2019 ANNUAL REPORT

On the Cover:

Top Left: Gudiya Khatoon on her daily round of households to check upon her patients (goats and poultry) in her uniform armed with her trusty animal care kit. She is a pashu sakhi of Titra Bishanpur village of Muraul block in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Gudiya has been providing veterinary care services to the denizens of the village since January 2017 and has been responsible for decreased mortality among goats and increased goat herd size for rearers. Top Right: These women are the proud owners and managers of a Solar based Mini Water Supply system in Narsinghpur village of Mushari block in Muzaffarpur district, Bihar. Saraswati Suddh Peyjal Samiti is an all-women committee responsible for management of piped drinking water supply in the village. They collect water tariffs and undertake maintenance & repair of the system. Bottom Left: Janadi Bai, the president of Village Level Association of Kusumya Village in Niwali block of Barwani disrict, Madhya Pradesh is speaking at the State Level Workshop on Rural Governance held in Bhopal in February, 2019. She shared the story of transformation of her village brought on by increased women participation in Gram Sabha. The women members raised and successfully resolved various village-level issues such as Anganwadi functioning, road construction, access to drinking water supply system, access to electricity, access to social security schemes/entitlements, etc. Bottom right: Anushruti, an ambitious and hardworking girl from Pusa block in Samastipur district of Bihar upskilled herself through the Yuva Junction employability skills program of the organisation and upon completion of the training was placed at Quest Alliance as a Facilitator with the initial package of INR 3,00,000 per annum, one of the highest packages offered during the year.

3 4 GEOGRAPHY AND REACH

5 08 Leadership 09 Partners in Development INSIDE 10 The Year that was 12 2019 in Numbers 14 Climate Smart Agro-systems 32 Agriculture and Livestock Valuechains 40 Youth Development 48 Health and Hygiene 6 08 Leadership 60 Education 09 Partners in Development 66 Peoples’ Institutions 10 The Year that was 84 Vadvai 12 2019 in Numbers 86 State Reports 14 Climate Smart Agro-systems 92 Research and Monitoring 32 Agriculture and 94 Human Resources Livestock Valuechains 96 Finance 40 Youth Development 97 Media Coverage 48 Health and Hygiene 98 Reach Us 7 LEADERSHIP

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 1 Nasser Munjee Chairperson 2 Aloysius Fernandez Director 3 Bakul Virani Director 4 Ishaat Hussain Director 5 Isher J Ahluwalia Director 6 Kasim Ali F Merchant Director 7 Madhu Sarin Director 8 Munir Merchant Director 9 N. Venkatram Director 10 Pradip Khandwalla Director 11 S. B. Ravi Pandit Director 12 Tinni Sawhney Director 13 Wajahat Habibullah Director 14 Apoorva Oza Secretary

AUDITORS

Statutory Auditors M/s Haribhakti & Co Mumbai Internal Auditors Manubhai & Shah LLP Todi Tulsiyan (for Bihar)

BANKERS State Bank of , Navrangpura Branch, , Vadaj Branch, Ahmedabad Axis Bank, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad

8 PARTNERS IN DEVELOPMENT

FUNDING PARTNERS Aditya Birla Capital Shell India Aga Khan Foundation Shri Pradip Khandwalla American India Foundation Shri Aleem Adatia Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives Sardar Sarovar Nigam Ltd Asian Paints Small Farmers Agriculture Consortium(SFAC) Australian Consulate General in Mumbai Tata Trusts Axis Bank Foundation The Hans Foundation Better Cotton Initiative UNICEF Bhaidas Cursondas & Co UPL Ltd. Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation UN Women Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Vestas Laudes Foundation Water Aid Carrefour Foundation WGWLO Coastal Salinity Prevention Cell (CSPC) Collectives for Integrated Livelihood (CInI) Cotton Connect KNOWLEDGE PARTNERS D-SAG, Government of National Skills Development Corporation Ltd European Union (NSDC) Godrej Agrovet Ltd SBI Foundation Godrej Consumer Products Ltd TRI Foundation Gruh Finance Ltd RRA Network Gujarat CSR Authority Sajjata Sangh Gujarat Livelihoods Promotion Company Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) (GLPC) Grassroutes Journeys Pvt. Ltd HDFC Bank Ltd Swati Ahmedabad Heifer International Jagori Hindustan Unilever Foundation Vikas Anvesh Foundation (VAF) IWMI-TATA Water Policy Program DSC Foundation John Deere India Development Management Institute (DMI) Mahindra Finance Patna Microsoft National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Nokia India PRADAN Quest Alliance Rabo Bank Reckitt Benkiser Rizwan Adatia Foundation

We are thankful to continued support from Government of India, , Government of Bihar and Government of Madhya Pradesh for our various development initiatives.

9 THE YEAR THAT WAS

The year 2019 has been both exciting and Solar based irrigation systems have been challenging for our team. Large parts of a great success in terms of providing North Bihar, and some parts of Madhya affordable and reliable irrigation services to Pradesh and Gujarat experienced severe farmers in remote locations. Studies have flood conditions during the monsoon suggested that there is substantial jump season. It led to widespread damage in crop production in villages where solar to crops and livestock in many villages. irrigation systems have been set-up over the Children in our program districts in Bihar last five years. Open wells with underground experienced the worst kind of disease, pipeline system serving five to ten farmers Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). This have proved very effective in tribal regions led to tragic deaths of many young children where farmers cannot afford to invest in mostly from extremely vulnerable families. individual capacity. These incidences broke our hearts.

Our team showed great resilience during Climate resilient agriculture practices are such instances and helped large numbers becoming a strong pillar of our work in of families in whatever way they could. At the agriculture sector. Large numbers of the time, when this report is being finalised, farmers benefited by adopting practices we are again going through a severe crisis such as Non-pesticide management, in the form of Covid-19 pandemic. Again, Conservation agriculture, Mixed cropping our teams are working actively on ground systems, Organic agriculture and System of to generate awareness at grassroot level, root intensification. Over 50,000 farmers however this work might be covered in next have been practicing one or more of annual report for the year 2020. these sustainable agriculture practices in programme villages. We continued to expand and deepen our rural livelihoods works, mostly building on Various studies have shown benefits of these the social capital which has been generated practices in terms of reduced input costs, over all these years. Over 150,000 reduced water requirement, improved soil households were supported through various health and increased resilience in adverse livelihoods activities during the year. climatic conditions. Crop diversification practices such as vegetable cultivation, fruit Expansion of irrigation infrastructure in trees plantations and mushroom cultivation some of the most remote villages has been helped farmers to increase their incomes. one of the major highlights of the year. Our work on irrigation includes solar based Integrated livestock development has group irrigation systems, construction of become a core livelihood program for the earthen dams and check dams, farm ponds, organisation in last few years. It has had bore-well recharge and revival of old water a positive impact particularly on women bodies. Our work on facilitating access to farmers as they are engaged in livestock drip irrigation for farmers in highly water rearing. Pashu Sakhis reach to over 70,000 stressed areas continues to expand like livestock rearers across all three states, previous years. and are playing a critical role in improving the productivity and incomes from goat We have already provided drip irrigation rearing and backyard poultry through facilities to over 10000 farmers and plan to their dedicated services around preventive reach many more in coming years through veterinary care. Clear gains are visible on our innovative work on facilitating access ground in terms of reduced mortality rates to finance for farmers in need of funds for in livestock leading to increased income investing in drip technology. realisation from these activities.

10 Dairy activities supported by us have the outcomes and sustainability of activities helped tribal farmers of Gujarat in getting we do but also truly empowers the most continuous cash flow round the year. marginalised in villages. Various CBOs promoted by us now reach to over 1.5 lakh Skills trainings and placement support to households. These CBOs are playing an rural youth through the Yuva Junction important role in improving livelihoods of program helped over 2000 youth during the rural people. year. Almost half of these trainees are girls which clearly shows that there is increasing It is our continuous endeavor to make acceptance among the community when it all our programs more gender focused comes to building career of young women. so that they are able to fulfill practical Our placement facilitation is very intensive. as well strategic needs of rural women. Upskilled youths have been receiving better We continue to support and strengthen quality jobs year on year. Average initial Panchayats so that they can become citizen salary of these youths has increased to centric in their approach. around INR 8500 per month. The Vadvai unit; which is dedicated to The enterprise promotion work with rural capacity building of professionals from youth has great future potential and will other CSOs, government agencies and become a strong foundation for the rural CSRs, trained hundreds of people from economy in future. Over 250 youth are such agencies. They conducted various running various enterprises mostly in agri- training programs around natural resources processing sector. management, agriculture, livestock, community mobilisation and sanitation Our work on improving learning outcomes during the year. in government schools and Anganwadis continues to benefit over 20,000 children in 300 villages. Our interventions in Our budget utilisation has continued to education sector include improvement increase over the last few years which of infrastructure, child centric pedagogy, indicates the faith shown by funding community participation in learning of partners in our capabilities. We are really children, improved school governance and thankful to all funding partners who have setting up school libraries. generously supported us in empowering rural communities. We are also thankful to Community Based Organisations (CBOs) various consultants, professional agencies, and strengthening of grass-root governance academic institutions, researchers and remains the core of everything we do. interns who contributed to our programs Community participation not only improves during the year.

11 12 13 CLIMATE SMART AGRO-SYSTEMS

The Impact of the Climate Smart Interventions done in 2019 according to Internal Evaluation is as follows: • Reduction in CO2 emissions to the tune of 4712 MT from solar pump installations and plantations during the year. IMPACT • Savings of 17130.28 Million litres per year of water from installation of Drip Irrigation systems.

14 with 2081 people losing their lives in 2018 alone. Most of the damage was caused by flood like conditions which engulfed more than half the nation. Indian monsoon, the lifeline of most of the small and marginal farmers has always known to be erratic but the trend of last couple of years shows that either the monsoons cause floods or their absence leads to drought-like conditions. The intensity and extremity of the rainfall negatively impacts food production systems. According to 2017-18 Economic Survey, droughts reduce farmers income by 4-14%. Climate Change is evident and everyone needs to learn to live in an increasingly warmer and more unpredictable world. With floods and droughts becoming the new normal, climate preparedness is crucial. To achieve food security in the coming times, developing climate resilient food production systems is key. AKRSP(I) has been working with small and marginal farmers of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar since the last 34 years. While AKRSP(I) has always focused upon promoting sustainable agriculture approaches and ensuring water for irrigation; in the last couple of years, AKRSP(I) has also been developing Climate resilience in its work areas through a slew According to a report,1 the number of of interventions. people suffering from hunger has been increasing over the last three years. Climate The key components of AKRSP(I)’s approach variability and extreme weather events are to developing Climate Smart Agrosystems the key culprits behind this regression to are represented below: the past decade hunger levels. India is particularly vulnerable to climate change as more than 60% of the agriculture is rainfed and it is home to 30% of the world’s poor population. India was ranked the 5th most vulnerable country on the Global Climate Risk Index 20202

1. The state of food security and nutrition in the world: Building climate resilience for food security and nutrition|2018 | Food And Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund For Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) , World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO) 2. A report developed by Germanwatch, an independent development organization. The report analyses the extent of weather-related losses suffered by countries for the period from 1999-2018 15 LAND DEVELOPMENT AND WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND SOIL HEALTH WATER EFFICIENCY Conventional Agriculture views soil as an Efficient Water resource management is externality and thus as a hostile entity which crucial for agricultural ecosystem, especially has to be controlled. In trying to control the in the context of climate change. With environment, a host of chemical inputs are erratic and unpredictable monsoons introduced which alter the soil composition becoming the new normal, ensuring distancing it from its native elements. adequate and timely water supply for Soil, however needs to be considered irrigation is becoming a challenge. AKRSP(I) as a living organism as it houses living has worked extensively over the last organisms such as Anthropods, Nematodes, 30 years to reduce water scarcity in its Protozoaries, Earthworms, Algae, Bacteria, programme areas. etc. Sustainable Agricultural practices strive to understand the soil ecosystem and the AKRSP(I)’s approach is aimed at external environment. These methods are • Increasing water supply by Recharge based on using principles governing natural of aquifers through River Basin ecosystems and focus on protection and Management and by constructing Water conservation of soil health. harvesting structures. • Reducing water demand through AKRSP(I) has over the years developed Micro-Irrigation Systems, Conservation a deep understanding of the agrarian Agriculture and low water using farming ecosystem of India and undertakes a series systems. of activities to conserve soil by checking erosion, soil moisture management, WATER HARVESTING FOR enhancing ground water recharge, etc. LIVELIHOODS Land development interventions include: • 22 check dams were constructed • Area treatment activities such as in programme areas benefitting 102 Earthen farm bunding, stone field farmers by providing irrigation water to bunding, contour trenches 248 hectare of farm area and 3 check • Drainage line treatment activities such dams constructed previously were gabion bunds, loose boulder structures, repaired. nala plugs, etc. • 17 Boribunds were constructed • providing irrigation water to 34 farmers. • Percolation tanks are promoted in During the year, farm bunding and project areas to promote ground water levelling activity was undertaken on 434 recharge. They are artificially created hectares of land benefitting 491 farmers. reservoirs constructed across stream Contour trenching which is digging of by submerging a land area with adequate equidistant trenches along contour lines permeability to enable percolation of was undertaken on 19 hectares of land water. During the year, two percolation in Madhya Pradesh. 69 Gabions and 206 tanks were built in and Nala plugs (loose boulder structures) were district benefitting 61 farmers. constructed in Madhya Pradesh and Dangs • 1 new dug well was constructed and programme areas. 35 old dug wells repaired benefitting 113 farmers Soil Testing • 29 farm ponds were constructed to Soil testing is regularly undertaken in provide farmers with irrigation water programme areas to understand the need during dry spells of Kharif season. of the soil so that measures can be taken • 418 farmers benefitted from 87 group- to restore nutrients and minerals in soil based lift irrigation schemes. 63 of by organic methods. During the year, soil these lift irrigation installations were testing was undertaken for 27 farmers. made in Madhya Pradesh programme areas. 16 • Diversion based irrigation is an effective Earlier most canal systems in Gujarat were low-cost method to provide irrigation in defunct due to the non-repayment of undulating terrains by using gravity to water fees and the constant tussle between direct water to farmers fields. 4 such the government and the community. PIM systems were installed in Madhya Pradesh transfers the management of the canal benefitting 22 farmers by providing infrastructure from the government irrigation to 36 hectares of land. to the community such that the user community in the true sense becomes the owner of the canal infrastructure. PARTICIPATORY IRRIGATION Canal Irrigation Societies (CIS) are formed MANAGEMENT with representatives from the beneficiary Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) community and are responsible for the enables farmers to manage and maintain maintenance, repair as well as collection of irrigation water provided by government water tariffs from the canal catchment area. through canals. The role AKRSP(I) played in the evolution of PIM is crucial.

17 Mahalpada village of Dangs district hosts the tributary of Khapri river. Various government departments had constructed 7 check dams upon the tributary’s path that flows through the village. Having been built 10- 15 years prior, these structures were affected by deposition of silt and natural wearing, and as such were in the need of repair and maintenance. In a regular meeting of the village development committee, the issue of repair and maintenance of the structures was discussed. Upon deliberation it was found that if the structures were repaired, the water harvested could benefit 40-50 farmers ‘ચેકડેમ રિપેરિંગ against 15 farmers who were being benefitted કામગીરીથી પાણી currently. The committee developed a proposal ખાસો એવો રોકાવે for repair of the structures which was છે।’ FIELD DIARIES presented to AKRSP(I). The organisation with support of the village community undertook Good amount of water is harvested as a the repair and desilting work of the mentioned result of check dam structures. repairing work.

Mithabhai Pawar, one of the beneficiaries of the repair work benefitted from the desilting work undertaken in the dam. He was able to add more arable land to his ownership from the silt removed from the dam. This year he harvested 18 quintal paddy against 6 quintal harvested before. Before the repair work was undertaken, he used to cultivate only paddy as he did not have means of irrigation to take a second crop, but this year, he cultivated Green Gram, Brinjal and Maize in rabi season.

AKRSP(I) has over the years brought 25,000 Coastal Saline Gujarat hectares of agricultural land under irrigation The Barda Sagar Sinchai Yojana covers thus benefitting 28,584 beneficiaries spread 2064 hectares of arable land of 6 villages in over 232 villages in Gujarat and Madhya . During the year, various Pradesh through the implementation of PIM extension activities such as village meetings, processes. video shows, literature distribution, exposure visits, trainings were undertaken. Currently AKRSP(I) is implementing Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) of two PIM work for Gujarat State Irrigation catchment villages was also undertaken Department and Sardar Sarovar Narmada to better understand the community. 49 Nigam Limited. The successful formation of community beneficiaries of Barda Sagar CIS and Water User Associations (WUAs) Sinchai Yojana visited successful PIM projects will benefit farmers in 83 villages of , namely Ubedh, Akara and Iser Irrigation Tapi, Surendranagar and Porbandar districts Societies to understand the implementation by bringing canal irrigation to 20,000 nuances and benefits of participatory hectares of agricultural land. irrigation. The registration request of the Canal Various processes such as village level Irrigation Societies of three villages under meetings, government liaisoning, training of the Barda Sagar Project has been presented beneficiary farmers on water distribution to the Irrigation department for approval. and management, accounts, etc. has been Water user fees collection has also been undertaken. Due to the undergoing undertaken for these three villages. processes 16,000 farmers have been formed into 55 Water User Associations (WUAs) of Tribal which 30 WUAs are managing their water Work on PIM is being undertaken at a distribution and recovery of water tariffs large scale in the South Gujarat region with independently. a scope to benefit 70 villages and 12168 hectares of agricultural land.

18 4 PIM projects namely the Unchamala The core of the Drip Pool Programme is Canal Irrigation project, Ghata Canal the ‘community financing mechanism’, which Irrigation Project, Vansakui Canal Irrigation provides interest-free loans to farmers and Project and Ukai Canal Irrigation Project supports them in availing GGRC subsidy. are being implemented. Capacity building A farmer gets a loan from the community of beneficiary farmers on accounts, water financing mechanism which is repaid over management, agricultural training, etc. was two years through monthly installments. undertaken. Two workshops were also Repayments are returned to the community conducted for planning and experience finance and used to provide loans to other sharing. 2938 farmers were formulated into farmers. 8 WUAs during the year and registration of 10 WUAs was done with the irrigation department. Canal Repair and Maintenance work was undertaken by beneficiary farmers of 23 WUAs by donating 1781 mandays in the process. The functional WUAs were responsible for collection of INR18 lakhs of water fees from command area. This enabled the beneficiaries to get a rebate of INR 9 lakh from the irrigation department.

