Women’s Consortium

for and by women

Reclaiming Space. Voice. Agency.
An initiative Supported by the Netherlands Embassy in India

SEED SOLUTIONS (SEEDS)

IMPACT REPORT - 2021
CONTENTS
1 ABOUT SEEDS

2 WOMEN'S CONSORTIUM : BRIEF OVERVIEW

3 THE GENDER CHALLENGES IN PULWAMA: AN OVERVIEW

4 PULWAMA - RESOURCE AND SUPPORT CENTER

5 TRAINING & CAPACITY BUILDING IMPACT

6 SNAPSHOT: PROJECT NUMBERS

7 STORIES OF IMPACT

8 IMPACT ON SEEDS

9 WAY FORWARD

10 CONCLUSION

11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

12 ANNEXURE I - FINANCIALS

WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM
SEED SOLUTIONS
FOR AND BY WOMEN

FOREWORD
"Over the course of time as we achieved all the project deliverables,
what we viewed as mere deliverables turned into milestones.

Each milestone transforming various aspects of existence of the project and all its
stakeholders.

What follows is not just a completion report, it is a story of transformation.

Transformation of each and every stakeholder of the project.

Transformation of the idea of, who a woman farmer truly is
and what she can be, to herself and the whole world.

It’s the power of witnessing this transformation on ground that has changed the
course of action and being of SEEDS as an organization forever as it joined forces
with Women on Wings (WOW) and PRAI (Participatory Research in Asia).

It’s the story of birth of “vestaun” which means sisterhood in Kashmiri."

Sanna Masood
Founder - SEED SOLUTIONS (SEEDS)

"What follows is not just a

completion report,
it is a story of
transformation -
By Women For Women
AS proud Women

"

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

ABOUT SEEDS
SEEDS (Sustainable Eco Enterprise Development Solutions abbreviated
as SEED Solutions or SEEDS) is an organization that is committed to
sustainable socio-economic and ecological development of J&K by
providing catalytic support to social-entrepreneurs, NGOs, local
government and individuals working towards the 17 Global Sustainable
Development Goals.
The main areas of involvement of SEEDS have been as follow:
Sustainable Livelihoods through Crafts, Agriculture and Allied sectors
Youth Engagement and Development
Women Empowerment

Women’s Consortium
seed solutions
for and by women

 WOMEN'S
CONSORTIUM
BRIEF OVERVIEW
The 'Women’s Consortium For and By Women: Reclaiming
Space, Voice and Agency' project is a joint initiative of SEEDS,
Women on Wings and PRIA supported by the Embassy of The
Netherlands in India.
Under the project, each of the three project partners worked
independently in their respective locations and took support from each
other to complete specialized activities in their communities, to support
informal women workers and farmers who had been adversely and
severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

SEEDS Identified and supported unpaid women farmers

through the setting up of a Resource and Support Center
in Pulwama (Kashmir), empowering them with a platform
for personal empowerment and growth through best-in-
class agro-techniques, methodologies and principles.

Women on Wings, an organisation working towards

empowerment and support of women through the
creation of jobs, supported PRIA and SEEDS with strategic
support for economic empowerment and financial
independence of women informal workers and women
farmers in their respective areas of outreach

PRIA took forward its years of work supporting women

domestic workers of Harijan Basti, Gurgaon, with the
setting up of a Resource and Support Center run for and
by women domestic workers, renamed by the women as
‘Sapne Mere Bhavishya Mera (My Dreams, My Future)’
PRIA, also conducted gender sensitisation training
sessions with women farmers working with SEEDS

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

PROJECT LOCATIONS
PULWAMA DISTRICT, KASHMIR

Pulwama District, centrally located

in the valley of Kashmir, with 327
villages (Census, 2011), is a conflict
zone rent with violence, pushing
inhabitants through cycles of
poverty and mental trauma.
Against a traditional and
patriarchal setup, women here are
doubly marginalized, with little
right to choice and often collateral
damage in the face of violence.

HARIJAN BASTI, GURGAON

Harijan Basti in Gurgaon, a

clustered settlement in the heart
of Gurgaon’s posh Sector 42. The
colony is inhabited in major part
by women domestic workers who
work in the high rise apartments
nearby. Majority of domestic
workers are migrants from
neighbouring and far off states in
North India.

WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM
SEED SOLUTIONS FOR AND BY WOMEN

 THE GENDER
CHALLENGES
IN PULWAMA:
AN OVERVIEW

In Kashmir, Pulwama, also known to be the

deadliest place in the valley due to
instances of violence, was selected as the
location for the Resource and Support
Center.

