ANNUAL REPORT2018

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The cover photo illustrates the constant, and yet changing face of rural India. After 70 years, harvesting rainwater remains as, and even more critical for rural communities. And yet much has changed, as rural youth embrace new jobs and enterprise through investment in education and skilling.

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EmpowermentEquityTransparencyCollaborationProfessional ExcellenceResponsive to Change

MISSIONAKRSP (India) exists to enable the empowerment of rural communities and groups, particularly the underprivileged and women, to take control over their lives and manage their environment, to create a better and more equitable society.

AKRSP (INDIA)’S WORK AREAS

“AKRSP (India) can contribute in India to the creation of an enabling environment in which rural people can identify their needs and priorities and with professional support, organize themselves to improve the quality of their lives.”

- His Highness the Aga Khan

VISION

VALUES

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LEADERSHIP

BOARD OF DIRECTORS - 2018

1 Nasser Munjee Chairperson

2 Aloysius Fernandez Director

3 Bakul Virani Director

4 Ishaat Hussain Director

5 Isher J Ahluwalia Director

6 Kasim Ali F Merchant Director

7 Madhu Sarin Director

8 Munir Merchant Director

9 N. Venkatram Director

10 Pradip Khandwalla Director

11 S. B. Ravi Pandit Director

12 Tinni Sawhney Director

13 Wajahat Habibullah Director

14 Apoorva Oza Secretary

AUDITORSStatutory Auditors M/s Haribhakti & Co Mumbai

Internal Auditors Manubhai & Shah LLPTodi Tulsiyan (for Bihar)

State Bank of India, Navrangpura Branch, AhmedabadState Bank of India, Vadaj Branch, AhmedabadAxis Bank, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad

BANKERS

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FOREWORD

Creating a Better World is perhaps a concept that has been lost on us for the past decade. AKRSP has been doing this for over three decades for the rural poor in our country. 2700 villages and 2 million people have better lives today directly as a consequence of our interventions. Most importantly they have graduated from needing support to being creative with their lives using the tools that they have learnt and the confidence that they have derived to take control of their livelihoods. Indeed, they are exemplars for emerging communities which accelerates the process of growth and self sufficiency for others.

The promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility by the Government of India some years ago, institutionalised the flow of funds as well as sensitizing corporates to the overwhelming challenges that we face in rural India. By and large, this has been a very positive development and has helped expand programmes on the ground being run by effective NGOs throughout the country. AKRSP(I) has been a great beneficiary of the CSR initiative and we have leveraged our long standing knowledge of working on the ground with forging partnerships with Corporates that would like to see this work expanded rapidly.

Accelerating the pace of change across the country especially for marginalised poor communities is now a priority that needs effective action. Basic methodologies and programmes are known and have been tested over decades for their effectiveness, new innovations and technologies can vastly improve outcomes and are being developed, what we lack is a method to scale these approaches to scale with speed. Our ability to do so will impact the lives of millions who today live in abject poverty and we need to do this in the next five years.

It will only be possible if we have a will and determination to do the task. It will need a National Mission staffed by those who have been doing this for years and who would create a coalition of partners, including state governments, to achieve this target. It can be done. It needs someone who cares to take the lead.

Nasser Munjee, Chairman

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THE YEAR THAT WAS

AKRSP(I) continued its journey towards empowerment of rural people particularly of underprivileged communities during this year. Water scarcity continued to affect the lives of people in our program villages. Several regions faced deficient rainfalls hence water for crops, livestock and domestic purpose became a major challenge for rural communities.

CoverageAKRSP(I) expanded its work in 3 districts: Vaishali, Darbangha and Saran in North Bihar. (Saran has only a thematic presence as AKRSP(I) supports the government for implementing the Clean India Campaign.)

LivelihoodsOur livelihoods program particularly agriculture development has started to become comprehensive particularly in the context of climate shocks experienced by farmers. Currently, our farm livelihoods program reaches over 2 lakh farming families. Our field teams are trying to integrate several interventions at the household level to ensure that farmers are able to enhance livelihoods in a sustainable manner. Farmers including women farmers are mobilised into empowered people’s institutions and are encouraged to adopt several local measures to enhance income and achieve nutrition security. Measures like land development, irrigation development, water efficiency, crop diversity, livestock development, market integration and adoption of natural inputs continue to be the main ingredients of farm livelihoods portfolio of the organization. Efforts to promote a distinct identity for women farmers continued, with women farmers from Narmada district in Gujarat leading the work on sustainable agriculture and those from Madhya Pradesh and Bihar leading on livestock development.

Livestock DevelopmentLivestock development particularly integrated program on goat productivity enhancement has become one of the major programs for us in the last two-three years. In the context of erratic rainfall, livelihood options which are less affected by rain are needed, and small ruminants offer that option. Pashu Sakhis (village women trained to provide preventive health support for livestock) have become the major platform for extension of goat productivity enhancement activities. We continue to work on de-worming, vaccinations, shelters, feed and breed improvement and market integration so that goat rearing can become an important livelihoods source for extremely poor rural households particularly for women from such households. Goat rearing program is reaching over to 55000 households through the above mentioned integrated interventions. Backyard poultry through a similar model is also becoming very attractive livelihoods option particularly for tribal households.

Village InstitutionsWomen self-help groups and their federations played a very important role in financial inclusion, livelihoods, and local governance improvement. Currently, over 85000 women are covered through this program. Some of the women’s federations promoted by us are playing an effective role of local civil society in their local areas. Women got several local issues like drinking water, social security, domestic violence etc. resolved through these federations.

Drinking Water and SanitationOur comprehensive sanitation initiative includes several components like individual sanitation units, school sanitation units, hygiene education including menstrual hygiene

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management and solid & liquid waste management. We have reached the milestone of facilitating 1 lakh families in accessing these services. One of the major successes during this year was menstrual hygiene management work with adolescent girls. Adolescent girls have provided an overwhelmingly positive response to trainings and motivations provided around better management of menstruation and nutrition. In coming years it would be of immense importance to sustain the gains made through Swachh Bharat Mission particularly around hygiene practices.

Drinking water continues to be a critical issue in many regions where AKRSP(I) operates. Bihar government has taken the lead in ensuring piped water supply to all rural households through its flagship initiative, ‘Har Ghar Nal kaa Jal’. We are trying to facilitate quality implementation of this program on ground. We plan to work with respective state governments in coming years on this critical need of rural people.

Youth DevelopmentYouth Development has emerged as a key strategy to ensure the bright future of rural youth. Our program on skills development and enterprise promotion helped over 2500 youths to secure a meaningful career. Rural enterprises have started to generate local employment and are proving to be a major success in some of the regions. We plan to further deepen and expand our program around youth development in the near future.

EducationOur early childhood program covered over 250 Angawadies through various interventions like early learning experiences, infrastructure development and improved nutrition. We continue to believe in the critical importance of early childhood development for the bright future of children. Our school improvement program in Gujarat and Bihar continues to work on better learning environment within government schools.

Multi-thematic WorkIn poor regions of the country, poverty is inter-generational and multi-thematic. The poor not only have low incomes but poor access to education and health, inadequate infrastructure and low self-esteem. Over the years, it is not clear whether an approach just focussing on economic development automatically addresses the education and health gaps. Hence there is a need to explore a multi-thematic approach to address the multi-dimensional nature of rural poverty. AKRSP(I) has been piloting multi-thematic interventions in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, both with a cluster of villages and individual villages as a unit. Initial results show promise, especially when combined with work on improving the capacities of local panchayats.

Training and Capacity BuildingLike every year our training and capacity building unit, Vadvai provided trainings to over 6000 people from other agencies like NGOs, corporates and government. Over the last two-three years, Vadvai gained training expertise in newer areas like WASH to improve upon its coverage and reach. We are particularly excited about the Blended Learning initiative of the organization to improve its capacity building effectiveness.

Policy AdvocacyInfluencing policies and programmes to improve the quality of life of rural communities remains a core objective. This year AKRSP(I) has initiated work to enhance integrated water management in tribal regions (Irrigation coverage in tribal regions is half the national average) as well as promoting rural entrepreneurs.

AKRSP(I) enjoys continuous support from its donor partners. Its core donors were generous enough to provide resources for organizational development in addition to regular program grants. We believe such generous and flexible grants are extremely useful for creating long-term sustainable programs on ground which can address the changing needs of rural communities.

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CONTENTS

ICONS AND ABBREVIATIONS 10.......................................................................................................................................................................................CONTEXTUALISING DEVELOPMENT AND AKRSP(I)’s DEVELOPMENT APPROACH 11.......................................................................................................................................................................................STATISTICAL OVERVIEW 12.......................................................................................................................................................................................STATE REPORTS 13.......................................................................................................................................................................................PEEP INTO THE PAST 19.......................................................................................................................................................................................COMMUNITY BASED ORGANISATIONS 22.......................................................................................................................................................................................GENDER 26.......................................................................................................................................................................................LOCAL GOVERNANCE 30.......................................................................................................................................................................................SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE 33.......................................................................................................................................................................................LIVESTOCK DEVELOPMENT 40.......................................................................................................................................................................................SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT 43.......................................................................................................................................................................................SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION 48.......................................................................................................................................................................................DRINKING WATER 49.......................................................................................................................................................................................SANITATION, HEALTH AND HYGIENE 51.......................................................................................................................................................................................HEALTH AND NUTRITION 57.......................................................................................................................................................................................RENEWABLE ENERGY 59.......................................................................................................................................................................................EDUCATION 63.......................................................................................................................................................................................YOUTH DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE 68.......................................................................................................................................................................................NEW INITIATIVES 74 .......................................................................................................................................................................................APPROACHES TO MULTI-THEMATIC DEVELOPMENT 77.......................................................................................................................................................................................VADVAI 81.......................................................................................................................................................................................RESEARCH, DOCUMENTATION AND VIDEO UNIT 82.......................................................................................................................................................................................HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT 85.......................................................................................................................................................................................FINANCE 86.......................................................................................................................................................................................MEDIA COVERAGE 88.......................................................................................................................................................................................TESTIMONIALS 90.......................................................................................................................................................................................DONOR PARTNERS 92.......................................................................................................................................................................................OFFICE ADDRESSES 94.......................................................................................................................................................................................

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ICONS AND ABBREVIATIONS

AKRSP(I) Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) MIS Micro Irrigation SystemAKF Aga Khan Foundation SWC Soil and Water Conservation

AKDN Aga Khan Development Network COMDWSS Community Owned and Managed MiniCBO Community Based Organisation Drinking Water Supply SchemeSHG Self Help Group RRWHS Roof Rainwater Harvesting StructureVLA Village Level Association SBM Swachh Bharat MissionCIS Canal Irrigation Society SLWM Solid and Liquid Waste Management

WUA Water User Association IHHL Individual Household LatrineFPO Farmer Producer Organisation MHM Menstrual Hygiene Management

WATSAN Water and Sanitation Committee IEC Information Education Communication SMC School Management Committee SISP Solar Irrigation Service ProvidersNSK Nagrik Suchna Kendra DISP Diesel Irrigation Service ProvidersVDP Village Development Plan TRI Transforming Rural India

GP Gram Panchayat ICDS Integrated Child Development ServicesNPM Non-pesticide Management ECD Early Childhood DevelopmentSRI System of Root Intensification SIP School Improvement ProgrammeBCI Better Cotton Initiative LEP Learning Enrichment Programme

PPS Pashu Palak Samuh CCDM Certificate Course in Development ManagementWRD Water Resource Development SHT Spearhead Team

PIM Participatory Irrigation Management CPRL Certificate Programme in Rural Livelihoods

ABBREVIATIONS

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AKRSP(I)’s approach consists of 3 key strategies:- Field Facilitation- Policy Influence- Capacity Building

AKRSP (INDIA)’S DEVELOPMENT APPROACH

CONTEXTUALISING DEVELOPMENT It is well known that top down, standardised approaches often fail in India. Context is very critical in rural development. AKRSP(I) works in 5 distinct contexts and has evolved context specific, sustainable solutions with the local communities. The AKRSP(I) lessons can be applied nationally and internationally.The 5 contexts are: 1.Drought Prone Gujarat 2.Coastal Saline Gujarat 3.Tribal South Gujarat 4.Tribal Nimar Region Madhya Pradesh 5.Northern Bihar Plains.

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STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

Details 2018 Achievement

Cumulative Achievement

Coverage Villages 126 2646Village institution (no) 1198 29223Women Institution (no) 699 8253Rural GovernancePanchayat Strengthened (no) 16 116Gram Sabha/ Mahila Sabha Strengthened (no) 258 553Citizens Benefitted (no) 15798 60905Sustainable Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture Practices (HHs) 10880 68316System of Root Intensification (HHs) 3642 34149Conservation Agriculture (HHs) 627 1214Agri Input Supply (HHs) 26346 108273Agri Equipment (HHs) 497 14947Farmer Producer Organization (no) 5 23Soil and Water Conservation (ha) 485 51140Agro Forestry/ Horticulture (HHs) 24 20923Vegetable Cultivation (HHs) 4437 53917Water Management Canal Irrigation Scheme (no) 1 169Lift Irrigation Device (no) 41 1009Check Dams and Irrigation Tanks (no) 39 1447Well Irrigation (no) 46 1457Farm Ponds/Bori Bandhs/Gabion (no) 883 3365Water Use Efficiency Device (ha) 1801 20998Forestry Joint Forest Management (no. of village) 3 90Livestock Development Dairy (HHs) 355 5626Poultry (HHs) 1210 2914Goat Rearing (HHs) 16040 51893Pashu Sakhis (Paravets) trained (no) 173 389Veterinary Service Provided (HHs) 24122 57900Renewable Energy Solar Powered Irrigation Schemes (no) 47 84Alternate Energy Coverage (HHs) 3237 76350Drinking Water and Sanitation Roof Rain Water Harvesting Structure (no) 0 10615Drinking Water Supply Schemes (Village / Hamlet) 7 332Sanitation Unit (HHs) 35688 91556Education Anganwadis / ECDs Supported (no) 0 303Children in Anganwadis and ECDs 762 17137School Improvements (no of schools) 17 324School Children (no) 20189 77346Learning Enrichment Programme (no. of schools) 423 543Skill Development Youths Trained (no) 9218 44677Youths Placed (no) 1005 6436

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STATE REPORT - MADHYA PRADESH

Madhya Pradesh is home to the largest number of Schedule Tribe population (STs) in absolute numbers. The tribal population is largely concentrated in and around the forest areas and is the most marginalized and vulnerable. The relative isolation of the tribal population and inadequate reach of infrastructure in some districts has made accessing services difficult. This has resulted in limited access to agricultural inputs, extension services, credit and markets. Although the conditions of work in the state are challenging, the many regions in the state have a homogeneous tribal community which makes it easier for a development entity to work as the population is unaffected by caste and class dynamics which act as a huge hindrance to work.

While AKRSP(I) was thinking about expanding geographies in 2003-04, it visited several districts of Madhya Pradesh and finalised the Nimar region as it was remotely placed and without the presence of any other non-government development entities.

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AKRSP(I) initiated work in tribal dominated districts of Western Madhya Pradesh in 2004 and currently has its presence in 322 Villages of 5 districts in the Nimar region. Madhya Pradesh Programme area has a strong integrated development programme intending to address various development problems with a focus on improving livelihoods of tribal communities.

Major work undertaken during the year in Madhya Pradesh

Community Institutions – 294 new self-help groups were formed by bringing together 2985 women. – Elections for women federation of Khaknar block conducted and 8633 participants from SHGs trained through various training programmes. – 141 Self Help Groups accumulated credit linkage of worth ₹1 crore, while 226 SHGs were linked with Banks during the year. – 4 new Federation bodies were registered under the Societies Act at Khalwa, Jhirniya, Balwadi and Niwali blocks. – Gajanan SHG from Khaknar block received the ‘Best SHG’ award at a state level function organized by NABARD.

Sustainable Agriculture – 9335 farmers are practicing sustainable agriculture practices of which 802 farmers have adopted Conservation Agriculture. – 7000 farmers engaged in the production of organic cotton produced 2940 Metric tonnes of Organic Cotton. – 610 farmers adopted SRI practices in Maize, Soyabean, Wheat and Gram and 482 farmers actively participated in minor millet cultivation. – 800 farmers have successfully adopted fruit and vegetable cultivation. – 6 Farmer Producer Companies and 2 Livestock Producer Companies provide the services of input supply and market linkages to 6509 member farmers and livestock owners.

Sustainable Land and Water Resource Development – 23 water harvesting structures were constructed for irrigation support as well as water recharge. – 450 ha of agriculture land was covered under irrigation facility through 37 Lift Irrigation schemes, 9 solar-based Irrigation schemes and 4 diversion based irrigation systems. – Field bund/stone farm bund were constructed in 232 ha of private land and contour trenches constructed on 45 ha. – Common land plantation was undertaken on 21.24 ha common waste land for fuel and fodder development including convergence with NREGA.

Livestock Development – 6388 Households (HH) covered under livestock activities such as vaccination, deworming, shelter, etc.

– 42209 poultry chicks vaccinated and 13898 poultry went through deworming process. – 179 Pashu Palak (goat rearer) Groups and 100 Pashu Sakhis currently functional in programme area. – 219 households(HH) provided low-cost goat sheds.

Drinking Water, Health and Sanitation – 3 District level workshops were organized under the chairmanship of District collector, Burhanpur. – 3768 IHHLs constructed and 4 villages declared Open Defecation Free (ODF). Due to this and various other efforts of the organisation, AKRSP(I) was recognized as the ‘Best NGO’ in the field of Sanitation in Khandwa district. – 5 villages covered under Solid and Liquid Waste Management initiative. – Drinking water schemes implemented in 2 villages of Khandwa and Burhanpur district. – 162 sachet didi (village level army of community health workers focusing on Maternal and Child health) provided services in 81 villages of Khaknar block in Burhanpur district. – Achieved 100% institutional deliveries in 23 villages. 195 pregnant women were registered in Anganwadi centers and 119 women availed the benefits of institutional deliveries.

Solar Energy – Solar Micro grid home lighting provided basic lighting to 999 households. – 9 solar irrigation units set up benefitting around 45 households and 225 members of the community. – 1098 lanterns were taken up by the community enabling better lighting facilities in their household.

Education – 41 government schools supported through the community-based education program. – Classroom Libraries set up and Teaching Learning Material (TLM) kit provided in 72 government schools. – 5708 boys and girls participated in various hygiene practices and demonstrations at school.

Governance – 3715 citizens benefited by various social security schemes and entitlements. – In 2018, 72 (Village Development Plans) VDP prepared and few of them were passed by gram sabha. – Citizens from 18 panchayats went to the Janpad and submitted written applications while citizens form 8 panchayats approached district administration for resolution of their problems.

Visitors – District Collector Khandwa visited the Poultry activities in Khalwa block. – Women day celebration (on March 2018) was attended by Zila Parishad chairman, Barwani, District Collector Khargone, SDM Bhikangaon, MLA from Khaknar (Burhanpur), District Collector Burhanpur and other state government officials.

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STATE REPORT - BIHAR

Bihar often lags behind in most Social and Human Development indices. A look at some of the statistics below will put in perspective the condition of the majority of the populace of Bihar. According to the HDI ranking of 23 states of India undertaken in 2007-08, Bihar ranks 21. Even more aggravating is the Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) rank of Bihar which is 35 (out of 35 states/UTs). More than 50% of people in Bihar still live below the poverty line. It also ranked last in the Global Hunger Index Survey of 17 states of India undertaken in 2007. According to the NFHS data, the majority of children in Bihar under the age of five are malnourished. Add to this the environmental fragility of the state. Bihar is India’s most flood-prone state.

However, this picture has been changing in the past decade. Bihar has emerged as the fastest growing state in India, with over 10% annual growth in the last 10 years. Another positive improvement has been the phenomenal growth in literacy which jumped from 47 to 64% in 2011. Rapid growth in infrastructure, energy and communication sectors along with huge public investment in roads has contributed to the improvement in the condition of the state.

AKRSP(I) in Bihar

AKRSP(I) started operations in Muzaffarpur and Samastipur districts of Bihar in 2007 and currently is operational in 436 villages of five districts. District Saran is being supported under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) to make it Open Defecation Free (ODF). Due to the multidimensional nature of poverty in the region, the approach adopted by AKRSP(I) has

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been focused on undertaking interventions to improve multiple facets such as Education, Sanitation, Health, Livelihoods, etc. under a multi-thematic approach.

During the year, the Bihar team expanded its operations to Darbhanga, Vaishali and Saran districts by initiating work in 40 villages.

Major work undertaken during the year in BiharCommunity Institutions

– 200 Self Help Groups comprising of 2839 members were formed in 14 villages of 7 Gram Panchayats of Pusa block. – 2 Farmer Producer Companies promoted by the organisation are operational and carry out input supply operations.

Sustainable Agriculture – The two operational Farmer Producer Companies undertook collective input supply of worth ₹37,80,623 and collective marketing of ₹ 53,00,335 benefitting 5246 farmers. – 247 farmers undertook commercial vegetable cultivation with the help of input support in the form of polyhouses, plant nurseries, improved seeds, organic fertilizer, etc. – While Conservation Agriculture(CA) is still in its nascent stages, 115 farmers adopted the CA practices and 104 practised Non-Pesticide Management.

Livestock Development – 117 new pashu sakhis were recruited and capacity building of 247 existing Pashu Sakhis (paravets) undertaken. – 22,469 households benefitted from goat vaccinations, and 37,748 households received deworming services. – 1179 improved goat shelters were built under the programme. – To enhance the income of pashu sakhis, they were trained to undertake castration of bucks. During the year Pashu Sakhis castrated 8063 bucks.

Drinking Water, Health and Sanitation – Entire Mohanpur block including the villages under ‘Namami Gange Action Plan’, GoI, declared ODF. – 100 schools supported with separate toilets & urinal facilities for boys and girls along with drinking water infrastructure under School Sanitation Initiative. – 26,624 Households have easy access to sanitation facilities at their home eventually leading 673 wards to achieve ODF status thus marking an impressive 30% increase in sanitation coverage since the programme began. – AKRSP(I) selected as the Technical Partner of State Government’s ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal’ yojana at the block level and oriented 1800 PRI members in this capacity. – 5 Community Owned and Managed Drinking Water Supply Schemes (COMDWSS) were developed in Bihar benefitting 350 households.

Solar Energy – Solar-based village street lighting systems have been installed in 10 villages of Muzaffarpur district during the year. A total of 346 such solar street light poles have been installed. – During the year, 10 Solar Irrigation Service Providers (SISPs) were identified and trained from the villages of Chandauli, Kajiia and Bahardurpur in Samastipur district. – 27 solar based irrigation systems installed through the SISP or the group irrigation method.

