Re-imagining the Kaccha Ghar
By Zahara Czar, Intern at Kaaya Learning Center, May-June 2026 The village of Tilwari in Uttarakhand is witnessing a quiet rise in newly constructed mud houses. For generations,…
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Twelve villages, one valley
Tilwari sits in the Doon Valley. Farming is getting harder to live from, and many young people are leaving. Kaaya works on this slowly, alongside the people who live here, and is still learning how.
The smart-village centre
Kaaya hosts the coordination node of the Setu Aayog Smart Village Centre programme for the Tilwari cluster. It brings together e-governance, banking, telemedicine, farming, tourism and watershed work in one place.
Two volunteers from the community run the centre, where children and villagers gather for information and meetings. Kaaya set up a children's library there, also run by volunteers.
Women, produce and the Sunday Market
Farmers and kitchen gardeners sell their surplus directly to neighbours at the Sunday Market. What does not sell is solar-dried, dehydrated or pickled. Under UMSVY, women's groups train at Kaaya in processing, packaging and branding.
Students map what households buy, to see where the village's money leaves for distant supply chains, and how more of it could stay.
Land and water
Climate-smart farming, recharging springs, poly-tunnels, and helping neighbours grow their kitchen gardens organically.
Days for the village
Through the year Kaaya holds days with the women and young people of the village: Women's Day, Independence Day, Children's Day.
Neighbourhoods
Towards farmer's market
A Market That Belongs to the Village An upcoming initiative at Kaaya Learning Centre There is a quiet problem that most villages live with and rarely name. Every week, money…
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Feminine Spaces: Transforming Tourism
part of the series on climate change and sustainable living initiated by Kaaya.
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