Chemman is a big dream come true for the young women and men of Sivagangai and Ramnad districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, South India.

Although by nature they are energetic and enterprising, farm-loving and hardworking, the arid agri-lands have been failing their future hopes due to constant paucity of rainfall.

Leaving their hearth and home, kith and kin, they migrate to distant places in search of decent labour and sustainable livelihood.

But the urgent needs for them are: 

• knowledge and skills,
• contacts and networks:
• to enhance their employability skills to get gainful employment
• to empower them to take up innovative farming for sustainability of livelihood
• to instil the spirit and skills of entrepreneurship for taking up business initiatives
• to develop civic sense for active involvement in improving the basic needs and common infrastructure
• to appreciate and nurture the values and cultures of the area.