Education – The School Improvement Programme (SIP) trained Block Resource Coordinator (BRCs) and Cluster Resource Coordinators (CRCs) thereby impacting work in 87 schools of Pusa block in a block saturation approach. The program reaches out to 9669 students comprising of 4664 boys and 5005 girls till standard 5. – The team started working closely with the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres in a saturation approach since August 2018. The profiling of all the centres covered under ICDS during the year was undertaken.

Visitors – Dr G Basu from UNICEF visited the Bihar team to conduct a study on the quality of drinking water in handpumps. – Global team members from Rise Against Hunger international visited the Animal husbandry programme of the Bihar team.

‘Since the solar powered irrigation project was launched towards the end of 2016, dividends have been good. There is no more dependency on the polluting diesel pump sets or the vagaries of State electricity to pump water into the fields. Solar panels herald improved irrigation, carbon-free air and increased earnings for farmers.’ - Chasing the sun in Samastipur| Usha Rai| Hindu Business Line|March 9, 2018

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STATE REPORT - GUJARAT

AKRSP(I) has been working in Gujarat since the last 33 years. It initiated operations in the state in 1985 and has over the years entered newer geographies. Currently, the organisation is active in 3 districts of Drought Prone Saurashtra with its headquarters at Sayla; 5 districts of Tribal South Gujarat headquartered in Dangs and Netrang; and 4 districts of Coastal Saline Gujarat headquartered at Mangrol.

Major work undertaken during the year in Gujarat

Community Institutions – 202 new self-help groups were formed in the three different regions of Gujarat. – 5 Canal Irrigation Societies formulated during the year bringing together more than 9000 farmers of whom 2706 are women members. – 4 Farmer Producer Companies (FPOs) registered during the year, taking the total functional FPOs in Gujarat to 16.

Sustainable Agriculture – 500 farmers cultivated sustainable cotton under the Better Cotton Initiative. Cumulatively 4500 farmers have since the last four years shifted to sustainable cultivation practices for growing cotton.

– 766 farmers are practising Non-Pesticide Management on their agricultural field thereby producing chemical free food. – System of Root Intensification adopted by 3032 farmers. A majority of these (2922) farmers belong to Dangs. SRI method adopted for other crops such as cereals and nagli (finger millet). Over 160 farmers practised SRI in nutri cereals in the Kharif season.

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– 146 farmers of Dangs undertook commercial vegetable cultivation. – In Dangs, 141 farmers developed and used bio pest-repellants such as Amrit pani, Soyabean tonic, Panch-patti kada and 679 farmers adopted organic composting such as Vermicompost, Amrit Khad, etc. – The total business done by the 16 operational FPOs amounted to ₹ 2.70 crore benefitting more than 4,000 members.

Sustainable Land and Water Resource Development – 1053 farmers from Surendranagar district connected to drip irrigation systems and 264 farmers from Coastal Gujarat region benefitted from sprinkler systems, bringing 1685 hectares of area under Micro Irrigation Systems. – 1 new check dam constructed while 16 old check dams/earthen dams were repaired. 34 boribandh constructed to harvest additional water for irrigation during monsoon. – 454 farm ponds were constructed in Mangrol region to enable farmers to irrigate their Kharif crops during dry spells of monsoon. – 2797 hectares of land was covered under PIM benefitting 3098 farmers of two blocks of Tapi and Surat districts.

Livestock Development – 6388 HHs covered under livestock activities such as vaccination, deworming, shelter, etc. – 90 farmers (mostly women) were provided with chicks to establish 124 back yard poultry units. – 34 large poultry units of more than 500 chicks capacity were established during the year. – 240 households were provided 269 milch cattle in Dangs district and 3682 households in Porbandar and Devbhoomi Dwarka district benefitted from health services provided to 7732 milch cattle.

Drinking Water, Health and Sanitation – 5296 IHHLs constructed and 50 villages declared Open Defecation Free (ODF). – A unique Solid and Liquid waste management initiative was undertaken in Kotara village of Coastal Gujarat. – The Sanitation and Hygiene programme reached out to 150 schools to promote health-seeking behaviour among school children. – The Menstrual Hygiene program was implemented as a structured initiative with the delivery of 4 part module to adolescent girls and women in the coastal Gujarat region.

Solar Energy – 11 solar group-based irrigation systems were set up for the provision of pollution-free irrigation. – 190 households in Netrang programme area were provided with biogas units and another 190 households were provided with smokeless chuhlas to reduce emissions caused by traditional cooking methods.

Education – 2 Learning Resource Centres provided education support to 452 children of 10 schools in Surendranagar district. – The Learning Enrichment Programme is providing education support to 7480 children with learning gaps in 190 villages. – Right to Education (RTE) awareness undertaken in 540 villages. – 37 storytelling sessions for parents undertaken in 23 centers under the ICDS program which saw the participation of 421 parents.

Governance – The governance programme reached 8,346 households in Narmada district of Gujarat during the year to provide information about different government schemes related to Social Security, Health, Primary Education, Livelihood, etc. – 3304 citizens reached through Nagrik Suchna Kendras. – 75 Mahila Sabhas and 74 Gram Sabhas were organised during the year. – 24 Village Development Plans (VDP) and 7 Sushashan Nidhis were developed.

Visitors – An official from GSFC visited the Surendranagar programme area to attend the farmer workshop. Representatives from Hindustan Unilever visited the Dang Programme area for reviewing the water resource development work being undertaken in the region. – The district level Swachh Bharat Mission coordinator of Morbi attended a IIHL awareness event of the organisation. – Representatives of Gramin Swarojgar Sansthan, Rajkot attended capacity building sessions on animal husbandry practices. – Prof. Samir Barua, former Director at IIM-A visited the Dangs programme area to understand the integrated work being undertaken in Tribal South Gujarat by the organisation.

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PEEP INTO THE PAST

A frequent question asked by donors is; How will the project sustainability be ensured after the funding ends? In the changing development funding scenario, with grant amounts becoming smaller and project cycles shorter, it is becoming increasingly challenging for development organisations to maintain continuity in operations.

Sustainability from the NGO’s perspective is the ensuing of project benefits for the beneficiaries beyond the project period. Integrating a sustainability plan in project implementation is therefore crucial for ensuring that the project activities have a lasting and continued impact. However, a critical question to consider here is; what is an ideal duration after the completion of the project after which to revisit the beneficiaries in order to evaluate the sustainability of the project outcomes.

For AKRSP(I), sustainability is a non-negotiable aspect of every project. AKRSP(I) believes that the creation of a self-reliant community, as well as, individuals; empowered to solve local problems and challenges, will ultimately lead to the development of the rural society in the real sense. Ensuring the sustainability of an intervention/program by collective action is the ultimate goal of every program.

In order to evaluate whether AKRSP(I)’s work is truly sustainable, the organisation revisited individuals and institutions nurtured decades ago to see if they were still functional. The two separate accounts below recount the findings.

SAMADHIYALA LIFT IRRIGATION SOCIETYSamadhiyala Lift Irrigation society (LIS) is an institution set up by AKRSP(I) 33 years ago to address the water problems of a village situated on the banks of Meghal river in Junagadh district of Gujarat . It was revisited in the latter half of 2018 to assess its current situation.

The village had saline groundwater so it relied on rain-fed agriculture. But with a government grant and a bank loan, the LIS was started - although there were worries about such large loan repayments.

However, thanks to a wise leadership and a habit of all members meeting every month, the loan was paid back in half the time. Since 1998, when AKRSP(I)’s field visits ended, the LIS has been managing itself. Their membership has now

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doubled. In 2018, they invested approximately ₹20 lakhs of their funds (saved from higher water rates) to replace the main pipeline which had developed leaks after 25 years.

Water rate recovery continues to be 100% - a discipline the society developed amongst its members even in drought years. The impact can be seen in terms of increase in income and reduced migration; as well as better education for the next generation. However, when they were asked about the impact of the society on the rest of the village. They mentioned the following two:

1. A multi-caste, multi-village society had endured over 30 years without any major conflict. In a caste-divided society, this was a great example to others that caste divisions could be addressed if there was transparency and a clear common objective.

2. The villagers had internalised planning as a way of life, learning from the LIS, which did annual crop planning, and systematically planned their revenue and expenses.

As the meeting progressed, it was clear that the enthusiasm and curiosity for new ideas in agriculture, which had originally made this society stand out, still had not dimmed. The visit to the 33-year old society was rewarding and the AKRSP(I) staff returned gladdened by the knowledge that amidst the rise and fall of major institutions, this small society had grown, had become self-reliant – and remained so.

MEGHAL RIVER BASIN CORE GROUP

This is an inspiring story of the revival of a dying river through the grit, perseverance and collective action of the communities of Saurashtra region. This is also the story of continued efforts of the community to keep the river flowing through the years.

The Meghal river is located in Junagadh district of Saurashtra region in Gujarat. Before the drought of 1987, it was a perennial river, and a key source of irrigation for farmers in the region. Erratic rainfall coupled with overexploitation of groundwater greatly reduced its base flows. Another drought year of 1992 led to the drying up of the river. Not only did

this have an adverse effect on crops in the Rabi (winter) season but also in Kharif (rainy season), especially if there was a significant gap between spells of rain. Another major problem was of ingress of sea-water into the wells and aquifers.

AKRSP (I) had been working in the villages of the Meghal basin since 1987-88 and was concerned regarding the worsening water situation in the region which was impacting livelihoods adversely. In order to avoid further droughts, the government was also acting proactively by constructing check dams. AKRSP(I)’s crucial contribution came in the form of institutional formation and strengthening. It motivated the villagers to participate in the water conservation programmes of the government and other similar efforts. A padyatra (foot march) was started from Ajab at the northern-most point in the Meghal basin to spread the message of river revival. The padyatra followed the course of the river and touched villages on all the tributaries as well.

The yatra collected more people and gathered momentum as it wound its way to a temple in Chorwad on the Arabian Sea. This eventually led to a mass movement around the revival of the Meghal River Basin with participation from the community, various people’s organizations, philanthropists and media.

AKRSP(I)’s work in the Meghal basin included the construction of more than 300 decentralized water harvesting structures with a water storage capacity of roughly 115 MCFT. In addition to AKRSP(I), other institutions, including the government, also constructed some 800 water harvesting structures with a capacity of roughly 800 MCFT. Further, AKRSP (I) promoted the adoption of improved agricultural practices including the adoption of drip and sprinkler irrigation in the basin villages.

Apart from the above-mentioned work, it was the creation of a strong community group, called the ‘Meghal Rive Core Group’ by AKRSP(I) which really cemented and ensured continuity of efforts of the community to keep the river flowing. AKRSP(I) started with the idea of promoting participatory and democratic village-level institutions that would seamlessly federate into a river basin organization.

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The Meghal river Core Group has its membership spread across all 55 villages in the basin. Initially in 2003 during the formation of this group, there were 26 members which later expanded to 55 members, one representative member from every village falling in the Megal basin.

Almost two decades down, Meghal river flows on steadily. In 2018, AKRSP(I) revisited the Meghal River Basin Core Group to understand their current work. Post AKRSP(I) withdrawal in 2012, the core group has worked on 91 structures with a total contribution of ₹ 25.05 lakhs benefitting 3200 farmers.

The core group meets regularly to discuss the repair and maintenance requirements of the various structures. The core group members have also acted as resource persons for other similar institutions of Dangs and Madhya Pradesh. In the past 6 years, the core group has evolved into a self-reliant community institution which collectivizes resources to develop and maintain water harvesting and irrigation structures for efficient water management and use. The work done by the core group is truly commendable and has even been covered by print and visual media.

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COMMUNITY BASEDORGANISATIONS (CBOs)

Collective action is one of the most effective mediums of bringing change. The reason that Homo Sapiens became the most powerful species on the planet has been our ability to collectivise. The most marked changes in history whether it be the end of apartheid, the abolition of slavery or the independence of our Nation, have all been achieved through people coming together in great numbers to resolve their problems.

The AKRSP(I) way of working is based on this strategy of using collective strengthen of communities to solve development problems and usher in prosperity. Strengthening community institutions forms the core of AKRSP(I)’s work.

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After joining the SHG group, we do not have to ask for financial help from anyone. Shri Navjivan Mahila Vikas Manch owns a shopping centre and this has led our Manch to become self-dependent.

- Ima ben, Member of Navjivan Mahila Manch, Sagbara Block, Narmada District, Gujarat

Building self-reliance is at the heart of the of the organization’s approach, and this is achieved through various kinds of inputs – training, exposure, handholding support, encouraging institutions and enterprises to make their own decisions.

Community institutions are essential in ensuring that communities are able to analyse the causes of their situation of poverty, their problems and envisage and plan for positive solutions. AKRSP(India)’s approaches promote communities’ ownership on processes of change, ensure better management of resources and sustainability after AKRSP(I)’s support phases out.

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AKRSP(I) promotes various types of Community Based Organisations depending upon the nature of the program and purpose of the problem to be solved. Over the years, the following types of Community Based Organisations (CBOs) have been promoted by the Organisation.

– Self Help Groups (SHG) – Mahila Gram Vikas Mandal and Village Level Associations – Women Federations – Canal Irrigation Management Societies – Pashu Palak Groups – Farmer Producer Organisations – Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) Committees – Kishori Balika Samuh (Adolescent Girls Groups) – School Management Committees

WOMEN SELF HELP GROUPSAKRSP(I) promotes and supports Self Help Groups, largely of women, which follow a gradual path towards addressing the changing needs of their members. In the initial stages of the SHG’s life, the women are simply encouraged to meet regularly and save collectively. This is followed by the initiation of lending operations, which is followed by bank linkage. Through this process, women start discussing financial problems within their group and their solutions. They are able to mobilise resources at the time of need through their own savings. The first step of the journey, which is the development of a positive self-image is achieved through financial access.

Women are then encouraged to initiate individual or group enterprises for the development of alternative livelihood sources. Women start taking loans to supplement their family’s income either by setting up shops or buying goats and/or poultry or stating a group enterprise. When women start earning from their own enterprises they become financially independent.

The journey from self to society then begins. Women start discussing various issues plaguing their village. They propose solutions and are encouraged to try them out. They take up issues of entitlements (widow/old age pensions), access to drinking water, education, health, etc. The resolving of these issues leads them to the village and block level systems. Over time, many federate; at village and block level so that they can negotiate better with the government agencies and the market. This process so plainly written here, takes years to happen onground. The older the SHG, the more it has advanced on its journey from ‘Self to Society.’

AKRSP(I)’s approach is to support the SHGs gradually through this path where they start off as individuals with credit needs and develop into empowered communities resolving issues in their localities.

Genuinely ODF, the case of Ardala Village

A thing which is noticeable as one enters Ardala is its cleanliness. Ardala is a 100% ODF village, with every household having toilets. These toilets were constructed at one go after the villagers saw some toilets constructed as demonstrations by AKRSP(I). Construction of the toilet is just half the work, ensuring its use is the difficult part of the problem. The members of Chand SHG shared their experiences on making their village genuinely ODF. The women of all the Self Help Groups of Ardala got together and took out a rally to stop open defecation. They also collected all the toilet dabbas from the village and burnt them to mark their protest. The women share that post the rally, open defecation has become almost nil.

An SHG member also mentioned that the health of the village had improved post becoming ODF. Other women agreed and added that earlier they used to take a lot of loans for illnesses in the family, now their loan money is put into productive use due to fewer instances of illness.

The village has its very own drainage system which the community built themselves. Earlier due to the absence of drains a lot of water used to get accumulated at water points such as handpumps. The villagers and AKRSP(I) together developed a nali drainage system. Every household has a chamber where the water first collects and then it is transported through the pipeline into a central chamber, which deposits the water underground.

To ensure proper maintenance of this and the household level drinking water pipeline, a Nigrani samiti (inspection committee) was set up. This samiti charges a fine to anyone who is caught wasting water or who does not regularly clean their household level drainage chamber. The samiti collects user fees for drinking water pipeline from households every month from which it pays the electricity bill and keeps aside some amount for the maintenance of the structure.

When asked about other problems they would like to address in the future, the women informed that they will submit the proposal for a bridge in the upcoming Gram Sabha. A stream passes through the village which cuts it off from the surrounding area. The women are confident about putting in repeated efforts to resolve this and other problems as well. The regular meetings of SHGs have given the opportunity to women to come out of their houses and take charge of not only their lives but that of their village as well.

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During the year, 695 Self Help Groups (SHGs) were promoted taking the total number of SHGs promoted till date to 8249 with a total membership of 91,434 women. Out of these, 5518 SHGs have bank accounts, and 1574 can avail loans. The total savings of the SHGs are ₹ 15.53 crore and the total outstanding internal loan is ₹ 10.72 crores. The total outstanding amount of the bank loans availed by SHGs is ₹5.28 crores.

MAHILA GRAM VIKAS MANDALWomen in all the SHGs of a village come together to form Mahila Gram Vikas Mandal, a village-level women’s collective formed with the purpose of working on development issues in the village. Women members meet once a month to discuss issues and problems facing them and deliberate upon solutions. These Mahila Gram Vikas Mandals also are the first step towards increasing active participation in gram sabha and grass root governance. Apart from these, there are also Village Level Associations which are village-level bodies comprising both male and female members. 40 new Village Level Associations (VLAs) were formed during the year.

VLAs form sub-committees to work on specific issues such as education, health, hygiene, etc. The VLAs in Madhya Pradesh Program area identified village-level change leaders in the domains of Health and Education, namely Sachet and Shiksha Sakhis. Currently, these change leaders are actively working in 81 villages in Khaknar block of Burhanpur district.

WOMEN FEDERATIONSDuring the year, 4 new women federations were registered at Khalwa, Zhirniya, Balwadi and Niwali blocks taking the total number of federations in Madhya Pradesh to 10. While six Federations in Gujarat and one federation in Bihar continue to provide their services to women members.

Slowly and steadily, these federations are evolving and developing their identities.

The role played by the federations in making women a strong force in their community is indisputable. During the year, several initiatives were taken by the federations.

The Tapti Laxmi Mahila Mahasangh of Madhya Pradesh has been leading the multiple interventions in health, education, livelihoods, microfinance, animal husbandry and governance being undertaken in Khaknar block of Burhanpur district.

The federations of Dediapara and Sagbara are working on the identity of women as farmers and landowners. During the year, the legal process for the inheritance of rights to land, known as ‘Varsai’ was completed with 338 women. Apart from this, women participated in the Kisan Swaraj Samelan, a workshop held in on November 2, 2018.Among other themes, an important theme of the workshop was to recognize women as farmers. Another workshop on Sustainable agricultural practices saw the participation of 600 women federation members.

The Mangrol Mahila Manch played an active role in the Menstrual Hygiene Management program being undertaken in the region. The promotion and sale of cloth pads was undertaken by the federation members to promote safe menstrual hygiene practices among women.

CANAL IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES/WATER USER ASSOCIATIONSDuring the year, work on participatory Irrigation management for the sharing of irrigation water from the Ukai Left bank canal was taken forward. 32 Water User Associations (WUAs) were formed covering around 9197 farmers of Tapi and Surat District. One-third members of the WUAs are women.

Another PIM project started in 6 villages of Vadhvan Taluka of Surendranagar district. 7 WUA groups have been formed under this project.

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PASHU PALAK GROUPSGoat rearing households are collectivised into village level pashu palak groups for the purpose of shared learning and benefits of collective input supply and selling. AKRSP(I) works with 179 goat rearing groups in Madhya Pradesh and 865 goat rearing groups in Bihar. During the year, trainings on various aspects such as health and nutrition of livestock, cash flow management, azola cultivation, producer group formation, goat shed development and maintenance, etc. were undertaken. The goat rearing programme undertakes service delivery through these Pashu Palak groups, which meet regularly to discuss and decide the eligible members for services such as goat sheds, feeders, Azola, Nutrition garden etc. required by the Pashu Palaks.

FARMER PRODUCER ORGANISATIONS (FPO)AKRSP(I) has been promoting FPOs since 2012 in its programme areas. As of 2018, AKRSP(I) is working with 26 Famer Producer Companies which are benefitting 20,443 farmers of 661 villages in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Two all-women livestock-based FPOs have also been set up in Madhya Pradesh in 2017 which are providing benefits of collective feed supply and collective selling to their members. 5 Farmer Producer Companies were registered during the year, 4 of which were registered in the cotton growing belt of Surendranagar to provide member farmers the benefit of drip irrigation loan, input supply and collective selling.

DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION COMMITTEES (WATSAN)The maintenance of drinking water and sanitation structures post construction is crucial for their sustained use and continued access to the service. AKRSP(I) promotes the formation of pani samiti for the management of community drinking water supply system and appoints a Nigrani samiti to ensure the sanitation and hygiene of the village are maintained. Monitoring the use of toilets built under Swacchh Bharat Mission is one of the continuous activities of the

WATSAN committees. These committees are crucial for achieving ODF in the true sense, as they create pressure among the village community to stop open defecation and spread awareness on various hygiene practices. During the year, training conducted for 1024 paani samities/nigrani samities/SHGs & federations thereby reaching out to a total of 26187 community members, 10338 males and 15849 females.

KISHORI BALIKA SAMUH (ADOLESCENT GIRL GROUPS)AKRSP(I) started its work on Menstrual Hygiene in 2017 and has been sensitizing and educating rural adolescent girls on the importance of menstrual hygiene management in 350 villages of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. During the year, the programme was implemented in a structured way where SHG members and adolescent girls were involved through activity-based training and awareness sessions. 2171 girls across the programme areas were grouped in Kishori Balika Samuhs. These samuhs act as a medium to provide young girls with the right information in an enabling and protective environment.

SCHOOL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES (SMC) School Management Committees are powerful bodies that have been mandated to oversee the functioning of schools under the Right to Education act. However in practice, they are either not functional or if they are, they are not effectively used by communities due to lack of awareness of its role. AKRSP(I) has been working on strengthening SMCs such that they can take up their role and effectively monitor the quality of education and other services delivered by government schools. AKRSP(I)’s role is to make SMCs aware, increase participation of parents, build capacity of SMC to prepare school development plan, monitor quality of education, monitor mid-day meal delivery, and assess children’s progress. During the year, AKRSP(I) worked with 308 SMCs to build their capacities.

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GENDER

Addressing gender parity in India has focused on the need to address the marked disadvantages faced by girls and women as compared to men in various social and economic spheres, beginning with a preference for male child. This is compounded with differences in investments in nutrition, health and education, limitations on mobility and labour force participation for girls and women and limited access to economic inputs.

The government of India has made efforts at achieving gender parity by inclusive and even protective policies. Commendable efforts have been made to limit female feticide. The Eleventh five year plan espoused a vision for an ‘Inclusive and integrated policy and strategy for economic, social and political empowerment of women’ with focus on nutrition, health, agriculture and micro-credit. Recently, the centre had established a Group of Ministers to recommend measures for effective implementation of the law against sexual harassment at the workplace in response to the #MeToo campaign.

Despite these efforts, achieving gender parity in India will be a long and strenuous journey from ensuring equitable access to health and education facilities to eventually challenging stereotypes.

