NATURAL RESOURCES SYSTEMS PROGRAMME PROJECT REPORT1 DFID Project Number R8084 Report Title Process documentation. Annex C of the Final Technical Report of project R8084. Report Authors Purushothaman, S. and Purohit, S. Organisation Best Practices Foundation Date 2005 NRSP Production System Peri-Urban Interface 1 This document is an output from projects funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID. Annex C: Process Documentation Annex C Process Documentation Sangeetha Purushothaman and Simone Purohit, Best Practices Foundation Table of contents Section 1 Page 1. Introduction C3 2. Background C5 3. Research Methodology C15 4. Process C20 Section 2: Strategies and Outcomes 5. Community Mobilization C29 6. Soil and water conservation C46 7. Agro-Horti-Forestry C54 8. Livestock C66 9. FLDs C82 10. Livelihoods C98 11. MOVE C114 12. Gender C122 13. TIs C135 Section 3 14. Impact analysis C147 15. Withdrawal Strategy C174 16. Conclusions C189 Appendices C200 – C266 Summary This document captures the process of implementation of action plans by a team of institutions in the peri urban interface as a result of a series of DFID funded interventions, which was based on several phases spanning research, planning, implementation and monitoring. The interventions span a period of three to four years from November 2001 to March 2005. This report provides an overview of the process of intervention, strategies used and the impact of these strategies. It is a lengthy report, reflecting the degree of activity and the complexity of the process of implementation of the plans of action. Page C1 Annex C: Process Documentation Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1. Objectives The logical framework (Section 10 of the FTR) sets out the following at goal, purpose and output levels: Goal Natural resource management strategies for peri urban areas which benefit the poor developed and promoted Purpose Strategies for natural resources management to benefit the poor tested, modified and demonstrated through implementation of plans of action in pilot projects in the Mugad cluster, Kotur, Gabbur and Channapur villages. Outputs 1. Increased capacity of the communities to achieve sustainable changes in the management of peri-urban interface natural resources that are likely to enhance livelihood strategies of the poor. 2. Village stakeholders, researchers, and target institutions gain new insights from the process of implementing action plans in peri-urban areas into: 2.1. Factors which facilitate cooperation between different stakeholders; 2.2. Which solutions to identified issues are both effective and sustainable; 2.3. What are the most appropriate ways of measuring change by all stakeholders 3. Acceptance of processes that have led to effective NR management strategies which benefit the PU poor, what interventions work, how changes can be measured and what constitutes an enabling environment, amongst interest groups in non-project localities. 1.2. Strategies The strategies used by the team emerged from the participatory action planning project (R7959), which took into account the objectives of both the primary beneficiaries and the research team: x Community mobilization (Annexes D and G) x Soil and water conservation (Annex M) x Livestock improvement and management (Annex D) x Increased tree cover (Annex K) x Improving livelihoods (Annexes E, F and H) x Involvement of TIs (Annex I) 1.3. Broad Assumptions and Conditions It was assumed that these strategies could be implemented based on the following assumptions. For one that the NRM strategies would be implemented and the degree Page C2 Annex C: Process Documentation of success of these strategies would be based on the assumption that there are no natural calamities such as drought. The second major assumption was that top government personnel would remain in their positions and there would be no major transfers of personnel within NGOs. In reality Hubli Dharwad faced three years of consistent drought (Annex B, Figure B1) and repeated transfers of government personnel and personnel from the institutions engaged in the project. Therefore, the success of the interventions needs to be seen within this overall context. 1.4. The Scope of the Annex The report is divided into three sections, the first being a detailed background of the project, its methodology and processes, followed by a section on the strategies and outcomes of each strategy and finally the third section deals with the impact as per the log frame outputs. Section 3 also describes the withdrawal strategy of the project and provides the broad conclusions that emerge from the process documentation and other research findings. The report has drawn on the following data sources: x Interviews with community participants, with the team, government and other target institutions x The survey data from two surveys have also been used where relevant x Sections of data from the participatory monitoring and