Drought Prone Gujarat During the year, the work of providing Irrigation water of Canal situated in was initiated. This canal will provide irrigation coverage to 5744 hectares of land in 7 villages of During the year, 2193 farmers were Vadhvan taluka. The inception work such as connected to drip irrigation systems village level meetings, awareness campaigns, bringing 5269 hectares of agriculture land formation of Water user groups, etc. was under irrigation coverage through the undertaken. 10 Water User Associations Drip promotion project operational in 319 have been registered during the year. villages in Surendranagar district of Gujarat.

A change was made in the programme MICRO IRRIGATION SYSTEMS strategy by providing financial support for 3 Reducing water demand is a crucial acres of land instead of 2 acres which was adaptation intervention promoted by the maximum limit of land on which the AKRSP(I) in its programme areas. Micro interest free loan could be availed. irrigation systems such as drip and It was observed that more than 60% of sprinklers are being operationalised the farmers adopted drip technology in by AKRSP(I) in partnership with the more than 3 acres of land. In order to tap government by effective implementation of this huge market potential, the mentioned Drip promotion scheme of the government change was made and this has worked well. of Gujarat. Due to this, more drip penetration could be made possible. This has also helped farmers to avoid taking credit from market at high interest rates.

19 PLANTATIONS Trees are an integral part of agricultural Drip leads to improvements in yield landscape. Plantation on common property to the tune of 17.4% in comparison land of fuelwood and fodder trees as well to non-drip farms. as plantation of trees on field bunds along agricultural lands is promoted in programme areas. This year total 22,690 saplings have Water savings of 1.10 million litres been planted on 50 hectares of common

IMPACT per acre or 4732 litre per kg of land and 51,800 plants have been planted on cotton produced by the use of drip locations like; schools, anganwadis, farm land etc. Reduction in seed cost by 6% compared to non-drip farmers SOLAR ENERGY FOR IRRIGATION Reduces amount of weedicides and A climate change mitigation measure pesticides required. undertaken since 2013 has been the gradual replacement of diesel-powered Reduced fertilizer requirement by 7% irrigation pumps with solar pumps. 29 solar based group irrigation schemes were operationalised during the year which provided irrigation water to 258 hectares of land and benefitted1354 farmers in 28 villages across the three states.

Suresh bhai Makwana’s land was in a terrible state when he associated with AKRSP(I)’s Drip and Cotton program. Hailing from Bhoyra village in , he made an annual net income of Rs. 14,950 which barely covered the family’s expenditure. With the organisation’s support, he installed drip in 2016. Subsequently he received various trainings on agriculture and water management. He adopted water management practices and started use of bio-pesticides. He undertook land development works on 0.4 acre fallow land increasing his land holding to 2.4 acre. Implementing the learnings from a soil and water management workshop, Suresh bhai constructed a water recharge structure on his farm. All of this helped him improve the fertility of his land. The soil test report recorded C:N ratio of 0.55 which was a major leap from 0.20 recorded before.

FIELD DIARIES From 2018, Sureshbhai adopted mulching, intercropping, crop rotation, cultivation of vegetables and trap crops, plantation of trees of bunds, etc. All these practices not only helped him earn additional income but created a mini-ecosystem on his farm. He reported sightings of beneficial insects such as lady bird beetle, dragonfly, butterfly, honeybee, etc. With the help of new crops and vegetables such as Groundnut, Sesame, Tomato and Chili, his total annual income improved by Rs. 2.53,400 and he was able to reduce the input cost from Rs.28,475 to Rs.15,542 per acre. Through all these efforts, Sureshbhai is now earning net income of Rs. 2,57,583 per year, which is a huge improvement over Rs.14,950 earned earlier.

The effort and hardwork of Sureshbhai was recognised by the organisation by felicitating him with the Best Farmer Award for the year of 2018-19.

20 • 137 solar based irrigation schemes have been installed in programme areas which save CO2 emissions to Bihar, however has seen the rise of a new the tune of 34 tonne/year. service-based approach since the last • 1035 hectares of agriculture land four years. It has also been the state with

IMPACT has been brought under renewable the maximum solar pump installations. irrigation benefitting 5000 farmers. Under this model, solar entrepreneurs • ISPs are able to generate average are promoted in group or individual mode annual revenue of INR1,20,000 by facilitating installation of solar energy irrigation system on a subsidy cum loan from solar based irrigation systems. model. The solar entrepreneurs provide • The rate of irrigation has been irrigation as a service to cultivators. reduced by 60-70 % compared with Diesel. AKRSP(I) initiated a pilot in Chakhaji village of Bihar in 2015 where it promoted 6 solar irrigation service providers who successfully provided irrigation facility to cultivators Due to the high cost involved in installation of the village. This new irrigation delivery of the solar irrigation system and the model is cost effective for the cultivators segregated and patched land holdings of and more profitable for the service small and marginal farmers, solar based providers. According to an assessment of irrigation systems have been installed in the agricultural landscape of Chakhaji post a group-based approach. During the year, initiation of services of the Irrigation Service 26 group-based schemes were installed in Providers, the key changes in the situation programme areas. are summarized in the impact box on pg 22.

21 Change in agricultural scenario of Chakaji village post deployment of Out of these, 10 have been promoted Solar Irrigation Service providers with women farmers. 7 of these have been • Area under cultivation has been installed in group mode with 72 women increased to 250 acre in 2018 members and 3 women were empowered from142 acre in 2016 as individual irrigation service providers.

IMPACT • Cropping intensity increased to 2.58 in 2018 from 1.9 in 2016 However, an aspect which needs due • GVO of the village is INR16,16,612 consideration while promoting irrigation in 2018 (7,87,837 in 2016) systems which utilise groundwater for the • Farmers’ income has been purpose of cultivation is the possibility increased by 1.5 times. of overextraction and thus depletion of groundwater reserves. In order to replicate and scale up solar irrigation service model, provision needs to be made to construct During the year, 11 solar irrigation systems recharge structures. Water budgeting can were promoted in Bihar to provide also be looked upon for efficient water irrigation service in group or individual management. mode benefitting 800 farmers by bringing 312 acres under solar irrigation coverage.

LOW CHEMICAL OR ZERO CHEMICAL CULTIVATION PRACTICES

'tSfod esa dikl ds js’ks yEcs fudyrs gS vkSj iSls cgqr cp tkrk, vc rks dqN Hkh ugha yxrk |flQZ chtk yxkvks] xkscj [kkn Mkyks vkSj viuk nokbZ Mkyks |’ The fiber in organic cotton is longer than BT cotton. A good amount of money is saved in Organic agriculture. We don’t have to spend on external inputs. Just sow seeds, use gobar khad (cow dung manure) and spray home-made bio-pesticides. - Uttam Kalu, Kanpuri Village, Niwali Block, Barwani District

Conventional agriculture is increasingly CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE becoming less profitable due to the rising This agricultural technique is based on the cost of chemical inputs and uncertain principles of minimum soil disturbance, outputs which are affected by more frequent permanent soil cover, crop rotation and climate change events. Farmers are now intercropping. This practice was introduced shifting to low-cost agricultural methods. in Madhya Pradesh programme villages Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) five years ago and has shown stupendous has been advocating organic agriculture and growth over the last two years. Over 1207 Non-Pesticide Management methods for farmers have been covered under CA many years, but the rate of adoption among practices of which 520 farmers started farmers has shown phenomenal growth only practicing CA during 2019. in the last 4-5 years

22 ORGANIC AGRICULTURE BETTER COTTON INITIATIVE A total of 8340 farmers are now practicing A project was initiated in 2012 to produce organic agriculture methods and 16753 responsibly cultivated cotton in the most farmers have shifted to NPM techniques cotton producing belt in the country. The thus effectively reducing their cost project is operational in Morbi, Rajkot and of production and thereby increasing districts of Gujarat and has since profitability. Preparation of organic inception reached out to 15,000 farmers. farm inputs is now becoming a regular exercise among most AKRSP(I) farmers The project expanded its geography to and improved agronomic practices such Manavadar block of in as intercropping, intensive application of 2019. Farmyard Manure (FYM), etc. are seeing good adoption among tribal farmers of 111 learning groups were formalized in 19 Madhya Pradesh. villages of Manavadar block of Junagadh district to cater to 3500 farmers who Non-Pesticide Management (NPM) methods cultivate cotton on 5043 hectares of land. such as installation of insect traps are promoted. Another innovative practice that Training was given to farmers on is seeing good adoption among organic • Pre-sowing operations such as measures cotton growers of Madhya Pradesh is the to control pink bollworm disease, soil LOW CHEMICAL OR ZERO CHEMICAL CULTIVATION cultivation of trap crops which attract testing, soil preparation,seed selection, insects thereby successfully diverting them seed treatment; PRACTICES from the cotton crop. Trap crops such as • Ssowing methods and intercropping Castor, Marigold and Okra are cultivated • Post sowing aspects such as Integrated along with cotton crop. Pest, Disease and Nutrient Management, Irrigation and Weeding Management. Promoting Organic practices A one day workshop was organized in Devbhumi district to promote MIXED CROPPING organic farming and conservation agriculture practices. The workshop saw participation of SYSTEMS 72 farmers from the area.

SYSTEM OF ROOT VEGETABLE CULTIVATION AND INTENSIFICATION HORTICULTURE System of Root Intensification is a technique 2120 farmers of to bolster production by equidistant sowing were encouraged to promote horticulture of seeds along straight parallel lines. 3932 by providing plants of Lemon, Ber, farmers practiced SRI in various crops such Pomegranate and Date palm. as paddy, wheat, gram, finger millet etc. 1312 farmers across programme areas benefitted from commercial vegetable Impact of CA cultivation. 9 panchayats of Pusa block Results have been covered under High value • Enhanced organic carbon ratio in soil vegetable cultivation programme to support • Enhanced earth worms in soil cultivation of vegetables such as pea, carrot, • Enhanced porosity in the soil • Better maintained soil temperature sugar beet, maize, capsicum and broccoli • Enhanced diversity on farm through providing inputs and training

IMPACT support. IMPACT • Irrigation requirement reduced up to one third in majority of the cases. • Reduced need for application of chemical fertilizers • Improvement in the quality of farm produce 23 • Increased productivity by 10% CROP DIVERSIFICATION AND DEMONSTRATION 1247 farmers of Nimar region in Madhya Seed Banks Pradesh cultivated minor millets and In Chirapada village of Dangs, a demo plot vegetables along with primary crops as was cultivated with 12 different varieties a risk mitigation measure. The millets of paddy collected locally from Dangs cultivated were sorghum, pearl millet and programme villages. The harvest will be finger millet. 110 farmers of the region also used to develop a seed bank of traditional cultivated safflower crop. varieties which will then be distributed to farmers. Demonstration of direct seed sowing technique was undertaken in Dangs for farmers without irrigation access. Direct PULSE PROMOTION seed sowing is a good alternative for areas A project is being implemented in with rainfall fluctuations. Traditionally direct Samastipur district of Bihar to promote seed sowing was practiced in Dangs and was a mixed farming approach and increase known as the ‘Oran technique’. This age-old profitability from pulses farming. The practice was promoted with minor tweaks project builds the capacities of farmers to boost productivity. Direct seed sowing by introducing farmers to improved pulse if undertaken with seed treatment and production practices through extension sowing via SRI method in straight parallel services provided by 10 Krishi Mitras/sakhis. equidistant lines boosts productivity.

24 Another objective of the project is to provide input-ouput linkages for which Saraisa Farmers Producer Company was registered during the year. The capacities of 7414 farmers in 33 villages were built on seed selection, identification of quality inputs, farming practices, interculture operations, etc. Under the project 2 solar group-based irrigation systems were also installed benefitting 190 farmers of Samastipur and Kalyanpur blocks.

Ramesh Patliya, a resident of Mandawa village from Khandwa district practiced conventional farming on 8 acres of land. In 2013, he joined the WADI program of AKRSP(I). He was provided with 87 plants of guava, 15 mango saplings and 10 lemon plants. He was apprehensive that he would not be able to grow crops on the patch of land dedicated to the tree wadi.

The farmer was provided various trainings on organic farming techniques to reduce the input cost of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Ramesh saved INR 5000-7000 spent on chemical inputs after he started producing Amrit Khad, Amrit Pani, Panch patti kada and ginger garlic onion paste on his farm. Intercropping of gram and FIELD DIARIES vegetable crop enhanced his income.

Ramesh bhai could not cultivate rabi crop due to shortage of water. After receiving information from AKRSP(I), he benefitted from a well dug under the Kapil Dhara Scheme. He also received irrigation pipes after linkage with the NABARD project, which enabled him to undertake farming in all three seasons; Kharif, Rabi and Zaid. His total income from wadi in the last year was INR 25,000-30,000.

25 CROSS LEARNING AND SHARING

INTERNATIONAL WATER WORKSHOP During the year, an international workshop; Key Learnings from the workshop ‘Water for Livelihoods’ was hosted by • Solar energised groundwater irrigation AKRSP(I) from 18 to 20 March which has the potential to address the huge brought together AKF/RSP practitioners of energy need of decentralized irrigation. 5 countries (India, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, • Sustainable and Climate-resilient Tajikistan and Mozambique),experts from agricultural practices such as the Geneva office, and experts like Dr Conservation Agriculture, Regenerative Santosh Nepal (ICIMOD), Dr Tushar Shah Agriculture, Agro-forestry, Agro-sylvo- (IWMI-TATA) and Debashish Sen (PSI). pastoral systems integration need to be promoted to combat climate change ‘Water for Livelihoods’ is a key thematic induced changes on food production. area which ensures food security and • Micro-irrigation systems such as drip livelihoods through the sustainable need to be promoted as a means to management of water resources as well reducing overall water demand in as the provision of water for irrigation. agriculture. The cost of system set-up AKDN agencies in Asia and Africa are doing can be subsidised by offering a zero- groundbreaking work in their respective interest flexible loan to small-scale countries and there is a huge scope of farmers. cross-learning among different AKDN agencies.

26 INNOVATIONS FROM THE FIELD

Conserving soil health is crucial to sustain An intervention was undertaken in agricultural productivity. However, clearance Khedi and Sidari villages of Niwali block of forests for producing more and more in the Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh food has adversely affected food production. to promote afforestation among tribal Forests are origins of most rivers and thus households. cutting them down adversely affects both surface and groundwater resources. Cutting This intervention targeted the absence of down of trees also erodes topsoil. A study trees and forest cover in tribal villages by revealed that forested slope areas lost 0.03 optimally utilising backyard for high density tons of soil per year per hectare; cultivated plantation. The main aim was to convince slopes annually lost 90 tons per hectare, tribal households to dedicate a small patch while bare slopes lost 138 tons per hectare. of land solely for forestry. This was achieved through training each household on creation The perennial surface water resources of a natural forest through the Miyawaki which supported agriculture earlier have technique. become seasonal and groundwater has become the most common source of Miyawaki Methodology is the practice irrigation today. Irrigation sector accounts propagated by Dr. Akira Miyawaki, Japan, to for major portion of the groundwater create native forest by mimicking natural extracted with over 21 million wells stages of forest creation. This method has operational across various regions of the been employed in many countries around country. the world to create natural forests in more than 1700 locations by planting more than 4 For agriculture reliant economy to be million trees. sustainable one must act to conserve soil in its natural condition. Forests which are Miyawaki proposed that it was possible to a cradle for soil fertility can be of some restore tropical rainforest by conducting assistance in conserving soil health. forestation using an ecological method

27 based on surveys of the local vegetation, It is therefore 30 times more effective in while conventional thinking assumed that providing important ecosystem services once a tropical rainforest was destroyed such as watershed protection, biodiversity, from felling and intentional burns, restoring climate regulation, soil fertility, flood control the vegetation was nearly impossible. and provision resources such as timber and fodder. According to theory known as ‘classical succession theory’ it would take more than Improvised on the concept of backyard 150-200 years for an indigenous forest kitchen garden; backyard forestry was to restore itself on barren land in Japan, undertaken on a small patch of 100 sq. mt. and between 300-500 years for a tropical Initiation of the pilot was undertaken on rainforest. such a small patch to elicit interest and draw participation from maximum households. However, Dr. Miyawaki proved that it was ecologically possible to restore disaster A micro level approach, although prevention and environmental protection statistically small, has a greater impact in forests that closely resemble indigenous each individual household thus increasing forests in 20-30 years by densely mix chances of acceptance. It was therefore planting various trees based on potential decided to undertake the endeavour on natural vegetation surveys. a household-level micro approach instead of vast common lands to ensure individual Real forests form multilayered communities, ownership. of tall trees, semi tall trees, short trees, and bottom weeds. Thus, they have 30 times the This project started work with 9 tribal surface area for photosynthesis compared households in the villages of Khedi and to such single layer communities as moors Sidari under the Niwali cluster of AKRSP (I). and lawns.

28 Since Miyawaki technique advocates creating Once the soil is prepared, the saplings are multi-layered greens, even though one mixed and randomly arranged to ensure household dedicated 100-200 sq.mt. of land, that all the forest layers get distributed a total of 300 saplings were planted by each throughout the mound. Thus, a good household. Community contribution of distribution of layers will have trees of INR1000 towards the cost of saplings was different heights at different layers. The provided by participating households. The trees were divided into Canopy trees which list of 300 saplings were decided upon by would form the topmost layer, followed by vegetation mapping of nearby forest and Sub Tree, Tree and Scrub species. consultation with village elders, ayurvedic healers and forest guards. Four trail plots have already been implemented in Khedi with 42 different To bring the quality of soil at par with the varieties of trees. Another 5 plots are being forest soil, the soil was amended using developed in an ongoing watershed project locally available biodegradable mulching of AKRSP(I) in Sidari village. material. Cow dung was used for enhancing quality of soil, rice husk or wheat husk to If every household dedicates 100 sq. meters, increase water retention capacity, straw or just about1/40 of an acre for natural cut grass for root and air perforation, jiva- forestry then afforestation can in the truest amrut to boost microbial activity. sense be undertaken in rural landscapes. The damage done to nature by men’s After preparation of the soil and mindless material pursuits can be undone. procurement of the saplings, the sapling arrangement was decided. Random sapling Apart from the tangible forest produce arrangement was done to ensure that a these will act as a natural watersheds and ‘forest’ gets created in the truest sense. The provide other ecosystem services which simplest definition of the Miyawaki Method, go hand in hand with agriculture and allied by the book is random and dense plantation livelihoods. of native tree species.

