Presentation

In a nutshell

Cheyyambakkam Association was founded in 1991 to support social, educational and development projects in South India in Tamil Nadu State. In order to ensure good local coordination and the involvement of the villagers concerned, our association founded APARA with a project manager who is native to the region and has been involved in the implementation of the projects since 1994. In collaboration with our local partner, we have supported projects in water access, road construction, education and community life development. In particular, we have set up a system of academic and extracurricular support in 4 villages (school sponsorship and supervised lesson centres).

The Association's commitment has developed in 2014, by providing support to other NGOs in Tamil Nadu whose objectives, actions and operations are in line with the Association's philosophy. Those associations are: Life Aid Center and Speed trust.

Values and objectives

Our commitment has always been based on the same axis: community action, development and education, with a view to equality and social justice, with the following objectives:

  • combat exclusion and precariousness by supporting projects for the most disadvantaged populations in Tamil Nadu, in particular children, women and the elderly
  • give priority to projects in favour of education and initiatives aimed at generating employment; encourage approaches aimed at improving health and well-being on a daily basis
  • promote actions that encourage sedentarisation in order to stem the exodus of rural workers to the slums
  • support community projects based on mutual aid, collaboration and individual autonomy.

Functioning

Each year, an amount of around 15,000 francs is raised by Cheyyambakkam Association to finance the projects supported. These funds come mainly from membership fees, or from specific actions (sale of calendars, Christmas market...). Other organizations support us from time to time through donations.

Collaboration with local partners is based on a relationship of trust and a clear framework that sets out the modalities of support. The partners propose a project containing information on the beneficiaries and the changes that the project will bring about. After study and validation of the project by the Committee, the partners implement the project and send us a complete annual report containing a summary of the actions carried out. The Committee manages the Association voluntarily and our expenses are limited to the strict minimum, which ensures that almost all the amounts (~97%) are paid to partner NGOs.

A newsletter is sent to members twice a year (only available in French).