5 trained women. 30 villages untouched by urbanisation.
The impacts of changing climate caused by human activities are becoming visible the world over. In India, rural areas are getting affected with impact on agriculture and rural economy. Information is power and Rural Climate Fellows is a project to provide information through films, posters and discussion on Climate Change to the villages in a district where modern development has not reached yet.
We have launched a project with support from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to train 5 women as Climate Fellows from the district of Chhatarpur, north-east part of Madhya Pradesh who will go to 30 villages in the block of Bijawar to disseminate information on Climate Change and its impact on their livelihood. The Climate Fellows have been trained on the issue and are continuously doing research to learn more. The aim of the project is to enable village residents to use the information on Climate Change, Panchayati Raj, government schemes and infrastructure to solve the issues they are facing.
The villages have never seen any development work and have no access to electricity or mobile networks. Located amongst the hills and lakes of Bundelkhand, it is a scenic place but facing issues of water scarcity, low literacy, sanitation and extreme poverty. Our field office is located near the palace of Maharaja Govind Singh and 65 kms from Panna National Park.
The Rural Climate Fellows have begun organising meetings in the villages of Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh to create awareness on climate change, the issues faced by them such as water scarcity, low farm produce, women's role in village economy, the schemes started by the government which they can use, etc. The first meeting saw a very good response and here a few pictures.
