The North East Development Forum ( NEDF) with its registered office at NH37,Zoon Nagar, Bhatiapar , Sivasagar , Assam is one of the Non-profit Organisation dedicated to social cause furthering sustainable livelihood among the men and women of rural areas of Assam , more particularly of the Sivasagar District .

It has been registered under the Certificate of Registration of Societies Act XXI of 1860 and has officially been in existence since September 29, 2004 under the registration No. RS/GOLA/239/B/07 of 2004-2005.

Since its inception it has been making significanthallmarks in bringing happy smiles to the innumerable poor Assamese village women striving for a livelihood. It is instrumental in also in ensuring definite improvement in the very standard of their lives of their families by helping them with employment and income generation from the rural Handicraft and Art naturally prevalent among them.

It believes in UNESCO’s ethical and intellectual mandate that “the world has never been as wealthy as it is today, yet it is also increasingly unequal “and there by participating and contributing to its first phase of Millennium Development Goals “poverty, especially extreme poverty and hunger”. Here NEDF explores the excellent opportunity from an interesting and original angle: Handicrafts. Its success rests in recognising whether their products are purely functional or highly expressive, they are artisans answer for the specific need of the communities. NEDF support these Artisans economically purchasing their craft wares , socially recognising Artisans ‘s skill and role in transmitting traditional culture.

The rich potential of this Handicraft sector for poverty alleviation is rarely taken into consideration. But NEDF is one among the first to recognise this fact. It thus designed and implemented for over a decade and half its projects of Handicrafts and Employment Generation for the poor women, men and youth. The organisation undertakes their activities in this broad cultural contexts and use development of small handicrafts enterprise as a poverty eradication tool. Its approach of income and employment generation are the strategies used to address the problems of extreme poverty and hunger.

In its tremendous journey, learning useful lessons from their projects and the recommendations, bridging the gap between the ideas and action, convincing the decision makers and crafts person of efficiency and relevance to upgrade the craft sector but never for once lose sight of the ultimate purpose of the exercise of keeping the well-being of the poverty stricken men and women as its central focus improving human condition and enlarging people’s choices.

NEDF started its activity back in 29th day 2004,September in a backward village named AilaHabi in Sivasagar district of Upper Assam . They gradually worked more vigorously making handicrafts popular among surrounding other villages and covering them under a cluster naming it “ Ailahabi Water Hyacinth Cluster”. The villages it covered were Bhatiapar ,Radhika nagar, Rupohimukh, Dikhowmukh , Bharalua village and Rudrasagar area As the water hyacinth was found abundantly in the area , and caught unaware by the catch word of NEDFI (The North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd ) ‘ FROM MENACE TO MIRACLE’ NEDF ngo took an urgent initiative to popularize the use of water Hyacinth fibre for making eco-friendly handicrafts products mainly because availability of the raw materials free of cost , as it can replace jute , cane and bamboo and finally because Artisans can easily take up braiding and weaving work once provided the training .

NEDF readily joined this movement initiated by NEDFI and worked towards and successful at creating sustainable livelihood, promoting eco-friendly products , empowering women and youth in rural areas and rejuvenating the environment by removal of a menace of Hyacinth which is considered to be a major nuisance in Assam and neighbouring states of. It then effectively utilised Water Hyacinth to make eco-friendly products which in turn earned livelihood to the rural women promoting inclusive growth.

Till date NEDF has trained about thousand Artisans and trained, motivated and assisted them on the entire process of the design and production of these natural Handicrafts products and helps them to become skilled Artisans and Entrepreneurs.

Apart from the normal Capacity Building Programmes they organised and followed up Skill Graduation Programme for continual guidance and motivation of the rural artisans. They trained and gave them “Artisan Identity Cards” under the Ministry of Textiles. Under its tutelage the women of the villages make quality and fashionable eco-friendly natural products like Mat , Handbags , baskets ,Hat, Lamp shades, yoga matt, foot wear, jewellery and accessories . These bags are a unique blend of contemporary fashion and rich cultural heritage of the North East India at large. These products enjoys great popularity not only in domestic market but in Netherland, Greece, France in Europe, USA, Middle East, Africa, China and South East Asia.

