Open Architecture Network

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
This project aims to provide village based meeting and training centers for women within the Kaliveli Bioregion. The villages are Kaipanikuppam, Nadukuppam and Thirukannur. The project intends to construct three training facilities on village land and provide five tailoring units per facility for training during the day, with the facilities to be used for Self Help Groups meetings in the evenings. A library of women's related literature is also to be provided to each facility covering women's empowerment issues, traditional culture magazines and books, information on basic rights and law and educational booklets. These facilities will also include additional skills training and income generating opportunities, such as organic gardens which have been shown to raise child nutritional rates, as space allows.

Additional information on local implementing partner: Currently Pitchandikuklam Bio-Resource Center (PBRC) is assisting thirty Self Help Groups in numerous areas including direct income generation through facilitating direct low interest loans from the State Bank, trainings in medicinal plant use and cultivation, organic farming principles, health and hygiene awareness and family planning. Further income generating activities are also being implemented through tailoring courses, nursery training, spirulina production and local investment in ecologically sustainable initiatives.