Village Ways Charitable Trust

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Background The remote hill villages in the Saryu & Pindar valleys of Bageshwar District of Uttarakhand State, India, have long traditions of handicraft making but they are cut-off from markets and transport is difficult.

Figure 1 Supi Village, Saryu Valley

While working with rural women in the area, the Village Ways Charitable Trust had opportunities to speak to them about their lives and the difficulties that they face. This revealed two basic issues: • Handicraft activities handicapped by lack of

training and marketing services. • Poor standards of women's reproductive

health and hygiene, with no local clinics. The local 'Aasha‘ (midwife nurse) confirmed the serious problems faced by village women in terms of reproductive illnesses and complications in childbirth.

The proposed project aims to target these two issues.

The Partners The lead partner in the project will be the Village Ways Charitable Trust (the Trust), working closely with Village Ways Pvt Ltd (Village Ways). The Trust was established in Delhi in January 2008 (Reg No: 404, in additional Book No. 4 Vol No. 3,110) to provide training, capacity-building and livelihood support to village communities associated with Village Ways. The activities of the Trust, contact details and how to donate are given in our website www.villagewaystrust.com. In the Saryu and Pindar Valleys, the Trust has been active in training villagers in making of cotton shopping bags and linking the villagers, through a reputable Delhi handicraft manufacturing and export house, to domestic and export orders. Support has been given to local craft workers, who sell ringal basket work and woollen products through the Supi Village Ways guesthouse.

Figure 2 Ringal Baskets

Supi Community Centre: Progress and Request for Donations

The Village Ways Charitable Trust seeks donations of funds to enable us to help people in remote villages of the Uttarakhand Himalaya to develop a handicraft training and marketing centre in Supi village. The new building for the centre will include space for training in handicraft making, for meeting and interaction, and for storage of products prior to sale. In addition, there will be rooms for a health clinic for women, which will be supported by staff of the district health services. The clinic will focus on women’s reproductive health, something that is generally a taboo subject but which is a serious issue for women in these remote villages. The centre will especially enhance the lives of village women through income-generation from tailoring and handicrafts, and by improved healthcare and awareness.

Village Ways Charitable Trust

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Village Ways Pvt Ltd is a social enterprise registered in India (No. U55101UR 2005 PTC 029797, 2005). It was established to help needy rural communities to develop sustainable and commercially viable community-based tourism (www.villageways.com). Village Ways focuses on locations with untapped tourism potential, where village partners welcome such initiatives, and provides professional marketing support and training. With village partners, Village Tourism Enterprises (VTEs) have been established, or are under development, in Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. In Uttarakhand, the company has successfully assisted villagers to establish and operate five VTEs in the remote hills of the Saryu and Pindar Valleys.

Figure 3 Items prepared for Trust and Sale

The Proposed Community Centre The Trust has agreed to support construction of a handicraft training and marketing centre in Supi village, which will incorporate a health care clinic for women. The objectives of the Centre will be to improve health by providing women’s reproductive health and hygiene services, and empowerment to women through increased income generation from handicrafts. As shown in the provisional plans (Appendix A), the Centre will include provision for a meeting hall, tailoring & storage room, toilets and pantry, and a health clinic room. The building will have a pitched corrugated iron roof with a broad veranda. The latter will provide additional space for meetings, training and tailoring. The Centre will be equipped with

basic furniture, training materials, sewing machines, medical items & materials and health & safety equipment. The building is being constructed as far as possible by local people, using locally sourced materials. Water supplies and mains electricity are readily accessible. Progress to date includes: • Land for the centre has been purchased in

Malla Supi village. • The changed land use has been registered

with the Administration. • Building stone has been collected. • The land is being levelled. • The foundations have been laid and lower,

stone walls built. The Centre will be managed by an elected village committee, with the Trust’s local Field Liaison Officer, Mahesh Chandra Singh, as Secretary.

Figure 4 Supi Centre - foundation works

Staffing the Centre Mahesh and Deepa Takuli (the head Aasha of Supi) are organising training activities, aided by Kumar Sharma (the Trust’s tailoring trainer) and other resource persons. Mahesh will coordinate marketing and sales links with the Village Ways team and with Ms Tanu Goel, who supports the Supi Centre in the Trust’s Delhi office. The Trust will control quality, authenticity, design and pricing of products. We would encourage links between the Centre and other villages in the Saryu Valley that have active handicrafts enterprises (Harkot, Karmi, Khal Jhuni, Barchham, Jhuni etc), and liaise with existing local handicraft schemes.

Village Ways Charitable Trust

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The health clinic will be available for use by the local midwifery nurses. We plan to arrange for the local Aasha to train three village women to operate the clinic on a rotating basis.

The Additional Chief Medical Officer of Bageshwar District is supportive of the project and has offered to post a government doctor at the centre on a monthly basis to attend to patients and to initiate awareness programmes.

