gg1 Stories of Change: Case Study Challenge Stories of Change: Case Study Challenge Azim Premji University 2019-2020 gg 12 Stories of Change: Case Study Challenge Stories of Change: Case Study Challenge Azim Premji University Modern India has a history of a vibrant and active social sector. Many local development organisations, community organizations, social movements and non-governmental organisations populate the space of social action. Such organisations imagine a different future and plan and implement social interventions at different scales, many of which have lasting impact on the lives of people and society. However, their efforts and, more importantly, the learning from these initiatives remains largely unknown not only in the public sphere but also in the worlds of ‘development practice’ and ‘development education’. This shortfall impedes the process of learning and growth across interventions, organizations and time. While most social sector organizations acknowledge this deficiency in documentation and knowledge creation, they find themselves strapped for time and motivation to embark on such efforts. Writing with a sense of reflection and self-analysis which goes beyond mere documentation and creates a platform for learning requires time and space. As a result, their writing is usually limited to documentation captured in grant proposals or project updates or ‘good practices’ literature with inadequate focus on capturing the nuances, boundaries and limitations of action. Recognizing this need, the Azim Premji University launched ‘Stories of Change: Case Study Challenge’ with the objective of encouraging social sector organisations to invest in developing a grounded knowledge base for the sector. We are delighted to report that in the inaugural year of this challenge (2018 – 19) we received 95 cases, covering interventions from education, sustainability, livelihoods, preservation of culture and community health. The target groups gg3 3 Stories of Change: Case Study Challenge included adivasis, small farmers, children, women, youth and differently abled persons, among others. Through a two–stage evaluation process, the university selected 3 winners and 3 special mentions for the 2018-19 Stories of Change Challenge. In addition, we have selected 4 additional submissions, which together with the cited winners, is appearing in this jointly published compendium. We hope that educators and practitioners alike find these stories valuable in their multiple engagements: influencing policy, building capacity of practitioners, documenting good practices for future learners, providing space to practitioners in teaching, collaborative research and even incubating new ideas for social change. gg4 4 Stories of Change: Case Study Challenge Setting the context 5. Case studies on interventions in Livelihoods Traditional livelihoods such as agriculture, pastoralism, forest- based livelihoods, and handicrafts have been in a flux for many years. People in these occupations are compelled to look for additional or alternative means of livelihood and are engaged in a constant struggle to be gainfully employed while their traditional livelihoods are threatened. In order to improve the livelihoods of the poor, the marginalised and the vulnerable, state and non-state organisations have implemented multiple programmes and interventions. These interventions have been in the form of enabling access to resources such as inputs, financial services and technology, capacity building, promoting livelihoods diversification and others, either as standalone or integrated, combining atleast two of these interventions. These interventions are aimed at improving incomes, and reducing the uncertainty of cash flows, promoting resilience among poor households and ultimately reducing poverty. Many interventions have usually been conceived and implemented as a ‘one size fits all’ approach with little or no attention being paid to the knowledge and needs of the intended beneficiaries. As such, the outcomes and benefits of such interventions across beneficiary groups have not been uniform and, in many cases, the desired impact has not been achieved. The realisation that decentralisation and local participation may work better where centralised efforts could not succeed, spurred a growth of various participatory and collaborative approaches during the last few decades. Participatory development approaches and interventions involve local communities, social sector organisations, research organisations, government and other stakeholders. They include interventions in production, service delivery, governance of commons, conservation of gg5 263 Stories of Change: Case Study Challenge local resources, capacity building, giving a voice to the grievances and concerns of local communities to name a few. However, participatory approaches have been criticised for reducing the communities’ involvement to perfunctory ways rather than attempting to change the existing power relations in favour of the communities they work with and enabling the communities to take charge of their own lives, rights and livelihoods. The two case studies ‘Collective unity triumphs’ and ‘Collaborative learning unleashing sustainable transformative development’ explore and depict multiple facets of participation and decentralization – people’s agency, importance of community involvement and active participation at all stages of an intervention and collaboration between various stakeholders: government, social sector organisations, research organisations and communities. The case study ‘Collective unity triumphs’ is about the Maldharis who are the pastoralists of Banni in the Kutch region of Gujarat. It describes the adverse impact of partition, industrialisation and shortsighted interventions on pastoral livelihoods and how the Maldharis overcame the political, ecological, and economic constraints through collective action and community led initiatives. The elders of Maldhari community realised the precarious situation their livelihoods were in and through collective action made concerted efforts to conserve the Banni buffalo breed, reclaim their rights to the grasslands of Banni and restore pride among the people of the community in their traditional way of living. The Maldhari community has been supported in its efforts by Sahjeevan, a social sector organisation working with marginalised communities in Gujarat. A key outcome of these efforts was the registration of a collective Banni Breeders Association (BBA), with a membership of more than 1000 Maldharis. BBA further paved the way for consultations with government for recognition of the community’s rights over common property resources and formation of forest rights committees in each village. BBA collaborated academic and research institutions and government departments to get the Banni breed of buffalo registered (leading to a doubling of the prices of buffaloes) and set up a research station for studying and documenting various aspects of Banni ecosystem and communities. gg264 6 Stories of Change: Case Study Challenge The case study ‘Collaborative learning unleashing sustainable transformative development’ is about PRADAN’s experiences of working in Churinsoro, a remote forest village in West Bengal. As in the first case study, this case too highlights the importance of collaborative development efforts between various stakeholders, with the local community playing a meaningful and substantial role. In particular, it dispels the notion that research is the exclusive domain of academics and development practitioners and makes a strong argument for involving the people, particularly women, whose life and actions are being studied. Through deep engagement of small holder farmers at every stage of framing the research questions and objectives, the role of ‘community as researcher’ was firmly established from the very beginning. Another unique aspect of this project is the involvement of women farmers organised under SHGs in management of research, decisions related to levels of participation in the project, sharing information and monitoring. The four-year project resulted in food sufficiency for participating households through changes in cropping systems, improvements in quality and quantity of food intake, reduced drudgery for women farmers and women empowerment. The key takeaway from the two case studies Sahjeevan and PRADAN is that community ownership of interventions and actions has led to significant positive consequences. People’s agency upheld by the NGOs and other stakeholders collaborating with them and supporting them by tapping into their existing knowledge and skills, encouraging local need- based planning and implementation and peer-to-peer learning, rather than top down methods that ignore the capacity of communities to take charge of their own needs, can work successfully in bringing long- term and lasting positive changes to the communities. One can only hypothesize if this would have been the case had these organisations directed and controlled the interventions with the community being an inert beneficiary. gg7 265 Stories of Change: Case Study Challenge gg266 8 Stories of Change: Case Study Challenge 5.1 Collaborative Learning: Unleashing sustainable and transformative development Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN), West Bengal1 Abstract The prevalence of extreme poverty and hunger renders agriculture- based livelihood a pivotal intervention. The interventions for agricultural livelihoods, however,