The seed of Kudumbam was sown way back in 1980 in a village where river Cauvery steps into Tamil Nadu, in the beautiful valley of Natrapalayam near Hogenkal, where our involvement of staying and learning from people, began. Where our involvement in facilitating problem focused education, street theater, participatory learning and documenting traditional knowledge, deepened our insights. We understood that where issues crop up alternatives also emerge. We began to understand the role of a meaningful catalyst.
A search to define our role of a catalyst began. We traveled along the banks of Cauvery, reached Valambakuddi in 1982 and then to Nagapattinam where the river empties itself in to the Bay of Bengal. We observed thousands of wild streams that empty into the Cauvery, the color of its water turned dark, laden with fine soil and with industrial effluents. This kept increasing year by year, resulting in declining yields, increasing fallow lands, depletion of ground water and large scale migration.
When dismantling of traditional knowledge systems, change in land use, increase in high energy agriculture, neglect of water bodies and dismantling of community forest took place rural communities passively looked at this change called modernization, Our involvement was not only to create awareness on the magnitude of these issues but also to initiate participatory technology development, facilitating a process of farmers’ innovations and community based alternatives, Our efforts have been in reviving community management of water bodies, conservation of community bio-diversity, community seed banks, community green banks, and facilitating people financed institution. Our association in the last 22 years with rain fed small farmers all over the state, spread to the sea-coast after the Tsunami of 2004. We have contributed in establishing pesticide free villages and we dream of establishing socially just bio-villages.
Our association with Farmers, NGO’s, consumer organizations, students, research institutes, network within the states, neighboring states, neighboring countries, have deepened our insights in development. The support from financial partners within and outside the country has been very strengthening.
We are thankful to all our supporters like HIVOS Netherlands, Swallows-Sweden, Emmaus International France, Oxfam Great Britain, Center for World Solidarity Germany, Agriculture Man Ecology Netherlands, Deccan Development Society, Future Earth Sweden, Sewelanka Foundation Sri Lanka, Monlar Sri Lanka, Arezzo Italy, Terres Des Homes Germany, Earthnet Foundation, Simenpuu Foundation Finland. It is this support that has contributed to such large out reach. We are thankful for the confidence of the NGO’s from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sweden, and France place in our training programme and this has contributed in a qualitative development of training curriculum.
We are thankful to Emmaus International, Future Earth, PAN-AP, SAGE, JASUL, Waves-India for the confidence they have conferred on our facilitation. We strongly believe that a team leader is one who not only leads the team but the one who creates leaders around.
The board of Kudumbam, the team and members of LEISA Network and Kudumbam are thankful on the event 25th year of Kudumbam to Gandhigram Rural University for conferring a Doctorate on Mr. G. Nammalvar, for his contribution to the ecological agricultural movement in the state.
With our 25 years of involvement in development, a team has been established in 10 districts of Tamil Nadu with a coordinating team in Trichy. The collaboration of sisters networks, the confidence and strength of innovative farmers and the support of National and International organizations, we set forth the 26th year to meet the growing challenges of Rural India to establish community base alternatives, and strategies of up scaling these alternatives
Oswald Quintal, Director.
(Source: Annual Report 2006 – 07)
