Our Projects
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Educated girls make for educated mothers!
Friends of India aims to help Indian women help themselves. It is a fact that educated girls make for educated mothers and thus for a better life! This is why we support several causes, all linked to education, in rural areas of the State of Tamil Nadu , in the south of India .
This can mean tackling basic problems of infrastructure, such as providing drinking water, classrooms, school equipment, or toilet facilities.
Vocational training
A second pillar of our development work consists of organizing vocational training courses for women to enable them to earn their own income, by sewing, making biscuits or pickles or various items from jute. Once the women have acquired the know-how, they can then apply for mini-credits to set up a small business.
The people we help – read about some of the women FOI has assisted by clicking here.
Some examples of the types of project undertaken by Friends of India to promote educational opportunities for children and women :
Where Kovolam – a poor fishing village of nearly 6’000 people Basic Needs – a new well was built as the water for the school was polluted CHF 6’000 Nookampalyam - a rural village of 995 families Infrastructure for education - only 1 school room existed within a CHF 10’000 Kulathur, Kovolam, Bala Gurukulam and other villages Motivation – to encourage children to attend school, some 300 uniforms (@ CHF 9 ) and over 11’000 nutritious snacks (@ CHF0.20) are provided each year CHF 30’000 to date Arni – a high unemployment, depressed ex silk manufacturing town of 60’000+ inhabitants Training – A new multi-purpose training centre is under construction for helping women learn income earning skills and vocational training for young school leavers CHF 60’000 to date The SUEB – with its HQ in the southern suburbs of Chennai Training – an English language learning centre; typing, computing, tailoring and other training facilities have been built
Education – we currently provide 40 teachers to 17 primary & secondary schools
Skills, Human Rights & Health education - we fund the administration of over 1’200 self-help groups serving some 18’000 women CHF 42’000
CHF 18’000 annually
CHF 5’000 annually Day Care Centres - (Anganwadis) north of Chennai Basic Needs – KK4K (klean kitchens for kids) as we call it, replaces ( open wood burning fires in smoke filled rooms with ventilation, gas ring and pressure cooker at a cost of CHF 250 per centre (100 so far) CHF 25’000 to date Rural villages around Tamil Nadu Education – teacher training workshops given by Swiss based trainers provide invaluable in-service training - in 2007 alone, we have provided 1’800 sq. feet of blackboards to Government schools!
Assisted Micro-Credit – the provision of a cow and calf (38 so far) via a gift of CHF 125 and a matching self-help group loan provides a source of income to needy families CHF 5,000 annually
CHF 9’500
What
Worth
