2012 Enhancing Livelihoods of the Poorest of the Poor

Livelihoods India SITARAM RAOLIVELIHOODS INDIA CASE STUDYCOMPENDIUM 2012 Enhancing Livelihoods of the Poorestof the Poor ACCESS Knowledge Series ACCESS Development Services is a national level livelihoods promotion organization with focus on incubating innovations and sustainable models for livelihoods promotion of the poor. Set up with in March 2006, ACCESS is structured uniquely to work at all levels of the value chain – implementing programmes on the ground, working with Civil Society organizations, Government Departments, Corporate sector, and Multilateral / Bilateral agencies as also undertaking a few national initiatives to influence and support policy initiatives and strengthening the enabling environment. To optimize its resources and maximize the results of its Interventions, ACCESS believes in partnering with key stakeholders in the sector in order to develop mutually reinforcing strategies, bring convergence of competencies and build consensus on key issues. ENHANCING LIVELIHOODS OF THE POOREST OF THE POOR Disclaimer: These case studies represent the personal views of the individual authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of ACCESS Development Services. Published by ACCESS Development Services 28, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi - 110016 Enhancing Livelihoods of the Poorest of the Poor Copyright ©: ACCESS Development Services, 2012 All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including Photo copying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission by the Publisher. Cover Photograph: Ms. Janet Heisey Director Asia Program Trickle Up, New York Printed by New Edge Communications Pvt. Ltd. [email protected] New Delhi. CONTENTS Foreword vi 1 Sustainable Livelihood Intervention with Kotwalia 1 Tribe in South Gujarat 2 AAGAS: A Community Endeavour for Bio-Conservation 21 and Employment Generation 3 Leveraging Traditional Indian Rural Practices and 39 Existing Capabilities to Enhance Livelihoods 4 Baripada Mudhi 53 5 From Nomads to Artisans 73 6 Fighting Poverty through Fashion - A Case Study 101 7 When a Single Path Diverges: Learning from 111 Trickle Up’s Livelihood Program 8 Prevention of Migration among Tribal Group 123 through Special Project 9 Identifying Innovative Options for Sustainable 139 Livelihoods of Poorest of the Poor 10 Approach to Establishing Efficient Tribal/ Particularly 149 Vulnerable Tribal Group owned Marketing Institutions 11 Rozgar Dhaba - As the part of Panchayat 161 FOREWORD According to 2010 estimates, 37.2% of Indians live below the country’s national poverty line. Government and multilateral and bilateral organizations are putting much effort into programmes for poverty reduction. However, the poorest of the poor are still bypassed by most mainstream development programs. The poorest of the poor face situations of social exclusion and limited rights and capabilities. They face fundamentally different set of deprivations as compared to the poor. In other words, different approaches are required to alleviating extreme poverty. There are many NGOs who have been able to temporarily relieve them of their struggle for survival with services such as education, water, healthcare, etc. but have not contributed to alleviate their state extreme marginalisation and chronic poverty. The biggest challenge that the poorest of the poor face is the lack of a stable income. Enhancing sustainable livelihoods of the poorest of the poor is a significantly important step towards reduction of extreme poverty. ACCESS Development Services, instituted and mandated to serve the poor and help them overcome poverty and live with dignity, has been making significant efforts at all levels of the development value chain to impact and improve the livelihoods of the poor, specially small and marginal farmers. While working on-the-ground, ACCESS also realizes the critical significance of assimilating learning and disseminating the same for the benefit of the entire sector. Through initiatives like the Livelihood India Conference, the State of India’s Livelihoods Report and various policy retreats and visioning exercises, ACCESS has been attempting to contribute towards dissemination and sharing of best practice for the benefit of the sector, and has started to increasingly play the role of a knowledge repository. It is with this perspective that ACCESS initiated the Sitaram Rao Livelihoods Case Study Competition in 2009. Eliciting cases around one specific theme each year, for 2012 the theme is Experience in Enhancing Livelihoods of the Poorest of the Poor. This year the competition has been supported by Ford Foundation and Oxfam India. Fr. Arrupe Center for Ecology and Sustainability, XLRI was ACCESS’ technical partner in the