Our team in India combined several decades of developmental work for NGOs in Tamil Nadu, India, as well as grass roots experience in subsistence marketplaces. They are instructors of a consumer and entrepreneurial training program for low-literate, low-income individuals and central contributors to the design of this program. They have coauthored work in this area.
Marketplace Literacy Communities is run by three volunteers who founded it, R. Venkatesan, S. Sudhakar and K. Vijayakumar. They have extensive experience as social workers, educators, and research associates for academic endeavors. We have three field coordinators working with self-help groups in Chennai and six field coordinators working with self-help groups in villages. Marketplace Literacy Communities, based in the state of Tamil Nadu, has formed or reactivated nearly 100 self-groups of 15-20 women in different parts of Chennai, providing day-to-day support as well as marketplace literacy education. We also have worked in about 200 villages in Tamil Nadu, providing marketplace literacy education to women. In the state of Tamil Nadu, we are working with Madura Micro-Finance Limited (MMFL) to enable video based self-administered marketplace literacy education to groups of women, using a movie about empowerment produced for educational purposes as an emotional platform. This Micro Business Education (MBE) program developed with Madura Micro Finance Limited is being continuously tested, modified, and assessed. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, working with the Byraju Foundation, we have created video-based episodes and support materials to facilitate marketplace literacy education. This program was launched to a small audience after extensive piloting.
Core MLP India Team: Sudhakar, Venkatesan, Vijayakumar
Day in the Life Videos
Shakti Rising
The Marketplace Literacy Project with a film crew to create a movie that addressed many marketplace issues and to serve as a vehicle for markeptlace literacy teachings in India. Check it out below.