In May 1994, Mari and Stan Thekaekara visited Britain to look at development work through the eyes of people addressing poverty issues in India. The visit was organised by Michael Norton, then at the
Directory of Social Change, and funded by the
Charities Advisory Trust. The report of the visit, "
Across the Geographical Divide" , was published by CIVA in 1995.
The organisation that Mari and Stan had founded, ACCORD, had encouraged tribal communities in the Nilgiri hills of South India to settle forest lands in order to claim land rights and to grow tea as an economic activity. In Easterhouse, Scotland, Stan and Mari looked at the endless cups of tea consumed and thought "
Why don't we send them our tea? We could cut out some fat cat middleman and start a small marketing and distributing business for the local people& Or ginger?" The ginger could come to Scotland and be made into chocolate ginger in Easterhouse! This would create value addition, income generation and a wonderful solidarity between two groups an entire continent apart. The scheme would be called "
Direct Links".
From this thought has emerged a programme in India that links consumers and producers, trading their produce amongst one another, so that sellers get a higher price and buyers pay a lower price. In addition,
Just Change is developing co-operative purchasing of rice, the main staple and biggest item of expenditure in any family's budget.
CIVA has worked with
Just Change to raise money in the UK and to develop an education pack for schools, published by
ActionAid in 2005. A second pack on how to set up and run your own tea company using tea provided by the Nilgiri tribal community is in preparation.
For latest information on the Just Change initiative:
Just Change India: www.justchangeindia.com
Just Change UK support group: www.justchangeuk.org
Also see:
AMN
Gudalur, the organization behind Just Change: www.adivasi.net
ActionAid's portrait of a tribal community: www.chembakolli.com
To order the Chembakolli tea pack: www.actionaid.org.uk
