The Krishnagiri Development Project (KDP) is an integrated community development project being implemented by the Faizal and Shabana Foundation in the Ennegollu Gram Panchayat 1, in Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one among the backward Panchayats and consists of eight villages. Supported by the Faizal and Shabana Foundation, KDP is implemented by a team of professionals from the Development Promotion Group.
Reaching out at the family level, the goal of the project is to enhance the quality of life for the community. The focus is on education, health, sustainable livelihood, and youth development. Women, children and youth are the key target of this social intervention programmme.
KDP’s major objectives include:
- Improving quality and access to drinking water and sanitation to ensure the safety, health and security of the women and adolescent girls in the project areas by the year 2020.
- Facilitating farmers’ exposure to sustainable agriculture and animal husbandry methods and tools.
- Equipping the micro-level institutions with better management and lobbying practices, increasing access to government schemes for SHGs, women, children, farmers and others.
Empowering women is a critical area of intervention. Various activities are carried out to action positive change, including awareness campaigns on health (specifically reproductive health) and programmes highlight gender equality, women’s legal rights and skill development. Vocational training is also a key strategy used by us to empower women. For instance, we periodically offer a six-month tailoring course which also covers embroidery and creative designing for flower vases and wire baskets. The course has been well-received, with 55 women participating in the second batch, which is currently in progress.
The program now in its second year continues to expand and has been very beneficially in developing the Ennegollu Gram Panchayat.