Voices of the Adivasi women
National Consultation on Adivasi Women, Forests and Livelihoods was held from May 16th to 18th in Keystone Foundation Campus. Dhaatri and Keystone Foundation took the lead of the event along with other partners. This consultation, aimed at bringing together several Adivasi women’s rights groups to reflect, envision and explore the multiple forms of strategic advocacy […]
Consultation on Community-based Knowledge Discourses in Nilambur
Earlier this month, on the 11th and 12th of May, a community consultation was organised by the People and Nature Collectives Nilambur team in association with Thoduve Community Foundation, an organisation run by the indigenous communities of Nilambur. Led by Syamjith Palakkayam, Suresh Pulimunda, Sumitra Pattakarimbu, Vyshanth Pookkottampadam and Babu Vaniyampuzha, our community-based researchers in […]
It’s Mental Health Awareness month!
WHO defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”, and Mental well-being becomes the pathway to achieve that. At Keystone Foundation, our focus on preventive health mandates Mental health to be in the forefront for our work with the communities. Apart from […]
Seventh Week – Ecology
The final week of NFLC was about Ecology. The week started off with a CBE where the students each drew their environments, including trees, birds, water sources, and animals. These drawings and the vocabulary words attached to them created an overview for students to practice in English and Tamil language classes. The first session introduced […]
Sixth Week – Water and Waste
Week 6 of the NFLC program was a mix of Zoom classes taught by Neema Kudva from Cornell University, and field work. The topics discussed were water and waste, and the structure of this week was such that the theory learned was applied almost immediately to practice creating an all-round learning experience. The first day […]
Fifth Week – Governance, and Trade & Markets
Week 5 of the NFLC program was packed with two complex and extremely important topics: governance, and trade & markets. The week kicked off with a cross boundary exercise which involved students reflecting on their own lives in terms of what governs and influences them. Answers to this question were varied and ranged from values […]
Third Week – NFLC program on gender
While week 3 of the NFLC program focused mainly on gender, the week kicked off with a the NBR bus ride, a field trip to Satyamangalam Tiger Reserve. On this field trip, students visited a museum, an Elephant training center, and a Kota village. The first day of studying and discussing gender commenced with a […]
Nutritional Gardens in Nilambur
Nutritional Gardens have been an important intervention since the pandemic occurred. Through this intervention Indigenous communities in the Nilambur valley have had access to nutritious food right from their backyard.
Intertwined relationship between biodiversity, bees, people, food and markets
“Our lives and culture are always intertwined with these bees.”- quote by Mudhan – a honey hunter from the Irula community in Masinagudi – in a scroll article published in March 2020. Photo by Chadrasekar Das The article was published on grass-root organizations that are working with locals to help preserve traditional practices. Justin Raj- […]
Rejuvenating the Massakal stream through community participation
As part of one of the ways to reduce negative interactions between humans and wildlife, the Massakal stream was cleaned of invasive plants. Overgrown invasive plants serve as ideal resting spots for wildlife like sloth bears, wild boar and gaur. Moreover, these areas have become informal dumping areas for garbage-serving the purpose of out of […]