I This project was initiated by SBI Youth for India fellow, Gautam Kumar in Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh while working for AKRSP(I). The organisation plans to take it forward by replicating with other interested households in programme areas. 29 DISASTER MANAGEMENT Changing climate in recent times has led India is particularly vulnerable to floods to huge losses for humanity. Lives, assets, due to its location and tropical climate. economic gains, development works, Major rivers of India such as the Ganges, etc. have been lost to floods, droughts, Brahmaputra, Yamuna, etc. originate in the hurricanes, tsunamis, etc. Hindukush mountains. A study estimated 25% decrease in the Glacier area in Nepal Man has been disregarding nature and using between 1980 and 2014. These glacier natural resources unwisely since centuries; melts contribute to increasing base flows of but the blatant disregard with which nature the originating rivers. This combined with has been treated since the industrial age increasing precipitation has led to recurrent had led to of disruption of fragile ecological high intensity floods in the central plains of balance. Mankind is now on the receiving the country in the past few years. end of Nature’s fury. The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather Rainfall data of the last century shows a events are harbinger of the times to come. disturbing trend. While the number of rainy days is decreasing the frequency of extreme The average temperature of the earth rain events (10-15 cm per day) is increasing. has risen by 10C since 1990. According to estimates by Intergovernmental Panel on According to IMD data, the year 2019 Climate Change, temperatures could rise was recorded as the slowest progressing by 1.50C to 40C by the end of 21st century. monsoon in 12 years with more than 20 Higher temperatures imply more heat or states witnessing rainfall deficits. While 42% energy in the earth’s system. Higher ocean of India’s land area was reeling under various and air temperatures increase evaporation levels of drought stress, over 13 states were and hence precipitation increases. Extreme affected by a series of floods during the floods are triggered due to intense and year. This paradoxical situation caused huge longer duration precipitation cycles. losses to life and property.

30 The organisations intervention villages in Flood affected households were enlisted Muzaffarpur & Darbhanga were severely under the guidance of Village Development affected by flood. Bochaha, Mushahri, Committees, Panchayat Raj Institutions, Muraul & Bandra in Muzaffarpur District & and Mahila Sabhas, which was followed by Singhwara block in Darbhanga District were physical verification and distribution of relief engulfed in flood water. The major rivers slips by organisation staff. Relief camps were Gandak and Koshi caused floods in these organised at village level to distribute kits regions. Overflowing Gandak river resulted to the participants possessing the relief in the collapse of the Rajawada embankment slip to ensure that the relief material was in Mushahari block. Sudden increase of distributed to the rightful beneficiaries. The water in Baghmati river caused flood in flood relief kit included essentials items such Darbhanga project area. as milk powder, match sticks, candles, first aid kits, sanitary napkins, soap, biscuits and 11 intervention villages were severely Tarpaulin. affected by flood in Darbhanga. Even after the situation improved, water remained logged in farm lands and few households in 2-3 low lying villages (Balaha & Sabaul). In Kumarpatti village, waterlogging was severe due to its proximity to the river water. The flood also severely damaged a stretch of 15-20 ft of road connecting Atarbel and Sabaul villages. In Birdipur village, one tola (Dih tola) was submerged in water. Connectivity during flood was only through boat. In intervention areas the development work undertaken such as constructed toilets, underwent damage. A total of 1661 households in 11 villages of Darbhanga were affected severely. In Muzaffarpur, 105 households of Majhauli Jagai village of Bochaha were severely affected. The agricultural land was completely submerged leading to huge crop losses. The development work undertaken such as construction of toilets, soak pits, mini drinking water stand posts also suffered damage from flood water. Flood relief camps were held by the organisation from 1st August to distribute relief kits among affected households. Relief camps organised in Birdipur, Harakh, Brahampura, Lorika, Atarbel & Baheri which covered around 1000-1050 HH in the villages.

31 AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK VALUECHAINS

...... Pashu Sakhi Programme The mortality rate of goats reduced by more than 50% from 35% before the Pashu sakhi programme to 8% after implementation IMPACT Average animal population (goats) per households increased by more than 2.5 times The operational Pashu sakhis earn an annual income of INR 18,000. - Impact reports of SAPPLPP and Project Mesha

32 The credit situation only adds to their sorrows. Most small and marginal farmers in India lack liquidity and have to often resort to taking loans to purchase inputs for farming. According to an RBI report, only 41% of small and marginal farmers have access to bank credit. More than 60 years after independence, the most common source of credit remains to be informal money lenders who offer loans at exorbitant interest rates. In only production-led agricultural systems, there is very limited scope of value creation for small and marginal farmers. Farmers’ collective offers a viable solution to improving incomes and reducing risks in agriculture. The most obvious benefit that aggregation offers farmers is bargaining power at both the supply and demand side. While on the one hand, they can purchase inputs at reduced costs, at the other selling produce collectively fetches good prices and reduces the need of middlemen. Other benefits FPOs offer are access to technical know-how on better crop management practices, access to credit, post-harvest management, value addition, marketing infrastructure and better market linkages.

Agricultural landscape in India is mostly In a rural economy, agriculture and livestock dominated by small land holdings. Small rearing go hand in hand. Low productivity and marginal farmers who hold 67% of the and lack of market access are the agricultural land in India have an average common problems which reduce income land holding of 0.63 hectares (Agriculture from livestock rearing. Livestock rearing census 2015-16). Low farm size inhibits collectives too offer the same opportunity larger investments, restricting access to to improve income of farmers. quality inputs, technology and credit thus AKRSP(I) has been enabling smallholder reducing profitability of farmers. Most small farmers and livestock rearers since 2012 by and marginal farmers don’t have access to forming farmer collectives. consumer markets and have to sell their produce to middle men reducing their margins.

33 FARMER COLLECTIVES Another FPO, Saraisa Farmers Producer FPOs usually have a membership of 500 to 2000 members formed with 50 to 200 Company Limited, was registered in Farmer Interest Groups (FIG) which are Samastipur, Bihar district under the pulses institutional shareholders. The binding project. factor for the farmers in the FPO is the common interest in a commodity or group Madhya Pradesh of commodities. During the year, 223 members joined 6 FPOs in Madhya Pradesh and 15 new AKRSP(I) has aggregated 26,671 Farmers Farmer Interest groups were formed. CEOs in 28 Farmer Producer Organisations were appointed for all six FPOs of the area. (FPO) which are being supported by Small Farmers Agri Business Consortium (SFAC), With the help of tie-ups with Pratibha NABARD, RABO Bank, C&A Foundation, Syntex, Carrefour Global Sourcing Asia etc. Limited & Tribhuvan Industries, output marketing of 257.3 MT of Organic cotton A snapshot of the FPOs supported by the was undertaken benefitting 617 farmers by organisation is below: providing a premium of INR 630 over the market price. This enabled farmers get a collective profit of INR 16,20,990. Nimadanchal FPO undertook output marketing for Soyabean and maize with Khandwa Oil and in nearby mandis. Input supply worth INR1.01 crore and output marketing worth INR1.69 crore was undertaken by the six agriculture FPOs of Madhya Pradesh. 7 trainings of BOD of the FPOs were held during the year on various topics such as Ownership building, Leadership development, Business Opportunity, Operations, Documentation and Accounting, Visioning exercise, Sales Strategy, etc. A Buyer Seller meet was organised at Indore to enable FPOs to understand the requirements of buyers, product specifications, procurement norms and buying pattern. A meeting with Arvind Mills was organised to link the organic cotton farmers with the company for sale of Two FPOs were established during the organic cotton. year. One all-women FPO, ‘Dangi Mahila Khedut Utpadak Producer Company A wheat seed production program was limited’, was established in Dangs. To initiated with Balwadi and Niwali FPO to provide support and guidance to this develop quality input support system which women-owned and run FPO, 3 exposure would enable farmer members to procure visits were organised. The BOD members quality seeds at reasonable prices and help visited a women FPO namely Safe Producer build FPO’s brand. Company Limited in Bhanaskantha and another FPO in MP.

34 Gujarat NPM practices were applied by 370 member 5 FPOs functional in South Gujarat region farmers and soil testing was undertaken for (Bharuch and Narmada districts) are actively 243 member farmers. working to support agricultural system of member farmers. These FPOs provide Grading units cum offices were built by Five various services such as Input-Supply, FPOs with the support of SFAC. Output Agri Marketing, Kitchen Garden inputs, Marketing of Pigeon pea was undertaken with concurrent partners namely Safe Soil testing, Agri equipment, Linkage with Harvest, Laxmi Narayan Dal mill and Gujarat government schemes, Promotion of NPM Agro Dal mill along with newly linked and Seed production. Dahod Agro Dal Mill. Raw commodity During the year, seeds for developing marketing of 230 MT Paddy undertaken for kitchen gardens were disseminated to 150 330 farmers of 2 FPOs. lead farmers. 560 farmers were linked to Narmada Farmer Producer Company is Pradhan Mantri Sanman Nidhi Scheme. initiating the value chain development of

35 Red gram by planning wholesale and retail marginal farmers. Despite this the marketing of Arhar dal under their own productivity of the sector is 20-60% less brand. They have obtained packaging license than the global average. The reasons to this from FSSAI for the same. are multifaceted. The chief being high rate of mortality of livestock due to lack of access Output marketing of 207.36 MT groundnut to affordable and accessible veterinary care, undertaken by 2 FPOs of Coastal Gujarat informal markets and the lack of adequate fetching 51 beneficiary farmers a premium and healthy fodder. Realising the scope price of Rs. 46.75 per kg. for improving incomes through livestock, AKRSP(I) initiated focussed programmes 8 FPOs in Surendranagar district did on goat rearing and poultry in MP and business of commodities like seeds, Bihar between 2014 and 2016 and dairy fertilizers, pesticides, cattle feed and market development has been a focus area in linkage of agriculture crops like cotton, Gujarat for many years. cumin and peanuts; with a total business amounting to INR 44,49,423/-. Madhya Pradesh The livestock program reaches out to more LIVESTOCK than 6685 tribal households in Madhya Pradesh. Over the years, a cadre of 115 Livestock rearing is an important livelihood pashu sakhis (community-level para-vets) source for marginal and landless farmers has been created which serve livestock in India. 20.5 million people depend rearers in 114 villages. The livestock rearers upon livestock for their livelihood and it in these villages have been grouped in 166 contributes 16% to the income of small and pashu palak samuhs (animal rearer groups).

36 Manju devi, aged 29 and a mother of four, epitomizes the modern age women. She supports her household economically along with raising her children and providing for their education. Her life has drastically changed over the last two and a half years in more ways than one. She is referred by everyone in the village as ‘Dactarni’.

In 2017, her village, Jagai Majhuli situated in Muzaffarpur district, had selected her to be trained as ’Pashu Sakhi’, a community-level animal health care provider under the MESHA program being implemented by Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India). Through various trainings and handholding support by the organisation she developed her skills in preventive Goat health Management. She provides basic veterinary care services to the small ruminants in her village, through which she makes an

FIELD DIARIES average income of Rs.933 per month. This may not seem like a whole lot but it was enough to bring her family out of extreme poverty.

Prior to becoming a pashu sakhi, she was engaged in daily wage labour, which had uncertain income. Her husband had migrated to Delhi, where he earned Rs.6000/month, a paltry sum which could not even meet his living expenses, forget supporting his family. Manju would run the household very frugally through here wage income but there were days when her children went without food. She had one buffalo which provided milk for household consumption and a goat, but her animal holdings didn’t fetch her any income.

After becoming a pashu sakhi, she has more than doubled her monthly income, increased her livestock and carved an identity for herself. She now owns 5 male and 4 female goats. During the year, she earned Rs. 20,000 from the sale of 4 male goats, which she spent on her husband’s treatment. She also has a Bore-well, toilet and goat shed in her house, which were built with the support of AKRSP(I).

The key highlights of the work undertaken increase the scope of income from IN Madhya Pradesh during the year are providing veterinary services. below: • 39 trainings were undertaken during the year on different topics of livestock • 7888 Households have been provided management. veterinary services, 15524 goats and 33,479 chicks were vaccinated. Bihar • Goat and poultry shed demonstrations The proportion of marginal farmers and the were undertaken with the communities landless is one of the highest in Bihar and to enhance their understanding of thus rearing of small ruminants is a common building low-cost animal sheds practice in the state. Recognising the which provide a hygienic and well immense potential to improve incomes of aerated environment to the goats goat and poultry rearers, AKRSP(I) is making and poultry. 258 households and 149 concentrated efforts to implement the small households covered under goat and ruminant program across all programme poultry shed activity respectively. districts with the help of different projects. • The functional pashu sakhis were trained Cumulatively, 62,000 livestock rearers are in goat castration, preparation of salt being reached out to through three projects bricks, mineral mixture, poultry feed and focussed upon Livestock Development in goat and poultry marketing to Muzaffarpur, Samastipur and Vaishali districts. 37 Muzaffarpur Samastipur A cadre of 231 pashu sakhis; community A program focussed upon strengthening level para-vets, has been working actively goat rearing practices through focussed in 241 villages of Muzaffarpur district to efforts to improve goat health via health provide basic veterinary care service to goat camps, fodder development, setting up of and poultry rearers. goat farms, market linkages through FPO Some of the major highlights of the work formation, etc. is operational in Samastipur undertaken during the year are below: district. Under the project, Pashu Paramarsh • The monthly income of the pashu sakhis Kendras are established in programme from the services they provide to goat villages to provide knowledge on goat rearing households ranges from INR500 rearing practices, treatment of common to INR3500. diseases, hosting animal camps, etc. • 40,561 households benefitted from deworming of goats and 38,272 During the year, 4 goat farms were set up households from vaccination services. to enable goat rearers to maintain a large • 10,925 bucks were castrated during herd size and help in commercialisation of the year. goat rearing by adoption of better animal • 424 households were provided goat management practices. sheds. • 232 producer groups have been Cultivation of Makhan grass was promoted formed covering 7800 households. with 1000 beneficiary households to • In the current year, project Mesha provide nutritive fodder to the goats. sold 39 Bucks (male castrated goats) weighing 598 kg for Rs 130,440. 23 animal health camps were organised • A breeding program is being held in benefitted 1700 goat rearers by deworming 4 villages with the intent to improve 5000 goats. breeding and kidding rates among goats. • The project conducted trainings on Haats for marketing of bucks were set up aspects other than goat rearing such twice in the year. Initial response has been as MHM workshop, Gender training, encouraging; women could sell over 150 domestic violence, communication, etc. bucks to traders through such haats.

Id-ul-Zuha, is an anticipated festival for every livestock rearer. It fetches them a lucrative price for their goat. Earlier livestock rearers used to sell their well-prepared buck at the local mandi market. While this sale would be made at a premium amount compared to the selling price of goats sold at other times of the year, but these rearers didn’t get a fair price when compared with selling rates of bigger city-level mandis. The middlemen buying the goats from the local market and selling at city mandis would take the lion share of the profit.

Since the establishment of Pandhana Pashu Palak Company, the members of the company had started receiving a fair price for their goat, as the company would accumulate the goats ready for sale from its members and sell the livestock at the Indore goat market. In 2019, 54 goats were procured FIELD DIARIES at a price of Rs. 7.12 lakhs and were taken to the Indore mandi for sale. However, an extended monsoon resulted in fewer buyers at the city mandi and hence lesser prices. The goats of the members had to be sold for Rs. 4.96 lakhs resulting in a loss of Rs. 2.16 lakhs. This venture of loss had to be undertaken as transportation and collectivisation costs had already been incurred and due to the lack of proper infrastructure to house the large number of goats.

However, the takeaway for the livestock FPO was better planning and development of infrastructure to accommodate a sizeable number of goats. 38 Vaishali To double the incomes of 2000 households in 5 villages of Vaishali district, a project is being undertaken for livestock related interventions as majority of the households are either marginal farmers or landless. During the year, 111 households were supported to establish backyard poultry units, 100 households to set up hatchery units and 53 goat sheds were constructed.

Gujarat While the livestock program in Gujarat focussed more upon the development of Dairy due to the well established network of cooperative dairies, since the past 2-3 years, the organisation is promoting small ruminant rearing with marginal farmers and landless communities. Major work done during the year has been highlighted below:

• 929 milch cattle were provided to 621 BPL households through liaisoning with Tribal Sub Plan and Animal Husbandry Department • 138 households connected with cattle feed supply systems supported by Vashudhara Dairy • 100 pashu sakhis are operational in Dangs district and provide animal health care services to 48 villages. These companies regulate the working • 400 backyard and 20 small poultry units of pashu sakhis and provide them with (200 chicks) were established in Dangs medicines like de-wormers, vaccines and and Narmada districts. feed for supplying these items to FPC • During the year, 20 big poultry units members. FPCs also help their members in (500 chicks) units were supported. marketing of poultry birds and bucks. FPCs provide credit services to the members who wish to start poultry or goat LIVESTOCK REARERS’ rearing as an income generating activity. This year the companies could link themselves COLLECTIVES with formal banking system to avail working capital facility. The two all-women livestock rearer production companies of Madhya Pradesh In Samastipur district over 500 women have with membership of 1590 women had an come together to form a farmer producer annual turnover of INR 40.55 lakhs and company around livestock. During the year, collected share capital worth INR 8.48 lakhs the in process-FPO provided services such during the year. as organising haat markets for marketing of bucks. In the near future, this company will start several new services for its members.

39 YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

The impact numbers of the work done by YUVA junction over the last 12 years is below: • Yuva Junction has upskilled 7,753 youth of whom 4,769 received employment (62%) since its inception in 2014.

IMPACT • Girls comprise of 39% of total trainees and enjoy around 36% of employability ratio. • Initial average salary ranges around INR 8500/month. • Besides skills training, YUVA Junction has been pivotal in building self-confidence of rural youth.

40 According to various industrial surveys, 75-80% of India’s working population is not adequately skilled. India is facing a huge skills development challenge. Just 4.69 percent of India’s workforce is formally skilled, as against 52 percent in the US, 68 percent in the UK, 75 percent in Germany, 80 percent in Japan, and 96 percent in South Korea. The condition of rural youth is most critical due to lack of exposure, education, and skills. They end up doing hard physical jobs in the exploitative informal sector. In the short to medium term, migration is inevitable as uncertain agriculture incomes, unemployment and lack of opportunities are fast pushing rural youth out of villages. But if this migration is coupled with enhancement of skills of rural youth, the shift to urban areas will bring improvement in quality of life as it will lead to proper employment in the formal sector. AKRSP(I) has been working to improve the quality of life of rural youth through a holistic Youth Development program which on the one hand focuses upon job and entrepreneurship skill development of rural youth so as to make them market ready and on the other is supporting them in higher education through professional courses.

