2010-2011 annual report avag

8/6/2019 2010-2011 Annual Report AVAG

1/25

Annual Report

April 2010 April 2011


2/25

www.villageaction.in 1 /

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Letter from Directors..................................................................................2

Introduction.................................................................................................3 Who we are?...........................................................................................................3

Structure of AVAG....................................................................................................4

What we do? Programmes.........................................................................5 Community Development........................................................................................5

Exchange Programmes.....................................................................................6

Micro Projects....................................................................................................6

Service Camps...................................................................................................7

Community celebrations....................................................................................7

Government Linkages........................................................................................8

Summary of community building Activities 2010/11..........................................8

Economic Development..........................................................................................9

Micro Finance Programme................................................................................9 Livelihood Trainings.........................................................................................12

Capacity Building...................................................................................................12

Strengthening the womens and mens federation..........................................12

Leadership and In-Service Trainings...............................................................13

Exposure & Educational Trips.........................................................................13

Strengthening & Cluster Meetings...................................................................13

Seminar and Workshops.................................................................................13

Summary of capacity building Activities 2010/11.............................................14

Psychosocial Services..........................................................................................14

Somatic Experience and Energy Healing........................................................14

Counseling and mediation...............................................................................15

De-addiction.....................................................................................................16

New Developments...................................................................................17 Social Enterprise Creation Programme................................................................17

Eco-Life Store..................................................................................................17

Eco Femme......................................................................................................18

SEDAB.............................................................................................................18

Volunteer Programme...........................................................................................19

AVAG Capacity Building .......................................................................................19

Financial Information.............................................................................................20

Future Plans..............................................................................................21 Micro credit corpus increment and expansion......................................................21

Social Enterprise Creation Programme................................................................21

De-addiction..........................................................................................................22

Environmental initiatives........................................................................................22

List of Abbreviations................................................................................24

AVAG on the WEB.....................................................................................24


3/25

Letter fromDirectors

Dear Reader,

We are happy to be sharing with you the annual report of AVAG 2010 2011. Thisyear apart from sustaining our programmes successfully in the areas ofcommunity development, economic development, capacity building, andpsychosocial services, we have focused efforts in our new project for improvedrural Menstrual Hygiene Management and Social Enterprise Creation theoutcomes of these efforts can be read throughout this report.

We are proud to inform our readers that due to our continued intervention in the

area of psychosocial support, this is the second consecutive year that there areno cases of suicides among the women participants of our programme asopposed to 6-8 cases of suicides registered each year in the past couple of years.We also feel happy that we have started initiatives to deal with one of the majorproblems of the society, alcoholism and it gets good reception from women andmen.

We are very happy that many new clubs came forward to organize the caste andgender exchange programmes. These are unique programmes working withculturally sensitive issues and we have noticed a big change in the attitude of thepeople who have participated you can read more in the report that follows

Another major focus for AVAG in the last year has been preparing the conditionsto receive the much awaited funding from the Ministry of Rural Development forfor project Sustainable Enterprises Development for the Auroville Bioregion(SEDAB). This project, which will provide livelihood and enterprise possibility forthe people in the bioregion, will also alleviate some of the financial pressure AVAGhas been facing in the last few years.

Finally, this year has seen AVAG looking inward to its organisational mode offunctioning this has led to some streamlining in our daily operations, increasednetworking with NGO's in Tamil Nadu and we have continued to benefit from thepresence of long term volunteers and interns from all around the world who have

enthusiastically given their time to help .Finally we take this opportunity to thank all our friends and donors who have giventheir ongoing support to AVAG. Your confidence in AVAG's work and commitmentto us is heartfelt and greatly appreciated. We hope you will recognise the fruits inthe pages that follow.

Sincerely,

Anbu and Moris

Directors of AVAG



4/25

INTRODUCTIONWHO WE ARE?

Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG) is aunit of Auroville Village Action Trust(AVAT), registered under Indian trust act

1982 and functions as a part of theAuroville Foundation. It is a non-governmental organization (NGO) thatworks to promote integral development inrural communities in Vanur Block, TamilNadu, and South India.

AVAG places the complex webs ofrelationships between human beings -their behaviours, traditions and prejudices and their environment at the foundation

of its programmes and work with villagers.Therefore an integrated and multifacetededucational programme that promotessolidarity, cooperation and illuminates

issues of gender and caste discrimination - which underlie the traditional socialand economic structures of the villages - is central to all AVAG activities. Throughan expanding network of women and mens self help groups (SHGs) andfederation of male and female leaders, AVAG offers a wide range of successfulprogrammes and initiatives to meet the complex needs of villagers. As of 1st April2011, AVAG works with aproximately 3,726 women organised in 197 SHGs, and701 men organised in 42 SHGs, in approximately 80 revenue villages and dalit

hamlets with a combined population of 90,000 people.

AVAG acts as an outreach wing for Auroville - a pioneering social experiment thataims to realize human unity (www.auroville.org) - in the role of a developmentorganization, committed to community building and co development with villagersto cultivate their knowledge, skills and confidence to build a better future for all.Through a variety of projects and programmes it seeks to promote villageempowerment as they work towards social, economic, psychological andenvironmental transformation.


