About Us

Brief Background

The Lipok Social Foundation (LSF) was born out of experiences gathered by the founders and well-wishers while working with the socially and economically marginalised communities in different parts of the country. The founders and the team members fully acknowledge that social and economic injustice is the result of the unsustainability in production, consumption, and livelihoods. Any efforts therefore towards achievement of social and economic justice should have the active participation of all the stakeholders involved in the production and consumption of all that life requires. The organization believes in solidarity economy and in the philosophy of “small is beautiful” as in the elicitation by E. F. Schumacher.

Location of Work

 The organization is based in Aurangabad – the administrative capital of Marathwada region in India. The region is infamous as the hotbed of farmer suicides as a result of grave injustice particularly towards the small farmers and peasants. LSF works with the communities to overcome the injustice through participative learning and actions that are led by the affected communities themselves. Currently, the organization works in Aurangabad, Jalna, and Pune districts of Maharashtra.  

Activities

During this time of unprecedented severe drought in the region, LSF works with targeted cluster of villages in tribal pockets of Aurangabad district on holistic development of the communities. Water being the crux, LSF addresses this issue along with the communities by facilitating village water resources conservation and management plans and implementation of the same. With the holistic development in context, we actively encourage the sharing of knowledge on traditional organic agriculture, organic agriculture practices, participatory guarantee systems (PGS) for organic farming, and marketing of the organic produce. Further, we also organize forums for learning and support of micro-enterprises to expand their opportunities for livelihoods. We expect this holistic approach to reduce poverty and farm distress in these villages while leading to sustainability.