Project Detail

Upscale efforts of sustainable livelihood banking by women's federation in Dhanpur block, Dahod District

Objective:
? The specific objectives of the current phase looking at a total of 42 villages of Dhanpur block, Dahod district are:
? Increasing the livelihood securities of marginalised groups esp. women in the forest-agriculture interface by creating women owned/managed livelihood institutions
? Ensuring sustainability of the livelihood bank model by the end of the 3 years
? Creating support mechanisms for drudgery reduction in work burdens of women
? Demonstrating viable alternatives for sustained agricultural productivity and conservation of ecology which will bring sustainability in the long run by capacity building of leaders to link up with government programmes.
? Strengthen the local level value based institutions and their ownership over the processes through active partnership right from the initial stages of planning, decision making and managing their own resource systems in a sustainable manner

Output: Three Community based livelihood institutions will be set up amongst 42 villages (24 previous and 18 new)
Strengthening and broad basing established community based livelihood institutions cum resource centres
Strengthening seed and fodder banks in a total of 3 clusters
Demonstrations of alternatives for better quality of life and ecological restoration
Capacity building
Process documentation and Information exchange
Impact analysis of the initiative
Advocacy and networking

Loading map...

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

UTTHAN TRUST

Country:

India

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

OP4 - Y2 (Jul 08 - Jun 09)

Grant Amount:

US$ 19,273.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 184,530.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 1,076.00

Project Number:

IND/SGP/OP4/Y2/RAF/2009/36/GUJ 21

Start Date:

5/2009

End Date:

4/2012

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Policy Influence

. The fodder bank in isolation without understanding of sustainable livelihood would be unsustainable initiative. The women need to be trained that they are managing fodder bank for livestock as livelihoods rather than just fulfilling demand of fodder. . The women need to be trained on livestock production and satiability and also better livestock practice in all aspects of livestock i.e; nutrition , livestock health, breeding and management. , local options and alternative for fodder source need to be explored and local sustainability need to be strengthened .This could be achieved trough cropping patterns , fodder tree plantation , silage , urea treatment of agro-waste etc.

Project sustainability

. VSMS is working on the issue of Biodiversity n Dhanpur area. Gujarat of government has provided hybrid seeds of maize and chemical fertilizers. ( urea DAP and potash) kit to 90000 tribal families of 90 villages of Dhanpur area under "Van Bandhu" scheme through sun shine project. . Strategy of federation : The knowledge on difference between hybrid and indigenous seeds is imparted to the people of various villages by the VSMS through the agriculture experts.

Replication of project activities

. capacity building of women's federation and team staff and communities. . strengthening institutional mechanisms to run livelihood banks . . Training on overall management of fodder , seed and fuel bank to women's federation . . strengthening leadership , reviewing roles and responsibilities and its implementation. . exposure visit. . capacity building of area resource group. . orientation and training. . onsite training and to develop ARG's skills in setting up smokeless chulhas. . onsite training and to develop ARG's skills in setting up bio gas plants. on farm training to develop ARG's skills in vermin composting. . stipend for implementing demonstrations (10 villages, 2 persons per village giving about 8 days a month) . Advocacy and networking. . Process documentation and information exchange . . impact analysis. . program facilitation cost in 42 villages in 2 blocks (including travel) . program supported by managerial , technical , communication and administration.

Capacity - Building Component

For the capacity building of its members the NGO organizes various training and awareness programs such as: ? Training camp on vermi compost production and its promotion. ? Awareness and training on construction methods and effective usage of smokeless chulhas. ? Training on bio gas production and its promotion.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous people ran the entire project. Dahod is predominantly a tribal district where more than 85% population is tribal and this proportion draws into the federation membership as well. The team is drawn from the region itself that have in-depth experience local culture, ethnic and historical factors of the region. By and large the indigenous populations are open to new ideas if they are not dramatically contrasting to their traditional belief or values. The biodiversity based livelihood alternative is not totally new to tribal communities; the knowledge, skills and practice had just been lost over time under the influence of the green revolution. This project was an attempt to reinstate sustainable biodiversity and food security and this was done keeping in mind the local language, the system of the storage, taste and predominate dietary habits. Using traditional mechanism of storing grain in manure lined bamboo baskets, for e.g., helped to make the initiative more acceptable.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

