The ORGANISATION OF DEVELOPMENT, ACTION AND MAINTENANCE ( ODAM) is a Non Government Organisation (NGO). It was established in 1995 under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act of 1975. The organization's work is spread across 278 villages in the Tiruchuli, Narikudi, Kariyapatti, Aruppukottai and Watrap blocks of the Virudhunagar district; Kamuthi, Mandapam and Thiruppullani blocks in the Ramnad district of Tamil Nadu, South India. The central location of ODAM is in Tiruchuli. ODAM envisions "Establishing equality among human society" irrespective of caste, creed, gender, region, religion, language or politics. To translate this vision into action, ODAM works on issues such as: Rural poverty Women Empowerment Health Environment Child Welfare Disability Human Rights
The work of ODAM focuses on:
Women
and Children To date, the actions of ODAM have resulted in the formation of 900 Self Help Groups (SHG) with a total membership of over 14,000 women. The work of ODAM directly reaches these women and their families. It also indirectly benefits the wider communities of the villages.
Nearly all of the villages in panchayats where ODAM implements its projects are drought prone and receive only minimal amounts of rainfall. In addition, the lateritic and sandy coastal alluvium soil in these areas makes agricultural activity very difficult. These villages are remote, and the communities living here have little or no access to many mainstream governmental schemes and facilities. Their working conditions are further worsened by market forces that demand cheap labour. As a result, they are often subjected to exploitation.
The village workforce is mostly comprised of daily wage labourers such as agricultural coolies, construction workers, match unit workers, charcoal producing workers and cotton spinning mill workers. Those working in agriculture labour migrate to other areas for work during the non-agricultural season.
ODAM works toward helping the people of these villages overcome their difficulties by helping to give them the opportunity to have happy and healthy lives.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 25 January 2010 )
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