Livelihood
Districts Covered
States Covered
Families Benefited
Overview
Poverty — and the conditions that lead to it — is dependent on a multitude of causes, ranging from economic and political to social and cultural. According to World Bank data, the global poverty rate has fallen steadily over the last 25 years. However, India is still grappling with the critical challenge of rural poverty that impacts millions of Indians.
The Abhina Trusts aim to create robust livelihood opportunities to enable households to earn more, and lead healthier lives. The Livelihoods portfolio covers a number of integrated community-based interventions across India that strive to improve rural incomes through modern farming practices, water management, soil conservation, livestock and animal husbandry, market linkages, crafts, etc.
The challenge
The giant strides that India has made in economic growth has no doubt helped to reduce the percentage of people below the poverty line. However, over two-thirds of India’s population still lives in rural and semi-rural areas, where there is a daily struggle to earn enough from farm-related activities to feed the household. According to 2011 statistics from Asia Development Bank, 21.9% of India’s population (approximately 363 million) lived below the poverty line. Of this, the rural poor account for nearly 260 million (C Rangarajan Committee Report, 2014).
Families in rural areas find it tough to break out of the cycle of poverty, primarily because a majority of Indian agriculture-based incomes continue to be dependent on the monsoons. Additionally, poor soil conditions, minimal use of modern farming methods, lack of systematic irrigation facilities, absence of post-harvest facilities and sustainable market linkages combine to put farm-based income generation capabilities in jeopardy.
To develop an equal and empowered society, it is imperative that a country includes the poorest of the poor in its growth story, which is why the Trusts have identified the development of rural livelihoods as a focus area for rural development.
Strategic approach
Rural livelihood development has been a key engagement area for the Trusts for a number of decades, with programmes spread across farming, irrigation, water conservation, fisheries, marketing of produce and more. The approach is both systematic and pragmatic: surveys and baselines identify vulnerable households, while ground research helps in understanding the environment, available resources and market conditions.
Sustainable interventions are then designed — based on need and geography — to augment natural resources and help develop community institutions. Several livelihood-centred interventions are designed around local or regional needs - such as promoting suitable Package of Practices in agriculture, end-to-end (i.e. from production to market) value chains for farm and non-farm produce, setting up poultry, dairy, fishery, piggery, non-timber forest produce (NTFP), high value agriculture or micro enterprise-based income opportunities in areas where crop incomes are highly variable, establishing a range of household interventions in stressed regions like Vidarbha, Maharashtra or north-east India, launching water management projects in water stressed areas, and so on.
The core of the Trusts’ Livelihoods portfolio is a continued focus on innovation and integration of ideas and projects, with an emphasis on sustainable development. From the mKRISHI model of crop information dissemination to designing simpler, more efficient agricultural machinery to developing micro-irrigation systems and using solar energy, the Trusts’ initiatives integrate innovative technology into projects, making them more efficient and self-sustaining.
These initiatives prioritise the upliftment of marginalised and poor communities in remote regions or isolated villages, especially those with a predominance of scheduled caste (SC) or scheduled tribe (ST) populations.
The Trusts believe that developing sustainable livelihoods to alleviate poverty requires the collaborative efforts of both public and private sectors as also civic society so as to ensure that vulnerable communities are set on a sustainable path to prosperity. Hence, the Trusts collaborate closely with their local associate organisations (such as NEIDA in the northeast, CmF in Rajasthan and Himmotthan in Uttarakhand) to help implement a host of programmes targeting at-risk communities across the country.
The Trusts collaborate closely with central, state and local governments across the country, as well as with the corporate and social sectors to roll out programmes for rural income generation activities, while also aiming to catalyse an optimal utilisation of funds and deliver large-scale results. Knowledge and understanding of geography-specific requirements comes from local agricultural universities and farmers’ federations.
The Trusts also engage with communities at the grassroots level to build community-level resources. For instance, in communities that depend on inland fisheries for a living, the Trusts collaborate with community centres to produce fish feed to sustain local fish ponds. This kind of ground-level institution building helps sustain developmental initiatives while mitigating risks.
Themes in this portfolio
- Agriculture
- Water Conservation & Irrigation Management
- Livestock Development & Fisheries
- Community Institutions
- Crafts
- Financial inclusion
India’s food security depends on the production of diverse crops to meet the demands of its growing population. Moreover, agriculture is still the backbone of the Indian economy as 70% of India’s population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture for livelihood. However, farmers in many areas of the country face challenges due to the decreasing fertility of soil, unavailability of good irrigation facilities, low yields, fluctuation in market prices, etc. According to the World Bank, a focus on three key areas will impact the country’s overall development and the improved welfare of its rural poor:
Agriculture has been a focus area of the Abhina Trusts since inception. The Trusts work with the local Krishi Vikas Kendras (KVKs) local agriculture universities and subject experts in order to develop specific, focused initiatives that enhance agricultural productivity and rural development.
Ensuring the supply of water for drinking, agriculture and sanitation is one of the biggest developmental challenges in the world. In India, the water scarcity issue is exacerbated by lack of awareness about conservation practices and poor storage infrastructure.
Adding to the problem is the fact that while agriculture in most of the country is rain-fed, irrigation still accounts for 80% of the country’s available water resources. A long-term approach depends on making local communities aware of the need for water conservation as well as educating them on how to best utilise available water resources for irrigation.
