I

RAJASTHANRAJASTHANRAJASTHANRAJASTHAN RURALRURALRURALRURAL LIVELIHOODLIVELIHOODLIVELIHOODLIVELIHOOD PROJECTPROJECTPROJECTPROJECT (RRLP)(RRLP)(RRLP)(RRLP)

RRRRURAL URAL URAL URAL DDDDEVELOPMENT EVELOPMENT EVELOPMENT EVELOPMENT &&&& PPPPANCHAYATI ANCHAYATI ANCHAYATI ANCHAYATI RRRRAJ AJ AJ AJ DDDDEPARTMENTEPARTMENTEPARTMENTEPARTMENT

GGGGOVERNMENT OF OVERNMENT OF OVERNMENT OF OVERNMENT OF RRRRAJASTHANAJASTHANAJASTHANAJASTHAN

II

GGGGOVERNMENT OF OVERNMENT OF OVERNMENT OF OVERNMENT OF RRRRAJASTHAN AJASTHAN AJASTHAN AJASTHAN

RRRRURAL URAL URAL URAL DDDDEVELOPMENT EVELOPMENT EVELOPMENT EVELOPMENT &&&& PPPPANCHAYATI ANCHAYATI ANCHAYATI ANCHAYATI RRRRAJ AJ AJ AJ

DDDDEPARTMENTEPARTMENTEPARTMENTEPARTMENT

RAJASTHANRAJASTHANRAJASTHANRAJASTHAN RURALRURALRURALRURAL LIVELIHOODLIVELIHOODLIVELIHOODLIVELIHOOD PROJECTPROJECTPROJECTPROJECT (RRLP)(RRLP)(RRLP)(RRLP)

Prepared by:

State Project Management Unit

RRLP, Jaipur (Rajasthan)

III

INDEX

S.N. Content Page

No. Chapter 1 - Project Rationale: 1-6

1. Life and Livelihoods in Rajasthan 2. Major sources of Livelihoods of Poor

(i) Agriculture (ii) Animal Husbandry (iii) Wage Labour (iv) Household Enterprises

(v) Collection of Non-timber Forest Produce 3. Persisting Poverty 4. Vulnerability 5. District Poverty Initiative Project 6. Initiatives & Experience 7. Self Help Group Movement

Chapter 2 - Project Strategy : 7-15 1. Mission 2. Objective 3. Project Strategy

(i) Targeted Households (ii) Community Institution Building (iii) Sustainable Augmentation of livelihoods (iv) Capacity Building (v) Sectoral Support (vi) Partnership Development (vii) Promote Context Specific Innovations for Livelihood Promotion (viii) Employability Development and Placement

(ix) Climate Change Adaptation 4. RRLP Approach 5. Community Institutional Building

Chapter 3 - Project Scale and Phasing 16-17 1. Selected Districts 2. Project Scale 3. Project Phasing

Chapter 4 – Project Components 18-68 1. Institution Building and Social Empowerment

Establishment of Project Facilitation Teams (i) Composition of PFT

1.1

(ii) Capacity Building of PFT Community Mobilisation (i) Community Mobilization Strategy

1.2

(ii) Implementation Arrangement Facilitate Community Institutions 1.3 (i) Self Help Group

IV

(ii) Cluster Development Organisation or Utthan Sansthan (iii) Area Federation (iv) Producer Organisation Capacity Building of Community Institutions (i) Institutional Development Modules (ii) Livelihood Skills (iii) Implementation Arrangements

1.4

(iv) Outputs and Outcomes 2. Community Investment Support (CIS)

Community Based Organisation Fund (CBO Fund) (i) SHG Fund (ii) Cluster Development Organization Fund (CDO Fund) (iii) Area Federation Fund

2.1

(iv) Sectoral Fund Partnership Development (i) Bank Linkage (ii) Sectoral Support (ii) Convergence

2.2

(iv) Value Chain Development Innovation & Research (i) Trust Area (ii) Some Activities

2.3

(iii) Criteria for Selection of Innovations 3. Skills Development and Employment Promotion

(i) Salient Feature (ii) Process of Employability Development and Placement

(iii) Implementation Arrangement 4. Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)

4.1 Planning and Implementation of Adaptation Approaches 4.2 Strategic Policy Support and Knowledge Development

Chapter 5 – Project Management 69-78 1. Implementation Arrangement

1.1 General Body 1.2 Empowered Committee 1.3 State, District Unit & PFT 1.3 Key Roles and Responsibilities of Key Institutions

2. Human Resources and Institutional Development (i) Initiate Learning Mechanism in the Project Chapter 6 - Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Sys tems 79-94

1. Introduction 2. Objective 3. Progress Monitoring 4. Monitorable Processes 5. Intermediate Results Monitoring 6. Results Monitoring 7. Thematic Studies 8. Reviews and Documentation

V

9. Peer Review 10. Community Score Card 11. Documentation 12. Impact Evaluation 13. Institutional Arrangement for M,E & L 14. Roles & Responsibilities 15. Monitoring Indicators

Chapter 7 - Financial Management and Budget 95-103 1. Financial Management Framework 2. Disbursement & Funds Flow 3. Staffing, Capacity Building & Training 4. Budget Estimates 5. Budget Preparation 6. Accounting Policies and Procedures 7. Audit Arrangements 8. Financial Reporting

Chapter 8 – Communication 105-111

1. Designing the Communication Strategy 2. Objective 3. Target Groups 4. Pre-Implementation Phase 5. Implementation Phase 6. Communication Means 7. Post-Implementation Phase

Chapter 9 – Procurement 112-122 1. Procurement Methods 2. Procurement by Project Management 3. Procurement of Goods and Equipments 4. Procurement of Consultancies/ Services 5. Thresholds for Procurement Methods and Review by Bank 6. Roles and Responsibilities for Procurement 7. Purchase Committee 8. Community Procurement Process and Method 9. Procurement Process at Community Level 10. Training/ Capacity Building on Procurement

Chapter 10 - Governance and Accountability 123-133

1. Key Principles 2. Current Policy in Rajasthan for Mitigating and Tackling Corruption 3. Key Operational Partnerships 4. The Governance and Accountability Action Plan (GAAP) 5. Business Process Re-engineering – Analysis of Corruption Prone

Processes in the Department

6. Dealing with delays in Departmental Proceedings: Review of Pending Departmental Enquiries

7. Project Risk Assessment & Plan for Mitigation 8. Social Audit

VI

Chapter 11 – Social Inclusion & Safe guards 134-154 1. Social Inclusion 2. Tribal Development Framework 3. Gender Action Plan/ Framework

Chapter 12 – Environmental Safeguard 155-160 1. Introduction 2. Environment Management Frame-work 3. Environment Management Tool Kit 4. Environment Appraisal 5. Promotion of proactive environmental subprojects 6. Institutional Arrangement 7. Internal Monitoring 8. External environmental audit 9. Performance Indicator

Chapter 13 – Exit Protocol 161 Project Cost Tables Annexures -

1. Social Assessment & Tribal Development Frame Work R eport 'A'

2. Environment Management Frame Work report 'B'

3. Finance Manual 'C'

4. Procurement Manual along with Procurement Plan 'D'

5. Community Operational Manual 'E'

6. HR Manual 'F'

VII

List of Abbreviations

APIO Additional Public Information Officers

ARR Action Required Report

ATR Action Taken Report

BOD Board of Director

BOQ Bill of Quantities

BPCC Block Project Coordinator Committee

BSR Business Strategy Report

CAAA Controller of Aids, Accounts & Audit

CBO Community Based Organization

CDO Cluster Development Organisation (Utthan Sansthan)

CGCC Consortium of Group Combating Corruption

CIG Common Interest Group

CMIS Computerized Management Information System

CN Consignment Note

COM Community Operational Manual

CRP Community Resources Persons

CVC Central Vigilance Commission

CW Civil Works

DC Direct Contracting

DGS&D Directorate general of Supplies & Disposals

DPCC District Project Coordinator Committee

DPIP District Poverty Initiative Project

DPMU District Project Management Unit

EC Empowered Committee

EIP Employability Implementation Partner

FGD Focused Group Discussion

FMM Financial Management Manual

GAPP Governance and Accountability Action Plan

GC Governing Council

GD Group Discussion

GIS Geographical Informatics System

GPN General Procurement Notice

VIII

GSDC Gross State Domestic Product

HRF Health Risk Fund

ICB International Competitive Bidding

IFB Invitation for Bid

IMR Infant Mortality Rate

INR Indian Rupees

ITB Instruction to Bidders

ITC Instructions to Consultants

IUFR Interim Un-audited Financial Reports

KVK Krishi Vigyan Kendra

LIF Livelihood Investment Fund

LOI Letter of Invitation

MCP Micro Credit Plan

ME&L Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

MMR Maternal Mortality Rate

MoU Memorandum of Understanding

MTR Mid Term review

NCB National Competitive Bidding

NGO Non Governmental Organization

NRHM National Rural Health Mission

NTFC Non Timber Forest Product

PDS Public Distribution System

PFT Project Facilitation Team

PIO Public Information Officers

PIP Project Implementation Plan

PM Process Monitoring

PO Producer Organization

PWD Public Works Department

QBS Quality Based Selection

QCBS Quality and Cost Based Selection

RCDF Rajasthan Cooperation Dairy Federation

RFP Request For Proposal

RGAVP Rajasthan Grameen Ajeevika Vikas Parishad

RKCL Rajasthan Knowledge Corporation Ltd.

IX

RMoL Rajasthan Mission of Livelihood

RRLP Rajasthan Rural Livelihood Project

SBT Skill based Training

SC Scheduled Caste

SHG – MCLP Self Help Group Micro Credit Livelihood Plan

SHG Self Help Group

SPMU State Project Management Unit

SSA Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

SSO Sector Support Organization

SSS Single Source Selection

ST Scheduled Tribe

TOR Terms Of Reference

UNDB United Nations Development Business

UT Union Territory

WBR No. World Bank Reference Number

WCD Woman and Child Development Department

X

List of Tables

Table No. Content Page No.

3.1 Projected Scale of RRLP Operations 17

3.2 RRLP Phasing of Project Activities 17

4.1 Responsibilities of Field Workers 22

4.2 Stages of Community Mobilisation 26

4.3 Funds under the RRLP for Community Institutions 44

5.1 Composition of Project Management Unit 73

5.2 Capacity Building Plan 78

6.1 Results Monitoring 85

6.2 M&L Responsibilities, Periodicity and Use of Information 88-89

6.3 Result framework 92-94

8.1 Pre-Implementation Strategy 105-107

8.2 Implementation Strategy of IEC 108-110

10.1 Risk and its Rating along with Mitigation Measures 126-128

10.2 Governance Management Accountability Action Plan 129-130

12.1 Process for environmental assessment 155

12.2 Roles and Responsibility for EMF implementation 156-157

XI

List of Figures Figure No. Content Page No.

2.1 RRLP Intervention Strategy 8

2.2 Ideal Changes in Livelihoods 12

2.3 Community Institutional Building 13

3.1 Project District 16

4.1 Project Components 18

4.2 PFT & Support Structure 20

4.3 Likely Institutional Map in a Project District by the end of 3rd year

27

4.4 SHG Formation and Development 28

4.5 Capacity Building Content 33

4.6 Community Investment Support 36

4.7 SHG Fund 38

4.8 Process of Formulation of Micro Credit Livelihood Plan 39

4.9 Fund Flow to SHG 40

4.10 CDO Fund 42

4.11 Formation & Support to PFT Federation 42

4.12 Sector Support in RRLP 47

4.13 Convergence in RRLP 48

4.14 Skill Development and Employment Promotion 55

4.15 Schematic Diagram of Climate Change Adaptation

Component in RRLP

64

5.1 Organizational Structure 69

7.1 Fund Flow Arrangement 98

12.1 Schematic Presentation of Environmental the SHGs’

Proposed Livelihood Activities

154

1

Chapter 1 PROJECT RATIONALE

Recognising the need for continued action for promoting livelihoods in the State, Government of Rajasthan proposes to implement a follow up project to the District Poverty Initiatives Program (DPIP) implemented during 2000 -2007. This proposed project is referred to as the Rajasthan Rural Livelihoods Project (RRLP). Before delving into the specifics, it would be relevant to refresh the rationale of a program like RRLP starting with the current livelihood status of Rajasthan. It is followed by a brief overview of DPIP-1 and the SHG movement and finally emerging way forward, is documented. Life and Livelihoods in Rajasthan Rajasthan, situated at the north-western part of India, is the biggest State in the country with an area of 3, 42,239 Sq. km comprising 11 percent of the total geographical area of the country. Total population of the state is 56.51 million. There are 33 districts, 249 blocks and 41353 villages. The State has population density of 165 per sq. km. (as against the national average of 312). The decadal growth rate of the state is 28.41 percent (against 21.54 percent for the country) and the population of the state continues to grow at a much faster rate than the national average. The state shares its north – western and western boundary with the Indo - Pakistan international border that touches the major districts including Barmer, Bikaner, Ganganagar and Jaisalmer. Rajasthan has a diverse geography and social structure. The population of 56 million and Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of USD 23 billion place Rajasthan eighth among the Indian states. Majority of the state falls in two agro-climatic zones – the central plateau and hill region and the western dry region – with the Aravali Hills running from north-east to south-west dividing the State into the two regions. The state is overwhelmingly rural, with more than three quarters of the population still residing in the rural areas. It has one of the highest proportion of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) population in the country at 17.2 percent and 12.6 percent respectively (The comparable figures at the national level are 16.2 percent for SC and 8.2 percent for ST during 2001). Major sources of livelihoods of the poor

Agriculture Agriculture continues to be the main source of livelihood of 65-70 percent of the population of the State. However, the farmers are under stress due to a variety of factors. There is an urgent need to invest in agricultural infrastructure particularly irrigation. At the same time to reduce the stress on agriculture, some sections of the population have to be facilitated to shift to other sources of livelihoods.

2

The major crops of Rajasthan are bajra, jowar, maize, moth, pulses, guar, groundnut, cotton, soybean, paddy, wheat, gram and mustard. The cropping pattern has changed over the last few decades as a result of development of irrigation potential, production technology, market prices, industrial demand, etc. In kharif crops, the area under coarse cereals and pulses shows a decreasing trend while the area under soybean and cotton has shown significant growth. In rabi, all crops have shown an increase in area under cultivation primarily because of availability of irrigation. Majority of net sown area of the state is rainfed; the net irrigated area in Rajasthan is only 30-35 percent of the net sown area. Erratic rainfall with unequal distribution results in poor productivity of unirrigated land. As such, the productivity of most of the crops is well below the national average. Within the state, there is marked difference in the productivity of crops in irrigated and unirrigated areas. Animal Husbandry Animal husbandry is an equally important source of livelihood for the rural poor of Rajasthan. Almost all rural households rear one or more types of animals for the purpose of consumption and sale. Rajasthan has about 7 percent of country’s cattle population and animal husbandry contributes as much as 19 percent of the state GDP. In the arid and semi-arid areas, income from livestock accounts for 33-50 percent of income of rural households. A study by the NCAER found that revenue from milk sales alone accounted for about 22 percent of the family income in the State. The livestock sector is more labour intensive than crop cultivation and accounts for a major share in rural employment with 4.55 percent annual growth as compared to 1.15 percent for agriculture. This sector has the highest potential for employment generation and for income enhancement with low investment. However, this sector also faces problems of low productivity; almost 60 percent of all cattle and about 80 percent of buffaloes are non-descript and have very low milk yield. The demand-supply gap of fodder is widening. The extension system is weak and has poor outreach. Apart from cattle and buffaloes, the other important livestock in Rajasthan include goat, sheep, poultry, camels and pigs. Wage Labour Wage labour has assumed much greater significance in the livelihood portfolio of the rural poor of Rajasthan in the last few decades. It is not uncommon to find households in several parts of the state where the share of income from wage labour is higher than that of agriculture. The reasons could be poor growth in agriculture or opportunities in urban centres or the urge to live in modern environment or a combination of all these. Wage labour has two dimensions, local-distant and skilled-unskilled. However, almost all wage labour is done in the unorganized sector. The state has also been giving a massive thrust to wage labour for many years, lately through the NREGA.

3

Household Enterprises

Most traditional enterprises have been overrun by machine made products compelling most households involved in such activities to migrate to other forms of livelihoods. However, some household enterprises of Rajasthan continue to register their presence due to their uniqueness and also because most such activities are clustered in specific geographies. Some of these activities are handloom, embroidery, leather products, block printing, etc. Collection of non-timber forest produce

In south and south-eastern Rajasthan, where forests still survive, some households, mostly from scheduled tribes, derive significant share of their incomes through collection of various products from forests. These products include tendu, medicinal plants, spices, fruits, honey, etc.

The income from such collection is never the most important source and is usually complemented with agriculture and/or animal husbandry. However, most such products become available in the summer season when few other sources of income, too are available.

