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A story of determination: Kuchwadia Group

Kuchwadia is the name of a community residing in Nepalgunj for many years now. One of the most striking characteristics of this community is the situation of abject poverty that its members live in. Some of the members of this community have even resorted to begging just to eke out a living.

Although dispersed in various localities of Nepalgunj, the major concentration of this community is in Fultegra Tole of the municipality. Without any property of their own, Kuchwadia are indeed living lives full of struggles. Extremely shy of visitors and apprehensive about seeking any kind of outside help, Kuchwadia community represent a perfect example of as to where resources for development need to be targeted.

The traditional profession that the Kuchwadias used to engage in was to make sweeping and cleaning items from local raw materials, food storage tanks from bamboo products and making ropes out of jute - all utilizing local raw materials. As they are facing competition in other niches of product areas, they still are leveraging, to some extent, their skills in rope making in order to earn a living.
After the formation of TLO by the Programme in Fultegra, the members of this community have been organized into this TLO. Thanks to intensive community mobilization endeavours, the Kuchwadias now have shown keen interest in the Programme and have even found themselves in a position where they can articulate their needs that can be addressed by the Programme. Since their primary concern was poverty alleviation of their community, they discussed in detail the prospects of embarking in a group enterprise that offers the opportunity of leveraging their traditional skills in making ropes out of jute bought from hinterland areas in order to earn a living. They accordingly approached Nepalgunj SO for Programme support. The PDC after due deliberation over their request went ahead with the decision to support Kuchwadia enterprise group. Accordingly, credit and training support was provided to this group and they have been producing ropes of various kinds now.

These ropes are in high demand among rickshaw pullers, Tongawallas and local porters called Thelawallas in Nepalgunj area. By nature, Kuchwadias generally find it convenient to engage in barter trade - exchanging ropes that they make for wheat, paddy etc. This enterprise, even though small in size, has been a worthwhile endeavour in many ways. While it made it possible for some small farmers in the hinterland areas to be able to sell even small quantities of jute to the Kuchwadias which would otherwise have remained unsold as big trader will not have interest in small quantities, at the same time, it has provided the Kuchwadias with the opportunity to leverage their traditional skill to engage in income generating activities. More fundamental has been the impact the whole process has made on the Kuchwadia community. Kuchwadias feel empowered now and are in a position to make decision regarding the betterment of their community.