SHILLONG: The North East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society (NESFAS) has initiated a pilot project with community members of Nongtraw, East Khasi Hills, one of the first communities to work with NESFAS, who reached out to the organisation with a need to understand precautionary measures concerning COVID-19, a report said.
The NESFAS, in its pilot project, decided to construct retrofit rooms since social distancing seemed difficult due to the tight-knit nature of homes in rural areas.
The Nongtraw community identified three out of the eight elders in the village who were vulnerable and with lesser resources.
The society also worked upon a design for the retrofit rooms with the help of the local contractors, The Indigenous Partnership and NESFAS architecture and infrastructure consultants.
To set the ball rolling, NESFAS contributed Rs 30,600 on Sunday, which is part of the larger seed fund — Rs 1 lakh — that will be shared for constructing retrofit rooms with other villages that the NESFAS is working in. 50 per cent of the total cost will be contributed by the community and the other half will be raised by NESFAS staff and friends.