evaluation x Wealth ranking exercises data Page C3 Annex C: Process Documentation Chapter 2 Background and Context 2.1 Hubli-Dharwad Also see Annex B. The Hubli- Dharwad city region is located in Dharwad district which comprises five surrounding taluks: Dharwad, Hubli, Kalghatgi, Kundgol and Navalgund, which together contain 372 villages. In 1991, Hubli-Dharwad had a population of 1,428,174 inhabitants, while that of the city-region was 648,298. The population of the city according to the 2001 census was about 786,018. Hubli- Dharwad is characterized by a low population density, relative to other Indian cities (3,395.3 inhabitants per square km). Hubli-Dharwad is located in a predominantly rural region where agriculture is the principal economic activity due to the productive nature of the soils. The study focuses on the Hubli- Dharwad twin city region (Map 1.1), located in Karnataka state, southwest India. The two cities are separated by what used to be a large rural area in between, which now is a peri-urban area, covering a distance of some 20km. The peri urban interface is also the area surrounding Hubli and Dharwad cities where the project villages are located. Hubli Dharwad is located 427km northwest of the Karnataka state capital, Bangalore, and approximately 600km southeast of Mumbai (Bombay). The two cities, after being brought together under the Hubli- Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) in 1962, became the third largest urban agglomeration in Karnataka State (after Bangalore and Mysore). Hubli tends to be more industrial and commercial in nature while Dharwad city used to be a centre of district government institutions and is currently an educational centre. Hubli- Dharwad Map 1.1. Location of study site Page C4 Annex C: Process Documentation 2.1.1 The Peri-urban Interface The Peri-Urban Interface (PUI) ought not to be seen as a geographical location to be identified in terms of a fixed distance from any given city. It is better conceptualized as a dynamic process defined by constant and changing interaction between the rural and the urban. It is characterized first and foremost by change, resulting in opportunities and threats to the existing ways of life of peri-urban communities. The peri-urban interface thus conceptualized can be characterized by a series of flows of labour, capital, and natural resources to the city, and urban pollutants from the city into the PUI. 2.2 Partners in the Project One unique aspect of this project is the multi-institutional representation from both the public sector and from civil society. Also in accordance with the research action nature of this project, the team also represents an organizational mix of researchers and practitioners. The organizations involved were: School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences and the Centre for Arid Zone Studies, University of Wales, Bangor Development Planning Unit, University College London International Development Dept., University of Birmingham (2001-2002 only) University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad Best Practices Foundation, Bangalore India Development Service, Dharwad BAIF Development Research Foundation, Dharwad 2.3 Socio Economic Background of the Six Villages The study covered six final villages selected (Map 2). The baseline information providing socio-economic characteristics of a total of 2098 households is provided in this section (but see the caveat in Annex B, section 1). Figure 2.1: Number of households in Each Village 1000 834 800 637 600 400 252 200 200 85 91 0 Channapur Gabbur Daddikamalapur Kotur Mandihal Mugad Page C5 Annex C: Process Documentation The largest villages were Mugad and Kotur with 834 and 637 households respectively, while the smallest village was Gabbur with 85 households. Both the BAIF villages (Channapur and Gabbur) were relatively small. Table A2.1 and Figure 2.1 provide the number of households in each village. Of the 2,098 households, a total of 192 households (9.1 percent) were female headed. 2.3.1 Economic Characteristics Through participatory wealth ranking exercises the poor and very poor were found to constitute a very high proportion of the total population (close to 63 percent). This data was compared to traditional estimates used to estimate poverty such as land holding and incomes. (Table A2.2 and Figure 2.2) Figure 2.2: Households in Each Wealth Category (% ) 50 42.3 40 30 20.4 20 14.7 10.7 10.2 10 0 Rich Higher Low er Poor V er y Poor Medium Medium Land Holdings: Standard economic criteria used by government such as income and land were measured and the results are shown below (Tables A2.3 and A2.4). About half the population have land holdings between 2 and 10 acres. (Figure 2.3) x Only 11 percent have land holdings of more than 10 acres. x While only 6 percent have less than an acre of land, close to a third have small landholdings ranging between 1 and 3 acres. x This data does not include the landless.