About CTRD Trust

The Centre for Tribals and Rural Development Trust (CTRD Trust) is a voluntary organisation registered under the Indian Trust Act in the state of Tamil Nadu. We currently work on projects and programmes aimed at promoting and strengthening the livelihood, welfare and development of the poor tribal and rural communities in the Gudalur Block of the Nilgiri Hills. This involves organising them, enhancing their capabilities, introducing new ways of improving their income and linking them to banks, markets and other health, welfare and economic services. Experienced professional teams based in the field use their skills and knowledge to alleviate poverty by working directly with these communities.

CTRD was established in 1988 by Mr. RS. Ranganathen, the executive director, along with local tribal leaders, in response to the deplorable socio-economic conditions of the tribal communities in the region. Tribal people were living in an acute state of poverty, suffering daily from a lack of basic needs and amenities. Most of the tribal population could not even afford one decent meal per day, had no proper clothes to protect themselves against rain and cold, and lived in very basic homes which were not adequately resistant against the tough weather conditions. Men and woman had little permanent employment and worked mainly as seasonal labourers in tea, coffee and banana plantations. Often they could not afford to send their children to school and those that did attend school had very few school materials, received little support and faced discrimination resulting in a poor academic record.

The Trust was established with the objective of raising their socio-economic conditions and helping them overcome the grip of poverty and ignorance. Working at a grassroots level CTRD has dedicated its time and resources to overcome many challenges and to gain the full participation and support of the local communities.

Our strategy addresses livelihood issues by working on the factors and forces that adversely affect the lives of the rural poor. To reduce the vulnerability of poor families powerful and focused interventions have been made to break the cycle of poverty, and to improve their self-image efforts have been made to allow them to control their own resources and livelihood options.

CTRD feels that our promotion of livelihoods is tangible and our impacts significant. Therefore CTRD concentrates on sustainable livelihood projects after careful analysis of the local environment in a scientific/rational way while making interventions that are relevant through our continued action, reflection and learning.

In addition to Income Generation Projects, CTRD’s programmes also involve a myriad of activities to promote the health status of our beneficiaries, support with education for tribal children, community development projects and the empowerment of women through the establishment of self-help groups. We have successfully implemented such initiatives in 61 hamlets of the Pandalur and Gudalur Taluks.

In addition to the main CTRD campus at Eallamanna, CTRD also has an office in Ooty and a training centre in Gudalur, with a total of 60 committed staff, dedicated to realising CTRD’s vision.

With over two decades of service among the socially and economically marginalised communities of the Nilgiri Hills, CTRD’s tribal programmes are now very well established, allowing CTRD to widen its scope to include other pressing issues, in particular disabilities.

We have become increasingly aware and concerned about the severe challenges faced by disabled people in the Nilgiri region, and are launching a community based rehabilitation (CBR) project to address these problems and to empower and improve the living conditions of this extremely vulnerable sector of society. An essential part of this project is advocacy, awareness campaigns and building networks to help change perceptions, overcome discrimination and improve the rights of those with disabilities