YUVA JUNCTION The rural landscape today is going through a transformation. Gone are the days when Yuva Junction is a programme focused villages used to represent a simple agrarian upon Employability Skills Development. lifestyle. Rural economy today is affected by It was initiated in 2007 with an initiative urbanisation, expanding markets, non-farm to provide computer education to rural livelihood opportunities and change in land- communities and has since transformed into use patterns. a market-driven programme with a focused approach to provide dignified employment Climate change is making agricultural to rural youth through counselling, training, income more uncertain than ever. This placement and post placement support. coupled with ever increasing cost of farm inputs is leading to disenchantment of youth The training needs of rural youth are very from agriculture. Also, the aspirations of different from their urban counterparts. The rural youth are fast changing. The increasing programme is thus designed in such a way rates of migration and urbanisation indicate that keeps rural communities and youth in a shift to non-agricultural jobs. the center of planning and implementation.

41 Mangalben, the only child of farmer parents hails from Zari, a small village in Subir block of Dangs district. Her parents, particularly her mother, had big dreams for her girl and wanted her to work and develop a career. Along with helping her husband on the farm, she also sold vegetables in the local market to earn additional income in order to support her daughter’s education. Mangalben completed her Masters in Social Work with dedicated support from her family. She started applying for jobs to fulfill her parent’s dreams. However, she was unable to find a suitable job.

She was demotivated and her confidence was at a all time low when she found out about Yuva junction. She enrolled for the I was unemployed even after completing my MSW but I course at the Yuva junction Ahwa center am thankful for joining Yuva FIELD DIARIES which was located at a distance of 35 kms Junction that helped me to from her house. Her determination gave transform myself. I would her the strength to attend the course. recommend everyone to be a part of it to have a good She enjoyed the interactive methods of career. teaching which focused on interpersonal and life skills. The course helped her improve her communication skills and overcome her fear of public speaking. The skills she learnt in the course; she mentions, could not be cultivated before as academic teaching never focused upon these.

She applied for an opening at the Childline initiative of the government. The facilitators guided andprepared her for the interview. She was selected and is now earning INR 10500/- per month. Her parents take pride in their daughter’s ability to financially support the family.

42 • A total of 1696 youths trained on Yuva Junction is a unique youth development various job-oriented courses such as initiative providing short-term training Retail Sales Associate, BPO, Bedside courses like Retail Sales Associate, Sewing Patient Assistance, Beauty and Machine Operator, Assistant Beauty wellness trades, Stitching, etc. Therapist and CRM Domestic Non- • 1102 (65%) youth placed in mainstream voice (BPO) catering to the need of the market and hospitality industries such existing market. Besides domain courses, as D-Mart, Café Coffee Day, Dominos, training also covers digital literacy, life skills, Big Bazaar, Shoppers Stop, Airtel, workplace readiness, basic english, computer, Vodafone, etc. internet and career guidance. • Partnered with Quest Alliance to train the students of ITI Mangrol, Madhavpur The average starting salary post placement and Talala, Junagadh on employability is INR 8,500/- per month. All the trainings skills to enhance their current skills. A are imparted through our 17 centres across total of 114 students were trained in this Gujarat(13) and Bihar(4) and a dedicated programme and 55 were placed. team of 60 personnel with a mix of blended • This year, YUVA junction partnered with learning and classroom training approach. NASSCOM Foundation to impart basic IT, Life and employability skills to 538 The key highlights of the work undertaken students of ITIs and colleges of Bharuch, in 2019 are as follows: Narmada and districts. • Yuva Junction became an approved training partner of NSDC.

43 Anushruti, a 20 year old from Pusa, is an ambitious and confident girl who aims to excel in her career. She lives with her parents and two sisters. Her father is an advocate and mother, a high school teacher. She is pursuing her graduation. In spite of her education, she felt that she didn’t have the skill-set required to survive in the competitive market. Yuva junction was introduced to her through her sister and she enrolled in the course to upskill herself.

She feared that poor communication skills will be a hindrance in landing a good job. She found the dedicated sessions “Yuva Junction is the on building life skills and communication platform for the today’s youth who can get better through blending learning techniques options through the training engaging and useful. She was an active and will get the best career FIELD DIARIES participant in class and the course helped opportunity and the best her improve her communication and learnings.” computer skills.

She appeared for an interview for a position of Facilitator in Quest Alliance, Samastipur, and was selected for the job. She was placed with the joining salary of INR 25,000/- per month. She made her whole family proud by being one of the few candidates who were placed with such high salary package. 44 ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE

In the wake of uncertainties in agriculture, entrepreneurship development support fragmented land holdings, climate change through trainings, exposure visits, mentoring, and crowded urban centers with few networking and marketing support. amenities; promotion of local enterprises is the need of the hour. While there is huge The model provides each enterprise potential and urgent need to promote local personalised support to help him/her enterprises, in the absence of local enabling succeed in business. AKRSP(I) also provides ecosystem, enterprise development among limited seed funding and financial support to rural communities has not achieved the help them start kick start their enterprise. desired result. AKRSP(I) through its entrepreneurship development initiative is trying to create an enabling ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship development among most marginalised communities of Gujarat, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Identification and selection of the entrepreneurs is done through a well- established process which consists of application process, selection workshops, field visits and verification by local community. After the selection; entrepreneurs receive technical and

45 The key highlights of the work undertaken • The 33 units promoted by AKRSP(I) in 2018 are below:- have a total capacity of 331500 birds/ Year and provided income of around • AKRSP(I) supported 283 enterprises by INR 29000/ cycle OR around INR providing them various handholding 1.75 lakh to local tribal entrepreneurs. support. These units also provides employment to • Out of the total 283 enterprises, 60 community members. 14 were small petty trades, 51 • Eco-tourism particularly in the were engaged in service, art and craft, scenic tribal areas of Gujarat and manufacturing or processing sector, Madhya Pradesh have good potential for 131 were around agriculture, poultry entrepreneurship and can generate and other allied activities, 13 were group sizeable local employment. AKRSP(I) enterprises and 74 were started by started one community based eco- youth after skills training. tourism enterprise in Baradpani Village • Enterprises around millet-based bakery of Dangs which has which attracted product, bamboo art and craft, eco- more than 100 tourists and generated tourism, commercial poultry, mushroom gainful employment for 20-25 families. farming, local food based restaurants, goat farming etc. have become In the last 3 years of work and experience well-established and are creating local AKRSP(I) has been able to create local employment opportunities. network of entrepreneurs and a model • Commercial poultry farming with well- of enterprise development that can established contract farming system have be replicated at large scale in different become very successful and popular geographies. in the districts of Dangs in Gujarat.

46 National Entrepreneurship Award 2019 AKRSP(I) won the National Entrepreneurship Award (NEA),2019 under For the year 2019, a total of 4134 Eco-System Builder Track category for applications of individual and organisations its entrepreneurship development work qualified for the 3-stage evaluation process. with rural communities and youth. The National evaluation committee was set up award was given by Honorable Minister by IIT- Madras–Lead Partner and consisted Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey at the award of industry, academic and business experts. ceremony organised in Delhi on 09th The national expert panel consisting of November 2019. eminent members like Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Mr. Harish Hande and others, selected the The National Entrepreneurship Awards winner for different categories. were instituted by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MoSDE) in 2016 to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship across the country.

Situated about 8 kms from Saputara; a popular hill station in south Gujarat, Baradpani has abundance natural beauty and exuberant local tribal culture. In 2017, AKRSP(I) partnered up with Grassroutes Journeys to set up a tourism project to generate livelihood for the local community.

Tourists experience culture and tradition of the local community along with the beauty of hills, rivers and green farms lands. The tourist experiences village life firsthand. Activities such as preparing food, traditional farming, rural walks make up the interesting itinerary. The essence of travelling is in discovery of different cultures through meeting different people. Tourist and villagers discover each other’s cultures through conversations over a cup of local chai.

FIELD DIARIES There were many challenges in starting a project and bringing it to a successful level. Initial stages at Baradpani involved building rapport with the villagers. For making them understand the different aspects of rural tourism a group of 27 villagers were taken to Purushwadi; a model eco-tourism village in , for a rural tour which served as a foundation to the training program on hospitality skills. Training sessions were conducted for guides on soft skills and for cooks on hospitality services. They were trained on the process of rural tours along with specific guidelines to be followed by them. Inventory like bedding material, first-aid kits and welcome material like topis, kumkum, diyas, etc. were designed. Girls and women were included in the village service provider team as village guides. Meetings with families were held to encourage and convey the benefits of being a part of the initiative.

Itineraries like farm to plate experience, rural tour, village walk, farm activities, biodiversity walk, medicinal plant walk, star gazing tour, cooking with the tribal and warli art workshops etc. were curated.

At present 20-25 families are involved in the project and more than 110 tourists have visited Baradpani village in the last year. The project has gained good response from local hotels and travel operators who have included a one-day visit to Baradpni village in their tour packages.

In a short span of time; results and response from all the stakeholders is 47 encouraging. The project has a potential to be scaled-up in nearby villages. HEALTH AND HYGIENE The major findings of the end term evaluation of the Comprehensive Sanitation Initiative being implemented by AKF since the last five years are below:

• Exclusive usage by all members of 99% households was reported in IMPACT villages which were covered under the programme. • For the toilets constructed with support from SBM, the subsidy was found insufficient for more than 50% households, and the willingness to pay increased to 94% indicating acceptance and interest in toilet construction and usage. • The percentage of people relying on government piped water schemes (PWS) for drinking water increased by 10%

48 AKRSP(I) trains women from the community to provide healthcare information to women in the village. The main task of these women referred to as ‘Sachet Sakhis’ is to create awareness regarding healthy food and nutrition, infant and young feeding practices, institutional deliveries, immunizations of pregnant women and children, etc. The program is operational in 138 villages of Nimar. The program also works with various stakeholders such as anganwadi workers, asha health workers, community members, etc. The program activates village health, sanitation and nutrition committees and uses women-based institutions, such as Self- help groups and federations as mediums to spread information regarding good health and nutrition practices, dietary diversity, and access to government health schemes. Various trainings of federation leaders, Sachet didis, Anganwadi, ANM and ASHA workers were conducted on various topics of health. Due to close coordination with ANM, Asha and AWW workers, 80% coverage of immunization in 60 villages was achieved and 100% immunization was achieved in 35 villages. In order to ensure safe and healthy pregnancies, the sachet didis regularly followed up with pregnant women in their villages. Tests on anemia, regular health checkups and benefits of government HEALTH & NUTRITION schemes were provided to pregnant women in 81 villages. The access to quality health services still eludes most people in rural hinterlands. During the year, 10182 people were covered Rural Healthcare of India is characterized through 938 training programmes. Trainings by poor infrastructure, inadequate staff and for leaders of women federations have been low availability of medicines. Most often, conducted on the issue on mother and child people in rural areas have to travel long health. distances to reach Primary Health centres. Even when they manage to reach the AKRSP(I) is also working on ensuring centre, the absence of doctors, unavailability nutrition of the poorest households through of medicines and indifferent attitude of promotion of Kitchen gardens and bori staff only exacerbates their problems. A bagicha with landless in all its programme viable solution is creation of an alternative areas. During the year, 11091 households community-based service delivery model were helped to set up kitchen gardens or which focuses on prevention rather than bori bagichas cure.

49 During the year, a workshop on the theme 2 Poshan Melas were also organized for of, ‘Save Millets, Save Nutrition’, was held promoting minor millets in work areas. to revive the consumption of traditional millets. Traditionally a gruel of kodo-kutki VHN Day and Mangal Diwas celebration was consumed by pregnant women to meet A key component of the program is the iron requirements during pregnancy, to ensure that the government ICDS however this practise has been lost to centres function actively and provide the commercialisation of agriculture. The shift designated health services. The efforts of to popular crops; wheat and rice, has greatly the organisation ensured that the regular reduced the consumption of traditional celebration of VHN (Village Health and millets such as kodo-kutki. Nutrition) day and Mangal diwas was done every month. The workshop encouraged the tribal farmers to consume traditional millets by During the year, 74 VHN and Mangal Diwas sharing various information and through were celebrated in 47 Anganwadi centres traditional dishes which were displayed at enlisting participation of 1105 community the arena. members.

The dedicated efforts of community members and Sachet didis were pivotal in reviving the condition of 49 severely malnourished children.

50 Radha, a resident of Pipri village in Khaknar block of Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh was in her third pregnancy when the dedicated program on Health was initiated by AKRSP(I). Her first two deliveries were done at her home. The girl child of second pregnancy tragically died due to improper care received during birth. She had not undergone vaccination during the first two pregnancies and neither had she taken or even heard of Iron, Calcium and Folic Acid supplements.

Upon discussion with other members of the family, it was understood that they wanted to have a home delivery for the third pregnancy as well. Radha’s mother in law opined that all the children of the house were born through home-based delivery and Radha was not new to child birth. Even Radha’s husband believed that most women delivered their children at home and FIELD DIARIES their situation was not any different.

‘Sachet Didi’, the community health worker trained under the programme approached women including Radha through Self Help Group meetings and gradually started sharing information regarding healthy pregnancies. Various topics such as importance of proper nutrition during pregnancy, the role of vaccination, need of iron and folic acid supplements, benefits of institutional delivery, risks and precautions during pregnancy, preparation for child birth, importance of breast feeding, government schemes for pregnant women, various services such as Janni Express, 108 services, etc. etc. The pregnant women started sharing their problems with Sachet Didis during the meetings.

Families of pregnant women were also reached out to through various village level meetings and focus group discussions. This led to the development of an affirmative and protective atmosphere regarding pregnancy and child care in the village.

Radha was found to be anaemic and was provided iron and folic acid supplements. She also underwent the required vaccinations. Her family took benefits of the 108 service and she delivered her third child at the Khaknar Community Health Centre. She birthed a healthy girl child weighing 2.5 kgs.

SANITATION

51 Equitable access to clean drinking water, The broad objectives of the program were health and sanitation services are essentials to for a healthy life. People in rural India suffer • Improve hygiene practices, disproportionately due to the lack of all • Increase sanitation coverage, these services. The recent progress made • Achieve ODF status for ward/village/ by Swacch Bharat Abhiyan in ensuring panchayat and access of sanitation facilities to all has been • Develop a cadre of professionals in commendable. SBM has been successful in WASH. constructing 1028.67 lakh toilets across the country. AKRSP(I) has been successful in These objectives were achieved through building 1,18,106 toilets and helping 1362 Community led total sanitation approach, villages become ODF in its programme Block saturation approach and District areas under the SBM over the last five years. wide support program. The approach for sanitation development has been defined In its consolidation year, the Hygiene and based on intensive field experience of the Sanitation program has been helpful in organisation. extending its reach and active engagement of all key stakeholders. The overall focus of Building toilet units in villages to make them the program was integrating work on safe open defecation free and enabling users to drinking water, environmental cleanliness, change their attitude and practices towards Hygiene (personal and menstrual hygiene), its use were the key elements of the Sanitation, and capacity building of all approach. So far, AKRSP(I) has constructed stakeholders. During the year, 30,235 IHHL toilet units in villages through regular were constructed and 486 were declared facilitation of mass awareness generation ODF. drives, street plays, student rallies and various IEC activities.

52 Facilitation through community-led AKRSP(I) interfaces with different approach is the base for sanitation stakeholders to emphasise on ODF programme of AKRSP(I). achievement. The subsidy from the government for IEC ACTIVITIES toilet construction trigged the process Extensive engagement with the community of organising the community. From 2015, through various activities like training, AKRSP(I) have gone beyond government workshop, exposure, mass awareness incentive by integrating credit systems and events etc. is the backbone of this initiative. regulated mobilisation through meetings, Different activities are organised with trainings, workshops, exposure visits major stakeholders like swachhagrahis, and mass awareness activities etc. aiming front line workers- ASHA, ANM, Anganwadi at overall coverage of families without workers, school children, adolescent girls sanitation facilities in different villages. and community at large. Details of different activities carried out during 2019 are as AKRSP(I) provides facilitation to community follows: but the subsidy disbursement and financial support have been provided by panchayat. • 20632 members from various village Interventions such as improvement of level institutions participated in Health & sanitation facility at the household level, Hygiene awareness trainings. improvement of sanitation facility at school, • In 89 Gram Safai Abhiyans 4709 villagers solid and liquid waste management and participated. menstruation hygiene management have • 37260 community members participated been integrated into the ODF goal. All the in 375 various days celebrations. stakeholders offer mutual support for the coverage of toilet units.

Roshan Sada dreamt of bringing a positive change in his village in terms of sanitation. He started attending meetings organised by AKRSP(I), as the organisation was working in his village on various issues including sanitation. He got introduced to the national flagship program Swachh Bharat Mission and was encouraged to enroll as a Swachhagrahi by the organisation’s staff.

He entered the Swachhagrahi (Sanitation motivator) program in the year 2015 and received his first formal training in 2016. He went door to door to spread awareness regarding importance of health care. His working hours started from 4 AM. He went from one farm to other to identify people who had been defecating in the open. He caught hold of them and talked to them about the dangers of open defecation. He met with village elders to change their age-old mindset. With his hard work and persistence, he convinced FIELD DIARIES many people to build their own toilets.

Due to his hardwork, the percentage of people using toilets increased to 90% from 15% earlier. He mentioned that lack of awareness and force of habit were leading to open defecation. He was able to bring about the change he had dreamt of. Dighra Panchayat was officially declared Open Defecation Free in September 2017 and Samastipur was the first district to be declared ODF in Bihar.

The district administration acknowledged Roshan’s work, and he was honoured with INR 1 Lakh reward. He also received a certificate in recognition of his work. He was grateful for the certification as it was the only certificate he had received in his lifetime. 53 MENSTRUAL HYGIENE MANAGEMENT The needs of women and girls menstrual • Availability of Sanitary Napkins for hygiene are often not met due to a emergency use. multitude of reasons such as gender • Facilities for safe disposal of used inequality, discriminatory social norms, Napkins. cultural taboos, poverty and lack of basic • Toilets with running water facilities and services. This restricts their mobility, space to keep Napkins. freedom and choice affecting well-being, • MHM Learning aid and resources so that attendance in schools, compromises safety regular sessions could be conducted on and cause a lot of stress and anxiety. MHM.

