Improvement of rural people livelihood
in cold desert areas of the Western Himalayas

International NGO Network : SKARCHEN

Contact

SKARCHEN : Society for Knowledge and Responsibilities of Culture Health Education and Nature

E-mail address : skarchen@yahoo.com

Overview of the Organisation

Skarchen is a non-profit NGO. It is a registered body under the Societies Registration Act VI of 1997 (1941 AD), J & K State, India.

Skarchen (SKARCHEN- The Literal meaning is 'Morning Star' or the Planet Venus - a celestial symbol considered to be very aspicious in Nubra . Our aim is to work towards the upliftment of the entire Nubra region and, true to our name, bring light and hope into the lives of as many people as we can.) started its journey in the year 1993 with a very humble beginning….. a group of young volunteers from Nubra highlighted the importance of educating the girl child amongst the local population of the region, this campaign was a huge success and proved to be the spark in the formation of Skarchen. Today Skarchen is one of the recognized and respected NGO among the Ladakh's development community. Today Skarchen is the one of the leading NGO working in the Nubra valley with extensive area cover under her and rendering public services. Our work s has been appreciated by innumerable people, some of who have even been experts from international development agencies.

Watershed Development Programme : our Main Programme

The watershed development programme was introduced in Ladakh in 1995. it was bas on the assumption that development must be a bottom-up process including the common people, and not a top down autocratic process as it was earlier believed to be.

 

To implement watershed programme at the grass-root level devolved to Project Implementing Agencies or PIAs. Typically, a PIA is an NGO that is awarded a certain part of Ladakh for implementing watershed schemes and responsible for overseeing all activities related to the watershed programme in that area.

 

Skarchen was made a PIA for the watershed programme in 2000, and assigned for responsibility in implementing in Nubra stretched from Chamshen to Tangyar-digger and Disket to Thang Turtuk.

 

As part of our watershed related work, we have undertaken numerous responsibilities that can broadly be classifed into three categories:

• Construction Works: There is an abundance of land available in Nubra that can be used for profitable farming. However, the lack of irrigation facilities in the area restricts local residents from making full use of the natural bounty they have been blessed with. To resolve this problem Skarchen constructed numerous irrigation channels, water harvesting tanks, artificial glaciers etc. Apart from this Skarchen undertook several other kinds of construction jobs like, soil protection bunds, compound walls, plantation etc. ultimately to development the land through bringing in use of barren land and natural resources.

   

• Training Local People: The first step towards a successful watershed development programme is the Participatory Rural Appraisal exercise (PRA). In brief, a PRA exercise is a session where all the members in a particular village assemble and then decide by consensus on the most urgent development requirements of their village.

   

  Skarchen organized PRA exercises on a regular basis in all villages, which helps villagers a greater sense of control over their surroundings and train them in making the best use of resources available in their vicinity. And also train members of village watershed development committees in subjects such as book keeping, accountancy and computers, utilization and conservation of natural resources

   

• Women's Empowerment: In order to give women a greater role to play in their societies, the first step that we take is to try and make them economically self-reliant through formation of Self Help Group. To do this, we help women form SHGs (Women Self Help Group) by female literacy programmes, organizing exposure tours to develop confidence, encouraging to start off entrepreneurial ventures, training on book keeping and accounting, etc.

   

• Education Programme: We started working in the field of children's education in Nubra in 1997. one of the principle measures that we adopted in this connection was Mother's Day Celebration which to create a platform to bring discuss matters related to education, role and responsible of parents, teacher and students, to bring awareness about the importance of education. Skarchen also organized Teacher Training in collaboration with Education department and NGOs to improve the quality of education. We also organized free winter coaching classes in most of the villages of Nubra, organized several campaign for women's education, VEC Training (Village Education Committee) (introduce by SECMOL), CCVD (Children's Committees for Village Development introduce by SCF-UK (NGO).

   

• Agriculture and Farmers: Most farmers in Nubra are not well aware of modern agricultural techniques such as trench cultivation, compost making, mulching etc. Skarchen took the responsibility of providing farmers with lessons in modern farming techniques so as to make their work more productive and economically rewarding. As part of this initiative, we have held large numbers of training sessions with the local farmers. Today farmers in Nubra are able to grow vegetables in the winter season.

 

Income generating activities for rural people in cold desert areas of Western Himalayas

GERES a French NGO working in Ladakh since 1986 on Income generating activities, like Green House, Poultry Farm, Wool Transformation, Fruit Processing and Micro Hydel Power Unit. The aim of this project is to improve the livelihood of Ladakhi population.

 

Skarchen Org has been selected as proximity NGO to carryout/implement income generating activities of 5 years project in Nubra. The project started in 2005 and introduce improved green house, in 3 villages, fruit processing in one village -Chamshen, wool transformation in Kahdong and Micro Hydel Power Unit in Diggar for the first time in Nubra, which are proved to be success at the ground level.

The activities are growing by year and at present there are 12 Green House has been constructed, One Fruit processing Unit in Chamshen village with basic equipment and infrastructure, Three women SHG on Wool transformation in Khardong village producing varities of woolen product and Micro Hydel Power Unit in Diggar which is under well running. Presently Skarchen is focusing more on Fruit Processing and Wool Transformation because these activities need more inputs monitoring and time and which is more sustainable in regarding of available natural resources. Our coming year plan is to construct about 15 more Green House according to feasible, and interest of the beneficiaries.

Skarchen Started working on Green House in the year 2005.

Initiated with the introduction of 'Improved Green House' it's use, efficiency and maintenance to the local population. This kind of design was introduced for the first in Nubra. Later on surveyed to findout the feasible potential and interest of the people and constructed 7 Green House in the first Year i.e., 2005-2006, covering 3 villages. As it was our initiative we felt it is a good start to begin with. When people are started understanding the importance of Green House and the positive aspect of the Improved Green House and also the positive respond and commend from the Green House beneficiaries, we look forward to construct more Green House covering all the villages as much as possible where these Green House can be planted.