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Village Adoption |
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Malayalee village adoption project aims to improve the overall quality of the people in selected villages spread all over Kerala. The specific features are given below.
LIST OF VILLAGES ADOPTED BY WMC: 1. Chennilode village in Trivandrum district:
2. Vilanthara village in Kollam district:
3. Choikolly Village in Wynad district:
4. Kunnathh village in Malappuram district:
5. Palakattumala village, Marangattupilly Panchayath,
Kottayam District: 6. Anjilithanam Project,
Pathanamthitta District 7. Kanjar Project, Iddukki District: 8. Anchal Project, Kollam District 9. Laloor Project, Thrissur District Navakerala Project 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. District- Kottayam 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. District - Wayanad 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.) Location: Nilambur, 8 kms from Chungathara 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. Name of the district: Kollam 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
5. Anjilithanam Project 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. Name of the district: Iddukki 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.
Name of the district: Kollam 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. Name of the district: Trivandrum 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. Apart from the activities taken up which benefits a few family, there has been several works done for the general development of the village. For example, a concrete road was constructed that goes through the village as part of the project. Name of the district: Thrissur
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.
Navakerala Project Reports 1. PALACKATTUMALA PROJECT Visit Report dated 28/10/05.
Kanjar Visit Report dated 28/10/05. Regards, 3. VILANLTHRA PROJECT REPORT Visit to VILAMTHARA Project on 25/10/05.
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 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 On 21-09-05, in the presence of campaign against Child labour, an
interview was oragnised between the students and Politicians of the
local area. 50 students and 5 canditates belonging to the Political
parties took part in the programme.
VILLAGE VISIT REPORT, CHOIKKOLLY, BATHERY. C.Velayudhan.
Village visit- Kollad- Kottayam Kollad- the place is situated five km away from Kottayam Railway station.
VILANTHARA Tailoring unit and vanitha hotel are functioning successfully. Bakery unit does not seem to be very successful. Intensive practical training is being given to the students of the institute in tailoring so as to enable them to be independent. Classes are being given to the students of the tailoring institute for an hour every month on personality development, communication skills and leadership quality. Monthly visits are made regularly by the coordinator . New suggestions from the villagers
ANCHAL Tailoring unit is functioning well according to our coordinator who makes regular monthly visits. A fortnight back10 families were given goats to provide a steady monthly income and this function was attended by Women’s Forum global president Mrs. Sicily Jacob and Kerala province president Mr.Ajay Kumar. Next week these ten families will be visited by our coordinator to reassess the current situation.
PALAKKATTUMALA The village was visited by our Global Chairman and President.. Our coordinator says that the readymade unit run by four women is functioning successfully.
KOLLAD Since the main aim of WMC is to make women independent, women are being given training in tailoring so that they can earn a steady income. 2 sewing machines have been provided to the tailoring institute, which gives classes to 13 students. We are planning to conduct 2 leadership camps in the months of April and Mays each for a duration of 3 days for 40 students of the high school classes and senior secondary classes. The coordinators aim is to instill into the young minds the qualities of leadership, communication skills, personality development, study skills, memory technique and the desire to reach your goal in life. Last month the WMC Women’s Forum celebrated their first anniversary and in course of the meeting the priest blessed them for their sincere efforts. They were also thanked and wished good luck in all their future endeavors by the Panchayat members and YMCA secretary. In connection with the anniversary celebrations a beautiful WMC Women’s Forum hoarding was set up. The happy and successful members of the Women’s Forum baked cakes to celebrate the occasion and conducted a cake sale. With the benefits of the cake sale13 needy people were given lungi and bath towels. The global chairman and global president visited Kollad.
KANJAR According to our coordinator who makes regular monthly visits the tailoring institute is functioning successfully. To strengthen the tailoring institute pamphlets were distributed all over the village to make people aware of the Institute. The WMC is planning to make the display board of the institute more conspicuous. The sponsor Mr. Karim had paid a visit to the village last month. A class had been given to the students of the tailoring institute on the values of family relationships.
CHOYIKOLL In accordance with the earlier planned dairy project, Rs.10000 each was given to 3 families to help them to buy a cow to provide a steady family income. The villagers are expected to sell the milk in the milk federation unit on a daily basis. The milk federation unit pays a part of the amount to the WMC and this is to continue until the amount of Rs.10000 is refunded. This is once again used to benefit other needy villagers. The remaining financial aid for the purpose was met by the local beneficiaries. Honey selling has been running successfully. The villagers buy honey from the tribal people and engage themselves in a door-to-door sales, which has proved to be very successful. Unfortunately ginger cultivation, which had met with a lot of success last year was quite disappointing this year as is to be expected from all agricultural crops. KUNNATH WMC is planning to start an eligibility enhancement program at the earliest. The villagers have a natural inclination for the traditional art of pottery. They had conducted an exhibition of their wares in Bangalore recently, but rain played spoil-sport and they returned disappointed. Creating an awareness among people regarding the medicinal value of cooking in earthenware pots can perhaps help these villagers and prevent them forgetting their traditional art. |
