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ACTIVITY REPORT // RANICHAURI 2011 - 2013
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All images and text Copyright 2013Womens Action For Development // wafdindia.org
PARTNERS:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland (Finland) // formin.finland.fiASDA Ry (Finland) // asdary.netINSEDA (India) // inseda.org
HIFEED (India) // hifeed.org
No part of this publication, or any part ofthe contents therein may be reproduced inany form without the written permission ofthe Executive Director, Womens Action ForDevelopment.
REGD. OFFICE:
WZ-34/5, Asalatpur, A-2 Janak Puri,New Delhi - 110058 // (91) [email protected]
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Foreword
Ranichauri was a 2 year pilot project and based on the outcomes and
peoples needs, the project has been extended by another 3 years to
consolidate and strengthen the activities.
We are encouraged as people from the more remote villages are
already coming to us wanting to be a part of the project. While the rst
year involved setting up our activity base in the villages, the second
year saw more involvement from the village women with WAFD
providing mainly technical assistance and implementation knowhow.
We envision that with continuing support from ASDA Ry and theMinistry of Foreign Aairs of Finland, and active cooperation of both
our Indian partners, the project will eventually turn Ranichauri into a
model of sustainable development where through business practices,
the villages will be able to create a rural economy by being able to
market and sell organically produced food.
Zareen Myles, Executive Director,
Womens Action For Development
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About WAFD // 5
The Ranichauri Ecosystem // 6
Stories from Ranichauri // 7
Activities: April 2011 - March 2013 // 10
Trainings: April 2011 - March 2013 // 15
Impact of the Project // 16
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Womens Action For Development (WAFD) was registered under
the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 (Registration No. 9670
dated September 18, 1978) as an endeavour of committed socially
responsible people.
WAFDs vision, mission and philosophy are based on the belief
that women are central to any sustainable development eorts.
Women have to be recognised as the primary stakeholders in their
own development and growth. The role of WAFD becomes that of a
facilitator to equip the women for creative action through participatory
implementation, management and maintenance, so that ultimatelythey can take over these projects.
AboutWAFD
One of our leaders with a compost unit and a roofwater tank
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The RanichauriEcosystem
Situated at an altitude of 6500 ft. above sea level, Ranichauri is a
small village in the Tehri region of the Tehri-Garhwal district of
Uttarakhand. The Ranichauri ecosystem comprises of around 20
villages, and is situated 6 km from Chamba.
Ranichauri acts as a mini-marketplace and a transit hub for Chamba.
Ranichauri enjoys a certain pull from Chamba as villagers make 3-4
trips a month on an average, for their festive or recreational purchase
needs. Chamba, being a major marketplace, also acts as a major transit
junction for Hrishikesh, New Tehri and the Himalayas.
Between the villages, there is immense social connect. There is a
high degree of familiarity between the villagers and social gatherings,
celebrations etc. are attended by families from dierent villages.
Walking is the primary mode of travel and the mountainous terrain is
frequented rather always on foot, with heavy luggage at times.
WAFD is currently active in 4 villages in all - Jagdhar, Dargi, Savli and
Maun (including the Guriyali and Salamkhet divisions).
The ecosystem with Chamba at the top left, Ranichauri on the right and Savli at bottom left
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Anita with her solar driers
Stories fromRanichauri
For the year 2012 - 2013, this section will cover two of our women
leaders - one, our rst change agent in the area, and the other, one of
the newest additions to the WAFD family.
Anita is a resident of village Savli just bordering the central
marketplace of Ranichauri, Anita was the rst woman volunteer to
join WAFDs vision in the area. Anita attended the very rst meeting at
Ranichauri and was sent to Bharatpur to get acquainted with WAFDs
methodologies, principles and work ethics. Back from Bharatpur,
Anita started the rst self-help group (SHG) in Ranichauri with 25
members, each contributing ` 50 per month.
Anita recalls one of her rst experiences with the SHG by asserting
how SHGs help mobilise the villagers. Vimla and I went to Dargi,
helped them open their bank accounts and also educated them
about the benets of organic farming. Since then, Anita has been
monumental in the formation of the other SHGs in the 6 villages
WAFD has been present in.