AKRSP(I) has been working on gender sensitive and inclusive approach ever since its inception in 1985. The organisation understands that strong affirmative action is needed to ensure participation of all sections of the society. Over the years, AKRSP(I) has formed and nurtured many women collectives and individuals on their journey to economic as well as social empowerment.

According to the study, ‘Ripples of Change’ undertaken to assess impact of integrated work done in Madhya Pradesh; the women trained has pashu sakhis have not only got a means of livelihood but also earned a position of respect in their community. The pashu sakhis earn around ₹1500-3000 per month from their work.

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igpku gh rks gksuk gS O;fä dks ugha rks dkSu tkurk gS |- Vimlabai, Pashu Sakhi of Badi village, Block Jhirniya Dist. Khargone

A person needs to have an identity, otherwise who will know you.

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During the year, AKRSP(I) undertook various interventions at the organisational, as wells as, programmatic level to ensure gender parity in its operations.

OrganisationalMaking AKRSP(I) offices female friendlyIn 2017, a gender audit was undertaken of female employees to seek their suggestions on making AKRSP(I) a gender friendly organisation. In 2018, several steps were taken based on the findings of the study by making workplaces more conducive for females by improving field office infrastructure and procuring more vehicles for better transport facilities. The study also led AKRSP(I) to improve its recruitment policy and rework the organisation’s gender policy to make it more inclusive.

Gender Sensitisation4 training exercises were undertaken with Madhya Pradesh and Mangrol Spearhead Teams (SHTs) on empowering processes to enable them to lead the equitable and gender inclusive development of communities at respective locations.

Gender Inclusiveness of Project ProposalsDuring the year, an assessment was undertaken of project proposals written, on a set of Gender Equality Markers (GEM) to evaluate the gender inclusiveness of the projects and 40 such proposals were approved through the process.

TAKING THE LEADAll the programme areas of AKRSP(I) have had a strong women presence. Women collectivization has been instrumental in bringing village-wide transformation by resolution of community issues and challenges.

Women championing Sanitation and HygieneThe army of Swachhgrahis In Bihar, a community-based army known as ‘Swachhgrahis’ is leading the sanitation programme by encouraging community members to construct toilets and thus help achieve ODF status. Around 300 women Swachhgrahis were trained during the year to promote IHHL construction and sanitation practices. An impressive 35,781 Individual Household Latrines (IHHL) were constructed during the year across all program areas of which 75% were contributed by Bihar, thanks to the army of Swachhagrahis.

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tc isV ls jgs ;k efguk dk le; vkus ij cgqr ijs’kkuh gksr jgh cgkj tkus esa| ;g ysVªhu cuus ls cgqr vkjke gks x;k gS] ,slk yxr gS dh iSlk ln x;k gekj |

- Kusumi Devi, Ratanpur Village, Bochaha block, Muzaffarpur districtWomen faced a lot of problems in Open Defecation during pregnancy and menses. Household level toilets have made things comfortable, it seems as if we got the worth of our investment.

Breaking barriers – Menstrual Hygiene ManagementA structured Menstrual Hygiene program was implemented in 350 villages across all locations of AKRSP(I). In Gujarat, a specialised 4 part module on menstrual hygiene was delivered to 3659 adolescent girls and women in 25 villages of Mangrol Program area to destigmatise periods by sharing detailed information on the menstrual cycle through various activities, games, interactive Teaching Learning Material (TLM), etc. Another aspect focussed upon was the hygienic practices to be followed during menses and the importance of nutrition. These sessions which started with awkwardness and shyness on the part of participating girls eventually became reliable platforms for the girls to raise their doubts and questions.

Women striving for participation in Irrigation ManagementIn 2018, work on the formation of 30 Canal Irrigation Societies (CIS) was undertaken for the management of water from Ukai left Bank Canal with a potential to irrigate 12,000 hectares of land. Inclusion of women in decision making was focused upon, as a result of which out of the total 9100 members, about one third, 2706 are women. The 30 executive

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committees of the CIS also have women representation. 10% members of the executive committees are women. Although currently the numbers don’t seem impressive, they are representative of the change in attitudes of men.

Women in Solar Irrigation Solar-based Irrigation systems are becoming popular in Bihar due to the ease of operations, cost effectiveness and better efficiency compared to their diesel alternatives. While in the initiation of formation of a solar group based Irrigation systems, most of the water committees were all male, gradually women representation is being seen through the efforts of the organisation. Out of the total 35 Solar Irrigation Systems set up in Bihar, 5 solar group irrigation systems have all female water committees.

Women in Water Resource ManagementDrinking water and its access have been timelessly cited by women as a problem area in village meetings as women are responsible for fetching water from water sources to households through arduous labour. It is therefore that the organisation has ensured that the pani samitis formed post the deployment of a village-level drinking water scheme have maximum representation of women. Nigrani samitis formed for checking of wastage of water resources and use of sanitation facilities also have maximum representation of women.

The designing of the Water Resource Development structures such as village-level tanks, etc. done by AKRSP(I) takes into consideration gender criteria, for instance, a raised platform

and ladders are built into the design to ensure that women can have accessible bathing and washing space.

Women in AgricultureA major chunk of work in the fields is done by women. Sowing, weeding and harvesting operations are considered to be female-driven and yet women are not recognized as farmers. The stereotypical image of a man ploughing his field conjures up in the imagination when we think of the term ‘farmer’.

AKRSP(I) realizes the gender gap in agriculture and has undertaken multiple interventions over the years to enable the recognition of women as farmers. Some of the initiatives are described below:

Women as agricultural land ownersTraditionally the land ownership in India has passed on from the father to his sons. A parcel of land is equally divided among the male descendants. This has led to the exclusion of women from land records and hence bereft from ownership. AKRSP(I) is a part of the Working Group for Women and Land Ownership (WGWLO), a Gujarat based network of more than 40 NGOs and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) which are committed towards sustained grassroots action and policy advocacy for ensuring land entitlements and rights to women. Two CBOs in Dediapara and Sagbara blocks of Narmada district are part of WGWLO.

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They work on the processing of land rights for women notably widows and also undertake capacity building of women on agriculture, land rights and legal processes involved, human rights, prevention of domestic violence, etc.

During the year, the legal process for the inheritance of rights to land, known as ‘Varsai’ was completed with 338 women and the actual transfer of land was affected for 10 women while for 13 women the land transfer is in process.

Establishing the identity of women as farmersIn Bihar, a one-day training program was held to train 650 women farmers of 116 participating SHGs on the process of improved pea cultivation.

A Kisan Swaraj Samelan, a national-level event aggregating farmers from around the country, was held in Ahmedabad on November 2, 2018, which saw the participation of 40 women farmers from AKRSP(I) programme areas of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

A workshop on Sustainable Agricultural Practices was held at Netrang, where unprecedented participation of 600 women farmers from Narmada, Bharuch and Dangs districts.

Women in LivestockAnimal Husbandry, especially the upkeep of small ruminants and poultry is mostly undertaken by women. Since 2014, AKRSP(I) has been running a para-vet programme in Madhya Pradesh which was expanded to Bihar in 2016 and to Gujarat in 2018. Women from the village are trained as Pashu Sakhis to provide basic veterinary and vaccination services. 389 pashu sakhis are currently operational across program locations.

In Madhya Pradesh program area, two all-female Livestock Producer Companies had been set up last year and are doing phenomenal work. They have a total share capital of ₹ 7,91,760 with 2000 members and 1485 shareholders. The annual turnover of both the livestock FPOs was ₹ 30,30,612 and they benefitted 2561 people.

Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Livestock FPOsThe third AGM of Pandhana Pashu Palak Producer Company Ltd. was held on 19th September 2018 and Tapti Laxmi Pashu Palak Producer Company Ltd. was held on 18th September 2018 with the presence of more than 800 female pashu palaks.

Retail Chicken and meat shop of FPO

2 livestock FPOs have expanded their business to sell goat and chicken meat besides the sale of salt bricks, mineral mixture, poultry feed, etc. which are sold at separate outlets. The meat shops are still in their initial stages and can sell around 15-20 kg of poultry and 30-40 kg of goat meat on a weekly basis. The poultry and goats sold at the shop are purchased from FPO members who wish to sell their animals. Thus the shop benefits both the FPO by complementing its income and the FPO members by reducing their hassle of selling the goats and poultry in the local market.

Hind Narmada Rice Mill, Dangs

The owners of the Rice mill are 10 tribal women who are part of an SHG based in Gundwahal village of Dangs district. They started their business in 2016 with a capital investment of approx. ₹ 2.23 lacs of which ₹ 1.25 lacs (of the machine) was provided by AKRSP(I) and the rest for contributed equally by the women. Their average yearly income of the past 3 years is ₹ 1,00,000 which is equally divided among the 10 members.

Many more such women entrepreneurs and women-based enterprises have been set up in the past 3-4 years. A total of 79 enterprises have been promoted by the organisation, of which 36 are women enterprises. The women have set up enterprise either as a group or as individuals. Enterprises are spread across various business activities such as poultry farming, goatery, bakery, masala making unit, fishery, rice mill, ecotourism, bamboo craft, etc.

The event was marked with active participation and knowledge sharing between member pashu palaks. The farmers discussed the benefits of the FPO that helped them to get poultry feed, poultry chicks, salt bricks and mineral mixture at a much cheaper rate compared to the local market.

Women as Entrepreneurs

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LOCAL GOVERNANCE

Local governments were accorded constitutional status and authority through 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments. Infact the parliament accorded special powers to the Panchayats in tribal areas. The Panchayat had the authority to manage its natural resources, protect its customs, culture and tradition and complete autonomy in establishing the process of dispute resolution. But even after 25 years of the PRI amendments, little progress has been made in providing better governance.

In India, currently, there exist about 2,50,000 PRI and urban local bodies and more than 3 million elected local representatives of which 1.4 million are women. While the numbers seem impressive, the actual work done does not reach the mark. The reasons for the failure are manifold. While the 73rd amendment mandated creation of the local self-government bodies, it left to the state government, the devolution of powers and finances. Also, while the amendment recognized the power of PRI to collect taxes and to receive transfers from the state government, neither was mandated. Most states did not devolve finances to the PRIs.

Apart from these reasons, the PRIs were used by political parties as tools for propaganda and were vastly politicized in some states. This led to more problems than solutions. It resulted in most PRI leaders becoming foot soldiers of political parties doing their bidding.

While the PRIs do not have control of much of state functions and resources due to the improper dissolution of power in most states, they still have complete autonomy in the implementation of various Central and State government schemes. There are more than 2000 rural development programmes in which panchayats play a major role in delivery. But the performance of panchayats on this front too has been disheartening. Most panchayats are understaffed and unskilled to effectively implement schemes and programmes.

The Panchayats are however a good medium to ensure access to schemes and undertake minor development works in the village.

AKRSP(I) has been working on strengthening collectives since the 1990s and governance has been a cross-cutting theme across various program areas. A dedicated program on improving the access to schemes and information of the community and to bring transparency and accountability in local governance systems started in 2014 with 96 panchayats of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The principle of the programme being that Soochna (information) will lead to to Shahbhagita (participation) which willl lead to Sushashan (good governance).

According to a study undertaken on the impact of the project by DEBATE Trust Bhopal:Over the project duration, starting from February 2014 to August 2018, the project facilitated benefits of different schemes to 29,880 citizens. The monetary value of the facilitated come to more than ₹800 million.

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In the last four years, the governance programme has evolved from an information providing medium to catalyzing good governance practices. While in the initial years the programme focused upon setting up Nagrik Suchna Kendras to facilitate access to information and schemes and conducting Mahila Sabhas to increase the participation of women, in 2016 the focus shifted to developing understanding among community regarding Village Development Plans and in the last two years, the programme focused upon Capacity building of PRI members, Integration of ICT technology through the launch of a helpline number and ‘Mobile Mahiti Karyakaram’; and the Establishment of different village-level committees such as Nigrani Samiti, Natural resource planning and management committee for better division of work.

Mahila Sabha and Gram Sabha | The case of Ratalipura

In 2017, when AKRSP(I) started work in Ratalipura located in Jhirniya block of Khargone district, most people of the village didn’t attend the Gram Sabha and were not aware of the role they could play in solving their problems through the Panchayat. AKRSP(I) started work by bringing women together through the medium of Self Help Groups. They collectivized the SHGs and started holding Mahila Sabhas where women talked about the various issues they faced. Eventually, AKRSP(I) held a larger meeting of the village community where the list of requirements/issues of the community was made. The issues were raised in the Gram sabha 2 to 3 times but to no avail. Finally the community led by women made a visit to Khargone to meet with the CEO.

The officer took note of their problems and promised their redressal by a direct visit. The promised visit did take place and slowly but steadily the work demanded by the community started. The community got access to electricity and two wells within 6 months of the visit. A meeting with the Block Resource Coordinator was conducted by the community to enable education for their children. The resource person asked the community to arrange for a place to hold classes and to appoint a teacher themselves for which the Zilla Parishad would bear the expenses in lieu of a government school. The village now has a community-run school which all the children attend.

The community members now attend the Gram Sabha. A visible change has occurred due to the efforts of the community. The Gram Panchayat of Ratalipura village has been recognised as a Model Panchayat in 2018 at a district level function.

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When the women mentioned they had come for attending the Gram Sabha, the Sarpanch asked, ‘were you asleep all these days?’ To which the women replied, ‘earlier we did not know as we were not part of the group, now we have woken up.’ - Conversation between Sarpanch and women, Ratalipura village, Jhirniya Block,

Khargone District

During the year, 258 Mahila Sabhas and 306 Gram Sabhas were facilitated. The Mahila Sabhas have played a crucial role in enabling an issue-based and participative discussion in the Gram Sabha.

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Sushashan Budget | Dhasalgaon

Dhasalgaon, a Bhil tribal village located in Jhirniya block of Khargone district had no drinking water facility in the village school and Anganwadi. The women had raised the issue at the Gram Sabha but the Sarpanch cited the lack of funds as the reason for the Panchayat’s inability to solve the problem. AKRSP(I) agreed to undertake the activity under their Sushashan nidhi. ₹43,800 were required for providing water supply to the school, of which AKRSP(I) contributed the motor cost (₹32,800), while the school contributed ₹3000 and the Gram panchayat contributed ₹8,000 for construction of the storage tank. This facility thus developed through collective action by the school, community and gram Panchayat has provisioned water for 35 households and 402 students of the school and anganwadi.

During the year, 21 Sushashan nidhis were completed. The issues which were solved in the Sushashan budgets are as follows:

– Drinking water (School, Anganwadi, Animals, Handpump repair, Handpump recharge, Water tank, Water pipeline). – Education (Classroom repair, Wall Painting in school, Library)

Village Development Plan | Rohda Panchayat AKRSP(I) initiated the work on Village Development Plan in Rohda panchyat villages in 2016-17. For this, a collective meeting of all villages of the Panchayat was called. Initially, a village-wise issue list was developed and the issues were ranked according to priority as per collective decision making. The issues were then categorized under different themes such as Drinking water, Sanitation, Access to Schemes, etc.

An active Sarpanch and enthusiastic Panchayat members used the thus developed Village Development Plan to allocate funds received.

The key highlights of the works undertaken during the last two years are mentioned below:

– The 3 poorest Kotvaliya families got two borewell motors – LED street lighting was installed – RCC road was constructed – 744 toilets were constructed in the Panchayat – 5 wells were dug through MNREGA – Used 14th Finance commission grant to construct a Mini drinking water supply scheme in the villages under the Panchayat.

During the year, 104 such Village Development Plans were prepared by communities and accepted by the Gram Sabha. The various issues which came up in Village Development Plans formulated are as follows:

– Problems related to health and education such as irregularity of teachers in schools, poor education quality, improper staff at anganwadi and irregular work at hospitals etc. – Problems of alcoholism and domestic violence – Problems regarding livelihood and migration – Problems of water and sanitation – Improper treatment during pregnancy

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igys ges yxrk Fkk fd iSlk Åij ls vkrk gS | vc irk pyk fd fups ls ;kstuk tkrh gS] tks gekjs tSls iapk;r ls gh tkrh gS |

- Champaben Vasava, Mulkapada village, Block Dediapada Dist. NarmadaEarlier, we felt that the money is sanctioned first, now we know that the first process is preparation of a plan which is done at Panchayat level.

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SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Making agriculture profitable for small-scale farmers is a conundrum which eludes solutions. 70 years since independence, little has changed for small and marginal farmers of India in terms of income. During the post-independence era, agriculture contributed 45% to India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and was the largest employer. Agricultural productivity was low and India was hugely indebted. The green revolution presented a viable solution to India’s food crisis. While green revolution played a vital role in making India self-reliant in terms of food production and also enhanced income manifold of large farmers of the nation, it led to a dependency on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and hybrid seeds.

Various reforms have also been undertaken to increase productivity and make farming inclusive over the years. The National Commission for Farmers established in 2004 made comprehensive recommendations such as land reforms, soil testing, increasing water availability, ensuring credit and insurance, food security, and competitive markets. While some progress has been made through these efforts, most small and marginal farmers still struggle. Add to this the climate woes faced increasingly by agricultural systems. The increased frequency of drought and flood like conditions further effects productivity.

A probable solution to the conundrum of making farming

profitable for small-scale farmers is in within the farmer’s reach. One of the key reasons for farming being less remunerative is its resource intensiveness. Ever since the green revolution, farmers have been using a lot of chemical inputs on their crops. This substantially increases the cost of production. The farmers need to shift to natural and organic farming methods, not only to improve their incomes but also to reduce their losses.

AKRSP(I) has been working to improve the livelihoods of rural communities for the last 33 years and a key intervention of the organisation has been improving the agricultural income of small and marginal farmers.

The key aims of the Sustainable Agriculture Programme of AKRSP(I) are below:

CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE (CA) 917 farmers have been covered under CA practices so far of which a phenomenal 627 farmers were added during the year and the number is expected to increase rapidly in the future.

A study done on the production of Maize in CA and non-CA plots revealed decreased input cost – ₹2,880 per acre, increased production – 392 kg/acre and increased net income – ₹7,524 per acre.

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CA is based on three principles:- 1. Minimum soil disturbance achieved through Zero tillage.2. Permanent organic soil cover by mulching.3. Annual crop rotation for perennial crops to maintain soil

nutrient balance.

CA is being promoted in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar program areas since the last three years, although it has taken off wonderfully in Madhya Pradesh, it still needs to establish its roots in Bihar and Gujarat.

Some of the results observed in CA plot versus the adjacent Non-CA plot were – better moisture retention, porous soil, better infiltration rate, better root development, reduced run-off, better quality of produce, more weight of grains produced.

ORGANIC AGRICULTURE7000 farmers from 99 villages in Madhya Pradesh have been practising Organic Agriculture on the Cotton crop for the last three years. The total area under organic cotton cultivation is 7624 acres. All the 7000 farmers have been registered for the Organic farming certification process and the fields of 3500 farmers have been certified as organic during the year. Through the certification, the farmers will get a premium price of their produce.

Efforts were made by the organization to help farmers reap profits from the year’s cotton harvest by developing linkages with Pratibha Syntex and Carrefour. Pratibha Syntex purchased 150 MT of cotton from in-conversion farmers (farmers who are in the process of being organically certified), benefitting 500 farmers who received a higher mandi rate and savings in transportation cost, as the FPOs were responsible for aggregating and selling. The Carrefour tie-up, on the other hand, was done to aggregate and sell cotton of organic certified farmers. 75 MT of organic cotton was sold benefitting 250 farmers who were able to get a premium of ₹1100/quintal on their harvest.

According to a study on the Impact of Organic Cotton farming, farmers save input cost to the tune of ₹ 7200-12,800/acre, while intercropping of pulses gives an extra income of ₹ 1000-4000 per acre along with providing for household consumption.

NON PESTICIDE MANAGEMENT20,409 farmers across program locations of AKRSP(I) practised Non-Pesticide Management (NPM) during the year. Majority of the farmers practising NPM in their fields belong to tribal Madhya Pradesh and

South Gujarat belts.

100 lead farmers and 60 Farmer Field Schools have been setup in Madhya Pradesh to build capacities of beneficiary farmers in the production techniques of organic fertilizers and biopesticides.

100 Agripreneurs have also been developed who sell organic fertilizers and biopesticides to farmers who do not wish to produce organic pest repellent themselves.

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Non Pesticide Management (NPM) Practices

Organic Fertilizer Amrit Khad, Bistara KhadGrowth Promoters Soyabean Tonic, Upla Tonic, Fresh ButtermilkBio-pesticides Amrit pani, Panch patti Kada, GGOC/Mirchi Chatni, Nimbaka,

Cupric Buttermilk, Fermented Buttermilk, Insect traps, Sticky traps

The sale of production from NPM pulses produced in South Gujarat was done to Safe Harvest which pays a premium of ₹4-8 per kg as compared to the market price. The total business of ₹1 crore was affected during the year through FPOs.

SYSTEM OF ROOT INTENSIFICATION (SRI) 3642 farmers across project locations undertook SRI practices in paddy and other crops. In Madhya Pradesh, SRI was practised by 610 farmers in different crops such as Maize, Soyabean, Wheat and Gram Millets.

In Dangs, more than 2000 farmers practised SRI in paddy. Other than paddy, SRI was practised in nutri cereals such as Nagli (Finger millet) and Varai (Indian barnyard millet) by 160

farmers. Over 490 farmers tried SRI in black gram. An SRI Rathyatra was organised in Dangs with the help of SHG members of 40 villages. The SRI Rath traversed the main streets of the villages providing information about SRI through loudspeakers.

Another interesting initiative which saw good progress during the year was the promotion of women farmer-focused SRI program in Valsad District. During the year 811 women farmers were trained on SRI and Organic agricultural methods covering 336 hectares of agricultural land.

To make agriculture inclusive and to reinforce the identity of women as farmers, the entry point village meetings and on field demonstrations of NPM and SRI methods was conducted with SHGs.

Organic Farming experts, Ajit and Ravi Kelkar undertook a trainer for trainers session at Dangs in September 2018 to train AKRSP(I) staff on Organic farming methods.

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BETTER COTTON INITIATIVE (BCI)The project initiated in 2012 to promote better cotton cultivation practices has since reached out to 4500 cotton farmers with 500 farmers added in the year 2018. All of these farmers received the BCI license for 5 years, i.e. the cotton produced by these farmers is being responsibly cultivated. The BCI practices are aimed at reduction in usage of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation water and improving health and safety aspects.

The project builds the capacities of farmers by imparting knowledge through learning groups. A total of 136 such learning groups, of which 16 learning groups were formed in 2018 are operational in 43 villages of Wankaner and Tankara blocks of Morbi and Rajkot districts respectively. Nearly, 6908 hectares of land under cotton cultivation in these villages is being benefited through the project.

