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A Jar Full of Coins and a Family’s life transformed for Ever

With the coins this kind donor found in a large jar in his home, he sponsored a cow for one of our impoverished mothers. Nandri provided the mother with a micro finance loan enabling her to buy the cow which will give her family food, in the form of dairy products, an income from the products she can sell and in the future, a calf which will further boost the income of the family. Because of the increase in income, the children will be able to afford to continue their education. What a difference a cow makes in the lives of our poor families. This mother will never forget how a jar full of coins changed her life.

Our generous donor called his cow Aideen after a family member!  What would you name your cow?

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Nandri CHild Resource Centres Changing the Lives of our Little Ones

Nandri has set up 10 child resource centres to cater for the overall support and development of our children.  All of these centres are looked after by remedial teachers appointed from the local villages.  Children come to these

The joy of learning in Nandri Resource Centre

centres after school and start their evenings with some traditional fun games in order to relax after their long days of learning at school.   Their evening studies are supervised by the teachers, who help them with their homework,  practice reading and writing skills, and also organise singing and dancing classes which the children thoroughly enjoy!

In this wonderfully positive atmosphere, the children’s education, talents and overall well being is being nurtured.  I

Early learning building life skills

was privileged to visit one of these centres in January, and enjoyed seeing their school work and a wonderful display of singing and dancing from the most happy, smiling little people.  It was a joy to see.

As most of the parents of Nandri’s  children are uneducated, they would be unable to help  their sons and daughters with their school work.  They are so grateful to Nandri Resource Centres for ensuring the very best for their children.  They see the difference it makes in their school grades and how happy the children are to participate in the after school programmes

Nandri Resource Centres are helping the future generations of Nandri families fulfill their dreams and escape poverty through education.

 

 

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Nandri Centre Bringing Laughter Joy and Happiness To Our Children

Nandri children having fun!

The Nandri Foundation is committed to the education and development of our children. All our activities are carefully designed to protect and promote the best interests of the child.   An important  part of that is insuring that our young people learn how to play together and have fun!  In the Nandri Centre, we have set up a playground for the children with lots of equipment that they can enjoy after they spend time in educational classes. Towards the end of their day, the children are so excited to go outside and the sound of their laughter fills the air!  It gives them a chance to forget their difficult empoverished lives and just be children having fun with their friends.  After a recent training programme for local children, you could feel the excitement in the air as the day came to an end and they could finally run to the playground!   In the words of  Jerald, our Chief Operating Officer  “The children forget everything and they are in their own world.  The campus is filled with laughter, joy and happiness”.  When the evening came to a close, the children were sad to tear themselves away from the playground and  leave –  but the Nandri centre will always be a place that our young people will remember with love, a place of positivity, education  and fun and they will long to return time and time again.  

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Nandri Micro Loans Continue to Change Lives

 

In July, 52 Nandri mothers received life changing micro finance loans which would help them start their own business or give them the finance to send their children to third level education.   This programme gives a lifeline to our impoverished mothers and their families.   As the mothers pay back their loans each month, these repayments enable us to lend to more than 50 new mothers the following month.    The cycle of success of our micro finance loans continues to grow and flourish bringing hope and a future to new families each month.  NANDRI,  changing lives.

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International Women’s Day

Nandri.org is very proud to join women all over the globe who come together today to celebrate International Women’s Day with a voice of unity.  Acknowledging this special day and the women who lead the charge when it comes to giving the not so fortunate voices of the world a chance to be heard to be one.

The Nandri ethos has always been simple, empowering women. How we achieve this is also simple, we support and encourage our members to be self sufficient. Through our self help groups, loan scheme’s, education and training programs.  Nandri has been providing, nurturing and supporting the women of rural, Southern India to strive for a better life for themselves and then in turn they support their families and the wider communities in Tamil Nadu.

Nandri Mothers

Our Mothers Self-Help group is fundamental to our success. Nandri works with mothers groups at village level to administer loans. The income generated helps the mother keep children in education and provide for healthcare.

The earliest Women’s Day observance, called “National Woman’s Day,” was held on February 28, 1909 in New York.  It was organised by the Socialist Party of America at the suggestion of Theresa Malkiel who was an American labor activist, suffragist and educator. She was the first woman to rise from factory work to leadership in the Socialist party. Her 1910 novel, The Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker, is credited with helping to reform New York State labor laws.

