

The stitching unit is engaged in stitching irrumidi and podisanchi for the order they received last month. Presently there are four students in the the tailoring school. They forwarded a project proposal of stitching nighties and selling them locally. For this project they have requested for Rs. 4000/-as a loan for buying cloth materials for nighties. They also intend to buy an embroidery machine and need help for that.

I had a discussion with the co-ordinator and the teacher about the formation of a family circle. It was decided to visit the families on 03/12/04 from the list prepared by the co-ordinator and also to conduct a meeting of these beneficeries on 04/12/04 at 2 pm at the tailoring school.

I visited 25 families with the teacher, co-ordinator and Bindhu-a student of this project. I briefed these families about the importance of the meeting and invited them to the meeting.

31 members were present in the meeting which we conducted on 04/12/04 at the tailoring school. I explained them about W.M.C. and the NAVA KERALA PROJECT and its vision. I also explained them about the mission behind the formation of the family circle. They decided to form a family circle. Seven committee members were selected. They decided to conduct a survey of these families to prepare a list of children, youth, women, and male members. They decided to start a tuition centre for the students upto U.P.S from the next academic year. They decided to gather every second Saturday at 2 pm.

ANIL JOSEPH

5. ANCHAL PROJECT

EVALUATION REPORT

Visited this project with Valayudhan on 15/12/04 and 16/12/04 as part of the evaluation process and also for the formation of a family circle.

The 4 th batch of the tailoring school was commenced on November 1 st week. Only three students have joined the class till now. They are learning to stitch saree blouse and churidhar. There are four students learning embroidery. It is highly necessary to increase the number of students in this project. I discussed this with the teacher and Mr. Ajayakumar and asked them to arrange house visit to canvas students. Then only this project can survive.

On 15/12/04 Valayudhan and I had a discussion with Mr. Ajaya kumar about the formation of the family circle,and it was decided to visit the families in the area.to inform them about it. Mr. Ajaya kumar has been given the responsibility of conducting the meeting on 16/12/04 at 4 pm at the tailoring school. We visited 21 families and invited them to the meeting and briefed them about the importance of the meeting.

44 members were present in the meeting which was convened on16/12/04. Mr. Ajaya kumar (Kerala Provice President) and Mr Prakash (India Region Joint Secretary) were also present. Mr Ajaya kumar inaugurated the meeting and Mr. Prakash addressed the meeting. I explained them about the NAVA KERALA PROJECT and its vision. I also explained them about the mission behind the formation of the family circle. All the members agreed with us and decided to form a family circle. 11 members were selected as committee members. Valayudhan also addressed and shared the views of family circle. They decided to gather every second Sunday at 4pm.

ANIL JOSEPH

6. KUNNETHU PROJECT

EVALUATION REPORT

I visited this project with Valayudhan on 5/12/04,6/12/04 and 7/12/04 as part of the monthly evaluation process and formation of a family circle.

Here the pottery training centre has not been functioning since November 2004 due to the shortage of working capital. They had sold pottery worth Rs.34000/- at credit to a Margin Free shop at Thrippunithura. The mutual agreement was to settle the amount within one month, but the shop has not settle the payment till now. Hence, the training centre is facing a financial crunch. The workers have not got salary for September, October and November which amounts to Rs.19700/-. So the workers were not willing to continue their work. This unit has requested for ten thousand rupees as a loan to overcome this crises and to restart their work.

I had a detailed discussion with Narayanan regarding the formation of family circles. It was decided to visit the families on 6/12/04 and arrange for a meeting on 7/12/04 at 10 am.

On 6/12/04 Valayudhan and I along with Narayanan visited 20 families and invited them to the meeting and explained them about the importance of family circles. We arranged the meeting on 7/12/04 at two different places- at Vellarmkunnu and Andikunnu.

VELLARAMKUNNU

10 members were present in this meeting. We explained them about the mission behind the formation of family circles. They showed interest in forming a family circle and gave their words to co-operate. School dropouts and alchoholism are the two main issues in this place. Ammini and Jayalakshmi were selected to conduct the next meeting.

ANDIKUNNU

8 members were present in this meeting. We explained them about the mission behind the formation of the family circle. They are also willing to co-operate with us.

ANIL JOSEPH

CHOYIKOLLY PROJECT

EVALUATION REPORT

I visited this project with Valayudhan on 8/12/04 and 9/12/04 for evaluation of the work going on. I also went on house visits to the beneficiaries of the family circle.

A meeting was convened by the Secretary of the family circle on 8/12/04 at the office. Valayudhan and I attended the meeting. Evaluation of the projects wase done in this meeting. As per the honey selling project, there has been a delay in starting the project due to the inconvenience of the coordinator. It was decided to start this project immediately and to convene a meeting of workers (beneficiaries) who were selected for this project. The ginger project, is considered to be successful. Two of the beneficiaries were expecting an harvest of Rs. 25000/-and Rs. 22000/-respectively. It was also decided to prepare a list of interest members and to collect the ginger seed from the beneficiaries to give it to other selected beneficiaries. They requested financial assistance for buying two cows for two families. Valayudhan also addressed them and informed them about the house visit on 9/12/04. Valayudhan and I along with Lekha Joseph (Secretary) and Benny (family circle member) visited 20 families.

ANIL JOSEPH.