The government being a welfare state, has since inception through policy, legislation and its executive worked for the welfare of the poor. The line departments of the government have been implementing the various development and welfare programs for the poor over the so many years..

The objective of the APRPRP project being implemented by SERP is to reduce poverty in all its forms. This it intends to do by empowering the poorest of the poor through institution building and creating strong self reliant peoples institutions to enable them to better articulate their needs and have better access to facilities and resources, also enhance their livelihood opportunities.

To do the above, SERP is proactively converging on one hand with the line departments like the Education, Health, Revenue, Disabled etc and on the other, with the many rural development agencies like the DRDA, SC Corporation, ITDAsetc and also projects like the DPEP in achieving the common objective of the welfare of the socially and economically backward sections. This would result in

• Sustainability of efforts
• Avoiding duplication of efforts
• More effectiveness by building on one others strengths
• Combining of resources (Financial and manpower)so that optimum accrues to the poor

Most importantly this convergence by combining the strength of the government and the flexibility of the non-government organisations is intended to bring about maximum benefits to the poor.

Somewhere along the way, it is believed a mutual appreciation of the philosophy and work ethos of one another would take place laying foundation for a sustained convergence of efforts sothat the development sector would work as a one whole for the devlopment of a prosperous state.

The nuts and bolts of the convergence

Several rounds of meetings have been held with the various line departments wherein the heads and other senior officials along with the CEO and other senior officials of SERP have arrived at a common agenda of objectives. The implementation details of convergence from the state to the village level have been worked out.
For achieving the same, government orders of convergence have been issued with several departments.

I. Convergence of Self Employment Schemes

The Livelihood needs, therefore, the employment and income enhancement needs, cannot be met by any single source or program. This calls for convergence through appropriate partnerships in knowledge dissemination, skill building, natural resource (endowment) support, financial and risk reduction/diversification apart from organizing the poor.

Livelihood approach to pave way for a Convergence Strategy in implementation of all Anti Poverty Programs

As the social mobilization process matures in a village, the communities are encouraged to sit and analyse their livelihood situation (both as consumers – domestic consumption and production inputs – and as producers/sellers of the goods produced and services), including the value-chain analysis for the critical livelihood systems. This analysis throws of the options for the community to act on their own wherever they can. It throws up learning from the best practices within the village/across the villages. It throws up aggregation, scheduling and logistics management possibilities. Village Infrastructure needs come to the surface. Further, the sub-sectoral inputs to the communities, throw new opportunities that can be tapped. Financial and Risk Management Support where required in their pursuit to better their livelihoods are offered by SERP or sourced from other players.

Broad contours of the Livelihoods framework of SERP-APDPIP

• Rural Poor are Consumers and Producers.
• Consumers of household consumption items, inputs, raw materials for production Rice Credit Line, Commodity Banks, Rural Retail Stores by the groups that can offer the items at wholesale price with assured quality.
• Producers of the goods and services for within the village consumption and for market outside – immediate neighborhood villages, cluster, mandal, sub-district markets, district, beyond the district… in that order.
• Rural Poor suffer from multiple interrelated handicaps in purchasing their requirements and in marketing their produce and services. The most important them include: Small Quantities (high transaction costs), Ignorance of Markets and Prices, Ignorance of the Product – Quality Requirements, Practices etc., Ignorance of the Technology, Indebtedness and ‘Tied Sales’, Lack of Capacity to hold stocks, and Consumption Credit Needs.
• Social Organisation/Collectivisation, Knowledge and Resources are the three pillars of the framework to augment the incomes of poor (Livelihood Framework). First Pillar of Organising the Communities into self-managed groups/institutions is the foundation on which the other two pillars have to be erected.
• Accordingly, the first element of the framework is to reduce the costs of consumption of various items the poor consume and to avoid the spurious quality products.
• Second element is to augment the returns from the goods and services they produce by interventions in the three stages of the pre-production, production and marketing: reduced cost of quality inputs, technology for increased productivity, improved harvesting practices and post-harvesting practices (collection, drying, storage, grading, segregation, etc.,), moving to the right on the value-chain (producer-to-consumer chain) through aggregation, reaching out to the next ring in the chain and local value addition, timing of the sale, tapping local marketing opportunities, sales in installments etc.
• Third element is to scan for the opportunities and add new lines of goods and services: introducing collection of available produce newly, introducing new crops/varieties etc.
• Fourth element is to develop new products and market (science, engineering and technology applied for the benefit for the poor)
• Fifth element is to augment the skillset or introduce the new skillset that is in demand to the rural poor (wage labour)
• Sixth element is to encourage the entrepreneurs from the poor and group enterprises

These interventions trigger with the Village Livelihood Enhancement Action Plans (LEAPs – social and resource maps, income and expenditure pattern analsysis, traded-in and traded-out items analysis, value-chain analysis for constraints, costs, practices, best practices, credit requirements, resource constraints, technology gaps etc.,), covering almost all the poor starting with the activities/items that can be attempted directly by the poor on their own (individually or in their groups), developing the knowledge on the critical livelihood sectors and disseminating the same to the poor through appropriate mechanisms (activists and associates included), establishing the systems of market intelligence (including prices), tapping the Community Investment Fund for community infrastructure and barefoot activists/ professionals, augmenting the skills of the community in marketing, establishing market linkages at appropriate levels and accessing the required resources (as a single source, as far as possible) through appropriate partnerships (corporate institutions, government programs, research organizations, management institutes, NGOs and interested individuals and students/interns).

