KEEP Activity Report 2015 – 2016

KAIGAL EDUCATION AND ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM

KRISHNAMURTI FOUNDATION INDIA

KAIGAL, THOTTAKANAM, CHITTOOR DISTRICT, A.P

 

Kaigal stream in full flow – November 2015

REPORT FOR THE YEAR APRIL 2015 – MARCH 16

INTRODUCTION

Although 2015-16 started with a very long dry and hot summer and one of the most severe droughts that this region has faced in the last 20 or more years, the North East monsoon brought with it the much needed rains in November. The district was flooded and the heavy rainfall filled the dry lakes, open wells, streams and rivers in the entire region and the forests and farmlands were lush and green once again.

Three projects that we had taken up in the last couple of years were completed by the end of the year. The GEF-UNDP-SGP funded “Community empowerment through sustainable livelihoods” was completed and report submitted by the end of November. The Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Board funded projects for the preparation of People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) and Tradable Bio – Resources (TR) for 2 Panchayats and 2 districts respectively were submitted by the end of March 2016 for final review. Lastly the “International Eco-schools Program” in which the Sanctuary Schools participated was also completed by February 2016.

THE KEEP ACTIVITY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2015-2016

I – Education Programs – Sanctuary Schools & Environment Education Programs (EEP)

II – Projects completed during this period

I Education Programs:

Mahendra assessing levels of students Learning Science through toy making – CELES

1. Sanctuary Schools
2. A brief background: The schools completed their 12^th year in April 2016 and all children above 3 years of age in these villages come to schools and almost all of them continue with their studies by joining a Government High School – day school or residential – once they reach 11 or 12 years of age when they leave the Sanctuary Schools. Quite a few students continue their studies after class 10. And since the last 4 to 5 years those who completed class 10 have moved on to class 11 & 12. The schools go for renewal of AP State Education Department recognition for the period beginning 2017.
3. Separate program for the 3 to 6 year olds: There are around 25 children of this age group following a special program designed for them.
4. Scholarship and coaching for NIOS: Four students have registered for NIOS and are being coached for class 10 examinations by the teachers of the Sanctuary Schools. Our student Chandrakala who appeared for her class 10 NIOS in April 2016 has passed with 65% and has come back to the school to study for class 12 also privately through NIOS.

At present there are 2 girls who have registered for class 12 and 4 students (3 girls and 1 boy) who have registered for class 10. The students are coached privately by the teachers of the Sanctuary Schools and KEEP provides them a scholarship to continue with their studies.

The parents bear 50% of the examination fee for the class 10 and 12 students.

1. International Eco-schools Program & Green Flag Award: This is an international award program of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) headquartered in Copenhagen that guides schools to address a variety of environmental themes providing a simple framework to make sustainability an integral part of school life. The environmental themes to be taken up by the schools are Biodiversity, Energy, Waste Management, Water and Healthy Living. This program is a long term program and is continued over many years. Students, teachers and the community together drive the program. Visit www. eco-schools.org.uk for more details.

The Sanctuary Schools joined this program in July 2014 and continued their work through 2015-2016. They covered all the 5 themes briefly first and then took up 3 themes – Biodiversity, Energy and Waste Management which were dealt with in detail in the last 12 months. The age group that participated were between 8 to 12 years of age. All the topics were integrated with their school curriculum and it involved field surveys, documentation, and awareness, and action programs that could introduce students towards sustainable ways. For e.g., students have taken up litter picking in and around their village, segregation and collection of waste in their homes & school, sorting the waste and recycling (composting, paper making etc.). It is important to note that the village communities participated in the different activities enthusiastically.

Papier- mach’e articles Litter picking – Sanctuary & Chaitanya Vidyalaya students

The Sanctuary Schools have received the Green Flag Award (the highest award in this program) having accomplished the requirements under this program within a short period. They have also received three Hand Print Flags for the 3 themes they have covered. The Award function is in Ahmedabad on the 16^th of September 2016 at the head quarters of the Centre for Environment Education during the conference on “Environment and Sustainable Development”

when members of FEE will also be present. The awards are valid for 2 years and can be renewed based on the continuity and effectiveness of the school participation.

It is a big achievement for these teachers and students who live in remote villages and have hardly travelled to places. For instance Jayapalappa (Headmaster) who is going to Ahmedabad to receive the award will be travelling by train for the first time!

1. Workshops, reviews and visitors: A few are mentioned here

Fitness work out Devakumar with Lasya

• Students and teachers attended a 2 day workshop conducted by CELES on ‘Understanding science through toy making’
• They learnt paper pulp making and made toys and paper with the pulp.
• Lasya Chakravarthi conducted a review of the Telugu and Math program and gave a feed back to the teachers
• Important visitors to the Schools were Dr. Satwant Narula and Dr. Indu Ambudkar senior researchers & Professors from the US who are interested in primary education. Both spent time in the schools with the students and teachers.
• Dr. Umesh Mahantshetty & Dr Sumukhi Umesh conducted a health check up in the schools. They shared with the teachers some important health tips and also advised some changes in the diet for the children
• All children and teachers of schools that participated in the Environment Education Program conducted by KEEP also visited the Sanctuary schools and interacted with the students
• Students from The Valley School interacted with the Sanctuary School students in the areas of fitness and music as part of ‘Work experience’

Singing with class 12 students – The Valley School (work experience)

1. Environment Education Programs (EEP)

Five outstation schools participated in this program this year. We had 10 programs in all with some schools sending more than one group. These are usually organized between October and January. As always, student groups have a variety of activities and exposures that are designed based on the age, group size and the school’s interests. Some of the favourites for all the students groups last year were night walk, solo walk, snake presentation, building rain water harvesting trenches in the forest, tree planting, interaction with the Sanctuary School students, farm work and learning local crafts. Last but not the least, the most exiting of them all was of course getting under the water fall and jumping into the popular ‘loby’s pool’.