AVAGs activities are all designed to empower the local population toorganize themselves for their own community development
http://www.auroville.org/http://www.auroville.org/


5/25

STRUCTUREOF AVAG

The 3 Trustees from Auroville, Alain Bernard, Bhavana Dee, andM.S.Subhashchand, oversee the running of the organisation and ensure that itoperates according its statutes.

The 3 Executives from Auroville, Kathy Walkling, Auralice Graft and Santo Nanciprovide operational support.

What Makes AVAG a SpecialOrganization?

1. AVAG uses an integrated approach,working with all sectors of society.

2. AVAG gives equal importance to theholistic development of both

individuals and the entire community.3. AVAG emphasizes co-development

and self-empowerment, not charity.

4. AVAG recognizes Dalit settlementsseparately from caste villagesettlements, ensuring that everyonegets the needed care and attention.

5. AVAG does not recruit; programmesare expanded through a word-of-mouth grass roots network.

Vision:AVAG collaborates with ruralcommunities to reveal theirinnate wisdom and ability tocollectively determine andmanifest their dynamic potential

Mission:AVAG fosters participatoryvillage transformation through:

Community development

Economic development

Capacity building

Psychosocial ServicesWith rural communities in theAuroville Bioregion



6/25

What we do? ProgrammesVillage Action Group sees village life as part of an intricate web. We believe thatgrowth is not encouraged by targeting isolated issues, but by encouragingbeneficiary driven change that is stimulated by all sectors of rural society. AVAGtherefore works with all sectors of society: with both men and women, with dalits

as well as caste communities, with both elected and traditional leaders, withschool children, teachers and parents with the local governing structures and thedistrict and state level office, as well as the elected people's representatives. Thismakes it possible for AVAG to provide a comprehensive approach to ruraldevelopment.

The various programmes developed byVillage Action Group target four criticaland complementary areas:

Community Development

Economic Development

Capacity Building Psychosocial Services.

Through these four programme areas,AVAG is able to address a wide range ofissues through the medium of SHGs. Allactivities reflect the direct needs andwants of our target population.

Community DevelopmentThe overall goals of AVAGs community development programmes are to foster anatmosphere of community, solidarity and responsibility by engaging beneficiariesin physical infrastructure projects, social exchanges, and providing access to

social welfare schemes.

AVAG communicates these goals through a variety of programmes, the objectivesof which are:

To challenge assumptions toward patriarchal and caste systems by bringingtraditionally segregated groups together for discussions and to performcommunal work.

To encourage participants by means of the SHG structure to take upcollective responsibility for improving and maintaining village infrastructurethrough work camps and micro projects.

To provide access to government and life insurance schemes in addition to



7/25

expanding opportunities for education.

To facilitate exchanges between participants in order to break downtraditional barriers of social status, favoritism, and geographic isolation byreplacing myths and mistrust with open communication.

Exchange Programmes

Exchange programmes bring together women and men, groups from differentcastes, and SHGs of differing ages and length of AVAG tenure. The purpose ofthis programme is rectifying prejudices that are endemic to India, such as fear ofDalits (formerly Untouchables) and other Scheduled Castes, as well as Indiasparticular forms of gender discrimination. Participants learn to see each other asunique human beings without discriminating.

Thanks to our partnership with VillageOutreach Society UK, we could maintainour Inter-caste exchanges, which are aunique programme not offered by otherNGOs as far as we are aware, due to the

sensitivity of the caste issues in thisculture.

The importance of these exchanges isseen in the following examples:

Members from different groups oftenform friendships that continue to growafter the exchange visit

Villages develop inter-communityrelationships that would have otherwisebeen unlikely to form;

Groups are provided a forum to discussimpressions of each other and learnfrom each other

Groups are inspired with new projectideas for their villages by hearing ofanother groups past activities.

By building communication bridgesbetween formerly unknown groups,

knowledge and understanding replacesmistrust and myths helping to break downpreviously held assumptions and prejudices about others.

Micro Projects & Work Camps

Some physical infrastructure problems in the Vanur block communities are verysmall: from piled trash on the roadside or a need for a fence around a childrensplay area, to a communal area thats poor condition makes it unsuitable formeetings. Villagers can help reduce administrative costs by planning projects and

submitting proposals themselves, an important step in building their own capacity.By using the existing SHG structure, costs are reduced, allowing AVAG to partner


Aruljothi from Vanurpuddupakam

In the exchange meeting we getthe chance to make new

friendships. All these people, I onlyget to know because of theexchange programme. When I

normally see them in AVAG office,the only thing I know about them isfrom which village they come. Butnow we got to know each other ashuman beings. I know their feelings

and their life-story. We share ourproblems and laugh together. This

makes me really happy.
http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/


8/25

in projects through a small, one-time investment. Work camps are simple projectsthat can often be completed in half a day while micro projects sometimes take upto a week to complete. The confidence and skills women have gained fromparticipation in traditionally male areas of work has done much to earn themrespect from their male counterparts, a vital step in the gender sensitizationprocess. The AVAG Micro Project and Work Camp programme has attracted theattention of neighboring NGOs that regard it as a novel approach, which

addresses the small but persistent infrastructure problems that plague village life.