Training was given to farmers on pre-sowing operations such as soil testing, seed selection, seed treatment, sowing methods and intercropping choices. Learning groups were also imparted knowledge on post sowing operations such as Integrated Pest Management, Integrated Nutrient Management, Integrated Disease Management, Weed Management, Irrigation Management, Safety measure while spraying pesticides, etc.

Pulse Production in BiharThe programme is aimed to bring a change in the lives of 2000 smallholder farmers of Samastipur district by promoting a mixed farming approach with impetus on pulses. The integrated programme is focused upon strengthening access to inputs, improving cropping practices, building farmer collectives for input supply, access to credit and collective marketing.

During the year 10 Krishi sakhis/Krishi Mitra (8 male, 2 female) have been selected to provide extension services to Kishan Vikas Samitis (village level institutions) for strengthening pulse value chain and spreading awareness on improved package of practices.

The key highlights of the work done during 2018 are below: – A Farmers Producer Company for developing Pulse Value Chain was registered. – 190 lead farmers trained on the package of practices of pulse cultivation. – 95 Kishan Vikas Samitis (KVS) were formed – Field demonstrations of pigeon pea, black gram, lentils and peas undertaken with 35 farmers. – Crop museum for pigeon pea, green pea and peas undertaken with 5 farmers from 5 KVS. Crop museum is an innovative method meant to promote experiential farming acumen among risk-taking and enterprising farmers. Various varieties/strands of a crop are planted in the same field and the production/yield of these strands are compared to identify the best yielding variety.

CROP DIVERSIFICATION AND DEMONSTRATIONSDuring the year, 499 new seed/crop trails/demonstrations were undertaken in various program areas.

In Bihar, 650 women farmers of 116 SHGs were supported for rabi pea cultivation. A one-day training programme was organised to impart knowledge regarding the package of practices for pea cultivation.

In Madhya Pradesh, 482 farmers participated in minor millet cultivation (Sorghum, Pearl millet, Finger millet). These were undertaken as intercrops and were used for household consumption.

In Dangs, over 30 farmers undertook sweet corn demonstrations. During the year, 2 demo organic strawberry farms were established in villages near Saputara.

A low-cost mandap set up was promoted in Dangs. To reduce the cost, the innovated model used wooden/bamboo logs instead of cement poles, which brought down the cost from ₹ 12000 to ₹ 5200 for a 500 sq.mt. of creeper mandap. 2 such demonstration mandaps were set up. This setup enables the farmer to undertake multi-tier farming.

4024 farmers were supported to establish wadis (Fruit orchards) during the year.

In Madhya Pradesh, 800 farmers have adopted fruit and vegetable cultivation. Mango, Guava, Pomegranate and Lemon comprise the key fruit trees planted in the orchards. Along with that 4000 households benefitted from backyard horticulture during the year.

In Coastal Gujarat area, beneficiary farms were provided fruit plants to establish orchards. 750 ber plants were given to 9 farmers, 978 pomegranate plants were given to 8 beneficiaries and 1216 lemon plants were given to 19 farmers to promote horticulture.

During the year, 192 marginal below poverty line farmers in Narmada district benefitted by sugarcane and banana production. Under a project of the Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd., these farmers were provided 1200 banana plants or 3500 sugarcane saplings, either sufficient to cultivate 1 acre of land, along with the requisite amount of fertilizers and pesticides. The expected profit for the farmers ranges from ₹1,00,000 - to ₹ 1,20,000 per acre, as the input cost has been almost zilch.

FARM MECHANISATIONImproved agricultural equipment was provided to 497 farmers for bringing efficiency in farming operations. Equipment such as battery operated spray pumps for reducing drudgery in medicine application, multi-purpose seed-drills, Job planter, Seed spiral grader for conducting sowing operations efficiently were provided across project locations.

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SEED BANKS FOR MINOR MILLETSIn order to promote intercropping and climate resilient agriculture, the Madhya Pradesh team has been promoting the cultivation of the traditional minor millets which have since the last few decades been replaced for more popular crops such as cotton, wheat etc. However, a constraint being faced in promotion of minor millets was the lack of available seeds of traditional varieties. In 2016, AKRSP(I) collected a very small quantity of seeds of minor millets, approximately 1-2 kg from 3-4 farmers. During the next year, i.e. 2017, the multiplication of these seeds was undertaken where the seeds were distributed to some farmers for production, who returned a portion of their produce for development of more seeds to AKRSP(I). During the year, 250 farmers were provided seeds for production of minor millets. This increase from a few to 250 farmers has led to the creation of a sustainable model for seed bank development. The future plans are to involve FPO in the development of seed bank for traditional varieties of seeds. In 2019, the FPO will collect the seeds from farmers, and will clean, grade and package them. This will then be sold to farmers at a reasonable price. The team expects to reach 1000 farmers through the seed bank activity in 2019.

FARMER PRODUCER ORGANISATIONSOne of the biggest resentments of farmers in recent years which has sparked many agitations has been having to sell their produce for pennies. The farmers are sometimes evenunable to recover their cost of production forget the realization

of any profit. The small and marginal farmers are the worst hit as they sell their produce to middlemen who rob farmers of the meagre income they might have made. Collectivization is crucial for smallholder farmers to survive in the world of greedy middlemen, improper implementation of Minimum Support Price scheme of the government, and uncertain market conditions.

AKRSP(I) has been enabling smallholder farmers since 2012 by collectivizing them in Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs). As of 2018, 20,443 farmers of 661 villages have been organised in 26 FPOs in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

The FPOs are receiving support from the government as well as private entities such as Small Famers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC), NABARD, RABO Bank, C&A Foundation, etc. During the year, finance of ₹ 1 Crore was leveraged from Ananya Finance and NABKISAN.

The FPO model was selected to bring farmers together on the principles of collective action and self-ownership. Farmer members contribute equitably to and democratically control the capital of their FPOs. The primary objective of the FPOs is to have small and marginal farmers realize benefits associated with forming collectives. Below are the details of the 26 FPOs promoted by AKRSP(I) and the business undertaken by them.

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Brief Overview: FPO promoted by AKRSP(I)

FPO ASSESSMENT 2018

During 2018, an assessment of 18 FPOs of Gujarat (10) and Madhya Pradesh (8) on Legal compliance, Organisational Strength and Business Development parameters; was undertaken to find out the gaps in order to effect corrective action by ensuring capacity building of the FPO executive board and members on the skill gaps identified.

Pandhana Pashu Palak Producer Company fared the best among all the producer companies, while Khalwa Producer Company performed poorly on all parameters.

As a result of the assessment, the following capacity building areas were identified; – Perspective building about role of FPO among BOD, CEO and FIG leaders – Systems Development – Value Chain Development – Preparation of Business plan – Resource mobilisation and marketing training

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The enterprising Ambaram

Ambaram, a resident of Morgun village in Barwani district started organic agriculture in 2014 on 1 acre of land of his total landholding of 2 acre. He got convinced of the results in a year and completely shifted to Organic agriculture. But he wanted his family to shift to organic agriculture too. His brothers agreed in the third year as they had seen the harvest of his farm. However, his fath remained obstinate and was the last to concede to the benefits of organic farming. Today the entire 8 acres of the land of his family is under organic agriculture.

He grows cotton, makka, tuvar, mung, mungfali, mung on his land and along with this he plants a lot of vegetables which he sells in Shahda (a town in Maharastra). He goes in a pickup van along with his vegetables. In the mandi, his produce gets a premium price as it is organically grown. A few regular customers make special efforts to come to him.

He also uses home produced seeds for everything he grows except cotton. He gets organic cotton seeds from AKRSP(I) but says that from next year, these too, he will develop as he has learnt how to make cotton seeds in a training held at Maharashtra.

He is a role model for other farmers in his village. 10 farmers in the village started Organic agriculture upon seeing the results of his farm. This was not the case when he started out. He mentions that people didn’t believe him earlier when he said that he didn’t use any chemical inputs. They would say that he sprays pesticides during the night time. It took them sometime to start believing him.

He recalls a recent incident, ‘A friend of mine used a lot of pesticide on his crop. I gave him Panchpatti Kada to use on his field. I said, ‘डाल के देखो’. He came to me carrying leaves after a few days and asked me to make the medicine for his farm, recalls Ambaram joyfully.’

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tYnh cky lQsn gks tk;sxk jklk;fud [kkn okys [kkus ls |- Eikesh (son of Ambaram), Morgun village, Niwali Block, Barwani district

Consuming chemically produced food will cause hair to grey earlier.

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LIVESTOCK DEVELOPMENT

The second most important livelihood sector for rural economy after agriculture is Livestock. Small and Marginal farmers with landholdings of less than 4 hectares own around 87.7% of the livestock in the country. Till 1998, India was a milk-deficient nation, but in that year, it became the highest milk producing nation, a position it holds till date.

According to the 19th Livestock Census, 2012, India has the highest number of cattle (512.5 million), with the highest number of buffalo (105.3 million) and the second highest number of goats. India also prides itself as the second largest poultry market in the world with a production of 63 billion eggs and 649 million poultry meat. 20.5 million people depend upon livestock for their livelihood and it contributes 16% of income of small and marginal farmers. The sector contributes 4.11% to the GDP of the country and forms a quarter of the total agriculture GDP. But this is still not the full potential of the sector.

The productivity of India’s livestock is 20-60% lower than the global average due to lack of policy focus and high mortality of animals. Inadequate medical facilities and deficiency in proper feed and fodder are responsible for the unrealized production potential.

Realising the importance of the livestock sector especially for small and marginal farmers and the need to work on improving access to medical services and proper nutrition,

AKRSP(I) started focused programmes of goat and poultry development in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar programme areas in 2014 and 2016.

In Gujarat, due to the strong cooperative movement, the focus was on breed improvement of large livestock (buffalo and cow) and development of dairy value chains. Although in recent years; efforts are being made to improve the small ruminant productivity of tribal farmers of Dangs programme area.

BiharA huge programme which aims to reach 60,000 women goat rearers in three years through the development of alternative sources such as goatery and poultry with the help of a cadre of female paravets known as ‘Pashu Sakhis’ was initiated in Bihar in 2016. This programme was a scale-up and replication of the Pashu Sakhi programme which had been successfully piloted in Madhya Pradesh programme areas in 2014.

The focus of the programme has been to collectivize goat rearers for collective selling and imparting knowledge on the best practices of goat rearing through the medium of women para vets.

The programme reached out to 66 Gram Panchayats in 223 villages.

According to a study titled, ‘ Ripples of Change’ undertaken in Madhya Pradesh project area, after the initiation of Pashu Sakhi services, goatery and poultry have become potential income sources. A pashu palak family can potentially earn a minimum of ₹30,000 per year from goatery and around ₹24,000 per year from poultry.

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The key progress of the goatery programme, operational in Muzaffarpur and Samastipur districts, during the year is as below:

– 117 new pashu sakhis were recruited and trained to offer paravet services in their respective villages. – Capacity building sessions of 247 existing paravets were undertaken on business planning, producer group formation, gender modules, effective communication, etc. – 22,469 households benefitted from goat and poultry vaccinations, and 37,748 households received deworming services. – 5203 households were involved in goat feed improvement activities such as Azola cultivation, Makhan grass cultivation, adoption of mineral mixtures and feed blocks, etc. – Community institution focussed Goat sale enabled the sale of 52 goats for ₹15,00,450 averaging to a decent amount of ₹28,854 per goat. – To enhance income of pashu sakhis, they were trained to undertake castration of bucks. During the year, Pashu Sakhis castrated 8063 bucks.

Madhya PradeshThe pashu sakhi programme which was initiated as a pilot project aimed to reduce mortality and improve community knowledge in 2014 by training 25 pashu sakhis of 10 villages of Jhirniya block in Khargone district has been scaled up in the past four years to impact 4392 HHs in 5 districts of Madhya Pradesh. The key highlights of the programme for the year 2018 are as below:

– 79 Pashu Palak Groups (Goat rearer groups) are currently functional which work for collectivization of sale through 3 livestock farmer producer companies.

– 9877 households received goatery vaccination services and 13,228 households received goatery deworming services. – 6388 households received basic veterinary care through the network of Pashu Sakhis. – As a means for additional income, pashu sakhis were trained to perform goat castrations and 132 bucks were castrated by pashu sakhis during the year. – 100 pashu sakhis were trained through various capacity building sessions on different topics on livestock management. – 279 households benefitted from the construction of low-cost goat sheds and 166 households were provided low-cost poultry sheds – 1184 households benefitted from the promotion of feed improvement through the use of mineral mixtures, feed blocks, salt bricks and Azola cultivation.

Pashu sakhis act as a knowledge sieve which transfers the knowledge learnt to the livestock rearing families thereby strengthening the collective knowledge base on animal husbandry. The pashu sakhi model of AKRSP(I) is truly a transformative approach to small livestock medical service delivery.Ripples of Change|Impact Assessment of integrated programme undertaken in Madhya Pradesh

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The key findings of a study undertaken by LEAN Data on the impact of Project Mesha operational in Muzzaffarpur district are as follows:

– 28% of goat rearers had no access and 61% had only sporadic access to animal health services before Project Mesha. – 89% of pashu sakhis are earning an income and 73% are working as a vet for the first time. – At an average of ₹18,000 a year, pashusakhi income was the primary household income for 28%, and secondary for 58% of our respondents. – 89% reported at least some improvement in earnings due to Project Mesha.

34 large poultry units of more than 500 chicks capacity with a buy back programme were established during the year. The entrepreneurs were provided with training on construction of sheds, safety and security measures of the farms, procedures for reducing mortality of the chicken etc.

The Pashu Mitra An extension of the pashu sakhi model of Madhya Pradesh, during the year, 43 youth were trained on basic upkeep of milch animals, goats and poultry; diagnosis of early symptoms, first aid services, and referral of severe/complex cases. The Dairy programme 240 households were provided 269 milch cattle in Dangs district and 3682 households in Porbandar and Devbhoomi Dwarka district benefitted from health care services provided to 7732 milch cattle. In addition to this 355 households were provided with supply of cattle feed at a subsidized rate in Dangs.

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igys dgk¡ Fkk bruk] dksbZ igpkurk Hkh ugha Fkk] vHkh i’kq l[kh cuus ls lc tkuus yx x, | cksyrs gS] M‚DVj fd/kj tk jgh gS ? cPps Hkh cksyrs gS] eEeh] oks M‚DVj vkbZ gS] viuh cdjh dks ns[kus tks vkrh gS oks |

- Kiranbai Bharat (Pashu Sakhi of Bamniya Phaliya village), Jhirniya Block, Khargone District

Earlier no one recognised us. After becoming Pashu Sakhi people have started knowing. They ask, where is doctor going? Children say, Mother, the doctor who comes to see our goats has come.

GujaratPoultry programme The poultry programme promoted includes setting up of

– Individual backyard poultry units and – Development of large broiler poultry entrepreneurs

During the year 90 farmers (mostly women) were provided with chicks to establish 124 back yard poultry units. Chicks of desi and Satpura desi breeds were provided. The women have profited with ₹5,000 – ₹10,000 per cycle from this intervention.

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SUSTAINABLE WATERRESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

With 80% of the surface water sources lost to pollution and encroachment coupled with high annual groundwater extraction rates, estimated at 250 km2, as per an study by Water Aid and Central Groundwater Board, the state of water resources in India is truly alarming.

17% of the water bodies monitored by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) are critically polluted1, of which rivers Bhadar, Khari and Sabarmati and Moonsar lake are in Gujarat, rivers Betwa, Gour, Khan and Narmada, are situated in Madhya Pradesh and Sikarana river in Bihar.

With such a sorry state of surface water resources, India is increasingly relying upon ground water resources for fulfilling its needs. Irrigation sector accounts for major portion of the groundwater extracted with over 21 million wells operational across various regions of the country.2

According to the estimation of resources published by Central Ground water Board (CGWB) in 2017, it is estimated that 16% of the ground water resources are over exploited. While Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi have state of ground water development higher than 120%, that of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar are 68%, 57% and 45% respectively.3 (The state of groundwater development refers to the share of total annual groundwater being used vis a vis its replenishment rate)

1 Survey Report, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as on March 20182 State of India’ Environment 2019, Down to Earth3 Dynamic ground water resources of India – 2017, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

The lack of proper water conservation and management practices is leading India to a dark future, where majority of its regions will run out of water. However, there is a silver lining to the water crisis faced by India. Water being a replenishable resource as opposed to conventional fossil fuels; the problem of water scarcity is solvable with sustainable water resource development.

AKRSP(I)’s ApproachBy effective water management techniques which are aimed at increasing the water supply at one hand through recharge of aquifers by construction of water harvesting structures and river basin management; and reducing water demand on the other hand through promotion of micro-irrigation systems, conservation agriculture and low water use farming systems; AKRSP(I) has over the last 30 years been trying to reduce the water scarcity in its programme areas.

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AKRSP(I) is working in coastal saline, drought prone and tribal regions of Gujarat, tribal areas of Western Madhya Pradesh and Flood plains of Bihar through the following approaches:

– Recharging ground water through construction of percolation tanks, check dams, and group wells. – Irrigation support to small and marginal farmers through surface water as well as ground water sources. – Promotion of micro irrigation systems to reduce demand of agricultural water.

WATER HARVESTING FOR LIVELIHOODS – During the year, 21 new check dams were constructed under various projects benefitting 101 farmers by bringing 228 hectares of unirrigated land under irrigation. – The repair of another 16 old check dams/earthen dams benefitted 267 additional farmers by bringing 187 hectares under irrigation coverage. – To harness additional baseflows during monsoons, a relatively low cost intervention, known as ‘Bori Band’ was introduced in coastal saline programme areas of Gujarat in the 2000s. In this intervention, temporary structures made of gunny bags filled with sand are built across the stream to harness base flows for irrigation. Seeing its utility, Bori band were scaled up by AKRSP(I) to other programme areas as well and are taken up every year. This year 34 boribands were erected in Dangs programme area, benefitting 68 farmers by irrigating 25 hectares of land. – Two percolation tanks were built in Madhya Pradesh Programme area to recharge ground water. These tanks are constructed in sub basin areas by bunding streams and gullies to store run off during monsoon months thus causing recharge during dry post monsoon months. – 457 farm ponds were constructed during the year, of which the major chunk, 454 farm ponds were constructed in Mangrol region under the KVY IV project. Farm ponds enable farmers to irrigate their Kharif crops during dry spells of monsoon. – During the year, 158 farmers got benefitted from 41 conventional lift irrigation schemes. 37 out of these were installed in Madhya Pradesh which showed impressive growth in irrigation coverage and 4 of these group-based schemes saw fruition in Dangs. – A gradual shift from conventional sources to renewable sources to pump water for irrigation purposes is being promoted in the programme areas. While 41 solar based irrigation schemes were promoted by AKRSP(I) in 2017, 47 solar pumps were installed in programme areas during the year to aid group based irrigation systems. The maximum growth of solar pump installation was seen in Bihar programme area followed by South Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. – Another innovative way to bringing irrigation coverage to small and marginal farmers is diverting surface water flows and using gravity to direct water to the farmers’ fields. This year 4 Diversion based Irrigation Systems (DBI) were set-up in Madhya Pradesh in 2018 taking the total of DBI systems set up to 9 since its introduction in 2016.

Diversion-based Irrigation Systems (DBI)

DBI systems are also called ‘Gravity Flow systems’ and present novel ways of tapping water from perennial or semi-perennial water nalas/streams and diverting it to irrigate fields without intermediate storage.

The main components of DBI are mentioned below:

Traditionally practiced, Phad Irrigation is an ancient water harvesting technique which has been said to be used since the past 300 years in various hilly regions of the country. It consists of diverting a portion of the stream with the help of mud canals which are spread out in the fields.

The main drawback of this system although is that the phads built need constant repair and upkeep as they can be easily blocked or damaged by changes in the rate of flow of the water and various other factors. Also, as they are dug by manual efforts the area irrigated is much less than the command area of the stream.

AKRSP(I) improved upon the traditional phad in 2016 by building an inlet chamber across the stream to divert a small portion of stream’s flow into the chamber and then transported the water thus stored through pipelines to the fields of the farmers, where distribution chambers managed by valves irrigate the field.

This work done by AKRSP(I) in the last two years has connected 74 rainfed farmers to irrigation sources and brought 182 acres of land under irrigation.

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MICRO IRRIGATION SYSTEMSAnother key area of focus of the Water resource Development work undertaken by AKRSP(I) is promotion of Drip and Sprinkler systems. This year 1115 farmers were connected to drip irrigation systems and 264 farmers benefitted from sprinkler systems, bringing 1707 acres of area under Micro Irrigation Systems.

A major chunk of drip beneficiaries, 1053 farmers, can be attributed to Drip Promotion project operational in Surendranagar district, while the sprinkler irrigation beneficiaries belong to the Mangrol programme area. The Drip Promotion project merits a scalable model which has been explained below:

THE DRIP PROMOTION PROJECT

The loan-based Financing ModelThe unit cost of for installing drip is ₹ 50,000 per acreComponents of Drip pool financing- Drip Promotion Interest-free Loan ₹ 16000- GGRC Subsidy ₹ 30000- Farmers’ Contribution ₹ 4000Support is provided for a maximum of 3 acres.

The community ownership componentThe farmers are formed in small Farmer Interest Group (FIG) who provide loan to farmers. The FIGs are federated into Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) who make the use of a revolving capital amount to provide loan to FIGs, which is initially paid to the FPCs by AKRSP(I).

How it works?A farmer who wishes to avail the drip pool loan approaches the village-level Farmer Interest groups. The FIG provides zero-

interest flexible EMI loan to the farmer for 1 to 3 acres of land. The FIG helps the farmer enroll for the government subsidy and the first phase of the Drip system setup is thereby achieved. The FIG accumulates all the Drip applications received and forwards them to the FPC under which it operates. The FPCs provide the FIG with the requisite amount of loan which is disbursed by the FIG to the applicant farmers. The farmers purchase and install the drip systems in their farms with the help of loan amount provided and the subsidy granted by Gujarat Green Revolution Company (GGRC). The repayment of the loan is done by the farmer over the duration of 1 year where the farmer can make repayments through flexible EMIs. These EMIs are synced with the cropping calendar which allow for higher EMIs in post-harvest months. The loan amount once recovered is used to provide loan to another farmer and so on. Thus a fixed principle amount is kept rotating and benefitting more and more farmers avail drip irrigation through a revolving fund system.

Progress and Results – A total of 9571 acres have been installed with Drip Irrigation Systems since its initiation in 2015

– 17% increase in cotton yield has been observed – The loan recovery has been 100% in the past 3 years – 22% of the farmers could take rabi crop due to the water savings from using the drip system

– 21% farmers started intercropping of pulses along with cotton – Water savings of 1.10 million litres per acre affected by the use of drip

According to an exhaustive study of Drip farmers income, it was found that Drip farmers earned ₹21,554/acre versus non-drip farmers income of ₹8324 per acre. The increase in income of drip farmers is ₹13,230 per acre. -Cotton Income analysis of 3460 drip farmers versus 80 non-drip farmers, 2018-19

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The increase in annual income of beneficiaries from various water resource development activities according to a process documentation report by Samaj Consultancy on Dangi Vikas project is as follows:

Water Harvesting for Livelihoods: ₹12,000 p.a.Micro Irrigation Systems: ₹13,000 p.a.