In 2012 the UN theme for International Women’s Day was Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty.  In 2013 – time for action to end violence against women. In 2014 – Equality for women & it was declared that this would be progress for all!.

In 2016 The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukheriee, in his message issued on the eve of International Women’s Day said: “On the occasion of International Women’s Day, I extend warm greetings and good wishes to the women of India and thank them for their contributions over the years in the building of our nation.” The ministry of women and child development announced the setting up of four more one-stop crisis centre’s on March 8, in addition to the eight already functioning across the country. Ahead of Women’s Day, the national carrier Air India operated what it claimed to be the world’s longest non-stop flight where the entire flight operations were handled by women, as part of International Women’s Day celebrations. The flight, from Delhi to San Francisco, covered a distance of around 14,500 kilometres in around 17 hours.

This year the United Nations call for action is this “Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls is the unfinished business of our time, and the greatest human rights challenge in our world.”

— UN Secretary-General, António Guterres

The Nandri message remains simple today and every day, give women the tools to empower themselves. Women of the world we salute you!

The future of Nandri : Some of the young women who’s lives have changed through education.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Successful Microfinance Implementation

In 2012 we started our #micro-finance program. We provide 90% of the cost of purchasing a cow or sewing machine to impoverished mainly #Dalit mothers.  These women live in rural communities, generally without access to clean water or sanitation or power.

Mothers self-help groups are the important crux of these communities. We have over 3,000 mothers in our programs and each mother belongs to a mother’s self-help group . Each group consists of 15 to 20 members. The group meets each month. Each mother/member pays a small monthly subscription and an annual subscription. They each save Rs.100 (approx. $1.50) per month.  For many of them, this is a days’ wages.

All the members’ savings  are re-lent each month to members of their own group.  All loan decisions are made collectively by the group  and all decisions are carefully minuted and careful records are kept of subscriptions, loans borrowings, etc.  Each member has a passbook, which shows her subscriptions  loans and borrowings.

Our mothers proudly show off their passbooks and their record, particularly of savings. Each group manages its own savings and loans but Nandri manages the income generation micro finance program. A mother who wants a micro-finance loan has to apply through her group. Her group will decide if they think she is capable of repaying the loan. The group will guarantee her loan. This peer pressure has insured 99% repayment rate on over 1,500 loans to date.  This is a key factor in the success of our program.

Our impoverished Dalit mothers would not be normally be allowed inside a bank never mind get a loan. Loan interest rates in India could be 2% to 3% per month from a bank and treble that from money lenders.  We charge 1% interest per month on the reducing balance and this has become an important part of the revenue of Nandri to allow the program to continue indefinitely and to ensure the program is properly managed and maintained.  We have developed our own lending application within #Salesforce, which is a corporate level CRM system.

Most of the mothers purchase a cow with their loan and the immediate income from the sale of milk from the cow means they can repay the loan, while also having sufficient money left over for other family purchases and also milk for much-needed family nutrition. They will sell the male calves as Indians don’t generally eat beef. Female calves will go on to become a valuable mother.

Today we have a fund of Rs. 12 million or about $150,000.  $50,000 of this was provided in the form of a grant by #LCIF.    Repayments enable us to issue between 30 and 40 loans every month. The income, in the form of interest and subscriptions, from our mothers, ensures the long-term viability of this program.

Fred Crowe

 

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Microfinance works


Last month we handed out 35 loan cheques to mothers who will buy a cow. We also gave out 45 loans to mothers to fund their children’s third level education.

Since we started our micro finance program we have issued 1100 loans to our mothers in order for them to earn an income and to improve their overall living standard and to fund their children’s education. We have a 100% repayment rate and our loan book is now such that the repayments every month enable us to issue 25 new loans.

The mothers learn how to manage money, they earn the self respect of their family and their peers. They know that every repayment every month enables another mother to get closer to receiving her loan.

Over the last few years we have been changing the culture from one of our mothers receiving handouts to one of receiving loans. They are beginning to see the benefits of this.

A major benefit for us is our sponsors money is used more efficiently. The same euro is recycled time and time again

Many mothers join our programs in order to benefit from our child sponsorship program. (handout)

Our objective is that within three years of joining a mothers self help group a mother will receive a loan to purchase a cow.

The income she can learn from a cow is way above the handout we give in the form of child sponsorship. Increasingly also we are only including in our sponsorship program children of widows or from broken homes or single parents. We try to ensure that the money goes to those most needy.