Persisting Poverty

Rajasthan is the eighth most populous state in India with a population of over 56 million. It is characterized by immense regional disparities, adverse climatic conditions and scarcity of water. Forty percent of population lives in remote desert regions which are subject to seasonal migration and nomadic movements of people. The achievements of the state in the area of socio-economic development have not been to the desired level. According to Head - Count Ratio, the proportion of rural population below the poverty line was only 13.7 percent in 1999-2000 which was significantly lower than the national average of 27.1 percent. However, if other indicators are included to gain insights to the depth of the incidence of impoverishment, Rajasthan would rank as one of the poorest regions. Rajasthan witnesses slow rate of decline in poverty, from 50 percent in 1970 to 23.8 percent in 2008. In absolute terms the numbers of BPL households have increased from 19.49 Lac in 1997 to 20.94 Lac in 2002. The significant aspect of the problem of poverty in the state is that it continues to concentrate in a large number of pockets. In these pockets low literacy rate, low status of women, water scarcity, lack of non-farm sector, high IMR and MMR – all depressing factors are instantly reinforcing each other to produce perpetual backwardness. The Human Development Index (HDI) measure puts Rajasthan ahead of Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Assam, which reflects a steady improvement over the years. In education, key indicators have been on an upward trajectory in recent years and the gap with national averages has been closing. However, health outcomes are cause for greater concern. Not only do available indicators show Rajasthan to be a lagging state, some key indicators of child health and nutrition actually appear to have worsened suggesting a widening gap with the rest of the country. With an IMR of 63, MMR of approximately 400 and Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 4, Rajasthan is below the national average in terms of basic health outcomes. Experience world over has shown that while general growth of the economy has positive impact on reducing poverty, it

4

may not be sufficient to address the problem unless strategies are designed to directly target the poor. If it happens this way, one may have reason to believe that poverty incidence may be reduced to half by 2015 as MDG has stipulated. Majority of the poor is marginalized and disadvantaged and thus they require direct support and credit through Government intervention. Vulnerability The incidence of poverty in Rajasthan appears to be lower than what the per capita income levels would suggest. In terms of real per capita income ranking of 14 major Indian States, Rajasthan is fifth from the bottom. However, only four states have lower poverty rates than Rajasthan. Poverty is almost seven percentage points lower than national averages, even with below average per capita income. In Rajasthan the percentage of households living below the poverty line was 20 percent in 1993-94 while it was 34 percent for India. The poverty income Index largely reflects low income inequality and clustering of households just above the poverty line in Rajasthan. Even a marginally higher poverty line cut off could raise the poverty rate significantly – since there are large proportions of the population who are technically non poor but clustered above the poverty line at low income levels. A rise of relevant poverty line income by 10 percent raises the number of the poor by over 35-36 percent in both rural and urban areas. Given the high frequency of droughts in Rajasthan, large numbers of households are precariously placed in terms of poverty. It is in this context that one must try to understand rural poverty in Rajasthan in terms of lack of productive assets, poor access, vulnerability to shocks, and weak institutional mechanisms.

District Poverty Initiative Project DPIP-1 was implemented in seven districts of Rajasthan with an objective of improving the status of the poor through increased income, improved standard of living and social status. It began in July 2000 and was supposed to close in December 2005. However, it was extended up to December 2007. During this period, 7158 Dairy CIGs had been sanctioned, of these 3500 CIGs were linked with Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation (RCDF) for marketing and other dairy business services and have savings to the tune of Rs. 2.3 crore. Identified Saharia (Tribal) families in Baran district have been organized into Joint Forest Protection and Management Committees (JFPMCs) and linked to forest area near their houses for developing forest and collecting forest produce and grass. This provides ready employment to the tribal family forthwith for 100 man-days in the first year.

Initiatives and Experiences 1. Surveys & Studies: During Project preparation two following studies were

conducted: Social Assessment & Tribal Development Plan :- Social Assessment Report,

Tribal Development Frame-work & Gender Action Plan are discussed in relevant chapters.

5

Environment Management Frame Work :- Climate Change & Adaptation as well as Environment Management Frame-work are discussed in relevant chapters.

2. Lessons Learned from DPIP:

There has been considerable difference to the poor in terms of the development benefits they gained due to the intervention being made under the auspices of DPIP. There is now a greater appreciation of the new role of NGO and beneficiaries at the project. It is positively reflected in the smooth working of the project and impressive outcomes. The project staffs are now better equipped and more confident to face new challenges. Most importantly, the beneficiaries have an opportunity to work in a group together so that they become a part of the decision making process. The leadership qualities dormant hitherto for want of opportunities are now unfolding gradually. The poor are now coming closer to the PRI and participating in it actively. The nature of the project is such that the beneficiaries have to know the related schemes for realizing fuller benefits. This helps provide useful exposure to the beneficiaries for empowerment. The seven- year long project experience had provided a number of lessons for development project in general and poverty alleviation initiatives in particular. Some of the key lessons emerging from the project are briefly summarized: • Importance of financial capital: About 15 to 20 percent CIGs have acquired

additional assets through own/bank resources indicating a growth of business and more Groups demanding for more credit-bank linkages. It reflects a need of capability building of CIG’s to bring them to a level where banks will have no hesitation to provide loan.

• Multiple Doses of Orientation and SBT: The project has felt that single training of orientation as well as SBT is not sufficient and it should be repeated at some suitable interval of 6 to 9 months. The capacity building measures should also focus on skill development for employment creation.

• More Emphasis on Convergence: Provision of assets alone is not adequate. These assets need to be put to productive use. This requires convergence and coordination with schemes related to social welfare, rural development and rural employment.

• Selected Demand Driven Approach: Providing income generating livelihood activities to group of poor people (as CIGs) based on demand only is not a viable proposition. Activity should be provided based on the livelihood activities as reflected in block level livelihoods plan and choice of livelihoods activities determined by market opportunities, institutional partnership and linkages.

• Need for Clustering: The project experience shows that creating sustainable livelihoods for the poor and moving them out of poverty needs investments beyond forming groups (CIGs) and providing income generating assets. Sustainability, among others, needs aggregation for voice and scale which requires clustering.

6

• Non-Farm Livelihood: Due to absence of other viable and feasible livelihood opportunities as large proportion of the project promoted investment went into livestock and allied activities and petty trade and service activities, which are relatively low productive areas. The lesson is that the government and the development projects should focus on promotion of non-farm livelihoods of the poor.

3. Exposure visits:- The State Project Management Unit team along with consultants

visited MP DPIP-I and JEEVIKA Project of Bihar, where the similar type of the project are being implemented. The findings and the lessons of these projects have also been incorporated in the PIP.

4. State level workshop :- Two workshops have been organized; one on best practices

adopted by leading NGOs implementing similar programme, other with the line department & outside RD experts and leading NGOs for the different components of the projects. The recommendations of these workshops have been taken into consideration.

Self Help Group Movement An SHG is a small group of about 20 persons from a homogeneous class, who come together voluntarily to attain certain collective goals; social or economic. The group is democratically formed and elects its own leaders. The essential features of SHGs include members belonging to the same social strata and sharing a common ideology. Their aims should include economic welfare of all members. The concept of SHGs is predominantly used in the case of economically poor people, generally women, who come together to pool their small savings and then use it among themselves. It has been experienced that the SHGs are generally formed through the intervention of a facilitating agency. The Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have traditionally had a history of promoting SHGs in Rajasthan. However, over time, SHGs have come to be promoted by Government agencies, banks and even by federations of SHGs themselves.

7

Chapter 2 PROJECT STRATEGY

Mission Mobilizing all poor families into self reliant institutions and promoting sustainable livelihood as well as strengthening services delivery mechanism.

Project Development Objective "To enhance the economic opportunities and empowerment of the rural poor, with a focus on women and marginalized groups, in the 17 targeted districts of Rajasthan."

Project Strategy RRLP will follow the strategy of building-up the capacities of targeted households complemented by financial & technical assistance for improving incomes, reducing costs, and reducing risks and vulnerability, identified by the households themselves in a Livelihood Plan. This strategy will motivate and support the households in augmenting their livelihoods in sustainable manner. Once the households have built up their social and financial capital with the help of community institutions to some extent, it is equally important for them to invest wisely into other forms of capital in order to augment their livelihoods. These investments may be private/individual or public/common encompassing human, natural, infrastructural, technological and market related. The project will enable the households in making these investments effectively through opportunity/gap identification, demonstration, training and exposure, planning, and linkage with technical organizations, commercial organizations and service providers. A combination of the following may be targeted by the households for themselves: • Food and Nutrition Security • Diversification of Livelihoods • Improving Productivity • Enhancing value of goods produced • Reducing Cost of Goods Produced and Living Costs • Reducing Risk in Life and Livelihood • Improving Health Status • Improving Education Level and Quality • Access Entitlement and Rights

8

Evolution of Climate Change

Adaptation Strategies

Targeted

Households

Community

Institution

Development

Capitalisation through

Project Funds

Enhanced Capitalisation by

Banks, etc.

Innovation and Research

Sustainable

Augmentation

of Livelihoods

Capacity Building

Sectoral Support Employability Development

and Placement

Partnership Development

Fig 2.1 - RRLP Intervention Strategy

The key elements of project strategy are described below:

Targeting the Poorest Households One of the primary reasons and manifestations of poverty is the lack of financial and other resources available with the poor households. Indeed, the households are caught in the downward spiral of poor resources-low investment-poor returns-further depletion of resources. In order to help the households bring out of this spiral, the project would provide financial support to households through the community institutions at various levels. However, the households will receive this financial infusion in the form of affordable investment supports, and not grants, governed by the norms and regulations of the institutions from which they are availing the investment support. Such capitalization would allow the households to meet, often urgent, needs like health, food security, retirement of high cost debts, customs and rituals, etc. It is also expected that some households/groups would employ the capital, even at this stage, for meeting expenses of income-generating livelihood activities. Such capitalization therefore would help the households in reducing their vulnerability of falling deeper into poverty trap and prepare a platform from where they can visualize sustainable growth for themselves. The Project is committed to work with the poorer sections of the village and will follow a ‘BPL-plus’ strategy. For this purpose, MORD rural poverty criteria being piloted for BPL 2011 census survey and NRLM guidelines, including automatic inclusion and exclusion of certain socioeconomic groups as per proposed Methodology for BPL survey 2011 will be followed.

9

Community Institution Building It is imperative that the poor households aggregate themselves into groups at various levels. This would allow both the community as well as the development/commercial organizations to reach out to each other in an effective manner. In order for this to happen, the community would first need to be made aware about the advantages of forming into groups in very practical terms. Once they agree, the groups formed would need to evolve and follow norms and regulations which are acceptable to other stakeholders. Thrift and internal rotation of funds saved would be an important activity of the groups. This would help the households in meeting small but urgent requirements. It would also create a history of financial transactions of the seemingly ‘unbankable’ people. Such history would be assessed at various stages of the project by various stakeholders to provide financial and other support. It is therefore clear that these community institutions would form the bedrock of all other interventions of the project. It must also be noted that vibrant community institutions would form an important outcome of this project that can potentially impact the livelihoods of the poor in Rajasthan for a long period of time.

Sustainable Augmentation of livelihoods Having demonstrated social cohesion, an ability to manage finances and effective utilization of capital, the households would leverage their performance and raise, through their representative community institutions, substantial resources from commercial banks and other financial institutions. The Project will handhold the community institutions during this process by helping them evolve financially viable plans and handhold them through their initial dealings with the banks, etc. The Project will also assist the banks, etc. in understanding the viability of the community institutions and their plans. This will be done through co-opting the banks at every stage, discussions at the highest levels, presentation of data in appropriate formats, exposure visits by bank personnel to project areas and orientation of bank staff especially at the field level. Capacity Building Development of ‘human capital’ will be a key intervention of RRLP. The targeted households will be empowered to take charge of their own development. Towards this, each member of a community institution will receive classroom inputs on the advantages of forming and maintaining institutions. The institutions and its members will also receive handholding support from project staff till the institutions stabilize. The Project will also invest significantly in building technical capacities of the households to improve their livelihoods through classroom inputs, exposure visits, demonstrations, and participatory exercises. The PRI members are important stakeholders in the project to ensure the empowerment of communities. They would also be part of the vision building for RRLP and undergo a short structured programme in village development planning. The PRIs would play proactive role, hence capacity building of PRIs will be done through the trainings, workshops & exposure visits. This will help them understand their roles & responsibilities in a much better way.

10

Sectoral Support

One of the important features of a stable livelihood portfolio is that the households depend on one or two major sources of income to meet the requirements. Invariably, poor households have to follow the path of distress diversification; they are forced to take up an activity in an unplanned manner which leads to sub-optimal utilisation of already scarce resources.

The Project will help each household in identifying these one/two activities which have the potential of growing enough to meet the requirements of their households. Such identification of all households will be collated for each district. Four activities which are likely to help maximum number of families will be taken up for sectoral support. For the two most important activities, producer organizations will be established and financial assistance too will be provided. These producer organizations will invest in developing both forward and backward linkages of the respective value chains. However, for the next two important activities, the Project will only provide technical assistance so that the households are empowered to invest in the value chains. Partnership Development

Partnership development, leading to convergence of multiple stakeholders for the benefit of targeted households, is an important strategy of RRLP. It is envisaged that partnerships will be developed with three categories of organizations. The objective of developing such partnerships is to mobilize funds and to build a good working relationship between community institutions with various governmental and non-governmental actors such that these relationships continue beyond the project Promote Context Specific Innovations for Livelihood Promotion

It can be assumed that most livelihood activities of the poor are sub-optimal. The reasons may be varied like poor quality of inputs, obsolete technology, lack of diversification-convergence-synergy among different production processes, inadequate exploration of market, inadequate product diversification etc. The Project would therefore help the community in identifying opportunities and in carrying out experiments around the same. Those experiments that can successfully augment livelihoods will then be replicated by other households/institutions, wherever relevant. Employability Development and Placement

Two critical problems of the rural employment situation are unemployment/ underemployment and long gaps in the cash inflow. On the other hand, the country’s economy is growing at a fairly rapid pace thereby creating jobs that can potentially solve both the problems. However, there is a yawning gap between the potential employers and potential employees. The rural households are unaware of the opportunities and lack the ability to ‘invest’ on education/skills on unknown employment potential and the potential employers lack the resources to invest in completely untrained persons. The Project will try and bridge this gap by identifying the sectors in which employment potential exists, identify the skill sets required in these sectors, train rural youth in these skill sets and place the trained youth in organisations of the sector.

11

Climate Change Adaptation It is widely accepted that if the communities do not adapt to the changing climate, the livelihoods of rural communities which are largely based on natural resources will become even more fragile. The Project will help both the targeted households as well as the policy makers in identifying specific problems related to climate change and in trying out certain experimental solutions suitable for Rajasthan State. These efforts will be consolidated at the end of the Project into a State Climate Change Adaptation document. RRLP Approach • Community ‘Demand’ Needs to be Aggregated (focusing beyond SHGs &

develop higher support structure) Individually, the poor and marginalized can never hope to get their demand heard let alone satisfied. It is, therefore imperative that such households aggregate themselves into formal and informal institutions so that they can stake their claims and negotiate with developmental as well as commercial agencies. The SHG movement was born out of this need and the state of Rajasthan has made tremendous progress on this front. However, it is now time to consolidate this movement and give it fresh impetus.

• Finance is necessary but not sufficient for livelih oods (Multiple doses of finance) A finance led integrated approach to livelihood promotion is the need of the hour. Households need to be capitalized first before they can be expected to make any investment in improving their livelihood situation. Once they have the money, the households need to be supported to improve production systems, marketing, value addition, etc.

• Savings and credit likely to be more successful tha n grant-based model The experience of DPIP-1 in Rajasthan has demonstrated that if the households receive grants, the utilisation of the money is not very effective. Instead, if the money comes as a investment support to be returned, it is likely that the household will deploy it more carefully and chances of sustained livelihood augmentation are higher.

• Diversification of livelihood source is important The rural poor’s dependence on natural resources for their livelihoods has to be rationalized. Most natural resources are limited and depleting, whereas human population keeps growing. In such a situation stress on livelihoods is inevitable. Every household must have at least one significant livelihood activity which does not entail farm-based primary production only. Also, in order to rationalize the risk of the family further, every household should have at least one person in salaried employment from where s/he brings home monthly or weekly wages.

• Social and livelihood security must be addressed The poorest families are often not in a position to catch on to any developmental initiatives as invariably they have to invest time, money and other resources for the same; something which is very scarce for them. Their poverty and vulnerability levels are very high. Even households that are not the poorest are highly vulnerable and often fall to the poorest status due to any natural or personal calamities. The vulnerability of such households needs to be reduced through various social and

12

Typical example of Targeted

Beneficiary Before Project

• Significantly dependent on natural

resource based livelihoods

• Distress diversification of

livelihood portfolio, hence sub-

optimal

• Vulnerable to health related

shocks, food insecurity

• No real ‘voice’ within the system,

despite decades of affirmative

attempts

• Youth is literate but far from being

employable in present scenario

• Ecology under severe threat

• Many household industries have

lost relevance and, therefore,

viability

Targeted Beneficiary at the end of

Project

• Returns from agriculture and allied

activities are stable and showing

signs of sustained growth

• At least one more stable livelihood

source augmented and added to the

livelihood portfolio

• State support in the areas of finance,

health, education, etc. is easily

accessed

• Member of a vibrant set of

community institutions that are

recognized by the State

• At least one youth is employed in a

stable job

• Household industries find new

relevance by developing products for

emerging markets

Project

Interventions

Fig 2.2 - Ideal Changes in Livelihoods

livelihood security programs. It is widely accepted that the state is the best agency to do this. However, the state needs technical and outreach support in order to effectively deliver such services.

• Committed support structure from state level to vil lage level The project will try to onboard the committed and dedicated team of officials and functionaries right from State Project Management Unit (SPMU) to district project management unit and appointing Project Facilitation Team (PFT). The project will recruit personnel through rigorous selection process.

