Last April, people in the village of Manjhagawan gathered to meet our India director, Shamsul Akhtar to decide how to irrigate their fields in the dry season.
They decided that we should construct a pond and two irrigation canals together. Seven months later, the irrigation system was in place, just in time for the start of the dry season. Thanks to your donations, Karuna-Shechen has funded 50% of the project as part of our rural community support initiative: small money, Big Change.
Villagers with Shamsul Akhtar, our India director
In this isolated area, over 70km from Bodhgaya, during the monsoon season (June-September), families grow rice that they harvest in November. From December, the beginning of the dry season, farmers grow wheat and mustard. Until now, the harvest has been small because there was no irrigation system. Five small rural communities will benefit from this newly constructed pond — nearly 5,000 people! “It will be good for everyone and allow us to produce more during the dry season,” says Rajo, one of the oldest women in the village.
Rajo, the village elder, shows the project monitoring chart
Our Approach to Community Development
We involve the villagers in every step. For the village of Manjhagawan, a committee made up of 7 women and 6 men coordinated the project. We subsidized 50%, and the villagers financed the rest. Each family contributed to a special savings account and two villagers, with the support of a Karuna-Shechen coordinator, kept track of the finances.
Our goal is to improve the daily lives of villagers, without creating dependency on outside help. Through our small money, Big Change initiative, we teach financial transparency to communities, while strengthening their sense of responsibility. The villagers feel proud to show the accounts, accurate to the penny, and the daily monitoring chart of the project.
The village of Manjhagawan also benefits from the following projects:
Mobile medical clinic (since 2014)
Creation of organic vegetable gardens (since 2016)
Mobile veterinary clinic (since the beginning of 2017)
Literacy course for women (since the beginning of 2017)
From Rennes to Kharsa: a collaborative project
The beginnings of the project
Karuna-Shechen aims to reveal the altruistic potential of individuals, groups and communities. At the beginning of 2021...
For a year now, Karuna-Shechen has been present in the Ruby Valley in Nepal, in order to develop educational, economic and agricultural programmes to meet local challenges. Thanks to the opening of of...
We believe that education is a tool for development, which should also help everyone to cultivate their inner qualities. Indeed, Early Childhood Development (ECD) is a major axis of intervention for K...
This year, all the donations collected by Action For Karuna finance our food security program in India which supports more than 53,000 families: organic vegetable gardens, fruit trees, drip irrigati...
"When altruists join forces, they can generate a tremendous power for good. (...) Everyone can mobilize in his or her own way and cultivate an altruistic state of mind to become a link in the immense ...
Meet the villagers, our team, and all those who make our work possible. Discover the values that guide and inspire us. And learn how your generous support improves the living conditions of 250,000 peo...