Week 4 turned the lens on livelihoods in the Nilgiris – the past and the changing trends of the present. While the Cornell students predominantly saw white collar jobs and professions as livelihood options, the Nilgiris students said it was more rooted in the land, even in these times of quick transition. Exercises and sessions introduced the students to the ideas of sustainability and how to assess/ monitor livelihood interventions using frameworks such as the sustainable livelihood framework. A couple of students were under the weather over the week and had to take some time off to recover. The Aadhimalai visit gave them an idea of how local initiatives that give the power back to the people, all the way from the decision making to the production and sales can be empowering while still remaining viable for the market.
The enterprise session had a fun and interactive session on markets and barter – times past and present. The students thoroughly enjoyed their role playing as customers to a local market (setup in class) where they were introduced to many of the local produce, their local names, cultural norms and uses, to name a few. Other sessions on enterprise covered processes and values relating to LFE (Last Forest Enterprises) such as supply chain management, fair trade and PGS (participatory guarantee system). The week ended with the students making a sumptuous evening snack for all, at the canteen with local ingredients under the focus of slow food.
By Sharadha Ramadass