• Community cost based interest rates The major approach of the project would be towards bottom up planning & management of the process and systems. The community institution (SHG, CDO) would be authorized to decide the rate of interest on the investment supports at each level (CDO to SHG and SHG to Members). However, the sustainability of the institute would be necessarily considered while deciding the rate of interest.

• Community to community learning (CRP Model) One of the key approaches of the RRLP is community to community learning under which the active members of the SHGs would be promoted as community resource persons to mobilize and educate the poor in the same or the other PFT Area for fulfillment of project objectives.

• Skill development and assured employment Over the past few years the strategy of skill development and assured employment has emerged as an important strategy for livelihood promotion. It will be especially used for the youth segment of the target beneficiaries. The RRLP will target to train and employ at least 1,000 youth per project district.

13

Fig 2.3 – Community Institutional Building

Community Institutional Building

Project Area & Targeted Beneficiaries In these 17 districts, the total BPL families are around 13 lac. The Project aims to reach around 5,80,000 households out of which about 70 percent are expected to be in project supported SHGs by the end of the Project period according to the availability of resources. Taking an average of 12 members per SHG, it is estimated that the Project will facilitate and nurture around 33,000 SHGs.

The Project is committed to work with the poorer sections of the village and will follow a ‘BPL-plus’ strategy. For this purpose, MORD rural poverty criteria being piloted for BPL 2011 census survey and NRLM guidelines, including automatic inclusion and exclusion of certain socioeconomic groups as per proposed Methodology for BPL survey 2011 will be followed. Identification of Villages The each PFT will prepare an Inception Report for the assigned villages of the area of the PFT. The report will be prepared on the basis of the analysis of the area by the PFT like its Geography, occupations of the communities, development issues etc. This will involve collection of secondary data like census details of the PFT, BPL list, voter list, Beneficiaries of Govt. Schemes sc/ST ratio etc.

17

Districts 9000

villages

400000 BPL Poor

Village Entry

Identification & Assessment of existing SHGs

Formation of New SHGs

CDO

Area Federation

SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG

SHG SHG SHG

SHG SHG SHG

SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG

Rural Youths

Skill Training linked to assured employment

(17000)

Socially Disadvantaged

Education, Health,

Rehabilitation

Activity based PO

PO

Activity based PO

Activity based PO

CDO

CDO

14

On the basis of PFT Area report, PFT Coordinator will identify the villages with highest number of BPL, SC, ST families for the phases of intervention & get approved from the DPMU. This will be a living document and will be updated from time to time. The PFT area will be divided into clusters depending on the concentration of villages and their proximity from one another. A centrally located village with significant concentration of BPL families will be identified for launching of the project in the PFT Area. Village Entry

Identification of positive members/ leaders of the community Mapping of community perspective and issues towards Govt. intervention Environment building for next activities

Beneficiaries Selection RRLP proposes to identify the poorest households in a village, and select the beneficiaries, through the following steps:

• Prioritization of poverty and deprivation criteria for identification of poorest households. This should be guided by MORD rural poverty criteria being piloted for BPL 2011 census survey and NRLM guidelines, including automatic inclusion and exclusion of certain socioeconomic groups as per proposed Methodology for BPL survey 2011.

• Social mapping of all households in the village (hamlet, caste, sub caste, religion, BPL status, SHG Membership etc).

• Community application of poverty and well being criteria to mapped households and identification of households in poorest.

• Designation of poorest households as priority beneficiaries. • Household survey and profiling of identified beneficiaries. • Endorsement of the list by Gram Sabha. • Targets and action plan for inclusion established. • Priority Mobilization and full RRLP support to the identified beneficiary households.

New SHG Formation SHG will be formed among the target families of the project. The minimum 10 and maximum 20 members will form SHG. In case of hard terrain like hilly area, low density population area or in case of physically challenged members SHG can be of less than 10 but not less than 5 members. State unit will decide hard terrain areas and can give relaxation in number of members. Co-opting Existing SHG The existing SHGs/ CIGs list-out by PFT during village entry & situation analysis of the village will be considered for evaluation in the project as per prescribed norms mentioned in Community Operational Manual (COM).

15

Cluster Development Organization (CDO/ Utthan Sanst han)

SHG’s will be integrated to form the first level federation of community institution called Cluster Development Organization-CDO ( Utthan Sansthan ). The formation of Utthan Sansthan should start, when the group becomes stable and is strengthened. The Utthan Sansthan will provide a platform for the poor families to raise their issues at a village or area level. Utthan Sansthan is a tool for raising the resource for holistic development of village. Utthan Sansthan will be the Community Institution through which Livelihoods Investment Fund will be routed by the project to the community. Utthan Sansthan will be formed with formation of three SHG’S with age of three months within a village or a cluster of villages. It will be overarching body for SHG’s within a Village or a cluster of villages. Utthan Sansthan will have a min of three SHG’s as members and maximum of 30 SHG’s. Each SHG shall nominate a member to represent itself in the CDO. Initially it will be preferred if SHG send two members to the Utthan Sansthan. One will be a permanent for a fixed duration of one year the other will be on rotation basis. The representation of SHG members on rotation will enable all the members to have a feel of Utthan Sansthan and understand its process. Second it will also develop leadership capacities within other members too. Utthan Sansthan will constitute 7 Sub- Committees for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness in its day to day work. These Committees will be formed in accordance of Utthan Sansthan functions, its need and the scale of work. In preview of the above stated role of Utthan Sansthan the sub- Committees will focus on performance monitoring, social action, tribal development, finance as well as separately for each of the CDO funds. Area Federation

In order to further aggregate the targeted community, the SHGs of all CDOs in a PFT will be encouraged and facilitated to form a Federation. It is expected that a Federation will have membership of 300 SHGs from 20 CDOs. The process of formation of the Federation may be initiated when the PFT has facilitated at least 100 A Grade SHGs and 10 CDOs. The General Body of the CDO will comprise of all the SHG members. Each CDO will send one representative to the Federation to form the Executive Committee. The Federation will be a legal body and will frame its bye-laws in consultation with its members. Federation can be registered as Society. Producer Organization

Members of SHGs that are engaged in same or similar livelihood activity, agriculture, livestock, handloom, etc. will come together to form a Producers’ Organisation (PO). A PO may be initiated with a minimum of 20 members and there would not be any limit on the maximum number of members. The PO will prefer members who have utilized initial livelihood investment tranche-1 effectively or have been involved in the activity traditionally or have undergone training programs related to the activity.

16

Chapter 3 Project Scale and Phasing

On the basis of a particular selection criteria viz. HDI, Proportionate Population of SC/ ST/ BPL Families, NREGA Employment/ Job Card, Agriculture Output etc., the Government of Rajasthan has identified 17 districts for the implementation of RRLP. These districts include Banswara, Baran, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Churu, Dausa, Dholpur, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Karoli, Kota, Rajsamand, Sawaimadhopur, Tonk and Udaipur.

figure 3.1 – Project Districts

Project Scale

In these 17 districts, the total BPL families are around 13 lac. The Project aims to reach around 5,80,000 households out of which about 70 percent are expected to be in Project supported SHGs by the end of the Project period according to the availability of resources. Taking an average of 12 members per SHG, it is estimated that the Project will facilitate and nurture around 33,000 SHGs.

17

The scale of the project is explained in the table below:

Table 3.1 - Projected Scale of RRLP Operations

S.N. Particulars Assumption / Decision Unit Total

1 Districts Selected by GoR Nos. 17

2 Outreach Determined by Project Nos. 5,80,000

3 Households in Project supported SHGs 75 percent of outreach Nos. 4,00,000

4 SHGs in the Fold of the Project 10-20 members per SHG Nos. 33,000

5 Number of PFTs* 300 SHGs per PFT Nos. 110

6 Villages covered Nos. 9,000

8 Cluster Development Organisation promoted 15 SHGs per CDO Nos. 2,200

9 Area Federation 50 percent of PFTs Nos. 55

10 Producer Organisation 1 POs per district Nos. 17

11 Skill Upgrading & Training 1,000 youth per district Nos. 17,000

12 SHGs Linked with Banks 70 percent of SHGs Nos. 23,100

*the SPMU will identify the locations of the PFT together with 50 villages allotted to it. Project Phasing The RRLP project would be implemented over a period of five years. The whole project will be taken up in a phased manner. The necessary human resources will be recruited in the first year and the second year. The required PFTs are expected to be established in first two years, starting with two PFTs per district in the first year while the balance will be established in the second year. As far as possible, PFTs will be established in contiguous regions to rationalize costs. Village entry will be phased and completed within three years. Coverage of families will be phased over a period of 3 years. It is also expected that most SHGs will be formed or co-opted in the first three years so that every SHG can be supported for a minimum period of two years after formation. The remaining SHGs if any, would be formed in the beginning of the forth year. The establishment of CDO will follow the formation and nurturing of SHGs. It is expected that Area Federations and the Producer Organizations will be formed in the 3rd and the 4th year of the Project. The planned phasing is stated in the table below:

Table 3.2 - RRLP Phasing of Project Activities

S.N. Activity 1st Yr 2nd Yr 3rd Yr 4th Yr 5th Yr Total

1 Districts 17 17

2 Establishment of PFT 34 76 110

3 Village Entry (percent) 18 65 17 100

4 SHGs in the Fold of the Project 2550 19398 9684 1368 33000

5 Cluster Development Organization 340 1123 646 91 2200

6 Area Federation 17 38 55

7 Producer Organization 8 9 17

8 Skill Upgrading & Training 680 5100 5100 6120 17000

9 Groups Linked with Banks 1785 13579 6779 958 23100

18

Chapter 4 PROJECT COMPONENTS

The RRLP has conceived the tasks of sustainable livelihood promotion, as already discussed in the project strategy section, broadly divided into five components: 1. Institution Building and Social Empowerment (IBSE) 2. Community Investment Support (CIS) 3. Employability Development and Placement (EDP) 4. Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) 5. Project Implementation Support (PIS) The first four components are community level interventions. The fifth component describes the institutional mechanisms that will be put in place to facilitate the four intervention components. Each of the components is described in detail in the following sections of this chapter.

Project Implementation Support

Figure 4.1 - Project Components

19

Component 1

INSTITUTION BUILDING AND SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT As mentioned earlier in Chapter 2, the RRLP recognizes that lack of ‘organisation’ amongst the poor is a significant cause of poverty. Individually the poor are not able to make their voices heard and as such often do not receive the necessary support to improve their life and livelihoods. To address this issue, the RRLP plans to follow the tested model of facilitating the community to form institutions at various levels and for different purposes. Not only will these institutions help the communities find their voices, the RRLP will also route further livelihood support through such institutions. Such routing will further strengthen the institutions for accessing and utilizing financial and other support, in turn making the institutions sustainable. This component describes the process through which the community institutions will be formed and nurtured. The objectives of this component are: • To empower the poor communities to organize themselves and to voice their

development demands at various levels. • To build the capacity of the community to meaningfully engage in the Project. In order to achieve these objectives, four sub-components have been conceived. These are: 1. Establishing Project Facilitation

Teams 2. Community Mobilisation 3. Facilitating Community Institutions 4. Capacity Building of Community

Institutions

20

Component 1 - Sub Component 1 Establishment of Project Facilitation Teams Project Facilitation Team (PFT) will be the frontline unit of the Project, constituted at 50 villages, comprising a team of professionals and community level workers. The PFT will be responsible for operationalising all activities and processes in the targeted villages. The key responsibilities of the PFT will be: • Area and Village Entry • Community Rapport Building and IEC Campaign • Participatory Identification of Beneficiaries • Social inclusion & Community Mobilization • Formation and development of Community Institutions • Capacity Building of Community Institutions • Facilitating SHGs in Developing Livelihood Plans • Facilitating community Institutions in accessing Financial and other support from

Project and other Institutions • Facilitating the Identification of youth for employability component • Providing technical assistance to households in effective utilization of livelihood

investment tranche-1 • Facilitating pilot projects on climate change adaptation • Mobilizing support from line departments

Composition of PFT A typical structure of a PFT (a team of professionals and field workers) may be depicted in a figure:

PFT Coordinator

Livelihood & Environment Coordinator

Community Mobilization & Capacity Building

Coordinator

MIS & Accounts Coordinator

Community Mobilizer

(20) Book-keepers

(20)

Para- Professional

(8-10)

1 PFT=50 villages

Field Deployment Scale

PFT Coordinator - 110 Livelihood & Environment Coordinator - 110 Community Mob. & Capacity Building Coordinator - 110 MIS & Accounts Coordinator - 110 Total - 440

Community Mobilizer 2200 Book Keeper 2200 Para Professional 1100 Total - 5500

Functionaries at Village Level

Figure 4.2 – PFT & Support Structure

21

PFT Coordinator (PFT-C) The PFT-C will be the key person to implement the project. S/he will provide guidance and leadership to the PFT and will coordinate with village community for effective execution of the project. The PFT Coordinator will create a favourable environment in the cluster villages, initiate and introduce the project to community. The PFT Coordinator will be from the background of any one of the project’s subject specialist and thereby will also be responsible for that particular subject area namely livestock, M&E, Agriculture etc. All communication to and from the PFT must be routed through the PFT Coordinator. PFT Members There will be three PFT members (excluding PFT-C) who will be experts from various disciplines; either Microfinance & Livelihood or Capacity Building & Social Development Expert or MIS/ Accounts. They will provide technical assistance and capacity building support to community institutions. The PFT members will also record and document the progress of the project. Field Workers In the beginning for 2 to 4 months, the Community Resource Persons (CRP) from other states where similar type of the poverty alleviation projects are being implemented and have capable teams of CRPs will be involved for mobilizing and formation/ strengthening of SHG’s and other Community based Institutions in the selected Project districts. During Village Entry programme the internal Community Resource Persons (CRPs) will be listed. Class-room training for these CRPs shall be organized at district level and external CRPs will train them in the field. After completion of both the trainings, internal CRPs would be evaluated. The successful CRPs shall be involved in formation and strengthening of SHG’s & other community based Institutions in the remaining area of the project. The payment of the Community Resource Persons will be made on task basis. The Project will provide financial support to CDO for a period of five years in a reducing manner, towards meeting the expenses of three categories of field workers – community mobilisers, book keepers and para-professionals. The PFT will help the CDO in identification and capacity building of these field workers. The PFTs will also manage these field workers till the CDO is able to build its capacity for independent functioning. Each category of field workers will have distinct roles and responsibilities.

22

Table 4.1 - Responsibilities of Field Workers Community Mobiliser Book Keeper Para Professional

• Community mobilisation • SHG formation and development • Ensuring regular meetings and the

achievement of other grading criteria for each SHG

• Strengthening of CDO • Facilitating SHG in developing

livelihood plans • Facilitating bank linkage • Assisting PFT in linkage with line

department

Maintenance of financial and other records

• Supporting SHGs in developing livelihood plans.

• Providing livelihood technical assistance to SHG.

• Members, based on inputs provided by the Project.

Every CDO will have 1 community mobiliser

Every CDO will have 1 book keeper

8-10 para professionals may be appointed depending upon the important livelihoods in the cluster.

Capacity Building of PFT All project PFT functionaries will undergo orientation/ basic training of RRLP using Community Operational Manual (COM), Financial Manual, Procurement Manual, Environmental and Social Safeguard Framework and government policy document on Women’s rights and empowerment , SC and ST development disability, pensions and other rural development and social security schemes. The experts of the discipline will undergo thematic trainings being organized at district and State level by reputed Institutions/ Organizations. Exposure visits will be organized to enable staff to share experiences across district to further enhance their skills and performances. Some members will also be taken to study tours or exposure visits to other states in India as well as other countries as and when required. The field workers of CDOs will be given regular capacity building inputs relevant for their responsibilities. Capacity building of field workers will be an important task for the success of the Project.

23

Component 1 - Sub Component 2 Community Mobilization Enthusiasm of the community and their willingness to participate are possibly the most significant factors that will determine the success of RRLP. Differently put, the RRLP must ‘mobilize’ the community such that they feel enthusiastic about the prospects of the improvement in their livelihoods which in turn will motivate them to participate wholeheartedly in the Project. Given the current context where several organizations and projects are offering development support, the RRLP must establish its distinct identity. The specific objective of this sub-component is to make sure that: • Community is enthusiastic about the Project. • Community knows the benefits and mechanism of the Project. • Project recognizes the specific problems and opportunities of the region. • Project targets a group of enlisted poor people. Community Mobilization Strategy It is visualized that the Community Mobilization will be initiated through three stages: 1. Area entry

The PFT will start visiting its allocated area/villages and will collate data from primary and secondary sources. It will also hold consultations with development administrators, government staff, NGOs and community leaders of the region. The purpose of such meetings will be to explain the concept and strategy of the Project, developed by SPMU. Standardized communication material will be used for the purpose. Based on such interactions and poverty and socioeconomic profile of the region, the PFT will develop an Area Inception Report which will identify region level problems and opportunities including socioeconomic challenges and constraints related to the tribal communities and women. It will also specify the phasing of the village entry, community mobilization and group formation process. The primary information will also involve focused group discussion with community members in sample villages or on clustering of PFT area into sub- clusters on the basis of physiology, demography or on proximity between the villages to understand the land utilization pattern/ cropping pattern, housing pattern, resource patterns, working patterns etc this would involve PRA techniques like transect walk, social mapping etc. The format for the report is described in COM. This will enable the PFT to have an overall understanding of the PFT area. On the basis of this report, Project Coordinator will identify the villages with highest number of BPL, SC, ST families for the phases of intervention & get approved from the DPMU. This will be a living document and will be updated from time to time.

