This summer, we want to recognise this collaboration by matching the money raised by Madras Café at WOMAD. We are aiming, with your help, to raise £30,000 for Action Village India's work with partners in India.

To make this possible, there are a range of events (including Walk for Women, our summer Exhibition at WOMAD and of course Madras Café at WOMAD) to raise much needed funds and we sincerely hope you will be part of this collective fundraising initiative.

This summer, we hope to get as many people as possible together within our community, and hopefully, new friends, to join in celebrating the thirty years of solidarity, partnership and humanity between Action Village India and the Madras Café family. This is a collaboration that has significantly contributed to partners improving access to rights and livelihoods for women, men and children in marginalised communities across rural India, so that they can live in more fair and just communities.

Please think about what you could do to be part of the Summer of Solidarity for Rural India. How might you like to contribute?

Madras Café's support has been fundamental to enabling Action Village India to continue our solidarity work with partners in India.

We are asking you to be part of strengthening this support over this year and, hopefully, the next 30 years and beyond. How? We are asking our supporters to donate and fundraise by, for example, setting up chai mornings, supper clubs, bake sales or any other creative ideas you may have, to generate support for work that makes a positive difference to peoples lives and livelihoods.

Fundraising Ideas

As one of the things we are celebrating is Madras Café, our first thought for fundraising ideas is of course FOOD! You can use recipes from the fabulous Madras Café Cookbook or any favourite recipes of your own. These can take the form of:

Supperclubs

You can have friends over for a meal and ask for a donation to Action Village India. See our Free Fundraising Supperclub Kit for more ideas and recipes.

Chai Morning

If youd prefer a daytime event, you can reinvent the traditional Coffee Morning as a Chai Morning. The Madras Café Cookbook 2 has some delicious sweet and savoury snacks you can make to share. See our Free Chai Morning Kit for inspiration.

Take Away Night!

If you would rather not have people home (which is completely understandable if you are vulnerable to covid-19), what about offering a takeaway box for a fixed donation? You can offer a simple meal of rice and curry (or whatever you'd like to cook) and your friends and family can commit to a certain donation per person. These meals can be collected from you or perhaps you can deliver them all on one fundraising day.

Bake Sale

A bake sale is a great way of raising money that can involve your whole family. Kids can be included in baking cakes or biscuits, and perhaps you can set up a table at a local market or fair.

Events:

Quiz Night

This can be in-person with a few friends or a community group. Or you can run it online. You can find ideas for an India related quiz or use your own questions to suit your quizzers. Perhaps everyone can ask a few questions each to take the pressure off the host. Ask your quizzers if they will donate to Action Village India.

Pot Luck Picnic

What about a day out in a local park? Everyone can bring a dish to share and you could organise some games as part of your fundraiser.

A Raffle

Everyone loves a raffle! You could ask local businesses for prizes and there are some great, free websites that you can use to sell the tickets (or sell them in person of course).

Walk for Women

The Walk for Women run by our trustee, Pallavi, is a stalwart of our our fundraising calendar. This year it's on Saturday 2nd September (more details soon). If you'd like to hold your own event, it can be on the day or a date of your choosing. Friends get together to walk in solidarity for the women, children and men we support in rural India. Donations can be collected on the day or via the Just Giving Campaign.

Thank you to everyone who has supported Action Village India over the last 30 years. With your help, we look forward in anticipation to the next 30 years of supporting rural development in India.

Action Village India is committed to supporting, often long term, partners in rural and remote areas of India: from Bihar in the North down to Tamil Nadu in the South. People living in these rural communities are far less likely to benefit from government programmes and more likely to have limited access to healthcare and formal education, as well as experiencing multiple forms of discrimination and marginalisation. Our partners activities centre on securing rights and strengthening livelihoods, even in the context of the social and economic challenges.