Working in a rural context, AKRSP(I) is Madhya Pradesh aware of the lack of awareness regarding MHM awareness program reached out menstrual hygiene and the myths to 7077 girls and women through the surrounding the topic and has over the medium of trainings and meetings with SHG years worked on menstrual hygiene members and Adolescent girl groups. MHM awareness amomg women through the day was celebrated at 4 locations enlisting medium of Self Help Group meetings. Since participation of 193 girls. Tri-fold sanitary 2017, AKRSP(I) has started working with pads were distributed to 1666 girls and adolescent girls on MHM through formation resusable sanitary pads were also promoted. of Kishori Baliks Samuhs. 4 Incinerators were installed at different locations to enable proper disposal of Bihar sanitary pads. 60 meetings with women SHGs and 294 meetings cum trainings on MHM were Gujarat conducted with adolescent girls during the A focused MHM programme was year reaching out to 971 women and 3992 undertaken in programme villages of Dangs adolescent girls. district where 19 trainings and 8 workshops were conducted to reach out to 936 Menstrual hygiene initiative was piloted in women and girls. 37 middle schools of Pusa bock covering 646 girls and 60 female teachers. In Mangrol, WASH team influenced school The main objective of this training was to teachers, adolescents’ girls, parents, and generate awareness among Teachers about community through trainings, meetings and Menstrual Hygiene Management so that they workshops. 158 adolescent girl groups were carry forward MHM with adequate MHM formed. 433 meetings and 10 trainings were systems in schools - undertaken with 11,330 girls and women on various aspects of MHM.

The major outcomes witnessed after the intervention in Dangs are as follows: • Women have started sharing their problems and discussing respective health issues in Public forums • Now women understand the importance of changing cloth/pad frequently and are changing it at an interval of 3-4 hours.

IMPACT • Women have started to bath daily (especially during menstruation) • They have started using medicine/painkillers from the primary health care centre if needed. • Most of the participants are now using cotton cloths and sun drying them.

54 SOLID AND LIQUID WASTE MANAGEMENT Solid and Liquid Waste Management Two gram panchayats of AKRSP(I) (SLWM) is seen by the organisation as the programme which fall under the Namami next step of their sanitation initiative. A Gange Project have been selected for SLWM system addresses proper disposal of development of SLWM system. The Solid and Wet waste. organisation is playing a crucial role in development of the DPR (Detailed Project Composting is reliable and no cost Report) of the same. method of getting rid of most kitchen and agricultural waste in rural areas and has Madhya Pradesh been promoted by AKRSP(I) in its work 4 DPRs for development of SLWM systems areas. The key interventions undertaken have been prepared by the organisation during the year are mentioned below: for four villages of the programme area. Household survey was conducted to Bihar estimate the waste production capacity A one-day workshop on Solid and Liquid of the villages. These DPRs have been Waste Management was organised in Sakra submitted to district administrations of to sensitize front line workers known as Khandwa and Burhanpur. ‘swacchgarhis’ on waste character and waste segregation method. 130 Swahhagrahis attended the workshop. 55 Gujarat Over the past 5 years AKRSP(I) in 3 villages of Khambalia have been selected partnership with different agencies like Coca to be developed as Model villages. These Cola (Gujarat), Gruh Finance Limited (MP & villages will be equipped with SLWM Gujarat) and HDFC (Bihar), has undertaken systems. To develop the understanding of construction of school sanitation facilities in the same, community members were taken more than 250 schools. for exposure visit to other model villages in the district. Another program was initiated in January 2017 with the support of Reckitt Benckiser SCHOOL HYGIENE AND (RB) to facilitate hygiene education among children. During the year, the program SANITATION reached to 326 schools across Gujarat, MP Unhygienic sanitation practices have serious and Bihar. Under the program, children health implications especially for vulnerable from 1 to 5th standard are taught hygiene groups like women and children. Young through a well-structured curriculum by an children suffer from water borne diseases experiential learning approach wherein the due to lack of clean water, sanitation classroom modules are complemented with facilities and improper handling of solid and practical demonstrations and hygiene games. liquid waste. AKRSP(I) has been working An interesting component of the project is on improving school sanitation facilities by lending support in the constitution and/or integrating school WASH component with effective running of the student-led bodies its ‘Comprehensive Sanitation Initiative’. called the ‘Bal Sansads.’

56 It is said that the future of the country is in the hands of the youth but what kind of future will a society have if the future of the its youth is uncertain. Many adolescent girls in rural areas drop out of school in their teen years for a what seems like a petty reason, the start of mensuration. Urmila, an adolescent girl from Daiyat Village in Khaknar block of Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh; dropped out of school after standard 10th due to her menses.

Urmila had her first period when she was 12 years old. Being hesitant to talk to her mother, she confided in her friend who gave her the age-old taboo ridden advice, which was not of much help. Urmila would have severe backache during periods and felt physical weakness even in normal days leading up to and after her period ended. Eventually, she turned to her mother. Her mother’s words that the pain was normal and expected did not offer any comfort. There was no

FIELD DIARIES one who Urmila could turn to for advice or help. Finally, unable to cope with the physical weakness and academic burden together, she dropped out of school. Such narratives are common for many village girls and women.

When AKRSP(I) initiated dedicated work on MHM, it collectivised adolescent girls through formation of Kishori Balika Samuhs. Urmila also joined the group of her village and was informed about various aspects of mensuration. Slowly as she got comfortable, she shared her problems which were addressed affirmatively.

The organisation promoted the use of sanitary napkins among girls and women. In one of the discussions, it was found that as the market from which sanitary naps could be procured was 10-12 kms from the village, it was not possible for many women to procure pads per month. The issue was escalated and discussed in the Tapti Laxmi Womens’ Federation. The solution implemented was central procurement of sanitary napkins from the market by the federation and village- wise distribution and sale of the same by selected village-level adolescent girls.

Urmila took up the responsibility to disburse pads in Daiyat village. Through the medium of the Kishori Balika Samuh, many girls like Urmila got a platform to share and seek effective resolutions to their menstruation problems.

The role of the Bal Sansad in the school is Madhya Pradesh to coordinate the management of various The school toilet facilities of Golkheda activities undertaken within the school such village in MP were repaired when the as assembly, mid-day meal, maintenance of community raised the issue in Gram Sabha cleanliness, provision of drinking water, etc. held in 2019, which catalyzed the panchayat The program reached out to more than 326 into action. schools across Gujarat, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. 60 schools were covered under the School Hygiene Education Program. A workshop Bihar on importance of ensuring proper hygiene During the Project period 100 sanitation was undertaken in Khaknar and Khalwa blocks (Boys & Girls toilet with urinal blocks which saw participation of 59 along with running water facility) were education department officers such as Block constructed in Bihar. This improved Resource Coordinators, Cluster Resource infrastructure helps to sustain the behavioral Coordinators and Teachers. SMC members change especially in terms of toilet use of 13 SMCs were trained during the year. and promotion of hygiene practices among 20000 children.

57 DRINKING WATER The situation of drinking water has Along with this,water quality testing of improved over the last few years due to is conducted. Community members are wide-scale implementation of drinking water informed about the result of the tests and schemes all across the country , however on ways to take corrective measures if the 4.5% of people in rural areas still don’t have samples are found to be contaminated. access to safe drinking water (National Statistical Office Survey, 2019) and only 18% Madhya Pradesh rural population have piped water supply A community owned drinking water connection. (CAG Report, 2018). scheme benefitting 218 households was operationalsed in Golkheda village of Ensuring access to drinking water has been Burhanpur district. an important intervention of AKRSP(I)’s Water quality assessment of 11 public work. Along with, the organisation provides drinking water units was undertaken in infrastructure support for the development Khandwa and Burhanpur districts. of village-level community owned drinking water supply systems. The communities Bihar are handed over the water supply system AKRSP(I) has been recognised as post construction to ensure community-led the technical partner to support the management. implementation of the ‘Har Ghar Nal Jal’ scheme of the Bihar government, which aims Another key component of work is to provide piped water supply connection generating awareness regarding quality to 17.8 million households over the period deterioration through sources such as of 5 years. bacteriological contamination.

58 The work undertaken by AKRSP(I) during • A Training Module for ‘Har Ghar Nal ka the year is below: Jal scheme’ was printed • Approximately 2000 PRI members • Conducted 12 Jal chaupals. oriented in Samastipur, Pusa, Tajpur, • Around 930 PRI and community Patori, Mohhidinnagar, Shivajinagar, Rosra, members were sensitized on water and Dalsingsarai blocks. budgeting • 12 Block level orientations conducted • Ongoing works of ‘Har Ghar Nal ka in Muzaffarpur district in which around Jal scheme’ in 4 wards benefitted 480 1800 PRI members were oriented. households. • Training content for Master trainers was designed. • Video Movie on processes of ‘Har Ghar Gujarat Nal Ka Jal’ scheme finalised. Pre and post monsoon testing of 232 • Three Batches of Training of trainers drinking water samples was undertaken in completed at state level in which all coastal areas of Gujarat. 60 samples had concerned District Panchyati Raj Officers bacteriological contamination, 28 samples and three BDO’s (Block development had hardness and 138 samples were found officers) were trained. Overall around suitable for consumption. The community 200 master trainers were trained for members were informed about the results. capacity building of stakeholders in their Training on chlorination of bacteriological respective districts. contaminated samples was undertaken. Pani • A guideline on ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal Samitis for 17 community drinking water Scheme’ issued through Secretary, schemes established earlier were formulated Panchyat Raj Department. during the year.

59 EDUCATION The key findings of the external Impact evaluation of the Early Childhood Development project of , Gujarat undertaken by Jamia Millia Islamia University are as follows: • The interventions undertaken in the ECD project which focussed upon capacity building of AWWS, AWHs, adoloscent girls along IMPACT with awareness and sensitisation of community led to a significant improvement in the quality of ECE services at the selected Anganwadis. • Effective curricular transactions through play and activity based methods increased active participation of children in class.

60 infrastructure of public schools has also seen an improvement. However, the ultimate goal of a school is to provide quality education to children to prepare them for life. This is where the government school system fails. Systemic changes in pedagogical practices and approaches are needed to improve the quality of education. A key problem preventing quality education to reach rural areas is the lack of awareness of rural communities. Most rural children are first generation learners. The parents are thus in no position to monitor the education provided or hold the school responsible for learning deficits in their children. Building awareness among rural community members is crucial to improving the quality of education in government schools. AKRSP(I) has been striving to improve the quality of education in its programme areas by a combination of programmes which focus not only upon pedagogical practices but also upon community awareness. The Education programme of AKRSP(I) supports Government Primary Schools and Anganwadi/ICDS centres to address children’s learning gaps in primary and preschool education. In Madhya Pradesh, AKRSP(I) is working on a community-based model to improve quality of education The most important distinction between in government primary schools through privileged urban class and their counterparts SHGs and Shiksha Sakhis. Furthermore, in rural areas is the quality of education the interventions also include improving that each set receives. It is this distinction infrastructure related to government which often is the most important barrier preschools and government primary school most rural children are unable to overcome. sanitation across the three programme According to ASER report 2019, only 43% states of Gujarat, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. students among the 14-18 year age-group could solve a class IV mathematics problem Madhya Pradesh and more than 40% 14-year old children The education initiative implemented under could not read Class II English textbook. the Transforming Rural India programme A crucial question here is, how will such is striving to change the perception of young adults, who have accumulated community towards education as well learning deficits due to years of low-quality improving the quality of education provided education, find gainful employment? in 41 government primary schools of Khaknar block. Initiated with 20 schools, the In the last few years, there have been huge programme expanded during the year to gains in enrollment numbers and cover 21 more schools.

61 To raise important social issues, an unique initiative was undertaken through engagement with children. Workshops were organised for school going children in collaboration with World Comics Network to write comic books. The children learnt to express their views and opinions on issues of their concern through comics. Many children raised important issues related to gender inequality in the society. Socialisation begins at a young age and if sensitized at this age, we can have more adults who believe in gender equality.

The programme believes that Community Bihar ownership is crucial to ensuring delivery of quality education to students. It is School Improvement Programme when the communities are aware and A programme being implemented in motivated to demand quality education Samastipur district to improve the quality of that the government school system is made education provided in government schools accountable to deliver. is ‘School Improvement Programme (SIP)’. The programme aims to improve the quality The initiative focusses its work on of education imparted in government awareness and capacity building of various schools by empowering School Management stakeholders such as teachers, parents, Committees and capacity building of community leaders and institutions like government teachers. There has been a SMC, panchayat, village level institutions etc., shift in the implementing approach since in order to bring holistic development and the last year. Earlier the team was directly enable community as a change driver. intervening in selected 108 schools of Pusa and Tajpur blocks, but now AKRSP(I) is The highlights of the work undertaken working towards strengthening CRCs and during the year are below: BRCs, who closely work with 87 schools of • Two trainings conducted for 40 shiksha Pusa block in a saturation approach. sakhis to enable them to understand their roles and carry out work such as The key progress of the programme during parents counselling, conducting summer the year is highlighted below: camp, awareness around RTE, etc. • Based on the trainings provided to • Two trainings were conducted for youth BRCs and CRCs, and subsequent volunteers who play a crucial role in the baseline assessment, the key focus has functioning of activity learning centres been execution of mathematics and which act as an extension of school language classes using activity-based and promote activity-based learning learning techniques. Based on the endline techniques. 61 volunteers attended the assessment and observations, children training. are scoring better and are more engaged • Trainings of 45 SMC members in classes. were conducted on the role and • Monthly meetings were conducted with responsibilities of SMC members. CRCs and BRCs where discussions • Summer camp undertaken in 40 village were undertaken on following topics; drawing a participation of 300 children. importance of preparing lesson plan, Children were engaged in interactive continuous monitoring of students craft activities, poems, plays, toy making, performance, rapport building with drawing, etc. community

62 • The BRCs and CRCs were facilitated Monitoring of ICDS centres was undertaken for preparation of workplans for the in every quarter to asses the progress of academic session of 2019-20 wherein children. The monitoring activity focussed coordination with government school upon assessment of the work being done by teachers was crucial. sevikas by examining records of childrens’ • SMC Meetings – Monthly meetings were height, weight and age by sevikas, observation organised with SMCs of 87 schools of of TLM being used, activities designed, etc. the programme area. Discussions were undertaken upon students attendance, Along with this, nutritional mapping of 25 teaching techniques, absenteeism Anganwadi centres was done on the basis of teachers, importance of active of the diet provided to children in the participation of parents, preparation of anganwadis. Based on the analysis of the school management plan, etc. mapping activity, capacity building of sevikas • Parents Meeting: Regular meetings will be undertaken on nutritional aspects and have been conducted with parents to preparation of proper meal plan for children. make them aware about the importance of quality education and importance Gujarat of active participation of parents in increasing the accountability of school. Primary Education In the region of Gujarat, AKRSP(I) Early Childhood Education works to improve the access to education AKRSP(I) works on Early Education for children of migrant households along with Development (ECD) through capacity reducing learning gaps by running remedial building of Anganwadi sevikas in 203 classes. Anganwadi centres in rural hamlets across Muzaffarpur and Samastipur districts It works in a hub and spokes model wherein it of Bihar in partnership with Aga Khan establishes a LRC, ‘Learning Resource Centre’, Foundation. which supports 4 government primary schools in the proximity of the LRC. During the year, various capacity building sessions were held for the Sevikas Along with this, it also works with School (anganwadi workers) on various topics; Management Committees (SMC) to generate understanding ECCE policy, development awareness regarding the importance of of Teaching Learning Material, Evaluation education. During the year, 7480 children techniques to assess progress of children, of 65 government schools in Surendranagar etc. and Morbi districts were covered under the programme. Parents meetings were also held in every quarter to encourage parents to participate in the cognitive development of their child through simple activities Several positive results have come from empowering SMCs over the past couple of years: • SMC members are now proactively demanding the reading out of agenda items in SMC meetings and only then agreeing

IMPACT to put their signatures, whereas earlier they used to sign the minutes and meeting resolutions without knowing the content. • SMC members are regularly visiting schools in their villages to check on teacher’s attendance, classroom practices, child attendance and other issues. 63 The major highlights of the work done • 171 Citizen educators were trained during the year are below: during the year on various topics such as • Applications for starting 4 seasonal importance of social audit, preparation hostels for children of migrant parents and importance of School Development were submitted. Plan, Planning for Seasonal Hostel, etc. • 10 functional LRCs reached out to 1350 • 136 SMC and/or PRI members were children of 18 government schools. trained upon the application process • Children in LRC enjoyed studying of seasonal hostels, ways to stop child science through an application-oriented labour, RTE, etc. Along with the training, science kit procured during the year. an Irregular children action plan was also • A mass event was organized to developed for children who could not inaugurate libraries in 50 villages. attend school during cotton harvest. Students from the Library performed • Base line and end line test for all the different cultural activities i.e. Drama, enrolled students conducted for Math Puppet show, story telling, Pyramid and . formation, etc. • Y4D Foundation and Sarjan Charitable During the year, a federation of SMCs Trust provided 8000 books of different has been formed in Wankaner district to levels and languages to 40 libraries. take up issues related to education in the • 45 Bal melas were conducted in 120 area. Gender equity has been ensured in schools. formation of the federation to ensure that • An MOU was signed with the issues affecting higher education of girls are Government of Gujarat which taken up. The federation, in collaboration recognised AKRSP(I) as the resource with Panchayat and other local bodies, partner for education. is putting efforts to start bus service in selected routes so that girls can easily travel to high schools. 64 Dumadya Rajalben hailing from Gadh village in Surendranagar district is a class 8 student. She is the member of a library established by AKRSP(I) in her village since the last two years. She loves going to the library as it let’s her understand the world beyond her school books. Also various activities of the library such as story formation, picture Earlier I used to hesitate to talk, drawing , elocution, etc, make her look speak publicly and to draw. I was forward to visit the library daily. afraid of the failure. I got various opportunities in the library due These activities have helped her overcome to which my skills developed, stage fear but more importantly, the library especially my drawing. has helped discover the hidden artist in her. She takes pride in her contribution FIELD DIARIES to the display of drawings at the library. Her drawings were displayed at the Story fair and Summer camp. She was also invited to draw pictures at the Anganwadi centre. She was given the opportunity to speak at a school function.

She proudly claims to have become her father’s favourite. Earlier she used to be kept occupied with household work but seeing her confidence and interests, her father encourages her to study.

Bal Melas Bal Melas act as avenues to release creative energies of students. Various activities such as Rangometri (learning numbers through colours), colouring pictures, pencil work, clay work, elocution contests, herbal exhibition, etc. were conducted. As a result of the balmelas, relations between the school and community improved, creative abilities of children were developed and an atmosphere was provided where their self-confidence to learn new things increased.