NEDF does this by creating market linkage by the MSME named Nature Trade registered with DICC, Sivasagar, Assam in 2007 with its registered office Zoon Nagar , Bhatiapar, Sivasagar , Assam and registered with Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts under Registration no. EPCH/REGN/41535/2018-2019 under the Textile Ministry .

The “Nature Trade” is privately owned business entity created and managed by Priyam Hazarika , a social entrepreneur of repute from Assam . It exports eco-friendly products made from the natural fibre of Water Hyacinth, Kauna, Bamboo, cane to the foreign market with an object to promote, support, protect, maintain and export of local Handicrafts under the brand name “Green India” Besides the linkage with Nature Trade and is NEDF’s primary concern is to create necessary environment for high quality handicraft goods and ensure various measures and services keeping in view the International standards and specifications.

Thus, the NEDF is tied –up with Nature Trade and provides necessary infrastructure as well as marketing and information facilities. It tries to promote participation of women, youth and men in the development process.

The prime objective being the employment and income generation mainly for rural women and youth, NEDF aims at their overall development too. . These objectives are their improvement in health and hygiene, to impart quality education to their children , to create awareness on environmental issues , to promote physical and mental health by yoga, meditation , to safeguards the rights of women, to prevent child labour, drug abuse and domestic violence, to work towards removal of poverty , untouchability, inequality, racialism and social injustice to work towards a clean and green environment by spreading awareness and appropriate actions to look after the accessibility of their basic needs like road , pure water , electricity , health and sanitation with the help of the government departments. In its 15 years of history, it has undertaken many activities in agreement with their objectives stated in the Memorandum of Association and the Annual Reports.

NEDF is a voluntary organisation and charitable purpose only. No property cash or kind will be divided among the members of the society. All the resources will be utilized for attaining the objectives towards the improvement of the society.

It’s a transparent organisation registered with the Commissioner of Income Tax, Jorhat under Pan Card NO. AAAAN4190M under section 80G(5) (vi) of income tax Act , 1961 and constitution granted by the order by the Commissioner of Income Tax , Jorhat under section 12AA of Income Tax Act in 2004 and also registered with the Unique ID AS/2018/0200554 with NITI AAYOG( National Institution for Transforming India) of Govt. Of India and empanelled with the Development Commissioner of Handicrafts, Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India.

Presently NEDF’s has targeted to bring under its ambit village women and men artisans of different villages of Sivasagar District . It intends to undertake initial level of survey work, motivational and awareness campaign for the development of skill in Water Hyacinth Craft mixing natural fibre from bamboo and cane with technical support, product up gradation and market linkage among the Artisan women and men efficient in local handicrafts for uniform development and inclusive growth in rural Assam.

The present constitution of the North East Development Forum (NEDF) stands thus- Samiron Hazarika( President) , Priyam Hazarika ( Secretary) , Prabhat Saikia (Coordinator), Jita Hazarika, ( Treasurer). The executive members numbering 14 ( Fourteen) are Bijoylakshmi Hazarika, Gokul Chandra Baruah, SauravJyoti Borah, Amar Jyoti Dutta, RekhaMoni Das, SamratShankar Dutta, Anima Hazarika Devi, Ayush Singh, Pranjal Savapandit , Navajyoti Borah, Rupjyoti Das, Banashree Boruah, Debojit Borgohain, and Jitupan Kalita.

The Chief Advisors are Bholakakoti, BhaskarjyotiHazarika and ChiranjeevGohain. These members of the Organisation are from a wide array of life. They have among them social workers, artisans, entrepreneurs, filmmaker and intellectual. All members are active and socially involved.

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