Our work in Livelihoods

The Livelihood Promotion Program provides supplementary income and employment to people of the mountain region. Over a thousand farmers from Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh benefit from the business of apricot and peach based body care products and culinary herbs.

Cold pressed Apricot oil, extracted from the kernel, that part of the fruit which was considered waste, was intended to serve as crop insurance for the subsistence farmer. This oil formed the base of our extended body care range including scrubs, creams and soaps. Alongside our bodycare products, we introduced dried culinary herbs, as the quality of herbs grown in the mountains was found to be significantly better than those of the plains.

Village households earn both from direct sales of raw materials, as also from shelling apricot nuts, pounding oil cake for scrub,cleaning and sorting herbs.

The program has a small-scale centralized processing unit producing these range of body care and culinary products in Satoli. These products are then marketed under the Aarohi brand and are available in major cities across the country.

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Ecotourism is one of the newer pathways that can create an alternate source of livelihoods, prevent abandonment of land and subsequent rural-urban migration. The Village Homestay Program was launched in 2013 to promote eco-tourism and to provide supplementary means of income to local families.

This program offers a unique experience to guests and volunteers of living in a rural setting with local families. The homestay owners are given inputs on hospitality, management and maintenance, regularly.

The Grameen Himalayan Haat ('GHH') is an annual four to five day long festival organised by Aarohi in Satoli.

The purpose of the Haat is to create a platform for supporting local livelihood systems while also providing space for entertainment and creative expression for village communities.

The event attracts local entrepreneurs, artisans, professional and local musicians and performers in large numbers from Uttarakhand as well as from other parts of the country. Non-profit organisation, Self help groups ('SHGs') and local entrepreneurs put up stalls to sell their products and promote their work. On an average, they generate a sale of more than Rs. 5 lakhs.