The PFT area will be divided into clusters depending on the concentration of villages and their proximity from one another. A centrally located village with significant concentration of BPL, SC, ST families will be identified for village entry.

24

Output: Identification of the villages. Scheduling of Village Entry.

2. Village entry

In the identified village, the PFT will identify the leader & opinion builders of every key community & social groups in the village as well as PRIs and explain them the purpose of their visit. The PFT will also decide the following activities in the village:

(1) Hamlets / Mohallas wise meeting. (2) Village contact drive (slogan writing, rally of school children, distribution of

pamphlet & fixing of posters in village etc. (3) Village meeting. (4) Publicity of the meeting date, time and venue, convenient to the villagers.

Meeting will begin with an introduction from the PFT coordinators followed by the PRI representatives,

staff and other community leaders from all social groups. Then PFT coordinator will explain the purpose of the visit. He will explain about the project objective viz. "To enhance the economic opportunities and empowerment of the rural poor, with a focus on women and marginalized groups, in the 17 targeted districts of Rajasthan.", and how it will enable the community to enhance their incomes through Self Help Groups etc. PFT will facilitate the discussion, the project is different from other groups. The meeting should create a positive feeling among the leaders but should not raise false expectations among them. It is important to ensure that we should not make any commitments, which the project shall not be able to deliver. PFT members should also divide the responsibilities among themselves like Community mobiliser, Book Keeper & Para Professionals etc. Output

Identification of positive members/ leaders of the community Mapping of community perspective and issues towards Govt. intervention Environment building for next activities

3. Identifying and Targeting the Poorest The Project is committed to work with the poorer sections of the village and will follow a ‘BPL-plus’ strategy consistent with the NRLM guidelines for identification of beneficiaries.

The fundamental and overarching objective of RRLP is "To enhance the economic opportunities and empowerment of the rural poor, with a focus on women and marginalized groups, in the 17 targeted districts of Rajasthan.". Majority of the 4 lac targeted beneficiaries are expected to be BPL, SC and ST households and other vulnerable groups such as primitive tribes, landless, households, women headed households, disabled, destitute, religious minorities, bonded/casual labor etc. it is important to design the beneficiary selection, prioritization and mobilization process right, in order to ensure that the project reaches out to these primary target groups, in a most direct, practical and prioritized way.

25

Participatory Beneficiaries Selection RRLP proposes to identify the poorest households in a village, and select the beneficiaries, through the following steps: (Under the criteria of piloted for BPL 2011 census survey and NRLM guidelines only)

• Village Visit, Meeting and Transect Walks • Prioritization of poverty and deprivation criteria for identification of poorest

households. This should be guided by MORD rural poverty criteria being piloted for BPL 2011 census survey and NRLM guidelines, including automatic inclusion and exclusion of certain socioeconomic groups as per proposed Methodology for BPL survey 2011.

• Social mapping of all households in the village with advance notification(hamlet, caste, sub caste, religion, BPL status, SHG Membership etc).

• Community application of poverty and well being criteria to mapped households and identification of households as poorest.

• Designation of poorest households as priority beneficiaries. • Household survey and profiling of identified beneficiaries. • Endorsement of the list by Gram Sabha. • Targets and action plan for inclusion established. • Priority Mobilization and full RRLP support to the identified beneficiary households.

This exercise will identify the poorest households in a village and will include large number of BPL and non BPL households across various social and economic groups identified above. The project will engage an external agency/resource person for developing and testing the methodology proposed above, finalizing guidelines for the project staff, developing a training module, and training the project staff. To ensure strong and informed facilitation, the initial phase of the village visits and beneficiary selection exercise will be supported by External CRPs(from other projects)

Implementation Arrangement • The PFT having support of DPMU will be responsible for above all activities. • The DPMU will actively participate during this stage so that the community becomes

aware about the Project hierarchy and have a point of contact with the Project beyond the PFT as well.

26

Table 4.2 - Stages of Community Mobilisation Stage Methodology Content When Output Area Entry • Review of secondary

data regarding socio-economic conditions

• Review of BPL lists • Consultation with

local development organizations including Banks, Line departments, NGOs and PRIs

• Dimensions and reasons of poverty in the area

• Key challenges & constraints for gender equity & tribal development

• Details about major livelihoods of the region.

• Status of Microfinance initiatives

• Project overview and processes

• SHGs Formed under various schemes

• One time activity, to be completed within two months of establishment of PFT

• Area Inception Report with key gender equity and tribal development issues

• Yearly and project period action plan

Village Entry • Village level meetings

• Meetings in every hamlet

• Meetings with PRIs

Same as above • To be completed within three months of establishment of PFT, as per annual phasing

• To be done for every year as per targets

• Village Report • SHG/village-wise

Database • List of left-out poor. • Yearly and project

period action plan

Identification of Poor in each village

• Identification of poor either BPL or BPL plus as per prescribed norms & process or as per guidelines of NRLM.

• Beneficiary identification indicators used for identification by community (Indicators of piloted for BPL 2011 census survey and NRLM)

• To be completed within three months of establishment of PFT, as per annual phasing

Names of project beneficiaries not in the BPL list in the village, ratified by Gram Sabha

27

Figure 4.3 - Likely Institutional Map in a Project District by the end of 3rd

year

CDO

(5 to 15 SHG) Area

Federation

(15 to 20 CDO)

Producer

Organization

Producer

Organization

Producer

Organization

SHG SHG

SHG

SHG

SHG

SHG SHG

SHG

SHG

SHG SHG

SHG

SHG

SHG

SHG SHG

SHG

SHG

SHG SHG

SHG

SHG

SHG

SHG SHG

SHG

Rs.

SHG

Component 1 - Sub Component 3 Facilitating Community Institutions For sustainable livelihoods, it is imperative that every identified poor is part of a community institution which is managed well, has adequate resources and ensures equity amongst its members. The Community Mobilisation efforts will be consolidated into Community Institutions. The institutional structure of the RRLP has been designed keeping in view the fact that ‘for livelihoods, finance is a necessary but not sufficient condition’. The Project visualizes that the following categories of Community Institutions will be facilitated through the Project: • Self Help Groups (SHGs) • Cluster Development Organization (CDO)/ Utthan Sans than • Area Federation • Producer Organization (PO)

28

Self Help Groups SHGs are affinity based groups of households ideally from similar socio-economic backgrounds. The SHGs are formed with the purpose of helping the group members for overcoming common socio-economic problems through ‘self-help’. The size of the group varies from 10 to 20 members. Typically, SHG members save some amount at a fixed frequency and rotate the same as investment support amongst themselves before seeking funds from banks and other financial institutions. This methodology is widely accepted by both governmental and non-governmental agencies. The project has developed a SHG formation strategy based on the principles of the social, economic and spatial (neighborhood-based) affinities which are collectively articulated. SHG group formation would be demand based. SHG registered with the Project will be the primary unit of ‘membership’ of the poor in RRLP – any household which is not a member of an SHG will not be able to avail any further support from the Project. An SHG will be able to register with the Project in two ways shown in figure below.

Formation of New Groups Co-opting Old Groups

If the SHGs meet following basic criterion:

• 70 percent members are BPL.

• Grading carried out by the Project

immediately.

• Groups graded 'A' can be considered

for start-up Fund or Investment Fund

• Groups graded B and C given road

map for up-gradation.

Project reaches out to households not

part of any SHG and/ or part of an SHG

that does not meet project Co-opting

Criterion

Project registers the Group

Groups with regular meetings, savings,

etc will be given Start-up Fund (2-3)

months for formation

Groups are graded after six months

Only groups graded A – livelihood Fund

Groups graded B & C - road map for

up-gradation.

• 40 percent meetings are regular.

• 30 percent member savings are regular.

• Updated books of accounts.

Fig 4.4 – SHG Formation and Development

29

Entry Criteria of Existing SHGs

1. 70 percent members from identified beneficiaries (BPL-plus). However, the provision of NRLM shall also be applicable in the selection of beneficiaries.

2. 40 percent meetings are regular and on time

3. At least 30 percent of the group members save regularly

4. Have maintained accounts

Salient Features of SHGs in RRLP • Weekly meetings • Standardised meeting procedure • Regular maintenance of accounts and other

records • Registration of group with Project • Operations through bank account • Groups to be socially inclusive • Regular counseling and capacity building of the

groups • Interest of members in savings • Groups to determine interest on investment support to members • Regular monitoring by Project based on guidelines for grading • Periodic grading based on guidelines • Regular, need based capacity building inputs • Financial inputs • Linkages of groups to banks and line departments The financial inputs to the groups and linkages with Banks, etc. are discussed in later components. Implementation Arrangement The PFT will have the primary responsibility of facilitating and nurturing the SHGs. In this endeavor the PFTs would be guided and supported by DPMU, especially for capacity building and monitoring. Outputs and Outcomes It is anticipated that the project would facilitate the formation and development of 33,000 SHGs, of which at least 70 percent would be 'A' grade by the end of the Project period (Grading pattern detailed out in COM)

Cluster Development Organisation (CDO) or Utthan Sa nsthan The SHGs will be facilitated to federate into CDOs. The purpose of developing CDOs is to have a higher level institution which can perform functions that may not be possible for an SHG to do individually, such as fund raising from banks and distribution of the same, dialogue and negotiations with various governmental and private agencies, etc. The CDO will also be the medium to route and monitor the financial support of RRLP to the SHGs. It is envisaged that the CDOs will sustain even after RRLP comes to an end, operating like a small, self-sustaining community institutions that will raise funds from banks and other institutions and on-lend the same to its member SHGs. The CDOs will be registered under a suitable legal framework that allows the organisations to function independently to meet their objectives.

30

The following will be the specific roles of the CDO: a) Representation of SHGs at the Area Federation level b) Provide investment support and recover from member SHGs c) Peer pressure on non abiding members and groups d) Conflict resolution within group members and among the groups e) Cross learning and experience sharing forum f) Performance monitoring of SHGs g) Appraisal and approval of livelihood investment support application of SHG

members h) Access and deliver financial support from RRLP i) Mobilization of funds from other sources j) Identification of village and Gram Panchayat development Initiatives for a common

benefit k) Performance Appraisal of Book keepers l) Take over SHG management after completion of the Project The ideal membership of a CDO is 15 SHGs in terms of viability. A CDO may be promoted as soon as 3 SHGs are ready and willing and then keep adding SHGs till the ideal size is reached. The SHGs seeking to form/join a CDO may be from the same or adjoining village.

All members of the SHGs will constitute the General body of the CDO. An Executive Committee (CDO-EC) will be formed with two members from each SHG. The CDO-EC will be decision making body of the CDO. EC will elect four representatives as office bearers for functional purposes including President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. The EC will also be empowered to nominate members for these committees. The detailed role of these committees have discussed in COM.

a) SHG performance monitoring committee b) Finance Committee c) Social action committee d) HRF Committee e) Food Security Committee f) Fodder Security Committee g) Tribal Sub-Committee (subject to significant tribal population)

Implementation Arrangement Facilitation of CDOs will be done by PFTs, with capacity building and monitoring support from the DPMU. Outputs and Outcomes It is expected that the Project will facilitate the formation of 2,200 CDOs covering all SHGs in the fold of the Project. Area Federation

In order to further aggregate the targeted community, the SHGs of all CDOs in a PFT will be encouraged and facilitated to form a Federation. It is expected that a Federation will have membership of 300 SHGs from 20 CDOs. The process of formation of the

31

Federation may be initiated when the PFT has facilitated at least 100 A Grade SHGs and 10 CDOs. The General Body of the CDO will comprise of all the SHG members. Each CDO will send one representative to the Federation to form the Executive Committee. The Federation will be a legal body and will frame its bye-laws in consultation with its members. Federation can be registered as a Society. Following will be the roles of Federation: • To provide financial services to its members - Insurance, remittances, credit etc. • To establish linkages with financial Institutions. • To resolve SHG conflicts, which cannot be addressed at Utthan Sansthan level. • To engage in building capacities of SHG members and acquiring of technological

know- how for its members, awareness generation on health, education etc. • To scale-up the initiative, through formation of groups, micro financing. • To audit SHGs & CDO annually and ensure maintenance of proper accounts. • To ensure fair representation of women in PRI’s. • To promote Institution in the long run. Implementation Arrangement The PFT will be responsible for the promotion of the Federation. However, assistance may be sought from expert external agencies to hand hold the process. The SPMU will facilitate the process of identifying such an agency. Outputs and Outcomes It is expected that at least 50 percent of the PFTs will be federated by the time the Project comes to a close. Producer Organisations Members of SHGs that are engaged in same or similar livelihood activity, agriculture, livestock, handloom, etc. will come together to form a Producers’ Organisation (PO). A PO may be initiated with a minimum of 20 members and there would not be any limit on the maximum number of members. Objectives of forming Producer Organisations • To protect and/or increase the market share of producers and ensure that their

production is as market-oriented as possible; • To increase the capacity of producers to access market information and to

undertake new marketing activities so as to promote the placing on the market of the products produced by Producer Organisations’ members;

• To improve the producers’ ability to meet legislative and other constraints by promoting production techniques which are environmentally sound and along rational lines.

• To maximize earnings due to economy of scale and economy of integration, • To provide backward and forward services to producer members.

32

The PO will prefer members who have utilized initial livelihood investment tranche-1 effectively or have been involved in the activity traditionally or have undergone training programs related to the activity. The formation of the PO should be preceded by an Activity Identification process. All the CDOs and PFTs of the district, together with DPMU, will identify one or few inter-related value chain interventions that will impact a large number of livelihoods to a significant scale in a sustainable manner. Support from an external agency may be sought by the DPMU for scanning and analyzing the existing livelihoods and the opportunities and constraints that need to be addressed and the preference of the targeted households. This exercise will build upon the PFT level Area Inception Reports. The external agency will make recommendations for at least 4 activities in a district together with background data, an outline of interventions and potential scale of impact. The CDOs, PFTS and DPMU will discuss this report and choose any one or two sectors out of the recommended 4. A report of such identification will also be one of the important documents for securing the release of Sectoral Fund for the PO. The mechanism of the financial support for the Producer Organisations is discussed in later sections of this document (The detailed guideline and manual will be developed) Implementation Arrangement The DPMU and PFTs jointly will be responsible for formation and development of POs. The project will provide funds for:

(A) Formation funds Expenses associated with formation & registration of POs, for hiring consultants for handholding support. Support initially for 3 years with certain ceiling.

(B) Operational Support Funds Working Capital – Project will provide a grant as working capital to each PO upon approval of its business plan by a commercial bank. Margin money required to deposit in bank will be deposited by PO from own sources.

Non members of CDOs & SHGs be part of producer's or ganization Any member/ HH who were not member of SHG or CDO can be the member of POs but will not have voting powers. Outputs and Outcomes It is expected that at least 1 well-functioning Producer Organisations would be present in each project district by the end of the Project, though more POs may have been initiated. It is also envisaged that at least 30-40 percent of all SHG members would be a member of a PO.

33

Component 1 - Sub Component 4 Capacity Building of Community Institutions ‘Capacity Building’ refers to all activities that strengthen the abilities of people, organizations and system to make effective use of resources in order to achieve goals on a sustainable basis. These may be in the form of trainings, exposure visits, combined workshop, institutional development, networking, policy support, action research studies etc. Given the objectives and design of RRLP, capacities of community institutions and its members will be built around Institutional Development and Livelihood Skills. The objective of capacity building is to facilitate the establishment of robust community institutions that can access financial and other resources from various sources and to build capacities of the targeted households to optimally utilize such resources. Institutional Development Modules • Norms & Bye-laws of the institution • Conflict resolutions • Negotiations • Team building • Norms for meeting (agenda, quorum, invites, minutes) • Democratic decision making in meetings • Writing decisions • Accounts and records • Guidelines for grading

Livelihood Development Modules: Technical support as well as capacity building of beneficiary would be arranged for SHG (CDO) members on the preparation of livelihood plan. • Identifying opportunities for livelihoods and preparing livelihood proposals • Procedure for appraisal and sanction of livelihood proposal • Procurement norms & procedures • Values regarding use of public funds, transparency, accountability • Motivating individuals for contribution • Working with banks, line departments and other institutions

Fig 4.5 - Capacity Building Content

Institutional

Development

Livelihood

Skills

Social Action, Accountability

and Empowerment

Exposure Visits

Training

Mod

e

Workshops

34

Social Action, Accountability and Empowerment Modul es To respond to the RRLP operational environment of caste discrimination, tribal exclusion, gender based discrimination and violence, and widespread illiteracy, a comprehensive orientation, sensitization and training progamme on Social Action, Accountability and Empowerment will be conducted for the entire range of community institutions supported and engaged under the project (SHG, CDO, PFT AF, PO, PRI, SSOs, NGOs, and other partners). This programme is a core part of the subcomponent on Capacity Building of the Community Institutions. The programme will constitute of a range of thematic modules which will include the following themes:

• poverty and social exclusion • gender sensitization and women’s rights, • leadership development for women and elected PRI leaders;, • social audit and accountability (including RTI); • CDO committees on social action, performance monitoring and tribal development; • inclusion of PWDs and other most vulnerable groups; • Engaging with PRI structures and processes; • building functional literacy and numeracy; • action planning for improving access to health, nutrition and reproductive health

services; • Gender based provisions in NREGA, and other government programmes • legal literacy and support on dowry, domestic violence, child marriage, wage

discrimination and social justice issues • Gender Action Plan and Tribal Development Framework; • Legal Literacy for Tribal Areas (PESA, FRA, NREGA etc) • grievance resolution and accessing public information; • and other topics emerging from consultations and project implementation

processes. These individual themes will be strongly supplemented by the design and delivery of the IEC programme. The programme will evolve over time, initially starting in partnership with government, external resource agencies, and NGOs. A lot of traiing material will be adapted from existing programs. These modules will be funded from the capacity building budget of the project.

