The Bakdil Story
Based out of Garo Hills, Meghalaya, Bakdil has worked tirelessly for the past 30 years for the upliftment of rural livelihoods. Set up by the diocese of Tura, Bakdil aims to ensure the people of Garo Hills are an integral part of Meghalaya's development journey. Our work spans across multiple sectors: rural community mobilization, health, education, agriculture development, disaster intervention, women empowerment, micro-finance, entrepreneurship and skill development programs. We operate out of 20 blocks, working with close to 10,000 farmers and their families. An elaborate system of dedicated on-ground staff, diligent office staff and iterative processes help us ensure our organisation is able to provide holistic support and reform to individuals.
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SCOPE
Facilitating Social Development in Garo Hills
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MISSION
Supporting community-based
organizations for
socio-economic development
leading to human dignity
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VISION
A just and value-based society,
where people have equal
opportunities and are self-reliant
History of Bakdil
Origins:
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Bakdil origins date back to the year 1971, when the Indo-Pakistan War for Bangladesh created unprecedented societal turmoil, resulting in an influx of thousands of refugees from formerly East Pakistan to Garo Hills. The Catholic Church then formed the organization and played a pivotal role in mitigating the suffering of the refugees housed in make-shift camps erected by the government. Over time the institution, in partnership with the Catholic relief services, provided food supplies that not only helped supplement the nutritional needs of the population, but also helped the community to create long term assets like land and fish ponds through Food for Work and other similar programmes.
Progression:
By the 1980’s Bakdil had taken up several programmes for causes such as Income Generation, Drinking Water Projects and Disaster Relief Projects. Projects such as Development of Piggery, Dairy Farms, Agriculture, Health Education and so on were initiated to provide a stable source of income generation. By 1987, Bakdil was registered as a Non Profit Organization and by 2001 Bakdil obtained FCRA. This helped in strengthening Bakdil’s agenda of getting funds directly from donor agencies, to help people without any discrimation based on caste, creed or religion.
Bakdil Today:
Bakdil is now engaging in almost every possible development activity to uplift Garo livelihoods. We are an organisation of close to 250 employees, working at the grassroots level among Garo villagers to help bring about substantial, long-term change. We are operating out of four centres, and staying among several local villages where activities such as community mobilisation and several training programmes take place.
We work across
blocks,
20
in
5
districts.
Working with
15,000+
farmers
to promote
and sustain
livelihoods through
Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs),
Self-Help Groups (SHGs),
Producer Groups (PGs)
and several other developmental programs.