Against a backdrop of violence and conflict,

the community in Pulwama is pushed into
vicious cycles of endless poverty. The
impact is felt hardest by the women of the
valley. Women who live without basic rights
of choice often end-up being collateral
damage. As poverty hits, violence increases,
violence against women increases and in
case they lose the bread earner, they
struggle to survive. The overall culture of the
villages is highly conservative which does
not allow women to go out of the villages to
work. The COVID-19 pandemic has made
things much worse.

WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM FOR AND BY WOMEN

 PULWAMA -
RESOURCE AND
SUPPORT CENTER

Based on the collective decision of the women the

Resource Centre / Centre of Excellence for training of
women farmers has been established at Tumlhal-Pulwama.
The small village with 251 households was selected due to
its location, larger number of interested beneficiaries and
support from village elders and stakeholders.

The centre is currently being managed by the centre lead

Ms. Shahnaz Mir, she was selected from among the
beneficiaries by the beneficiaries, as she is the most
educated “Bahu (daughter in law)” of the village, holding a
masters degree. The centre lead is connected to 3
neighbouring village leads who represent women within their
respective villages namely Tumlhal, Panzran, Bandzoa.

The implementation of the project paved way for more

villages to be added to the fold of the centre for next
season namely Khanbasti, Zasoo and Petipora.

WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM FOR AND BY WOMEN

 DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFICIARIES

VILLAGE WISE
Based on the baseline survey,
followed by detailed discussion
with women farmers a small
cluster of 55 women farmer
families (2+ women from each
family) has been established,
spread across three villages with a
collective population of 733 house
holds. The cluster gave us access
to more than 150 women and also
helped us get trainees from
neighbouring villages of Zasoo,
khanbasti & petippora

ACTIVITY WISE

The cluster along with SEEDS team under the mentorship of Women on
Wings narrowed down the area of focus to 6 main activities for livelihood
generation
1.Mushroom Cultivation
2.Strawberry Cultivation
3.Rajma Cultivation
4.Garlic Cultivation
5.Red Chilli Cultivation
6.Drying of vegetables/Pickling
TRAINING &
CAPACITY BUILDING
Based on the activities selected by the women frequent Training &
Capacity building programs were organised

1 Exposure visits
Exposure visits of women to local processing units and hi-tech
farms and gardens to help them understand the scope of
agriculture as an economic activity.

2 Practical training
Training of women by experts on Global Agricultural
Practices, mixed farming, organic farming and post-harvest
management for selected crops.
Training of women by experts on making Jams, Pickles,
hygienically dried vegetables, etc.

3 Capacity building & Mentoring

Mentoring of 55 women farmer families (2+women from each family)
Sessions on Gender Sensitization, financial literacy and life skill
straining of team teads

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

TRAINING

In April 2021, training cum

exposure visit was
provided to 35 women at
the Mushroom training
centre of Sher-Kashmir
University of Agricultural
Science and Technology
(SKUAST) by Dr. Imtiyaz
Ahmad. Chief scientist on
Mushroom cultivation.

IMPACT

Out of the the women who were trained in mushroom cultivation 10 beneficiaries adopting
mushroom cultivation.
A business model was created for the same in association with Women on Wings, credit was
provided by SEEDS to the group with a buy back arrangement to start its operations.

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

STRAWBERRY CULTIVATION

TRAINING

The beneficiaries were

provided training with
regards to quality and
technology - for
strawberry cultivation by
Mr. Shubam Prakash
Chauhan from Himachal
Strawberry Growers
Association

IMPACT

The women successfully

cultivated the strawberry
patch as a collective as
the trainers guided them
through all stages of
plant growth up to
harvest.
More than 118 women
learnt about intensive
strawberry cultivation
using micro-irrigation.
The activity attracted the
attention of local
government bodies
resulting in mobilization
of support from them for
the women..

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

ORGANIC FARMING

TRAINING

Training on organic vegetable

cultivation, mixed farming and
intercropping was conducted at
the Resource Centre on bi-
weekly basis by Dr. Nayeema
Jabeen. 35 Women were also
taken on exposure trips to help
them understand hi-tech
agriculture, vermicomposting
etc.

