Changing lives in rural Garo Hills

Bakdil, an organisation promoted by the Catholic Church, has made a big impact in dealing with the humanitarian crisis. Bakdil has partnered with different stakeholders to facilitate economic and income generation activities among indigenous people of Garo Hills in Meghalaya.

In 1998, Bakdil promoted a self-help group (SHG) with the objective of ensuring socio-political and economic empowerment. Over the years, Bakdil, which was set up in 1971 during the Bangladesh liberation war, has encouraged saving habit among the SHGs and has linked them with different financial institutions. In the five districts of Garo Hills, Bakdil has formed over 815 SHGs.

 Pilina R Sangma, mother of six children of Doriapara village under Dalu Development Block in West Garo Hills, joined the SHG movement in 2005. Motivated by Bakdil, Pilina and 10 other members  began saving little from their earnings.  She has been eking out a living by engaging in different income generation activities, which revolve around poultry, piggery and dairy.

After rearing local breed of cows for  six years, she obtained a loan of Rs 2.7 lakh from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) this year for setting up a dairy unit. She is currently rearing Jersey breed. “Bakdil motivated us to form the SHG. I am earning about Rs 8,000 a month by selling milk and repaying the loan,” said Pilina.

Like Pilina, many others have taken up activities to improve their living standards.  Bakdil has demonstrated that rural households have the capacity to engage in micro livelihood activities provided they are given continuous, hand-holding and all-round support.

“We understand that it is extremely difficult for a rural household to develop livelihood activities without continuous hand-holding, which must include providing the whole support system linked to a livelihood activity,” said Fr Sunny Joseph Mavelil, director and secretary of Bakdil.

In 2013,  Bakdil launched Farm Northeast in South West Garo Hills, which lays thrust on livelihood and food security through multiple cropping. The project aided by CaritasIndia and NABARD has  benefited 20 villages. “We have formed farmers’ club and federations. Through them, we take decisions for economic activities,” said Jenon Ch Marak, village headman of Garagre.

In the last three years, more than 50,000 fruit-bearing sapling, including 20,000 mango and 15,000 litchi varieties, have been planted. The initiative is set to bring about a major transformation as farmers have been given an alternative and sustainable model of farming.

“The project has enabled creation of forums to act on their own. The farmers' clubs are forums for the community to come together as well as to link with government  departments. Once the community is empowered through information sharing, knowledge building and the methodologies, the communities begin to act on their own,” said Mavelil.

Assistance for projects
Out of 1,467 farmers in the project villages, 720 families have adopted sustainable agricultural practices, including use of organic manure. The farmers' federation has also purchased a pick-up van for transportation of local produces to different markets.  Today, villagers are approaching different financial institutions and government agencies for assistance to their projects.

 “The Horticulture, Agriculture and Watershed Department has released funds for different projects in our village,” said Barning G Sangma, secretary of farmers club in Garagre.  At Digligre village, the Border Area Development Department constructed a bridge after farmers convinced it on the need for it. In the absence of the bridge, children were facing a lot of difficulty during rainy season.

The organisation has also improved the health scenario of Garo Hills region by taking up the challenge to run five primary health centres (PHCs) in remote and inaccessible areas.  
In November 2008, Bakdil was asked to run five PHCs under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. The institutions were transferred to Bakdil in March 2009.
“The almost abandoned rural health facilities have come alive and are fully functional.

Proper planning and monitored implementation using culturally tailored methodologies actually have improved utilisation of health services,” said Mavelil.

Mavelil said the Bakdil team, comprising nuns, doctors and other staff, stay with the rural poor all through the year with minimal facilities and serve the villagers.  “The status of healthcare in the hilly terrain truly demands mission-mode intervention,” he said.
 “We have been motivated by the sisters to ensure that pregnant women come for institutional delivery. Many pregnant women were earlier reluctant because of communication barriers and absence of doctors. We have convinced villagers that the PHCs are run by sisters of Bakdil, who are available round-the-clock,” said Winalish Sangma, an Asha worker in the Upper Arai Apal village of Wageasi in North Garo Hills.

 The premises of the health centres are clean and people avail themselves of the services offered. In running the PHCs of Garo Hills, Bakdil has demonstrated that with conviction and courage anything is achievable. In the challenging scenario, Bakdil has proved to be an agent of change.