Service Camps

The camps such as Health, Eye, Veterinary and Awareness camps are carried outin the villages themselves. AVAG facilitates contacting the relevant organizationslike hospitals, NGOs, Government departments to come to the villages to hold thecamps which aim to improve the healthcondition of the people and to raiseawareness among the public on socialissues. Village SHGs cooperate to

welcome and facilitate the service. Servicecamps treat 200-300 beneficiaries and thisis a very efficient programme from acost/benefit perspective. This activity helpsthe SHGs to get recognition from thecommunity as a whole and is also helpfulin bringing team spirits among the clubs.

Community Celebrations

This is a chance for the SHGs to sharetheir achievements and talents with theircommunity. Women get the opportunity toperform on stage and organize the wholeprogramme by inviting leaders andGovernment officials. This helps the villageto understand the different activities of theclubs and the SHGs get ideas andsuggestions from the community toimprove their performance. Apart from clublevel womens day celebrations in 52

womens groups, this year, cluster levelcelebrations were organized in 7 villagesby the members of around 84 SHGs.These celebrations proved to be theoccasions to showcase the skills andtalents of the women to the community. Inmost of these celebrations the entirevillage attended the function and enjoyedthe celebration with women.


Pakkiriamal from Morattandi

In our village we have the problemthat people are very divided by

politics. That is why all our 6women's clubs decided to make a

big celebration for internationalwomen's day to bring the different

fronts together. Every membercontributed 100 Rupees and wehad a big festival with many fun-

games, food and speeches. All thevillage people, as well as localpoliticians were invited and we

enjoyed a full day of celebrations.The village appreciated this event

very much because even inbetween the conflicts, people

gathered in peace.


9/25

Goverment linkages

Helping our beneficiaries understand and access the resources and Governmentschemes available to them is seen as an empowering activity by AVAG.Examples include:

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) under janshree bima yojana (JBY):(JBY) of LIC the members are insured for their lives by paying a premium of

Rs. 100 each annually. If a member dies naturally they are entitled to anamount of Rs.30, 000 and for accidental death the family of the deceasedreceives Rs. 75,000. And if a member becomes handicapped partially orfully then she or he receives Rs.37, 500 and Rs. 75,000 respectively.Currently around 3500 SHGs members, of 49 villages, are insured fromboth men and womens self help groups and 5 families of the deceasedmembers were helped to receive the claim amount of Rs.30, 000 each.

Scholarship Programme: Under the JBY scheme the children of theinsured members who are in classes 9th to 12th are eligible to get Rs.1200as scholarship per year. During this year 438 children were helped to

receive a scholarship.

Toilet scheme: As per the government programme each SHG can receiveRs.2200 as subsidy and Rs 2500 as a loan to build individual toilets in theirhouses after paying the margin money of Rs 300 each. Since manymembers felt that the stipulated amount would not be sufficient to buildtoilets, AVAG negotiated with the banks to arrange loans up to Rs.15, 000per toilet depending upon the need expressed by the groups.

Housingscheme: The government of Tamil Nadu introduced the housingscheme for the poor witch has the grant of 75.000 rupees and theremaining amount has to be contributed by the beneficiaries and the

members who are selected under the scheme were help to rise theircontribution by arranging loans from different sources.

Summary of community building Activities 2010/11


Meetings/Events Total

Women Men

Eve

nts

Participants

Events

Participants

Exchange program 21 65 1052 21 60 1052 2 5 86

7 84 1358 7 84 1358 - - -

Women's day club level 52 52 965 52 52 965 - - -

23 121 554 16 114 419 7 7 135

Eye camp (4 villages) 4 47 665 - 44 - - 3 -

62 - - - - - - - -

Total SHGs

participated

Total

Participants

No.o

f

SHGs

No.o

f

SHGs

Village level Women's day

celebrations

Workcamp

Biological water test done in

the villages


10/25

Economic DevelopmentActivities for economic development are aimed at supporting the integraldevelopment of our beneficiaries through nurturing the development of soundfinancial practices and strengthening the livelihood base of our communities.

Specifically, this programme:

Encourages savings and provides access to credit through a revolvingfund.

Facilitates SHGs in accessing credit opportunities through variousgovernment and bank schemes.

Support income generating activities and development of entrepreneurialskills.

Conducts livelihood skills trainings.

Our economic development activities comprise three components; each workingto provide holistic support that is beneficiary supported and follows sustainable

development practices: Micro Finance Programme, Livelihood trainings andSocial Enterprise Creation (see section New developments).

Micro Finance Programme

Micro finance activity:

Rs. 20,830,771 of savings has been collected by SHGs.

Rs. 55,552,350 circulating among the groups as loans. To date all SHGshave repaid loans on schedule through fixed installments.

Loans are offered for health, education, housing, consumption and functionorganization, business development purposes with an interest rate of 18 %.

So far finance from the following sources have been facilitated for lending:savings generated by SHG, corpus funding of AVAG/the Federation,Government Funds and Indian and Pallavan Grameen Banks through SHGlinkage.

What is special in AVAG micro-funding programme:

Micro-funding programme is the backbone of the activities of integral ruraldevelopment of AVAG. Capacity building is of prime importance, so

constant trainings is always provided to the groups. The Federations of SHG have a core position in the decision making

process of AVAG, not only in the microfinance programme, also in the otheractivities of the organization, creating an strong bounding relationmaterialized, among other results, in the strong vocation of continuity of theSHG formed by AVAG.

