Hand in Hand / SEED Newsletter No 6

Trickle down of Wealth Improves
How do you make wealth trickle down from India's growing middle classes to the agrarian farmers in the bottom billion? Hand in Hand has entered into an innovative partnership with the Dutch governmental development bank FMO. 8,000 farmers will be trained to produce dairy products as well as fruits, and vegetables of higher quality, sold directly to supermarkets without middlemen cutting away margins.

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Rising out of Oppression

For ten long years, Prema suffered with an alcoholic husband, regular fights and abuses, and the constant pinch of poverty. Today, she runs a successful business and even employs other women.

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Flash Report

When Green Becomes for Profit
How do you combine eco-friendly with business ideas that can be implemented by the poor? More and more of Hand in Hand's women are now turning to a simple yet functional innovation. The vermicompost enterprises requires a loan of 25,000 INR (600 USD), ten cows and five women, yet produce rich manure that can be used for organic farming while at the same time they increase the monthly income of poor agrarian households.

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SHG Software Launched
How do you support the accountancy of Self Help Groups, where often 85 percent of the women are illiterate initially? Hand in Hand has now developed "Kuzhu Nidhi", a first of its kind software for Self Help Groups and microfinance activities. The software provides a better system of maintaining books of accounts by the Self Help Groups, and fulfils the accounting requirements of microfinance providers such as banks, NGOs, and other institutions. In addition, the software simplifies the grading techniques by creating online access for easy and accurate accounting of SHG transactions.

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100 Villages Get Rid of Starvation
India has 40 percent of the world's undernourished children under five. The Pfizer Foundation and Hand in Hand is now teaming up in 100 villages in Tamil Nadu to abolish child malnutrition. The grant of INR 3,600,000 (USD 90,000) from Pfizer will be used for implementing a new strategy, inspired by successful pilots from the Indian government.

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Annual Report 2007-2008
The Hand in Hand / SEED Annual Report 2007-2008 has now been launched. Click on the cover below to download it.

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Support Us!

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Trickle down of Wealth Improves
How do you ensure that the wealth generated in India's middle classes trickles down to the poorer segments of the population? This was the theme of an innovative USD 1.4 million project designed during the year by Hand in Hand and the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO).

The Indian middle class is growing fast and, as family incomes rise, consumer patterns are changing and the traditional rice and vegetable diet becomes more varied. Poor and marginalised farmers can cash in on these changes and participate in the increasing flow of money; however, they often miss out.

Dairy farming is a major source of income for small farmers and landless people in Tamil Nadu, but few families manage to make enough money from this to sustain a livelihood. With no education or scientific knowledge, they are unable to manage their cattle well or use effective marketing techniques. Fruit and vegetable cultivation is another large source of income but here too, a lack of knowledge and awareness prevents effective farming and marketing. South India has a large market for vegetarian foods like butter, cottage cheese, and salad vegetables, but small farmers are ignorant about the right products to cultivate to make more money.

The project aims to train 4,000 dairy farmers and 4,000 fruit and vegetable farmers so that they can increase yields, develop more consumer-friendly products, and sell directly to the new supermarkets without middlemen cutting away margins. The farmers will also be trained as entrepreneurs, taught about insurance against natural disasters, and introduced to microcredit so that they can invest in new knowledge and make their businesses grow. The project will start in 2008 and run over two years in five districts. Hand in Hand will team up with leading academic and commercial partners from Tamil Nadu, who will support this agrarian micro-entrepreneur training programme.

FMO is a Dutch development bank co-owned by the Dutch government and various banks. It works as an active partner in the developing world with both loans and grants, and will support this project with about USD 700,000 in grants.

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Rising out of Oppression
For ten long years, Prema suffered with an alcoholic husband, regular fights and abuses, and the constant pinch of poverty. The real tragedy? Prema is not just another illiterate villager. She is a commerce graduate who knows typing and shorthand. Until her marriage, she had a great job as an accountant in a fertiliser company in Madurai. Unfortunately, she married a man who refused to let her work outside the home. Even so, Prema took to teaching children from home to earn some money. But worse was to come.

Her husband proved to be an alcoholic, who spent all their hard-earned money on liquor. After ten years of this abuse, Prema heard about a Self Help Group (SHG) in her village Minjur and wanted to join up. Not surprisingly, her suspicious husband did not let her. This time, though, Prema refused to obey. With the help of her brothers, she joined an SHG. That was the beginning of a series of fights at home, till one day when her son announced that he would rather run away than return to such a hostile atmosphere.

It was the turning point in Prema's life. She decided to walk out with her two children. With the help of Hand in Hand, she launched a tailoring unit. A bank loan of INR 60,000 that she took in December 2006 helped her acquire six second-hand tailoring machines. The inspiring tone of her advertisement campaign, where she announced assured job placements, prompted Hand in Hand to come forward with more support, including a further loan of INR 125,000.

The extra money proved a boon. Prema bought ten more machines, this time new, power-driven ones. She set up a unit capable of churning out 1,500 shirts every week. The only catch: the demand for shirts fluctuates each season. Now, Hand in Hand has stepped in with a plan to export tailored bags, and the logistics of the scheme are being worked out.

