Rural

Working on women’s land & property rights is unique in the context of West Bengal state. With land being denied to women, land issues have led to violence against them. Moreover, the link of land to nutrition and sustainable agriculture is undeniable. Access to land ensures women’s control over the produce of the land. The income generated through the cultivation also adds value. The issue of collective farming comes to predominance in this way of work. Another feature of the work is it has in a way enabled reducing migration of women in a way to the nearby stone-crushers for the entire day in search of work. The work environment at these crushers is hazardous in a way and also women face wage differential and sexual abuse at these sites. These women also have to bear the household responsibilities, looking after children along with working in these places because of the gendered structure of society. Thus, this work in a way is helping women work, earn, and secure their food through collective farming in localities near their homes. The health hazard and sexual abuse is also minimized in the process. The work also has a sustainability plan to it. Along with women getting entitlement to land, control over resources, the plan of building up seed bank, nursery, grain golas for groups will eventually help them attain a status where by they would be in a continuous state of income generation and sustained nutrition for the family.

It is a simple, easy to implement idea which delivers the goal of providing solutions to a nutritional problem through innovation and at the same time is conveying a strong social message by educating people of all strata of the society about healthy eating habits. It is cheap and sustainable.

The proposed solution is based on a two-fold vision : 1. a combination of two simple technologies (ultraviolet water treatment powered by solar energy) in a simple, solid and easy-to-manage process (the simplicity of the purification process enables each Treatment Center to produce 2,000-6,000 litres of drinking water per day - the minimal requirements of a population of 1,000-3,000 people), 2. an "entrepreneurial" operating model ("Small Private Operator"), based on standard economics (cost recovery), ensuring the sustainability of this water provision. In each village, an economic micro-activity of drinking water production is created, the role of this entrepreneur/operator being then to produce the purified water (in 20-litre bottles) and to sell those bottles within the village, at a price low enough (0.01 $ per litre) to be affordable by the people of the village, but high enough to cover his livelihood as well as the maintenance costs of his production unit.

These village-centered entrepreneurs are supported by a regional platform which manages, on their behalf, processes such as consumables and spare parts supply chain management or water quality control. Here again, sustainability is guaranteed, the platform costs being covered by an assistance fee paid by every production unit in exchange of the provided services ("franchise" model).

The villagers have to come directly to the market and sale the vegetables. Proper market to be arranged in every centre of places. Benefits like Free tickets, free watering, free electricity and without rent, etc. to be given to promote village vegetable vendors.
Kitchen garden should be placed in every house on a duty for the community.
Government should monitor and help for roof top garden in order to get fresh vegetables.

The Dreamcatchers Community Youth Institute advocates for psychosocial response to be at the heart of any community renewal process. It places the agency of this rebalancing of effort in the hands of grassroots community workers and members. It further acknowledges that any rupture in the storyline of a community requires generations to come forward and build the bridge for the young in order for continuity in the storyline to carry on.

The institute will create Community Wisdom Circles, in which youth and intergenerational community members will look within themselves and see their own inherent potential. These life-affirming conversations are led by women from the community aided through a range of creative self-reflective tools. Often times, the women could be individuals who have faced loss and tragedy themselves; and who thus go through a profound healing process themselves.

This nature of psycho-social response emphasizes that:

• The young person is placed within the context of his or her larger community or environment.
• Young people lead interactions with community members to create the emergence of a different kind of social leadership.
• Integration of intergenerational frameworks along with personal healing and transformation processes enables these communities to move to a new ground.

Through the Institute, Dreamcatchers is working to build a new field and art form in the work with young people focusing on self and community renewal practices as a starting point to social transformation. Its vision is to seed and flourish a new generation of programs that provide young people with a transformative experience and to help emerge a community of grassroots practitioners. Integrating personal healing, leadership for change, a systems view and inclusiveness, the Institute’s programs create generative engagements that unleash a momentum for