About SCAD

Founded in 1985 by Cletus Babu SCAD exists to empower and assist the rural poor to better their lives and to help them to realise their full potential. They work in over 500 rural villages with a population of over 400,000 and offer a wide range of educational, health and community projects. It is a highly successful and fast growing organisation and this has been recognised by special visits from the President of India and the Governor of Tamil Nadu.

After being invited to help a village SCAD staff carry out a participative survey to discover the needs of the village. From this a priority plan of action is agreed with the village. SCAD encourages the village Sangham, the traditional form of village governance, or the formation of what it calls the Village Development Committee (VDC) to take responsibility for the implementation of the plan.

SCAD then selects and trains a “Village Volunteer”. This part time person, who is nearly always a woman, is the SCAD representative in the village. This vital role pioneered by SCAD means that a skilled and respected person known to the villagers is available to them for help and guidance. The Volunteer is backed up by a full time trained field social worker called an Animator who in turn reports to one of the six regional Block Leaders. The organisation is de-centralised as much as possible with each block having its own Office and administrative staff backed up by a small central Head Office in the local city of Tirunelvelli.