Being the most experienced WAFD member in Ranichauri, Anita
clearly understands the business implications of the various
programmes. Bee-keeping has been the only business generating
programme, she states, but some of the bees escaped. When asked
about the acceptance of other programmes, Anita has a detailed
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picture to paint. We started with word of mouth. I was associated
with Pant Nagar University and was taught agriculture, farming and
business basics. But what do we do with that knowledge when we
cant implement it anywhere? Enter WAFD, I found a whole new
opportunity in my own backyard. I understood that time, money,
resources and communication was necessary to make my fellow
villagers understand the benets of the things I had learnt. Through
the SHGs, we were able to ease the process as things were otherwise
dicult.
So what benets have come out of the programmes? The reply is shortand as direct as possible, See for yourself, and the pause turned
into, people have become less interfering in womens lives. SHGs
have managed to bring people together to a great extent. We not only
carry out programmes, but also conduct social and cultural gatherings.
Kirtan mandlis are a regular aair, we organise trips, we raise funds
etc. We do all this so that this village doesnt stay behind, and at the
same time, all other villages move ahead thats all that we want.
Anusuya is one of the newest additions to the WAFD family at
Ranichauri. Always greeting her guests with hot tea, delicious snacks
and sweets, the generally talkative Anusuya holds herself and WAFD
with a lot of respect. I got to know about WAFD through word of
mouth. The amount Ive learnt after joining WAFD is immense and
Anusuya with her mist harvester in the background
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Im truly grateful to them, says Anusuya whose husband is the
principal at a school in Chamba and a part-time priest at a local
temple, and has two sons one a B.Ed. and M.A., and the other a
Ph.D. both from Pant Nagar University.
In her short association with WAFD, Anusuya volunteered for two
of the newer programmes the polyhouse and mist harvesting.
Anusuyas polyhouse measures 250 sq. ft. and had malta and dhaniya
(coriander) saplings ready to grow. A high density mist harvester also
awaits the mist on her terrace. Please come again, consider this your
home, is her standard goodbye line, always delivered with a smile.
Anusuya at her polyhouse
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The vision we had for Ranichauri at the beginning of the project aimed
at turning the area into a small economy with a number of business
opportunities. While year 1 involved mainly setting up and knowledge
transfer, in year 2 we saw a wider acceptance and awareness to the
programmes. The knowledge transferred to the village women has
turned to practice, through implementation support and technical
assistance from us, thus inching closer to our overall vision.
The following key results were achieved in the 2 year pilot phase.
A total of 6 womens groups have been formed in the 4 projectvillages (there are 2 groups each in Maun and Savli as both the
villages have an upper and a lower reach). Each of the womens
groups includes the senior women as well and these women are
taking an active part in the implementation of our project.
Each group has also formed a self help group for encouraging
thrift and learning how to get credit facilities. To accomplish
this, savings bank accounts have been opened in local banks and
the women have started to take small loans for their needs. Theyhave also started repayment of the loans as per the rules that they
themselves have formulated.
1 demonstration biogas plant had been constructed at the
HIFEED campus in 2011. Their sta has been trained on the
regular feeding of the biogas plant with rabbit droppings, and the
gas that is produced from the plant is used for making tea for the
sta members twice a day.
8 roof water tanks have been constructed in the project areas.
The rst one of these was constructed at the HIFEED oce and
the remaining seven have been constructed in the homes of
the beneciaries in the dierent villages. All of these tanks are
functional and in regular use.
A total of 83 small individual organic farming units have been
established by the women in their plots of land. These units areestablished on a plot of land the size of 1 nali each (local unit of
farmland measuring about 250 square yards).
96 bamboo-based composting units have been woven and
constructed by the women for their organic farming units. This
helps them to get good quality organic manure for their farms.
Each basket composting unit provides enough organic manure for
a 1 nali plot of land.
14 bee keeping units have been set up. However, the bees
ew away from 8 of these units after about a year. We will be
organising another training/workshop soon to investigate why
this happened and to plan for such contingencies.
Activities:April 2011 - March 2013
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Over 100 kitchen gardens have been established and more will
be started as the women are nding these very useful.
7500 trees have been planted by the women in their elds/
homes and in the local school. However, since there hasnt been
enough rain in this region many trees have not survived. This is
especially true of those trees that were planted on public land.
We will be revisiting our strategy in the next phase to determine
a way to make people take ownership of the trees planted in the
plantation drive.