Empowering lending policies as mentioned below:

1. Loan amounts are awarded gradually, growing in relation to the provencapability of individual members for payment. Loans are offered for awide variety of needs. Purpose depending loans are an incentive to

insincerity that provide a wrong feedback of the reality to AVAG and at



11/25

the end weakness the trust relation with the SHGs.

2. Group members are encouraged to give priority to each membersfinancing needs, rather than dividing the borrowed amount into equalshares.

3. Re-lending is not dependent on the completion of a previous loan, butrather is encouraged only when there is a genuine need. This system

ensures group members will not compulsively re-apply for a loanimmediately after the previous loan has ended.

4. The Groups have a double aim, the micro-funding activities and thedebate and action about human rights, community development andother issues.

Amount and purpose of loan of Men and Women Federations

Loan Progress of AVAG Women SHGs


Type Amount (Rs.) in %

Housing 12.435.000 22,38%

Loan Repayment 11.983.200 21,57%

Function 10.871.300 19,57%

Agriculture 7.154.000 12,88%

Education 5.904.800 10,63%

Business 4.572.500 8,23%

Medical 1.779.500 3,20%

Others 852.050 1,53%

Total 55.552.350 100,00%

Year

1995-1996 0

1996-1997 500

1997- 1998 75. 200

1998-1999 287.600

1999-2000 681.000

2000-2001 1.269.000

2001-2002 2.264.867

2002-2003 3.293.600

2003-2004 5.308.700

2004-2005 847.000

2005-2006 4.576.430

2006-2007 16.849.390

2007-2008 28.001.900

2008-2009 30.508.300

2009-2010 42.383.050

2010-2011 49.799.650

(Rs)

1995-1996

1997-1998

1999-2000

2001-2002

2003-2004

2005-2006

2007-2008

2009-2010

0

5000000

10000000

15000000

20000000

25000000

30000000

35000000

40000000

45000000

50000000


12/25

Saving Progress of AVAG Women SHGs

Members Progress of AVAG Women SHGs


1995-1996

1997-1998

1999-2000

2001-2002

2003-2004

2005-2006

2007-2008

2009-2010

0

2000000

4000000

6000000

8000000

10000000

12000000

14000000

16000000

18000000

20000000Year Amount (Rs)

1995-1996 5.250

1996-1997 35.925

1997-1998 60.425

1998- 1999 109.675

1999- 2000 143.350

2000- 2001 248.700

2001- 2002 608.550

2002-2003 1.752.000

2003-2004 2.749.400

2004-2005 2.356.675

2005-2006 4.320.000

2006-2007 5.740.590

2007-2008 7.196.300

2008-2009 10.947.950

2009-2010 14.374.722

2010-2011 18.255.221

1995-1996

1997-1998

1999-2000

2001-2002

2003-2004

2005-2006

2007-2008

2009-2010

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

Year Members

1995-1996 68

1996-1997 188

1997-1998 327

1998-1999 435

1999-2000 614

2000-2001 1101

2001-2002 1600

2002-2003 1741

2003-2004 1800

2004-2005 1950

2005-2006 2000

2006-2007 2334

2007-2008 3245

2008-2009 3466

2009-2010 3478

2010-2011 3726


13/25

Livelihood Training

The Livelihood Trainings teach skills in tailoring, and embroidery that can beperformed in between household duties, providing women - especially those wholive in extreme poverty and those who are dalits or widows some income. AVAGbelieves that instead of providing these services as a charity, women must beencouraged to be active participants in their own education and empowerment.

Therefore, women who are able are asked to pay a nominal monthly fee of Rs. 75with AVAG subsidizing the last Rs. 25 to cover training costs.

This year 25 women finished successfully the tailoring training.

Capacity BuildingAVAGs Capacity Building Programme aims to expand the social perspective andtechnical ability of each individual beneficiary in order to provide the tools that theyneed to flourish in society. Beneficiaries participate in a series of seminars,workshops, trainings, and meetings, which comprise an integral education thatnurtures each individuals capacity for self-empowerment.

Strengthening the womens and mens federation

Federations members participate in mixed gender exposure trips as well asregular meetings and training workshops covering subjects such as gender andcaste analysis, domestic violence, environmental awareness, and leadership skillsto support their integral development. Trainings are also given for somaticexperiencing, Hatha yoga (for a healthy body and mind), to build their capacity asleaders in order to strengthen the overall functioning of the SHGs.



14/25

Leadership and In-Service Trainings

Each SHG has 3 elected leadership positions 1 animator and 2 representatives -which are elected and rotate every two years to build the leadership capacity of allclub members. Animator and Representative trainings help to build the capacitythat supports these leaders to be of greater service to their SHGs by exposingthem to social issues and educational programmes.

Exposure & Educational Trips

To foster womens solidarity and increase awareness on essential issues AVAGorganizes educational exposure trips in the surrounding regions. Auroville is aparticularly rich resource for exposure to and application of renewable energies,organic farming, herbal kitchen gardens, and alternative technologies. In each ofthese trips women from different clubs and villages get a chance to be together forone full day and this experience helps them to understand each other underfriendly basis. Even after the trip they cherish the memory for a long period, sincethey look at it as an activity to improve their knowledge and to bring unity among

themselves.

