Scotland: National Rural Network
The third day of the International Rural Network Forum in Udaipur, India, saw delegates striking off in different directions to see a wide variety of projects during field trips.
As with any conference, the field trips were probably the most memorable part of the event. It was a great privilege to get an insight into the lives of people in rural Rajasthan and to hear about the challenges they face and the successes they've achieved.
Members of SCVO's Rural Team went on three seemingly very different field trips: an organisation working to promote conservation and sustainable management of natural resources, a social enterprise working with women in rural areas to produce Fair Trade clothing and an NGO working with rural and tribal communities in South Rajasthan. The one constant in all three field trips, apart from curious children wanting their photographs taken, was that the concept of 'community empowerment' was there in action for delegates to see.
Norman MacAskill, Sandra Hogg and myself have all written blogs on our respective field trips which you can read on the SCVO Rural Team Blog. Below you'll find an excerpt from each of them below, along with the link to read more. You can see some photos in the blog, and more will be added to the Gallery.
Wednesday was probably the day everyone was looking forward to the most – the chance to get out on a field trip and see what’s actually happening out there in the real world beyond the walls of the conference auditorium, and talk to people who are doing stuff, not just giving PowerPoint presentations about it. . . .
So, I was near the beginning of the queue to sign up, and chose the trip to see some of the work being done by Seva Mandir, the organisation who co-hosted the IRN Forum. Seva Mandir is an NGO (non-governmental organisation – or does everyone know that?) working with the rural and tribal communities in South Rajasthan, where Udaipur is located. What they’re about is helping communities to get organised and take control of their own lives – the familiar idea of community empowerment, though in a very different context from the Scottish version.
Read the full blog in Out and About in Rural Rajasthan.
Arguably the best part of any conference the study visits promised a fascinating insight into the life of rural India. I’m involved with my local community woodland in rural Inverness-shire and so was quick to sign up to the field trip to see the work of the Foundation for Ecological Security. They have been working since 1999 with the tribal communities inhabiting the foothills and valleys of the Aravalli hill ranges to promote the conservation and sustainable management of natural resources, forests and water through local self governance institutions.
We travelled out from the city in two cars and were quickly onto small roads with small scale agriculture in the fields all around. But then we joined the new East-West Corridor. This new four lane road has only be recently completed but like any road in India it is shared by cows, donkeys and dogs. Lane discipline is optional and it wasn’t unusual to see a lorry coming towards us going the wrong way down the dual carriage way.
Read more in Community forests in rural Rajasthan blog posting.
I’m feeling much better today though as I’m wearing some loose-fitted light cotton clothing that I bought yesterday at the Sadhna shop. They sell everything from saris to cushion covers to Christmas decorations. Beautiful garments and accessories come in every colour you can think of from salmon pinks to vivid mustards, with intricate appliqué and embroidery. And everything is incredibly good value.
But the best thing about this shop is that it is a social enterprise (although I haven’t heard anyone refer to the company this way) employing around 625 women in the Udaipur area. The items are sown by machinists in the city and groups of women in surrounding areas complete the beautiful hand-stitching. Profits from the business are put back into community development, and the company is Fairtrade registered.
I had the great privilege today of visiting one of the villages where this work takes place, as well as the production building where the women sew, iron, pack and generally take care of business.
Read more in Confessions of a social enterprise shopaholic blog posting.
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