DEVELOPING VILLAGES WITH URBAN DISCARDS

Last month I came across a Delhi-based NGO named Goonj which literally means echo that is using discarded urban products to motivate the country's rural population to improve their lives by building roads, bridges and schools without waiting for the authorities to act in return of discarded clothes, stationery, shoes etc collected from urban cities.

The NGO, which began with just 67 pieces of clothes collected by founder members - Anshu Gupta and his wife Meenakshi - today has 11 offices in 21 states and 300 employees across India. It annually transfers over 1,000 tonnes of used clothes, household goods and other essential items from cities to villages.

Goonj has launched a number of initiatives over the years and one of the most popular is the 'Cloth for Work' wherein people living in rural areas are encouraged to undertake community service like digging wells and making roads and bridges, among others, in return for not money but clothes.

However, only washed and clean clothes, woolens, blankets, footwear and the like are given to people without compromising their dignity.

The model that has helped set up schools, water-tanks, roads, bridges et al in several villages all over India came as a blessing for 48-year-old Utara Pardar, a resident of Mandla village in Madhya Pradesh, who wanted to teach poor children in her village.

A teacher by profession, Pardar had managed to get a piece of land from the authorities in the village but had no money or resources to build a school. That's when Goonj came to her rescue by sending a truck full of clothes that lured many locals who came forward to construct the school that has so far taught hundreds of local children since 2008.

While Goonj encourages people to donate clothes that are clean and in one piece, Gupta admits that a lot of dresses or fabrics are soiled and torn.

However, the NGO has found an innovative way to also deal with this.

The torn clothes or shreds are used to make clutch bags, handbags, mobile pouches, pen stands and even sanitary napkins at their Sarita Vihar workshop in south Delhi that employs around 40 people.

The products are sold either online or through the NGO's offices.

In fact, making affordable sanitary napkins under the 'Not Just a Piece of Cloth' campaign is one of the pet projects of Anshu Gupta, who observed that in villages and slums, women and girls have poor menstrual hygiene.

And the good news is that the donations and contributions from people and corporates are rising "exponentially".