Implementation Arrangement All training programs will be coordinated by the Training Cell of the RRLP following the consortium approach. This cell will function under the supervision of State Coordinator – Capacity Building, SPMU. The SPMU will be responsible for development of curriculum of each of the module. For the purpose, the SPMU may take the assistance of colleagues within the RRLP or in some cases may utilize the services of external agencies.

35

The community institutions and the PFTs will identify their capacity building needs and inform the SPMU through an indent. The SPMU will organize the trainers and other resources requested for in the indent. Outputs and Outcomes It is expected that 100 percent community institutions and its members would receive inputs on institutional development. It is also expected that 50-60 percent of all SHG members would receive inputs in one or more livelihood activities.

36

Component 2 COMMUNITY INVESTMENT SUPPORT

The Project will facilitate the community to ‘invest’ both financial and other resources in their own livelihoods. This investment will be partly financial, where community institutions at different levels will be provided livelihood investment tranche-1 which will be passed on the households as investment support. In addition, the Project will also invest in the training of households, developing linkages with governmental and private agencies, providing support of sectoral specialists and foster innovations; so that the financial investments are utilized well.

The sub-components shown in the figure below are described in the following sections.

Innovations and

Research

Partnership

Development

CBO Funds

• Banks

• Sector Support through SSO

• Convergence

• Value Chain Development

• Community Institutions

• Livelihood Practices

• Community Capacity Building

• Other

Figure 4.6 - Community Investment Support

• SHG Fund: • Livelihood Investment tranche-1 • Livelihood Investment Fund

• Cluster Development Organization Fund: • Health Risk Fund • Food Security Fund • Fodder Bank

• Area Federations

37

Component 2 - Sub Component 1 CBO FUNDS

SHG FUND: Livelihood Investment tranche-1 A livelihood investment tranche-1 of Rs. 15,000 may be given to the SHGs that start well. This is an investment support to the SHG, to be returned to CDO/Utthan Sansthan. The objective of this fund is to incentivize members of SHGs that have made a good beginning. An informal grading will be carried out by the PFT based on MIS reports, at least two months after formation of the group. All groups that meet the criteria will be recommended for release of livelihood investment tranche-1 by the PFT to DPMU. The DPMU will release funds within 15 days of receipt of recommendation from PFT. The livelihood investment tranche-1 will be released with the strength of SHG/ CDO like:

- Regular Saving - Regular Meeting - Record Keeping - Opening of Bank Account - Preparation of Priority Plan

Priority Plan 1. The members of SHG will assess household wise need, demand and gaps of credit

in order to draw SHG priority plan. This priority plan will address each SHG member credit needs for supporting housing and other social needs.

2. The priority plan will be prepared after thorough dialogues process among SHG members.

3. The preparation of priority plan format is described in COM.

Livelihood Investment Fund (LIF) The Livelihood Investment Fund (LIF) will be released for those SHGs that have stabilized and are functioning well. This will be assessed through a Grading process which will be done after six months of formation of SHG. The basis on sanction and release of this Fund will be a Micro-credit Livelihood Plan of the SHG. This Fund would be released as a grant from the Project to the CDO. The CDO will give this as an investment support to the SHG. It is expected that the release of this Fund for a well performing SHG may happen after 9 months of formation of SHG. The LIF will be released in 1 or max. 2 installments corresponding to demand expressed in the Micro-credit Livelihood Plan. The maximum LIF available for an SHG is Rs. 1,10,000.

38

Negative List – Activities not allowed through the Project Fund :

• Cash grants to individuals. • Facilities that do not directly improve the productivity of the poor (e.g. public

administration buildings, political or trade union facilities, religious buildings). • Operating cost of constructed facilities. • Activities require land acquisition or purchase and causing loss of structures and

adverse impact on livelihood and income. The Grading Process and SHG Micro Credit Livelihood Plan are explained below: Grading of SHG

Grading is a process of assessing the performance of an SHG and categorizing it as either A, B or C grade; 'A' being the desired grade. The grading system is developed & mentioned in COM which typically assesses regularity of meetings and savings, timely repayment of livelihood investment tranche-1, proper book keeping, etc. The first grading of the SHG will be done after 6 months of formation of the group. The Groups that are graded A will be advised to submit their Livelihood Plans to CDO for approval. Groups graded 'B' and 'C' will be given a road map for upgradation to grade 'A' and a date for re-grading. The grading process will be carried out by a panel comprising of RRLP staffs and officials from Banks. The District Manager of NABARD would be invited to join this panel whenever feasible. Formation of SHG Micro Credit Livelihood Plan (SHG- MCLP)

The SHG-MCLP will be prepared by the SHG and approved by the CDO. The SHG-MCLP will identify the need, demand and gaps for the livelihood activities of the members of the

• After 2-3 months • SHG formation • Opening of Bank Account • Preparation of Priority Plan • Regular Meeting/ Record

Keeping

• Between 9-18 months. • SHG ranked grade ‘A’ at second stage of

grading would be eligible. • Prepare of Micro Credit Livelihood Plan

and approved by SHG, CDO (sector-wise technical inputs will be provided by specialists).

SHG Fund

Livelihood Investment Tranche-1

Livelihood Investment Fund

Rs.

110000

Fig 4.7 – SHG Fund

Rs.

15000

39

SHGs. Each SHG member will have an independent livelihood plan to be prepared with the support of the PFT, concerned Bank and Sector Support Organizations/ Line Departments/ Specialists. The formulation of SHG Micro Credit Livelihoods Plan (SHG-MCLP) will be according to the group member’s choice and required capacity for particular livelihoods activities. The SHG-MCLP would include: • Existing socio-economic profile and livelihood pattern of each member. • Micro Investment need of each member for support to their livelihoods. • Prioritisation of members according to the urgency of their needs. • Asset creation at the group level for fulfillment of the productive need that may help to

enhance their income, if any. • Projected utilization of project fund which needs to be approved by all members. • Other sources of funds to meet the remaining cost of livelihood plans.

The SHG-MCLP can be submitted for approval to the CDO only after the SHG has been graded A in the first grading. The CDO will sanction the SHG-MCLP dully appraised by the PFT. The CDO will intimate the decision of sanctioning the SHG-MCLP to the DPMU together with a request for release of funds in one or two installments. In case two installments are recommended, the first installment will be released at this time and second will be released after second grading to be done after at least 9 months of formation of SHG.

Formulation of Micro

Credit Livelihood Plan

by SHG

Appraisal of Micro

Credit Livelihood Plan

by PFT Level panel

Sanction of Micro

Credit Livelihood Plan

by CDO

Members

identify

individual

needs

Members

need collated

and

rationalised

Micro Credit

Livelihood plan

forwarded for

appraisal

PFT constitutes panel

of experts including

PFT members,

bankers and SMS

Panel assesses the

SHG-MCLP for

feasibility and

resource availability

Panel forwards

recommendation to

CDO, with or without

any change

CDO sanctions SHG-

MCLP based on

recommendations of

PFT panel

Fig 4.8 – Process of Formulation of Micro Credit Livelihood Plan

40

Cluster Development Organization Fund (CDO Fund) Poor households usually borrow for emergency health, food and fodder expenditures in distress. This often leads to dispossession of productive assets and loss of livelihoods. RRLP will support primary federations of SHGs to allocate dedicated resources for financing health, food and fodder expenditures and ensure that the resources for livelihood assets are not compromised. This will be based on SHGs coming together and articulating this requirement. Under this arrangement, the poor households will be encouraged to contribute separate savings to a ‘CDO Fund’ (monthly/ annual/ during good times). In times of health emergencies, fund support will be given to member households at nominal interest rate and easy installments. On food & fodder security, some of the models successfully implemented in different parts of country include financing food purchase from PDS and food & fodder bulk purchases from the open market and distributed as in-kind returnable support. The project will support CDO with a fund of Rs. 1.5 lacs and to built-up the ownership & reasonable use of the fund membership contribution (monthly/ annual/ during good times as decided by the SHGs members) would be required.

Formation of new or

registration of existing

group

Following basic norms &

Preparation of Priority Plan

After 2-3 months

Grading

9-18 months

Initiate the process of

development of

Individual/ SHG-MCLP

Groups Graded 'A' asked

to submit SHG-MCLP

Sanction and release of

LIF

Groups graded B and

C given roadmaps

for upgradation

Figure 4.9 Funds flow to SHG

Livelihood Investment

Tranche-1 to SHGs

41

The CDO funds may comprise of : Health Risk Fund: Health shocks is one of major livelihoods shocks for the poor household. It is estimated that health expenses accounts for about 15-20 percent of total household yearly expenses. A large number of poor families borrow high cost loan from money lenders for health purposes. To address this, a provision of Health Risk Fund (HRF) has been kept in the project. The HRF of Rs. 0.75 lac would be provided to CDO. Any member of SHGs who is willing to avail facility of HRF from CDO, has to pay membership contribution (mentioned above) to concern SHGs for HRF and SHG member nominated in CDO will deposit the collected amount to the CDO. Food Security Fund: It is estimated that food accounts for more than 60 percent consumption expenditures of the poor. To meet out the food availability in the lean season when wage opportunities are limited, the food security programme has been planned so that poor can get the food grains at a reasonable cost and they are able to avoid money lenders for buying the food grains. A budget provision of Rs. 0.50 lac has been made for each CDO for the food security fund. Any member of SHGs who is willing to avail facility of food grains from CDO, has to pay membership contribution (mentioned above) to concern SHGs for food security fund and SHG member nominated in CDO will deposit the collected amount to the CDO. Fodder Security: There is shortage of fodder during January to May in the villages due to single rainfed crop in large area of Rajasthan. To meet the requirement of fodder during this period, a provision has been kept to set up fodder bank for fodder security. A budget provision of Rs. 0.25 lac has been made for each CDO for the fodder security. Members of SHGs who are willing to take fodder from CDO will have to pay membership contribution (mentioned above) to concern SHGs for fodder and SHG member nominated in CDO would deposit the collected amount to the CDO. Criteria for release of CDO Fund

1) Registration of CDO 2) Opening of Bank Account. 3) At least 75 members of SHGs have taken membership of the corresponding

fund. 4) Members of those SHGs, who have availed the credit from bank, would only be

entitled to avail CDO fund. Detailed fund release process is mentioned in COM.

42

Figure 4.11 – Formation & Support to Area Federation

Area Federation Fund It is envisaged that all the SHGs under one PFT will come together to form an apex Federation. Once the formalities of formation have been completed, RRLP will give a grant of Rs. 50,000/- to the Federation. The Federation will incur establishment’s expenses from this fund while the balance will be retained by the federation as corpus.

CDO (5-15 SHG)

Area Federation (15-20 CDO)

• Registration & Establishment cost

• 50 percent contribution on remuneration of Support functionaries (insurance/ Bank work) etc.

SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG

SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG

SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG

CDO (5-15 SHG)

CDO (5-15 SHG)

T I M E L I N E

Support to

Federation

Rs. 50000

3 to 6 months

3 to 6 months

Functions of Area Federation • Facilitate for technical assistance to CDO

& SHGs. • Solving day to day problem. • Review of CDO & SHGs performance. • Establishing linkages with Financial

Institutions/ Banks. • Providing financial services to its

members viz. insurance. • Capacity Building • Facilitating Audit.

Area Federation

C O M M U N I T Y F U N D

Health Risk Fund (HRF)

(Rs. 75000)

Food Security (Rs. 50000)

Fodder Security (Rs. 25000)

• Bank Account opened. • At least 75 members of SHGs have taken membership

of the corresponding fund. • Members of those SHGs, who have availed the credit

from bank, would only be entitled to avail CDO fund.

• Bank Account opened.

• At least 75 members of SHGs have taken membership of the corresponding fund.

• Members of those SHGs, who have availed the credit from bank, would only be entitled to avail CDO fund.

• Bank Account opened. • At least 75 members of SHGs have taken membership

of the corresponding fund. • Members of those SHGs, who have availed the credit

from bank, would only be entitled to avail CDO fund.

Fig 4.10 – CDO Fund (Rs. 1.5 lacs)

43

Sectoral Fund Every Producer Organization will receive Sectoral Fund (SF) up to Rs. 20 Lac, in two installments, to invest in value chain development for livelihood promotion. The first installment of SF will be given to the PO within two months of its formation (mini. 100 members) on submission of Activity Identification Report (AIR)1, an action plan for six months and bank account details. This installment can be up to Rs. 5 Lac. The action plan will be prepared by the executive committee of the PO with support from Sector Support Organisation (SSO).

Apart from background information, the action plan should list activities to be carried out in the next six months to establish the PO which will include: • Establishment of office • Establishment of governance systems • Recruitment of necessary staff • Business planning • Operational planning • List of equipments together with cost estimates and suppliers • Aggregation strategy development • Estimation of cash flows and working capital requirement • Establishing linkages with technical institutions and market players • Establishing linkages with financial institutions • Establishing linkages with SHGs/ CDO This is only an indicative list and is likely to be edited in context of sector and area by the SSO. On completion of the establishment phase, the PO will submit a Business Strategy Report (BSR) to RRLP together with a requisition for release of next installment. The BSR across the Project will be in a standardised format developed jointly by SPMU, DPMU and SSOs. The BSR will have to be approved by a nationalized commercial bank. The second installment will be released by the Project on the basis of such approval. This will be the final installment and can go up to a maximum of Rs. 15 lac. (The detailed guideline and manual will be developed)

1 As discussed in the Community Institutions section

44

Table 4.3 – Funds under the RRLP for Community Inst itutions

S. N.

Name of Fund Objective Process Triggers Maximum Limit

1 SHG livelihood investment tranche-1

To help the SHG in stabilizing by enabling it to meet urgent requirements of its members

• After two months from the date of registration.

• Preparation & Submission of micro-plan.

Rs. 15,000 per SHG

2 SHG Livelihood Fund – installment 1*

To help SHG members in investing in their livelihoods

• Group graded A • At least six months after livelihood

investment tranche-1 • Approval of Livelihood Plan

As per demand, based on livelihood plans

3 SHG Livelihood Fund – installment 2*

To help SHG members in investing in their livelihoods.

• Group graded A • At least six months after installment 1 • Effective utilization and regular repayment

of installment 1

As per demand, based on livelihood plans

4 CDO Utthan Sansthan Fund

To help Cluster Organisations HRF, Food security, Fodder security, and village entry fund

• Opening of Bank Account. • At least 75 members of SHGs have taken

membership of the corresponding fund. • Members of those SHGs, who have availed

the credit from bank, would only be entitled to avail CDO fund.

Rs. 1.5 lacs per CDO

5 Producer Organisation Sectoral Fund – installment 1

To help Producer Organisation meet establishment expenses and for investing in their respective value chains/ business dev.

• Within two months of PO formation Up to Rs. 5,00,000 per PO

6 Producer Organisation Sectoral Fund – installment 2

To help Producer Organisations in investing in their respective value chains

• PO graded A • At least four months after installment 1 • Business Plan approved by commercial

nationalized bank. • Minimum 100 members.

Up to Rs. 15,00,000 per PO

7 Area Federation – Start up

To help in establishing the Federation and to build corpus

• Within two months of formation of Federation

Rs. 50,000 per Federation

45

Component 2 - Sub Component 2 Partnership Development Partnership development, leading to bank linkages, sector support and convergence with line department/ multiple stakeholders for the benefit of targeted households, is an important strategy of RRLP. The two-fold objectives of this sub-component may be stated as: • To mobilize funds and build linkages during the project so as to augment livelihoods. • To build a good working relationship between community institutions with various

governmental and non-governmental actors such that these relationships continue beyond the Project.