Participatory Irrigation Management: ₹15,000 p.a.

PARTICIPATORY IRRIGATION MANAGEMENTAKRSP(I) has been a pioneer in Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) work. It initiated PIM processes in South Gujarat in the late eighties and formed the first Canal Irrigation Societies (CIS) in Gujarat.

PIM is a set of processes involving the beneficiaries of canal irrigation in the management of the canal infrastructure through regular maintenance and repair. This is done through federating beneficiaries into a Canal Irrigation Society (CIS) which is responsible for collection of water tariffs from canal irrigation beneficiaries.

Tribal South GujaratDuring the year, 2797 hectares of land was covered under PIM benefitting 3098 farmers of two blocks of Tapi and Surat districts. The work undertaken in the PIM project in South Gujarat is given below:

– 32 Water User Associations (WUAs) were formed covering around 9197 farmers and 12168 hectare area. – The WUAs undertook post monsoon work of canal cleaning by contributing 3111 man days of voluntary labour.

– A 3-day Pad yatra (mass on-foot movement) was undertaken to mobilise community and create awareness regarding responsible use of water sources which saw participation of 3142 farmers and officials from Irrigation department. – 28 of the 32 WUA’s formed were registered. They paid 100% of their water fees and were able to avail 50% subsidy on the water bill from the irrigation department.

Drought Prone Gujarat – During the year, a PIM project started in 6 villages of Vadhvan Taluka of Surendranagar district which will provide irrigation coverage to 5744 hectares of area. The inception phase work of the project was initiated which involved community mobilisation through village-level meetings, programme awareness campaigns, formation of community institutions, etc. 7 WUA groups have been formed and have operational bank accounts.

Coastal Saline Gujarat – The work of a three year, Barda Sagar Sinchai Yojana initiated during the year under which AKRSP(I) has collaborated with Government for facilitating the PIM

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process of 6 villages of Porbandar district. – During the year, the inception phase work such as beneficiary identification, Topical Participatory Rural Appraisal, community-level meetings, awareness campaigns, exposure visits, etc. were undertaken. – Workshops and trainings were organised in three villages which enlisted participation of 294 farmers. – Exposure visit of farmers was undertaken where the beneficiaries were taken to visit PIM project beneficiaries of successful projects undertaken in the past such as Uben Irrigation Yojana of Junagadh and Netrang Ukai yojana.

MICRO WATERSHED IMPACT EVALUATIONIn 2015-16, seven check dams were constructed with a cumulative storage capacity of 2.6 mcft. on Chikda Khadi river providing supplementary irrigation support to 54 farmers of Narmada district. During the year, an impact assessment of the series of Check dams built was undertaken through valuation of the agricultural production resulted from the irrigation facility provided. The results of the study are mentioned below:

– Paddy was cultivated by 29 beneficiaries on 15.2 ha of land, which resulted into total agricultural production of 247.2 quintals and income of ₹ 2,84, 280 – Wheat was cultivated by 8 beneficiaries on 1.4 ha of land with a production of 22.9 quintals and ₹45,800 collectively – Maize was planted on 05 ha of land by 10 beneficiaries resulting into an agricultural production of 915.4 quintals and an income of ₹1,83,080.

The total increase in gross sown area due to the micro-watershed work on the river was 22.6 ha. The total income from production of various crops was ₹6,32,650 with the average increase in income per farmer of ₹ 11,716.

Optimum utilization of FundsThe use of surplus funds of the Drip Promotion project operational in Surendranagar district was done to enhance the water recharge capacity of the hard water aquifers of Saurashtra region. During the year, 15 water harvesting structures were constructed with the storage capacity of 6 million cubic feet which will benefit 230 farmers by providing irrigation to 400 hectares of land. Additionally, the structures will recharge wells situated in one kilometer radius of the structures constructed thus benefitting the owners of the wells.

The benefits of going Solar

Yamuna Samunik Sinchai Samiti (Yamuna SLI) comprising 11 members was set up in Manika Gazi village of Muzaffarpur district to enable the farmers to irrigate their fields with the help of solar-powered irrigation system (SLI). The farmers in the samiti collectively contributed ₹1,50,000 as community’s share towards the total set up cost of ₹8,00,000.

The farmers had earlier used diesel pump sets to irrigate their lands which they owned or rented. The cost of irrigation for rented diesel irrigation system is ₹150 per hour while that of owned diesel pump-based irrigation system is ₹50/hour. In comparison, the user fees of Yamuna SLI is ₹60 per hour for committee members and ₹100 per hour for other farmers. While a diesel pump can irrigate only a katha of land in an hour, a solar based system can irrigate 2-3 katha per hour. So, the effective cost of a solar irrigation per katha is ₹30 (for committee members) and ₹50 (for non-members) versus ₹150 per katha of diesel irrigation system. Before the setup of the SLI, the farmers interviewed took Kharif and Rabi crops, but the SLI has enabled them to take the Zaid crop too. During the summer season the water level recedes and due to this diesel-based Lift Irrigation which have shallow boring are unable to draw water, while in the case of SLI, as the boring is at 400 ft, water can be drawn easily during summers too.

The marginal farmers interviewed cultivated only Kharif crop and migrated to cities for labour work due to lack of irrigation and the high cost involved in borrowing irrigation equipment Such farmers have now started cultivating rabi crop due to reduction in cost and ease of irrigation availability. Due to the SLI, rabi crop area has increased by 15 acres for the Yamuna Sinchai Samiti. The area under cultivation has increased after the setup of the SLI. Due to increase in gross cropped area and increase in production, the farmers benefitted from the SLI showed an increase in income of ₹5000 - ₹8000 per agricultural season as per the estimation of the farmers interviewed. ‘

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fiNys lky rd fi;r ugha gksus ls dikl ,d gh ckj ys ikrs Fks] bl lky xehZ dikl fy;k gS bldks vHkh ekpZ rd j[ksxs |

- DBI Beneficiary, Guradpani village, Sendhwa block, Barwani districtTill last year, we took only one picking of cotton due to lack of water, this year we have had water and will keep the cotton till march.

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SOIL AND WATERCONSERVATION (SWC)

The sorry state of surface water sources in India and the increasing reliance of groundwater aquifers for agriculture as well as drinking water purposes is quickly depleting the resource. Proper water conservation and recharge measures are extremely important for replenishing the precious ground water resources.

AKRSP(I) undertakes various soil and water conservation measures in its programme areas to ensure the viability of groundwater resources to and enable sustainable use of water resources by the communities. These activities are carried out in undulating topographies and the programme areas of Madhya Pradesh and Dangs are ideal for undertaking SWC activities.

– Area treatment activities such as Earthen farm bunding, stone field bunding, farm forestry and common land plantation – Drainage line treatment activities such as gabion and loose boulder structures, nalla plugs, etc.

The key works undertaken during the year were: – Construction of two recharge wells in Netrang programme area to allow for water percolation in underground stratas of land. – Farm bunding was undertaken on 348 hectares of land benefitting 412 farmers of Madhya Pradesh, Dangs and Netrang program areas.

– Common land plantation of 23,000 fuelwood and fodder species was undertaken under NREGA on 21.24 hectares of land in Madhya Pradesh. – 32 gabions and 508 loose boulder gully plugs were constructed in Madhya Pradesh and Dangs programme areas. These measures check soil erosion and augment groundwater recharge. – 47 hectares of land was treated for contour/staggered trenches. Contour trenches are constructed in the ridge area of a watershed. They collect the rainwater that falls in the ridge area.

Exposure Visit to Pani Foundation134 community members from 3 panchayats in Dangs district were taken for exposure to the field areas of Pani Foundation; an organization doing commendable community-driven village development work. The community members witnessed the role of collective strength in resolution of issues related to health, sanitation, drinking water, soil conservation, etc. They were deeply impressed and returned to their respective panchayats with fresh resolution. Since the visit, the community members have initiated many works in their villages such as construction of gully plugs, cleaning of wells, and digging compost pits, etc. A total of 2435 person days have been contributed by the community towards construction of the above structures in their respective panchayats.

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DRINKING WATER

depletion of groundwater resources. Many states are already extracting more groundwater than their recharge capacity.

AKRSP(I)’s works on strengthening community institutions such that they demand access to household level water supply schemes from the government. It also works on the development of village-level community owned drinking water supply systems. These are initially developed with infrastructure support from AKRSP(I) but the eventual operations and management is undertaken by community-level committees nurtured and empowered by AKRSP(I).

While on the one hand, AKRSP(I) focusses on enabling access to drinking water, on the other had it focusses its efforts on two issues plaguing the groundwater aquifers across the country, which are quality deterioration and over-extraction.

The organisations spreads awareness regarding the sources of bacteriological contamination and measures to be taken to remove such contamination. Another focus of AKRSP(I) has been on ensuring community awareness regarding potable sources of drinking water by promoting water tests. The community collects water samples which are sent to government-run or AKRSP(I)-run water testing laboratories.

Drinking water needs are primarily met out of groundwater aquifers in India, a country which holds 4% of the world’s renewable water resources but is burdened with 18% of the world’s population.

While a major part (around 90%) of the groundwater extraction goes to the irrigation sector, most of the drinking water needs are also met by groundwater sources. 85% of the rural drinking water and 50% of urban water supply are meted out from groundwater resources.

As per the data of the audit report on the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, the coverage of drinking water increased by 5.5% for the period of 2012-2017. 44% of schools and 88% of anganwadis have access to potable drinking water as per the report.

The deterioration in the quality of groundwater is thus an ominous sign for the health of India’s populace. A major part of the country’s groundwater resources are contaminated through one or the other pollutants, such as arsenic, fluoride, nitrate, etc. Eastern India with its shallow groundwater aquifers faces bacteriological contamination due to improper usage and anthropogenic activities.

Along with contamination, another key concern is the

The Bihar Government has shortlisted the Community Owned and Managed Drinking Water Supply System (COMDWSS) at its Innovative forum and is looking at the model for its ‘Har ghar nal jal yojana (tap water connection for each house) project.

- Rural water supply scheme setting standards for the rest of India | Usha Rai| Sunday Guardian |18-24 March2018

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To ensure that over-extraction of groundwater is not done through the activities promoted by AKRSP(I), it has since its inception been constructing and promoting Roof Rain Water Harvesting Structures which enable the collection and storage of rainwater for household level drinking purposes during water scarce summer months.

The key highlights of the work undertaken during the year are below:

BiharAKRSP(I) has been recognized as the technical partner to support the implementation of the ‘Har Ghar Nal Jal’ scheme of the Bihar government, which aims to provide piped water supply connection to 17.8 million households over the period of 5 years. The work undertaken by AKRSP(I) during the year is below:

– It has oriented 2000 Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members in 7 blocks of Samastipur district. – 12 block-level orientations covering 1800 PRI members have been conducted in Muzaffarpur district. – 3 batches of Training for Trainer (TOT) conducted in which all concerned District Panchayati Raj Officers and supporting Block Development Officers (BDOs) have been trained. 200 master trainers have been trained through these trainings in Muzaffarpur and Samastipur districts. – Developed a Training Module and a Training video on ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal’ scheme. – 12 Jal Chaupals conducted which sensitized 930 PRI members on water budgeting. – 4 wards completed drinking water schemes which benefitted 480 households.

5 Community Owned and Managed Drinking Water Supply Schemes (COMDWSS) were developed in Bihar benefitting 350 households. These structures were first piloted in Bihar in 2014-15 and offer a reasonable alternative to government piped water supply schemes. These are completely owned and managed by a village-level committees, known as, Pani

Samitis (Water Committees) set up for the said purpose.

AKRSP(I) established drinking water facility for 15 schools by digging the bore well, providing the motor pump for extraction of water, the provision of a water tank for storing the water extracted and the construction of a drinking water station.

403 water samples were also tested to ensure potability of drinking water

Madhya PradeshAKRSP(I) with support from Gruh Finance Limited has piloted decentralized mini-drinking water schemes in 3 villages Mojwadi, Dangurla and Golekheda situated in Khandwa and Burhanpur districts. Till December 2018, 2 mini-drinking water schemes at Mojwadi & Dangurla have been completed and handed over to the community.

301 water samples were also tested to find out whether the water was potable and to build awareness among community members towards sources and causes of water contamination along with the effects of drinking contaminated water.

Gujarat1012 water samples were collected and tested from Coastal Gujarat region to ascertain potability status as the water in the region is affected by salinity, high TDS and fluoride content. Out of the samples collected, 14% were found unfit for human consumption. The samples were tested for levels of TDS, Turbidity, Flouride, Nitrate, Hardness, and bacteriological contamination. 60% of the samples had high TDS, while 22% of the samples were bacteriologically contaminated.

144 cement-concrete platforms were constructed around handpumps to limit bacteriological contamination which is caused by seepage of waste stagnant water into shallow groundwater sources such as handpumps. The platforms constructed act as water recharging points with limited scope of infiltration. The villages where the platforms have been constructed look visibly cleaner than before.

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ikuh dusD’ku ls cgqr lqfo/kk gqbZ gS | igys dqN yksx dy ls ihrs Fks vkSj ftuds ikl iSls Fks oks [kjhn ds Hkh ihrs Fks | …å :i;s is „å yhVj ikuh feyrk Fkk] ge Hkh igys [kjhn ds gh ihrs Fks| vHkh …å :i;s esa eghus Hkj ikuh ihrs gSa |

- Gita Devi, Manika Gazi Village, Musahari block, Muzaffarpur districtThe water connection has provided a very good facility. Earlier some people drank from the handpump and other purchased drinking water at the rate of ₹ 30 for 20 Litres of water. We also used to purchase drinking water. Now, we get an entire month’s supply of drinking water for ₹ 30.

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SANITATIONHEALTH AND HYGIENE

India has had a rural sanitation program since the first five-year plan in some form or another. In 1986, the government launched the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) which relied on hardware subsidies to generate demand. Then in 1999, the Centre launched the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), wherein it replaced subsidy with the term incentive. In this program, the government provided assistance for the first time to construct School and Anganwadi toilets, Community Sanitation Complexes as well as Solid and Liquid Waste Management.

In 2012, TSC was replaced with Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, a hardware-focused program which intended to achieve total sanitation by 2022. The problem with all the efforts and programs and the reason for their failure was the supply--driven approach which did not create awareness for the need

of toilets. In the absence of awareness campaigns and community involvement, toilet construction was ignored. However, things changed for the better with the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. The ministry paid a huge emphasis on making India clean and Open Defecation Free (ODF). It encouraged corporates to invest their CSR funds in the construction of sanitation facilities for schools and anganwadis. The programme was successful in bringing sanitation to the National Agenda. As of 2018, about 87.5 million household toilets have been built by the government under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

AKRSP(I) had worked extensively in the water and sanitation sector in the past 30 years by addressing different aspects of work through various programmes. Till 2014, the organisation had constructed 5,000 household level toilets in 52 villages in the states of Gujarat and Bihar. In south Gujarat, AKRSP(I) had also facilitated the construction of biogas-linked sanitation facilities.

However, in 2015, AKDN pledged to contribute to the Swachh Bharat Mission by construction of over 1,00,000 individual level household toilets, 528 school toilet blocks in selected villages thus reaching out to approximately 7,00,000 people by 2019 with the help of its partners namely Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSPI), Aga Khan Public Building Services (AKPBS), Aga Khan Trust for Culture

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xkao cf<+;k yxs Nh | lc cPpk] cgq &csVh dksbZ cgkj uk x;sy | lcdk ?kjs esa gks x;k gS vc 'kkSpky; |chekjh de gksb x;sy |

- Kusumi Devi, Ratanpur Village, Bochaha block, Muzaffarpur districtThe village looks good. The children and women do not have to go outside. Everyone’s house now has a toilet. The instances of illness have reduced.

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(AKTC) and Aga Khan Foundation (AKF). In order to achieve this, AKDN intended to implement a comprehensive behaviour change communication campaign to generate demand for safe sanitation, provide financial and programmatic support for the identification and adoption of innovative and scalable toilet technology and design options (for individual, school and community toilets), develop systems for waste management, village cleanliness and awareness among adolescents for menstrual hygiene.

Approaching its last leg in 2019, the programme has over the past four years undertaken great strides. Since 2015, AKRSP(I) has constructed 87,871 Individual Household Latrine (IHHL) thus leading 876 villages to become ODF.

The initiative undertaken by AKRSP(I) is currently being implemented in 3 states- Bihar, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, covering 28 blocks and 1728 villages. Out of these villages, school sanitation program is being implemented in 575 villages, Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) is being implemented in 208 villages and Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) is being implemented in 29 villages.

In the fourth year of the programme, the focus was on ODF + approaches. The key achievements of the year are below:

– The success of the Block Saturation Approach in Bihar leading to three blocks namely, Tajpur, Mohanpur and Muraul achieving ODF status. – The MHM programme became more structured. – Community Institutions such as the Nigrani Samiti and women federations played an important role in maintaining ODF status.

The Key progress numbers of the work undertaken in 2018 are presented below:

In Madhya Pradesh, 100% target has been achieved in 2018, despite the state being declared as ODF in 2017. Small loans were mobilized through SHGs for enabling very poor households to construct IHHLs. The sanitation coverage of Khaknar block has increased to 86% and it is expected to achieve ODF status by 2nd October 2019.

In Gujarat, progress is being made slowly but steadily. Construction of 5389 toilets was undertaken during the year. Low achievement was on account of the declaration of entire state as ODF by the government of Gujarat, which either stopped the flow of subsidy or made it sporadic at the field level. The sanitation coverage of Mangrol & Wankaner block was 69% and 89% respectively and efforts will be made to make them ODF by 2019 end.

What worked for Bihar?Bihar has shown phenomenal growth in the construction of

Sanitation Coverage (IHHL) over the years

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IHHL. The total number of IHHL built by AKRSP(I) in Bihar is 1.5 times the IHHL built in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh put together. While the numbers for Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have tapered off in the past two years, Bihar has shown 60% growth in numbers from the previous year. The key reasons for Bihar’s success have been presented below:

1. The Block Saturation Approach : A Block is considered as a single unit and the work is undertaken accordingly. A huge impetus is given to liasioning and engagement with government department officials. Handholding support is provided to block project monitoring unit. Technical assistance is provided at block and district level in the preparation of capacity building plans for various stakeholders under the Swachh Bharat Mission. Another significant step was the MOU with the Bihar government for capacity building of local Panchayati Raj Institution members.

2. Mass level Mobilisation and trainings: Mobilisation activities have been undertaken across all locations in Bihar. In the last four years, the initiative took the form of a ‘Jan Andolan’ to achieve ODF. During 2018, several mass level events such as ‘Satyagrah se Swachhgrah’ and ‘Swacchta hi seva hai’ were undertaken. Another major focus has been on developing an army of trained masons, as the quality of the toilet depends upon the skill level of the mason. In 2018, 600 masons were trained on twin pit low-cost toilet technology.

3. The army of Swachhgrahi: One of the vital components of the sanitation programme has been Swachhgrahis, a community-based army of personnel who implement community-based approach to sanitation which has been the key to achieving ODF status. During 2018, AKRSP(I)

trained 1700 Swacchgrahis.

IEC ACTIVITIESExtensive engagement with the community through various activities like training, workshop, exposure, mass awareness events etc. is the backbone of this initiative. Different activities are organised with major stakeholders like swachhagrahis, front line workers- ASHA, ANM, Anganwadi worker etc., school children, adolescent girls and community at large. Details of different activities carried out during 2018 are as follows:

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Various mass events were undertaken around the year to mobilise and sensitise people. The key events organised during the year at different locations were:

– 3-19 April 2018 – ‘Satyagrah se Swachhgrah campaign’ – to sensitise the community to make their villages ODF – Pratibha Saman Samaharo – organised by Khandwa district government. It appreciated the work on drinking water and sanitation done by the organisation. – 28 May 2018 – Menstrual Hygiene day – 2208 adolescent girls and women participated and information on various aspects of menstruation cycle and its management was shared. – 15 Sept – 2 Oct 2018 – ‘Swachhta hi Seva’ campaign to spread awareness about good sanitation and hygiene. Various activities such as gram safai, ratri cahupal, training of frontline workers like ASHA and ANM, swachhta rallies, MHM sensitization, ODF declaration, etc. were undertaken. The campaign was a huge success with participation of more than 50,000 in the Jan Andolan. – 15 Oct 2018 – Global Handwashing day celebrated through awareness activities such as hand wash demonstration, hygiene rallies, drawing and essay competitions, etc. organised at schools. – 19 Nov 2018 – World Toilet Day celebrated with the participation of more than 5000 people at different locations. The key focus was on increasing participation of women and children in driving the ODF campaign.

MENSTRUAL HYGIENE MANAGEMENTFocussed work on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) was initiated in 2017 and since then a great deal of efforts have been put in to provide structure to the initiative. At all project locations, impetus was given upon covering 3 aspects of MHM1. Providing the correct information to adolescent girls

regarding menstruation. It includes myth busting through various fun activities and games.

2. Encouraging girls to adopt safe and hygienic mensuration practices. It includes ensuring safe sanitation infrastructure and disposal facilities.

3. Providing more choice of menstrual absorbent material.

SCHOOL SANITATIONWater and Sanitation facilities as part of a healthy school environment can significantly improve a child’s prospect to develop and thrive. AKRSP(I) has been working on improving school sanitation facilities by integrating school WASH component with its ‘Comprehensive Sanitation Initiative’. AKRSP(I) in partnership with different agencies like Gruh Finance Limited (Khambaliya, Gujarat) and HDFC (Bihar), has undertaken the construction of separate sanitation facilities for boys & girls in 104 schools (100 in Bihar and 4 in Khambaliya cluster).

Till December 2018, school sanitation facilities have been completed in 45 schools of Bihar, remaining 55 will be

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Earlier I did not care about hygiene but when I was encouraged time and again to improve my habits, I started taking care. Now I feel much better when I am cleaner and find it easier to learn and mix with other children

- Roshan Kumar, Vaini Middle School, Samastipur DistrictExcerpt from an article in The Stateman, 13 December 2018|

Bharat Dogra

completed by January 2019 end. School management committees and child cabinets were oriented in operation and management of these structures. The constructed infrastructure comprises of separate complex building for boys & girls, having a toilet & urinal facility, along with running water system.

SCHOOL HYGIENE AND EDUCATION PROGRAMThe habits that are formed during one’s childhood become hardwired in the brain. The inclusion of hygiene education in the school curriculum has been advocated for a long time. Not only does this education benefit the child positively but also her/his parents and the wider community. The child becomes a conduit for carrying the messages to his wider surroundings including the home and the society at large.