Figure 5 Women Weavers at Khal Jhuni

Costs of the Centre The capital cost of the Centre is estimated to be about Rs 10,00,000 (£10,000 or $ 16,500). The main elements of costs comprise: • Buildings Rs 8,50,000. • Furnishings Rs 1,00,000. • Sewing machines (10) Rs 3,500 each. • Emergency equipment Rs 15,000.

We estimate the annual recurrent costs (utilities, maintenance, honoraria for the Aashas, travel and training), at Rs 2,00,000 (£2,000 or $3,300).

Funding the Centre We plan to encourage the local communities to contribute about 10% of the building costs (Rs 85,000) through voluntary labour and provision of materials. This will impart a sense of local ownership. We will encourage Village Ways guests to contribute through voluntary work or by purchasing personalised bricks. The ladies of Supi have unanimously decided to charge less for their work of carrying construction materials, as their contribution to the Centre. Such community involvement demonstrates the perceived need for the Centre.

The Trust is now urgently seeking donations from individuals or through company Corporate Social Responsibility channels to cover the balance of the capital costs. We also seek donors to commit to covering the annual recurrent costs of the Centre. We envisage that profits from handicraft sales will eventually cover the bulk of the recurrent costs. However, the Clinic will need outside financial support for the Aashas and refresher training. We anticipate the government Health Department providing medical supplies for the clinic.

Figure 6 Supi women sewing training

Benefits to the Communities Specific benefits include: 1. Creation of local sources of income,

thereby reducing the necessity for out-migration to seek employment.

2. Enhanced handicraft skills and income-generating opportunities, women and men.

3. Ability to store handicraft items and sell in bulk at more profitable rates.

4. Empowerment of women though ability to earn income from handicrafts.

5. Opportunities for women to meet, interact and share learning experiences

6. Easy access for women to health care focused on women’s reproductive health and hygiene issues, reducing anxiety and illness.

7. Training for women in personal health care & hygiene, to pass on to others.

8. Improved health standards of women and reduced trauma and distress associated with childbirth.

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Village Ways Charitable Trust

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9. Increased confidence of men that their womenfolk have access to health services.

10. The satisfaction of a sense of community ownership of the Centre.

In the longer-term, it is hoped that this project will encourage similar women’s clinics to be established in other villages in the hills.

Commitments Made Generous commitments have already been made by several organisations:

Ann Inc of New York (www.anntaylor.com), a women’s apparel retail chain that is linked to village handicraft weavers in Saryu Valley, has kindly committed support.

Smith College (USA) has granted funds to enable an intern student to visit Saryu Valley in August 2014. She has conducted 25 interviews with village women and collected data on the difficulties they face in childbirth, pregnancy, and other reproductive health issues. She worked with local midwives and has prepared a report on the health needs of women.

Kapkol Exports Pvt Ltd (Delhi), a leading export company, has already provided tailoring training, fabric materials and sewing machine maintenance for the villagers and is committed to future support. Inntravel (UK), an important tour operator partner of Village Ways, has very generously offered to contribute £2,000 towards initial construction and £2,000 per year for running costs of the centre for up to three years.

Ms Archana Jain of PR Pundit has given Rs 1.0 lakh, with a commitment for the same amount over the next 2 years.

The Trust needs further funding commitments to finance the costs of the Supi Centre building, furniture and equipment. Please help us!

Benefits for Donors Any donor would be confident that he/she is helping poor communities, especially women, by creating income-generation opportunities and by improving their health and hygiene in a sustainable manner.

Contact Details If you would like to contact the Village Ways Charitable Trust, please address correspondence

to the Trust Administrator (+91 98 102 62792) or to Mrs Ratnamala Kapur, Managing Trustee (+91 98 107 22792). Our postal address is:

5, Jaipur Estate, 1st Floor, Nizamuddin East, New Delhi 110013, India. Email: charitable.trust@villageways.com Website: www.villagewaystrust.com.

Making Donations The Trust is now registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010 (Ref 231 661 495), to receive donations from outside India. Funds can be sent to:  

ICICI Bank Ltd (Jorbagh Branch), 11-A Jorbagh Market, New Delhi -110003. A/c Name: Village Ways Charitable Trust Account No: 028601 001680 RTGS / IFSC / NEFT Code: ICIC0000286 SWIFT Code: ICICINBBNRI Registration No: 231661495

For donations made in Indian Rupees, the bank address is the same but the account differs:

A/c Name: Village Ways Charitable Trust Account number: 630001 024992 IFSC Code: ICIC0006300.

Cheques can be sent to our Delhi address above.

Indian Tax Exemptions The Trust has the full permission/ registration required for tax exemptions on donations by Indian residents. Deductions are allowed under: u/s 80G vide order no DIT (E) I 2011-2012 / DEL - VE 22936 - 03082011. Donors will therefore benefit from contributions.

Figure 7 Deepa Takuli, Aasha

Prepared by the Village Ways Charitable Trust

Village Ways Charitable Trust

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Appendix A: Provisional Plans for Supi Centre Plan View

Elevation A-B