Sustenance for Self-Help Groups

Learning Space Foundation’s headquarters are at the Kelthan village, surrounded by several hamlets inhabited by rural communities. Among these communities, there are many self-help groups consisting of women who have collectively offered their skills in making local food stuffs from seasonal fruits and vegetables, raised loans to purchase farming equipment (e.g. tractors) rented out to farmers in their proximity, and organized local events with hosting and catering facilities. LSF has always liaised with these groups at their educational events, especially in and around Kelthan.  Every year the women of these self-help groups participate in a newspaper bag-making assignment (5000 bags) for distribution free of cost, at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park as a 'save ecology' measure undertaken by Vanashakti and the SGNP Management Board. Many individual designers of garments and bags from Mumbai and other cities have been encouraged to provide assignments to these groups over the last two years.