With a view to facilitating hygiene education among children, AKRSP(I) has been implementing the School Hygiene Education program since January 2017 with the support of Reckitt Benckiser (RB). In this program, children from 1st to 5th standards are taught hygiene through a well-structured curriculum by an experiential learning approach wherein the classroom modules are complemented with practical demonstrations and hygiene games. The child-friendly modules have been developed by Reckitt Benckiser. Government school teachers are trained to deliver the hygiene curriculum.

11,820 modules have been delivered covering more than 42,893 children in 406 schools of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar in 2018.Another component of the project is lending support in the constitution and/or effective running of the student-led bodies

called the ‘Bal Sansads.’ The role of the Bal Sansad (Child Cabinet) in the school is to coordinate the management of various activities undertaken within the school such as assembly, mid-day meal, maintenance of cleanliness, provision of drinking water, etc.

A typical child cabinet is comprised of a Bal Mantri or the Prime Minster and various committees such as Water, Sanitation, Mid-day meal, Assembly, Science, Sports, Library, etc. Each committee is headed by a minister and has 3-4 other members to help the minister in undertaking the responsibilities of the committee. AKRSP(I) has sensitised 216 Child cabinets covering 4,441 children and helped in the formation of 346 child cabinets in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar in the last year.

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SOLID AND LIQUID WASTE MANAGEMENT (SLWM)A solid and liquid waste management system addresses the following components:

– Proper disposal of Solid Waste, which includes Dry waste and Wet waste. – Proper disposal of Waste Water which includes household grey water and sewage.

The case study below describes a pilot SLWM undertaken in Kotara village of Gujarat. The pilot is still in the early stages and needs a lot of improvisation to be scaled-up.

Kotara - A SLWM PilotA pilot on Solid and Liquid waste Management was undertaken with the 240 households of Kotara village of Gujarat in 2018. AKRSP(I) has had a presence in the village since the last 25 years so the rapport with the community was good. Previously, work on drinking water though construction of Roof Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RRWHS) had been undertaken. The village became ODF two years prior due to the active support of the Mahila Mandal. Initial meetings were done in the village to develop a Community-managed Solid and Liquid Waste Management System and upon an enthusiastic response from the community, the groundwork was started.

Disposal of Solid WasteThe dry waste such as paper and plastic of the village is collected at the household level and on a designated day, a community member accumulates the dry waste from all the households and transfers it to the Panchayat office which disposes of it thereafter. Currently, the community are bearing the charges of transporting the waste to the office but eventually, a better centralized mechanism will have to be carved for sustained operations.

Disposal of Wet WasteThis waste comprises of kitchen waste which is decomposable. Every household has been given a large perforated bucket which they use to compost the household wet waste. They use the compost so produced in their farms.

Disposal of Waste WaterAll the households in the village have toilets so the sewage is collected in the twin pits constructed with the toilets. However, there is no centralized sewage treatment system to ensure proper disposal which poses a question to the sustainability of the twin pit toilet technology promoted so fiercely under the Swacch Bharat mission. The grey water of the households is managed through the household-level soakpits constructed in the village.

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HEALTH AND NUTRITION

The performance of India on Health and Nutrition indicators is not encouraging. According to a report by International Food Policy Research Institute more than half of the women and children are anaemic in the country. To correct this situation, the government has put in place nutrition enhancement programmes such as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) (1975), Mid Day Meal Scheme (1995), and National Food Security Act (1995).

While these schemes make provisions of rations and food for the children and mothers, it is the onus of the citizens to ensure the effective onground implementation of the Mid Day Meal and ICDS schemes.

AKRSP(I) has indirectly worked on health through the promotion of Kitchen Gardens and Landless gardens in the past in its programme areas, however, the first rigorous programme focusing on improving the health of the community was introduced in 2016 in Khaknar block of Burhanpur district in Madhya Pradesh seeing the dire state of malnutrition in the region. The Community Health and Nutrition Program was started covering 81 villages through establishing a network of village-level health workers known as ‘Sachet Sakhis’.

The key components of the Health and Nutrition program are below:

– Sachet Sakhis – Use of women-based institutions such as Self-Help Groups to achieve better health and nutrition outcomes – Activation of the Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Committee – Creation of enabling environment in Anganwadi Centres – Ensuring access to government health schemes and entitlements – Promotion of proper infant and young feeding practices – Promotion of dietary diversity in tribal regions.

The key highlights of work undertaken during the year are mentioned below:

40 new villages added to the project area and 80 new ‘Sachet Didis’ identified. Trainings provided to a total of 162 Sachet didis functional in 81 project villages.

Institutionalising DeliveriesDuring the period, the project team and the army of Sachet Didis regularly followed up with 2977 pregnant women, out of which 1230 benefitted from Institutional deliveries and 450

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;g ?kj dk lCth viuk eu ls dHkh Hkh rksM+ ysrs gS | cktkj esa rks iSlk yxrk gS blfy, de ysrs gS |- Gita Devi, Ratanpur Village, Bochaha block, Muzaffarpur district

We pick the vegetables when we wish to as it is home grown. In market, we have to pay so we buy less quantity of vegetables.

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deliveries were observed at home. 251 pregnant women were linked with Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandhan Yojana (PMMVY).Additionally, in 5 villages, pregnant women Clubs were formed for sharing of best practices and experiences.

Capacity building36 trainings on topics such as Anganwadi services, pregnant women care, institutional deliveries,etc. conducted with different stakeholders such as Anganwadi worker, Sachet didis, SHG women etc. A total of 1010 stakeholders participated in the trainings.

100% Immunization100% immunization achieved for all pregnant women and children (under 2 years of age) in 20 villages of Khankar block by conducting regular awareness meetings to bust the myths surrounding immunization in the region.

Millet Recipe BookTo address the need of disappearing millets from the tribal diet, AKRSP(I) started a small but significant project with Godrej and over the last three years, over 400 tribal women were provided inputs to grow fruits, vegetables and minor millets such as Kodo, Kutki, etc. To ensure that these millets find their way into the tribal diet, a recipe cookbook was put together by AKRSP(I) in Hindi and was shared with the tribal beneficiaries as well as other CSOs. Realising its potential and to enable it to reach to wider audiences, Godrej

Community-based Malnutrition ProgramGovernment has two resources to tackle malnutrition in children; the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) and the supplementary nutrition provided in Anganwadi centres, but due to irregular and erratic supply of resources in rural areas, the nutrition provided through these is sporadic. Community participation and interest are required for the effective functioning of government schemes and systems. Initiatives were taken in two villages of the project area to promote Severe Acute Malnourishment (SAM) Free villages. In the leadership of Sachet didi and federation leaders, 4 SAM children were identified in Khalwa block and 10 SAM children were identified in Khaknar block. The community members of the two villages have initiated additional meal of eggs, milk and jaggery ladu at the respective AWCs for which the community contributed ₹ 8000 at the Anganwadi centre. Community members are regularly monitoring the whole program. After this intervention, each child gained 500 gram to 700 gram of weight and the community of the respective villages was enabled in the process of nutrition rehabilitation.

translated it in english and released it publicly this year.

Kitchen Gardens and Landless Gardens 11091 kitchen gardens and landless gardens were promoted by the organisation in various programme areas. These interventions are meant for landless farmers who either own a small patch of land or have no land holdings. They are provided seeds of vegetables and organic manure to cultivate vegetables for self-consumption thereby reaping the benefit of consuming homegrown organic vegetables on the one hand and saving on the expenditure incurred on buying vegetables on the other.

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

For most of the industrialized world, the key drivers of development have been fossilized, non-renewable, polluting sources of energy. However, the winds of change are slowing blowing in favour of renewable energy sources. The traditional power mix of the country has been heavily tilted toward thermal power sources, but in the past four years, the share of renewable energy sources has been gradually increasing.

Solar capacity increased to 23.1 GW as of July 2018 from 3.7 GW in March 2015 taking the share of renewable in the total installed power capacity to 20%. This can largely be attributed to the National Solar Mission. An ambitious goal was set for the sector in 2015 by the incumbent government to install 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022.

The road to 175 GW of renewable energy has so far been promising but the energy sector still grapples with entrenched problems of the power sector such as poor performance of heavily indebted discoms and dependence on other countries for material. 82% of the total PV modules are imported in India even today.

Supportive policies and a Make in India thrust for the manufacture of solar PV modules are necessary to

incentivize developers and continue the journey towards reducing the fossilized footprint.

The increase in number of solar power based companies along with favourable government schemes has led to increasing the number of solar-powered equipment across the country.

Special impetus has been upon replacement of diesel-powered irrigation pumps littered across the country with solar pumps. The Central government launched KUSUM (Kisan Urja Suraksha evam utthan Maha abhiyan), a scheme to promote solar pumps by providing a subsidy of 30-50% on the solar pump set cost. This combined with various state government schemes leads to a 60-80% subsidy on the cost of the solar pumps for farmers in different states.

If solar-pumps are installed on a large-scale, they would not only reduce the negative emissions caused by diesel pump sets, but will also feed-in the grid supply and provide farmers with additional income. Although a caveat would be the regulating the over extraction of groundwater.

According to a study by IWMI, Gujarat Energy Research Management Institute and Greenpeace India, India could surpass its solar target of 100 GW by 2022 if solar pumps replaced traditional farm water pumps.

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Since the past three years, AKRSP(I) has been promoting solar based pumps in its programme areas. Along with it various other interventions are also being undertaken to promote the use of alternate energy sources among the community such as solar micro-grid lighting systems, solar lanterns, solar street lights, biogas plants and acrylic sheets, etc.

SOLAR IRRIGATION SERVICE MARKETSA scalable model in the makingThe most common source of irrigation for most marginal farmers in Bihar is rented diesel pump based irrigation systems. As the cost of purchasing diesel pump is a huge investment for small and marginal farmers, irrigation is provided as a service by diesel-based irrigation service providers. They sell water for irrigation at the rate of ₹ 120-150 per hour.

With the intention to replace the diesel-based irrigation with solar-powered irrigation, AKRSP(I) initiated a pilot in Chakhaji village of Samastipur district of Bihar in 2015. Chakhaji is an agricultural village with 350 vegetable cultivators growing crops on 170 acres with high fragmentation. The village has over 2300 plots of different sizes. The model AKRSP(I) had in mind was simple; promoting solar-based irrigation service providers who would provide irrigation at a lower cost with the help of a buried pipeline.

AKRSP(I) promoted 6 Solar Irrigation Service Providers (SISPs) in overlapping areas of 17 extant diesel service providers (DISP) in the first year.

These DISPs served 403 cultivators and 1623 plots. The SISPs were provided 5kWp solar pumps and 1000 ft. of buried pipeline. They contributed 40% of the capital cost. A major chunk of the capital cost was subsidized through the scheme of Bihar government to promote solar pumps, while AKRSP(I) contributed 10% of the capital cost.

Diesel Irrigation Service market

Solar Irrigation Service Market Pilot

20,000 feet of overground delivery pipes

6000 feet of buried pipeline network

Rate of supplying water – ₹120-150/hour

Rate of supplying water – ₹ 60-90/hour

Each DISP serves 50 cultivators

Each SISP serves 80-90 cultivators

Operational hours – 400/DISP/ year

Operational hours – 1120/SISP/ year

Income – ₹ 1,00,000/DISP/year

Income – ₹ 2,00,000/SISP/year

The key findings of a study undertaken on the Chakhaji Pilot by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) are as follows:

– Reduced Cost of Irrigation by 60-70%. – Gross irrigated area in the village has increased by 40%. – Saving of 6,650 litres of diesel consumption. – Reduced CO2 emission to the tune of 18 t/yr. – Replacement of DISPs with SISPs.

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After the successful completion of the Chakhaji pilot, it was decided to expand the program in neighbouring villages.

During the year, 10 SISPs have been identified and trained from the villages of Chandauli, Kajia and Bahardurpur in Samastipur district. An Operations and Maintenance training was organised during the year for the newly identified SISPs to train them on the Do’s and Don’ts of handling, repair and maintenance of the installed solar equipment.

An internal study found out the impact of the 17 SISPs currently functional in Samastipur district. The key results are as under:

– Income from cultivation has been increased by 1.25 to 1.5 times. – Cost of Irrigation reduced by 50-60%. – Since Dec 16, total saving for water buyers was around ₹16 lakhs. – Crop intensity has Increased in Installed geography. – Vegetable crops are increasing in all three seasons. – About 40% rise in summer cropping. – Long duration crops are replacing short duration low-value crops.

Future plansThe entrepreneur is making 100% more money while on the other hand, the farmer is paying 60% less amount. AKRSP(I) intends to move from an NGO model of cost subsidization to the enterprise model where AKRSP(I) invests in training and community mobilisation while the maximum cost is borne by the group of farmers or an entrepreneur himself/herself.

SOLAR GROUP-BASED IRRIGATION SYSTEMSWhile the ISP model is a recent innovation, AKRSP(I) has been promoting solar pumps for providing irrigation since 2013 through the group approach. A sichai samiti (irrigation

committee) is formed consisting of members who contribute towards cost of the solar setup which includes the solar pump infrastructure and buried pipeline. The samiti forms various byelaws and finalizes user fees. While in Bihar, the committee members provide irrigation to outside farmers as well, due to adequate availability of groundwater, in Madhya Pradesh and Dangs, the pumped water is used to irrigate field of the group members only.

During the year, 29 group-based irrigation systems were operationalized in different programme areas of AKRSP(I) benefitting 758 households. 17 such pumps were operationalized in Bihar, 9 were set up in Madhya Pradesh programme area and 3 in Dangs programme area.

The results of a study conducted on the impact of Group-based Solar Irrigation Systems set up in Basauli Nankar and Manika Gazi villages of Muzaffarpur district are as follows:

– Initiated Zaid (summer) farming. – Decrease in cost of irrigation by 60-75%. – Due to increase in gross cropped area and increase in production, the farmers benefitted from the SLI showed an increase in income of ₹5000 - ₹8000 per agricultural season.

SOLAR MICRO GRID FOR HOME LIGHTINGAKRSP(I) endeavoured to provide basic electricity services to off-grid villages in Madhya Pradesh. During the year, 999 households benefitted from the installment of household-level solar micro grids. Each micro-grid unit can power 3 LED bulbs and provide mobile charging facility. These units were provided to women members of Self-help groups.

SOLAR LANTERNSAnother regular intervention undertaken by AKRSP(I) is the provision of solar lanterns to its beneficiary community. While

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cgqr lqfo/kk gqvk gS ykbV yxkus ls] xehZ eghuk esa ƒŠ cPps ds djhc i<+ ysrs gS lkFk cSBds bruk ykbV jgrk gS |

- Sita Devi, (Solar Street Light beneficiary), Rohua Veernarayn Village, Musahari block, Muzaffarpur district

The solar street light is providing a great facility. In summers, the light is enough for around 18 children sit together and study.

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some villages in the programme areas of AKRSP(I) are off-the-grid, most of the villagers now have access to electricity although, the electricity supply is erratic punctured by frequent electricity cuts. These electricity cuts usually happen during the evening hours which make it difficult for women to undertaken household chores and children are unable to study efficiently.

The most common source of lighting in villages is kerosene lamps which not only produce toxic gases, but provide very poor light and pose a significant fire hazard.

During the year, AKRSP(I) provided solar lanterns to 1693 households in different programme areas.

SOLAR STREET LIGHTING SYSTEMSIn recent years, good progress has been made in connecting villages to the grid thus enabling electricity access for rural households. While most villages have access to atleast basic lighting services in AKRSP(I) programme areas, they almost never have infrastructural privileges such as street lighting systems. Solar-based village street lighting systems have been installed in 10 villages of Muzzaffarpur district during the year with the support of HDFC bank. A total of 90 such solar street light poles have been installed in 10 villages of Musahari and Bochaha blocks of Muzaffarpur district benefitting 2200 households.

An average of 9 such poles have been installed in crucial points of each village which would ensure lighting for the maximum households. User groups of each solar street light pole comprising of 5-9 beneficiary households have been formed which conduct regular meetings. The beneficiary households contribute a small monetary amount which is collected by a member of the community for future repair and maintenance of the street lighting system.

A study conducted of 3 community street lighting systems enlisted the following benefits of installation of solar street lights

– Creation of common community spaces. – Evening study groups accumulate to study together at street lights which has increased peer-learning. – Creation of safe public spaces for women.

Other Interventions190 households in Netrang programme area were provided with biogas units and another 190 households were provided with smokeless chulhas to reduce emissions caused by traditional cooking methods.

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bldk jkS’kuh jgrk gS rks ge jkr esa ,dne Ýh gksds ?kqers gSa | igys ftlds ikl cSVjh Fkk oks tkrk Fkk ckfd yksx rks v¡/ksjs esa gh tkrk Fkk |vkSjr yksx rks tkrs Hkh ugha Fks |

- Nafiza Khatun, Solar Street light beneficiary, Ratanpura Village, Bochaha block, Muzaffarpur districtDue to the solar light, we are able to roam freely in the night. Earlier, the people who had torches used them while the others went in the dark. Women did not go out in the night.

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EDUCATION

India has the largest primary education system with the highest enrollment of children in the world. While the past few years have seen improvement in infrastructure like playgrounds, drinking water facilities, toilets, pupil-teacher ratio as well as regularisation of the mid-day meal scheme, the learning levels of children have been steadily declining.

According to the ASER report, 2018; the percentage of Class V students able to read a Class II level textbook has declined from 50.3% (2009) to 43.8% in 2018. The numeracy learning levels show an even bleak picture. While in 2008, 37% of Class V students could do basic maths, now only 23% can. Quality education has two aspects; teaching and learning. Shortcomings on both sides need to be addressed by regular training of teachers and regular evaluations of students.

The education programme started in 2009 when AKRSP(I) sought to address the poor quality of education in Bihar. The Education programme of AKRSP(I) supports Government Primary Schools and Anganwadi/ICDS centres to address learning gaps in primary and preschool education. Furthermore, the interventions also include improving infrastructure related to government pre and primary schools

across the three programme states of Gujarat, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

In 2018, the school sanitation program expanded to cover the block of Wankaner in Gujarat, while the preschool/government Anganwadi support work expanded to include 203 Anganwadis in Bihar. The year also witnessed increasing partnerships with the state governments’ primary education departments and Child welfare departments across all geographies.

While the focus was on capacitating the government system in preschool education improvement in coastal Gujarat and Bihar; in Madhya Pradesh, AKRSP(I) expanded its partnership with the state government’s Transforming Rural India (TRI) initiative where it has taken up the improvement of 80 primary schools in the Burhanpur district. In other parts of Gujarat, the early literacy support programme expanded coverage to benefit close to 2000 more disadvantaged children. Significantly, the education programme continued to deepen its convergence with AKRSP(I)’s governance support work in Tribal blocks of South Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

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igys dqN ugha Fkk Ldwy esa i<+us dks] vHkh jkst dgkfu;k¡ i<+rs gS] cgqr etk vkrk gS dgkfu;ka i<+us esa | - Asmin Khatun, (School Library beneficiary), Standard 8th, Mirzapur village, Bochaha block, Muzaffarpur district

Earlier there was nothing in the school to read. Now we read stories everyday. It is great fun to read stories.

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SUPPORTING PRIMARY EDUCATION

GujaratIn Gujarat, support to government primary schools continued in the broad areas of school sanitation, early literacy and remedial education. While school hygiene education program covered 200 schools, remedial education covered 110 schools and early literacy support expanded to twenty schools from ten in the previous year.

During this year, children from 20 government schools continued their participation in remedial classes (LEP) and use of village Libraries as part of the early literacy support program. In the school and village libraries, several methods to improve children’s literacy levels were employed including writing a story by joining of sentences, story writing based on pictures, mind maps, Pottli Baba (to increase awareness about the village’s history among the children), puppet shows based on local context specific stories, etc.

This has indeed helped children improve their reading, writing and numeracy skills as is evident by the difference in scores of children (see charts below) before and after the support given. Children falling in grades C and D were the laggards most of whom have moved up to grade B and A after the special coaching/remedial classes in early literacy and numeracy. In addition, AKRSP(I) also piloted the introduction of the digital curriculum in three schools of Sayla Block and partnered with the WalloBooks project, a Kolkata based NGO working with school children to improve life skills through a bespoke curriculum and libraries.

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Celebration of Improved Early literacy through Story-telling Fairs or Kahani MelasWhen it comes to story listening, children do get excited, but when the story is self-created and has to be presented in front of others, there is no limit to the excitement of children. Such pure joy was experienced by the children of Sayla Taluka over the past year when Kahani Melas (Storytelling fairs) were organised in ten villages by the children of the primary schools. School teachers and parents were involved though the children themselves did most of the planning and organising.

Boys and girls both participated and prepared their stories in smaller groups and presented them through puppet shows, read aloud sessions, holding exhibits made of clay work, paperwork etc. It took three full days to prepare for each event and this event also helped parents get familiar with their child’s talents and skills.

Children further narrated the history of their respective villages in the form of a story so that the community members present also got acquainted with it. Such events have helped to enhance the language, creativity, presentation skills and confidence of the children and importantly the community has come closer to owning the early literacy of their children most of whom are first generation learners.

Kanpar Primary School: Setting an Example in community ownership of Primary Education

The Kanpar Primary School Building situated on a large tract of land looks nothing less than a grand complex with a huge paver block tiled ground and an enormous gate, but it was not always so grand. The Kanpar Primary school looked very different in 2003 with only a single teacher and a small building with two rooms.

In 2003, Shahbuddinbhai, the current Headmaster, was appointed as a teacher at the school. Mr Shahbuddin brought in a lot of positive, fresh energy and wanted to improve the quality of education as well as infrastructure of the school. Being a local from Mahika, a nearby village, he understood that the first step was to increase ownership of the community and galvanize them into action to improve the school infrastructure and facilities. He started meeting the community members regularly. The SMC of the school that had existed on paper only with members not aware of their rights and responsibilities, was transformed by him into a working and active body. However, with his other responsibilities, he was not able to able to work dedicatedly for the capacity building of the SMC members.

In 2013, AKRSP(I) made an entry into the school with a motive to build capacities of the SMC members. AKRSP(I)

staff regularized the monthly SMC meetings, informed the members about their rights and responsibilities, gave training on designing of the School Development Plan etc.

When AKRSP(I) came into the picture, Mr Shahbudin had been working towards convincing the SMC committee members and the larger community to approve a vast vacant community space for the construction of the new school building as the school had only two rooms which were not enough to accommodate all classes. The community had previously been opposing the allocation of land for the school, but with the combined efforts of Mr Shahbuddin and AKRSP(I), the SMC galvanized the village community and got the required approval.

In 2014, the construction of the school building began with the help of not only SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) funds but also by a substantial contribution from the village community members. The community members contributed as much as ₹70,000 towards the levelling of the community land approved for the school building.

After this episode, the SMC emerged as a strong village body and has been since been working actively to improve the education infrastructure as well as in making the community aware.