Strengthening & Cluster Meetings

Strengthening meetings support newly formed womens SHGs and those groupsin need of additional help in their activities. Members spend the day discussingthe importance of unity, solidarity and co-operation within the group usinginteractive games and discussions facilitated by AVAG staff. In cluster meetings,representatives from 10 15 SHGs in a common geographical area meet twice ayear to discuss their common issues such as roads, transport, water and needsrelating to other shared infrastructure. When a specific need is there forimprovements, AVAG staff support the clubs in accessing Government schemesand devising strategies for improvement. Cluster meetings are also an opportunityfor members to know women from different clubs and to advise and suggeststrategies for solving problems that arise within the clubs. These meetings areanother opportunity to foster solidarity among women beyond their own club

Seminars & Workshops

To foster solidarity and increase awareness on essential issues (e.g. governmentand insurance schemes, social issues such as gender and caste sensitization,environmental issues such as water and sanitation, waste management, globalwarming etc). AVAG organizes day-long seminars each month for SHG members.

Depending on the topic for discussion, AVAG will invite a resource person withexpertise in the relevant field.



15/25

Summary of capacity building Programmes conducted2010/11

Psychosocial ServicesAccording to the published report Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India-2008

the number of suicides in India increased to 6,165 in 2008 from 5,580 registeredin 2007. The all-India average was recorded at 2.2 per cent. Out of the 6,165suicides, 1,744 (28.3 per cent) were by housewives. Tamil Nadu is in the list of theeight highest suicide rates1.

In spite of AVAGs support andservices, we became aware thatapproximately 6 to 8 clubmembers a year were committingsuicide and around the samenumber of women attempted

suicide. This motivated us to lookfor additional ways to offerpsychosocial support to the SHGmembers. As a result of all theseinterventions AVAG feels happyand proud to notice that forsecond consecutive year therewas no suicide case among the club members.

1 Masihi said, Suicide rate in state increases by over 10 % On line,

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/suicide-rate-in-state-increases-by-over-10/605544/Posted 04/13/2010, visited 17/06/2011.


Total

Women Men

Events

Part

icipants

Even

ts

Part

icipants

Strengthening meeting 22 22 294 22 22 294 0 0 0

Federation meeting 24 - 402 14 All 259 10 All 143

Seminar 18 249 2494 10 201 2179 8 48 315

Auroville trip 4 23 75 4 23 75 0 0 0

Botanical garden trip 8 60 206 8 60 206 0 0 0

Cluster meeting 10 201 651 10 201 651 0 0 0

Trainings & Workshops 16 - 296 - - - - - -

Focus group meeting 5 45 149 5 45 149 0 0 0

198 72 198 - 59 154 - 13 44

5 85 229 5 85 229 0 0 0

Meetings /Events

Total SHGs

participated

Total

Participants

No.ofSHGs

No.ofSHGs

kitchen garden creation

(villages)

Animators &

Representatives Training
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/suicide-rate-in-state-increases-by-over-10/605544/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/suicide-rate-in-state-increases-by-over-10/605544/


16/25

Somatic Experience and Energy Healing

In 2008, we invited a group of visiting counselors trained in Somatic Experiencing(SE) from USA to provide individual sessions and provide training to interestedwomen. This year, 2 trainers again offered their services by training staff andfederation and SHG leaders in advanced techniques. The traumatized womenwere also offered individual sessions.

This year, we also welcomed back a group from Langara college in Canada whooffered trainings to staff, federation and SHG members and gave treatment to thepeople in the bioregion in Energy Healing. Based on the very positive response tothis offering, a plan emerged to conduct an intensive training 15 days of trainingplus 20 days of supervised practice - over a 3 year period to interested SHGmembers.

By conducting trainings in self-healing and stress reduction techniques, AVAGaims to:

Reduce high prevalence of suicide in the target areas through earlyidentification and treatment of emotional problems.

Provide access to professional counseling for victims of human rightsabuses.

Increase awareness within community of social and health costs associatedwith alcohol abuse.

AVAG always motivates women to be helpful and supportive each other andcreate possibilities to feel collective solidarity. In Somatic experiencing, 133 Staffand Federation leaders were trained while 63 were trained in energy healing, anda total of 376 participants received treatment with this techniques during the year.

Counseling and mediationCounseling is offered to the individuals who have difficulty in coping with the lifesituation. It could be due to the inability of the person cope or due to the problemsin the family or society. Sometimes situations like accidents, sudden loss of a dearone or job, poor marital life could be a cause of it. Knowing the possibility to getcounseled, club members on their own opt to come to AVAG or they are alsobrought by the other members. Family members and sometimes non-members ofthe SHGs also utilize this service. Depending upon the need of the case apartfrom counseling, they are also linked to other schemes of the government andother organizations.



17/25

For the safety and physical and mental well being of a person, when the situationarises AVAG mediated between the disputing parties. It happens between theSHG members, between disputing families, husband and wife, employer andemployee etc.

This year, interestingly three men two alcoholics- approached AVAG to settle theproblems with the wives. It shows that AVAG is more and more seen as a neutralorganization capable of giving support for people irrespective of the gender. Apartfrom that, 41 persons were given counseling support during this year.

