The NESFAS Urban Community Initiative began with the desire to turn Laitumkhrah, the location of the NESFAS headquarters into a model urban community.
Taking the Good and Clean of the Slow Food principles, NESFAS aims for a cleaner Laitumkhrah through activities such as a cleaning drive and the creation of a community garden at the office premises. The first few steps included meeting with the members of the local governing bodies, the Rangbah Shnong and the Rangbah Dong, on International Mother Earth Day, 22nd March 2014 to discuss issues at hand and how the two bodies can collaborate to bring the idea to realisation. The team together with indigenous traditional knowledge holders and expert farmers worked on designing a garden where local vegetables would be planted. A survey of underprivileged families falling ‘Below Poverty Line’ would be undertaken. After the identification of these families and the plantation of the garden, the produce harvested from the gardens would be distributed among these underprivileged families.