Sector: Food and Nutrition

Proposal
Creation of the Society for Women And Rural Agricultural Jubilation
(SWARAJ) which shall serve as a parent body for establishment of
Cooperative Units engaged in employing women for the purpose of providing
daily food and nutrition in primary and secondary schools.
Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!
-Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Swaraj means ones right to be governed by oneself. It is the pillar upon which
our country was established. It emphasizes independence, sacred to every
human being. In 2004, the Government of India ambitiously implemented the
Midday Meal Scheme. The purpose of the scheme was to attract children to
schools by providing them nutritious food prepared by local self-help groups
called Anganwadis. Sadly, the words nutritious and local self-help groups
have been repressed and, instead, private contractors (not Anganwadis) have
been delegated the responsibility to produce (unhealthy) food. SWARAJ aims
to shift the focus from this factory-style eatables production to the preparation
of nutritious food by empowered self-help groups lead by equally empowered
women.
48% of Indias population comprises women. However, a meager 25%1 of all
women of working age are actively employed. Many are dependent on their
spouse for basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing. This despondent
statistic demonstrates how over 36% of Indias potential workforce is lost. Lost,
not due to lack of skill, but because of the inability of society to harness the
capabilities and skills that women possess.

Synopsis
The vision of SWARAJ is to set up fully functioning self-help groups in
villages across India to prepare the food required. To fulfill our vision, we will
need to establish Cooperative Units for Rural Education (CURE). Each CURE
will be constituted by women belonging to the local village and therefore it
shall open an array of opportunities for women to earn a livelihood and lead an
independent and self sustained life.

1(Ministry of Women and Child Development, India, 2007) [approx. 25%]

The basic requirement of each such unit shall be a small structure in the form of a
building composed of a kitchen, a room attached and a washroom. Such a
building would occupy roughly 500 square feet, further more, we need to
incorporate sheltered courtyards where the women in the villages can gather and
discuss education related and general problems to find viable solutions through
collective action. Utensils for food preparation shall be procured from the local
market. Grains and vegetables required shall be obtained through documented
wholesalers at the least possible cost. In order to develop a self-sustaining model,
it is important to make sure that every article provided is properly maintained and
there is regular supply of raw materials.
Training provided by the Society for Women And Agriculture Jubilation
(SWARAJ) shall be two-fold:
Firstly, SWARAJ volunteers shall train the local women with cost-effective
methods of cooking nutritious food. This training shall be a month long process.
They shall be taught about basic health and hygiene over the course of the
training. The objectives of this training shall be as follows:
i. To teach the members means of procuring grains and vegetables at reasonable
rates from the local markets and to manage such inventory purchased efficiently
ensuring that the consumables are stored in a suitable fashion and do not perish
due to mismanagement
ii. To enlighten the members of the CURE with hygienic cooking techniques so
as to ensure that the food is free of harmful and disease causing substances
iii. To educate the members with food preparation methods so that wholesome
food is cooked efficiently. They shall be educated about the nutritional qualities
of various food substances forming an essential part of a child's diet
iv. To explain methods of converting water to potable form ensuring every child
receives safe drinking water
Secondly, SWARAJ shall train the women members with basic knowledge about
the education received by their children and general practical knowledge as
follows:
i. The importance of washing fruits/vegetables before direct consumption has to
be stressed upon
ii. Consuming food with unwashed hands gives rise to H1N1 virus and myriad
other life threatening germs that have been known to cripple mankind. Awareness
of incorporating use of soap and sanitizers has to be instilled in women, in
general and children, in particular.
iii. To make women aware of various vaccines that have to be administered to
babies in order to combat deadly diseases and viruses.

iv. To create awareness about supplementary nutrition that has to be provided to

children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years and to pregnant/lactating
mothers.
v. To teach modern agricultural techniques so as to increase crop yield. This
includes educating women about methods of apiculture (bee-keeping), vermicomposting and other means of organic farming
Our 2-fold program aligns with our Prime Ministers vision and commitment to
providing quality education for children and skill development for women, in the
entire country with a prime mission statement that,
Educated children and empowered women will eradicate poverty and
malnutrition, and make a prosperous nation

