Honour for Kulandei Francis’ developmental work in Tamil Nadu’s rural areas
“I never work for or expect any award.” This was the
response of Kulandei Francis, who has been chosen for the Ramon
Magsaysay Award for the year 2012, for economic empowerment of thousands
of women and their families in rural India.
Mr. Francis, who had just been informed by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, told The Hindu
that “it is a recognition of my hard and sincere work for over three
decades for the development and livelihood improvement of the rural
people in Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts besides parts of Vellore
district.”
Mr. Francis, Director of the
Krishnagiri-based NGO Integrated Village Development Programme (IVD),
thanked his staff and self-help members for their cooperation. “I could
not have won such a prestigious award without them,” he said.
The
Foundation said in the announcement that Mr. Kulandei Francis was being
recognised for “his visionary zeal, his profound faith in community
energies, and his sustained programmes in pursuing the holistic economic
empowerment of thousands of women and their families in rural India.”
Founded
22 years ago, the IVDP was responsible for the formation of more than
7,000 self-help groups in the three districts. So far, the value of
transactions through the SHGs was over Rs.2,500 crore and nearly Rs.250
crore lay with the accounts of the SHG members.
He
was invited by foundation to receive the award at Manila on August 31.
He would leave Krishnagiri on August 24 to receive the award, Mr Francis
said.
