Joel Shelton Terrance Victoria F

After completing his master’s in social work from Loyola College, Chennai, Joel is currently working at the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban communities (IRCTC) as a program manager. He actively works with restelled communities. As a part of the project, Joel reached at least 80 families in the Perumbakkam community, in order to promote the growing of organic vegetables. After the initial visit to the community, which is a resettlement colony for victims of the Tsunami, the slum residents were given access to the farm by transferring ownership to the community. The members of the community were motivated because the children now had access to healthy vegetables and were able to get proper nutrition. He aims to create a brand for the vegetables grown in the locality and sell it to local shops in order to provide livelihood to the community and promote self-reliance and self-sufficiency. He also created a social entrepreneurship model for 10 women leaders from the community who were trained by IRCDUC. Partnerships were built with Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB), Tamil Nadu State Education Department, Indian Institute of Technology - Madras (IIT-M), Chennai Resilience Centre (CRC) & Residence Welfare Associations (RWAs.) A specific climate change vertical has been created at IRCDUC and Joel aims to influence the government authorities to adopt solar energy street lights within the community. In order to bring the conversation around organic farming into the mainstream, a school nutrition program has also been approved by the local school.