It is envisaged that partnerships will be developed with various sectors. Each of the partnership is discussed briefly:

Bank Linkage The project targets that 70 percent of registered SHGs must be linked with Banks i.e. around 23,000 SHGs would receive loans from Banks at least once during the project period. At one level this target fits well with the mandate of Banks and NABARD. However, it is the experience of many organizations that the Banks have several reservations in giving loans to SHGs, inspite of the refinancing assurance by NABARD. Of these reservations, some are based on facts, some exist because of lack of knowledge and understanding of SHG model, and, finally, some reservations stem out of misconceived perceptions and prejudices regarding the ‘bankability’ of the poor. In order to ensure bank linkage, all three sets of reservations will have to be addressed. The fact based concerns of the Bankers must be incorporated into the Project’s design and systems. Listing of such concerns may be done in a workshop mode where NABARD and all the Banks operating in the Project districts must be represented at the highest level of the state together with a few branch managers. For the other two categories of reservations, the Bankers must be taken for exposure visits to locations within as well as outside the State where the bank linkage is being successfully executed. Literature around bank linkage will be made available to the bankers in Hindi. Periodic workshops may be conducted during the first two years of the Project with Bankers in order to understand their concerns and devise mutually acceptable solutions. Parallel, attempts should be made to get into formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Banks where the Banks agree to finance Project supported SHGs based on mutually agreeable performance indicators and other criteria (0 balance account opening, consideration of group for loaning where the defaulters are the members of the groups and free transfer of money among the community institutions). The Bihar Rural Livelihood Program has done pioneering work in this regard and their assistance may be taken in designing this component and the MoUs. RRLP would also try to get into an agreement with NABARD to become a Self-Help-Promoting-Institution (SHPI) under their aegis. NABARD’s targets of SHG promotion and Bank Linkage for the Project district far exceed the Project’s targets and the Project

46

could negotiate to be an SHPI in all of the Project districts. This will create a win-win situation for both NABARD and well as the Project. NABARD will be assured of meeting its targets of SHG promotion in those blocks. The Project on the other hand will be assured of NABARD’s support in securing bank linkage from banks. Implementation Arrangement These will have to be a coordinated effort at all levels of the Project and Community Institutions. The SPMU will initiate the discussions and negotiations at the State level and possibly with NABARD head office in Mumbai. The SPMU will play an active role in designing and organizing workshops at State as well as District level. The SPMU will also devise a common strategy to be followed by all PFTs in all districts, though some changes may be made according to different systems followed by different banks. The DPMU will liaise at the regional, district and branch level. The PFT will ensure that all the criterion and paperwork are in order. Community Institutions on the other hand should continuously keep placing their demands to the bankers at all levels and at all possible forums, albeit in a non-confrontational logical manner. The communication team at SPMU will need to evolve an appropriate strategy for this and to train Executive Committee members of the institutions in the same. Sector Support: Recognising the fact that livelihoods of poor do not exist in isolation, the Project will proactively seek to develop linkages with Government as well as private sector organizations. The objective of seeking such linkages is to address the issues of scale, quality and communication and create a win-win situation for the targeted households as well as the private organizations. While some linkages will get forged through the Sectoral Support, all districts will also actively seek out such partnerships for other sectors. The Activity Identification Report discussed earlier could be used here too by focusing on the shortlisted activities not selected for full fledged sectoral work. Microfinance Livelihood of the poor demands credit to meet out their needs for which they largely depend upon informal sources of credit like money lenders, relatives, neighbors etc. Support for bank linkages and microfinance will be provided from the beginning of the project; henceforth the project will take support of agencies having expertise in the same kind of services. Agriculture & Allied Activities: The science and scientific inputs certainly help the development project specially related to livelihood promotion in rural areas related to agriculture and livestock development. Hence, the importance of Sector Specialized Agencies/ Organizations/ Govt. Institutions is crucial in value addition to agriculture through scientific inputs and improving the produce quantitatively and qualitatively. The project will use the services of Sector Specialized Agencies/ Organizations/ Govt. Institutions in value addition to the agriculture produce and technology dissemination related to agriculture.

47

Non- Farm Sector: Considering the diversification from farm sector, the non-farm activities under the project become more important. Hence, Organizations/ Institutions working to develop non-farm sector in the state of Rajasthan. Looking to its mandate, the project will develop partnership with such organizations to explore the possibilities to develop employment and livelihood in non-farm sector. Skill Development: The project has key component of developing skill and employability of rural youths belonging to the poor families. Therefore, the project has provisions for 17000 rural youth to impart skill training with assured employment. In order to meet the requirement of this component partnership with Sector Specialized Agencies/ Organizations/ Govt. Institutions will be developed along with similar other organization across the State. The institutions/ organization working on skill development with assured employment working at national level will also used. Dairy Development: In Indian scenario, when one talks of livelihood in rural areas, the role of dairy found crucial. In State of Rajasthan, the network of dairy institutions is very well developed specially in promoting milk production and sale. The project will utilize the exiting opportunity of developing partnership with such organizations/ institutions in milk collection and marketing, breed improvement, cattle feed and veterinary care.

Figure 4.12 – Sector Support in RRLP

Sector Support through

Institutions/

Org./ NGOs

Dairy &

Livestock

SSO

Agriculture

Non-farm

Sector

• Marketing • Breed Improvement

• Cattle Feed • Vet. Care

• Dissemination of

Agriculture

Technology

• Microfinance • Marketing arrangement

• Technical Input • Capacity Building

Skill Up-

gradation

• Skill Dev. & Employment

• Micro enterprises &

cluster

development

Banks/

Micro-

finance

• Bank linkages

48

Convergence The Project will aim to improve the delivery of entitlements and welfare schemes of State and Central Government applicable in the respective Project districts. Such linkages will be especially useful for reaching out to the poorest sections of the targeted blocks. This will be done through the following strategies: • Collection and collation of information required by line departments – Often

the departments managing the entitlements and welfare schemes lack the manpower to collect genuine data from the villages. As a result many deserving households remain un-serviced. The Project, through the network of CDO field workers, will assist the line departments in collecting such data. However, agreements for such tasks would have to be made between Line departments and the Project at the District or State level. The PFT or CDO will not be under obligation for any tasks not agreed at higher levels.

• Support line departments in organizing events and c amps – Though several line departments have provisions for awareness events and service delivery camps, but they lack the outreach in the villages to organize them successfully. The PFT will help line departments in organizing such events, after due agreements at the State or District level.

• Monitoring delivery of entitlements – Every PFT will monitor the actual delivery of entitlements in one gram panchayat every month, selected randomly, against the entitlements stated in official records. Such reports would be compiled and submitted to the district and state authorities. Such monitoring is likely to reduce the chances of pilferage. Again, the poorest will gain the most.

Convergence

with Line

Department

Forestry

NRHM Social Justice

&

Empowerment

SSA

• JFMC • Collection of NTFP

• Linkages from schemes

of the Department for disabled.

• Village health committee

• Emergency services

Agri &

Horti.

• Seed certification • RKVY • Post harvest tech. & value addition of agri.

Horti. Produce

• School Management

Committee

Tourism • Village Tourism

DWCD

• Existing SHGs

NREGA

• Pasture Dev. • JFPMC • Water Harvesting

Structure

• Plantation etc.

Figure 4.13 – Convergence in RRLP

49

NREGA: Looking to the size, spread and quantum of works in NREGA (one of the flagship programmes), it is essential to develop convergence of RRLP with NREGA specially in Pasture development, JFMC, creating water harvesting structures, Plantation etc. The convergence of RRLP with NREGA will support the livelihood activities related to Horticulture (Kund Bagwani), Livestock development and dairy activities.

DWCD: The creation of social infrastructure is one of the important areas when we are planning to work with poor for their income enhancement and livelihood support. The key purpose in developing convergence with social development projects is to develop poor at least with basic element of life namely, nutrition of children, nutrition of pregnant and lactating women. Also, the Department of Women & Child Development (DWCD) has about 2.0 lacs SHGs out of which 1.5 lacs are linked to banks. Hence, it is appropriate for the RRLP to give weightage to the DWCD SHGs.

Other Flagship Programmes viz. SSA & NRHM: In the context of Rajasthan, there is a stronger need to trigger the Social Development Process in order to add value to the family specially who have limited income sources. Therefore, RRLP will support the initiatives of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) & NRHM (National Rural Health Mission). The community institutions of the RRLP will also support School Management Committee, Village Health Committee (VHC) to perform their task related to health and children education. Agriculture & Horticulture: The convergence of RRLP with Agriculture & Horticulture Department for seed certification, post harvest value addition of agriculture & horticulture produce. Forestry: The project will seek support from Forest Department of the State to enhance income of the households living close to the forest area. Thus convergence will made with Forest Department in formation of JFMC of SHGs and collection of Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) by SHGs in tribal area. Tourism: The RRLP project will look forward beyond the farm and non-farm sector mainly in promoting rural tourism. Hence, the project will look for convergence with Tourism Department. Social Justice & Empowerment: The RRLP project has special component of socially disadvantaged persons viz. physically handicapped, aged persons, widow etc. to support them for livelihood enhancement and increase in income. Therefore, the project will have convergence with Social Justice & Empowerment Department. The RRLP has supported Social Assessment Study, the findings and provisions are discussed separately.

50

Rajasthan Rural Livelihood project acknowledges the challenges and deprivation faced by PwD will provide adequate support and build environment for inclusion and enhancing livelihood opportunities for PwD’s. The project will earmark 3% funds as stipulated by the PwD Act under community Investment Support component for building livelihoods of PwD’s. The purpose will be to enable and build livelihood capacities, specific livelihood tools for enhancing livelihood opportunities for PwD’s. Value Chain Development The project will encourage value chain approach for promoting productive and business linkages with poor producers. It will take both demand based and market based approaches to livelihoods development. While the demand based value chain development will be based on the pre-dominant activity in the area like food grains, dairy, fresh vegetables, etc. This is largely evidenced in micro investment planning process. The market based approach envisages a significant market opportunity for the collectives of the poor. Attracting market players entails reducing perceived costs and risks for them in transacting with the poor. This risk can be substantially mitigated, through properly defined mutually beneficial partnerships with livelihood collectives. In order to utilize the opportunity presented by capitalization of community institutions, the Project will support the targeted households in taking their livelihood activities to the next level of sustainable income. The objectives are: • To raise the income level for the households included in sectoral support. • To rationalize the livelihood portfolio such that Sector Producer Organization

constitutes at least 70 percent of project household. • To make forward and backward linkages easily accessible in the same geographical

area. The value-chain development principles will be applied for the purpose. This will be done at two levels:

- providing support to producer organizations; and - directly working with households involved in the re spective value chain.

The primary difference between the two levels is that the Project will provide financial assistance for establishment of a PO and its value-chain based enterprise to the extent of Rs. 20 lac. The Project will seek to establish two Producer Organisations in each district. In addition the Project will also engage another value chains in each district as per the requirements. The selection of Value Chains will be based on the Activity Identification Reports that will precede the formation of the PO. Alternatively, different agencies could be invited to submit proposals for working on a specific value-chain in a specific district together with proposed interventions and proposed impact on livelihoods. The organizations whose proposals are selected will be appointed as Sector Support Organisations.

51

Given the fact that the PO will receive additional financial support, it is only natural that the value chains that can affect maximum number of households should be taken up by the PO. However, it is also suggested that the PO necessarily leverages the additional investment to take up some value-addition activities so that the targeted households can move up the chain and not remain just primary producers with low margins. In either approach, the idea should be to facilitate the entire value chain, with all its stakeholders, to grow. This will create greater scope of passing additional margins to the poorer stakeholders; squeezing out margins from the existing level of the business which is very complex and also not sustainable. Of course, specific instruments will also have to be developed to ensure that the parts of additional margin necessarily do get transferred to the poor. Typically, value-chain interventions will be a combination of the following: • Market research • Product diversification and development • Improving and/or streamlining production systems • Improving access to reasonably priced quality inputs • Aggregation system for demand of inputs as well as goods produced • Sales and distribution management

Implementation Arrangement

Sector Support Organisations will be appointed to facilitate the sectoral support, be it through POs or directly with households. Selection & performance evaluation criteria and instruments will have to be developed during the course of implementation (separate manual will be developed) Outputs and Outcomes At least 50 percent of SHG members will be impacted through value chain interventions either through POs or directly

52

Component 2 - Sub Component 3 Innovation and Research It is a well established fact that innovation is crucial for helping the poor break out of the vicious downward spiral of poverty and for enhancing growth. While the poor recognize this as well, they lack the risk taking capacity and other resources that any experiment requires. As such, the poor remain stuck in the downward spiral. Therefore, it is imperative for RRLP to encourage and facilitate innovation at all levels as it is directly related to the achievement of its basic objectives. The Objectives of this sub-component are: • To provide institutional support in scouting, spawning, sustaining and scaling up

grassroots, green innovations as well as outstanding traditional knowledge and helping their transition to self supporting activities.

• To seek self reliance through competitive advantage of innovation based enterprises and/or application of people generated sustainable technologies at grassroots level.

• To build linkages between excellence in formal scientific systems and informal knowledge systems and to create a knowledge network to link various stakeholders through application of information technology and other means.

• To promote wider social awareness, and possible applications, of the know-how generated as a result of these initiatives in commercial or social spheres and to encourage its incorporation in developmental policies and programs.

• To enhance the opportunities of livelihoods of the rural poor. • To incubate new ideas, models, prototype of livelihoods for poor. • To absorb technology for value addition, leading to incremental incomes to the poor. Thrust Areas • Activities which lead to value addition • Enhance income of the poor • Lead to creation of assets • Social Empowerment and livelihood development of the socially disadvantaged • Creation of Jobs in project areas Some Activities Innovation Support Fund will assist such activities and initiatives, which are pilots and have a scope for up-scaling and replication. Following is the list of some activities envisaged under the project,

1. Diversification of farm activities - agro-forestry, silvi-pasture, agro-horticulture and animal husbandry etc.

2. Inducing High Yielding Seeds, New Cropping Patterns, etc. 3. Development of location specific crops and agronomic practices. 4. Induction of new livestock breed, genetically improved breeds. 5. Efficient water use systems: low cost micro-irrigation technology/ micro tube

irrigation technology, etc.

53

6. Extension of Technology - Agri-clinics, Agro Service Centers & E-Service Centers. The E-Service Centers may include the feasibility of commodity trading/ Village Knowledge Centers.

7. Insurance products for rain-fed agriculture. 8. Innovative attempts at higher value chain involving private sector / line

departments. 9. Application of eco-friendly agricultural practices such as organic farming. 10. Improving production and marketing of livestock products, such as dairy, meat,

eggs, etc. 11. Empowerment, the project would look forward to development of sustainable

self-help groups, access to information and knowledge through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and strengthening communication between communities and with policy makers and other relevant institutions.

12. In case of asset creation, the project would look forward to provision of credit to rural entrepreneurs to acquire assets and savings improvement.

13. In case of service sector or job creation; skill development and employment generation programs will be looked at.

14. Social Empowerment of the poor including a range of social empowerment, gender equity and livelihood projects for the landless, SC/ST and women groups, mining/quarry labor, migrant and wage labor, religious minorities, PWDs, etc.

Some of the illustration, which have been tried in Rajasthan as innovations

• Some initiatives have been directed towards building rural tourism. Rajasthan has rich cultural and diverse traditional background which attracts tourists. Handicrafts add a flavour and colours, which provide artisans opportunity for enhancing their livelihoods.

• Lac cultivation on wastelands for increasing the incomes of poor by establishing a Lac nursery.

• Marble slurry conversion for product development. Marble slurry can be collected and used for making road, building material etc.

• Successful experience of converting the leather scraps into decorative items, which was done to treat the waste (scrap) of Mojaries- leather shoe.

• Rajasthan produces oil seeds and pulses. Value chain addition in both the sectors will give incremental income.

• Rural Technology Centres for generating awareness among the women and enhancing the productivity of local resources.

Criteria for Selection of Innovations The following criteria will be followed for selection of innovations: • Focus on livelihoods and empowerment of socially and economically disadvantaged

groups

54

• Rural livelihoods support: The innovation’s primary objective should be to support rural livelihoods.

• Community acceptance: The innovative project is owned by the community and/or

has plans for transfer of complete ownership and management by the community. • New ideas : The innovation brings out new ideas from a variety of sources (both in-

house and from outside) from concept to implementation. • Measurable impacts: The innovation has shown measurable improvements in

outputs and impacts on the livelihoods of rural households and resulted in adoption of new ways of doing things on the ground.

• Sustainability: The innovative features should have sustained themselves for

sometime (time period to be defined by the type of innovation and thematic area), and should have the potential of being replicated or expanded after the end of the project period, within the community or in other areas.

• Scalability: The innovation should have the potential of being scaled up in the local

area or could be easily adapted to another area. • Partnership: The innovation should encourage the formation of partnership, which

strengthens operational capabilities, improves technical competence and helps achieve financial sustainability.

• Transfer of knowledge: The innovation should have built in mechanisms to transfer

knowledge or technical skills to other communities. • Environment & Socially-friendly: The innovation should not lead to degradation of

natural resources and should be in harmony with social needs of community.

55

Skill Development & Employment Promotion

1st Year 680

2nd Year 5100

3rd Year 5100

4th Year 6120

Fig 4.14 – Skill Development and Employment Promotion

Identify Employability Implementation Partners (EIP)

Market Scanning by EIP Job fairs for youth for awareness of opportunity

Identification of Sectors Dissemination of Information of Youth

Application of youth for sector specific training

Selection of youth & allocation of sector

Training of selected youth EIP

Identification of Youth & Listing by PFT

Visit of potential employer during last 2 week of training

Certification by Govt. recognized Institute/ Organization

Placement of Youth

Post placement follow-up for 6 months

6 Months

2

Months

Total 17000

Component 3 SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT PROMOTION

Skill development and employment promotion has emerged as an important strategy for livelihood promotion over the past few years. Both governmental and non-governmental agencies are investing considerable resources and energies in this direction. This strategy is especially being used for the youth segment of the population.

The RRLP will also target to train and employ at least 1,000 youth per project district. Total 17000 youths will be trained out reach of 5.8 lacs house holds. The estimated cost per candidate for 4 to 8 weeks long training program is Rs. 15000 -20,000 depending on the sector.

