Earth Focus Foundation

Earth Focus Foundation aims to empower forest dwelling communities and restoring nature through contextual education and sustainable livelihoods thereby restoring ecosystems and enhancing community revenue streams. The NGO works with forest-dwelling communities to combine indigenous and local knowledge with scientific and technical know-how to build ecological and socio-economic resilience by delivering foundational and contextual learning in early education.

Major Interventions:

Education: Students are supported anganwadi and primary school grades, Anand Ghars supplements government schooling to build foundational literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking skills. The unique curriculum is grounded in the local biodiversity of the region, to build the next generation of stewards for the landscape. It deepens environmental awareness through craft, games, and song, the curriculum fosters curiosity, compassion and understanding of the forest landscape and all creatures living in it, empowering students as passionate and informed stakeholders in its future. From school readiness to building students’ self-expression and reasoning capabilities, a strong base has been developed on contextual education. The NGO partners with experts to leverage research-backed methodologies. Regular capacity building workshops, reviews and exposure visits are conducted to enhance the team’s knowledge and skills.

Livelihood: The intention is to diversify and enhance community members’ revenue streams while rejuvenating the local ecosystem. Buffer zones in Kanha, Madhya Pradesh are being degraded through the proliferation of paddy agriculture, commercial farming and clear felling of trees for timber. The NGO seeks to reverse this trend by reintroducing local crops and trees that have cultural, economic, medicinal, nutritional and social value. Numerous saplings have also been placed in community members’ Badis (backyard kitchen gardens), on the bundhs between their fields, and as bio fences. It focuses on restoring soil, water, and ecological health and significantly boost community resilience and household income.

The activation of knowledge and skills among forest dwelling families through a community-centric approach involves providing them access to government schemes focused on restoration goals. As a result, these families take ownership of the collaborative efforts, ensuring their long-term sustainability.