TIDE has been primarily funded by project grants from government bilateral and international agencies.

To continue our core work we welcome funds from organizations that work for poverty alleviation, rural development and environment improvement.

TIDE is open for any kind of funding from individuals and organizations. TIDE is eligible to receive grants in foreign currency under FCRA.

If you would like to support us please go to our contact us page.

Currently we are seeking donations for the following projects:

Project: Smokeless villages

Introduction

Cooking is an essential activity carried out by women in every household. In most poor, rural households, this is done on conventional stoves that require large amounts of firewood, takes a long time to cook and releases a lot of smoke which is injurious to the health of the family. In order to overcome these deficiencies, TIDE proposes to create smokeless villages and seeks funding support for the same. It proposes to install fuel efficient smokeless stoves in all households in select villages where the entire community is receptive to the initiative. 

About the stove

The improved stove that would be installed would be the Sarala stove which is a two pan stove with a single fuel feeding port. It was developed at ASTRA (now Center for Sustainable Technologies, IISc)as a consequence to the user response to its earlier version, the ASTRA stove. The 3 pan ASTRA stove was more fuel efficient than the Sarala stove but occupied more space in the kitchen. As its name suggests, the Sarala stove is a simple stove: simple to build, maintain and user. It uses local materials, mud bricks etc, a cast iron grate and a chimney. It should be affordable by large sections of rural population but there are always more pressing demands on their limited resources. Consequently women tend to put off or delay adoption often at the cost of their health. 

Mechanism for implementation of smokeless villages 

TIDE has identified select villages in the Tiptur / Gubbi region of Tumkur district of Karnataka for this initiative. Discussions with the gram panchayats of these villages have already . As soon as a donor is found for the scheme, the field staff of TIDE would hold village level meetings to put into motion the creation of smokeless villages. The cost of the stove is expected to be Rs. 350 (about US$ 8) and the household would bear about 25% of the cost of the stove. 

As a part of its energy linked livelihood projects for women, TIDE has trained several women in the construction of smokeless stoves. These women construct stoves for a fee and augment their incomes through stove construction especially in the lean agricultural season. These trained women stove builders would be the change agents  for the creation of smokeless villages. They would be given contracts for the construction and maintenance of stoves in a particular village. 

Project objectives

To reduce women's drudgery in firewood collection and improve health through the construction of fuel efficient smokeless stoves in select villages

To create income generation opportunities for rural women trained in household stove construction

Funds required

Approximately Rs 35,000 (US$ 800) per village of 100 households. But there would be smaller and larger villages and the cost is only indicative.

If you would like to partially support this project, please contact us 

Project:  School and Community Horticulture Enterprise: Extension

Introduction

In 2002 the Supreme Court of India decreed that free Primary education is a constitutional right. However, of the 200 million children in India in the age group 6-14, it is estimated that 59 million are out of school. (35 million girls and 24 million boys).

The National "Mid Day Meal Scheme" was launched in 1995, to improve school enrolment and child health. It is often the only nutritious meal that a primary school kid gets in rural India. The scheme has, however only been partially successful in achieving its objectives. Lack of adequate nutrition in the meal is one of the largest stumbling blocks in achieving the objectives.

About the Enterprise

The enterprise will use a participative implementation model in which it will facilitate an innovative process in which the school and community will ensure, in a self-sustainable manner, the provision of the required vegetable nutrition for the mid-day meal scheme with local horticulture in polyhouse (green house) and kitchen gardens.

Where will this project be implemented

The enterprise will be initiated in Karnataka State, where the mid day meal scheme has been operational since 2002. 

Key Features:

- The initial pilot project will be implemented in Bangalore district.

- The enterprise will target schools with enrolment of roughly 50-100 students which are currently implementing the mid-day meal scheme.

- The schools will be identified through a network of NGO's who have associations with primary schools and rural and peri-urban communities.  

Project objectives

- To ensure that the mid-day meal has 65-75 gms of vegetables / child / day for 200 days / year, thereby improving child health, increasing school attendance and enrolment in primary schools.

- To create environmental awareness and practice organic horticulture.

- To develop skills of mother and community groups and to increase economic opportunities.

Download the project brochure here

Project Extension:

TIDE is aiming to create a sustainable business model for polyhouse dissemination. In order to establish such a model we would like to have a pilot project to initiate 10 polyhouses in Sout-East Karnataka, which are all directly linked and governed by a local school. 

The long term aim is to establish 100 polyhouses throughout the state of Karnataka which will aid in providing nutritious mid-day meals to schoolchildren all over Karnataka.

Each polyhouse is equipped with a rainwater harvesting system to increase the efficiency and productivity of the crops. 

TIDE is aiming at 100 polyhouse sites to build a sustainable enterprise model. The pilot project consists of 10 polyhouse sites. Each site will need a sum of Rs 1.5 lakh = $ 3,535.

This includes the following costs:

     -          Real estate land for polyhouse, rented for 3 yrs plus 2 yrs extension

-          Construction cost and Material cost of the Polyhouse

-          Construction cost and Material cost of the Rain Water Harvesting System

-          Cost of training local individuals in agriculture

Total funds needed for this project will be 10* Rs 1.5 lakh = Rs 15 lakh = $35,350. Sponsors can either fund the whole project or one or multiple polyhouses.

If you would like to partially support this project, please contact us  

Project: Demonstration of the use of Local Resources to meet the Energy Needs of an Electrified Village in Karnataka

Introduction

There are several remote hamlets in Karnataka that are not electrified through grid power and which are unlikely to be electrified through grid power. TIDE has chosen to electrify one such remote village in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka through the pico hydro technology.

The objectives of this project are:

The project has strong techno economic challenges and requires a strong component of innovation. The village is located in a region where there is a dense forest cover and cables have to be laid over a distance of 5kms. The power to be transmitted is also low (10 kW) and so the power and voltage losses should be kept under 5%. The project therefore proposes the use of non-standard cables for power transmission and the use of transformers.

The project team has carried out a socio economic survey and a detailed project report. Based on the DPR, the project has carried out vendor development and placed order for various equipment required. Village meetings have been held to inform the villagers about the project. Power generation is expected to start soon and power distribution a few months later.

If you would like to partially support this project, please contact us