During the project period, 5 solar driers were constructedof wood and bamboo. INSEDA designed and trained a local
carpenter to make these. These are working successfully.
2 polyhouses were also designed and a mason and carpenter
were trained by INSEDA so that they could install these in 2
villages. This initiative is working successfully.
2 mist harvester nets were set up as an experiment to harness
water from the mist and fog in the area.
A baseline survey of all the 4 villages was completed under the
guidance of INSEDA and the data from these surveys has been
digitised.
An average of 24 monthly meetings for each womens group has
been achieved in the pilot phase.
3 awareness meetings were held on Earth day, Environment
Day and Renewable energy Day. Women from each village
participated, along with the enthusiastic participation of children
and youth as well as other village folk. Rallies were taken out
in Rani Chauri with school children holding placards with pro-
environment slogans.
International Womens Day was celebrated in March 2012.
This was the rst time that womens day was celebrated in the
area. More than 160 women came from the villages. This event
also included the participation of women from the WAFD project
areas in Delhi and Bharatpur to help the local women organize
the program, share their experiences with them as well as show
their solidarity.
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Programme Units
Womens Groups 6
Biogas Plants 1
Roofwater Tanks 8
Organic Farming Units 83
Composting Units 96
Bee Keeping Boxes 14
Kitchen Gardens > 100
Tree Plantations 7500
Solar Driers 5
Polyhouses 2
Mist Harvesters 2
Table 4.1: Activity summary for 2011 - 2013
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Closkwise from Left: A roofwater tank, composting unit, solar water heater in action,
red chillies drying in a solar drier, a wooden solar drier, and, a bamboo solar drier
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Closkwise from Top Left: A polyhouse in Savli, biogas-fuelled stove, pickle jars, and, a high density mist harvester
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The following trainings have been conducted at the village level:
Food preservation pickle making and fruit juice
Making and using hay box for energy reduction in cooking rice
Using the solar cooker for daily cooking
Use of solar dryer for drying fruits and vegetables
Assembly of solar lanterns for youth
Womens training in weaving of the bamboo structures for bio
gas plants, roof rain water harvesting structures, and composting
baskets.
Making compost in the composting baskets
Training of mason in construction of biogas plant and roof
water harvesting structure.
Training in bee keeping
Training youth on how to make base line and household
surveys
Field training of youth and women in pit digging for tree
plantation
Training of women in organic farming
Training in HIV/AIDS for women
Training of project sta and village volunteers in understanding
concept, project objectives, methodology and implementation
strategy. This was carried out right at the beginning of the project
in May 2011 at the WAFD Bharatpur oce for a week.
Fruit preservation training for 20 women at HIFEED campus
by the Government Horticulture Department sta.
A three day training workshop was organized with 6 women for
making posters for creating awareness and teaching people about
climate change and how it is aecting the womens lives. 4 posters
have been prepared but we will be making a few more to completethe series.
Trainings:April 2011 - March 2013
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Impact ofthe Project
Being a geographically remote area with its own resource problems
(natural, animal, manpower etc.), the project was a challenge to being
with. However, with continuous support from our women leaders
in the villages, the benets became apparent in the rst year itself
due to which, the acceptance to the project and further activities also
increased. To summarise, the project resulted in the following key
qualitative benets:
The project area has had many NGOs implementing a number
of government programmes. However, their methodology did not
encourage participatory implementation. The rst question wewere asked when introducing the project in the village meetings
was what will you give us? So, it took us time to explain that
we had not come to give them anything, instead, the project
was aimed at demonstrating and teaching them. Our rationale
was that the programmes that would be implemented would be
nanced partly by our projects contributions and partly by the
recipients. We wanted to emphasise that nothing would be given
completely free of cost to help the villagers be more invested
and serious. One of the biggest achievtements of the project
has been that the women have now understood the meaning of
participatory work, and now completely accept it.
Womens condence has increased as their awareness on issues
of environment increases. They are able to explain and talk about
these with the womens groups.
The area has water scarcity and women had to walk long
distances to carry water. The roof rain water harvesting structures
have helped in storing the rain water from the roof which can be
used for some months.
In this two-year period, the women have now become used to meeting
regularly for mutual support as well as for discussing various issues.
They use the knowledge they have gained and the practices theyhave picked up to collaboratively nd solutions to personal and
environmental factors that aect them directly.
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THANK YOU
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