CAC has been working on upgrading the water mills in the area so they can be used to grind flour and in some cases also to produce electricity for a few houses in the village. The region has many water mills that have been rendered defunct since the advent of diesel mills. The current plan is to get funding for the upgrade of a few water mills and then present it as a model to the government for further implementation. A feasibility report and a permission from the UREDA department is needed for the funding agency to accept their proposal. In May 2006, CAC received all the needed permissions and is now working with the funding agency to approve the project.

The next update is from the women's groups. The various women's groups in the area have become strong and are beginning to participate in the decision making process in their respective villages. All the women's group in the Almora and Nainital region are coming together to for a Womens Federation. This is still in the formative stages and it will take a few years for the federation to become completely functional. At this point the basic structure at district, block and village levels are being discussed. In a few months the federation will register itself. CAC hopes to facilitate the federation with as much effort as necessary. In three to five years it is hoped that the federation will take over the role that CAC is playing in the region. Apart from the women's group a few children's/ youth groups have also been formed. These youth groups work closely with the women's group and address issues such as alcoholism in minors and the drop out rate of girls after middle school. The plan is to slowly involve the youth groups into the local Panchayat.

In the area of food security CAC has established the seed banks which are working very well. They are trying to popularize the seed banks through on line sale. This option is still in being considered. The idea is to popularize the seed banks in the surrounding regions. For this the community will need to work within the seed bill and will need to get license for selling seeds. The logistics are currently being worked out. Apart from this a new initiative is the experimental farm. CAC has set up an experiment farm in the region to experiment various agricultural techniques. They also want this to serve as a demonstration farm. They hope to demonstrate various composting techniques, organic fertilizers, organic pest repellents, healthy, efficient agricultural practices etc. They also plan on documenting everything. CAC is also trying to involve other members in the community who are interested in experimenting. They are also trying to network with other like minded organizations who work on various organic farming methods.

One new initiative that CAC is planning is the Volunteer Resource Centers (VRC). In the neighboring village TCS has set up computer centers. A lady is using these centers to run literacy as well as computer literacy classes. Two girls from the CAC are have taken those courses and they plan to implement a similar model of VRCs in Almora and Nainital. It will be entirely managed by the community and CAC will act as a facilitator for the smooth operation of computer centers. Gradually the centers will be developed into a resource center wherein the computers could be used for connecting with the outside world and women will be introduced government schemes, structures , policies, programmes etc and they can let the world know a lot about themselves, their strengths, their opinions etc . The youth groups formed in the Nainital and Almora will also be connected with this resource center. Thus Volunteer Resource Centers (VRC) will open channels of communication and opportunities that are still unexplored.

Apart from this CAC has been working on introducing other organizations and institutions to the idea of traditional and people's knowledge. CAC has been identified as a resource group for an organization called Development Alternatives. They will be working on the issue of indigenous knowledge as well. GB Pant University, one of India's foremost agricultural universities, has been enthusiastic about inculcating people's knowledge into university's research, training and extension programme. CAC will be conducting a workshop with the university in August 2006. It will be a one day workshop and the hope is that CAC will get in touch with people who can take this further. It is a very important and encouraging step as far as CAC is concerned as it will help in mainstreaming this issue especially at the policy level. CAC is also planning to prepare booklets with issues/resources concerning the community - on traditional knowledge, seeds , food security etc. They currently have topics for 5-6 booklets. This part of material preparation and booklets was supported in part by AID. These booklets would be in very simple language and the aim is to inform people on complicated issues like seeds, etc. They also plan to include some aspects of the biodiversity bill, seed bill, patent bill etc so that the community gets good information of all that is going on at the global level. These booklets would also have a chapter on how people's life is going to get affected through these global decisions and what can be done to thwart such appropriations. More documents about the project can be found here .

AID Chapters Involved: Austin, Tucson, Tempe, New York and JHU

Information on Reetu:

Reetu has been working with marginalized communities in the hills of the Kumaon region in Uttaranchal, who have very rich traditional knowledge systems. She leads the NGO called Community Awareness Center, which works towards awareness generation and capacity building with application based on "people's knowledge" for empowerment and sustainability. She believes that people are at the center of every traditional knowledge system and it is important for them to acquire a sense of ownership over their issues. Her work entails raising people's concern levels, improving their opportunities and livelihood options based on people's knowledge systems and advocating participatory documentation of the varied diversity that exists in the region. Click here for Reetu's interview with AID.

Read more about Reetu Sogani at our Saathi website .

Volunteer Profile:

Chandrika Ramanujam, an AID Austin volunteer who has moved back to India spent couple of months interning for CAC in Uttaranchal. She was conducting a study on the change in food patterns of the people in the target villages of Uttaranchal.

You can read the site visit report by Chandrika Ramanujam.

For photographs from Chandrika's visit click here .