IMPACT

128 women successfully learnt cultivation of organic vegetables during the training
Women learnt how to make compost and vermicompost for their own kitchen gardens reducing
their cost of buying fertilizers
Women did intercropping of Rajma, onion, carrots, garlic along with fruits to maximise returns
from their land

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

PRESERVATION &
PROCESSING

TRAINING

The women were trained under the guidance of Head of

the department Post-Harvest Division SKAUST-K, Dr.
Syed Zameer.
Based on the selected crops and the potential of the
crops and market demand a training curriculum was
designed using simple techniques and groups of master
trainers were trained at their training centre by Dr Rauf
and his associate Mr. Waseem Ahmed.

IMPACT

Women learnt how to make the following products and pack them hygienically.
Sun Dried Garlic I Garlic Powder (using commercial dryers) I Garlic Pickle
Mushroom Pickle I Jam
Dried vegetables & Chillies (sun dried/ shade dried)
Cleaning and packing of vegetables and pulses for direct sale to retail stores

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

GENDER SENSITIZATION

TRAINING

The gender sensitization training was the hardest of all the trainings that was
conducted on ground. One major reason being the safety of teams on ground.
The initial idea was that the training would be conducted online but due to some
violent incident resulting in permanent internet blockage in Pulwama after the visit of
Honourable Home minister we had to find a way around.
PRIA trained our trainer and provided them with supporting material for the training,
the trainers used the training material to conduct the training in multiple batches to
share the knowledge with the women. The team also used the technique of adding the
subject of financial literacy, life skills to the training to make it socially palatable as we
feared some backlash from village elders. The training was well received by all
members.

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

SNAPSHOT:
PROJECT NUMBERS
EVENT/CATEGORY NUMBERS

TOTAL OUTREACH
NO OF VILLAGES 6
NO OF WOMEN 128
NO OF WOMEN FARMER FAMILIES MENTORED 55

NEEDS ASSESSMENT SURVEY 1

ORIENTATION PROGRAMS 6

FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS 5

EVENTS ORGANISED - AN EID OF CHOICE 2

AGRO-TECHNIQUES TRAINING DESIGNING SESSIONS 8

CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOPS FOR LEADS 12

STRATEGY & PLANING WORKSHOPS WITH WOW 40

EXPOSURE VISITS CUM TRAINING

FLORICULTURE (TULIP GARDEN) 1

MUSHROOM TRAINING CENTRE SKAUST - K 1
ORGANIC VEGETABLE FARM & VERMICOMPOST UNIT SRINAGAR 1
HI-TECH GREENHOUSE 1
FOOD PROCESSING UNIT SKAUST-K 2
FOOD PROCESSING UNIT INDUSTRIAL AREA SRINAGAR 6

PRACTICAL TRAINING SESSIONS IN THE VILLAGE 90

MEETINGS AND VISITS 45

MONTHLY PROGRESS REVIEW MEETINGS 11

MEETINGS WITH GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

VISIT OF HORTICULTURE DEPARTMENT TO THE CENTRE 2

INTERACTION OF WOMEN TRAINERS WITH FASSAI OFFICIALS 2
INTERACTION OF WOMEN BY LOCAL KRISHI VIKAS K ENDRA TEAM 1

YOUR NFP
IMPACT NAME
ASSESSMENT (CHRONICLING A YEAR-LONG JOURNEY) 1
IMPACT
STORIES
“I am a single & uneducated but I want to take care of my
widowed mother, widowed sister and her two orphaned
children. I joined the center for trainings and learnt many things
that I and my sister can do in our own home. Experts from
SEEDS visited my land many times and showed us how to use
every inch of our land productively. I have an assured market
and scientific support from SEEDS team within my village. I and
my sister realized that together we can make a better life for
our family”.
- Shamima
“ I have attended all the trainings of the centre this
year, I learnt a lot, we don’t need to waste money on
chemicals. I have a cow I am making my own
vermicompost . I feel happy that my family is trusting
me with land to plant garlic and vegetables. I can make
some money for my family in the coming season”-
Maimoona

"During our training we were asked to focus on our strength

and not be limited by what we don’t have.
We don’t have land but we have cows and grass that’s all
we need for mushroom cultivation and vermicompost
making that’s why we made our own group. There are great
opportunities in challenges we just need to change our
approach to the challenge"
-Shamima & team- village Panzran

"The training sessions were a great change from the mundane life of our village, we have formed
new working relationships with each other. We learn that to succeed we need to work together as a
team, no one will come for 1 kg of vegetables but if we all grow it together and sell it together
trucks will pick it up from our doorsteps”- Shahnaz & team - Village Tumlhal

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

 SEED SOLUTIONS

IMPACT ON SEEDS
Based on the weekly training workshops between SEEDS and
Women on Wing it was realized that the resource centre needs
to be more than a year long support centre and to achieve the
same a lot needs to be changed. Its focus has changed and it
feels connected to everyone not just J&K thanks to the team of
WOW , PRIA and Netherland embassy.

