Village Service Trust has been working for more than 40 years to support marginalised people in their pursuit of lives free from poverty, violence and discrimination in Tamil Nadu, southern India. They work with three partners to provide stable, sensitive and responsive support to the most marginalised people such as Dalit women and children, tribal people, sexual minorities, migrant adolescents and women in prostitution and others. Taking a rights-based approach, they work with community based organisations (including children’s groups) and volunteers to support communities to claim and secure their basic rights and entitlements.
Following a successful pilot, we are now providing 3-year funding for the project which is run by Arogya Agam and works with Women Self-Help Groups in Palliar tribal villages in Dindigul District. These communities are severely disadvantaged and have very limited access to health facilities, schools, transport and basic village facilities. Rights to traditional forest livelihoods are denied and the community is exploited. Working with 31 village communities, the project will increase women’s development through self-help groups, improve children’s rights and opportunities, ensure access to maternal and child health services, provide basic village facilities and improve livelihoods.