With the beginning of the construction of the model farm in 2018, the women from Ghunsa joined the Sagarmatha Milijuli Sana Kishan Cooperative. They have their own sub-organization as well as their own bank account, are represented in the board of the cooperative. So they can work self-determined while using the synergies.
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 here.
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.
.. 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.
.. is not an unknown village for us. Up to here a new forest road from Chyangsar goes, from here it is mostly on foot to Ghunsa. The school for many scholarship holders is also located here. The women have been observing the projects in Chyangsar and Ghunsa for quite some time and are now especially happy to be a part of the coopertive as well.
Out of 75 households, 25 women have now joined the cooperative. The sewing workshop for the masks is the first project in which they can now participate. The joy about this is great.
We thank Chay-ya Austria and the province of Vorarlberg for making this possible.
.. are now also sewn in Meranding. Also here the women from Chyangsar have done the training and generated income with their knowledge. Now the sewing workshops in Chyangsar, Ghunsa and also Meranding are active to sew masks for their inhabitants and the children in the schools.
In total, about 5,000 masks will be sewn and distributed.
We thank Chay-ya Austria and the government of Vorarlberg for making this project possible.
