F.a: Empowering tribal communities of Antagarh to claim the forest, land, cultural and civil entitlements for strengthening the local governance The project wants to strengthen the capacity of tribal communities in Chhattisgarh State, to deal with their issues around Land, Water and Forest, to as such strengthen their livelyhoods and claim their basic rights, especially in the context of the govern
ments industrial corridor effort around the Rawaghat mountain area. Towards this objective, during the previous project phase supported by Siemenpuu-Kansalaisliikkeiden yhteistyösäätiö sr 40 villages received knowledge and training regarding Individual
 and Community Forest Rights. Individual forest rights claims were made for all the 40 villages. The target group selected then for the interventions carried out under the new project are 26 neighbouring villages (and their CBO’s and mutual help groups) 
to the villages which received support in the previous phase, and which are as such also threatened by the government’s industrial and railway initiatives and in need to be protected from displacements. In addition also 14 of the previously supported vil
lages have been identified to be in need of continued support with regards to their claims. As the interventions previously carried out were evaluated as having been succesfull, the components also this time include the empowerment of mutual help groups an
d CBOs, training on various para-legal aspects related to the making of the Community Forest Right claims, the fostering of tribal culture and the facilitating of networking and linking up with different partners and departments. An additional element is n
ow around the theme of NFTP, which are planned to be mapped and their trade and value addition further developed according to prevailing guidelines. Towards this latter objective a cooperative or federation of the mutual help groups will be set up. Disha a
ims at sustainable village communities based on democracy and justice. Though participatory capacity building, advocacy and networking it promotes sustainable community management of natural resources. It is supporting the communities´ protection of their
 environment and makes Adivasis, Dalits and other marginalised groups more aware of their rights. www.dishacg.org