De-addiction

Alcoholism is one of the biggest threatsto the health of the families andcommunity. It leads to many individualsto violence, indebtedness, abuse ofwomen and children, stress andtrauma, etc. As a result of alcoholism,

the community also looses manypotential contributors. And in quite fewcases the families lose the breadwinners.

AVAG has discussed this issueextensively with both women and menSHG members and has been requestedto try and find some way to help. AVAGhas contacts with Alcoholic Anonymous(AA) members and different de-addiction centres.

Last year AVAG organized 3 seminarsfor the SHG members of men andwomen with the support of a de-addiction center - "Concern" - based inChennai and the response from themembers was overwhelming. BothFederations have declared takingpositive steps to reduce alcohol abuseas a priority for the next year. 2 menfrom the families of the members were

sent to the center for successfulrehabilitation.

We have begun to explore possibility ofstarting an AA group in our workingarea and to motivate alcoholics for de-addiction.


Kumuda from Rayapudupakkam

Some months ago, my daughter'shusband died because of alcohol.Before that happened, he drank

every day. For 10 years, my daughterhad to cope with this situation.

Sometimes, her husband didn't go towork because he was drunk. And

when he earned money, he wanted tospend all of it for drinking and mydaughter hed to beg him to give

some for the household. Now sheand her 2 children live in my house.But because she is a widow, there is

always a money problem. SometimesI see the kids in our neighbor's houseplaying with a ball and I feel so sorrythat we can't buy such things for our

children, it really makes me crysometimes.
http://www.concernrehab.com/http://www.concernrehab.com/


18/25

NEWDEVELOPMENTSThis year our focus has been on further development of our social enterpriseprogramme and on capacity building of the organisation as a whole.

Social Enterprise Creation Programme

Eco-Life Store

Eco Femme

SEDAB

Volunteer Programme

Organisational capacity building

Financial Information

Social Enterprise Creation ProgrammeSince late 2009, AVAGhas been focusingenergies towards thecreation of socialenterprises. We areembracing this newchallenge and we areconfident that the yearsof work with women toincrease their capacity

for self determinationand working collectivelyis ready to blossom intothe manifestation ofteam based incomegenerating initiatives -an important steptowards economic independence.

The aims of our social enterprise programme are:

1. To provide livelihood opportunities to AVAG women Self Help Group

(WSHG) members that will generate at least a minimum wage in decentworking conditions and where additional profit sharing with AVAG will bepossible.

2. To generate income through the creation of profitable enterprises to helpsupport the work of AVAG the incubating organization which is currentlydependent on external donations is an unsustainable situation for the longterm.

3. To create enterprises those are not only profitable but provide some socialand/or environmental benefit to the local community.



19/25

Eco-Life Store

The EcoLife Store was a spontaneous idea. After a seminar conducted by AVAGabout global warming the participants felt the need to do something.

Step by step they researched and gathered eco-friendly products and turned anidea into the EcoLife Store. The basic idea is to provide access to affordable eco-friendly technologies that are suitable for rural communities. To date the products

includes CFLs bulbs, Activated EM, low cost Water Filters, different kinds of solartorches and solar lights, crank lights and solar mobile phone chargers. The storeis located on AVAG premises making it accessible for SHG members.

During the year EcoLife store participated in the AV Saturday market. Thismarket takes place in Auroville itself and creates a space for Auroville Units topresent and sell their products. The EcoLife team used this opportunity to raiseawareness and distribute products within Auroville. In addition we participated ingovernmental exhibitions all over Tamil Nadu to spread awareness about eco-friendly products.

In order to keep to increase the assortment of the EcoLife Store we are always

looking for new, innovative and environmental friendly solutions to help reducingcarbon emissions on a affordable price.

Proudly we introduce our new slogan Affordable Eco technologies for a betterfuture.

Eco Femme

This new project has become a major focus for us over the year and we areexcited to share the progress.

Eco Femme is a project that addresses menstrual hygiene management a

complex subject in an integral way. Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) inIndia has been recognised as a poorly addressed area of public health and isincreasingly being taken up as a key intervention area by both Government andNGO's.

Motivated by rural women's eagerness to explore this subject in seminars, AVAGbegan a concentrated exploration with women on the subject of MHM in 2009,through field research and focus group discussions. It became clear that MHM is asubject that involves complex linkages between social, cultural, economic,environmental, health and gender issues and we were concerned whether theGovernment's attempt to address this issue by distribution of disposable pads istruly sufficient to address the

complexity of factors.

This led us to set down the path ofdesigning our own project whichaims to create a comprehensiveapproach towards ensuringhealthy, environmentallyresponsible and dignifiedmanagement of menstruationamong marginalised Indianwomen in rural and urban areas.

The overall Eco Femme project

http://villageaction.in/blog/2011/01/18/menstruation-survey-report-onlinehttp://villageaction.in/blog/2011/01/18/menstruation-survey-report-online


20/25

has 3 interrelated components:

Design and production of a washable sanitary product: an attractive, clothre-usable & eco-friendly menstrual pad.

A business model for SHG production which can be upscaled andreplicated, generating livelihood opportunities for rural women across thecountry.

A comprehensive empowerment-focused menstrual health educationprogramme. Rooted in the premise that awareness and choice are keyelements of empowerment.