Salient Features • Focus on youth in the age group of 18-35 years. • Focus on salaried employment as against wage employment. • Partnership with specialist organizations. • Short term training programs – 4 to 6 weeks. • Focus on sunrise industries. • The modules should factor in skills required both at the entry level as well as the

next higher level so as to facilitate growth. • Encourage female youth to participate in this initiative. • The reservations for disabled would be followed as per State Policy. • Modules focus equally on technical and soft skills. • The Project will offer handholding support to candidates during first six months after

placement to ensure retention. • Minimum salary should not be less than the minimum wages of semi-skilled persons.

56

Process of Employability Development and Placement

1. Identification of unemployed rural poor youths between the age group of 18-35 years from families covered during village entry. The list of rural youth will be prepared from those who are interested.

2. Expression of interest shall be issued for the selection of Employability Implementation Partners (EIP).

3. The employability implementation partner will be selected on the basis that will ensure high quality training and placement of the trained youth. The payment to the employability implementation partner will be linked to placement.

4. The selected employability implementation partner will responsible for: (a) Market survey using there networks, to understand the industries/

organization where demand is high and opportunity will also be utilized to understand the specific requirement of each sector.

(b) Organization of the job fairs where the youth are made aware about various opportunities and this will also help to understand nature of demand from the youth.

5. Based on the two processes mentioned in point No. 4, the employability implementation partner will identify the sectors that are the most appropriate for each District/ Division.

6. The potential youth in the project area will be informed about the opportunities available in each chosen sector through brochures, village meetings, information in SHG meetings, etc.

7. The youth will apply to the Project in the sectors they are interested in through a specially designed application form. The Project, through EIPs, will conduct an ability and interest inventory test.

8. The youth will be allotted sectors based on their application and the scores of the test. Some youth may not fit into any of the identified sectors and will need to be dropped. Such candidates will be counseled to go for other opportunities.

9. Systematic curriculum will be developed by EIPs. Though the EIP may collaborate with a technical institution, the responsibility for the relevance and quality of curriculum shall rest with the EIP.

10. The training program must be conducted by a team of subject matter specialists and training specialists to take care of content and pedagogy respectively.

11. The potential employers would be invited to meet the trainees during the last two weeks of the program for ‘campus selection’.

12. The test will be conducted of the trainees by Government recognized Institution and the certificate will be issued to successful trainees.

13. The certified trainees will be sent to industries/ organization for placement. 14. The EIP must handhold the trainee in the first six months of her/his placement. 15. Community mobilisers, employees of PO, facilitators of PFT Federations will also

be trained under skill Development and Employment Promotion as a part. Implementation Arrangement

Partnership arrangements with EIPs shall be take place as per need of the area. The EIP will be responsible for counseling of students, identification of appropriate sectors, training, placement and retention with the jobs.

57

The project would enter into MOUs with the organizations, institutes specially involved in the skill based trainings along-with the post training employment. The process of identifying the youths, job fairs, selection, training and placement would be as under Eligibility Criteria for the youth � Minimum Qualification Class 8th Pass � Family member of the targeted group � Age between 18 to 35 year � Interested to work out of Village/City � Not have been prosecuted in any offence

Process 1. The PFT will forward the identified list of youth who are interest in Skill Training and

employability to DPMU after 2nd Village meeting as defined in COM.

2. Organization job fair: � Who: Employability Implementation Partner (EIP) Project Facility Team,

Community Mobilizer book keeper and para professional � Job fair: Venue, Time & Date will be decided by DPMU, PFT and EIP in

advance so that time of 15 days will be available for advertising and informing the Interested youth

� Participants: Youth Identified and eligible youth but not listed. � Mean of advertisement: Pamphlets. SHG meeting, CDO meeting , Gram Sabha

and Ward Sabha Meeting � Advertisement: for Job farie by: CM, Bookkeeper Para Professional, CDO

Executive member and PFT members � Invitees: CDO President and Secretary, SHG President Secretary, Sarpanch of

concerned area and Potential Employers. � Sector wise priority list would be prepared

3. The EIP will finalize the Sector wise youth requirement from the priority list and send

its representative in the area to MOU with the youth and CDO tripartite. 4. The PFT will facilitate the youth to fill up the prescribed format and MOU as defined

in COM. 5. The youth will be informed Tanning place and date in 15 days advance of Training

date through CM/ BK/ Para Professionals 6. The appointments would be provided to youth (7 days before the completion of

training) by the employer through EIP as per agreed terms

58

Component 4

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION Background: State and Sector Context The state of Rajasthan is situated in the western part of India and is the largest state of India comprising 10.4 % of the country’s total area. Rajasthan is home to 5% of India’s population, of whom 75% are dependent on agriculture and/or animal husbandry for livelihoods, but has only 1.2% of India’s water resources. The vulnerability of the state due to scarcity of water and poor rainfall is a significant issue. As much as 6294,000 hectares of the land is irrigated, which is 10.45% and 12% of net irrigated and sown areas of India, respectively. Rajasthan produces 5.49% of the nation’s total food grains production and 21.31 % of its oil seeds. The state has 49 million livestock — mainly cows, buffaloes, and goats — comprising a notable 10.13% of the country’s livestock population.

Table 4.4 : An overview of Rajasthan 2

Sl No.

Indicators Rajasthan % of India

1 Area 3,42,000 sq. km. 10.4 2 Population 56.5 million 5.49 3 Rural population 43.2 million 5.8 4 Total forest cover 32,627 sq. km. 4.19 5 Gross cropped area 2,16,99,000 hectare 11.25 Net sown area 1,68,36000 hectare 11.87 6 Net irrigated area 62,94,000 hectare 10.46 7 Livestock 49 million 10.13 8 Food grain production 1,14,45,000 tones 5.49 9 Oilseed production 59,64,000 tones 21.31 10 Rainfall 57.5 cm (annual average)

The climate of Rajasthan ranges from arid to semi-arid to sub-humid. The state encompasses ten agro-climatic zones, with a high degree of heterogeneity in average rainfall. Over the last 100 years, every district has experienced drought of some form for 50% of the time on average. High resolution climate projections are not yet available to predict how different zones of Rajasthan will be affected by climate change. However, available climate modeling results indicate that the region’s climate is projected to become harsher, with increased average temperatures, longer dry spells, increased intensity of short rainfall events, and increased variability in space and time of monsoon rains. These effects can vary across the districts and even blocks. The above climate-related changes could result in decreasing surface and ground water availability, flash floods, degradation of soil resources, decrease in crop yields, greater

2 Statistical Abstract, Rajasthan, 2009. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur, pp no. 1–23.

59

vulnerability to crop pest outbreaks, and declines in forest and pastureland ecosystem, goods and services, thus rendering agricultural and herding communities extremely vulnerable to weather related losses of life, livelihood, and food security. Given this scenario, adaptation to climate variability and climate change is at the forefront of development concerns and will require adjustments in the social, economic, and natural resource management systems. Vulnerabilities and Current Realities Due To Climat e Change: Communities’ Testimonies

The secondary literature highlights how lives and livelihoods of farmers in Rajasthan are affected by ongoing climate variability and climate change. Their narratives paint a picture of changes largely centered around water: growing unpredictability in the onset, duration, and intensity of the monsoon rains, a high degree of spatio-temporal variation in intensity and amount, increasing drought frequency, rising water demands, dropping water tables, and declines in quality of water. They point to cause and effect relationships between these water changes, and changes in their land-based livelihoods. They reported that water scarcity has led to changes in crop choices. Where once wheat was a significant cash crop, fewer farmers can afford to grow it now because of its high water demands. A change in crop growing patterns has concomitant effects on winter fodder, which used to come from the wheat crop residues. These factors have all decreased the financial returns on agriculture, which has had ripple effects on social matrix of their communities. Landowners can no longer afford to hire the landless as farm labor, thus migration to towns and cities, by the landless and by those in debt, has become a common occurrence in their communities. Changes in the amount of forest cover, due to previous clearing and poor regeneration, has led also to a lack of available forest resources, such as fodder and food. Changes in forest biodiversity has had effects not only on livelihoods, but on traditional decision making strategies for farming, which, these farmers recalled, relied on faunal indicators and signals. Now these fauna have disappeared, their signals are no longer available, and are being replaced by a reliance on weather forecasting. Livestock, too, is facing challenges due to weather and land use change: grass diversity in the pastures has decreased, with noticeable impacts on animal health, and ultimately shrinking flock sizes of herders whose animals either die, are sold, or simply abandoned. With declines in fodder quality and availability, people’s private lands can no longer suffice to support livestock, and as one testimonial put it, now “public lands are used for private purposes.” Their testimonies suggest that the changes have origins in the bio-physical, but they are leading to discernible cultural and social changes as well. In the context of climate change adaptation, these observations point to the erosion of, and need to support the building of strong natural, social, and human capital in order to meet the growing challenges facing rural people in Rajasthan. A climate change response matrix that describes the menu of options in response to threats posed by climate variability and climate change is given in Table-4.5 .

60

Climate Resilience in RRLP: Strategic Framework A strategic framework has been developed for addressing climate resilience in Rajasthan. It is based on the outcomes of World Bank missions to Rajasthan, secondary review of the relevant literature and brainstorming meetings with civil society organizations supported through TFESSD resources sought during project preparation, and meetings with senior government officials from various departments to learn about the multi-sector programs, policies and institutional capacities and discuss areas for building climate resilience through RRLP. The framework also draws from the Bank’s experiences on adaptation initiatives in other semi-arid states of India such as Andhra Pradesh.

• Agrarian households in rural Rajasthan face tremendous challenges even with existing levels of climate variability, let alone those that may come with future changes in climate. This is often referred to as an ‘adaptation deficit’. It is a ‘no regrets’ strategy – that is, robust under any future climate scenario – to focus on ways of making good this existing adaptation deficit as a necessary step towards longer term climate resilience. Given immediate and pressing development priorities, there also appears to be little appetite on the part of Government of Rajasthan or within the Bank’s India country team to focus explicitly on climate change. For these reasons, the team felt that the proposed RRLP project component should be framed as‘climate resilience’ rather than a ‘climate change adaptation’ component. Climate resilience is an integral aspect of a secure and sustainable livelihood.

• Vulnerability to climate variability and change is a function not only of physical exposure to climate hazards and trends (e.g. droughts, floods, low flows, extreme temperatures, etc) but also of sensitivity and adaptive capacity3. Poor rural households, particularly those whose livelihoods depend significantly on rainfed agriculture, tend to be highly sensitive to climate variability and change. This degree of sensitivity can be reduced by diversifying away from relatively climate-sensitive sources of livelihood towards those that are less climate-sensitive, such as through seasonal or circular wage employment migration of a household member to an urban area. In southern Rajasthan, remittances from migrant workers have long been critical to livelihood resilience, accounting for over half of all household income for many households4. But such options for livelihood diversification beyond the immediate locality usually complement rather than substitute for other actions to build resilience in situ (i.e. on-farm, within the village, and at the wider landscape level).

• The notion of redundancy is also important in thinking about climate resilience.

This refers to the idea that resilient livelihoods are those within which people have several options or alternative livelihood sources that may be drawn upon at any

3 IPCC (2007). Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report: A Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva: IPCC. 4 Jones, Howard M (2008). Livelihood diversification and moneylending in a Rajasthan village: what lessons for

rural financial services? European Journal of Development Research 20(3): 507-518. This observation was also confirmed by the mission during site visits.

61

one time, thereby increasing their flexibility to respond to a variety of shocks and stresses. In general, such options, or adaptation strategies, can be linked to the following five analytical risk management categories5:

a. Mobility – the distribution of risk across space; b. Storage – the distribution of risk over time; c. Diversification – the distribution of risk across asset classes; d. Communal pooling – the distribution of risk among households; and e. Market exchange and insurance– the purchase and sale of risk via

contracts, which may substitute for any of the other four categories when households have access to markets (although as noted above, this may increase their sensitivity).

• A final aspect to bear in mind within this emerging framework for approaching climate resilience is that poor rural households may be vulnerable for a wide variety of reasons in addition to their exposure and sensitivity to climate risk. Vulnerability to climate change cannot be separated from these multiple stressors, including structural changes associated with economic globalization. This has been referred to as ‘double exposure’6

• The core concept of the proposed RRLP entails empowering and strengthening the capacity of poor rural households to self-organize through self-help groups (SHGs), and supporting the federation of SHGs at village level and above, thereby increasing their relative bargaining power through market exchange in commodity value chains. Such investments in local-level institutional capacity also contribute to building adaptive capacity for dealing with climate-related shocks and stresses. But while taking actions to retain a greater share of total value within commodity value chains at the level of the household is likely to increase the returns to natural resource exploitation, it may not reduce sensitivity to climate risk if the production of those commodities is itself climate-sensitive, unless the household also has other, less climate-sensitive livelihood options on which to draw.

• Putting these concepts together, a strategy for building climate resilience for poor households in rural Rajasthan would entail providing a menu of options for support. None of these individual options is new, and many civil society organizations and research institutions are already working on them; furthermore, a number of flagship state government (such as the watersheds and NREGS) are implementing some of these options. Rather, it is the explicit attention to building synergies by combining options that may be new, and approaching each of them within a wider resilience planning framework at multiple scales: on-farm, at wider landscape level, and at regional level beyond the immediate locality. Such options include:

5 Agrawal, Arun (2010). ‘Local institutions and adaptation to climate change’, in Robin Mearns and Andrew Norton

(eds.), Social Dimensions of Climate Change: Equity and Vulnerability in a Warming World. Washington, DC: The World Bank. 6 Karen O’Brien, Robin Leichenko, Ulka Kelkar, Henry Venema, Guro Aandahl, Heather Tompkins, Akram Javed, Suruchi Bhadwal, Stephan Barg, Lynn Nygaard, and Jennifer West (2004). Mapping vulnerability to multiple stressors: climate change and globalization in India. Global Environmental Change 14: 303-313. See also Jesse Ribot (2010), “Vulnerability does not fall from the sky: toward multi-scale, pro-poor climate policy”, in Robin Mearns and Andrew Norton (eds.), Social Dimensions of Climate Change: Equity and Vulnerability in a Warming World. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

62

a. On-farm measures to enhance resilience, including adoption of drought-

adapted crop varieties and more water-efficient crop mixes and irrigation technologies, and greater use of integrated crop-livestock systems;

b. Community-based management of common-pool resources, including forests, pastures, groundwater, through strengthening of institutions for collective action within panchayats, and introducing innovations such as water budgeting;

c. Participatory planning at the level of panchayati raj institutions to make optimum use of opportunities through public programs such as NREGA to create common assets that contribute to area-based resilience; and

d. Support and facilitation for migrant wage laborers and their families in sending communities, in order to reduce the risks and improve the returns to migration (e.g. ID cards, skills training and placement services, legal aid, access to shelter and health insurance, etc.).

e. Support to communities to transfer the risk to sector based livelihoods due to climate change through agricultural and weather insurance products

Keeping the above strategic principles in perspective, it was agreed with the Government of Rajasthan that three areas will be addressed through the Climate Change Component of RRLP: Community Water Resources Management A strategy for climate change adaptation in Rajasthan must be focused around water. This is because water scarcity lies at the root of the adaptation challenges faced by the people in the state. Groundwater abstraction rates for irrigation and drinking water have consistently exceeded recharge rates, such that natural recovery is impossible Out of the state’s 237 administrative blocks, 207 are designated as groundwater “dark zones. However, approximately every ten years, both eastern and western parts of the state are subject to flash floods that result from intense bursts of rainfall. These incidents in fact are predicted to increase, and show potential for contributing to artificial recharge of groundwater, provided investments go into building proper harvesting structures to harness their potential. Rainwater harvesting has met with enormous success in some parts of the state, using traditional harvesting and recharge structures that take advantage of the topographical and permeability features of the land to harvest and store rainwater, reviving old structures in some cases with modern additions to make them more efficient and longer-lived. There exists a diversity of rainwater harvesting methods, each one tailored to the particular history, landscape characteristics, and needs of the population. A number of NGO efforts in Rajasthan have been successful in reviving traditional water harvesting methods, and in organizing community oversight of water, recharge, demand management, and governance. Watershed development projects address land-use and livelihoods development at a defined spatial scale (often micro-watersheds). In pursuit of the recently formulated State Water Policy, Rajasthan has recently adopted the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach to managing its resources through sustainable approaches, including community participation.

63

Diversification of Farm and Non-Farm livelihoods

Climate change resilience is the capacity of an individual, community, or institution to dynamically and effectively respond to shifting climate impact circumstances while continuing to function at an acceptable level. Climate change threatens the livelihoods of many poor people. Helping poor people to strengthen their livelihoods, through research on strategies, institutions and technologies, improve their capacity to adapt to the changing climate. Interventions of this type often aim to reduce the structural vulnerability of livelihood systems by focusing on:

(i) Farm activities: • Small-scale farming fostering ecological methods such as integrated pest

management • Agricultural diversification: change in cropping patterns, compost pits, soil fertility

enhancement, tree- based farming (fuel, fodder and fruit) • Improving on-farm storage capacity to increase the availability of buffer stocks. • Robust crop varieties and quick maturing crop species • Improving common property management of natural resources (surface and

groundwater and pasture lands) through community and GP-based institutional partnership models

• Strategies of integrated small-scale livestock management (fodder banks, vaccination, resistant breeds etc)

• Organic dairy, meat and agriculture product certification; • New local markets that revitalize rural economies.

(ii) Off-Farm Activities: • Building social resilience through livelihood diversification by emphasizing on

non-farm opportunities for the poor in drought-prone regions and stressing the importance of non-farm income-generating activities.

