Mugu cluster initiated a community based model programme to address the food security problems in the village of Tallighuria. Here many households have food for only six months in a year. For the other months, they depend mostly on relief. The “Model Village” programme, an initiative of the Regional Inter-agency Partnership Programme (RIAP), aimed at increasing the access and availability of food. UMN provided the National Dalit Development Forum (NDDF), an implementing partner, the technical support it needed to ensure that village activities were carried out and monitored effectively.

Today, this village is undergoing change and transformation. Almost every household has a kitchen garden and people can explain the importance of nutrition, health and hygiene. Parents understand why their children need to go to school, adult women attend literacy classes to learn how to read and write and households are keen to learn new ways of boosting their family income through planting tree nurseries and rearing livestock.

Now boasting an increased supply of food through improved farming methods, Tallighuria has become a model for other villages to learn from. In addition, the self-esteem among women and Dalits, formerly known as the untouchable caste, has significantly improved. NDDF continues to focus its activities towards advocating social justice, inclusion and equality for all people.

Many communities in Mugu have been inspired and are now looking to implement programmes similar to the model village. Many are starting to believe that change is possible.