1. Slide No. 1/23 www.sa-dhan.org PRESENTATION BY SA-DHAN EmpowermentThrough Livelihood Enhancement 3rd June, 2008 3rd June, 2008 New Delhi EmpowermentThrough Livelihood Enhancement 3rd June, 2008 3rd June, 2008 New Delhi

2. Slide No. 2/23 NATIONAL COMMISSION …… on livelihoods ….Livelihood relates to one’s capabilities, access to assets and entitlements as well as opportunities for income generation…. www.sa-dhan.org

3. Slide No. 3/23 THIS BECOMES ALL THE MORE IMPORTANT….. In agriculture, the self employed are the farmers who constitute 64% of the total agricultural workers. Within the category of farmers, 86% are marginal or small farmers accounting for 45% of the area cultivated Outside agriculture, the self employed constitute around 63% in the unorganised sector www.sa-dhan.org

4. Slide No. 4/23 www.sa-dhan.org Present LIVELIHOOD scenario Traditionally rain fed agriculture has been the main livelihood activity for poor families in rural India. It is supplemented by small handicraft, livestock rearing, wages. …………leading to distress migration

5. Slide No. 5/23 Changing employment patterns….. approach to the 11 th five year plan … to address the deceleration in agriculture growth….growth of real agricultural GDP needs to be doubled by raising real wages and reducing underemployment…. …however, an overall growth of 9% will further increase disparity between agriculture and non-agriculture unless 10 million workers currently in agriculture find remunerative non-agriculture employment….. www.sa-dhan.org

6. Slide No. 6/23 www.sa-dhan.org LIVELIHOOD PROMOTION- CHALLENGES Develop “entrepreneurial capabilities” Ensure “access to and control over improved production technologies” Leverage financial resources for productive investments Ensure “sustainable access to marketing and technical services …policies must ensure an environment in which entrepreneurship can flourish

7. Slide No. 7/23 www.sa-dhan.org A STUDY CONDUCTED BY SA-DHAN “Livelihoods Profiling of SHGs/MFIs Borrowers” Regions Covered: Orissa, Tamil Nadu And Uttar Pradesh Sample Size: 200 Respectively Diversified livelihood profile of borrowers 2.4 occupations per household. It is a mix of the following: –Agriculture –Animal Husbandry –Enterprises –Trading –Small shop –Professional service –Wage labour –Rents –Service/employment –Remittances –Others

8. Slide No. 8/23 www.sa-dhan.org LIVELIHOOD PROFILE

9. Slide No. 9/23 www.sa-dhan.org AVERAGE ANNUAL INCOME Highest contribution to household income –Professional Service –Enterprise –Small Shop Traditional livelihood activities still widespread –Agriculture –Wage labour –Animal husbandry

10. Slide No. 10/23 www.sa-dhan.org HOUSE HOLD OCCUPATION Vs INCOME CHART engagements More engagements in low income avenues

11. Slide No. 11/23 www.sa-dhan.org EXPERIENCES FROM LIVELIHOOD PROGRAMMES The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP)  A major effort of the Government to provide support to the poor for income generation that included a heavy dose of subsidy.  The project designs were often not context-specific and suffered from excessive political influence.  The Regional Rural Banks were supposed to provide the loans required in IRDP. They ran into heavy losses by doing so as recoveries were poor. Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA)  DWCRA was introduced as an allied programme to IRDP in 1982-83 to offer self-employment opportunities to BPL women, according to their ability, skill and local situation, so that they can become socially independent and economically self-reliant.  There was a strong, almost exclusive, focus on economic activity.  There was no initiative to foster regular savings and investments.  There was no provision for regular meetings to discuss credit needs, to establish priorities and to acquire the skills necessary to build and manage an institution

12. Slide No. 12/23 www.sa-dhan.org EXPERIENCES FROM LIVELIHOOD PROGRAMMES Sawarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)  The successor to IRDP and tried to address some of the problems as faced in IRDP and DWCRA.  This restructured poverty alleviation programme aims at establishing a large number of micro enterprises in the rural areas with a cluster approach.  It is a credit-cum-subsidy programme. It focuses on self-help groups (SHGs).  Pointed out by various critiques,SGSY had limited impact, as it did not consider many categories of income opportunities. The variety of factors like human ability and endowment, domestic livelihood compulsions etc. causes some people to stick to farm based activity, while some may seek self-employment and other may need simply placement-based opportunity.

