Visit to Indian villages with Ekta Parishad: report of the last visit, planning of the next one

A group of 8 visitors from the CESCI Förderverein Zurich went to India (Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh) in November 2013 to gain some insights about the village situation on the ground, and how to best support, from a European perspective, the « Back to villages » strategy defined by Ekta Parishad in December 2012. After the two marches of Janadesh and Jan Satyagraha, the work of Ekta Parishad has diversified from mass mobilization to the inclusion of new targets : the support of livelihood means, the non-violent village economy project. This implies new activities, and new ways to support them.

The full report (available in German cesci-studienbericht.pdf) describes and illustrates the village visits, with a specific analysis of the empowerment and leadership levels, and concludes with recommendations on the possible ways to support the « Back to village » strategy from a European perspective. A synthesis of the report is also available in English synthesis_report_CESCI_villages_fall2013.pdf and French synthesis_report_CESCI_villages_fall2013_FR.pdf.

If you want to experience this kind of village visit, and through this get a better insight on how to best support Ekta Parishad's work, please contact Margrit Hugentobler hugentobler@arch.ethz.ch or Küde Meier k.meier@gmx.ch from CESCI Support Association, who are organising the next trip to India in fall 2014.