The project has strong linkages with global environmental problems that have strong implication on livelihood of poor. Hence emphasis has been given on educating local people to develop an understanding on local and global issues related to environment and respond positively to change. As a result people participated actively in the project. This has been done through various campaign strategies right in the midst of village clusters. In each, village awareness meetings at block and cluster level were organized. Local leaders were taken on exposure to successful projects ad live interaction was encouraged. As a result 225 people started adopting sustainable farming practices like using vermin compost, traditional seeds, bio pesticides etc. families started planting medicinal plants on their backyard and crop residues put to use as fuel rather than cutting trees. The federation has established links with local Forest Department, District Collectorate (administration), Departments of Agriculture, Tribal development, Women and Child Development.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The project in entirely based on the sustainable livelihood of the people and food security issues. The key strategy is to strengthen women around food security and sustainable livelihood issues, build their capacity and create assets that are key elements in ensuring food security. Indigenous and traditional knowledge based on farming is the most suitable way of ensuring food security. Vanita Shakti Mahla Sangathan (women federation) has proved that it is capable of feeding its members on a sustainable basis from the biodiversity-based approaches to farming. It ahs established traditional seed banks, fodder banks and looked into fuel needs of women to fulfill the needs of local population without depending on government subsidies. Virtually the sangathan (federation) ahs demonstrated an alternative to the public Distribution System. Similarly fro health needs it is working on mechanisms to establish as comprehensive indigenous health care practice based on traditional herbs and healing practices. This concept evolved out of GEF project but needs additional support to scale up and expand. Once it is strengthened, the local communities no longer need to depend on centralized pharmaceutical companies or doctors for health care. This has also helped large numbers of women come together on a single platform on biodiversity and security issues.

Gender Focus

The project involves an active participation of the women. To encourage women for various activities the NGO has plan to form women federation. To equip this wing of the project he NGO arranges capacity building programs also. The NGO has formulated a special set of capacity building and skill development programs for:- ? Effective tools and methods. ? Overall management of livelihood institution. ? Publicity and marketing of products and bank. ? Appropriate purchase of seeds, fodder and fuels and many more.

Notable Community Participation

To implement the project successfully in the area the organization plans to form community based women?s federation and the Area resource group. The ARG is a visualized group of persons from the community who would have specialized skills, ability and commitment to provide services in response to the specific needs of the communities, especially of the most vulnerable at an area level. The group would be entrepreneurial in the nature and thus promote new sustainable concepts beneficial to the communities by promotion, providing related service and through social marketing. The ARG consist of nearly 25 ? 30 federation members both men and women and they would support and provide information on various Government schemes, related backward and forward linkages like expertise on vermi composting and income augmentation. The role of the NGO is to build capacities and skills of the women federation and ARG as value based trainers and motivators

Project Results

. Due to awareness of farmers regarding worm compost and and bio-compost fertilizers their proportions of using the chemical fertilizer has reduced.

. There is increase n their livelihood and income due to more production of vegetables.

. An area resource group ARG s formed for vermi compost , smokeless chulha and biogas.They have prepared 325 smokeless chulha in 11 villages as a result the consumption of fuel wood is reduced.

. VSMS became an agent of LIC pension group.

. Leaders of federation had complained about irregularities in opening Aanganwadis and its irregularities in offering supplementary nutrition food to children to the CDPO at block level and got them regularized.

. VSMS is also a member of food security movement network so the members of VSMS is very often remains present in its meetings and discussing about the eligible quantity of food grains and other commodities to BPL, APL and Antyoday per family and its price. Due to such awareness the leaders of federation have demanded the eligible quantity of commodities available from the Rationing shop as their rights.

. The leaders of federation have demanded the job cards and work under NREGA scheme of government.

. VSMS has taken dealership of vegetables kit which can be grown using the drip irrigation system

. By joinng the women farmers movement actively VSMS has hand over ten point memorandum to the collector regarding Agrculture.

+ View more

Back to search results

Countries

Regions

Project Snapshot

SGP Country office contact

Address