Speed Trust

Speed Trust
« Slum People Education & Economic Development »

 

Location : Muthu Nagar – Chennai – Tamil Nadu
Head of the Association : Philippe Mallet
Email: speedtrustindia.secretary@gmail.com

Website: http://www.speedtrustindia.com/ 

In a nutshell

SPEED Trust is an NGO that has been collaborating with the inhabitants of Chennai's largest slum (Gandhi Nagar) since 1999. It supports them in particular in education, responsibility, autonomy and self-confidence. The slum is inhabited mainly by families, single men coming from the countryside to look for work in the city and widowed or divorced women. Following the government's decision to destroy part of the slum, some of the inhabitants were relocated to housing 40 km from Chennai. 

Projects

  • Autorickshaw - Chennai

    Speed Trust was the first Indian organization in 2004 to allow women to drive three-wheeled cabs (autorickshaw). This innovative program has enabled dozens of women to leave poverty behind and helped them to take up an activity that was once exclusively male. They now earn twice or three times as much as other families in the slum.

    Cheyyambakkam Association finances the purchase of an autoricksaw every 5 years.

  • Baladarshan - Chennai

    Women from the slum are trained to create bags and kits. The handicrafts made by the women are sold around the world through the fair trade organisation Baladarshan. The profits of Baladarshan allow to finance some projects of Speed trust.

  • Help to families - Chennai

    This program is mainly aimed at isolated women, widows, often homeless, or families in great distress due to illness or disability. A bank account is opened for each beneficiary, assisted by social workers in the management of their resources. In return, these families agree to have an activity or professional training, but above all to send their children to school.

  • Educational support and kindergarten - Chennai

    Extracurricular support is offered by Speed trust to all children in the slum. This provides them with access to a place for learning and school support. Speed Trust also launched a sponsorship scheme in 2005 to provide some children from the slum with access to quality education in nearby English schools.
    In addition, a kindergarten allows single mothers, often the poorest, to easily find a job by having their children in a safe place. It also allows older siblings to go to school instead of staying at home to look after the youngest in the family.