"Five years ago, I would not step out of my house for the smallest thing. My family was my cocoon," says Prema. "Today, I go alone all the way to Hand in Hand's head office in Kancheepuram without a second thought," she says proudly.

How does she see herself ten years from now? "Today, I can generate employment for 30 women. Ten years on, I want to create jobs for 200 women like me," says an upbeat Prema. This, from a woman who was abused and suppressed for many years. This is what a helping hand does - fills even the most downtrodden person with immense confidence.

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When Green Becomes for Profit

Hand in Hand sees the status of the local natural environment as key to the development process. Poor, marginalised people lack the resources to tackle a degraded environment, but are usually directly dependent on their surroundings for survival. Thus, a damaged ecosystem hits them the hardest.

This is why Hand in Hand has developed an innovative enterprise opportunity for rural poor women. It involves converting farm waste into rich, organic manure through the vermicompost process. This eco-friendly, viable, and sustainable business can be started with minimal investment and each unit can produce up to two tonnes of organic manure per month.

Vermicomposting is a biological process in which earthworms convert biodegradable waste into organic manure. The manure can be effectively used as an organic fertiliser to rejuvenate soils. The vermicompost process involves stacking pre-composted manure into bins built in a compost shed, and sprinkling it with water. Earthworms are added to the manure and allowed to breed for 30 days to increase the worm population. The manure is harvested, dried in the shade, sieved, packaged, and sold with the help of Hand in Hand, which has created the V-Compost brand. In addition, the vermicompost manure has been analysed by the internationally accredited laboratory SGS, which found its nutrient constituents to be superior.

The project has adopted an integrated farming approach; each enterprise is linked to an organic kitchen garden or farm. Crops that have been cultivated using vermicompost manure are organic, have a high nutritional value, and help make modern farming sustainable.

Each vermicompost enterprise requires an investment of INR 25,000, of which 10 percent is borne by the entrepreneur and 90 percent is a micro-loan to the entrepreneur from Hand in Hand. Hand in Hand also provides earthworms at a subsidised rate. The entrepreneurs undergo two days of training and thereafter, Hand in Hand continues to give guidance and support, including structural design of the shed, thatched roofing, and advice on low-cost technologies and solutions. For the initial 30 days, technical staff from Hand in Hand visit the enterprise each week and give further support until the first batch of manure is ready.

Each entrepreneur is able to produce a minimum of two tonnes of rich vermicompost manure per month, which can be used in her own farm or sold in the market (the current wholesale rate is INR 3,000-4,000 per tonne). The enterprise is thus both environmentally sustainable and commercially viable and helps increase incomes of rural poor households.

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SHG Software Launched
The "Kuzhu Nidhi" software has four major features that cater to the needs of bankers, NGOs, and microfinance institutions. The first is designed for basic information about the member's enrolment, profile, savings and loan details, receipt and payment details, etc. The second deals with books of accounts like savings, loan, general ledgers, cashbook, individual passbook, etc. The third provides various reports like balance sheet, overdues, monthly financial reports, graphical analysis, etc. The fourth captures the major decisions taken in the meetings in the form of a minutes book, training details of SHG members, and grading reports.

The advantages are numerous. Self Help Groups can use the software to maintain their books of accounts and generate various reports to be used during group meetings. The software will also help the groups with easy auditing, thereby minimising audit fees. With the software, the groups can avoid carrying manually written books to the banks for grading and other purposes.

Microfinance providers can view the financial status of each group online from their own branches. They can also extract grading reports as per the parameters developed by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) as well as reports on overdues, balance, savings, loans, etc. The time spent by bank officials on financing decisions based on the eligibility criteria for bank linkages is thereby minimised.

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100 Villages Get Rid of Starvation
In spite of steady progress in various health indicators, more than 36 percent of children below six years in Tamil Nadu are either mildly or severely malnourished. In addition to the efforts undertaken by the state government, Hand in Hand reaches out to children from the most disadvantaged communities to ensure that they receive the benefits of various schemes.

Hand in Hand has received a grant of USD 90,000 from the Pfizer Foundation to fight malnourishment among children in the 0-5 age group in 100 villages in Kancheepuram district. The grant aims to reach about 2,100 malnourished children in these villages within one year.

The programme will target both the Anganwadis (government-run day-care and child nutrition centres) and children below six years of age. It will include upgrading Anganwadi centres, awareness programmes, micronutrient supplements, and social mobilisation.

To gain acceptance and momentum to scale up the programme, various community organisations, including the panchayats (grassroots governance), will be involved in the process of advocacy, awareness, and implementation. The project will be monitored closely under the guidelines set by the World Health Organisation.

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Support Us!
As you can see, our scope of activities has increased and we are reaching out to more and more communities every day. In order to continue in our successful fight against poverty and marginalisation, we now seek your partnership. All donations, no matter what size, are welcome, and they will contribute to our work. If you wish to donate, please visit us on www.hihseed.org, where you can also read more about our projects and programmes and also make online donations.

Questions, comments, or contributions to the next newsletter are welcome! Please mail me at the address given below and I promise to get back to you.

Yours Sincerely,

Kalpana Sankar
Chief Executive Officer

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