SHARE - Self Help Association for Rural Education and Employment

Project Brief: This is an after-school tutorial program for poor children in five villages/
Project Type: Tuition Centers (description)
Primary Focus: children of dalits/tribals (description)

Secondary Focus: dropouts

Area: Rural
Supporting Chapter Contact: Boston
Status: completed - requirements ended
Project Steward: Ranjini Reddy
Project Partner(s):
Other Contacts:
Project Address: , Mr. K. Murugesan, Project Co-ordinator (SHARE),33-A Christie Mathews Memorial Complex,T.B. Sanatorium P.O.,
TAMIL NADU  632 011
Tel: 91-0416-224018 / 223524 / 7030
Stewarding Chapter: Boston
Dec 1998BostonUSD 550
Dec 1997BostonUSD 825

Total = $1375

This is an after-school tutorial program for poor children in five villages. It is designed to improve their performance in school, encourage them to participate in village improvement, improve self confidence, discourage dropouts,improve awareness on sanitation and environment, encourage extracurricular activities, motivate children to keep up with current affairs, educate parents in social economic and health; and cultivate a spirit of national integration. The number of students has not been specified. However, in one center I visited last summer there were about 30, pretty equally divided between boys and girls.

SHARE was registered in 1991 but has been working under different registration (as a cooperative) in this area since the 1970s. SHARE has village handicraft production centers primarily palm and coir in 27 villages and employs over 800 women. It is a hybrid between a traditional handicraft producer cooperative and an activist organization. SHARE solicits orders for crafts, arrange for raw material, and provides advanced craft training, and comes up with new designs for crafts, which are produced in centers in each village(national and international sales are about 35 lakhs). In addition, through a combination of the organization's own profits and funds it raises from foreign groups, it offers other services, e.g. balwadis, scholarships, etc. It does a particularly impressive job of fostering leadership among the organization's members. The executive committee, composed entirely of craftwomen, plays a critical role in guiding the organization. The organization's leaders have gained such stature in the community that 9 have recently been elected to the panchayat raj.

SHARE has been active in income-generation schemes for women and their empowerment. The group has done exemplery work in promoting the handicraft producing cooperatives amongst several villages and fostering leadership amongst the village community.