Biodiversity Convention: Seed, Soil & Millets

Babita Singh

I am the fourth sister of five in my family. I have always had an interest for stitching and making clothes. Before I heard about the MAST project I was helping my mother with the daily work around the house and taking care of our farm. One day MVDA staff in the village told me about the MAST course where I could learn both stitching and design during a three month course. The course was very good because we normally don’t have that opportunity here to meet a designer a teacher, and have different kind of activity and material to work with. Before taking the course I knew maybe 5% of what I know now. I was even able to work in the production centre while taking the course so I was earning at the same time as I was learning.

Now, I have my own shop and centre where I sell my products and train other girls. After the course I could use the money I had saved from my time in the centre to pay the rent for my shop and centre.

So far I have trained 10 girls in 8 months. I want these girls to have the opportunity to be independent and earn so that they can continue their studies. I feel really good because that is what I am doing now. I am earning for myself so that I can help my mother economically and continue my studies at a distance. I am currently studying my BA in political science & history and I am planning to continue with higher education after graduation. The work of MVDA is good because they benefit the women here by giving them the opportunities we did not have before.

Our partners

Network Partner

Our partners

Mission Partner

Actionaid
Ajivika
American Indian Foundation
Bioversity International
EdelGive Foundation
Enduring Value
Global Environment Facility
Grow Fund
Himmotthan
ICAR
IFAD
Iimpact
IM-Swedish Development
India-Global Social Service Society
International Livestock Research Institute
LIC HFL
National Bank For Agriculture and Rural Development
Organic Uttarakhand
OXFAM Hong Kong
OXFAM India
People’s Science Institute
Room to read
SOIR-IM
Tata – Leadership with  us
Tata Trusts
Uttarakhand Seva Nidhi Paryavaran Shiksha Sansthan
World Food Programme