SCAD

This thriving NGO was established in 1985 by an extraordinary man called Cletus Babu,and a small group of friends, who committed themselves to freeing some of India’s poorest and most neglected people from a life of grinding poverty, debt and hopelessness.

Their initial vision was to provide education in remote rural communities so that people could become economically self-sufficient and inspired to help themselves. Having begun in one tiny village, SCAD now supports 350,000 people in 414 villages, through projects that cover five key areas of development: education, health, community,agriculture and animal husbandry.

‘Reaching the unreachable’

Low caste Harijans, agricultural workers,snake catchers, gypsies, tree climbers, salt pan workers, the elderly, children who are disabled, people with leprosy - SCAD’s hallmark is that it reaches out to those who have been forgotten, left behind or rejected by society. Not that long ago, a child in the area who was crippled by polio or who had learning difficulties would have been hidden away or left to die. Now SCAD has built special schools to provide the help these children need.

School places for all

Life has been transformed for many able children too. Twenty years ago only one in ten village children had the chance to go to school – the rest had to work or help look after the household. Today, nine out of ten children in the region are in full time education: over 14,000 children are enrolled in 168 village schools, 145 special tuition centres and 122 infant schools. Meanwhile, over 7,000 students attend secondary schools and higher education colleges, also built and funded by SCAD. With an education and skills many have the chance of a brighter future for themselves and their communities.

Clean water, fresh hope

Clean drinking water has such an enormous impact on people’s health and quality of life that improving water supplies has become another essential area of SCAD’s work. This can involve digging new wells for villages and improving reservoirs – or simply enabling schools to gather rainwater in a harvesting tank for the children to drink.

   

Working towards self-sufficiency

At the heart of SCAD’s work are the 2,500 Women’s Self Help Groups that have given women a voice in their communities for the first time. By encouraging the groups to save, small micro-credit schemes have sprung up to help break the cycle of debt that burdens so many. Families can now borrow money from the group at low interest rates to buy a cow, provide milk for themselves and other villagers and generate a small income. When the loans are repaid the money is then lent to others and so a positive cycle of self-sufficiency grows.

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