Summary
Education for children in tribal areas of Raigad District leaves a lot to be desired. This results in a high school dropout rate amongst tribal students, particularly girls. Those that do finish school are even more likely to be misfits since they are unable to pursue the traditional land-based or forest-based livelihoods available in the region. In this context, AWARD wants to meaningfully engage school dropouts in enhancing their livelihood skills along with efforts to improve their functional literacy. In order to raise funds for their work, AWARD organised a food fair where visitors could buy and taste food produced by the local people. This resulted in a number of new donors, both individual and corporate.
The proceeds of this food fair were invested in bamboo-crafts skill training programmes in several tribal villages, between August and December of 2022. In January 2023 tribal artisans sold their first products at the local state fair and raised Rs. 50,000. They have used part of this amount to purchase bamboo rhizomes to grow in their village areas – a first step towards becoming self-sufficient.
And plans are ready for next projects. Have a look at
AWARD: The success story continues ..... and find out more about this successful example of an integrated approach towards community mobilisation and local fundraising.
Tips and lessons learned
1. During action implementation, it was important to formulate a strategy for distributing work within the team such as booking the venue, informing the local community members, arranging transportation, advertising, and sending out invitations. Team participation was very crucial.
2. As we were unable to book an outdoor venue due to budgetary restrictions, the biggest challenge was organising the fair in an indoor setup post-Covid. Many people were reluctant to visit the food fair at first due to concerns about hygiene and overcrowding. We convinced them to the best of our abilities, yet the participation was not as much as we had expected. During the two days of the food fair, it was also a challenge to implement crowd control. We only allowed a certain number of people to enter at one time and ensured that the hall was thoroughly cleaned before the event started and after people left.
3. Despite the few setbacks we had because of the venue, many people were impressed by the novelty of tasting dishes made from tubers and wild vegetables as it was a welcome change from going to food fairs where only fast food is sold. Along with food tasting, we also ensured that local markets were set up to sell organic produce that people could buy.
4. A tip while approaching the donors is to present your ideas and objectives in a concise manner. One should also keep a booklet or leaflet handy in case the donor wants to know more about the work you do. Presentation and communication are two of the most important aspects of local fundraising.
Review by Wilde Ganzen Foundation
The food fair is a good example of an action that was planned thoroughly and in detail and therefore became a success, despite there being setbacks. A key lesson is to share the work with staff, board members and volunteers. And tip number 4 also applies to any organisation looking to approach donors. Finally, note this advice, written under 'Description of implementation': 'Outside the venue, we set up an information stall to promote the event and the cause for which we were raising funds. We also kept feedback forms, some leaflets, and contact cards.' The feedback forms are a find, especially since the organisers want to repeat the food fair and therefore have every interest in learning as much as possible from this first one.
And may we recommend that you read how the story continues? It will show you how well AWARD applies what they learnt in their local fundraising training.
Details
Short description of the organisation the funds were raised for
AWARD is a Satara-based NGO working in Satara, Raigad, Sindhudurg, and Ratnagiri Districts of Maharashtra on women’s empowerment, forest rights, and livelihoods with tribal, pastoralists, and other marginalised groups. AWARD is engaged in efforts to enhance the capacities of marginalised groups on forest-based livelihoods.
Short description of the project or programme the funds were raised for
Education for children in tribal areas of Raigad District leaves a lot to be desired due to weaknesses in accessibility, infrastructure, syllabus and teaching quality. This results in a high school dropout rate amongst tribal students, particularly girls, also due to the pressure on girls to contribute to household chores while parents go out for wage work. Education does not translate into better employment opportunities for tribal youth. On the contrary, educated tribal youth are more likely to be misfits since they are unable to pursue the traditional land-based or forest-based livelihoods available in the region. There are greater chances that such youth fall prey to evils such as gambling, alcoholism, and crime. In this context, a need is felt to meaningfully engage school dropouts in enhancing their livelihood skills along with efforts to improve their functional literacy so that they are able to deal with different institutions as well as outsiders for selling their produce or offering their services. Hence the project aims to enhance livelihood skills of 100 school dropouts (in the age groups of 15 to 18) in the Karjat and Khalapur Blocks of Raigad District.
