{"id":175,"date":"2016-06-18T03:03:31","date_gmt":"2016-06-18T03:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundationseed.org\/?page_id=175"},"modified":"2016-09-02T13:07:07","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T13:07:07","slug":"sustainable-bundelkhand","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/foundationseed.org\/ongoing-projects\/sustainable-bundelkhand\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainable Bundelkhand"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Purpose :<\/span><\/h2>\n

The overall aim of this project is to empower rural communities to improve their economy and standard of living. This will be integrally achieved through education and training of rural children, youth, farmers and women on various aspects of life \u00a0 through organic farming practices and addition of value \u00a0to their produce through product development, and sequentially\u00a0packaging\u00a0and marketing their products to end users across the globe for\u00a0making\u00a0happier homes and build sustainable communities and inspire them for peaceful coexistence.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The region:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Bundelkhand region lies almost at\u00a0the heart of India and spans two states – covering 6 districts of \u00a0each Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.\"locationmap\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Bundelkhand has had a rich history and vibrant culture. It is also rich in natural resources such as sand, premium quality granite stones and limestone \u00a0etc. However, despite its historic glory of Laxmi Bai (Jhansi ki Rani) and plenty natural resources,\u00a0Bundelkhand region today is one of the most economically and socially backward areas in India. Poverty is rampant in the districts of Bundelkhand due to low productivity in agriculture and industrial backwardness, together with the dying traditional household\/cottage industries. Gender issues are prevalent in the society. Socially women occupy a lower status than men. Girl child is suppressed for education and forced to work and develop household skills. Agriculture in Bundelkhand is rain-fed, diverse, complex, under-invested, risky and vulnerable. In addition, extreme weather conditions, like droughts, short-term rain and flooding in fields add to the uncertainties and seasonal migrations.<\/p>\n

Need and Priority:<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The priority on local scale innovation and knowledge production is a key issue for a society making it able to embrace solutions for resilience. Several initiatives for improvements in the Bundelkhand region have been launched by Central and State governments of India but failed merely due to its top-down approach and usually limited to high level paper-works, but nothing was implemented. Therefore, direct interventions are critically important at grassroots levels e.g. by establishing local \u00a0knowledge center<\/strong>. The major issues to primarily be addressed by are to be priorities\u00a0within areas of farming, biomass burning (for cooking and heating) and the education system. Obviously these issues are not in isolation but are interlinked and coupled to other issues with both negative and positive feedback.\u00a0Our belief is that the solution for present day Bundelkhand issues\u00a0is one which is:<\/p>\n