process. ACCESS received 130 case study abstracts as a part of the competition, each narrating a unique experience. Out of these 74 case study authors were invited to submit their full vi Enhancing livelihoods of the poorest of the poor case studies. It was indeed a hard task for the Jury to pick the ten best cases. Jury members for the competition included PVS Suryakumar, CGM, NABARD; Ms. Vanita Suneja, Economic Justice Lead Specialist, Oxfam India; Prof. Ashok Kumar Sircar, National Programme Director, Landesa India; and Dr. Shambu Prasad, Professor, XIMB. While all case studies were remarkable in the insight they provided towards addressing livelihoods issues, 3 case studies were ranked as the best by the jury. The best case of the competition was the case titled, “Sustainable Livelihood Intervention with Kotwalia Tribe in South Gujarat Region” by Charu Chandra and Yogesh Chandra Bhatt. The second position was given to Shailendra Singh Bisht and Surajit Ghosh Dastidat for their case study, “AAGAAS: Growing Organically for a Sustainable Future”. And the third position to Vinod S Kapur and Anisha Singh for the case study, “Leveraging Traditional Rural Practices and Existing Capabilities to Enhance Livelihoods”. All the case studies relate to examples of interventions that have successfully strengthened the livelihoods of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups – Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and women. The case studies largely include initiatives by civil society organisations who have tackled severe constraints of these groups. Some of the initiatives included here are examples of successful interventions under Government Programmes such as ITDA and NREGS and many cases provide examples of successful collaboration with private sector agencies. Of the interventions that targeted scheduled tribes are case studies from MART, AKRSP and AAGAS. Karan Girdhar and Richa Singh provide an interesting example of collaboration between different agencies that have effectively rehabilitated the Kondh & Kutia Kondh groups in Kandhamal district, Orissa by providing marketing services for their products - Niger, Castor, Siali, Arhar, Hill broom and Mahua. The second study targeting ST communities from Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India). The case provides a unique example of empowering Kotwalia (PTG) Tribe in south Gujarat Region and shows how a traditional art of a community can be beautify with professional interventions to ensure the win-win situation for all. The case proves that sustainable social enterprise is possible with poorest of the poor community if the team has a strong dedication and community has a shared vision for its development. The third case relating to strengthening the vii livelihoods of STs is from AAGAAS. The case study provides an example of bio-conservation and employment generation through mountain tourism, craft promotion, bamboo ringaal conservation to create local institutions for inclusive growth for the poor tribals and weaker sections of the society through timely access to credit and links to markets. The fourth case on ST interventions has been written by Karan Girdhar, State Project Manager (NREGA). In this case the Chenchu tribe members have been empowered to incorporate a working culture and enhance livelihood and income generating activities among the tribe under MGNREGA and thereby avoiding migration as a livelihood strategy. By giving assured wage employment round the year, the project has successfully created livelihood assets for the community and ensured sustainable income generation for the community. The second group of cases broadly relates to interventions for empowering women’s livelihoods. These examples are from two agencies, SAMPARK and Unnayan. SAMPARK has empowered women through village level workshops, training, awareness camps, educational tours, Gramotsav, street plays, video shows etc to preserve their traditional collective work culture. It has also supported women’s participation in Panchayati Raj. The second case is by Binayak Acharya & Vinayak.V who have described Unnayan’s intervention in Tambakhori village where livelihoods have been strengthened for the most deprived by successfully marketing Mudhi (puffed rice produced by women at their homes) in local markets. Unnayan facilitated formation of Mayurbanj Mahila Association (MMA) which now has good access to rural as well as urban markets. The fourth case targeting women is from Sabala, a voluntary organisation, which has organised the women into SHGs and also established a Craft Development Center (CDC in 1999) as a common facility center for raw material bank storage, design development, product development and marketing. CDC is now

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