Focus will be on

- Landless farm/non-farm labour
- Migrant labour
- Dry-land agriculture crops
- Horticulture
- N.T.F.P/Medicinal plants
- Small livestock
- Inland and Coastal fishery
- Rural Artisans
- Skilled workers in non-traditional products

This analysis will indicate the significant livelihoods areas of intervention in each village, the items that need to be retained in the village for later consumption, the items that need to be sold in installments and/or periodically, the local value-addition possibilities for local consumption and for marketing, aggregation possibilities, improvements in grading, storage, and other post-harvesting practices etc. (depending on the size of the village and the poor there). These plans can also be further aggregated at the Mandal level. The implementing body is the Village Organisation of the Poor (VO) and/or the Mandal Samakhya of the Poor (MS) or the specific commodity groups/cooperatives that are likely to emerge.

These plans will help the communities to pro-actively access the Community Investment Fund (CIF) for their collective needs. The project (DPIP) will offer all technical support in converting these plans into appropriate CIF sub-projects of the community and later in implementing them.

The project (DPIP) will, in addition to establishing bank linkages where feasible, also tap other funds for providing the working capital needs of the poor producers and their groups. The target is to tap about Rs.20000 per family as against Rs.5500 available in CIF, by leveraging and linkages.

It may also mean some Piloting for important commodities, in pockets (like red gram), in the districts for subsequent replication of the successful operations by the communities; and piloting Micro-enterprises based on local resources, Micro-enterprises based on new third party contracts, Hand-holding support for the entrepreneurs and Service-based enterprises for subsequent replication selectively.

Some work needs to be done towards developing risk-bearing mechanisms including a fund, promoting Labour cooperatives, Commodity Cooperatives for aggregation, local value-addition and marketing, developing Knowledge Dissemination Systems locally and using the science and technology for the poor (Research, Renewable Energy, ICT etc.).

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Quantitative Contours for a Typical Village

• Number of Families (poor) – 100 (Dominant Livelihoods: Agri./Horti. – 20, NTFP – 20, Livestock – 20, Skilled – 10, Wage Earners – 30)
• Agriculture/Horticulture Produce – Rs. 5 lakh; NTFP – Rs. 3 lakh; Livestock (small livestock and dairy) – Rs. 2 lakh; Skilled Produce – Rs. 0.25 lakh, Skilled Services and Wages – Rs.2 lakh
• Total Turnover of Produce – Rs. 10 lakh (Income to the Poor – Rs.7-8 lakh)
• On aggregation at Mandal level, the turnover of the produce is typically Rs.3-4 Crore (significant amount); similarly the consumption
• Also, the commodity clusters, production clusters offer scope for aggregation at clusters of villages/mandals.
• Therefore, possibilities of aggregate sales and aggregate purchases.

Incremental improvements in the sales operations should yield 30-40% increases in incomes. This coupled with credit management, consumption management, input purchases and moderated timing of the purchases and sales etc., should easily provide 100% increases in incomes of the poor.

Similarly, there can be increased employment, reduced risk, increased productivity, decreased expenditure, improved sustainability through VOs and other People’s Institutions dealing with the markets and financial institutions directly and rather routinely, and increased per capita investment, at least by 200-300%.

II. Skills Development

Rapid globalisation and fast-paced technological progress are posing new challenges. At the same time, the new economic forces provide, new opportunities for economic growth and expansion of employment if there is an adequate level and high quality of skills present among the work force, to harness the opportunities thrown open by the rapid technological changes and more open economy.

Taking note of the prevailing scenario and far-reaching developments, enhancing the skill levels of poor communities and finding the most effective means of doing are critical and also gaining central importance in economic and employment strategies

Keeping the above in view, Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) has adapted a two prong strategy

• Institutionalize the rural population into an effective force.
• To improve the working skills for all productive activities, provide access to better technologies thereby ensuring enhanced means of production and profitable livelihoods for the rural poor.

To equip the rural poor to be successful in their livelihood activity, they need to have access to knowledge and training through vocational education and skill building institutions for adapting the benefits of technology transfer and small technologies.

Some of the key sectors, the rural poor still depend on largely and adapt as their livelihoods are mostly in the Natural Resource Management and Industry sectors :

• Dairy
• Agriculture
• Horticulture
• Fisheries
• NTFP
• Construction
• Micro Enterprises
• Garment/Leather Industries.

In the course of time and intense dissemination of livelihood strategies, the service sector like IT, Health, Education etc are bound to eminate.

In order to ensure that the rural poor have access to some of the best learning centers, SERP is tying up with the best center of excellence depending upon the type of sectoral skill training. Some of the institutes identified for the Natural resource Management and Industries sectors are :

• Training and Technology Development Centres (TTDCs)
• MANAGE
• CEDAP
• Swami Ramananda Teertha Rural Institute (SRTRI)
• NISIET
• HNTCs
• SERP Training Centres etc.

In the year 2002-2003, SERP proposes to impart skill building to about 20,000 members under the Income Generating activity of the DPIP project at a estimated cost of Rs. 100.00 lakhs.

III. Action Plan for 2002-2003

The Annual Work & Finance Plan (AWFP) has been prepared for the 6 districts at a total cost of Rs. 150.00 crores. The broad component-wise outlay is detailed below :

IV. Available Budget

As per the budget allocation report of the GOAP, SERP ha s been provided an amount of Rs. 80.00 crores only for implementation of the DPIP project in the 6 districts.


V. Gap in resources

There is a gap of Rs. 70.00 crores in the overall budget requirement of SERP to implement all the envisaged activities under the proposed AWFP for the year 2002-2003.


VI. Further Budget Requirements

SERP requires further an amount of Rs. 70.00 crores under budget allocation for the year 2002-2003 to implement and achieve all the activities envisaged under its proposed AWFP.