Vidyaranya students collecting data for M. Kothur PBR Learning about vegetation in the forest

Helping them are community members

II Projects completed during this period:

1. Title: Community empowerment through sustainable livelihood generation using traditional knowledge systems

This project was funded by GEF-UNDP-SGP for 2 years (July 2013 – July 2015). The project was completed by November 15 – 2015, with an extension of 4 months. Given below is a brief description of the project objectives and achievements at the end of the project period.

Main goal of the project

To enhance and scale up the functioning of Kaigal Trust Self Help Group (KTSHG), to make it a vibrant, independent and successful community enterprise that is sustainable.

The key objectives were as follows

• • 1. Improve livelihood options for community members
    2. Increase community involvement in the enterprise
    3. Improve marketing methods to increase sales turn over
    4. Encourage community participation in forest and biodiversity conservation

Main outcomes

1. Building a core group of 15 members from about 5 at the start of the project.
2. Beneficiaries
   1. The direct beneficiaries from KTSHG operation

Total hh directly benefited= 107 hh Total individuals directly benefited = 535 individuals Adults/ children =204/ 357 Adults = 107 Males & 97 Females Children = 183 M & 174 F

 

• 1. Total beneficiaries from all community activities including KTSHG, BMC village- linkages & tribal village interaction and awareness programs

Number of villages reached through different exposures, awareness and training programs, meetings and linkages – ~60 Total hh – 5236 Total population – ~26,180 people

1. Capacity Building of KTSHG Core Group through training programs and participation, presentations and exposures in workshops and events
2. Training and capacity building for community members
3. Establishing Community Resource Centres
4. Developing new products for/with KTSHG (32 new products were developed under the project)
5. Increasing the number of institutional and retail sales and establishing a dealer network
6. Increasing sales turn-over from 5.14 L to 14. 38 L (March 2015)
7. Reaching out and connecting with new Yanadhi communities along the fringes of Kaundinya Wild Life Sanctuary (KWLS) extending from Bangarpalyam to Kuppam
8. Linking high school students and teachers from metro cities to larger, rural community- based action programs
9. Initiating long term data collection on productivity of 6 NTFP species

Outcomes beyond the objectives proposed

1. Linking the Project to National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Board (APSBB) and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC)
2. Consultative Meetings organized for Yanadhi communities, BMCs and KTSHG
3. Biodiversity Documenting for new NTFPs with medicinal, food and other economic value – done as part of PBR preparation of BMCs and Tradable Resources documentation of Chittoor and Ananthapur Districts

NOTE: A copy of the final report can be shared with anyone who may be interested

Sumithra’s presentation in the orientation workshop on Women’s Technology Park, FRLHT. Pushpa is also in the picture

Ratnamma teaching Ademma tailoring Santamma organizing the honey stock

Kaigal stall at “Biodiversity Green Haat” Sumithra, Jayanthi & Santhamma conducting a training

In New Delhi. Pushpa in the picture program for Kalligutta SHG in making spice powders

1. Preparation of People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBR) for 2 Panchayats and Tradable Resources (TR) Data for 2 Districts

These projects were supported by the Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board (APSBB). KEEP formed a Technical Support Group (TSG) of 8 individuals who were trained in field methods of data collection on biodiversity and landscape elements. The TSG then with the help local resources collected data at the village/forest level on various parameters as specified by the PBR and TBR document requirements. The information was then brought out as a register/book which was then submitted to the APSBB.

We completed this work for 2 BMCs at the Panchayat level (M. Kothur and Vengamvaripalli) and 2 TR at the District level (Chittoor and Ananthapur).

These documents carry a wealth of ground data on biodiversity and landscape information under close to 30 different parameters in great detail. There is also information on population, cultural

features, healers and traditional practices. Along with this are suggestions for implementation that can help in biodiversity and other natural elements conservation and recognition and access benefit sharing with knowledge holders/communities/healers etc.

A summary of the PBR and TR can be shared with anyone who may be interested.

M.Kothur Panchayat gets Biodiversity Award:

People from M. Kothur panchayat were extremely cooperative with the KEEP-TSG in the development of the PBR and as a continuation of this work they took up lake restoration, fish culture and regulating tree felling in their panchayat. On our recommendation M. Kothur panchayat received the Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Award for their active participation in supporting the preparation of the PBR and their work on lake restoration.

Mukkalam cheruvu (lake) after restoration BMC members Interaction and discussions with visitors from FRLHT

 

Shruti & Kavita interviewing a senior farmer