About SCAD Group

Dr. Cletus Babu and Amali Babu

Dr. Cletus Babu, the founder and chairman of Social Change and Development, was keen to help those in need from a young age. After graduating from university, he worked as a Catholic priest for seven years in southern Tamil Nadu before leaving the church to start a new job as a social worker.

Social work led to the birth of SCAD

Acutely aware of the need for change, it wasn’t long before Cletus started his own social development programmes in the small town of Cheranmahadevi in 1985. Cletus married Dr Amali Cletus Babu in 1988 and they have been on a lifelong journey ever since, assisting in poverty alleviation for the marginalised rural communities of the Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts.

Our work has won acclaim for its positive impacts both in Tamil Nadu and further afield. The ‘Education and Social Work National Award 2016’ for the exemplary service in the field of education and social work was awarded to Dr. S. Cletus Babu by CAPITAL FOUNDATION OF INDIA New Delhi, which was presented by Prof. O. P. Kohli, Hon. Governor of Gujarat and Prof. Dr. Veda Pragash, Chairman, UGC University Grants Commission New Delhi, at the “Producing World Class Universities” conference in August 2016, held at India International Centre, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi.

Dr. Cletus Babu was conferred the Abdul Kalam Seva Ratna Award 2015 for best performance as an achiever in the category of Reviving Water Bodies Mission in recognition of his exemplary commitment towards societal transformation and notable contribution in achieving sustainable development in realising a self-sufficient, peaceful and prosperous nation as envisioned by ‘Bharat Ratna’ Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, in November 2015.

SCAD was recognised as the best institution and was given the Government of Tamilnadu award by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. Selvi J. Jayalalithaa, in August 2015 in recognition of its outstanding services to the Differently abled persons.

Cletus was given the national level award for Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in 2005.

Vision

Our vision is to make the society a better place where all people are treated with dignity and respect, affording everybody equal opportunities, rights and recognition.

Mission

Our mission as a non-governmental organisation is to empower villagers by offering them the training and support they want and need to lift them out of poverty.

Our guiding principle is one of empowerment emphasised in this poem by Lao Tzu,

Go to the people
Live with them
Learn from them
Love them.
Start with what they know
Build with what they have
But with the best leaders,
When the work is done,
The task accomplished,
The people will say,
“We have done it ourselves”.

Where we work

We work with around 600 villages in the districts of Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. The rural poor make up just under half the 70m population in this southern Indian state. The average wage is less than Rs.30, 000 ($600) per annum.

The region struggles with water shortages, poor soil and a lack of adequate provision for many of the basic health, educational and social support services taken for granted in developed nations.