FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC
REHABILITATION OF RURAL YOUTH
16, CENTRAL PARK
KOLKATA 700 032
INDIA
ABOUT FERRY
FERRY was started in 1983 by a group of 14 individuals with the objective of furthering youth welfare in rural Bengal. From its registered office at 6A Raja Basanta Ray Road in Calcutta, FERRY established project sites in those first years at Kalanabagram in Bardhaman district and Rampurhat in Birbhum. Later it also opened centres at Baidyapur and Borsul, both in Bardhaman district. A new site, Shikhira, opened in October 1999.
FERRY exists to train people. That is, we help unemployed rural youth find means of supporting themselves in their own area, using easily mastered skills which give a quick and reliable financial return. We run short courses that give our trainees all they need to serve the market in a particular capacity and gain an income fast enough to break the cycle of dependency in which they and their families are often trapped.
Most of our courses are open to both men and women, although we do try to give special help to young deserted mothers, widows and other distressed women, as they are a particularly weak group economically. In consultation with the trainer, usually a local person, we carry out market surveys and opinion polls before introducing a new course, employing local youths to distribute, collect and return questionnaires to us. This helps us know the saleability of a skill, the capital required, the needed syllabus and course run-time, and the expected returns for the trainees. In spite of this we have had the occasional non-starter, but we do our best to make sure we waste no one’s time and money.
Once we have researched a course, we raise the money for it. We always raise the complete sum necessary for a course before we start it, so that once it starts the course will be completed.
Our sources of funding are donations, membership fees and sponsorship of particular courses. If a sponsor supports a course, we display their name on a banner at the inauguration of the course, and if they wish we can print their name on application forms, envelopes, report forms, and any other stationery related to the course. Throughout the course and at the conclusion they will receive special reports on our progress.
All our training is absolutely free. We do not pay any stipends to trainees, as early experience showed that this tends to encourage dependency, and may prove more attractive than the prospect of work at the end of the course! We do, however, occasionally pay a travel allowance to trainees coming from distant places to attend. Our input comprises the trainer’s and course coordinator’s honoraria, the rent for the course venue if any, technical backup and other infrastructural inputs. Our centre managers draw up shortlists from applications received, and a panel from the head office goes out before the start of a course to interview and select candidates.
We give first preference to those in dire economic need, keeping in mind the level of education required to successfully undertake the course, and we also try to make sure that the selected candidates are motivated enough and have access to the centre to complete the course, as a dropout means a wasted place which another could have filled. Very often we have to turn people away because of lack of space. We always try to accommodate them in subsequent courses, and this is why we try to run them as regularly as possible. We are also careful not to train too many people at once in the same skill in any one centre, as a glut on the market means everyone’s earnings go down. This is why we need to have a broad spectrum of training to offer.
We always initiate programmes in a rural centre in partnership with a respected, non-political individual or NGO who acts as our introducer and spokesperson to the local people.
Ferry has learnt from experience that growth does not always bring benefits to a voluntary organization. It has always been our aim to make sure that no member of FERRY will ever be dependent on the organization for his or her livelihood. We feel this is necessary in order to transmit the maximum benefit to our trainees, so that the lion’s share of our funding goes directly into training. Hence all our posts are honorary and we have no salary-drawing employees, apart from security guards at some of our project sites. Even our centre coordinators' honoraria are contingent on courses running.
This ensures that up to 80 percent or more of FERRY’s funds go into training, but it also rules out many options for the organization. Although we did once run a training school in Kalanabagram, we usually avoid permanent arrangements, as the lack of salaried posts makes long term property management difficult. But local people's participation is therefore necessary and welcome to us, which we feel is important. Essentially our task is to work productively within these parameters, something that would be quite impossible without the commitment, dedication and generosity of our members and wellwishers.
We have often been asked to take on advocacy or consciousness raising programmes in the past, and have also done so on occasion, but we have found out from experience that what is needed first, before any disadvantaged group or individual can attempt intervention in his or her own life, is a sound economic footing for that life. Without financial security, it is next to impossible for anyone to question or overturn oppressive systems and practices, and it may even be counterproductive to urge him or her to do so. Very often the very people whose consciousness we are 'raising' are themselves acutely aware of the need for this, but feel helpless or even angry in the face of their own powerlessness. This has to change before anything else can change. For someone starting out in life there is nothing worse than the thought that their life stretches before them, empty of promise and opportunity, with nothing to turn to except perhaps crime or substance abuse. Such people come to the cities in the hope of bettering themselves, only to be caught in the throes of a system that is dying from its burdens and cannot support them. They trade in the familiarity of their homes and their positions in the villages and towns where they grew up, for a dream that rarely lives up to its promises. We do not believe it has to be like that, for of the more than one thousand people we have trained so far, almost none were subsequently obliged to leave their hometowns out of economic necessity, about 60 to 70 percent became economically independent, and more were able to contribute to household income.
