Nav-Vigyan Samvardhan
An education that measures everyone the same way does not serve everyone the same way, and it guarantees nobody a living. So Jhabua built the other thing: skills, tools, and a route to market that starts in the village.
In the course of its journey with the tribal people of Jhabua, Shivganga found that the current education — which measures everyone as equal — is not equally beneficial to everyone, and does not guarantee anyone a livelihood. Responding to the situation in Jhabua, it began alternative education and skill development programmes.
The aim is an entrepreneurial ecosystem that fosters young entrepreneurs out of tribal society. In collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Shivganga has set up an incubation centre for them, whose object is to facilitate and catalyse the complete cycle — from skill training through to livelihood generation.
‘Majdoori’ is not the problem. ‘Majdoori ki majboori’ is the problem.
Labour is not what wounds people here. Being left with no choice but to leave and sell it is. Every venture on this page exists to remove the compulsion.
A skill on its own does not feed anyone. Each of these was built together with the route by which the work gets sold.
Jameen Samvardhan — and a retail counter in Indore
Monthly training for farmers in natural, chemical-free farming and horticulture, covering crop planning and the sorting and grading of produce. The team has built the supply chain to go with it, selling through a retail counter in Indore — because training a farmer to grow differently is worth little if the produce has nowhere different to go.
Grassroots Appropriate Technology Innovation labs, Dharampuri Gurukul
Rural India lacks innovation in appropriate technology. Traditional tools are losing their relevance and modern tools frequently misfit the requirement. The lab trains young people in welding, electrical work, plumbing and equipment handling. The tribal youth of Jhabua have a glaring affinity for experiment; given a workshop, they develop the tools that Jhabua — and rural India — actually needs.
Meghnagar Ashram — residential, and deliberately decentralised
Shivganga runs a full-time residential Bamboo Training Centre at Meghnagar Ashram and basic training camps in the villages, with selected youths going on to advanced training in Meghnagar and Indore. The model is deliberately decentralised: a trainee completes the training, goes back to their village and trains others. Today’s trainees are tomorrow’s trainers.
With a kit designed by Dr Parag Vyas (alumnus, IDC, IIT Bombay), one person can produce 70–80 finished products at home. Jhabua Crafts gives them the final touch and markets them online and off, through jhabuacrafts.com.
A marginal farmer who used to migrate with his family to get by. Training in organic farming cut his input costs, and selling through Jhabua Naturals secured him a better income. He now wants to turn his whole holding organic and learn to grow more crops that way. Jhabua Naturals is a social enterprise run by tribal farmers themselves; more than 50 farmers like him now market chemical-free produce in Indore.
A young creative person who had no way to be creative on a construction site as a labourer. Continuous training in bamboo handicrafts taught him a whole range of products. More than 40 artisans like him now supply through the Jhabua Crafts platform, and train other villagers themselves.
Get involved with Shivganga to make these villages both. A living made at home is the difference between a family that stays and a family that leaves.
