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Archive for the ‘Peace’ Category

New project in the village of Azakusamudram

Monday, January 24th, 2011

Humanium helps the villagers of Azakusamudram, in the Southeast of India, with a new global project centred on mutual aid and sustainable development.

During 24 months, Humanium and its local partners are going to support the village of Azakusamudram by displaying 7 additional programs of support in Education, Health, Microfinance, Human Rights, Environment, Citizenship and Peace.

The main objective of this project is to concretize the rights of the children and to allow the community of villagers to earn a living and to develop in an autonomous way.

Azakusamudram is a poor village of the State of Tamil Nadu, in the South of India. The agriculture is the main activity of this village of 770 inhabitants. Important needs were identified in terms of health and education. Not all the children go to school. The villagers need training and resources to develop additional income. They don’t have access to the information relative to hygiene, environmental protection, or to their rights.

The needs of the community are important, and it is possible to develop the autonomy of the villagers with our global approach of development aid. Thus, Humanium and its partners work in close collaboration with the local authorities and the villagers, to reduce poverty and concretize the rights of the villagers.

Tags: Azakusamudram
Posted in Citizenship, Education, Environment, Health, Human Rights, Microfinance, Peace | No Comments »

Wall paintings: a playful and long-lasting way of raising villagers awareness

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

As a complement to public awareness campaigns, the Humanium NGO creates consciousness raising paintings on the village walls. As a result, the villagers continue to have access to key information in order to live a healthy and dignified life.

Spreading awareness is fundamental in order to help a village develop in an autonomous and sustainable way. Often sidelined because of their poverty, underprivileged population usually don’t have access to information. The families do not have the basic knowledge required to live healthily and improve their living conditions on a long term basis.

The sustainable development projects run by the Humanium NGO in India are therefore mainly based on raising the villagers awareness to the typical rural life problems they encounter (educational concern, basic principle of hygiene and health, the protection of the environment, etc.)

Situated in key places in the villages (schools, etc.), and using colourful drawings, the paintings are aiming at children as well as at adults. They are simple, fun and efficient means to remind villagers of the main points helping towards long lasting results and a sustainable development.

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Posted in Citizenship, Education, Environment, Health, Human Rights, Microfinance, Peace | 1 Comment »

Launching of a new project!

Monday, July 12th, 2010

The children of the village of Annathur, in south-east India, will see their village transforming day after day. In the coming months, all the village children will have the right to go to school, and their mothers will receive training and tuition, and learn to read, write and count …

The idea is that the women will then go on to create micro-enterprises and have a real role to play in the development of their village and their community. They will develop new sources of revenue and improve the well-being of their families. This change starts this week with the launch of a project supporting sustainable development in the village of Annathur.

Annathur semantically means “place of the incarnation of fraternity”. The village consists of three hamlets and is the home of 3,000 inhabitants over an area of 2 km2. The villagers speak Tamil, the language spoken in the state of Tamil Nadu.

The main sources of income for the community are agriculture and livestock, which represent over 70% of activities. Most villagers are poor: more than 80% of them live on less than $ 2 per day. The survival of the villagers is therefore strongly dependent on crops and livestock, thus exposing them to the vagaries of drought and animal diseases.

Significant socioeconomic disparities exist in Annathur For example, one of the hamlets is composed entirely of untouchables, and they are therefore isolated geographically from others. Many tribal peoples also live Annathur and, like the untouchables, they are traditionally discriminated against.

The villagers are deeply committed to transforming their lives and improving future prospects for their children. Humanium has therefore pledged its support in this endeavour, and its assistance in developing a sustainable development project for the entire community, with its two local partners, Hand in Hand Tamil Nadu and SEED Trust. This global project will be implemented over 24 months, after which the village will continue its development independently.

To learn more and monitor the project’s progress, please visit our blog.

If you wish to participate in helping the children and villagers, donations can be made online.

Tags: Annathur
Posted in Citizenship, Education, Environment, Health, Human Rights, Microfinance, Peace | No Comments »

Good Governance Committee

Monday, April 12th, 2010

A Good Governance Committee was established to enable the Sankarapuram villagers to contribute to the decisions made in their community and thus become influential in what goes on in the village.

In order to promote the sustainable development of the village, the Good Governance Committee will ensure social and economic resources are managed in a way that corresponds to democratic values: respecting Human Rights, the transparency of public affairs, a participatory democracy etc.

The Good Governance Committee composes 20 members, all of which are volunteers. Upon creation of the committee, all its members were trained in Good Governance and informed of their citizen rights. Additional training was meanwhile offered to those wishing to take up roles in local politics.

Today the Committee operates in a completely autonomous and independent fashion. Its members regularly organise meetings at which villagers are encouraged to put forward their ideas for promoting participatory democracy within the village.