Summary of fundraising action
The Urmodi Food Fair was organised on 28th May and 29th May, 2022 at the Mahila Mandal Hall, Rajwada Choupati in Satara, with the help of CBO members. The main feature of the food fair was that the foods were prepared by local people from uncultivated vegetables, millet, and tubers. Also, various other farm produce such as rice grains, organic vegetables, and fruits like mangoes, papaya, jamuns, jackfruits, wild berries, and milk products by pastoral communities were kept for sale. A few women’s self-help groups were also marketing homemade mango pickles and jams that they had prepared on a small scale. Over two days, the fair had many visitors including students, teachers, members of the team of the local Member of the Legislative Asssembly team, bank employees, IT workers, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, etc. We were able to raise around Rs. 1,25,000 from 361 donors who visited the fair and established contacts with some 2 new companies and 10-12 new individual donors as well. In addition, the women farmers earned Rs. 6,00,000 in 2 days, by selling their products.
Objectives
1. Creating awareness and generating publicity amongst people visiting the food fair.
2. Giving a platform to the local communities for income generation.
3. Strengthening bonds with local businessmen.
Targeted donors
Objective 1: Lions Club members, Rotary Club members, school/college principals, bank workers, volunteers, graduates, doctors, shopkeepers, IT workers, lawyers.
Objective 2: Same as above.
Objective 3: Businessmen, bank workers, Godrej Boyce & Co., Nisarga Biotech.
Results
| Cost/benefit |
National currency (INR |
Euro |
| Total amount raised |
125,000 |
1,500 |
| (-) Total amount invested |
26,000 |
312 |
| Net amount raised |
99,000 |
1,188 |
Accounting details
Income
Rs. 1,25,000 through purchases made by various
customers at the food fair (individuals and members of
companies)
Costs
Transportation – Rs. 7,000
Accommodation – Rs. 8,000
Venue cost – Rs. 6,000
Advertisement costs (printing posters, banners, radio ad, etc.) – Rs. 5,000
Result comments
• We were able to create awareness and generate publicity about our programme on the livelihoods of tribal people and school dropouts amongst the people who visited the food fair, which included professionals from different backgrounds.
• We were able to give a platform to the local communities for income generation, especially women’s self-help groups, and farmers.
• We were able to strengthen bonds with local businessmen and local companies. We could see that they were eager to be involved in our programme on the livelihoods of tribal people and school dropouts.
Description of preparatory work
Venue selection
Contacting people about venue availability and shortlisting according to our budget.
Invitations
Contacting CBO members, farmers, women’s self-help groups, donors, and other professionals.
Advertisements
Preparing posters, videos, banners, etc.
Arrangements
Logistics and planning involved in setting up the food fair.
Description of implementation
Venue selection
We finalised the venue at Mahila Mandal Hall as it was in the city centre, thus being a convenient location, and within our budget.
Invitations
We sent out messages and made phone calls to CBO members and volunteers to assist us with the food fair preparation.
We invited farmers and women’s self-help groups to set up stalls at the fair.
Advertisements
With the help of 2 volunteers, we prepared posters and videos to advertise the event on social media. We put up posters in the city and played an ad on the radio.
Arrangements
We hired vehicles for the participants to travel with their produce and food preparations.
Outside the venue, we set up an information stall to promote the event and the cause for which we were raising funds. We also kept feedback forms, some leaflets, and contact cards.
Follow up: Donor appreciation and acknowledgement
After the event, we sent out messages and letters of thanks to all the donors for visiting the food fair.
Plans to repeat the action
We are planning to organise another food fair in Badlapur or Khopoli this year.
