UK: community building in Kerala

A new transnational project is being developed that creates opportunities for young people with construction experience from disadvantaged areas in the UK to utilise their building skills for the benefit of communities in south India.

It is envisaged that the project will also create opportunities for young development staff from India to travel to the UK to visit projects and use their skills to work with community organisations based in this country.
The project is a result of a collaboration between the Indian and UK networks of COMMACT – the Commonwealth Association for Local Action and Economic Development.

The following organisations are involved:
– Community Campus 87 ? an organisation in North East England that provides self-build accommodation, training and support for homeless young people
– The Renton group of community companies in South West Scotland
– CBSN International, the international network of Community Business Scotland
– HiLDA Trust – a development agency based in south India that works with rural and tribal communities
– READ Centre – A grass-roots organisation based in Bangalore that works for the development of rural and indigenous communities in south India.

Young people from England and Scotland will take part in the first phase of the project, expected to commence in November 2006, which involves constructing a new centre for the emerging Federation of Akshaya Groups in Wayanad in Kerala. These are the self-help groups of tribal people that the HiLDA Trust has been working with for many years. There are now over 1,300 groups representing around 15,000 families participating in the programme.

The establishment of the Federation and the symbolic value of having its own community asset, represents a step change in the way that the self-help groups will manage the business of training, support and representation. It marks a shift from being a loose network of groups supported by HiLDA to becoming a self sustaining Federation.
Ideas for future phases include building a classroom block in a local school in Bangalore and low cost housing projects in Kerala and Karnataka.

For more information contact Carl Ditchburn, communitycampus’87@housing94.fsnet.co.uk