Feasibility of the Project

This part of the report serves as the feasibility study of SWARAJ. Its purpose is
to act as yardstick for the decision to launch this venture, its financing
requirements in order to initiate the activities, and as touchstone in the
development of our cooperative units (CURE). The document is supported by
its annexures, which contain the research, information and plans on which this
document is based.
Project Description and Objectives:
SWARAJ- Society for Women and Rural Agricultural Jubilation, is primarily a
parent body for setting up Cooperative Units of Rural Education (CURE) in
rural areas. The model is built around two main contructives i.e., Women and
Children. We at SWARAJ will train Women to prepare hygienic and nourished
food for children as a part of the mid day meal scheme, on which primary
education thrives today. Women, for the betterment of children at our units,
will also take up myriad development and sustenance activities.
Stake Holders:
Our project is basically a two-fold model. Firstly, we want to provide children
with hygienic and nutritious food, which will mandatorily be made with good
quality raw materials. Secondly, we plan to rope in rural unemployed women to
produce this food indigenously and create private entrepreneurs from the foray.
Hence, women and children will be our prime stakeholders.
Government, Local self-help groups, rural public and social activists will also
be indirectly affected by our activities and constitute the secondary
stakeholders.

Funding Requirements:
Funding is another important point of keen consideration. We are not a profit
making institution; we majorly rely on activists, government funding, NGOs or
public-private participation to carry out our activities. As it is a self sustaining
model, itll not be possible to determine exact funding requirements, but a fair
estimate has been given in Table 2, which has been enclosed with this
document. Major funding will be used for the following:
Table 1
Particular

Brief Description
Prepare food/ Conduct Classes
Refreshment purposes
Discussion purposes
Cooking food
Raw materials

Rooms
Toilets/Washrooms
Courtyard
Utensils
Fruits/vegetables
Refer to Table 2 for fair estimates.

Table 2

Estimated Cost per month

Particulars

Rs.

Rs.

Fixed Costs
Rent [600 square feet]
Depreciation on Assets 10%[Table 3]

3000
24500 27000

Variable Costs
6000 Meals for 25 days of School per month

26940

Training Cost (Rs. 10000 per trainer)

Labour charges paid to Women volunteers (20% of variable
expenses)

20000

Total Expenses per month

11735 58675
85675

Assets Required
Table 3
Assets Required
Particulars

Rs.

Building

200000

Utensils

20000

Stationery

10000

Furniture

15000

Total

245000

Cost per child per school day

Table 4
Revised Cooking cost per child per school day
w.e.f. 1.07.2014
Stage

Total Cost

Primary

3.59

Upper Primary

5.38

Average

4.49

Source: http://mdm.nic.in/Meal%20Provision.html

SWARAJ Strategy
Theory of Change: We aim to cultivate and incorporate the ideals of hygiene
and nutrition among children and women, which would ultimately lead to an
enhancement of childrens academic and intellectual prowess. We will do that
by articulating intermediate and ultimate results.
Sustainability Strategy: CURE is built on a model, which echoes selfsustenance. It revolves around women and their capacity to work for the
betterment of their children. We have not yet planned a stipulate duration of
maturity, but itll be able to sustain itself without digressing from its core
principals in the near future.
Resource Strategy:
1. Land: Land will be bought at subsidized rates from the government or as
donation from private entrepreneurs.
2. Labour: Women will be responsible for cooking the food and managing raw
materials.
3. Capital: Government grants, NGO participation and Social activism will be
our primary source of funding.
4. Leader: We at SWARAJ, will be the pivot around which this model will
function. Our CURE units will bring land, labour and capital under one roof.
Operational trade-offs and Risks involved: Convincing local women to take
up initiatives and breaking the age-old stereotype of women unemployment will
be difficult to conquer. We however, are optimistic that with changing times
and proper counseling we will be able to overcome this barrier.
SWOT Analysis
1. Strengths: Women Empowerment oriented model, determination of
volunteers, ability to adapt and set up Cooperative Units that suit the needs
of each village, ambition to provide better quality food, shifting focus from
factory style eatables production to preparation of nutritious food
2. Weaknesses: Difficulty in mass production, difficulty associated with
formation of local self help groups
3. Opportunities: 638000 villages exist in India and over 80% of them lack
the system of local self-help groups, government grants to organizations
engaged in distribution of midday meals, desire for improvement in
nutritional conditions across the nation

4. Threats: Resistance from local communities, non-participation by local

government officials, preference of private contractors, corruption at the
grass root level

Conclusion
SWARAJ aims to propagate the concept of sustainable development through
creation of Cooperative Units. It aims to provide employment and
empowerment to women, and at the same time ensure the future of this
country in the form of children is well nourished. We are optimistic that the
model will be well accepted by the local communities and each village will be
transformed into an ideal village or as Shri Narendra Modi puts it
Adarsh Gram.