THREAD INDIA
Since its inception in 1984, THREAD, along with its partner Orissa Nari Samaj (ONS), has been working for the socio-economic development of excluded groups, with a special focus on indigenous women.
THREAD has always sought to generate awareness on various social issues among excluded groups, and to train them in livelihood and leadership skills.
We would like to celebrate with you the economic success of the women in our current project...
Sustainable Development Of Women Organisations Through Empowerment, Economic & Ecological Development Initiatives
Over the years, with many partners including ONS and Gaia Education, THREAD has had much success in supporting socially excluded women to assert their rights and entitlements, and address livelihood, food, environmental and social security issues.
This has led to local tribal women being united under self-organising groups that are now recognised by Government departments for their unity and collective efforts.
They address grass-root issues through the effective implementation of government programmes, and have been rigorously trained in community leadership and sustainable agriculture for improved food sovereignty.
However, in spite of the success of our approach to community development and empowerment, there have remained some critical challenges for these women: increased natural disasters, difficulty in selling agricultural produce, difficulties in marketing produce, and continued poverty.
We therefore launched the Misereor project, to build the capacity of these women’s institutions in economic sustainability, via ethical trade.
Agri Industry (Social Enterprise)
Under the Misereor project, an economic unit has been launched, which has been training local women’s groups to produce and sell products such as turmeric powder, ragi powder, triphala powder and Ragi mixed noodles.
Every aspect of the business is managed by the women members and their representatives, and all sale proceeds are regularly deposited in the groups’ bank accounts.
The raw materials collected by the organisation members are transported to their social enterprise unit….
Here, they are processed for drying, cleaning….
…. and all necessary steps up to packing and forwarding the products.
The products have been in huge demand at their local markets, and slowly the product is reaching urban areas and cities.
It is hoped that this entrepreneurial success will lead to the self-sustainability of the Nari samaj women and guarantee their livelihood financially and independently.
Samples of their turmeric are found at the COP26 Exhibition on 9 November 2021!