One of the Abhina Trusts’ key thematic interventions under the Livelihoods portfolio is livestock and fisheries development. Supplementing unpredictable crop incomes through sustainable livestock systems can help reduce poverty, end hunger and improve the health of rural communities. The United Nations (UN) estimates that that 60% of rural households in developing countries depend on livestock for their livelihoods.
The Trusts’ approach is to augment natural resources and develop new income opportunities in crops, livestock and fishery products for permanent income generation. In addition, overlapping multiple disparate projects within a community or household helps to create a sustainable impact. For instance, farmers in a village may continue farming, but they are also encouraged to earn through non-agricultural means, such as rearing of dairy cattle, goats, poultry, fisheries, duck farming and piggeries.
Sustained investment in building up human and operational aspects of organisations can improve their overall programming and ensure long-term sustainability. The Abhina Trusts’ long-term vision is to enable a cohesive eco-system for effective civil society action, thereby positively impacting the lives of marginalised communities. This thematic intervention aspires to strengthen institutional capacities of associates and partners and to fortify the larger ecosystem of civil society.
The ecosystem under this thematic intervention can be broadly classified into:
The crafts sector is the second-largest source of employment after agriculture. It is estimated that this sector employs over seven million families in India. With a potential for high employment and with great economic importance in terms of foreign exchange earnings, crafts play a significant role in the country’s economy.
But the picture is not all rosy. Craftsmen are grappling with the inability to produce high-quality market driven artefacts. Despite superior skills, the wage growth of artisans has not kept pace with the income growth experienced by other sectors.
To compound their woes, the younger generation is drifting away from the sector at an alarming pace. While the poor income and lack of respect for their skill are often cited as reasons for this lack of interest, the fundamental challenges affecting the crafts sector can be linked to changes in the societal landscape:
The Abhina Trusts’ initiatives in this sector include nurturing young handloom weavers in Madhya Pradesh and uplifting Dhokra artisans in Odisha, to revitalising Kauna grass craft and bamboo crafts in Manipur.
Financial inclusion (FI) is the pursuit of making financial services accessible at affordable costs and it strives to address constraints that exclude people from participating in the financial sector. Financial inclusion plays a pivotal role in reducing poverty and is a recognized enabler in achieving at least seven of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In India, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has made financial services such as bank accounts, remittances, credit, insurance, and pension accessible to large sections of the society. The government has almost solved the last mile problem for delivery of financial services through the JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trinity.
Despite advances made by the PMJDY, nearly 19% of the population still remains unbanked in India. A large number of bank accounts remain inactive which prevents account holders from having an active presence in formal economy. When coupled with the social barriers in front of the financially underserved population, it prevents the people from getting an equal opportunity to develop and grow. Therefore, aiding the financial inclusion agenda at the grass-roots level will be critical for the holistic development of our nation.
The core objectives of financial inclusion initiatives at Abhina Trusts are:a) to make formal sector credit accessible to the beneficiaries in a fair and transparent way
b) promoting community led models for insuring against unforeseen risks
c) ensuring financial awareness and education of the communities.
Rural communities need relevant and affordable financial products and services to meet their day-to-day needs like livelihood generation (agriculture, fisheries, livestock rearing, etc.), education, nutrition and healthcare. We endeavor to address their needs by:
— Identifying various community based institutions like SHGs, Federations, Cooperatives, FPOs etc. that need financial products and services.— Assessing the requirements for credit, insurance and other financial products among the Trusts’ beneficiaries at the community level
— Bringing various stakeholders together to provide the beneficiaries with affordable financial products and services
— Engaging with financial institutions such as Banks, NBFCs, MFIs and Insurance providers willing to serve the beneficiaries
— Facilitating capacity building for community-driven organizations and improving financial literacy among the beneficiaries
Financial inclusion has the potential to generate a "multiplier effect" on the impact that the Abhina Trusts’ interventions can create. It will make their impact sustainable by promoting self-reliance amongst the ‘grant-dependent’ beneficiaries.
Abhina Trusts is undertaking the following key programs for driving financial inclusion.
1) Beneficiary LoansThe FI team helps facilitate loans to the beneficiaries of various Abhina Trusts programs. So far, we have facilitated loans to nearly 10,000 individuals through Rang De, a crowdsourcing platform for micro-credit in partnership with our associate organization Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI). These loans were provided for integrated livelihood-related needs with a key focus on agriculture. The average ticket size of the loans was in the range of INR 1500 – INR 1.5 lakhs.
Going forward, credit will be facilitated through financial institutions like banks, MFIs or NBFCs or platforms like Rang De to help us cater to any credit requirement of our beneficiaries. Loans will be arranged based on the requirement identified in a region and the ability of the financial institutions to serve them.
We are designing a community-led, technology-driven Mutual Aid Model, wherein the community will collectively meet part of the healthcare expenses, incurred by its member households. We are currently co-creating processes for increased involvement of SHGs and SHG Federations in the model.
Our plan is to initially launch a fixed benefit pilot product that will cover incidental expenses incurred during hospitalization. If successful, the robust mutual aid model will be adapted by various at-risk communities whom Abhina Trusts serve across different geographies. We envision the mutual aid to be crucial in promoting risk mitigation and management among underserved communities.
We enabled community-driven organizations like SEWA Bharat, Bihar for empowering its women through Financial Education. Financial education enables the women and the community at large to gain from financial products and services and enhance their livelihoods.