With the help of Upasana design studio, 3 prototype pads have been designedwhich we have found to be appealing to the women in our area the women find itattractive which generates a feeling of dignity (unlike the old cloth they normallyuse or disposable pads which are growing in popularity), they appreciate thatthere is no waste and most importantly, they understand immediately that such aproduct can save a lot of money!

To get a feeling about the project, please have a look at this short video preparedby a visiting student Brian Redondo from the American University of Paris. VillageOutreach Society UK have been of special support to this project providing fundsand valuable inputs to help develop the project.

Volunteer ProgrammeAs in previous years, AVAG hasbenefited greatly from the inputs ofvolunteers. This year, we have beenfortunate to have 2 German volunteersparticipating under the German

Government's Weltwaert's programme Arina and Ismael. Both areundertaking 1 year internships withAVAG and as a result of their long termengagement, have been able to workeffectively on some longer termprojects Arina has been instrumentalin helping to establish a solid wastemanagement system at AVAG and hasbeen involved in communications suchas reviving a newsletter. Ismael hasbeen actively working on the SEDABproject co-ordination and helping withEco Life store.

Soon after their arrival, the team expanded with Pablo from Spain and Sayanafrom Calcutta both will also stay for 1 year. During this months they have beenworking in writing project proposals, and in the Social Enterprise and SocialResearch activities.

AVAG organisational Capacity BuildingLast year AVAG identified as a goal a wish to improve and streamline itsmanagement process as well as create an internal system for assessment of

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQoINE0YnbY%20http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/http://villageaction.in/media/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQoINE0YnbY%20http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/http://villageaction.in/media/


21/25

progress. We progressed towards these aims through participation in 2 externallyfacilitated processes one which focused on the organisation in general andanother which explored the development of a strategy for resource mobilizationwhich remains a challenge for AVAG.

The major outcomes from these processes have been:

Development of a new vision and mission statement which more closely

reflects AVAG's core values today. Through exploring roles and responsibilities for each team member, we

were able to better understand gaps in the team as well as inefficienciesand have begun working towards a more streamlined management wherepeople are working in their area of expertise and passion more efficiently.

We were able to identify that the women and men's federations are majorresources for AVAG and evolved a strategy to include them more actively inresource mobilization efforts which has the dual advantage of developingmore leadership capacity among the members.

Looking more widely at other NGO's who can collaborate with AVAG onprogramme delivery and strengthening relationships particularly in TamilNadu.

Financial InformationAt the end of March 2009, institutional funding (post 2004 Tsunami) for AVAGactivities ceased. In spite of our efforts we still couldnt find a donor who can coverour financial necessities, so funding is becoming a critical priority, to cover theoperational costs, sustain existing programmes and develop new ones which it ishoped will lead to an even more integral approach to rural development in thetarget region.

For our beneficiaries, lack of funds means we remain limited to provide basicservices without expansion possibility In spite of requests, we are unable to takeon new SHGs and services in new villages.

During this financial year, we even increased our efficiency, focusing in cost-freeactivities, and in the creation of social enterprises. In the next financial year, weare anticipating some relief from this critical situation of shortage of funds with thestart of the SEDAB project. While it will not provide complete support for all ofAVAG's running expenses, it will cover some staff costs and alleviate to someextent the pressure AVAG has been facing for a number of years.



22/25

Future PlansWere funding to become available, AVAG would like to expand existing servicesand implement the following programmes. Our 4 top priorities for the coming yearwill be:

Micro credit corpus increment and expansionBased on field assessment of need, there is a pressure to increase the number ofnew SHGs by 30 for women and 20 for men, which means 800 new beneficiaries.Furthermore, with existing groups, there is an ever increasing demand to accessmore credit which AVAG is no longer able to extend as its reserves are saturated.

The need of credit push our SHG members to find other sources, like chitschemes, pawn brokers and the local money lenders. Our estimations shows thatif we only want to substitute the most expensive source of lending of the currentSHG members, the money lenders (who usually ask in return an interest rate over90% per year), we will need to increase the AVAG corpus by around Rs 60 lakhs .

The substitution of all the expensive sources of credit will require around Rs 9crores, but our immediate objective is to arrive to 3 crores, which would increasesignificantly the possibilities for enhanced loan capacity and extending support towomen and men during times of family emergencies. In addition, it would be themost viable way of sustaining the social empowerment activities of AVAGorganization as a whole through charging interest (between 12 18% which iscomparable to current bank lending rates). Finally it would ensure more optimaluse of human resources which are often spent dealing with banks which is timeconsuming and inefficient.

Social Enterprise Creation ProgrammeIn our search for sustainability development we are very focused in the SocialEnterprise Creation Programme because of their impact on multiple values.

EcoLife: Since launching this enterprise, AVAG has learned from the successesand failures and have decided that the EcoLife Store is ready for the next phase:to enhance the effectiveness of outreach to rural communities by traininginterested SHG members as retail entrepreneurs to become EcoLife salesrepresentatives.

Eco Femme: Our next step is to launch a pilot project to test the appeal andacceptability of this product in partnership with NGO's working with rural and

urban marginalised women. We have been joined by SEDC a unit of theinternational global market research company Synovate who will be designing theproduct testing protocol and ensuring unbiased testing. This pilot, for whichpreparations have begun, will conclude next March 2012. If the product is found tobe acceptable it has a huge potential impact both as a product but also as alivelihood project women SHG members will be able to stitch these simpletailored products and in the process generate a sustainable livelihood.