SEEDS has joined hands with Women on wings as

1
a permanent project partner for development of
sustainable livelihood of women in agriculture and
handicraft sector and our work continues even
after the project term of one year is over

The women resource centre in Pulwama will

continue to be supported by the organisations

2 and more resource centre will be developed on

similar lines across the valley under the name -
vestaun-meaning sister hood in Kashmiri. A
brand with a proper marketing plan.

SEEDS will ensure buyback arrangements from

3
women farmer and for the same create a
centralized processing facility for handling of
produce as per FASSI guidelines to ensure large-
scale consolidation and sale of produce.

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

CONCLUSION
Despite of limitations imposed on us by various factors, we left
no stone unturned to complete the project. The obstacles we
faced did not deter us from achieving our goals. The result was
that we created positive impact at the ground level.

150+ women were provided

resources; both material and
educational
CAPACITY 55 women farmer families were
mentored in agro-entrepreneurship
BUILDING These women self-confident,
resolute and willing to take
ownership of their own future

The women farmers have started

COMMUNITY working together as a community.

The know they no longer are alone
BUILDING and they understand the strength
this unity can bring them.

The resource centre as well as the

trained women farmers need
ORGANISATIONAL consistent support hence WOW and

TRANSFORMATION SEEDS will keep supporting the

women on ground.
SEEDS will expand to Haryana to
support women working with PRIA

YOUR NFP NAME WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

 SEED SOLUTIONS

WAY FORWARD
In order to accomplish our vision of providing a life of
dignity to women through sustainable livelihood we need to
make consistent efforts and for the same we need
consistent strategic and technical support.
The same will be carried out under Project/Brand Vestaun,
derived from the feminine form of our natural state of
existence, which is to Love and to Dote.
Core values defined:
• Love I Ownership I Transparency I Equality I Dignity

Vestaun

1
SEEDS has started a women's livelihood
generation program Vestaun supported by
women on wings under which it will continue to
support the women who were trained this year.

Enrolment of new women farmers

2 Three new resource centres will be started in

different locations in Kashmir valley and more
women farmers will be enrolled in 2022.

Expansion of Vestaun
3 SEEDS will explore livelihood generation
opportunities for women working with PRIA in
Haryana in 2022

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the Embassy of Netherlands New Delhi for supporting this
transformational project. We would also like to thank the Elders of Village Tumlhal
for supporting the project and for encouraging their women and women of
neighboring villages to be a part of this project. We would like to thank our women
farmers for their regular participation in the project without their participation this
journey would have been meaning less.

DIRECTION AND COORDINATION

Ms.Sanna Masood, Ms.Bisma Beg, Mr.Ajaz Bhat, Ms.Shahnaz Mir, Mr. Mir Mufroor,
Ms.Shamima, Ms.Daisy, Ms.Adiya, Ms.Shabnum

RESEARCHERS
Dr.Nayeema Jabeen, Dr.Nisar Ahmed, Dr. Imtiyaz Ahmad, Dr. Syed Zameer, Dr.Rouf
Ahmed, Dr.Shaqir Sultan, Ms.Bisma Beigh, Ms.Shahnaz

WRITERS
Mr.Sanna Masood, Mr.Sameer Ahmed Mir, Mr. Shafaqat Hassan Mirza

DESIGNERS
Mr. Masood Hussain and Ms. Mahvash Masood
LOCAL AND PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
Women on WIngs, PRIA, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and
Technology of Kashmir. H.N Agriserve Pvt Ltd, Krish Vikas kendra Pulwama, Indian
Institute of Integrated Medicine, J&K Dep.Horticulture Planning & marketing, Help
foundation.
SPONSORS
The Embassy of Netherlands India
We thank you for your continued support

Contact SEED SOLUTIONS

8-A JAWAHAR NAGAR, MAIN ROAD OPPOSITE SILVER
SQUARE MALL, SRINAGAR - 190008

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN

ANNEXURE I - FINANCIALS

SEED SOLUTIONS WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM

FOR AND BY WOMEN