Basecamp has so far trained more than 500 youth and children in various programs that include skill training and digital story telling workshops. It has trained residents of slums in Chennai and also school-going children along the coast of Tamil Nadu as well as in tribal pockets in the Western ghats.
– Trained field staff from M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in using ICT tools for outreach activities, IEC and documentation.
– Video documentation for MSSRF- 10 short films on various themes.
– Environmental conservation
– Exploration visits in Meghamalai to study about three endangered species along with GNAPE, an NGO working towards wildlife conservation
– CSR activities of corporate by connecting them to deserving, marginalized communities
– Coordinated the “GREEN Gathering: A Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative of Timberland Inc” in Jawwadu hills in Northern Tamil Nadu.
– with the outreach programme of CTS to provide skill training for students from corporation schools in Chennai
Enhancement of local traditional livelihoods
– Needs Assessment and Rural Economic Zone Survey in Malaiyur Village
– Exposure visits and training programmes for women from Malaiyor in livelihood options
– Training of honey hunters in Malaiyoor in safety precautions
– Identifying and working with honey hunting communities in various parts of Tamil Nadu
– Worked with local communities and NGOs in Kotagiri, Nilgiri district;
– Developed a community based ecotourism package in association with Key Stone
Foundation, an NGO working in the region; trained a local tribal community (Kurumba tribe) in the region and offered hand holding support to them to implement the package.
-Working with Toda community in Nilgiris on community based tourism and promotion of traditional crafts and other products.
The Desi Cotton and Indigo initiative– Basecamp is conducting the field trials and market study for promoting organically dyed handloom products from Karungini, a desi cotton variety, as a socially and environmentally sustainable solution that addresses the farmers livelihood, promotes local biodiversity, adopts fair trade practices, and has an end product that very low life cycle environmental impact. The organisation has also conducted field trials on natural alternatives to synthetic dyes. Field trials were conducted for various natural dyes with special focus on indigo both as a alternate crop for dry land farmers and as a replacement for synthetic indigo. The basecamp team collaborated with a team of experts and professionals and the team members who contributed to this initiative are : Sridhar. L, Ranjith S, Himakiran Anugula, Swaminathan Vaithilingam, Jaishree Iyer, Vidya Lakshmi and Vishnupriya Narayanan.
Alongside tourism services, ecologin started offering advisory and consulting services in eco tourism, traditional local livelihood enhancement and allied sectors. Another product line is honey. Ecologin procure, package, market and sell raw, wild collected, unfiltered and minimally processed honey, under the brand names “Madhumeeta” and ‘Thaen’. Other products are also in the anvil. The various project and activities so far is listed below:
Eco tourism
– Approximately 7000 footfalls in remote rural areas and has a portfolio of more than 65 locations in and around Tamil Nadu.
– ecoLogin offers Rural Immersion and Rural Entrepreneurship programmes for school and college students. The client list includes HLC International School, Chennai, Thiagarajar School of Management Madhurai, TVS Group of Schools, Madhurai, Teach for India Foundation, DG Vaishnav College Chennai etc.
– Offered consulting services to various stakeholders- local communities, local institutions (NGOs, CBOs and local government departments) and tourism service providers – in developing locale specific ecotourism products, community based structures to implement ecotourism services, and has trained local communities in managing ecotourism services. A few of these projects are listed below:
• Conducted studies in rural hinterland of Madurai district to develop a package based on rural sports in the region.
• Local tie ups with various NGOs/ CBOS in remote locations for eco-tourism; to name few- Commmunity Seva Centre, a NGO in Kalvarayan Hills, local community in Malaiyur village, Natham, Dindugal district etc.
– It has conducted baseline studies, designed ecotourism offerings and ecotourism management plans, and provided handholding support to various NGOs and private sector stakeholders in the past.
Honey
– Marketing and Selling raw untreated and wild collected Honey under the brand names Madhumeeta and Thaen
– It has thus far sold around 7 Tonnes of honey and target to sell 4 Tonnes this year.
Others
– Conducted a study on the problems and prospects in Handloom weaving with special reference to Jakkampatti weaving cluster, Theni.
– Is undertaking a field trail on cultivation and extraction of essential oil in Thiruvannamalai and Kancheepuram districts in trail plots with a total acreage of 100 acres.
– Working with Thoda community in Nilgiri’s to also promote some of the unique products that this community specialises in, like the Thoda embroidery, free ranging wild buffaloes ghee, Miniature thoda hut etc.