Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company who, for the last year, have been supporting an Oxfam project in India. The aim of the project is to increase the earnings potential of 10,000 small-scale farming and fishing families in an area called Bundelkhand in North India. With local partners, Vikelp, Oxfam is training families to develop new skills, adopt innovative techniques, and - importantly - share their training with villagers in neighbouring districts.

Bundelkhand has a series of vast inland lakes, known by the communities who live along the shores as ‘ponds’.  Families make their living by fishing the waters and farming the surrounding land – yet their hard work often doesn’t earn them enough make ends meet, in a country where an estimated 250 million people are struggling to survive on less than $2 a day.

Accenture’s donation is already having an impact, as a representative from the company saw when she visited the project in February 2008.

For example, in 2007, a co-operative in Maria Village, piloted a fish nursery – the first of its kind in Bundelkhand. They stocked a small pond with five million hatchlings. The women of the fishing co-operative made feed, using a recipe of rice, oil, cake and calcium, until the baby fish had grown to the size of a human finger. The co-operative then sold the “fingerlings” to neighbouring communities who wanted to restock their own fishing ponds.

“This year, our nursery will bring in more money than our own fishing pond, “explains fisherman Kashi Ram. “After all of our investment in the nursery, each of our 10 households has earned an extra 2,000 rupees. We will build on this success and increase the amount that we can earn in the future.”

“It’s been an extraordinary privilege to see Oxfam’s work up close. I’ve come back proud that our organisation is connected with this project, and supporting such hard-working people, determined to improve their earning potential.” Kshitija Krishnaswamy, Accenture’s Corporate Citizenship Lead for India.