Madi is a remote hamlet under Manki village located in Honavar Taluka of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka.

Manki is considered one of the largest village in Karnataka and second largest in India with dense forest and hefty mountains.

Karwar Diocesan Development Council (KDDC) the partner organization of Caritas India is working in this area for the upliftment of marginalized women through ‘Self Help Group- Income Generation Programme (SHG-IGP) and creating sustainable livelihood opportunities with lesser investment and long-term profit.

Population and livelihood opportunities are less, especially for women. They mostly remain in houses to look after children or help their family members in farm or fields.

Laxmi Naik is one such woman from Madi hamlet. She and her husband work as seasonal labour to fulfill the needs of the family. In the absence of sustainable livelihood option, the couple is not able to look after their kids. They often borrow money from their neighbors and relatives, but now people have also stopped helping them. The situation was getting worse with passing time, lack of money, non-sustainable job, children future, all started troubling Laxmi. Laxmi decided to take a step and start searching for some long-term livelihood options.

She heard about the income generation programme on chicken rearing by KDDC and decided to take as an alternative income generating activity. Having some previous traditional knowledge of country chicken rearing, she joined the village SHG (Fatima SHG) to enhance her acquaintance and skill in poultry farming. The micro project team lead by KDDC organization under the Fatima SHG provided all the needful information and training to all the members on chicken/poultry farming (rearing). Laxmi gained a lot of information on poultry/chick farming and decided to start her small country chicken rearing unit.

After the training, Laxmi along with 59 other marginalized women were supported with 15 country chicks each to start the poultry farming. Her intense hard work and effort paid her off and now chicks are growing well. In a couple of months, the reproduction will start, and her small backyard will turn into a mini farm. Traditional Chicken variety is in high demand and she can earn her livelihood by selling eggs, meat, and manure.

“I extended my gratitude to the Caritas India, KDDC and Fatima SHG for their support and guidance, I am extremely happy, my family is happy, now I have a sustainable source of income and my life has changed”, says Laxmi.