Today, every parent of the village pays special attention to the education of his/her children. The SMC is now self-motivated and aware enough to train others in the community. Indeed, on 13 February 2018, AKRSP(I) organised an exposure visit of other SMCs with which it is working to meet Kanpar Primary School’s SMC to learn from and share their experiences for the benefit of wider community members of other villages.

Kanpar Primary School is truly a remarkable institution of learning which works for the overall development of children. The combined efforts of a strong school leader, involved and aware community and SMC, active youth committee, able and interested teachers and AKRSP(I)’s support has truly turned the scenario of education around for the village.

Prior to this, in the early 2000s, the private schools of the area had maximum enrollment, but today the government primary school of Kanpar boasts of 100% enrollment of children from Kanpar and even some children from neighbouring villages.

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Madhya PradeshAKRSP(I)’s interventions in remedial education as part of the support to the Transforming Rural India (TRI) project initiated in 2016 and expanded in 2018 to 41 primary schools and villages of Khaknar block of Burhanpur district.

The TRI project was initiated with the objective of the transformation of attitude and behaviour of all stakeholders related to education to take ownership and improve the quality of education in their block. As a part of this effort, involving and enabling community as a change driver received much focus.

Bal Sabha was held on every Saturday in all Govt. schools and wherever this could not be achieved teachers capacity was built to conduct these effectively through poems, songs, games etc. in child-friendly and interesting ways. As a result of this, around 18-20 villages were able to conduct Bal sabhas effectively.

A community owned and run learning resource centre run by trained volunteers was supported for holding remedial classes after school for students who lag behind their peers in age-appropriate language and numeracy competencies.

Some of the other key achievements in Madhya Pradesh through various interventions included:

– Infrastructure improvement in nine gram sabhas through SMC and community pressure. – Creation of better environment of learning through supporting activities like 41 Summer camps, Pravesh utsav, Bal mela, etc. – Ownership by parents resulted in increased enrolment and reduced dropout. – Awareness for various services of government and roles and responsibilities of SMC members.

As a result of Athithi shikshak’s training, some of the atithi members took up designing of Teaching learning material (TLM) on their own and introduced them in classes for facilitating learnings.

Assessments for the present level of learning done by Shiksha sakhi and VLA leaders in front of parents, generated a level of responsibility among parents and enabled them to question teachers and schools wherever the learning levels were found to be declining and not age appropriate.

BiharDuring 2018, the major activities taken up included the following:

– Demonstration of child-centred teaching methodologies by AKRSP(I)’s cluster coordinators in government schools – Facilitation of organisation of SMC meetings – Facilitating academic discussion/support in Cluster Resource Centre meetings – Tackling problems faced by teachers in conducting activities – Facilitating formation of Bal Sansad (children’s parliament)

AKRSP(I)’s cluster coordinators primarily focused on relationship building and orienting the school teachers and Cluster Resource Centres [CRCs] on the role of AKRSP(I) going forward.

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EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

GujaratThe importance of early childhood care and education is indubitable as it provides a strong foundation for lifelong learning including cognitive and social development of children which profoundly influences their future potential.

With a vision to improve the ECCE services in Devbhumi Dwarka district of Gujarat, a package of interventions was developed and executed in the ICDS Anganwadis by the collaborative efforts of AKRSP(I), AKF and Aga Khan Education Services (India)-AKES(I) in partnership with the Gujarat State Government over the past three years.

In 2018, the Hub and Spokes model was primarily used as a learning cum demonstration lab, to conduct exposure visits of the Anganwadi workers (AWWs), Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs), adolescent girls and selected parent members of Anganwadi Management Committees. These visits inspired and motivated the AWWs to adopt noteworthy practices in their own village-level Anganwadi Centres (AWCs). Selected village adolescent girls were trained in the preparation of Teaching Learning Material (TLMs) from locally available materials.

One of the major initiatives supported by AKRSP(I) during the year 2018 has been capacitating the Anganwadi workers on the understanding use and recording of the “Mari Vikas Yatra” which is a tool mandated by the state government to measure the development of children from the time they enroll in Anganwadis and till they leave and join primary school.

BiharDuring the year 2018, AKRSP(I) continued to strengthen the preschool education component in 203 Government ICDS/Anganwadi Centres in rural hamlets across Muzaffarpur and Samastipur districts in Bihar through partnership with Aga Khan Foundation through a series of capacity building workshops on implementing and assessing the progress of children on Bihar state government’s recently released preschool education curriculum. Due to these efforts, there is an improvement in the teaching method of Anganwadi sevikas.

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YOUTH DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE

India is a nation of youth, according to a recent report of the International Labor Organization. By 2020 the average age in India will be 29 years making it the youngest nation in the world. It is expected that this demographic dividend will propel new economic wave in India given the country creates sufficient skilled manpower. The present scenario is far from realizing the true potential of youth. Infact, India is on the verge of a demographic drag. Around 12-15 million youths are joining the workforce annually and it is estimated that in the next decade over 250 million young people will join the workforce but not more than 10-15% of them have the required skills. Just 4.69% of India’s workforce is formally skilled. India is facing a huge skills development challenge.

The disconnect between industry and academia continues to spin out less than trained employees for jobs. The skills of learners at each level are not in sync with existing vacancies creating a significant mismatch and leading to a low employability quotient. The conditions of rural youths are most critical with lack of exposure, education, and skills they are forced to migrate as labourers to cities. Besides, stagnant to negative agriculture growth, fragmented land holdings and uncertain monsoon are further limiting livelihood for rural youth. This large scale migration of rural youth needs to be assisted by proper skills training else they will surely end up in low paid labor jobs and will lead a lower quality of life.

AKRSP(I) recognizes the wider needs and changing aspirations of rural youths and aims to provide holistic development opportunities through programmes around youth employability skills, access to higher education options and enhancing entrepreneurial capacities. AKRSP(I) works in these three areas to provide holistic development to youth.

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My entire household is really thankful to Yuva Junction for giving me such opportunity to survive in the world. Yuva Junction has given me courage and confidence to overcome the battles in life.

Bharti Vasava, Yuva Junction Student, Narmada District.

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YUVA JUNCTION

Yuva junction is an unique program which provides employability skills training and placement to rural youth.

Yuva Junction started its training programme in 2007 with ‘Computer Ji Jode Duniya Se’ initiative to provide computer education to rural communities and has over the years evolved into a market driven employability skills delivery program with the aim to provide dignified employment to rural and marginalized youth. In the last three years, Yuva Junction has diversified its programme to train students of various colleges and ITIs on computers, life and employability skills and to provide them soft skills along with technical training.

The journey of the evolution of Yuva Junction has been represented below:

At present the Yuva Junction operates through 14 training centers, 12 in Gujarat and 2 in Bihar with dedicated staff of more then 60 professionals.

Key Highlights of the work undertaken during the year are given below:

– A total of 1445 youth trained in various job-oriented courses such as Retail Sales Associate, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Bedside Patient Assistant, Beauty and Wellness trades, Stitching, etc. – Became an approved training partner of NSDC. – 898 youth placed in mainstream market and hospitality industries such as D-Mart, Café Coffee Day, Dominos, Big Bazaar, Shoppers Stop, Airtel, Vodafone, etc. with the average salary of ₹ 7500/- per month. – Partnered with Quest Alliance to train the students of ITI Maliya, Junagadh on employability skills to upgrade their current skills. A total of 259 students were trained in this programme and 23 were placed.

The key achievements of the program for the year have been presented through the following graphic.

From Sustenance to Independence - Priti Vasava

Pritiben Vasava hails from a low income family from Bangla Faliya of Dediapada Taluka of Narmada district. She lives with her parents and two elder brothers. Her father is an agricultural labourer and a vegetable hawker.

Pritiben came to know about Yuva Junction programme through the team members who had visited her village for mobilization. She became interested in the course as she wanted to support her family financially. She was counselled at the Yuva Junction centre where her interests were assessed and after understanding the curriculum and the benefits of the course she enrolled herself in the Retail Sales Associate course. An active student, Priti enjoyed the training process and participated actively in classroom sessions. After the course she got an opportunity to appear for the interview at Breado’s Pizza in which she performed excellently. She was placed at Breado’s Pizza with a monthly salary of Rs. 9000.

She is able to remit as much as half of her salary home which gives her great satisfaction as she is now able to lessen the financial burden of her family, something she had always hoped for. The decision that she had taken to enroll in the course has not only helped her become independent but also has made her confident and changed her approach towards life.

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ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE

Tribal and rural areas have huge inherent potential of enterprise development particularly in the areas like Eco-tourism, Art and craft, Animal husbandry, Argo-processing, Honey production and Millet-based products. Besides that last mile delivery of various services and products can have big potential and generate wave of innovative technology and solution at grassroots. Given the scale of opportunity, tribal population is hugely underrepresented in the ownership of businesses even in the tribal areas itself. One of the major reasons for lack of enthusiasm for entrepreneurship development among tribal population is absence of enabling ecosystem in the tribal areas.

AKRSP(I) with its entrepreneurship development initiative aims to fulfill the gap and create an enabling ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship among tribal community especially the youth.

The objective is to work with tribal youth and support them in becoming successful entrepreneurs (ICONS) while also inspiring other youth and community members to take up entrepreneurship.

With this objective AKRSP(I) started the entrepreneur development project in 2016, with the support of Tata Trusts through the following approach :

The major highlights of the work undertaken in 2018 are: – Worked with 113 selected entrepreneurs by providing them with handholding support and services to conceptualize, start and successfully run their enterprise. Each of the entrepreneurs received Technical knowledge, Enterprise development/Business management training and Linkage with mentors, practitioners and successful entrepreneurs for one to one support. – Total 79 entrepreneurs started the enterprise development activities and 40 of them started production and sales operations. – Entrepreneurs selected spread across 14 business activity i.e. Poultry, Goatery, Bamboo craft, Bakery, Fishery etc. Of these 60% are involved in Commercial Poultry farming.

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– Since the start of the programme, 5 group enterprises and 108 individual enterprises have been set up. The enterprises are different from traditional livelihood development in terms of scale, entrepreneurial approach and management practices.

It’s too early to measure the success or impact of the project, but each of the 40 enterprises who have started operations is earning around ₹20,000-₹25,000 per month and is also providing employment to at least 2 people. As most of the enterprises have just started the income and employment generation is expected to increase in future.

Dangs: A Poultry hub

Dangs is a tribal district situated in South Gujarat with 73% of the population living below the poverty line. AKRSP(I) has been working in Dangs since 2010 to improve the quality of life of the tribal community through various interventions related to livelihood enhancement. Last year, it initiated the Enterprise Development Initiative in the district.

Upon preliminary surveys, it was found that poultry production and consumption is undertaken at a reasonable scale and traditionally the local community has been engaged in backyard poultry. The demand for broiler chicken has been on the rise in recent years which is met by import from Maharashtra.

Gauging the potential for commercial poultry farming in Dangs, the enterprise development programme made efforts to turn it into a lucrative business for the tribal youth of the region.

– Interested and enthusiastic youth were selected and trained extensively on poultry rearing practices. Exposure visits were arranged to existing commercial farms of contracting companies.

– Contacted poultry farming companies for contract farming agreements with tribal youths.

– Poultry shelters and other equipment were put in place. – Considering that youths incurred anywhere between ₹3 lakhs to ₹6 lakhs of investment, AKRSP(I) provided grant subsidy based on the need of the youths. Grant support was anywhere in the range of ₹1 lakhs to ₹2 lakhs based on the financial condition of the youths

Selected youths started their operations from the beginning of the year 2018. AKRSP(I) supported 34 commercial poultry units. A total capacity of 60,000 birds per cycle or 3,60,000 birds (6 cycles) per year was generated through the intervention. Out of the 34 selected youth, 14 have completed 23 cycles with a net profit of ₹6,07,967 or ₹26,433/cycle.

HIGHER EDUCATION INITIATIVE

AKRSP(I) introduced ‘Setu Scholarship’ with funding support from Tata Trusts in 2017 to bridge the gap separating meritorious tribal students from premier academic institutes.The scholarship programme was designed to provide the best coaching to meritorious tribal students preparing for the JEE and NEET entrance examinations.

The detailed process undertaken to shortlist students is represented below:

The ResultsThe efforts and investment made to groom the 19 odd students paid off in 2018 when they appeared for the JEE and NEET examinations, 7 students cleared JEE and 10 qualified NEET examination. The qualified students have been successfully admitted to some premier colleges like IIT Chennai and Delhi, NIT Werangal, Surat and Bhopal and other government colleges.

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The road to IIT, Mumbai| Kaushalkumar Desai

Kaushal Kumar Desai never stepped out of Chikli of Navsari district. He is a single child born to a teacher mother and a working father. His mother who was born to labourer parents knew the importance of education and made sure to provide it to her son. Kaushal literally grew up in the school as both the parents were working. His mother used to take him along with her to school. Everything was going well until his father lost a kidney when Kaushal was studying in tenth class. He decided to study hard and create better conditions for himself and his family. He knew that he will have to work very hard and get into one of the best colleges in India.

It was then he came to know about IIT which was still a distant dream for him. He felt very helpless when it came to preparation. Chikli didn’t have good coaching institutes and he was not ready to move far from his hometown, both because of his inhibitions and his circumstances.

He appeared for the aptitude test for Technical Education but couldn’t score good marks. In the meanwhile, AKRSP(I) made a presentation in Kaushal’s school and he appeared for the selection exam and got through it. Now the question was to move to Ahmedabad. For a boy who had never stepped out of his hometown, it was a big decision. But, he had to take this leap of faith. If it were not for AKRSP(I), his mother still feels, he wouldn’t have got in IIT Mumbai which was an aspiration she had for her son. ‘I was able to step into IIT, Mumbai. I was able to experience this only because of AKRSP(I).’ she says with pride.

Certificate Course in Development Management (CCDM)Certificate Course in Development Management is a four and half months residential programme which aims at fulfilling the requirement of grassroots development professionals from tribal communities. The programme is jointly certified by AKRSP(I) and Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA).

The year saw the completion of two CCDM batches. CCDM-3 batch of 25 students and CCDM-4 batch of 29 students graduated during the year.

These CCDM graduates were placed in various organizations like CHETNA, UPL, Development Support Centre, Janvikas, Mansi Charitable Trust, Eklavya, Adani Foundation, Samasta Micro Finance, Gram Vikas Trust, Light Micro Finance, Deepak Foundation, Vidhya Bharati Foundation, etc.

The CCDM program has over its 4-batch experience evolved some of the following best practices:

– Use of theatre in development management curriculum: Theatre workshop was conducted with CCDM participants to remove their inhibitions, boost their confidence and make them learn how to express themselves. – Introduction of internship: Though CCDM is a short duration course, internship has been included in the curriculum so that the participants apply their learnings in real life and add on to their existing knowledge, skills and attitude by working on different projects offered by the host organizations.

– Employing debate method: Debate method has been used in the course so that participants can appreciate different alternative viewpoints and learn about a particular topic in its totality. – Learner centric approach: The course aims at catering to the requirements of the participants. Every participant is unique and learns in his own way. Therefore, different pedagogical approaches are adopted throughout the course duration. – Use of Socratic and story-telling method: Participants are encouraged to develop critical thinking and form their own viewpoints rather than accepting the things as they are. – Use of audio-visual materials for holistic learning: Relevant audio-video materials are utilized to help the participants visualise their learnings and deepen their understanding. – Practical Learning and Assessment: Practical learning and assessment has been incorporated in the CCDM curriculum so that the participants do not focus on the marks rather they apply their learnings in real-life scenarios.

CCDM alumni are trying to leave their mark on the development canvas in various areas and organizations. They have also adopted few villages for development purposes.

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From a Para worker to a Development Professional: Niram Tarole: CCDM-4

Niram is a tribal youth from Madhya Pradesh. He was unable to complete his graduation as an early marriage shoved upon him the onus of making a living for his family. He found employment in the development sector as a village-level paraworker where his understanding and interest in the social sector began to develop.

He learnt about the CCDM programme during the course of his work and applied for the course. While pursuing the course he got an opportunity to study different subjects and was able to relate his previous work experience with his studies.

Niram recalls his course experience, ‘We were taught different subjects; resource persons from Chetna, Digital Empowerment Foundation, Centre for Social Studies, Jagori, etc. would come to teach us. We went for exposure visit to organisations such as Eklavya in Madhya Pradesh, WoTR in Maharashtra and Hivade Bazaar. I did my internship in Saurashtra and was able to connect my previous work and practical knowledge gained from the course.’

After the successful completion of the course, he got placed at Chetna with an annual package of ₹1,83,000 through the placement process. He has reapplied for the BRS course (Bachelors in Rural Study) and is confident to complete his graduation this time around.

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NEW INITIATIVES

MENSTRUAL HYGIENE MANAGEMENTMenstruation is a difficult period a girl has to endure every month. But it isn’t the crazy hormones or the discomfort which is the difficult part but the inhibitions placed upon her which are truly difficult to bear. There are many social norms, unwritten rules and taboos surrounding mensuration in almost all cultures. Women have their mobility curtailed, their behaviour modified, all in the name of ‘Impurity’ associated with menstruation.

Working in a rural context, AKRSP(I) was cognizant of the lack of awareness regarding menstrual hygiene and the myths surrounding the topic and had over the years worked on menstrual hygiene awareness through the medium of Self Help Group meetings. However, focused work on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) started in 2017.

91 villages were selected across all program areas where adolescent girls and women were mobilized through Kishori (adolescent) groups, women SHGs and federations. In the selected villages, the women and adolescent girls were sensitized on important aspects of menstruation such as the importance of maintaining hygiene, understanding menses from a biological perspective and myth busting of taboos prevalent in the society through regular meetings.

In 2018, the Mangrol Spearhead Team (SHT) improvised the programme even further by delivering the MHM information through the means of a standardized

4-session module to the Kishori groups and SHGs in their program area. This module was delivered to 3659 girls and women in 25 villages of the Mangrol Programme Area.

The 4-sessions delivered provided information on the following aspects:

Session I - The biology of MenstruationThe biological changes that occur in a women’s body are elaborated upon in this module. To address the hesitancy of participant girls and women, the session is delivered mostly through the medium of fun activities and debates. A flipchart explaining the menstrual cycle is displayed to the women to explain the biological reason for menses. Some such activities are, ‘Daag ache hai’ (Stains are good); ‘Sharam ka potla’ (the bag of shame); my first period, etc. The module covers topics such as puberty in boys and girls and the menstrual cycle. This module also formulates the foundation for the myth-busting module.

Session II – PMS, Menstrual hygiene and Product optionsWhile the first module is activity-based, this module focuses upon sharing crucial information for making menses a bearable and hygienic experience. After the first module, the girls and women become comfortable with the topics and participate a lot more actively. The participants are asked about their experience of menses, the pains and bodily

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inconveniences they go through, the material they use, method of disposal, etc. The module covers topics like Post Menstrual Stress (PMS), methods and practices for maintenance of hygiene, and menstrual product options available in the market, such as disposable sanitary pads, cloth pads, tampons and menstrual cups.

Session III – Myth Busting The third module is focused upon busting the socio-cultural myths and taboos associated with menstruation. The objective of this session is to engage women and girls in conversations around why certain practices were started, in a scientific manner. Some of the common myths/prohibitions surrounding menses are;

– Women can’t enter temples – Menstrual blood is impure – Women cannot touch certain food items and/or clothes during menstruation. – Women cannot touch men during their periods.

Many such restrictions directly or indirectly demean women which results in lower self-esteem. By education and awareness on this niche subject, an attempt is being made to create a space where women can come together and talk about the myths and beliefs.

Session IV – Closure and Take it forwardThis session is a free-flowing informal session. It includes a recap of three previous sessions and a symbolic lamp lighting ceremony to encourage girls and women participants to take the knowledge forward.

The above module on menstrual hygiene was implemented in 25 villages of Mangrol block. Two types of Kishori groups were formed. For out of school girls, Kishori groups were formed in the village itself, while for in-school girls Kishori groups were formed in primary schools and these included girls from class 6th onwards till class 12th. If a school was a smaller one, then one Kishori group was formed, but for a large school, various Kishori groups were formed. Apart from Kishori groups, women SHGs of the targeted village were also included in the programme. A village had 15-20 Kishori and women groups on an average and the four-session module was delivered to all such groups in the Mangrol program area.

AKRSP(I) intends to replicate the 4-session MHM module in all of its program areas in the next year. The key program progress numbers for the year 2018 are below:

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Access to menstrual hygiene productsIn order to ensure access to proper menstrual absorption material, various tie-ups have been formed by teams at different locations.

In Dangs and Mangrol programme areas, a partnership with Ecofem had been forged. Ecofem is a company which manufactures eco-friendly cloth pads. Ecofem provides pads under two arrangements; ‘Pad for Sister’, which is a cross-subsidy model wherein SHGs buy pads from Ecofem to sell to women within their villages. 1 pad is given at a subsidized prize of ₹50 versus the maximum Retail Price of ₹ 245. The women sell the pads to SHG members at ₹ 60. Under the second arrangement, known as ‘Pad for Pad’, Ecofem provides demo pad packs for adolescent girls which are distributed in the Kishori (adolescent girl) groups formed by

the organisation. This year a total of 1000 such pads were provided to adolescent girl members of Kishori groups in Dangs (350) and Mangrol (650) program areas.

Another tie-up with Unipads, an Ahmedabad based cloth pad manufacturer, is also underway. Unipads sells its pads through SHGs. An MOU between the Mangrol Mahila Manch and Unipads will be signed formally to seal the deal. In Madhya Pradesh, some SHGs are involved in the assembly and sale of pads.

Apart from this, another component of the MHM program is the capacity building of the frontline workers of the Health Department and the ICDS department. ASHA workers and ANMs of Health Department and Anganwadi workers of the ICDS department are trained through monthly block-level trainings. Specialists such as gynaecologists are called upon as resource persons to deliver sessions. The monitoring of Mamta Divas observed at Primary Health Centres (PHC) is also undertaken in programme villages. Way Forward1. Replicating the 4-session MHM module delivered to

Kishori and women groups in Gujarat to other program areas of the organisation.

2. Facilitation of business partnerships among Mahila Manch (women federations) and cloth pad manufacturers/sellers.

3. Encouraging women entrepreneurs and SHGs to manufacture/assemble sanitary pads and facilitating market linkages.

4. Using the Kishori and women groups as gateways to ensure better living spaces for women and girls by sensitising village communities to promote gender equality by myth-busting and addressing social and cultural inhibitions placed upon women.

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APPROACHES TO MULTI-THEMATIC DEVELOPMENT

Understanding the interplay of various factors which lead to an individual or community’s well-being such as access to or ownership of resources, education levels, geographical and environmental constraints, health and malnutrition levels, etc. is crucial to the formulation of a successful development programme. The improvement in overall wellbeing can be brought through work on different components of an individual’s life. Interventions are interconnected at the household level. For Instance, if a project focuses on improving livelihoods while it may achieve the desired increase in income levels, but the poor water quality of the region might lead to increased expenditure on treating water-borne illnesses.

