Child Help Foundation (CHF), a Pan India non-profit organization has supported and is consistently working for the initiative called Village Development Program in Bhintghar (Gulabigaon) Nashik, Maharashtra for the last couple of months, with the help of India Infoline Finance Limited(IIFL). Dr. Bharati Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare of India laid the stone for the project in June 2022 to create employment and a permanent source of income for the villagers through this bazaar haat. With the help of the Child Help Foundation, India Infoline Finance Limited, and the active participation of the villagers, the bazaar haat is at its final stage. It is aimed to provide livelihood opportunities for the villagers, reduce the percentage of migration of villagers from their area, and provide their children with a better future by selling organic products, handcrafted products, and sweets made by the villagers. The women of the village are very progressive and hardworking despite being located in a remote village in Nashik. Female family members of the village are stepping up to take the responsibility of providing financial support to their families.
This was noticed when the Child Help Foundation team saw all the houses painted in Pink. The color has long been associated with the idea of Women’s Empowerment. Speaking on the occasion of commencement of weekly bazaar haat, Mr. Shaji Varghese, Chief Executive Officer, Child Help Foundation said, We wanted to create a platform for the villagers to sell their products first-hand and earn profits without any mediators to share them. Earlier, the villagers had to walk miles daily to buy vegetables and other necessities. But now that is possible in the village itself. The villagers took great efforts to make Bazaar Haat a success and it really was. We assure the villagers to support the haat through every challenge it faces. This haat is going to be a weekly event and we want every villager to benefit from it. I am delighted that the first Bazaar Haat was a success. To promote the Business Hub, Child Help Foundation (CHF) with the cooperation of the villagers kick-started the weekly bazaar haat from 4th December 2022 at Bhintghar (Gulabigaon), Surgana, Nashik, Maharashtra. CHF volunteers with the help of villagers are creating awareness about the haat.
The stalls are granted free of cost to the villagers to sell their products. Local villagers, farmers, and farm laborers are the ones who are buying groceries and other products from the bazaar haat. The beneficiaries of the IIFL CSR project implemented by Child Help Foundation, put up their stalls in the market which consisted of grains, vegetables, groceries, dry fish, snacks, clothes, and cutlery. There were around 50 stalls and more than 200 customers shopped in Bazaar haat. Child Help Foundation (CHF) objective is to create awareness about Bazaar Hart through word of mouth to attract customers from nearby villages. Through this program, a link between the urban world and rural sectors of societies will be established and the gap will be bridged. This beginning would reduce inequalities and help sustain communities which are in lines with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.