65 PEOPLES’ INSTITUTIONS According to the end-term evaluation of the Governance project, it was found that Mahila Sabhas were instrumental in resolving village- level issues relating to drinking water, education, sanitation, alcohol consumption, electricity and infant health, drainage, etc.

IMPACT To resolve the problems women have engaged with the Panchayat and sometimes block or district officials to get solutions for their problems. Women also emerged as local leaders and participated in the large development discourse of the village/ region through entry into Block Panchayat, Gram Panchayat, as Federation leaders and even as members of Gram Sabha sub- committees.

66 The following types of Community Based Organisations (CBOs) have been promoted by the Organisation. • Self Help Groups (SHG) • Mahila Mandal and Village Level Associations • Women Federations • Canal Irrigation Management Societies • Pashu Palak Groups • Farmer Producer Organisations • Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) Committees • Kishori Balika Samuh (Adolescent Girls Groups) • School Management Committee

Self Help Groups Self-Help Groups are crucial institutions for social, economic and political empowerment of women. This year 1004 new SHGs were formed across AKRSP(I)’s SHTs. AKRSP(I) has its own unique model of SHGs which is called Community Based Savings Groups and is slightly different in its design than the regular SHGs promoted by government agencies and other NGOs. The ownership of community is so strong in this model that many SHGs have sustained on their own for more than 10 years now. This model was originally designed for Bihar, but, this year, it has been successfully replicated in Gujarat also. Financial Literacy of members, access to social security schemes and asset creation through livelihood interventions COMMUNITY BASED were some of the major focus areas of the SHGs this year. ORGANISATIONS Bringing change at mass level requires the force of collective individual action. Women Federations Collective action is a tool to improve SHGs are federated at village or Panchayat accountability and provide agency and ability level to form Village Level Associations to marginalised groups to exercise their where members of different SHGs gather at choice and voice. It may well become the regular intervals for peer learning, support fifth pillar of democracy and development. and mobilisation for larger community AKRSP(I) recognizes the power of issues. Since, these are associations of SHG collectives as the most crucial tool for social women, the meetings of the VLAs used to and economic growth and development. be attended by women only. But, this year, Promotion and strengthening of community- the VLA meetings in Madhya Pradesh were based organisations has been the core opened for the men of the community also, of AKRSP(I)’s work since the beginning. so that, they could also participate in the Over time AKRSP(I) has promoted a range discussions of the VLAs and work along with of community organisations based on women to solve the community issues. community needs. 67 The VLAs are then federated at the Block repairs and maintenance of canals, crop level to form Mahila Manch or Women planning and collection of water charges. Federation. These are generally associations During the year, the work on formation of of 1500-3000 women which serve as an Water user Associations under PIM projects excellent platform to fulfill both practical for Gujarat State Irrigation Department and as well as the strategic gender needs of Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited. women. 55 Water User Associations were formed of which 30 WUAs are managing water This year processes for formation of 8 distribution and recovery of water tariffs new federations were facilitated. For the independently. existing federations, trainings were done to enhance the leadership skills of the women Pashu Palak Samuhs (Goat rearing leaders, strategies were worked out for Groups) financial self-sustenance and annual plans Goat rearing groups are platforms for goat for activities to be done by the federations. rearing households, particularly women, They also took up many relevant social and to learn best practices of goat rearing, economic issues of the communities, like, collectivize the efforts on getting inputs like single, esp., widow women and their access preventive veterinary services, and feeds to social security schemes in Saurashtra, etc. and to get better prices for goats. Two over-exploitation of ground water in villages producer companies have been formed in of Dangs, collective farming practices Madhya Pradesh and one producer group is by women and their demand for land in in the process of formation in Bihar to focus Madhya Pradesh and market linkages for upon provision of goat rearing and poultry livelihood in villages of Bihar. related services for their members. A comprehensive understanding of goat health Canal Irrigation Management Societies management is built in village-level goat (CIS) rearing groups through monthly meetings Participation of farmers in the management and trainings. Along with training on upkeep, of canals is critical to effective and maintenance, feed and fodder, housing, efficient use of water from medium and preventive measures against illness, hygienic larger irrigation schemes. Canal irrigation practices; the goat rearers were trained on management societies play important role in live weighing of goat and price realising on equitable distribution of irrigation water, basis of meat to live weight ratio.

68 Farmer Prodcuer Organisations Kishori Balika Samuhs (Adolescent Girl The focus of AKRSP(I)’s work is on building Groups) governance and business capacities of Adolescent girl groups serve as the medium these farmers organisations. Marketing of to bust myths and provide the right commodities like groundnut, pigeon-pea information about hygienic practises in a and cotton, supply of poultry feed, supply of protective and enabling environment. 24,306 poultry chicks, quality agri-inputs, organic adolescent girls and women were reached manures and pesticide received good through trainings, meetings and workshops response from members of these producers to disseminate awareness on various aspects companies. of MHM across programme areas.

Two FPOs were established during the School Management Committees year taking the total number of Farmers’ School Management Committees are Collectives to 28, which have a membership Right to Education Act (RTE) mandated of more than 25,000 small and marginal committees for ensuring community farmers. One all-women FPO, ‘Dangi Adivasi participation in quality education of children. Mahila Khedut Utpadak Producer Company limited’, was established in Dangs and AKRSP(I) is working on strengthening these another FPO, Saraisa Farmers Producer committees so that they can play an active Company Limited was registered in Bihar. role in the education of children at village level. SMCs are encouraged to participate Drinking Water and Sanitation actively in various school development Committees activities like planning, budgeting, enrollment WATSAN committees ensure proper of children, retention of children, maintenance of drinking water and infrastructure maintenance and grievance sanitation infrastructure post construction. redressal. Monitoring the use of toilets built under Swachh Bharat Mission is a continuous activity for these committees.

The importance of good education cannot be disputed. During the process of the Village Development Plan preparation for Khokharaumar village in Dediapada block, the issue of high dropout rate of students in 9th and 10th standards was brought up. Most schools in the area offer education till Class 8. The students either enroll in private schools or drop out. Even among those enrolled in private schools, the failure rate in Class 10th was very high.

Disheartened children drop out due to lack of proper guidance and added expenditure. The village community was concerned about the future of their children and wanted to come up with a resolution. After much deliberation, a model offering remedial classes (tuition support), library and career guidance was chalked out. AKRSP(I) implemented this model on trial basis in 6 nearby panchayats including that of Khokhrarumar. The children were FIELD DIARIES charged a minimal fees of Rs.50/month and the teachers salary which was decided at Rs.5000/month was initially paid by the organisation. The model has been successful in reducing drop out rates and increasing the confidence of youth.

The report of childrens’ progress is discussed in panchayat and SMC meetings. One of the panchayats chosen offered its office premises for the village library so that its usage could be monitored and to ensure easy accessibility. The interest and ownership of the village community in this endeavour is indeed encouraging. The expenditure of this initiative is now being borne by the community from the Panchyat’s funds. 69 LOCAL GOVERNANCE

Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) are • 780 PRI members received trainings on important tools for effective local Panchayat Planning and Budgeting, Health, governance and development of rural areas. Decentralised governance systems, etc. They have a good amount of autonomy to enable them to solve local problems. in the implementation of central and • 187 Mahila Sabhas and 210 Gram sabhs state government schemes. Integrated were held during the year. development works can be undertaken in a village through effective functioning of gram The programme has over the last five years panchayats. established 22 Nagrik Suchna Kendras which help in disseminating information about Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) government schemes and facilitate the has been working with womens’ collectives community in filing as well as submission of and village level institutions to ensure good application forms for the relevant schemes. governance, access to government schemes and execution of minor infrastructure Another means of provisioning information development works. is Mobile Mahiti Karayakaram, which is an IVRS service providing information about In 2014, a program focused upon improving various government schemes through the access to schemes and information to the medium of message and pre-recorded voice community and bringing transparency and calls to citizens. accountability in local governance was initiated in 96 panchayats of Gujarat and Apart from Nagrik Suchna Kendras Madhya Pradesh. and Mobile Mahiti Karayakaram; Nagrik Mitras are assigned to villages to pass the In 2019, the focus of the programme was information to villagers. They are local upon capacity building of PRI members volunteers who provide information on and enabling mahila sabhas as well as gram RTI, RTE, Local governance, Panchayati Raj, sabhas to use Village Development Plans as PESA, etc. During the year, 11,124 citizens an important tool for undertaking various were provided information through various development works. means. • 100 Village Development Plans prepared 3021 citizens were helped to receive by the community members were benefits of various schemes applicable to approved by the gram sabha in the them. They were facilitated in form filling, current year and are at different stages arranging supporting documents and proofs of implementation. required, form submission, etc.

The Mahila Sabhas have over the course of the programme proved to be the most effective tool for enabling good governance. They helped increase the participation of women in Gram Sabha, which ultimately helped in bringing local problems to the attention of the Gram Panchayat and its eventual resolution.

70 GENDER Workshops were organised at block, district Making inclusive society a reality where and state level to disseminate learnings women have the same status accorded to and share experiences. Block, District and men is a daunting task. Ever since humans State level officials were invited to these settled into societies, women along with platforms for learning the best practices land were regarded as assets which were of the programme so that they could be managed and controlled by men. emulated in other regions under their jurisdiction thereby allowing for scale-up While the modern society has advanced a of the programme. The grassroot-level lot since then, the collective mindset is still changemakers were invited to speak at primitive in terms of gender equity. Women the workshop allowing for recognition of have to fight against discrimination in every their work. Such platforms provide the sphere; be it education, health, nutrition, changemakers with the opportunity to share employment and/or wage equity. their stories and build confidence to voice their opinions. This constant struggle that women have to face has the obvious result of only a few being able to break the gender barriers. Most women have to make compromises with their dreams and live unfulfilled lives.

71 However, the scenario is fast changing. The major objective of the event was to Women are coming together to fight for share AKRSP(I)’s experiences of different their rights. Collective action provides initiatives taken, success stories, best agency and enhances the ability to negotiate practices and challenges faced in ensuring and address structural barriers. good governance in rural tribal areas. The event was attended by senior government AKRSP(I) firmly believes in gender equity officials also. Sharing by the women gave and is committed to creating an enabling, crucial insights on gender aspects of rural just and equitable society. Over the years, governance. AKRSP(I) has nurtured many women collectives which have been successful in Flood Relief resolving local issues through collective During the year, the state of Bihar was action. During the year, many interventions severely affected by flood. AKRSP(I) engaged were undertaken at programmatic as well as in flood relief operations in its programme organisational level to ensure gender equity areas in Muzaffarpur and Samastipur in implementation as well as operational districts. Women and girls, besides children aspects. and old, are the most affected by disasters and it takes longer for them to get back ORGANISATIONAL to their normal life after such events. Thus, women and girls were a major focus of the Sharing our experiences and learning on relief and rehabilitation work in villages. wider platforms AKRSP(I) believes in sharing its experiences Gender Audit and learnings from the field, with Evaluation of the project to understand its stakeholders such as other Civil Society impact is a common practice and so is the partners, government, academic institutions, financial audit of the project expenditure etc. to assess deviations and discrepancies, but evaluating the project from gender International Land Development Conference perspective is not a common practice. (ILDC) is a national conference for inter- sectoral, inter-disciplinary and multi-level AKRSP(I) undertook gender audit for conversations on land and development. In 11 major ongoing projects in Bihar and ILDC 2019, AKRSP(I) presented a paper on Saurashtra. The major objectives of the audit ‘Influencing Panchayats to ensure women’s were to: inheritance rights to land’, which was widely • Assess the gender integration in these appreciated. projects • Assess the capacity of the project teams AKRSP(I) is part of the Aga Khan to ensure gender integration in their Development Network which is an respective projects, international network of agencies operating • A joint reflection with teams on how to in more than 20 countries across the globe. fill the gaps. This year, initiatives for gender equality This exercise was done by an external taken by AKRSP(I) were shared in an inter- consultant. Many important insights were country learning and sharing workshop gained from this exercise, which were later organised in Kenya. The best practices will converted into strategies and action plans be replicated in different countries. by other for enhancing the programme designs. Some agencies of the network. of the insights were also used to revise organisational policies. This year, a major event was organised in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, where 20 members Revisions in HR policies and structures from the community, including 10 women The HR policies of the organisation were from Barwani tribal district of south revised this year to incorporate needs of western Madhya Pradesh participated. the changing time and context.

72 These revisions included new steps to To provide more support to the ensure safe and conducive work places implementation teams in the field, selected for all staff, especially, women. Steps to professionals from each SHT are being enhance gender parity in the organisation, developed as a resource team for gender provide better infrastructure related and empowering processes. This team meets support and facilities, professional growth every 2 months to share ideas, experiences and development of women staff, etc. were and learnings from their respective Spear elucidated. Head Teams and collectively decide a future course of action for the whole organisation. A new ‘Safeguarding Policy’ was introduced to include not only staff, but many other To enhance capacity of this team, this year, stakeholders like extension workers, leaders exposure visits to the Coastal part of of community institutions promoted by Saurashtra and Bihar and input workshops AKRSP(I), community in general, and other by experts were organised which resulted in associates like consultants, donors, fellows, development and sharing of many important etc. The Policy has been designed with a participatory tools. strong gender lens.

To ensure proper implementation of the Policy Advocacy revised policies, necessary changes were Policy advocacy was done for many introduced in the structure of different important issues; like, systemic measures committees of the organisation, e.g., the on land rights for women, access of women Internal Complaints Committee which looks to agricultural subsidy schemes of the into prevention, prohibition and redressal of government through introducing necessary sexual harassment at workplace. To enhance flexibilities, joint ownership in land received its efficiency, representatives from each through FRA in Gujarat. Spear Head Team (SHT) were included in the Committee. In Madhya Pradesh, experiences and insights from our work on rural governance in Gender training of staff tribal areas were shared with the state The staff of AKRSP(I) comes from different government to introduce necessary changes socio-cultural backgrounds. Hence, their in state-level policies. perspectives on gender often differ. As a part of their induction in the organisation, In Bihar, the organisation’s work on goatery a 3-day residential gender training is with marginalised women has informed conducted so that they develop a unbiased many policy guidelines of the goatery gender perspective which can be integrated programme of the state government. The in their personal and professional lives. This WATSAN team advocated the inclusion of year, 60 new staff went through the training women in water committees formed under on perspective development for gender the flagship ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal’ scheme equality. on drinking water. Similarly, advocacy was done for development of a cadre of women For gender mainstreaming of programmes, master trainers for the sanitation campaign gender trainings which included both in- of the state. house trainings and demonstrations in the field, were done with the individual project and programme teams. Workshops were conducted to facilitate necessary changes in programme design.

73 PROGRAMMATIC households, who neither own big plots of land to grow food nor can they afford to WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE buy nutritious food, especially, fruits and Although, many factors like uncertain vegetables. Nutrition status of women and climatic conditions, increasing input costs children is a matter of concern in these and fluctuating market prices have forced areas. AKRSP(I) has encouraged women of many rural families to quit farming or over 4500 such families to grow vegetables look for alternative sources of livelihood, in small kitchen gardens. Those who don’t agriculture is still the major source of own any piece of land are trained to livelihood for most rural women. grow vegetables in jute and other bags. Horticulture has been promoted with nearly In fact, migration of men for alternative 1300 HHs. sources of livelihood has led to a gradual feminization of agriculture in past few Women in Farmers’ Collectives decades. But, the access to and control over AKRSP(I) has promoted 28 farmers’ resources is still a major gender issue to be collectives to link rural farmers to urban addressed. Also, while women grow food, markets, to collectively procure agricultural their own food security needs a thorough inputs and to extend other agriculture analysis. Gender integration in Agriculture services to small and marginal farmers. Programme tries to consider all these These collectives have 6525 women farmer dimensions. members and 4823 women shareholders. 75 women are in the board of FPOs. Of the Vegetable Cultivation 28 FPOs, 3 are all-women collectives, one of Across our work areas, there are hundreds which was formed in Dangs during the year. of extremely poor and marginalized

74 ‘Dangi Adivasi Mahila Khedut Utpadak Women Farmers as Resource Persons Producer Company limited’ has membership The agriculture programme team has of women farmers from villages across all created cadres of women who can lead three blocks of Dangs district in Gujarat. their community on agricultural issues. There are professionally trained Para-Legal Women as Agricultural land owners Workers facilitating work on women and AKRSP(I) is a part of a state level network land rights and there are Para-Workers who of Civil Society Organisations which works train farmers on sustainable agricultural on issues of Women Land Ownership. This practices. In Madhya Pradesh, the team has network not only advocates and facilitates ‘Jaivik Sakhis’ or women Para-Workers land entitlements for women, but also leading way for organic farming in their builds capacities of women on adoption of areas. This year, their training and capacity sustainable agricultural practices, links them building was a major emphasis across work with concerned government departments areas. for access to government schemes and also links these women farmers with urban WOMEN-LED RURAL GOVERNANCE consumers. Gram Sabhas are the most important grassroots institution for rural governance. This year, names of 88 women were But, most women still do not participate in registered in the official land records. meetings of Gram Sabhas, because women 553 women farmers have been following participation in decision making processes is sustainable agricultural practices with zero not a norm in many societies. chemical pesticides and fertilizers for 2 consecutive years now. Women farmers have A key aspect of AKRSP(I)’s strategy is been trained to save and use indigenous working with women collectives to bring seeds. This year, they were encouraged to change in society. The first step is to grow ‘Navdhaanya’ or 9 different types of collectivise women and discuss village issues millets. Millets are indigenous crops which which is done through Mahila Sabhas. The are adapted to local climate and are rich in women then raise the identified issues nutrition. at the Gram Sabha and take the lead to resolving the issues collectively. This Over 400 women have submitted online year, 210 Mahila Sabhas were facilitated applications on Gujarat government’s and women actively participated in the I-Kisan portal to access different agricultural preparation of 100 Village Development schemes. Plans.

75 Some key findings of the end term evaluation study for the European Union supported Improving Local Governance project are as follows: • The process of resolution of most village level issues initiated through the medium of Mahila Sabhas led to issues having a strong gender lens. IMPACT • Strong Gender justices issues such as Prohibition of Alcohol, Street Lighting, Actions on Domestic Violence, gender safety were raised in women sarpanch headed Panchayats

WOMEN IN VILLAGE INSTITUTIONS Training of teams on LOGFID, gender mainstreaming of VIs Gender analysis exercises in villages LOGFID is an important tool to analyse Gender Analysis in communities using tools different aspects of the community like Harvard Analysis Framework and Moser institutions. While using LOGFID for Village Analysis Framework, etc. were done by the institutions, gender integration in the design teams to understand the gender dynamics of the VIs was also studied and necessary and their impact on men and women. The strategies were prepared to enhance it. The insights from the exercises were shared VIs formed under different programmes with the larger teams of the SHT and also were graded on various indicators of the with women of the federations. Institutions Maturity Index. Results were shared with respective programme teams Accordingly, strategies were developed and action plans were prepared accordingly. to balance gender power relations in the community and also to redesign the programme strategies.

