An online database has been developed with the help of Susan Iversen of Karo Data Management in Wellington. This will provide statistical information to evaluate the Tamil Nadu economic development project.

To gather this data a small survey was designed in collaboration with project directors in India. This covers demographic data and three measures which will identify changes to: a) daily income b) household indebtedness and c) school attendance for boys and girls. It was decided that these three ‘indicators’ would be a simple way to provide evidence of improvement in the lives of participants without making too much extra work for the project staff.

Because the majority of participants are illiterate the information is collected orally. The data is then entered onto the LimeSurvey database by staff in the Labour Union’s Madurai office. Twenty five surveys can be entered free each month and Karo has generously sponsored another 2000 extra entries. To date 528 surveys have been completed and data entered for agricultural workers and basket weavers who have signed up to the first two co-operatives.

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