Vedanta’s Jeevika Project help Dongria Kondh women weave success with sal leave

March 3, 2010 - PRLog -- Earning for them meant toiling on farmland or working as daily labourers under the sun. So when Katili Majhi of village Phuldumer received Rs 2370 by selling leaf plates, she could not believe her eyes.

And she was not the only woman. Around 318 women of 10 villages in Niyamgiri region are happy with their newfound income avenue. Thanks to the project ‘Jeevika’ run by Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) under its Corporate Social Responsibility programme. All these Dongria Kondh women are collecting ‘sal’ and ‘siali’ leaves from the forest, stitching them into leaf plates and selling them.

On July 29, 2009, they sold 2,89,000 pieces of leaf plates for Rs 86,700 at 30 paise per plate. Now they are waiting to sell the rest 1,09,000 neatly stacked leaf plates. And the joy in their face is visible as Damayanti Majhi of village Trilochanpur said she earns about Rs 500 per week by selling leaf plates. The Project was launched by forming 53 Joint Livelihood Groups (JLG) comprising about 318 women from eight villages. VAL arranged for one-month training to all the women on leaf-plate making and took them to Balangir and Bhawanipatna for an exposure trip to help them acquire market knowledge. “The sole objective was to improve the quality of life and provide sustainable livelihood,” said Dr. Mukesh Kumar, Chief Operating Officer of VAL, Lanjigarh. NGO SHAKTI is implementing the project.

Later the women were handed over sewing machines to stitch the plates and today they are contributing about Rs 1000 each to their household income. “As the company has arranged for doorstep marketing of the leaf-plates through the NGO, we are not bothered about marketing,” said Kumtadi Majhi of village Khemdipadar.

Representatives of the NGO regularly supervise the work and provide necessary technical support. The initiative is gradually drawing more and more women groups into the business.

“Very soon the project will cover more women in other villages and the focus would be on development of Dongria Kondh women,” informed Kumar. The intervention is reflecting on the quality of life and livelihood of the Dongria Kondhs and each woman is earning Rs 40 per day by making leaf-plates, revealed Gata Majhi of Niyamaraja JLG in Palberi village. Now many of them have stopped working as daily labourers and are focussing on the business as they are not only able to contribute to the family income but also are managing to do domestic chores.