Step 1: Following the value-chain of milk

It all starts with a 6 hour train to Jaipur (Rajasthan). We are advised not to eat anything in the train, and we happily drink chai and read a case study that we think summarizes what we are about to see. We reach Jaipur late at night, and start our day early in the morning after some hours of sleep. Four hours later, we reach Tonk. In Tonk we meet with the Srijan team that is working on the area. All of the team members are men. All of these men are working to empower women. Where are the women? 

Dairy producers in Maitree's collection center

We start with the usual: a general overview of the project. Its mission, "to empower 100,000 rural poor families by increasing their annual income by Rs. 50,000 by 2020, through SRIJAN;s unique livelihoods cluster approach, and by enhancing their capacity to demand and access public resources they are entitled to". Its vision, "An Organization of Excellence recognized as a resource agency for developing and replicating unique and innovative community owned sustainable livelihoods models leading to dignity for all". Its current state: after four years in tonk yet have formed an important number of self help groups (SHG hereinafter). 

These SHG are made up of vulnerable women who have come a long way. They tell us that before joining the group they had no contact with anyone outside their household. They got permission from their husbands to participate because this gave the family the possibility of accessing a loan. After, they met wonderful women and felt safe and liberated by being able to talk without being judged. They helped each other grow every day even teaching each other to read. 

SHG meeting

This women have been trained in veterinary practices and help other SHG members and the community by providing vaccination for the cattle, giving advice regarding feeding practices, provide artificial insemination, etc. this helps women gain social standing in their communities while improving the livelihoods of their regions.

SHG member who has also been trained in veterinarian practices. Her daughter (on the back) plans to attain a college degree.

At the same time, they receive cattle which serves multiple purposes: One one hand, it is a source of income for the household, increasing the welfare of these vulnerable homes. On another hand, it also leads to economic empowerment of women in their households. 

Children with cattle bought with the grant given by the SHG

The women in Tonk realized that middle men that bought their unpasteurized milk and sold it to bigger players were getting much of the margin. Therefore, they created a company called Maitree that collected the milk and sold it. The profits were then divided among SHG members. Recently, they also saw that there was an unexploited market opportunity related to adding value to the milk with the production of pasteurized milk, cheese, etc. They bought a pasteurization plant which will start operating within the next few months.

Maitree's processing center (which will have the pausterization plant)

Vehicle to collect milk from farmers owned by Maitree