# Kulandei Francis > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kulandei_Francis > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kulandei_Francis.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulandei_Francis > Source revision: 1324045469 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. You can help. The talk page may contain suggestions. (October 2012) Indian activist and social worker Kulandei Francis Born 1946 (age 79–80) Salem district, Tamil Nadu Alma mater Annamalai University Organization Integrated Village Development Project Website http://www.ivdpkrishnagiri.org/ **Kulandei Francis** (born 1946) is an activist, social worker, and the founder of the [NGO](/source/Non-governmental_organization) Integrated Village Development Project in [Tamil Nadu](/source/Tamil_Nadu), [India](/source/India). He was one of six recipients of the [Magsaysay Award](/source/Magsaysay_Award) in 2012 for "his profound faith in community energies, and his sustained programs in pursuing the holistic economic empowerment of thousands of women and their families in rural India".[1] ## Life Francis was born to Kulandei and Mathalai Mary in the [Karipatti](/source/Karipatti) village of [Salem district](/source/Salem_district) of Tamil Nadu. His parents were agricultural labourers and the family was extremely poor. He was the only one of his siblings to obtain a university degree. His experiences of [childhood poverty](/source/Childhood_poverty), especially an incident in which the local money lender cheated his mother out of the family's sole plot of land, were catalytic in his decision to take up social work as a vocation.[2] He completed his B.Com from the [Annamalai University](/source/Annamalai_University) in [Chidambaram](/source/Chidambaram) and in 1970 joined the Fathers of the Holy Cross and studied [theology](/source/Theology) at the De Nobili College in [Pune](/source/Pune). During the course of that decade, he was involved with [Caritas](/source/Caritas_(charity)) India and volunteered as an aid worker during the [Bangladesh War of 1971](/source/Bangladesh_War) and the Pune drought of 1972. In 1976 he went to Natrampalayam, a remote rural village in [Krishnagiri district](/source/Krishnagiri_district) where his exposure to the local villagers' miseries proved to be a life-changing experience. That year he renounced his priesthood and in 1979 he founded the Integrated Village Development Project. He has done courses in social development and rural management from Canada and the Philippines. He is married to Kosalai Mary and the couple have one daughter.[3][4][5] ## Integrated Village Development Project Francis started the Integrated Village Development Project (IVDP) in Krishnagiri in 1979. It began with a series of small initiatives such as the establishment of night schools and a first aid center. The IVDP then began a micro-watershed programme that, over twenty two years, created a network of 331 [check dams](/source/Check_dam) in sixty villages benefiting 40,000 people there.[4] In 1989, the organization began establishing women's [self-help groups](/source/Self-help_groups) (SHGs). By 2011, these numbered 8231 SHGs with 153,990 members with savings worth $40 million and a corpus fund of nearly $9 million.[6] In its award citation, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation noted that the program had "become a financially disciplined, self-reliant, member-owned, and member-managed organization" and that the group's solidarity and its facilitation of credit had allowed for the successful implementation of projects in these villages in areas as diverse as "health and sanitation, housing, livelihood, and children's education, including scholarships, performance-based incentives for students and schools, a primary school for tribal children, and a computer training academy that has, to date, trained some 5,000 children".[1] The IVDP is today active in the three districts of Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and [Vellore](/source/Vellore_district) in Tamil Nadu.[7] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-rmaf_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-rmaf_1-1) ["CITATION for KULANDEI FRANCIS"](http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationKulandeiFran.htm). Retrieved 11 October 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["We lost land to moneylenders, know poverty closely: Francis"](http://www.indianexpress.com/news/we-lost-land-to-moneylenders-know-poverty-closely-francis/980888/0). *The Indian Express*. 29 July 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Integrated Village Development Project - Krishnagiri"](http://ivdpkrishnagiri.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=167&Itemid=555). 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-indianexpress_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-indianexpress_4-1) ["Poverty is a crime; it needs to be eliminated"](http://www.indianexpress.com/news/poverty-is-a-crime--it-needs-to-be-eliminated/986145/0). *The Indian Express*. 12 August 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Kulandei Francis: Who is he?"](https://www.indiatoday.in/india/south/story/kulandei-francis-who-is-he-111269-2012-07-25). India Today. Retrieved 26 July 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["India's Kulandei Francis wins Ramon Magsaysay Award"](https://www.indiatoday.in/india/south/story/indian-kulandei-francis-wins-ramon-magasaysay-award-111114-2012-07-25). *India Today*. 26 July 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Kulandei Francis' visionary zeal fetches him the Magsaysay"](http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3683671.ece). *The Hindu*. 26 July 2012. v t e Ramon Magsaysay Award winners of India Amitabha Chowdhury Anshu Gupta Aruna Roy Arun Shourie Arvind Kejriwal Baba Amte Banoo Jehangir Coyaji Bezwada Wilson Bharat Vatwani B. G. Verghese Chandi Prasad Bhatt C. D. Deshmukh Dara Nusserwanji Khurody Deep Joshi Ela Bhatt Gour Kishore Ghosh Harish Hande Jockin Arputham James Michael Lyngdoh Jayaprakash Narayan Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Kiran Bedi Kulandei Francis K. V. Subbanna Lakshmi Chand Jain Laxminarayan Ramdas Mabelle Arole Mahasweta Devi Mahesh Chandra Mehta Manibhai Desai Mandakini Amte Mother Teresa M. S. Subbulakshmi M. S. Swaminathan Nileema Mishra Palagummi Sainath Pandurang Shastri Athavale Prakash Amte P. K. Sethi Rajendra Singh Ravi Shankar Ravish Kumar R. K. Laxman Rajanikant Arole Sanjiv Chaturvedi Satyajit Ray Sombhu Mitra Sandeep Pandey Shantha Sinha Sonam Wangchuk T. M. Krishna T. N. Seshan Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel V. Shanta Verghese Kurien Vinoba Bhave List of Ramon Magsaysay Award winners --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kulandei Francis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulandei_Francis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulandei_Francis?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.