Support us

DHAN Foundation is glad to have a number of friends - individuals, institutions and corporates, supporting us in our venture to create a poverty-free, fair and just society. This has helped creating opportunities for institutions, philanthropist, foundations and corporate within India and abroad to meaningfully involve and contribute to development works. The experience has also been highly encouraging for us, as well – in enabling poverty reduction and empowering the poor communities. We thank our friends’ endearing support and partnership.

Institutions
Friends of DHAN

Our friends abroad – in Netherlands, Sweden, Canada and New Zealand had come together in their own unique way to extend a helping hand to support various activities of DHAN Foundation. They have formed, what is called, Friends of DHAN, with regional chapters in the respective country.

The Friends of DHAN Foundation supports the work of the DHAN Foundation, in the following areas of:

  • Education of disadvantaged children
  • Promoting activities for poverty reduction
  • Improving living conditions and health situation
  • Promoting understanding of the relationship between sustainable development, health, welfare, education and peace among the poor and marginal communities.

Friends of DHAN had been helping us to mobilise financial contribution to support our work; organize sales of products manufactured by the people from the Self-help groups; promoting endogenous tourism and rural/cultural immersion programmes organised by DHAN’s Tourism programme.

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Karunai Illam Trust, New Zealand

We are glad to partner with The Karunai Illam Trust-New Zealand founded under the aegis of Jean Watson. The trust support us in running a children home at Nilakottai in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu – now called as DHAN Karunai Illam. The Trust support us the Illam for the maintenance and education of these children from destitute families; DHAN manages the running of the home.

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Visit: Karuani Illaim Trust’s website

Genesis of DHAN Karunai Illam - a home for distressed children by Jean Watson

An autobiographical account of Jean’s involvement with the founding of the Illam: Karunai Illam: The Story of an Orphanage (1992)

Huguenin Rallapalli Foundation

We are glad to partner with Huguenin Rallapalli Foundation (HRF), in renovating ooranis in the drought prone districts of South India – Ramnad, Tuticorin and Madurai. HRF is a US-based non-profit organization founded by Mr.Krishna Rallapalli, NRI scientist in US and his wife Phillipine Rallapalli to promote development work in India. Formally, HRF Foundation has exchanged a Memorandum of Co-operation with DHAN in working together to solve the drinking water problems of rural India by renovating ooranis. Both HRF and DHAN believe that local solutions like renovating ooranis will be sustainable implemented with the involvement and ownership of the community. Seventy-five percent of the renovation cost was and is being funded by the HRF, while the remaining 25 percent is shared by the local community.

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NRI foundation to renovate ‘ooranis', The Hindu, July 4, 2010

More about the involvement of the HRF

Corporates
ITC Limited
Building a golden tomorrow with ITC

We are glad to partner with ITC under its Corporate Social Responsibility’s Mission Sunehara kal, meaning ‘the golden tomorrow’. Under this Mission-MSK, ITC was generous enough to provide financial assistance for the implementation of Tank-based watershed development project at Singampunari block of Sivagangai district, Tamil Nadu. MSK’s objective is to enhance socio-economic condition of the poor marginal farmers through participatory rehabilitation and management of traditional small-scale water bodies like tanks, ooranis (drinking water ponds) and improving agriculture. The project is being implemented in 34 villages of Singampunari block in three years.

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Facilitating ITC's corporate social responsibility

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)
HUL Celebrating 75 years of service

We are glad to partner with Hindustan Unilever Limited, as part of celebrating its 75 years in India in 2008, to enhance the livelihoods of 75,000 poor women. This initiative of poverty reduction was in line with HUL’s commitment to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals that call for partnership for sharing resources and expertise.

The partnership through local community mobilisers helped to identify 75,000 poor women from 75 self help groups (SHG) and federations promoted by DHAN Foundation on specific themes such as microfinance, water and rainfed farming. These women were from local communities living in rural, urban, tribal and coastal regions in three states: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The mobilisers helped the women to pool from their own savings or access resources from banks and also helped them identify activities based on skills and the local market potential.

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Livelihood of 75,000 women enhanced - The New Indian Express, September 24, 2009

 

Conserving traditional water bodies in drought-prone Gundar basin

We have also partnered with HUL launching a water conservation project in drought prone Gundar Basin. Along with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), this unique corporate-NGO-institutional partnership aims to renovate over 250 irrigation tanks with farmers’ participation in the drought prone Gundar Basin covering Madurai, Sivagangai, Virudunagar and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu. The project will directly benefit over 20,000 small and marginal farm families and thus contribute towards both environment as well as enhancing livelihoods. This project is based on a unique ‘Partnership model’. HUL will invest about Rs.5 crore of the project cost with equal contribution from NABARD. Other unique features of this project is that it would be implemented by organising farmers, landless labourers and women into an association at each tank level, who will also be contributing 10% of the renovation cost.

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HUL, Nabard-assisted tank renovation project launched - The Hindu, English, April 17, 2010

A development project to renovate tanks in Gundar basin - Dinamani, Tamil, April 16, 2010

A plan to renovate 250 tanks in Gundar basin - Dinakaran, Tamil, 16-Apr-2010

Linking of tanks in Gundar Basin - The New Indian Express, English, 16-Apr-2010

250 tanks, supply channels in Gundar basin to be renovated - The Hindu, English, 16-Apr-2010

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)
Mitigating drought with BP

We are glad to partner with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited to rehabilitate Govarnergiri chain of tanks in Ottapidaram Block of Tuticorin District. With the objective to mitigate drought in one of the driest districts of South India, DHAN received financial assistance from Oil Industry Development Board - Drought Relief Trust (OIDB-DRT). The project encompasses rehabilitation and maintenance of traditional water harvesting structures like tanks, ponds and ooranis for their sustainable use, watershed development, promoting safe drinking water, and agricultural productivity enhancement in tankfed and rainfed crop lands.