Dediapada village located in Patadi gram panchayat is known for determined women who have changed the face of the village. These women supported Smt Vidya ben when she most needed encouragement. She was a good leader and wanted to stand in the gram panchayat elections but her father was against a woman fighting elections. The moral support of the Mahila Sabha strengthened her decision to fight and win the election.

The mahila sabha played a pivotal role in establishing evening coaching classes for the some students of the village in class 6-8 who needed remedial classes to bring them on equal footing with other children. A water tank has also been erected in the village to improve water supply upon the repeated requests of the women.

FIELD DIARIES The women have also helped some community members in claiming their rights to the forest land where they have been living for generations by filling of patta under the Forest Rights Act.

The Village Development Plan was facilitated through the Mahila Sabha and various development issues such as PDS shop, Sanitation, Higher education were solved through this medium.

The mahila sabha is planning to tackle bolder issues such as alcoholism and domestic violence in the future. The women of the village have not only changed the mindsets of their families but also turned around the village into a progressive institution working constantly for a better tomorrow. 76 Enhancing gender parity in Village 41 women farmers are a part of the Canal Institutions Irrigation Societies’ (CISs) executive Though many Village Institutions are formed committees which lead the PIM in their in the villages, the participation of women respective areas. Four years ago, there were is often not ensured. This year a major none. They ensure that all farmers, esp. single emphasis was on increasing gender parity in women farmers, receive water for irrigation village institutions across work areas. on time. They engage in laisoning with the Irrigation Department, lead construction, Ensuring gender integration in Village repair and maintenance work of canals, and Institutions was not restricted only to also participate in timely collection and nominal membership. Gender sensitisation payment of water charges. trainings of leaders of Village Institutions like Gram Vikas Mandals, Different User Groups, Solar based irrigation is a new technological Mahila Manch, etc. was conducted in the innovation where solar energy is used villages. This has also helped in sensitizing for irrigation, instead of petroleum-based men of the VIs and they are encouraging oils and engines. Women were quick to women to actively participate in the Village learn and adopt this new technology for Institutions. Women were elected into the alternative energy. There are 14 groups executive committees to enhance their role exclusively of women farmers in solar in the decision making of community issues. irrigation and 11 of these groups are operational in Bihar in entrepreneurial WOMEN IN IRRIGATION model where members of the group use Water for irrigation is one of the water in their own fields and at a minimal most crucial resources for agriculture. charge and also supply water to farmers Interestingly, women share 70-80% of the who do not have their own sources. workload of agriculture, but, they have limited access and control over important This group entrepreneurship venture resources like land, water for irrigation, large has helped these women hone their farm equipment, etc. The women contribute management skills, learn financial literacy manual labour and time in construction and and also learn about new technology. maintenance of water structures, but, they are generally not involved in the decision In South Gujarat, 6 lift irrigation systems are making processes related to management of being managed by exclusive women groups. water resources. They own an important agriculture resource and hence play a vital role in agriculture AKRSP(I) is striving hard to change this and water related decision making in the scenario by ensuring women participation community. Within a short period of time, in operational and management process of most groups have earned a considerable irrigation schemes implemented. During the profit. Individual members are keen on year, women farmers played a crucial role in investing their share of profit in education of site selection, asset management, beneficiary their children. selection, operations and management of various lift irrigation schemes Gender integration in Watershed structures operationalised during the year. has ensured that women also benefit equally from the structures. Women of the villages There are 3958 women farmers who are use water from these structures for many a part of the Canal Based Participatory domestic chores, for the livestock they Irrigation Management groups, 71 women rear and also for ensuring personal hygiene. in Solar based Irrigation Groups, 577 (29%) Hence, their needs are also prioritized while women members in User Groups for designing the physical structures. Women different Watershed Structures of Madhya also form a part of the User Groups of Pradesh. these structures.

77 WOMEN REGENERATING FORESTS WOMEN AND DRINKING WATER Forests are also rich sources of food which Women suffer disproportionately in the form an essential part of the diet for rural absence of drinking water supply. They travel communities. Within such communities also, long distances to fetch drinking water. It it is mostly women who depend on forests takes upto4-6 hours of a woman’s time in a to collect NTFPs to sell and earn livelihood day. and also to derive nutrition from different forest produce. The supply of drinking water was ensured to women of 324 households by executing AKRSP(I) has started taking initiatives to 4 drinking water schemes. Maximum regenerate the forest cover. This year, nearly representation of women is ensured in 23000 trees were planted in an area of 50 pani samitis which are formulated for hectares of common land. 486 hectares management of the Drinking water supply of forest land is being protected by the system. community through community institutions. Over 1600 farmers were encouraged to 50 Roof Rain Water Harvesting Structures do farm forestry. As a result, some 52000 (RRWHS) were also constructed. Womwn trees were planted in their farms by these have been trained on water testing farmers. Women have played a critical role in techniques and prevention and cure of these initiatives. water-borne diseases, etc.

78 As per a report which interviewed women’s groups in 5 villages of Madhya Pradesh, it was found that access to drinking water was the most common pain point raised by women. The women of one village under the study; Abhapuri, situated in Khargone district, approached the collector to address the issue of water shortage. The collector sanctioned water supply schemes in the village. This incident has given immense confidence and has also had an impact on other villages in the vicinity. Women in almost all the blocks have used this opportunity to articulate their voices and have been successful in getting some assistance. In many village their demand and pressures has resulted into sanction of budget under Sushashan Nidhi for the work related to water, education and hygiene related issues.

SANITATION AND HEALTH ACCESS FOR WOMEN Women, girls and children are worst Advocacy with the Bihar government was affected by poor sanitation conditions. Lack done to include women master trainers of Individual Household Latrines and bath in the sanitation campaign. Around 700 rooms affects their hygiene, dignity and also improved drainage systems including soak safety. Things get wors during monsoon, ill pits were constructed to avoid stagnation of health conditions, menstruation, pregnancy waste water in the surroundings. Trainings and old age. There are many case studies, on MHM were done with adolescents, surveys and reports which conclude that women groups, women Para-veterinary unavailability of toilets leads to high drop- health service providers and even for out of girls. Since, women spend most of male staff of our teams for awareness and their time at home, unhygienic conditions sensitisation on issues of menstrual health. in the vicinity of their homes impacts their health more than men. And often they A special focus was laid on improving the are the ones who do not seek immediate infrastructure and services of the ICDS medical help because of various gender centres as the primary beneficiary of these constraints. centres include children, adolescent girls and pregnant and lactating women. This year, over 30,000 sanitation units with bath rooms and water tanks were Women volunteers called ‘Sachet Didi’ constructed. Women of the community were trained to spread awareness on have hailed it as the one of the most crucial health issues. 160 trainings were facilitated interventions for them. on Village Health and Nutrition Days. 45 Households in tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh were regularly counselled for high- risk deliveries.

‘सोखता और शोचालय होने से गाँव सुधर गया है| बीमारी बहुत कम हुआ है| पहले एके महीना में १० बार जाते थे, बच्चाओ में बहुत बीमारी होता था अभी पूरा साल में २-३ बार ही जाते है|’ - Manju Devi, Manika Gazi Village, Musahari block, Muzaffarpur district The village has improved after construction of soakpits and toilets. The instances of illnesses have reduced a lot. Earlier, children had to be taken to the doctor 10 times in a month, now we con- sult him only 2-3 times in a year

79 WOMEN IN LIVESTOCK Livestock rearing, especially the upkeep of • Gender Perspective building workshop small ruminants is done by women. AKRSP(I) conducted with 14 Pashu Sakhi spouses has been implementing vast programmes • Partnership with Jagori, a national level focussed on goatery and poultry reaching organisation, to undertake gender to more than 65,000 women. These assessment study of the project. The programmes focus on increasing incomes initiative intended to mainstream gender through goatery by reducing mortality rate across community members. through a service delivery model where • 26 Nukkad Nataks were conducted in women from the community are trained four project locations namely; Sakra, as paravets. 499 pashu sakhis (paravets) are Bochaha, Mushahari and Muraul focussed operational in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and on theme of Domestic Violence. Gujarat. • Pashu Sakhis were imparted Basic and advanced training on Gender aspects, in Project Mesha, the mega programme which total 97 Pashu Sakhis were trained on intends to improve livelihoods of 50,000 advance module of Gender and 49 Pashu women goat rearers in Bihar is implemented sakhi were trained on Basic Module of with a gender perspective. The programme Gender training. conducts various trainings of goat rearing • Community training and sensitisation on households not only of goat health Gender initiatives has been done with management but also on gender perspective 279 women Goat rearers on Womens’ building. The key gender-based trainings and Health and Nutrition, 188 Goat rearers capacity building exercises conducted during on Domestic Violence and 35 Goat the year were: rearers on Menstrual Hygiene and Management.

80 The impact on the lives of women was evaluated through a rigorous impact study of the Project Mesha, the largest goatery programme implemented by the organisation. The key findings are below: • The pashu sakhis are earning an average monthly salary of Rs. 1500 per month. • 89% of pashu sakhis said they decided how to use earnings from their work. • Most pashu sakhis reported improvements in their contribution, say and respect

IMPACT within the household. Half reported positive impact in their interactions with men. • 89% goat rearers reported improvement in earnings. Multiple stakeholder insights for Project Mesha by Lean Data

Two all-women livestock FPOs are The program also runs two female oriented functional in Madhya Pradesh with a courses; Sewing Machine Operator and membership base of 2000 and 1590 Assistant Beauty Therapist, which upskilled shareholders. 148 girls. Wage equity is ensured in placements. The average salary of both male In an assessment of performance of 18 and female candidates placed in Retail Sales FPOs on legal compliance, organisational was INR 8500. strength and business development conducted in 2018, Pandhana Pashu Palak The courses offered at the Yuva Junction Producer Company was rated the best FPO. centres not only train youth on the courses opted for, but also ensures holistic Besides selling goat and poultry food such development through life skills training. as salt bricks, mineral mixture, poultry feed, Gender is also a major part of their etc. these FPOs have also opened a goat and curriculum. Both boy and girl students learn chicken meat shop, which is considered as a what gender is and why is it important to male-dominated business. These FPOs also understand and work towards elimination of undertake collective selling of goats on Bakri gender inequity in family, at workplace and Id in the Indore market by aggregating goats society at large. For girls, special emphasis is from members. This ensures that the FPO laid on educating them on laws and support members get a fair price for their goats. systems to deal with instances of gender- based workplace harassments. WOMEN UPSKILLING FOR EMPLOYMENT AND BUSINESS The Youth Development Programme of AKRSP(I) helps the youth fulfill their aspirations and advance their career. Right from the initiation of this programme, girls and women have been a major focus. In 2019, 49% students out of an odd 1696 students were girls. 67% of the girls trained were successfully placed with different employers at an average annual salary of INR 1 lac. The highest salary offered was INR 3 lac per annum.

The women formed around 49% of the total youth benefitted by the programme.

81 Similarly, girls and women who want to start Before placing the students, the Yuva their own entrepreneurial ventures are also Junction team ensures that the employers encouraged and supported by the Youth have a strong policy on sexual harassment Development Programme. After analysing at workplace. Even after placements, the their entrepreneurial potentials, they are team maintains a regular contact for atleast counselled, trained to hone their skillsets, a year and reaches out to students for any and supported in financial and market help needed, like, safe accommodation, linkages. adjustment with city life, counselling on various issues, etc. These measures have During the year, a total of 283 enterprises ensured a good retention ratio of girls. were promoted; majority of which were by women entrepreneurs. 239 women These girls have become a role model started and successfully managed their for other girls in their villages. They have entrepreneurial initiatives. These ranged not just improved their own life, but, have from mushroom farming, goatery, poultry, also improved the living standard of their cattle farming, animal feed production units, whole family. Skill enhancement, financial to vegetable cultivation to petty shops and self-dependence, better mobility, access to food joints to ventures of eco-tourism. technology, increased social and professional networks have boosted their confidence Apart from these activities, this year, giving them a sense of empowerment. It strategies were prepared to collaborate has also inspired the parents to invest in with Industrial Training Institutes, esp. ITIs educating their girls and support in their for women. Efforts are on to develop more career goals. courses to cater to the aspirations of young girls.

82 The initiatives of the youth Development In Madhya Pradesh, 160 Shiksha Sakhis are Programme have facilitated both economic working on increasing school enrollment, as well as social empowerment of rural facilitate age appropriate learning and women. It has led to a gradual change in the increasing awareness on importance of gender dynamics in the villages. education

WOMEN IN EDUCATION In selected villages of Saurashtra, the girls who had dropped out of schools were Many girls drop-out of schools after the encouraged to continue studies through 8th standard. Reasons are many. The National Open Schooling System. high schools are located in other villages and transport is an issue. They find the Through a new project supported by curriculum tough in higher classes because UN Women, the team in Bihar is also the learning outcome is poor in lower encouraging drop-out girls and interested classes. The workload of household chores women to complete education and also increases on girls at this stage and hence learn skills to earn livelihood. Through home parents prefer them to be at home. visits and community meetings the team rigorously engaged with the parents to set The Learning Enrichment Program in a dialogue on girls’ education. This issue Saurashtra undertook gender analysis of was also taken up regularly in the meetings the students to understand gender roles in and trainings of the School Management the family, the time and effort invested in Committees. these roles and their impact on the learning outcomes of girls and boys. They also studied gender dynamics in the community and in schools and various other factors which encourage or discourage girls and boys to pursue education. Accordingly, strategies were designed. The activities of the LEP programme attempt to break gender stereotypes in kids and help them overcome the gender-based inhibitions in their behaviour. Girls are especially encouraged to participate in the activities and take leadership roles in the class. The volunteers of the programs also encourage them, esp. girl students to share their personal problems and are counseled accordingly. The team has young women volunteers who are college going or college graduate girls of the same villages where the centres are located. This makes sharing between girl students and volunteers easy. Drawing inspiration from these volunteers, girls also get motivation to continue education.

83 VADVAI Vadvai is knowledge, outreach and • Fourth and fifth batch participants services unit of AKRSP(I). It engages with of Certificate Programme in Rural multiple stakeholders in the field of rural Livelihood started by BRLF, Delhi and development through various capacity IIHMR, Jaipur were trained on Watershed building programmes, direct field support management, Participatory Drinking and advisory services. Water Management and Participatory Irrigation Management. The key work undertaken by Vadvai during • Training programmes for Reliance the year is as follows: Foundation which started in 2014, continued this year as well where Capacity Building Programmes trainings were provided on Panchayati • Capacity building programmes on Raj Institutions, Village Institutions and Participatory Irrigation Management Participatory Rural Appraisal were conducted for Development • Community members supported by Support Center, Ahmedabad. BAIF were trained about Watershed and Group well interventions. 84 • SHG members promoted by Adani Individual participants who are working on Foundation were trained on SHG the issues of water management in tribal concepts and leadership aspects. areas of Gujarat also attended. Exposure visit was also organised around the same theme for the participants This Workshop on “Best Practices, Impact, Challenges and Opportunities in Water Resource Development & Management in Tribal Areas” is the first in a series of state Advisory Services level workshops to be organised to discuss Vadvai undertook the assignment oto water management interventions in tribal prepare, ‘Detailed Project Report (DPR) areas of India. of twenty Villages in Songadh Taluka of ’ for Sparsh Social Foundation It is an attempt to provide a platform to supported by J K Paper Mill Ltd. exchange ideas and share experiences focusing on water management in tribal areas and to contribute towards designing Policy Advocacy and implementing better policies and A two day State-level Workshop on Water programmes. Management practices was held on 13th and 14th Dec 2019 at Tribal Livelihood Resource Centre, Netrang, Bharuch. It was attended by NGOs, CSR initiatives & Civil Society. Vadvai has been empaneled as a Key Resource Centre by Ministry of Among participating organisations were Drinking Water and Sanitation, Govt. Aashara Foundation, Collectives for of India for capacity building activities Integrated Livelihoods Initiatives (CInI), under Swachh Bharat Mission Deepak Foundation, Development Support Centre, Jasoda Narottam Public Charitable Trust, Prakriti Foundation, Parivartan Foundation, Reliance Foundation, Social Action for Rural and Tribal In-Habitants of India (SARTHI), NM Sadguru Water and Development Foundation, Shroff Foundation, and Sparsh Foundation.

