Saahas Foundation Inclusive Resource Centre organised the workshop “Evolving Framework for Community Based Enterprises” at Vikas Nagar Block Office auditorium on 26th February 2020. The workshop was chaired by Mr S M Shahid, eminent author and teacher, and was facilitated by Mr Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya, CEO, Ekgaon Technologies (a social enterprise, building community enterprises of farmers across the country), in collaboration with Uttarakhand Science Education & Research Centre (USERC).
Farmers and artisans from 150 villages of Uttarakhand came together to share their experiences, challenges and design their Community Enterprise with experts helping them to identify effective strategies. Speaking on the purpose of the workshop, Mr Shahab Naqvi, Director, Saahas Foundation said that Uttarakhand’s resource-rich communities need a model to organise and collectivise their production systems for accessing markets and create sustainable livelihoods and that this workshop was the first step in that direction. Mr Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya added that there were a growing recognition of aggregation models and farmer producer companies being an answer towards creating economies of scale in production enterprises.
The participants included over 180 farmers, teachers, staff and community representatives from Sahaspur, Vikasnagar and Chakrata blocks; from villages across Sahaspur, Selakui, Chakrata, Jassovala, Fatehpur, Jivangarh, Vikasnagar, Kharoda, etc including the Block Development Officer of Vikasnagar and staff. The workshop participants also included community representatives and consultants from Project Anugrah, Herbertpur Christian Hospital – project for rehabilitation of women with disabilities, Pehal, Burans Project, Akash Society, Naman Sewa Samiti, Kisan Ekta Samiti, Multiple Action Group, Ujala NGO, HOPE – SAMVEDNA, KVIC, Asma Welfare Education Society, Students & Staff from Dehradun Institute of Technology and DAY Rural Livelihood Mission.
The workshop participants were also addressed by development professional including Mrs Saritha Thomas of Peoples Power Collective running the popular radio station “Mandakini Ki Awaaz” reaching out to over 2,50,000 listeners in rural Uttarakhand.
Dr Durgesh Pant, Director USERC, Lt. Commander Negi and Mr Bahukhandi former director of Indian Oil Corporation were also in attendance to support the workshop.
Dr Durgesh Pant, Director USERC and main collaborator of the workshop shared his thoughts about social inclusion and the need for a progressive, community-centred model of livelihoods.
Mr Shahab Naqvi reiterated that Saahas Foundation Inclusive Resource Centre would take up the mantle of working with communities for sustainable livelihoods generation in the state, ensuring the inclusion of disadvantaged community members.