Integrated approaches to development refer not only to the multi-thematic nature of interventions but also the broad range of actors/beneficiaries involved. However, the challenge lies in coordinating the efforts such that they complement and not contradict each other. Access of basic infrastructure services such as sanitation, health, education, potable water, etc. needs to be ensured along with working on improving the income of the households.

Most development organisations struggle to work on multifold interventions simultaneously. For one, the capital intensive infrastructure facilities such as roads, schools, hospitals, etc. are primarily the responsibility of the Government, but due to poor governance and inadequate investment, rural areas lack

basic infrastructure works. Another reason is that it is difficult for a single development organization to have expertise in various domains of work. If development work is done sequentially, even then the challenge is in the consolidation of various interventions at the level of Gram panchayat or community institutions.

Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) has through the last 33 years of its operations in diverse geographies and a multiplicity of contexts recognised the need to work on a multi-thematic approaches to substantially improve the quality of life of its beneficiaries. AKRSP(I) has through its journey worked on different approaches of integrated rural development. The learning and experiences of these are shared in this chapter.

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MULTI-THEMATIC DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES

AKRSP(I) works on multi-thematic approach to achieve holistic development. Some of the approaches are:

– Transforming Rural India (TRI) – Holistic Rural Development Project (HRDP) – Integrated Rural Development Project (IRDP)

TRI approach is based on the premise of implementing work on different thematic areas such as Health, Nutrition, Education, Governance, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry by consolidating efforts of multiple partners such as Civil Society Organisations, Government departments and Commercial enterprises. This programme is being implemented since 2016 in Khaknar block of Burhanpur district in Madhya Pradesh and is an initiative of the Tata Trusts to bring about development in an integrated manner.

The strategy adopted under TRI programme is to base Women Self Help Groups and women collectives as the primary institutions, which are then layered with different committees and/or resource persons such as Sachet Sakhi, a woman who works to generate awareness regarding health and nutrition, Shiksha Sakhi, who works towards improving the quality of education, etc. The women collectives are provided support by expert agencies/NGOs who work with these institutions to build their capacities and empower them on their journey to awareness and actualization. This is achieved through facilitation of multiple partnerships among various grassroots organisations each working in the same geographical area on its focused area of expertise. The work is undertaken in a block saturation approach with the aim to cover 70-80% of the households in a block.

TRI APPROACH

Khaknar block, where TRI is implemented has 90 Gram panchayats and 130 villages which are spread over two Tehsils namely Nepanagar and Khaknar. Of the total population of 2,13,784; 61% belong to Scheduled Tribe. Low literacy levels (44.7%) combined with abysmal health indicators represent the condition of the populace of the block located in Burhanpur district. The primary source of livelihood is agriculture. Some of the major challenges of Khaknar block are:

– Less active Panchayati Raj Institutions – Rainfed area with low agricultural productivity – Degraded agriculture land – Absence of veterinary care services – Acute malnutrition – No access to markets – Poor medical/curative facility – Poor access to safe water and sanitation – Poor education facility

AKRSP(I) initiated work in Khaknar block of Burhanpur district in 2014 as the chief livelihood NGO while Chetna and Samavesh were the respective Health and Education partners. Along with the work on forming and Strengthening community institutions, work was done on Microfinance, Livestock, Agriculture, Watershed, Education and Health. The package of practices is represented on the next page.

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– 2500 farmers adopted Organic farming and 100 farmers adopted Conservation Agriculture practices. – The community of Daiyat village took the initiative to address malnutrition in children aged 0-6 years old. The community of the village contributed ₹7000 for nutrition rehabilitation of malnourished children.

STRENGTHENING LOCAL GOVERNANCEAnother approach to ensuring integrated development is to channelise various government schemes implemented through the medium of the Gram Panchayat by empowering community institutions and local governance bodies to know their rights. While government is responsible for providing infrastructure facilities and access to services such as water, sanitation, etc., it is the onus of the Gram Panchayat to ensure proper implementation of the said schemes. A key part of AKRSP(I)’s approach is to build and strengthen community institutions to encourage resolution of village-level issues through the medium of self-reliant communities.

In 2014, a focussed programme intending to strengthen local governance systems was initiated in 96 panchayats of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

The key impact of the work undertaken through the governance interventions is:Improvement in Schemes and Service Delivery

– Saturation of pension schemes demand in project area. – Increased demand and supply in livelihood schemes related to agriculture and poultry. – Increased demand for scheme has created pressure on the government for better service delivery.

Improved Citizen Participation – Mahila Sabhas becoming the voice of women under the leadership of elected women Representatives.

Package of Practices

The ImpactThe impact of the work done under the project in the past three years is below:

– Reached more than 10,000 households during the period of 3 years. – 10 villages in the project area became Open Defecation Free. 3044 Individual toilets constructed in 30 villages. – 23 villages got access to drinking water facilities. – 41 primary government schools provided Teaching Learning support. – Increased women representation in Gram Sabha. – 51 Village Development Plan prepared in Khaknar block which are a crucial input for improved Governance through Gram Sabha planning. – More than 3000 people benefitted from various government schemes, bank account opening, linkages with flagship programmes. – Sachet Didis, an army of community-level health workers provide medical facilities to 81 villages. – Achieved 100% institutional delivery in 20 villages. – 5 model anganwadi centres established and TLM support provided to anganwadis of 81 villages. – 11 active Children Learning Centre operational in 11 villages of Khaknar block.

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– Citizen participation in Gram Sabha has increased and citizens now demand a copy of the written resolution and follow up with gram sabha regarding resolutions passed. – Panchayats capacity to plan, implement and manage projects independently has increased.

Improved Local GovernanceGram Panchayats (GPs) focus on Education, Livelihood, Health, Social security has increased and this is reflected in their plans. A few examples are mentioned below:

– Khokhra Umar (Dediapada, Gujarat) took lead in developing a vision for education with their own intervention of running coaching support centre for SSC students. – Kundiamba (Dediapada, Gujarat) – took lead in Nutrition intervention with Anganwadi and promoted Kitchen Gardens to counter malnutrition. – Patadi (Dediapada, Gujarat) – ‘Education first’, a new vision and plan under the women sarpanch leadership currently under execution. – Paat (Sagbara, Gujarat) – GP started regular coordination meeting of all service providers of the village. – Saajanvav (Sagbara, Gujarat) – GP took initiative for alcohol prohibition with a penalty amount decided by Gram Sabha (GS). Seasonal hostel started for children of migrating Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) families. – Kushmiha (Niwali, MP) – GP had the vision to regenerate their forest and 10,000 trees were planted. – Dhasalgaon (Zhirniya, MP) – Implementation of GS demands like NREGA, new AWC, bridge connecting faliya across river, solved pending problem of electricity.

SEQUENTIAL DEVELOPMENTAnother approach to development is the implementation of different interventions in a sequential manner. In the initial years of its operations, AKRSP(I) focused on livelihood and Natural Resource Management interventions in Coastal Gujarat region which included activities such as ParticipatoryCanal Management, River Basin Management, Strengthening Women collectives, Agriculture and Animal husbandry, etc. which were primarily aimed at improving livelihoods.

The second phase was focused around ensuring access to safe drinking water as the region faced salinity ingress. Interventions such as Roof rainwater harvesting systems, water testing, village-level water supply schemes were undertaken on a large scale. Post-2014, a meeting with the community to discuss the way forward brought forth issues in Education and Sanitation. The work in recent years in the region has been focused on improving education quality as well as sanitation access and awareness generation for improved health and hygiene.

All the approaches stated above have their limitations and cannot be claimed as panaceas to Integrated Development work, but they do offer insightful solutions. The local governance programme strengthens community institutions and collectives to usher in development in their village and works well in implementing government-funded infrastructure work but does not focus on improving livelihoods interventions such as agriculture and skill development. The sequential development approach layers thematic interventions across different time gradients and hence the change is gradual. TRI approach is comprehensive in a way as it allows the simultaneous implementation of multiple development interventions along with a strong focus of community institution strengthening and local government partnerships.

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VADVAI

‘Knowledge not shared is knowledge wasted.’

AKRSP(I) as an grassroots organisation has over the last 33 years gained valuable experiences and knowledge. ‘Vadvai’, was established as a knowledge extension unit for sharing the repository of AKRSP(I)’s knowledge.

VisionTo facilitate wider outreach of the demonstrated community based approaches for livelihood enhancement by disseminating its grassroots learning at the local, state and national level.

During the year, the Vadvai unit undertook the following key activities:

– Implementation of the CCDM courses. To read more about CCDM work undertaken, refer the Youth Development Initiative chapter. – Conducted modules for a 6-month certificate course, the Certificate Programme in Rural Livelihoods (CPRL)promoted by Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (BRLF). – Empaneled as a Key Resource Centre by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Govt. of India for capacity building activities under Swachh Bharat Mission. – Undertook various capacity building activities for other organisations.

Certificate Programme in Rural Livelihoods (CPRL)Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF) promoted CPRL is a 6-month certificate program which seeks to address the

capacity building challenge for existing and aspiring rural professionals who would potentially engage as frontline functionaries of CSOs, government institutions or with offices of elected representatives of the PRIs and SHG federation leaders.

Vadvai undertook four modules under the programme which are Watershed Management, Participatory Drinking Water Management, Participatory Irrigation Management and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). These modules cumulatively made the largest number of modules assigned to any single organization under this course. Third batch of CPRL successfully got trained in these modules at our Campus.

Key Resource Centre for Capacity building activities under SBM missionAs part of KRC role, Gujarat government assigned 11 districts where following activities were carried out by Vadvai:

– A WASH Training module was prepared keeping in view the requirement of the target stakeholders. – 11 Districts level capacity building programmes were conducted in which more than 600 participants were trained. – 72 Taluka level capacity building programmes were conducted which trained 3686 participants.

Capacity building programmes undertaken for Reliance Foudnation, DEEP Trust, User Group members of BAIF, SHG members of Adani Foundation and FPO members of Sadguru Foundation.

Vadvai has been empanelled as a Key Resource Centre by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Govt. of India for capacity building activities under Swachh Bharat Mission.

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RESEARCH, DOCUMENTATIONAND VIDEO UNIT

RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION

Research is a vital component of AKRSP(I)’s work. In order to understand effectiveness of the interventions and various projects, regular research and assessment exercises are undertaken. AKRSP(I) scales-up, replicates and undertakes policy advocacy for a programme or intervention based on the results of research studies and assessments.

Such studies are either done either through internal resources within AKRSP(I) team or through external agencies, consultants and/or interns.

The research studies and assessments undertaken during the year are mentioned below.

BIHAR1 Pathways to Transform: End-term evaluation of ‘Integrated Development of Three Villages in Bihar’ (by a group of

consultants)2 Insights from Deep Dives: Pashu Sakhis and Goat Rearers by Lean Data

3 Developing Model for Social Enterprise involving Women SHG & Farmer Producer Organization by AbhinavSharma

4 Assessment of Water Safety in Households having their own Water Supply system by AKRSP(I)

5 Preparatory Phase of Livelihood Security Project for Rural Communities in Vaishali District, Bihar by AKRSP(I)

6 An Assessment Report: Integrated Development of Three Villages by AKRSP(I)

7 Samvardhan:Transforming Villagescapes - Impact assessment of Multi-Input workb being undetaken in Muzaffarpur district by Anjali Aggarwal

8 ‘The Sun Shines for Happiness’, Catalysing Solar Power for Women Empowerment!!

9 The Feasibility of income enhancing agricultural activities in five selected villages of Sakra Cluster by Kumar Shubham, NMIMS Mumbai

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MADHYA PRADESH1 Ripples of Change, an impact assessment of the integrated work being undertaken in Madhya Pradesh by Anjali Agarwal

2 Climate Resilient Agriculture: A review of the results of Conservation Agriculture by Anjali Agarwal

3 Drinking Water Profile of Trigariya and Abhapuri villages by Divyanshu and Sourav

4 Assessment of Producer Companies promoted by AKRSP(I) in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh by Bhimsi Ahir

5 Developing sales and marketing linkages for poultry entrepreneurs in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat Abhishek and Veda

6 Impact Assessment of TDF WADI project in Khaknar Block of Khandwa District, Madhya Pradesh by Mahendra Kumawat

GUJARAT1 A Process Documentation of Project Dangi Vikas by Samaj Consultancy

2 End line Impact assessment of the ABF-AKRSP Dangi Vikas-I by TTC

3 Margins to Mainstream - Stories from Remote Dangs by Charkha

4 Partnering for Transformation, A case of Mahalpada Village by Pratul Ahuja

5 Study on Prospects of Value Chain in Dairy in Dangs District of Gujarat by Pratul Ahuja

6 Study on Prospects of Value Chain in Millets in Dangs District of Gujarat by Pratul Ahuja

7 Study on Vegetable Marketing Chain by Pratul Ahuja

8 Feasibility Study Report of FPO in Dangs

9 Identification and Resolution of Challenges to Growth of Bamboo-based Tribal Entrepreneurship in Dang District of Gujarat by Mohar Banerjee and Shashi Anand

10 Case lets from the Dangs by AKRSP(I) (19 Case lets from the working villages)

VIDEO UNIT: BLENDED LEARNING INITIATIVE

The video unit of AKRSP(I) is a relatively newer vertical which aims to use videos for extension and knowledge sharing. It has been proven that videos as a extension tool are 10 times more effective, per dollar spent, than a conventional extension system.

The Blended Learning Initiative in AKRSP(I) aims to strengthen communities, staff, and other key groups through courses combining video-based content with highly interactive face-to-face workshops. AKSRP(I) started the Blended Learning Initiative in 2016 to overcome several challenges: the limitations of the traditional theory-oriented and lecture-based way of community engagement, the lack of trainers and training materials in remote areas, and the costliness of the traditional capacity building model. The main beneficiaries of AKRSP(I)’s blended learning work are community members. AKRSP(I) is also using blended learning and video-based content for staff capacity building, reporting, and promotional purposes.

During the year, the courses produced under the Blended Learning Initiative are:

Personal Hygiene : Poor health among school children results from the lack of awareness about personal hygiene. Different diseases and infections are caused by polluted water and poor sanitation, as well as poor hygienic practices. For children, the maintenance of personal hygiene helps to improve the quality of life and longevity. This is the reason that AKRSP(I) invested into the production of a Blended Learning course on Personal Hygiene. The eight video lessons in this course help children to understand the seven steps of personal hygiene. The primary audience for the course are school-going children though the videos can be used to train parents as well. Please scan the QR Code

to watch the video

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Goat Health ManagementGoat rearing is practiced at large scale in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Generally most marginalized communities are engaged in this activity. AKRSP(I)’s goat rearing program has several key interventions leading to quantum jump in productivity and income levels. One of the key elements is to create a cadre of women extension workers called pashusakhis to provide preventive health services for goats. This BLI course will help to train pashusakhis on some of the major aspects of goat health such as Goat house, castration, vaccination, deworming, feed mixture etc. Five videos in this course have been produced in partnership with Aga Khan Foundation (India).

Apart from these blended learning courses, videos have been produced to highlight the impact of several interventions at field level. These videos include success stories, ideas, voices of communities and some key interventions and are available on the YouTube channel of the organisation, ‘Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)’.

The various videos developed are mentioned below:

Please scan the QR Code to watch the video

Please scan the QR Codes to watch the video

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HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

The most valuable resource any organisation possesses is its human capital. Sustainable development of the communities it serves cannot be ensured without the growth and development of an NGO’s team.

Human Resource Development is aimed at the identification of potential candidates with a set of skills aligned to the job role and values similar to that of the organisation on the one hand and organizational and personal skill-set development of its human resources on the other.

NGOs need an army of skilled development professionals with the ability and will to work in tasking environments and unpredictable conditions along with the required domain knowledge and value set.

Development professionals needs to have the following qualities:

AKRSP(I) strives hard to identify and nourish Development Professionals by building their capacities through trainings, exposure and orientation. During the year, various trainings on team building, motivation and managerial leadership were conducted .

Leadership development is a prerequisite to creating effective development professionals. Also, the expansion of the portfolio of work to diverse geographies has emphasised the need to have good leaders with effective communication and executive skills who can work closely with the communities and lead teams while preserving the values of the organisation. Getting leaders from outside the organization is also difficult. Hence AKRSP(I) introduced IPL–P1 to build an internal leadership pool. This gave the opportunity to employees to discover the inherent leader within themselves and play a larger role in taking the work forward. AKRSP(I) intends to develop its human resources as co-owners of the development process rather than as employees of the organisation.

A round of psychometric tests, groups discussions and personal interviews were conducted with 41 personnel across program locations. Based on this process, a capacity building plan for training, coaching and mentoring employees for future leadership positions will be developed. This program will attract, build and retain internal potential team members who show readiness to grow as leaders.

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FINANCE

The financial details of the organisation for the year 2018 are presented below:

The expenditure of AKRSP(I) increased from ₹115.37 Crore in 2017 to ₹131.74 Crore in 2018.

58% of the funds, ₹78.41 crore, could be leveraged directly to communities or their institutions.

The break-up of the sources of funds and leverage are presented below:

While the maximum amount of funds were leveraged from Community in Kind, through Government schemes or Bank linkages,the grants from Indian and Foreign organisations amounted to16% each of the amount spent.

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The maximum leverage, ₹ 49.37 crore was raised as community contributions and government subsidies provided towards Individual Household toilet construction.

The remaining leverage amount was raised as kind contribution by communities, input supply activities undertaken, bank credit linkage, and actualisation of government subsidies received through various schemes.

The break-up of the leverage amount is presented below:

₹ 110 crore or 84% of the total expenditure was utilised for programme implementation and the remaining 16% accounted for human resources, administrative and capital cost.

Human resources cost was ₹ 16.17 crore, or 12% of the total expenditure.

The break-up of the budget utilisation is presented below:

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MEDIA COVERAGE

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TESTIMONIALS

Earlier the land had gotten barren due to the lack of water, but now due to construction of the dam, we are getting enough water, hence we are able to grow brinjal, chilli, etc. - Beneficiary woman farmer, Pipali check dam repair work, Dangs, Gujarat

The solarpump gives us sufficient water everyday (for irrigation). There is no need to wake up in night for irrigation. - Ravin Revsingh Jamra (Solar Group Based Irrigation system beneficiary), Pendarniya Village, Badwani, Madhya Pradesh

Earlier, the people of the region did not even repay the water user fees of the drinking water supplied, but since the initiation of work on formation of Canal Irrigation Societies (CIS) by AKRSP(I) and the awareness generated among the community, the Irrigation department has received water user fees of Rs 8 lakhs from 5 CIS who are receiving the benefits of the Participatory Irrigation Management schemes. The organisation has done phenomenal work with the farmers in this region.

- R M Patel, Superintending engineer of Ukai reservoir , Dangs

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I used to cook on traditional stove. It used to smoke a lot and more wood was required. I used to hurt my eyes as well. I have been using smokeless chuhla for 6-7 months now. It requires less wood, the smoke is less and I can cook quickly. - Sumal ben (Smokeless chuhla beneficiary), Mahalpada Village, Dangs, Gujarat

We used to spend 2-3 hours for bringing water for drinking and washing clothes. Now the village has piped water pumped with solar energy. We can save our time and can easily work at our farm. No more waste of time and energy. - Bani ben Gavi (Solar Drinking Water Supply beneficiary), Savarpada Village, Dangs, Gujarat

A lot of people use to get sick in our hamlet. Stomach problems and diarrhea. The drinking water scheme has benefitted us a lot. Not only it saves time but also the money spent on visiting the doctor. - Phul Kumari Devi, Community Owned Drinking Water Supply System beneficiary, Bihar

I have been using Drip Irrigation for one and half years in my field. When I didn’t have drip in my field, water would not reach everywhere, because my land was uneven. There was low production. The women in my house also had to work in the fields. Since I have put drip in my field, I get more crop with less water, and there is less work so we can use our time better. I can work as a mason and I also drive the tractor for some extra income. I have had a profit of ₹ 86,000 from cotton production alone.

- Vishram Makwana (Drip Irrigation Beneficiary), Surendranagar, Gujarat

I used to work in Indore in the Dairy sector, but I wanted to do start my own business, so I taught myself the poultry business. I took a loan to develop a 3250 sq. ft. poultry farm with a capacity of 3000 chicks. When I developed and sold my first lot, I understood the profit potential of the farm. Currently, I am on my 9th lot. Everything needs to be learnt and one has to work hard to make his/her life better. - Thansingh Ravt (Tribal Entrepreneur Programme), Patarwada village, Khargone, Madhya Pradesh

The students who were irregular, now regularly attend classes as education is imparted through songs, story books, games and activities. This has happened in all the schools where the organisation is working and has increased the standard of education provided by the school. - Nanbha Zala (Active School Management Committee member, Surendranagar, Gujarat

We used to eat only the vegetables we brought from the market. This would cost us ₹300-350 per week. Then we started doing bori bagicha. My small gunny bag produced sponge gourd, bitter gourd and okra. I got production of around 15-20 kg every week. - Munni Bai (Bori Bagicha beneficiairy), Bhagwaniya village, Madhya Pradesh

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DONOR PARTNERS

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REACH US

Surendranagar/Rajkot/Morbi Field OfficeAga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)Nr. Shree Raj Shobhag AshramSayla – 363 430Dist. SurendranagarTel-Fax : 02755-280668

SAURASHTRA REGIONJunagadh/Devbhoomi Dwaraka/Porbandar/Somnath Field OfficeAga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)“Bhavani Krupa”,Mangrol- Porbandar Road,Traffic Points Char Rasta, Gujarat - Central OfficeAt: Mangrol,Tal. Mangrol, Dist. Junagadh – 362225Tel. No. 02878-223486

Bharuch-Narmada-Surat Field OfficeAga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)Movi Road, Netrang, Dist. Bharuch-393 130Tel: 02643-282127Tel-Fax -283331

TRIBAL SOUTH GUJARAT REGION

Dangs/Valsad/Navsari Field OfficeAga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)Mr. Chandubhai P. Ghavani’s Residence,Shramjivi Vasahat, Rani Faliya above Forest Check PostTaluka Ahwa,District: Dangs

Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)9th -10th Floor, Corporate House,Opp. Dinesh Hall, Off. Ashram Road, Ahmedabad-380 009Tel: 079-40069127, 27540421, 27542158Fax: 079-66312471

MADHYA PRADESH REGION BIHAR REGION

Madhya Pradesh Field OfficeAga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)HIG-7, Scholar Den School RoadDindayalpuram ColonyKhandwa (M.P) – 450001Tel-Fax: 0733-2249292

Muzaffarpur Field OfficeAga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)Rana Dheerand Prasad Singh,Near Nor th Bihar Agro Agency,Chakkar Maidan, MuzaffarpurTel-0621-2223355

CENTRAL OFFICE