85 STATE REPORT - GUJARAT

The oldest programme region of the • System of Root intensification adopted organisation is Gujarat. AKRSP(I) initiated by 2977 farmers to maximise production. operations in three distinct regions of the • 24 lift irrigation schemes were state; Coastal districts of Gujarat affected operationalised benefitting 194 farmers. by salinity, Drought prone districts of • Organic practices promoted and Saurashtra and tribal districts of South adopted at a large scale by farmers; Gujarat in 1985. Due to the multiplicity 5650 farmers undertook improved of context in these regions, AKRSP(I) composting, 5062 farmers practices Non contextualized interventions and sustainable pesticide management and 1098 farmers solutions along with local rural communities. developed and used bio pesticides such as amrit pani, soyabean tonic, etc. Major work undertaken during the year is • 17 Boribunds were constructed mentioned below: providing irrigation water to 34 farmers • Two percolation tanks were built in Climate Smart Agro-systems Porbandar and . • Currently AKRSP(I) is implementing • 2120 farmers of Devbhumi Dwarka PIM work for Gujarat State Irrigation district were encouraged to promote Department and Sardar Sarovar horticulture by providing plants of Narmada Nigam Limited. The successful Lemon, Ber, Pomegranate and Date palm formation of CIS and Water User Associations (WUAs) will benefit Agriculture and Livestock Valuechains farmers in 83 villages of Surat, Tapi, • The 16 FPOS operational in Gujarat had Surendranagar and Porbandar districts an annual turnover of INR 10.84 crore by bringing canal irrigation to 20,000 • Grading units cum offices were built by hectares of agricultural land. five FPOs operational in South Gujarat • 2193 farmers were connected to drip with the support of SFAC. irrigation systems bringing 5269 hectares • One all-women FPO, ‘Dangi Adivasi of agriculture land under irrigation Mahila Khedut Utpadak Producer coverage. Company limited’, was established in • 1 new check dam was built and 3 old Dangs check dams were repaired benefitting 43 • 929 milch cattle were provided to 621 farmers BPL households

86 Health and Hygiene Peoples’ Institutions • A total of 2354 IHHLs units were • 408 new SHGs were formed in different facilitated during the year covering 233 programme areas of Gujarat. These villages SHGs formed replicated the Community • 55 villages were declared ODF taking Based Saving Groups model of SHG the cumulative ODF villages to 150. This formation which has been successful in has been possible due to the active role Bihar played by nigrani samities functional in • 182 farmer interest groups were formed more than 112 villages. to disseminate Sustainable agriculture • A focused MHM programme was practices undertaken in programme villages of Dangs district where 19 trainings and Visitors and Events 8 workshops were conducted to reach • Mr Bharat Dogra visited drinking water out to 936 women and girls. In Mangrol, and sanitation program in some the 433 meetings and 10 trainings were villages of Mangrol block. undertaken with 11,330 girls and women • Prince Ali Mahummad Khan visited on various aspects of MHM. programme villages of Mangrol and met • 3 villages of Khambalia have been with the Mahila Manch to understand the selected to be developed as Model work being done and the perceptions of villages equipped with SLWM communities. infrastructure • Ms Kathy Walkling, Co-Founder of • Pre and post monsoon testing of 232 eco femme; a cloth pad manufacturer, drinking water samples was undertaken visited programme areas of Dangs and in coastal areas of Gujarat met with women and adoloscent girls to understand the situation and myths surrounding MHM in the area Education • Ms Jagruti Patel from Vox Populi, a • 7480 children of 65 government research organisation visited Dangs schools in Surendranagar and Morbi programme area districts were covered under Learning • Mr Sanjay Dhave, Development Journalist Enrichment Programme which aims to from Charkha visited Dangs to cover reduce learning deficits in children. rural development stories • 10 functional Learning Resource Centres • Ms Shubha Khadke, the incubation reached out to 1350 children of 18 manager at IRMA visited Dangs to government schools. understand the rural entrepreneurship • An MOU was signed with the program and develop academic linkages Government of Gujarat which recognised AKRSP(I) as the resource partner for education. • 136 SMC and/or PRI members were trained upon the application process of seasonal hostels, ways to stop child labour, RTE, etc.

Youth Development • 312 housholds in Dangs benefitted through the enterprises being managed by tribal entrepreneurs supported by the organisation • 1056 youth were trained in various trades of which 789 youth placed in jobs

87 STATE REPORT - MADHYA PRADESH

AKRSP(I) started its Madhya Pradesh • 9616 Farmers have been covered under operations in 2004. Till the end of the year different training programmes through 2019, MP programme area expanded to the Farmers Field school (FFS). 324 villages in 8 blocks of 5 districts. • Plantation is major concern in the degraded land geography. The The programme is operational in Nimar organisation planted 51783 saplings region which a tribal region characterized of different fruit and forestry plants. by highlands and undulating slopes. It is To develop grasslands,79 kg seeds of the home of tribal communities of; Korku, Gliricidia and Drumstick plants were Bhilala, Barela, Bhil, Gound and Tadavi sowed. Pathan. Due to tribal dominance, difficult • 560 hectare of agriculture land of topography and access difficulties, this 353 farmers have been benefited region has multidimensional poverty. through various irrigation development interventions like; Diversion based AKRSP(I) adopted a integrated development irrigation system (DBI), Mini Lift approach to address various problems Irrigation schemes, Check dams, Farm stated above with a focus on improving ponds etc. livelihoods of tribal communities. • Under land development works through contour trenches, farm bunds, water Major work undertaken during the year is as absorption trenches, gully plughs, gabion follows: structure etc, over 347 hectares of farm land and common land were treated. Climate Smart Agro-systems This year the region received 60% more Agriculture and Livestock Valuechains rainfall than the average annual rainfall which • Six agriculture-based Farmers producer adversely affected Kharif crop production companies had a total turnover of INR mainly; Cotton, Maize and Soybean. 2.70 crore. • Our sustainable agriculture works • 115 Pashu Sakhis provide preventive including organic practices, conservation veterinary care services to over 6685 agriculture, SRI, crop diversity and NPM Poultry and Goat Rearing households. practices covered 10313 farmers during • Two Livestock Producer Companies the year. with over1590 members had an annual turnover of INR 40 lakh.

88 Health and Hygiene • 148 Self-help groups got linked with bank • 166 AAA (ANM, ASHA and Anganwadi and147 self-help groups got cash credit workers) have been trained in the limit of INR1.24cr for their IGA support. subject of maternal and child health. • 1416 citizens received their due • 35 villages had 100% institutional delivery entitlements due to information villages and immunization. dissemination through Nagrik Mitra and • 182 Sachet Didi (women health Nagrik Suchana Kendra. volunteers) have been trained in various • 606 citizens including PRI members subjects like; nutrition, menstrual hygiene, were covered through various training institutional delivery etc. programmes. • 10182 people covered through 938 • 35 village development plans were training programmes. Trainings for prepared through participatory approach leaders of women federations conducted and submitted in Gram Sabha. on the issue on mother and child health. • 776 adolescent girls covered under the Visitors and Events Menstrual hygiene program • State level workshop for sharing • 4 incinerators have been installed for learnings of rural governance was safe disposal of sanitary pads in 4 villages. held where PRI leaders from 32 • 2 Poshan Melas were organized for Gram Panchayats, and various NGOs promoting minor millets participated. • 4242 beneficiaries were facilitated for • World womens’ day celebrated in 7 toilet construction. blocks by women federations. These • 60 primary schools were covered were big events where district and through school children training block level administrations, elected programmes representatives, bankers, officers from • One village was covered under Solid and NABARD were in attendance. liquid waste management intervention • District level workshops on sanitation were organized in Burahanpur and Khandwa district in the chairmanship of Education respective district collectors. • 2 training programmes were organized • CGM NABARD visited Pandhana cluster on effective use of teaching learning villages for FPC and WADI programme material for school teachers. • GM NABARD visited pandhana cluster • Dropout rate decreased substantially villages for FPC and WADI programme in 41 villages of Khaknar block through • CEO ZP Barwani visited Balwadi cluater various activities; Bal Mela, Summer villages for DBI work camp, Activity learning centers etc. • Mr. Didier Van Bignoot from AKDN visited different programme areas Peoples’ Institutions to understand climate preparedness • A total of 2090 SHGs of women interventions being undertaken were promoted during the year taking • Mrs. Consent Shumba, from AKDN total numbers of SHGs promoted by visited different programme areas AKRSP(I), M.P to 2334 • During this year 139 poorest SHG members were supported through Income Generating Activities (IGA) including Goat farming, Grocery Shops, Flour Mill etc. • 10820 SHG members got trained under 192 different training events.

89 STATE REPORT - BIHAR

Year 2019 was significant as AKRSP(I), as Climate Smart Agro-systems it completed 10 years of interventions in Flooding in programme areas affected Kharif Bihar. AKRSP(I) had initiated operations in crop harvests. Many farmers lost more than year 2009 from Samastipur and Muzaffarpur 50% of production to heavy rains. districts of Bihar. Starting from 2 districts in • 1331 farmers practiced organic 2009; AKRSP(I) is currently operational in agriculture practices such as organic 151 Gram Panchayats, 419 Villages, 18 Blocks manuring and composting. 660 farmers of 5 district in Bihar. practised System of root intensification to maximize yields and 660 farmers Bihar is still an agrarian economy, 78% of practised conservation agriculture Bihar’s population is engaged in agriculture • 1421 households undertook non and agriculture-related activities; however, pesticide management practices productivity is low with farmers only being • 918 farmers in programme areas able to cultivate their land for three to five undertook commercial vegetable months in a year. In order to address Bihar’s cultivation pressing developmental needs, AKRSP(I) • 11 solar irrigation systems were adopted a Multi Input Area Development promoted to provide irrigation service approach. Through this approach, AKRSP(I) in group or individual mode benefitting has been carrying out different projects 800 farmers by bringing 312 acres under related to Livelihoods, Education, Drinking solar irrigation coverage. Water & Sanitation, and Alternative Energy themes in an integrated and saturated Agriculture and Livestock Valuechains manner • The annual turnover of the four agricultural farmer producer companies In light of the huge needs of Bihar’s rural for the year was INR 74 lakhs community, AKRSP(I) has simultaneously • 62000 households are being benefitted implemented various socio-economic through three projects focussed upon development projects and has also sought Livestock Development in Muzaffarpur, to ensure sustainability by adopting a Samastipur and Vaishali districts community-based model of implementation. • 231pashu sakhis working actively to provide veterinary care services in 241 Major work undertaken during the year is as villages of Muzaffarpur district follows:

90 Youth Development • 40,561 households benefitted from • 673 youth were upskilled and 182 were deworming of goats and 38,272 placed in different jobs and 74 youth households from vaccination services became self employed • 10,925 bucks were castrated during the • 120 youth were selected and year provided handholding support by the • 424 households were provided goat entrepreneurship program, 60 youth sheds were successful in setting up their enterprises during the year. Health and Hygiene • During the year, 448 wards declared Peoples’ Institutions Open defecation free taking the total • 459 new Community Based Savings ODF wards to 1225. Groups were formed during the year • Under the MHM programme around • 530 farmers interest groups were 1000 Adolescent girls were oriented on formed for training and capacity building better Menstrual Hygiene practices. of farmers on sustainable and innovative • AKRSP(I) has been recognized as agricultural practices the technical partner to support the implementation of the ‘Har Ghar Nal Jal’ Visitors and Events scheme of the Bihar government, which • Mr Jacob and Ms Neelima from Axis aims to provide piped water supply Bank Foundation visited programme connection to 17.8 million households areas to understand the multi-thematic over a period of 5 years. work being undertaken in Bihar • 100 Grey water cum recharge pits were • Ms Navina, a researcher affiliated with constructed. ICIMOD visited programme areas to • 700 water samples were tested, out undertake research on group irrigation of which 397 were found arsenic work. contaminated. 78 ASHA workers • Ms Ashima Bhatt and Ms Nusrat Pathan were trained on water quality issues from HDFC bank visited Hajipur in Arsenic affected blocks which are to develop their understanding on Mohanpur & Mohhidinanagar. Community Institution and Livestock • 27 batches of Mason training were work. conducted to promote low cost twin pit • Ms Hilary Haddigan and Ms Ardyth toilet technology training 1200 masons Neill from Heifer international visited • 12 batches trained on facilitation of livestock project areas. Satygrah Se Swachhatagrah events • Mr Constance Shumbha from Aga Khan Foundation visited programme Education areas to understand the impact of • Monthly meetings were conducted with Comprehensive Sanitation Initiative. CRCs and BRCs where discussions were undertaken on importance of preparing lesson plan, continuous monitoring of students performance, rapport building with community, etc. • The BRCs and CRCs were facilitated for preparation of workplans for the academic session of 2019-20 • Monthly meetings were organized with SMCs of 87 schools of the programme area.

91 RESEARCH AND MONITORING

Research and Monitoring at AKRSP(I) • GIM Survey by BSED to understand the helps programme team to understand the impact of various livestock activities. effectiveness, efficiency and impact of their • Baseline study of the ABF-AKRSP(I) work and to identify lessons for future Bihar by TTC to understand status of the programmes and policies. rural communities in Pusa block. • Baseline study of the ABF-AKRSP(I) When delivering vital development projects, Dangs by TTC to understand status of it is crucial to know whether they are being the rural communities in Dangs District. effective. Rigorous research and monitoring • Stories of Change – Case studies on help AKRSP(I) project teams understand Development Action and Impact in whether their approaches are leading to Dangs by Azim Premji University. desired outcomes. • Baseline study of South Saurashtra Initiatives, Talala to understand status of The several studies and assessments the rural communities of Coastal Gujarat conducted during the year are as follows: • Assessment of Community Institutions in MP by Vikas Anvesh Foundation.

92 # Internships 1 Feasibility study of income generating micro-enterprising activities in different Panchayats of Pusa block by Shubham Kumar and Ashish Raj of Development Management Institute, Patna 2 Feasibility of Income enhancing livelihood activities by Shubham of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai 3 Enhancing Socio Economic Level of SHG's through small scale Enterprise by Jagruti Jadhav of School of Agribusiness & Rural Management, Pusa 4 Value chain analysis of Vegetables in Pusa Block by Kate Sani Suresh from School of Agribusiness & Rural Management, Pusa 5 Economic Enhancement of rural communities through Livestock by Sidharth Mundey from School of Agribusiness & Rural Management, Pusa 6 Ensuring financial Security of rural communities in particular, women through Community based institutions by Soniyo Yomichan from School of Agribusiness & Rural Management, Pusa 7 Socio economic impact of SHG programme and income generating activities on SHG Members by four students of Indian Institute of Forest Management 8 Understanding Various Community Based Institutions and their Sustainability by 3 students of Central University of 9 Documentation of Socio- Economic Profile of villages in selected Panchayats of Pusa Block for better implementation and documentation by two students of Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute, Jhunsi 10 Documenting success story on evaluating the change in life due to influence of Project interventions of Project Mesha in one of the blocks of Muzaffarpur District by students of Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute and School of Agribusiness & Rural Management 11 Documentation of Village Profile of the Selected Panchayats of Pusa Block by Amit Kumar of School of Agribusiness & Rural Management 12 Business Generation and linkage with the market of SHG group of KVY-IV Project at Bhatia Cluster by students of Junagadh Agriculture University 13 Impact assessment of AKRSP(I) interventions on Quality of life of Communities in Bochaha & Mushahri by Ritika Raman of Development Management Institute 14 Impact assessment of AKRSP(I) interventions on Livelihood, Health and Education among communities at Darbhanga by two students from Development Management Institute 15 Impact & Assessment (Usages & Current status) of School Sanitation Project by Chandan Abhisekh from Development Management Institute 16 Understanding the Project MESHA by students from KIIT School of Rural Management (KSRM), Bhubaneswar

17 Rural Youth Needs and Prospects (Survey of Youth of 15-30 yrs of age) by students from Development Management Institute 18 Economic Impact Assessment of Wadi Project in Pandhana and Khalwa Cluster by five students from School of Rural Management, Ratlam 19 To analyse the present status of SHGs in Ahwa block and to explore the financial and credit utilisation of its members by two students from Indore School of Social Work

93 HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AKRSP(I) values and nourishes development On the basis of the analysis of the test professionals working for the organisation. results, a capacity building and mentoring To enable them to grow and thrive, last program was developed. Counselling, year AKRSP(I) had initiated IPL-P1. This was coaching and mentoring sessions were also done to build an internal leadership organised during the year. pool. It was a novel initiative to help the development professionals discover the To further enhance the leadership potential inherent leader within themselves and and enhancing performances, a 3-day improve their skills and capacities. residential training programme on “Causing Incredible Performance” was organized A round of psychometric tests, group at the Netrang training centre for Dangs discussions and personal interviews were Middle management team of 20 personnel. conducted with personnel across program It was facilitated by Prof C. Balaji who has locations. three decades of experience in training human resources from academics and corporates.

94 During the year, the organisation undertook AKRSP(I) is a partner NGO to the SBI an initiative to improve performance and Youth for India Fellowship program. During accountability of its personnel. the year, 6 SBI fellows were welcomed by the organisation to 3 programme locations Along with implementing the formal (1 in Bihar, 3 in South Gujarat and 2 in Sayla). performance appraisal system, the HR department facilitated 180-degree Before the fellows started their rural group appraisal process for the middle transformation journeys, they underwent management of Dangs, Netrang and Bihar a one-week orientation program through Spearhead Teams. The feedback process was classroom sessions, experience sharing taken positively by the team and was well sessions and exposure through field appreciated. In the coming year, this process visit to AKRSP(I) programme areas. This of 180-degree appraisal will be replicated was facilitated by the HRD wing of the with Khandwa, Sayla and Mangrol Spearhead organisation. Teams. The fellows undertook work on Another initiative led by the Human Education, Youth Development, Forestry resource team of the organisation is and Governance. The Human resource deployment of passionate and purposeful team provides constant counselling youth in field locations to enable them to and handholding support to the fellows create positive change at grassroot level in throughout the year. rural India.

95 FINANCE

The financial details of the organisation for The breakup of the leveraged amount is the year 2019 are presented below: presented below:

The expenditure of the organisation during the year was INR 136.3 Crores. Out of INR136.3 Crores, INR63 Crores was through AKRSP(I) accounts while rest (38%) was leveraged through various govt schemes and community contribution. The break-up of sources of funds is below: INR113 crore or 82.9% of the total expenditure was utilised for programme implementation and the remaining 17.1% accounted for human resources, administrative and capital cost. Human resources cost was INR17 crore, or 12.5% of the total expenditure. The break-up of the budget utilisation is presented below:

The maximum leverage, INR46.12 crore was raised in kind through contribution while government schemes contributed INR 25 crore.

96 MEDIA COVERAGE

97 REACH US

CENTRAL OFFICE

Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) 9th -10th Floor, Corporate House, Opp. Dinesh Hall, Off. Ashram Road, Ahmedabad-380 009 Tel: 079-40069127, 27540421, 27542158 Fax: 079-66312471

SAURASHTRA REGION

Surendranagar/Rajkot/Morbi Field Junagadh/Devbhoomi Dwaraka/ Office Porbandar/ Aga Khan Rural Support Programme Somnath Field Office (India) Aga Khan Rural Support Programme Nr. Shree Raj Shobhag Ashram (India) Sayla – 363 430 “Bhavani Krupa”, Dist. Surendranagar Mangrol- Porbandar Road, Tel-Fax : 02755-280668 Traffic Points Char Rasta, Gujarat - Central Office At: Mangrol,Tal. Mangrol, Dist. Junagadh – 362225 Tel. No. 02878-223486

TRIBAL SOUTH GUJARAT REGION

Bharuch-Narmada-Surat Field Office Dangs// Field Office Aga Khan Rural Support Programme Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) (India) Movi Road, Netrang, Dist. Bharuch-393 Mr. Chandubhai P. Ghavani’s Residence, 130 Shramjivi Vasahat, Rani Faliya above Tel: 02643-282127 Forest Check Post Tel-Fax -283331 Taluka Ahwa, District: Dangs

MADHYA PRADESH REGION BIHAR REGION Madhya Pradesh Field Office Muzaffarpur Field Office Aga Khan Rural Support Programme Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) (India) HIG-7, Scholar Den School Road Rana Dheerand Prasad Singh, Dindayalpuram Colony Near Nor th Bihar Agro Agency, Khandwa (M.P) – 450001 Chakkar Maidan, Muzaffarpur Tel-Fax: 0733-2249292 Tel-0621-2223355

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