CHAMPAWAT- New Focus area of DESCATUK

Champawat district is located in the eastern Kumaon division in the Indian state of #Uttarakhand. The region is bounded by the Nepal region on the east, Udham Singh Nagar district on the south, Nainital district on the west, and Almora district on the northwest. It is located 266 km west towards state capital Dehradun.

The Champawat land is considered to be the home of naga and kinnar described in Hindu mythology. The region has a wide density of dark forests, which is a habitat center of millions of wild animals. The region is blessed with the extravagance of natural resources. Lots of temples and ancient monuments are the greatest attractions.

The reason for focusing on the villages in this region by DESCATUK is that Champawat is the second least populous region in the state of Uttarakhand. Despite the wealth of natural resources, the contemporary development of the neighboring Udham Singh Nagar districts has not benefitted the people of the villages of Champawat. Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Champawat one of the country's 250 most backward districts.

The women in these villages are preserving flavor in language, culture, and traditional crafts. Meeting with these SHG groups and know their skill is a good post-pandemic treat surrounding by a beautiful natural environment. The back-to-back interaction with these young energetic women in villages inspired us to know more about their passion to find out a way to support them.

Craft presentations were simple to understand their enthusiasm and spark in their eyes to learn everything to support their #pandemic hit families. They are masters of their #crafts and despite all difficulties in procuring the raw material, they devise their unique methods to design their products.

At the close of the visit, resource persons have been identified to coordinate with the DESCATUKdesigner team. Designers are now connecting with each artisan to identify individual needs/the resource required to offer the craft of this beautiful less developed part of Uttarakhand to very soon on the global marketplace.