Sahjeevan Information

Sahjeevan, literally sah- together jeevan- living, was initiated as a response to the support needs being articulated by the rural women's movement that was being led by Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan in the early nineties in Kutch. The women wanted to address the numerous issues of drought, migration, water and fodder shortage, falling productivity in their traditional occupations of agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries and later the loss of resources and land to industrialization. Therefore, Sahjeevan, from its inception developed a strong gender perspective on natural resources. Our professionals also learnt and developed pedagogy of learning from and respecting traditional wisdom. After a decade of action research and developing models with the women collectives, Sahjeevan along with some other organizations actively participated in establishing and strengthening a network under the umbrella of Kutch Nav Nirman Abhiyan. This helped Sahjeevan upscale the solutions developed with the rural women and dovetail the learning's of some other organizations in the district. Sahjeevan provides leadership to the Drought Proofing Program, coordinated by Abhiyan. In 1996 with an accelerated industrialization in the district, came the problems of competition on natural resources and destruction of flora and fauna. Sahjeevan encouraged a debate on the form of industrialization through a platform called the Forum for Planned Industrialization. This network went on to question several projects, and support several villages to protect their water, land, grasslands and mangroves. The Forum also developed a framework including a land use plan for planned industrialization. After the earthquake in 2001, in collaboration with Abhiyan, Sahjeevan set up a new organization, Hunnarshala Foundation. Hunnarshala specializes in community driven housing and introducing green technologies, like earth walling and sewerage recycling. As specialists in this field, they have facilitated over 20000 homes in India and abroad. They also ...