13. Slide No. 13/23 www.sa-dhan.org DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONAL MODELS SHG – Bank Linkage Model  Started in Late 1970s as a model of microfinance.  Focus was on micro credit.  The salient features are: SHG should be Homogeneous,Savings should precede credit and cohesiveness.  The SHGs are not formed with a primary intent of taking loans. But eventually takes credit from banks or other MFIs depending on their group savings.  Livelihoods enhancement through income generating activities is considered to be an immediate outcome of the availability of finance. But, no specific efforts were in- built for livelihoods enhancement in these models.

14. Slide No. 14/23 www.sa-dhan.org DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONAL MODELS Institutional Model of SGSY  This model forms SHGs of BPL members  SGSY groups form activity clusters on the basis of activities taken up by various groups.  This model talks about savings and inter-lending within the group and also emphasizes on norm setting through its grading systems.  People’s control and ownership over the organization remain very low in this model. Hariyali (Watershed) Model  Gram Panchayat constitute Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the watershed area with the help of Watershed Development Teams from amongst landless / assetless poor, agricultural labourers, women, shepherds, scheduled caste / scheduled tribe etc

15. Slide No. 15/23 www.sa-dhan.org DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONAL MODELS  These groups are homogeneous and formed with members who have some common identity, interest and dependence on the watershed area for their livelihoods.  This model does not talk about associative tiers and emphasis on social mobilization through SHGs is limited Velugu Model of Andhra Pradesh  This model is based on the belief that poor have enough potential to help themselves if that potential is adequately harnessed through a process of social mobilization and empowerment.  The vast amount of subsidies received through the World Bank and SGSY programmes are routed through the Federations and converted to loans at the SHG end.

16. Slide No. 16/23 www.sa-dhan.org DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONAL MODELS  Livelihood finance is generated solely through these channels. The model could bring success in the AP because of pre-existent livelihoods opportunities in the state. Kudumbashree Model of Kerala  This approach focuses on building organizations of the poor under the umbrella of local self government. It is a three tier organization viz., Neighborhood Groups, Area Development Societies and Community Based Organizations.  This model is dependent on democratic decentralized government and is replicable only in states where PRIs are well established.

17. Slide No. 17/23 www.sa-dhan.org DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONAL MODELS  In Kerala this model could not address the empowerment and livelihood concern of extreme poor communities like fishermen and scheduled tribes. The District Poverty Initiative Programme (DPIP) The DPIP focuses on alleviating poverty by improving the capacity and opportunities for poor and disadvantaged people with special focus on women.  DPIP promotes group formation and strengthening by making funds available to community groups of poor, women and other disadvantaged people organized around common livelihood interest and problems.  The project works towards increasing income opportunities for the poor by supplementing local infrastructure and resources through investments in the selected villages.  The project strengthens community ownership and participation through several processes

18. Slide No. 18/23 www.sa-dhan.org ISSUES Need for Livelihoods-centric approach to combat poverty  States such as Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Chhatisagarh, Madhya Pradesh and several others still count among the poor and backward States.  Have not been able to benefit from the fast economic growth happening in the national economy due to various contextual differences.  Majority of the Population is engaged in agriculture sector but suffers from lack of modern technology, dependence on rains, lack of irrigation facilities, undulated terrains and unsuitability of large portion land for cultivation causes low production.

19. Slide No. 19/23 www.sa-dhan.org ISSUES  The lack of livelihoods opportunity emanates from various factors like lack of skill and asset base, infrastructure facilities etc. because of geographic disadvantages and historical neglect.  The delicate socio-economic condition and historically grave poverty situation caused the poor people to have lower capacity to bear risk, lesser skill, and marginal asset base.  We need to have an approach that pays equal attention to social mobilization of the poor that builds their “being level” capabilities such as self view, aspirations and confidence, and to promoting opportunities and systems for livelihoods.

20. Slide No. 20/23 www.sa-dhan.org ISSUES Social mobilization and building organization of the poor  It is important that the affinity principle is adhered to while forming groups and not any extraneous criteria such as the official BPL list or a common economic activity introduced by the programme.  This aspect of the social mobilization is very strong in models such as the Velugu in Andhra Pradesh. These aspects need to be adopted while designing a model to the rest of the country. The creation of special activity groups out of the SHGs, registering them separately recognizing the need of a multiplicity of institutions is not part of any model that exists today. It needs to be incorporated to give prominence to the livelihood promotion efforts.

21. Slide No. 21/23 www.sa-dhan.org EMPOWERMENT………? EMPOWERMENT FINANCE & ECONOMY LEGISLATIVE SOCIAL POLITICAL JUDICIARY EXECUTIVE

22. Slide No. 22/23 APPROACH PAPER.. …converting potential into reality is a formidable endeavour and will not be achieved if we simply continue on a business-as-usual basis… www.sa-dhan.org

23. Slide No. 23/23 www.sa-dhan.org Thank You