In parallel, we are preparing an educational training program for NGO staff toexpose rural women in India to the topic of menstrual hygiene management.Using stories and group based activities, this educational package will go beyond

biological explanation to more deeply explore the myths and taboos that result in



23/25

lifestyle restrictions and feelings of shame and impurity.

SEDAB (Sustainable Enterprises Development in the Auroville Bio-region): Thelast months of the financial year saw AVAG engaged in intensive preparation forthe arrival of funds from the Ministry of Rural Development for the SEDAB project.This project, due to start in 2011 is a substantial opportunity to ensure that theknowledge on sustainability and eco-consciousness, which are some of theleading values of Auroville, will permeate beyond the boundaries of this unique

international community and manifest through rural life in the blocks of Vanur andMarakkanam in the Villupuram District that fall within the Kazhuveli bio-region.

The overall approach will involve creating self-employment opportunities for ruralwomen members of SHG's and the development of livelihoods in a sustainablemanner. The project will also aim to create assets to facilitate self-employment.Linkages, both locally and beyond the bio-region will provide for a sustainedgrowth of new enterprises that are developed as part of the project. Technicalexpertise and participation by Auroville willprovide the enterprises with theprofessional back up and experience

which may assist with trouble shootingand further growth planning.

For achieve this AVAG will be partner withPitchandikulam Bioregional ResourceCentre (PBRC), under the umbrella of theIntegral Rural Development (IRD) unit ofthe Auroville Foundation.

De-addictionAVAG has plans to select and train the

interested and potential club membersfrom different villages in counseling thealcoholics and they are expected to act asthe contact person between concern thede-addicition centre in Chennai, AVAG andthe communities. AVAG will also continueto spread the message of de-addictionand AA through its network. A budget of 2lakh for 1 year would facilitate this work.

Environmentalinitiatives1. During this year we developed, in

partnership with Auroville BotanicalGarden, the establishment of 198Kitchen Garden among our SHGmembers. The good experienceencourage us to expand the initiativenext year.

2. Promotion of Eco Femme morewidely as an environmentally friendly


Avaranjini from Acherumpet

When we build our house, we hada big wasteland next to it so I tooka loan from AVAG to build a fenceand create a garden there. I waslucky because it was just the time

when AVAG's kitchen gardenprogramme started, so they couldgive me seeds for many differentvarieties of vegetables. They all

germinated very well and I alreadyhad a good harvest. Now I don't

need to buy any of thesevegetables from the shop and caneven distribute them to my familyand friends or sell some of them.Like that, I am not affected by the

rising food prices.

Also, it gives me great pleasure towork in the garden. When I have

some depression or family problemI just go out and take care for my

lants and I feel better.


24/25

alternative to disposable pads which litter the landscape or contaminate the airif they are incinerated.

3. Eco life - Light up a Childs Life: The main initiative of this project is toprovide light to children when they are without proper lighting, to supporteducational attainment. Our project will help to provide extended hours ofstudying though the provision of solar light and lessen the negative health,environmental, and economic consequences associated with kerosene usage.In sum, this will accomplish our goal of improving the quality of life for childrenand future generations while allowing them to reach their full potential.

In this pilot experience we plan to distribute solar powered lanterns to 165families and we gratefully acknowledge the Village Outreach SocietyCanada,for channeling funds for this project

4. AVAG's own Solid Waste Management project: Since the growing amountof solid waste contributes huge parts to India's pollution, we initiated aprogramme on this topic. We started in our own office where previously all thewaste was burned a common practice in our area that causes pollution aswell as health problems.

In cooperation with AIAT, the Institute of Applied Technology that shares ourcompound, we set up a system for waste segregation and created a compostin order to recycle large amounts of our garbage and give a good example toour members.

http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/http://www.villageoutreach.co.uk/


25/25

List of Abbreviations

AVAG on the WebFor general inquiries: [email protected],[email protected]

Visit us in www.villageaction.in

Become a Fan on Facebook

Find us onIdealist.org

Vimeo: vimeo.com/AVAG

www villageaction in 24 /

AVAG: Auroville Village Action Group

AVAT: Auroville Village Action Trust

NGO : Non-governmental OrganisationSHG: Self Help Group

MSHG: Men's Self Help Group

WSHG: Women's Self Help Group

LIC: Life Insurance Cooporation

JBY: Janshree Bima Yojana

RF: Revolving Fund

EA: Economic Assistance

AA: Alcoholic Anonymous

CFL: Compact Fluorescent Lamp

EM: Effective Microorganism

AV: AurovilleMHM: Menstrual Hygiene Management

PBRC: Pitchandikulam Bioregional Resource Centre

IRD: Integral Rural Development

AIAT: Auroville Institute for Applied Technologies

Lakh: 100.000

Crore: 10.000.000
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.villageaction.in/http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Auroville-Village-Action-Group-AVAG/184574241019?ref=mfhttp://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Org/205826-84/chttp://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Org/205826-84/chttp://vimeo.com/AVAGmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.villageaction.in/http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Auroville-Village-Action-Group-AVAG/184574241019?ref=mfhttp://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Org/205826-84/chttp://vimeo.com/AVAG

2010-2011 annual report avag

Documents