- A joyous journey-together, A journey worth taken

We tell this story to all who come to our office for the first time...It all began twenty one years ago in a small, very small room in Kolkata (Calcutta)- barely accommodating three people at a time, a few rupees in hand and some energetic people wanting to make a difference. And that is where was born - Swadhina.

Those were hard times - two broken type-writers and two tables; there were times when there was no provision or luxury to have new, fresh papers and so used envelopes, folders were torn open so that the empty spaces could be used for office work. For months there was no salary but smiles and dreams remained intact.

Slowly but steadily Swadhina programmes expanded to wider areas. What began as rural camps in a localised manner gradually culminated into concrete activities like Non-formal Education centres, Environment Programmes, skill trainings, spreading to areas like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka. From 1991 onwards Health was brought into the programme agenda through Health Education Promotion Effort. In the year 1993 work began in areas of Bihar, beginning with establishment of NFE (Non Formal Education) centres. Much expansion took place in the year 1994 when a new project in Orissa was started, entitled: "Orissa Women and Child Development Programme". At Kanyakumari, a Tailoring Training unit was developed in this year. Another very effective programme namely "Orissa Health and Cultural Regeneration Programme" was developed and initiated in the year 1995 stressing on the health needs of women and reviving old cultural values in the tribal areas. A programme for the self-reliance of tribal women was initiated at Midnapore and Bankura area of West Bengal in the year 1999. This apart 30 rural libraries have been formed at Rayagada, Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj districts of Orissa. Rural libraries were also functional at 20 places in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. From the year 2002, a new area was selected for work and a new
dimension was developed. In the newly formed state of Jharkhand, ten villages were identified for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security programme. The aim was to provide a stable economic growth and providing food security so that thewomen face lesser hardships in maintaining the families during unfriendly economic situation and also to ensure that their life-style is improved in the process.

We believe that women's organization has a three tier approach :

• Identification of issues relating to development of women at the micro as well as macro level.
• Awareness training and formation of women's groups around those issues, initiate participative self-reliance efforts, and,
• Handing over the organizational and functional work to those people- based groups.

Area:

On these lines of development interaction we are presently working in three states of the country, namely, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Following is the village-based pattern of involvement - Tamil Nadu in 10 villages, West Bengal in 5 villages and 10 villages in Jharkhand.
We are also active in 1 slum in the city of Kolkata (Calcutta).

Activities:

Swadhina works through over 42 Women's Groups, with over 1260 members and also through 36 Non formal Education Centers/ Rural Chreches for children which also act as action centers. It also conducts field level trainings on skill enhancement, peace/value education and development orientation, for
other organizations.

Funding:

Swadhina is funded by local friends and overseas grants.

Affiliation:

At the International level Swadhina is affiliated with the WRI- War Resisters' International, UK
At the National level Swadhina is affiliated with NAVA- Networking
Alliance for Voluntary Actions, India.


Partners:

1. European Union/ Welthungerhilfe,Germany
2. European Patent Office: Third World Association, Germany
3. Action Medeor, Germany
4. War Resisters International, UK