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.
The end