We need to uphold people’s trust in us by continuing our projects. We have waiting lists for many future projects, and we do not wish to disappoint those who look to us for help. Ultimately, it is our donors who bring hope into our trainees’ lives, and we are only able to continue our work because of them. Many have come forward to assist us, and thanks seem inadequate for all they have done. So please give us your interest, money, time or technical assistance. We and our trainees will appreciate it very deeply.
Most of our courses are open to both men and women, although we do try to give special help to young deserted mothers, widows and other distressed women, as they are a particularly weak group economically. In consultation with the trainer, usually a local person, we carry out market surveys and opinion polls before introducing a new course, employing local youths to distribute, collect and return questionnaires to us. This helps us know the saleability of a skill, the capital required, the needed syllabus and course run-time, and the expected returns for the trainees. In spite of this we have had the occasional non-starter, but we do our best to make sure we waste no one’s time and money.
Once we have researched a course, we raise the money for it. We always raise the complete sum necessary for a course before we start it, so that once it starts the course will be completed.
Our sources of funding are donations, membership fees and sponsorship of particular courses. If a sponsor supports a course, we display their name on a banner at the inauguration of the course, and if they wish we can print their name on application forms, envelopes, report forms, and any other stationery related to the course. Throughout the course and at the conclusion they will receive special reports on our progress.
All our training is absolutely free. We do not pay any stipends to trainees, as early experience showed that this tends to encourage dependency, and may prove more attractive than the prospect of work at the end of the course! We do, however, occasionally pay a travel allowance to trainees coming from distant places to attend. Our input comprises the trainer’s and course coordinator’s honoraria, the rent for the course venue if any, technical backup and other infrastructural inputs. Our centre managers draw up shortlists from applications received, and a panel from the head office goes out before the start of a course to interview and select candidates.
We give first preference to those in dire economic need, keeping in mind the level of education required to successfully undertake the course, and we also try to make sure that the selected candidates are motivated enough and have access to the centre to complete the course, as a dropout means a wasted place which another could have filled. Very often we have to turn people away because of lack of space. We always try to accommodate them in subsequent courses, and this is why we try to run them as regularly as possible. We are also careful not to train too many people at once in the same skill in any one centre, as a glut on the market means everyone’s earnings go down. This is why we need to have a broad spectrum of training to offer.
We always initiate programmes in a rural centre in partnership with a respected, non-political individual or NGO who acts as our introducer and spokesperson to the local people.
Ferry has learnt from experience that growth does not always bring benefits to a voluntary organization. It has always been our aim to make sure that no member of FERRY will ever be dependent on the organization for his or her livelihood. We feel this is necessary in order to transmit the maximum benefit to our trainees, so that the lion’s share of our funding goes directly into training. Hence all our posts are honorary and we have no salary-drawing employees, apart from security guards at some of our project sites. Even our centre coordinators' honoraria are contingent on courses running.
This ensures that up to 80 percent or more of FERRY’s funds go into training, but it also rules out many options for the organization. Although we did once run a training school in Kalanabagram, we usually avoid permanent arrangements, as the lack of salaried posts makes long term property management difficult. But local people's participation is therefore necessary and welcome to us, which we feel is important. Essentially our task is to work productively within these parameters, something that would be quite impossible without the commitment, dedication and generosity of our members and wellwishers.
We have often been asked to take on advocacy or consciousness raising programmes in the past, and have also done so on occasion, but we have found out from experience that what is needed first, before any disadvantaged group or individual can attempt intervention in his or her own life, is a sound economic footing for that life. Without financial security, it is next to impossible for anyone to question or overturn oppressive systems and practices, and it may even be counterproductive to urge him or her to do so. Very often the very people whose consciousness we are 'raising' are themselves acutely aware of the need for this, but feel helpless or even angry in the face of their own powerlessness. This has to change before anything else can change. For someone starting out in life there is nothing worse than the thought that their life stretches before them, empty of promise and opportunity, with nothing to turn to except perhaps crime or substance abuse. Such people come to the cities in the hope of bettering themselves, only to be caught in the throes of a system that is dying from its burdens and cannot support them. They trade in the familiarity of their homes and their positions in the villages and towns where they grew up, for a dream that rarely lives up to its promises. We do not believe it has to be like that, for of the more than one thousand people we have trained so far, almost none were subsequently obliged to leave their hometowns out of economic necessity, about 60 to 70 percent became economically independent, and more were able to contribute to household income.
We need to uphold people’s trust in us by continuing our projects. We have waiting lists for many future projects, and we do not wish to disappoint those who look to us for help. Ultimately, it is our donors who bring hope into our trainees’ lives, and we are only able to continue our work because of them. Many have come forward to assist us, and thanks seem inadequate for all they have done. So please give us your interest, money, time or technical assistance. We and our trainees will appreciate it very deeply.
