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Cooperative
Starting from a local women’s group in one village with five committed women, a registered agricultural cooperative (Sagarmatha Milijuli Sana Kishan Kooperative) was established, which now encompasses four villages and well over 100 women. In addition to a joint board of directors, there is a local organization in each village for the discussion and implementation of measures, as well as professionally audited bookkeeping at the village and general level. Roots for Life supports trainings on a regular basis in order to support the women regarding their administrative tasks and to promote the exchange of knowledge. The current structure of the cooperative as well as the active women can be found…
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Chyangsar – Scholarships
The support began with a selection of girls who did not regularly attend school due to their family situation. At the request of the women and girls, however, it was then decided to extend the program to all children. In particular, the individual needs of the girls are addressed, but the boys are also integrated regarding material (except school uniforms) and group activities. Material for school and in some cases hygiene articles are provided for all 31 children in Chyangsar, special things like school uniforms and underwear for 21 girls. Food for all families was important, especially in Corona times, as the income of most of the men has been…
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Chyangsar – Income
For the women in Chyangsar, we have supported two ways to generate income. On the one hand, income from vegetable cultivation, and on the other, from a sewing workshop established in 2020. Plants and vegetables: the model farm sold about 1,200 vegetable plants and about 2,600 kg of vegetables in 2020, with the money benefiting the cooperative’s programs the women were also able to use their knowledge directly to grow vegetables in their gardens and successfully sell them at local markets Sewing workshop: the sewing workshop was built in 2019 and seven women were professionally trained by our project partner Hasera near Kathmandu with this it was already possible to…
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Chyangsar – Farming
In Chyangsar, organic vegetable cultivation has been supported by RfL since 2016. In the beginning, there were still many reservations here; instead of training, many would probably have preferred to receive fertilizer. In the meantime, however, acceptance is high and the results are visible. Model farm: In 2017/18, a farmhouse with kitchen, storage, guest rooms for trainers as well as toilet facilities and a training hall were built Seeds are cultivated in three large greenhouses, young plants are grown and special vegetables such as tomatoes and chili are cultivated. Organic mixed crops are cultivated on several terraced fields (approx. 10,000 m2). As a first step into fruit growing, 200 apple…
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Chyangsar
Chyangsar is a village in Solududhkunda at an altitude of 2380m with 188 mostly Hindu families. Here Roots for Life started to work with the women after the earthquake in 2015. A structure in the way of a (self-)organization hardly existed before, just as little as a place where more than 10 people could gather under one roof and exchange ideas. Agriculture was practiced exclusively for subsistence with only a few vegetables. In the meantime, the center of the Sagarmatha Milijuli Sana Kishan Cooperative is located here, which spans several neighboring villages. The model farm built here serves as an example for the other villages.
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Chyangsar – Cooperative
The women from Chyangsar have gradually created the stable and legally anchored Sagarmatha Milijuli Sana Kishan Cooperative from an originally small informal group of women (five women in 2015). In addition to the local organization, an overseeing board was also formed jointly with Ghunsa, Meranding and Kunikhop. In the local subgroup, two women were hired to run the model farm. All others work on a voluntary basis.
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Shortly before Christmas ..
.. the last mask workshop went into operation in Kunikhop. The good cohesion in the cooperative made it possible to extend the activities to this village as well. The women are trained by women from Chyangsar and Ghunsa. What was unimaginable a few years ago now works like clockwork. Knowledge transfer and information exchange among the women, use of synergies across village and project boundaries. We are very proud of the learning process of the women, who for a long time were used to fighting only for themselves. Many thanks to the state of Vorarlberg and to Chay-ya Austria for their support.
