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LOCAL COMMUNITY
In each area PGH volunteers spend an enormous amount of time meeting villagers and farmers, facilitating group discussions, visiting areas of land, organizing showcase field trips and playing documentaries to raise awareness.

Only when there is sufficient interest and commitment do they then build up a project that integrates trees as a crop on lands registered by the owners themselves. A regional office is set up as a hub and resources are shared at district level for the duration of the project implementation.

BUSINESS COMMUNITY
PGH engages corporations in actively considering environmental care as a strategic part of their social responsibility.

PGH aims at making the business community aware that it is time to actively implement a concrete CSR program and involve them in various aspects of the project. Opportunities for corporations to express that they do care about their surroundings have happened in the following ways.

TTK-LIG Limited, South Tamil Nadu - a Chennai based corporation with factories in Tamil Nadu accessing international markets – created a 100,000 sapling nursery under the guidance of the PGH technical team. The head of executive management involved all employees from the different production sites in this project making environmental care part of their strategy. Locally, the production team took the initiative to meet and invite the surrounding corporations, schools and general public to plant the saplings in their nearby villages to create sustainable surroundings.

Henkel India Limited, Union Territory of Pondicherry, India – a German company sponsored 100,000 saplings to be distributed in the area where they operate their detergent factory thus showing their concern for the local environment.

Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai - By bringing financial resources for awareness materials like brochures, hoardings and banners, corporations help PGH to cover the cost of implementing the project.

Yves Rocher, France– a leading international corporation in botanical beauty care has committed to support the planting of 900,000 trees to make one rural area green in Tamil Nadu as part of its CSR program for global environmental care. A team of employees came with the Director of Sustainable Development of Yves Rocher Group to visit the villages and show their support to the local community. In parallel, they are encouraging their customers worldwide to join their action through a marketing campaign and online donation.

Many other local businesses have been involved along with PGH volunteers in sapling raising and awareness material generation including GB Industry, PPN Power, Suguna Chickens, Sakthi Sugars, Salem Steel plant, SRF Gummidipoondi, GMR, Raminium Builders.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
PGH establishes partnerships that create a win-win situation where social NGOs can achieve their mission through environmental activities and PGH accesses a social network that reaches diverse groups of the population.

To create synergy, PGH shares the network of Isha, its methodology and environmental expertise with other NGOs. The project offers NGOs a field of activities where a potential source of employment and income generation can be developed while increasing the manpower needed to complete the PGH commitment. A few examples of various joint ventures are:

  1. with Eranda Foundation, UK to complete the planting of trees in villages below the poverty line in partnership with IRDC, a local NGO already involved in the villages
  2. partnerships with farmer associations: NAAM – a national organization working to revive the farming community and discuss new farming methodologies and LEISA – a state level organization working for the promotion of organic farming.
  3. a 100,000 sapling nursery developed through self-help groups thus creating livelihood opportunities for women. This nursery has been developed under the umbrella of OAZONE, a state level NGO involved in rural development already participating in environmental care through water management projects.
  4. introducing and encouraging organic farming to local farmers in conjunction with ' Tamilaga Iyarkai Uzavar Iyakkam'. This NGO has been founded by Dr Nammazvaar a respected agricultural scientist who brings us his 40 years expertise in agro-forestry, tree plantation and organic farming at the grass root level.
  5. to have shared a study report written by Joint Action for Sustainable Livelihood (JASuL)