Project Aarambh

SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise, www.sife.org) is an international non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders. SIFE IIT Delhi chapter (www.sifeiitd.org) was initiated in July 2010 and comprises of a team of 16 dedicated student leaders working under faculty supervision.

India being a neighboring country hosts a large and growing number of 100,000 Burmese refugees. Even with Burma attracting international attention and the President of the United States acknowledging the plight of the Burmese community settled in West Delhi, there are very few Delhites, let alone Indians who know of their existence. An over 8000 strong community continues to exist in the obscure margins of our lives without anyone taking much notice.

We at SIFE IIT Delhi believe that here is where we could help make a difference. Our inspiration is to play a proactive role in helping the development and economic sustainability of a group of people so far neglected.

We have been working with the community since November 2010. As we learned more about the community, we came to understand that each day is a challenge for many of them - be it the lack of legal protection, work permits, education or the challenges of everyday discrimination, abject living conditions, poor health conditions. Their continuous struggle to survive in this home away from home, made us dedicate ourselves to this cause.

This was the birth of Project AARAMBH. True to its name, we saw this project as a new beginning - a fresh attempt for the cause of overall development of the Burmese refugees.

Our current initiatives include:

Promotion of women based small handicraft entrepreneurial units
- Marketing goods such as handbags, laptop bags, purses, woolens, coats, shawls all traditional Burmese handmade designs
- Facilitating professional training for improved skills, operations and scalability.
- Engaging the women and leaders of these small units in our marketing work to increase their awareness and network, thus laying the base for sustainability
Placement Cell
- Creating an avenue to help people in the Burmese refugee community who are in need of a job
- Working as a 2 way forum, an interface between the people and the factories and shops which have job vacancies. The objective is to ensure just, sustainable, fair pay work for the refugees while ensuring regularity and consistency for the employers.
Outreach
- Reaching out to the local population and college students to create awareness about the community and their plight
- Engaging college students as volunteers in different parts of the project
- Community initiatives for holistic development e.g. Health Camp

Product Catalog

Full version: 11 MB (www.sifeiitd.org/AarambhCatalog.pdf)
Light version: 3 MB (www.sifeiitd.org/AarambhCatalog2.pdf)