• Reinforcing migration strategies that are sustainable and supportive of healthy and economically viable living conditions for migrant workers.

Climate Risk Management Support Tools Economic tools such as insurance measures can be beneficial in terms of transferring the risk from climate change. One of the benefits of promoting insurance-related actions is that it may help advance efforts on quantifying risks and potential losses due to climate change. This component will assess the feasibility of piloting specific economic instruments, such as weather and agriculture-related insurance products by building upon the ongoing experience of private insurance companies and the relevant Bank projects on agricultural insurance. Delivering information and weather based systems at the farm level may also be assessed and included in this sub-component. Description of Sub-Components On the basis of the above strategic framework, it was agreed with the Government of Rajasthan to include the following two subcomponents in the Climate Change Adaptation Component of RRLP:

(i) Sub-Component 1: Planning and Implementation of Adaptation Approaches (ii) Sub-Component 2: Strategic Policy Support and Knowledge Development

64

Fig. 4.15: Schematic Diagram of Climate Change Adap tation Component in RRLP

Subcomponent 1: Planning and Implementation of Adaptation Approache s (US$ 8 million) The objective of this subcomponent is to design and implement adaptation approaches at the field level that can be supported by governmental programs such as NREGS, watersheds and social forestry. Activities will be in the three areas described above (see table 4.6 for details ). These activities will be implemented in geographical areas selected on the basis of criteria such as, districts where government programs such as watersheds and NREGS are ongoing; scarcity of natural resources; strong district administration that places value on convergence; and highly mobilized communities. The subcomponent will cover 3-5 drought-prone pockets that are selected from the most affected districts in consultation with the Department of Rural Development and SPMU, using the above criteria. Based on experiences with community planning under the ongoing successful state programs, the process of developing integrated adaptation plans will be introduced within communities with a view to identify high priority interventions through a participatory planning process. Subsequently, technical and financial assistance packages corresponding to these plans will be identified taking into account activities already being delivered by governmental programs. Such an approach would enable convergence across government departments and programs and improve the chances of delivering a more effective overall package to communities. The additional assistance required for an effective package (e.g. with marketing, credit products, seed supply, etc.) will be done either by linking the community to the relevant existing programs operating in the state, when possible, or by providing the needed assistance directly. The interventions will also be selected as to target community groups with different socio-economic status, since different approaches apply – and need to be tested - for these groups. Special attention will be given to monitoring and disseminating the results. Community-level interventions will be complemented by capacity building and other technical assistance to the selected communities and other key stakeholders at the local (for selected locations), district (for the pilot districts), and state level to help create an enabling institutional and policy framework for climate change adaptation.

RRLP’s Climate Change Adaptation Schema Climate Change Adaptation Strategies

Community Water Resources Management

Diversification of Farm and Non-Farm Livelihoods

Climate Risk Management Support Tools

Planning and Implementation of Adaptation Approache s Sub-components Strategic Policy Support and Knowledge Development

65

Subcomponent 2: Strategic Policy Support and Knowledge Development (US$ 1.5 million) The objective of this sub-component is to develop a strategic framework on climate change adaptation for Rajasthan. This will be undertaken through (i) Review of the state’s priorities on climate change and develop guidance for state policy support (ii) Identify a framework of opportunities for developing synergies in the ongoing government and non-government programs towards strengthening climate resilience. If deemed appropriate and valuable to the Government of Rajasthan, a state climate change action plan may be considered through technical assistance support and a proactive stakeholder engagement process in this subcomponent. Stakeholder workshops, technical reports, training programs and dissemination materials are included in this subcomponent. Implementation Arrangements and Procedures The management of this component of RRLP is under the State Project Management Unit (SPMU). The state environment coordinator will be responsible for the day-to-day technical and managerial oversight of the activities and may be assisted as necessary. The above activities will be strategically planned by the state project director in coordination with the Secretary and Principal Secretary, Department of Rural Development. Additionally, the field based work will be planned in collaboration with the district administration responsible for the NREGS and state watersheds programs to allow their engagement from the beginning and pave the way for scale up and convergence through the governmental set-up at a later stage. The activities will likely involve the recruitment of consultants and experienced civil society and private sector organizations that have the required competencies and are interested to partner with the Government of Rajasthan to demonstrate a replicable package of innovative adaptation interventions.

66

Table 4.5 : Climate Change Impact and Response Mat rix

Expected Impact — Negative and Positive

Response

Reduced or erratic rainfall will increase rain-fed production risks, while heavy unseasonal rainfall can increase the potential for top soil erosion. Also, increased temperature, reduced soil moisture or shorter growing periods could affect crop yields.

Better management of soil moisture through increase in, and conservation of organic matter. Timely supply of agriculture inputs to take advantage of available moisture and rainfall; Promote agro-forestry; Weather-based crop insurance

Increased quantities of groundwater withdrawal as reduced rainfall will reduce the availability of surface water and groundwater

Augmentation of ground and surface water resources More efficient water use practices by using groundwater for critical irrigation and ensuring access to all by treating it as a common property.

Erratic rainfall pattern could disturb employment opportunities for those dependent on seasonal agricultural labor for their livelihood, triggering out-migration

Enhanced livelihood opportunities for marginal groups through goat and sheep rearing, backyard poultry and fish farming in tanks. Promote livelihood support for sustainable seasonal/circular migration and/or off-farm employment

Reduced fodder production due to crop failure in rain-fed agriculture will have negative impact on the productivity of dairy cattle. Also, unseasonal rainfall might result in outbreaks of diseases normally linked to the rainy season

Integration of crops and livestock in a mixed farming system for fodder production and pasture land development combined with better animal health service delivery

Erratic or unseasonal rainfall could have a positive impact on sheep and goat rearing as grazing becomes possible during seasons that normally would not offer this possibility. But disease outbreaks due to unseasonal rainfall could be a negative impact

Common land restoration for grazing and for rainwater infiltration, combined with better animal health service delivery

67

Table 4.6 : Menu of Climate Change Adaptation Inter ventions and Opportunities for Inter-Departmental Integration for Rajasthan

Priority Area Action Responsible

Agencies Surface and Ground Water Management

Augmentation & maintenance of surface sources

• Revival and restoration of dry lakes • Promotion of drip/ sprinkler irrigation and use

of HDPE/PVC pipeline • Reducing inadvertent evaporation from waste

lands, fallow lands, agriculture lands through use of mulches, lining of canals etc.

• Conduct studies on exploring the potential for evaporation reduction in storage structures

• Drought Management

WRD, IMD, GWD, PRIs

Augmentation of groundwater

• Promote restoration of traditional water structures

• Automation in irrigation systems including sensing of soil moisture in the root zone

• Groundwater exploration to explore deeper freshwater aquifers

• Isotope application in assessing transport of contaminants in groundwater

• Development of groundwater basin models for conjunctive utilization of surface water and groundwater

GWD, PHED, ULBs, RLBs PRIs, SWRPD, Dept. of Irrigation

Increasing groundwater use efficiency

• Water recycling, use of treated water for non-potable application, cultivation of salt-tolerant crops, micro-irrigation

• Incentives for construction of recharge structures, installing water meters on pumped irrigation for all water users, providing dual water supply in urban areas

• Assess feasibility of conjunctive use of SW and GW in major command areas

WRD, Dept. of Irrigation, GWD

Dryland Agriculture Enhance productivity in drylands

• Boost agricultural productivity in drylands • Watershed development & soil conservation • Promotion of low/ zero tillage, in-situ moisture

conservation, raised bed, ridge furrow, mulching etc.

• Development of climate-hardy cultivars • Exploring collaboration with international

research institutes to develop & adopt dryland techniques

• Improved water use efficiency Efficient water use practices

• Installation of sprinklers on all operational wells depending on region and crop-type

Dept. of Agriculture, Dept. of Land Resources, Dept. of Irrigation Dept.of Animal Husbandry

68

Fodder and pasture development

• Development of fodder stocks and pasture lands

• Eco-restoration of degraded lands Organic farming

• Use of sustainable & low-emission technologies

• Prepare organic farming modules to be disseminated

• through agri-extension, after conducting need-based studies for farmers

Soil improvement

• Improve land conditions for agriculture • Reclamation of alkaline and saline soil • Green manuring and organic farming • Explore carbon sequestration potential of

carbon-deficient soils Energy efficient farm machinery

• Reduce emissions from the agriculture sector • Use of solar pump for drip irrigation

• Forestry and Biodiversity Promote Agro-forestry

• Promote livelihood support to forest-dependent communities

• Improved seedlings to be distributed to farmers, panchayats, urban areas & govt. institutions for planting.

• Promote incentives based agro-farm forestry in private lands through extension, distribution of improved seedlings, rationalization of felling & transit regulations

Forest Dept.

• Risk management Weather-based Crop insurance

• Weather-based crop insurance schemes

Livelihood support

• Maintain household incomes during lean years through livelihood diversification

• Enhance support to credit-linked self employment schemes

Integrated vulnerability & impact assessment

• Conduct integrated impacts and vulnerability assessment studies in different agro-ecological regions of Rajasthan to identify highly vulnerable regions

Early warning • Develop early warning systems for drought based on weather and climate forecast

Dept. of Agriculture

69

Chapter 5 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Under RRLP dedicated sensitive support units at the State, district and sub-district levels will be set up, to catalyze mobilization and institution building, capacity building and skill development, access to financial services, infrastructure and marketing support for promotion of micro enterprises, risk mitigation activities, convergence with other programme activities etc. These units will be staffed professionally competent and dedicated human resources drawn from the Government and from the open market.

Given the vast scale and size of RRLP, it is critical to conceive the project management aspects in a comprehensive and clear manner. Hence, this chapter is divided into the following sub-sections:

(i) Implementation Arrangement (ii) Human Resources & Institutional Development

Implementation Arrangement

The project would be implemented according to the norms, rules, regulations and procedures in the Project Implementation Plan (PIP). This section defines the roles and responsibilities of the project staff as well as the organizational structure of the project.

The project’s institutional arrangements are built as support structure starting from the community level and going to the PFT, District and State level. The primary agency responsible for the project’s implementation will be the Rajasthan Gramin Ajeevika Vikas Parishad (RGAVP) formed by the GoR, as the agency for Rajasthan Rural Livelihood Promotion and Poverty Alleviation. The implementation will be at State level, District level and Block level.

PFTs

GENERAL BODY

EMPOWERED COMMITTEE

STATE PROJECT MANAGEMENT UNIT (SPMU)

DISTRICT PROJECT MANAGEMENT UNIT (DPMUs)

Fig 5.1 – Organizational Structure

70

Rajasthan Gramin Ajeevika Vikas Parishad (RGAVP) will provide overall direction to the project. This Parishad will have Governing Council (GC), under which Empowered Committee (EC) will be formed. The General Body The Honourable Chief Minister of Rajasthan will be the President of the General Body and Honourable Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj will be the Vice-President. Members of the General Body of the society are – Hon'ble Minister, Agriculture; Animal Husbandry; Industries; Labour; Education; Health; Women & Child Development; Social Justice & Empowerment, Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary (Development), Additional Chief Secretary (Finance), Principal Secretaries-Rural Development & Panchayati Raj; Agricultural; Animal Husbandry; Forest; Secretaries-Rural Development; Plan; Representative of Ministry of Rural Development Department-GoI, Director/Project Director-ICAR, Representative-RBI; NABARD, Coordinator–State Level Bankers Coordination Committee, State Project Director-RRLP, Members of the General Body also includes Subject Matter Specialists of Rural Development (nominated by GoR) and Representative of SHGs Federation (nominated by GoR). The Pr. Secretary, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj is the Convener. The Secretary, Rural Development is the Member Secretary/ Co-Convener of the Governing Council. The Empowered Committee The Chief Secretary will be the President and Additional Chief Secretary (Development) will be the Vice-President. The Members of the Empowered Committee of the Society are –

Principal Secretaries/ Secretaries- Rural Development & Panchayati Raj; Finance; Forest; Plan; Agriculture; Animal Husbandry; Industries; Labour; Education; Health; Women & Child Development; Social Justice & Empowerment; Secretary- Rural Development; Panchayati Raj; Commissioner/ Director- NREGA, Director/ Project Director- ICAR, Coordinator – State Level Bankers Coordination Committee, Project Director/ CEO of concerned Projects. The Secretary, Rural Development is the Convener and the Project Director/ CEO is the Member Secretary/ Co-Convener of this Committee. State, District Unit & PFT A State Project Management Unit (SPMU) will be established to execute the decision taken by the GC and the EC. Each district will have a District Project Management Unit (DPMU) to verse the Project in their respective district. Finally, the Project Facilitation Teams (PFTs) will be established at sub-block levels to execute the Project. To ensure the sector specialist support under the project services of specialist would be arranged in a form of Divisional HQ Level. This Divisional HQ Level will include 4-5 contiguous districts selected under the project.

71

Organogram of the SPMU

The project would like to create DPMUs under the project in the 17 project districts. While CDO/Utthan Sansthan and Project Facilitation Teams (PFT) will play an important role in the execution of the project, RGAVP and DPMU will be the accounting centers for the project salaries and other major cost of the PFTs (except petty cash requirement) will also be paid for and accounted by the DPMU.

Divisional Level Coordinator � Agriculture (Gr. B) � Livestock (Gr. B) � Micro Enterprises (Gr.B) � Tribal (Udaipur) (Gr. B)

State Project Director

Additional Director (Project Coordination)

Finance Controller

Dy. Director/ Manager (Finance)

Addl. Dir./Dy. Director (HR& Admin)

Coordinators- � Procurement (Gr.A) � Audit (Gr.B) � Accountant (Gr. C)

Coordinators- Capacity Development and Training (Gr.A Micro finance (Gr.A) Livelihood (Gr.A) Community Mobilization & Gender (Gr. A) Environment (Gr. A) M&E (Gr. A) MIS (Gr. A) Agriculture (Gr. B) Livestock (Gr.B) Micro Enterprise (Gr. B) Public private Partnership (Gr. B)

Coordinators- • HR& Admin • Public Relation &

IEC (Gr.B)

72

Accountant 1

Accountant 2

Cashier

District Project Manager

Manager (Fin)

Coordinator Microfinance

Coordinator Livelihood & Environment

Coordinator M&E

Coordinator MIS

Coordinator HR & Admin

Coordinator Community Mobilization

& Capacity Building

Computer Operator

Computer Operator

Computer Operator

Office Assistant

Office Assistant

Coordinator Microfinance

Coordinator Livelihood & Environment

Coordinator MIS & Accounts

Coordinator Community Mobilization

& Capacity Building

Project Facilitation Coordinator

Experts (any three out of the four sectors as per the area of need)

Computer Operator

Class IV

73

Table 5.1 : Composition of Project Management Units

State Project Management Unit

(SPMU ) Divisional HQ

Level District Project Management

Unit (DPMU ) Project Facilitation Team

(PFT)

1. State Project Director. Core Staff

2. Additional Director (Project Coordination)

3. Finance Controller 4. Adl. Director / Dy. Director

(HR & Admin) 5. Dy. Director / Manager/ Dy.

Director (Finance) Coordinators-

6. Capacity Development and Training (Gr. A)

7. Microfinance (Gr. A) 8. Livelihood (Gr. A) 9. Community Mobilisation &

Gender (Gr. A) 10. Environment (Gr. A) 11. M&E (Gr. A) 12. MIS (Gr. A) 13. Procurement (Gr. A) 14. Agriculture (Gr. B) 15. Livestock(Gr. B) 16. PPP (Gr. B) 17. Micro Enterprise (Gr. B) 18. HR & Admin (Gr. B) 19. Public Relation & IEC (Gr. B) 20. Audit (Gr. B) 21. Program Assistant (Gr.C) 22. Office Support Assistant (Gr.

C-) 23. Progress Assistant (Gr.C-) 24. Accountant (Gr. C) 25. Account Assistant (Gr.C-) 26. Office Assistant 27. Attendants & Drivers

1. Agriculture (Gr. B)

2. Livestock (Gr. B)

3. Micro Enterprises (Gr. B)

4. Coordinator -Tribal Area Development (for Udaipur Division only) (Gr.B)

1. District Project Manager 2. Finance Manager 3. Community Mobilization &

Capacity Building (Gr. B) 4. HR & Admin (Gr. B) 5. Microfinance (Gr. B) 6. Livelihood & Environment

(Gr. B) 7. M&E (Gr. B) 8. MIS (Gr. C) 9. Accountant (Gr. –C) 10. Accountant (Gr. -C) 11. Cashier (Gr. C) 12. Account Assistant (Gr.- C-) 13. Computer Operator 14. Attendants

1. PFT Coordinator (Gr. C+)

2. Community Mobilization & Capacity Building (Gr. C)

3. Microfinance (Gr. C) 4. Livelihood &

Environment (Gr. C) 5. MIS & Accounts (Gr.

C) 6. Computer Operator 7. Attendants

Note: • PFT Coordinator will be from any one of the project ’s subject specialist and thereby will be responsib le

for that particular subject area. In this case, the coordinator of that particular subject area will n ot be selected and the PFT Coordinator will look after th e job of coordinator of that particular subject/discipline, hence there would be a total of (1+3) 4 persons in a PFT including PFT Coordinator .

• The government of employee on deputation will be given one grade higher from the present grade drawn. • The upper age limit for all the post would be 50 years except for the officers/employees working in RD

department, GoR. • Govt./ PSU officers selected as specialists/ experts would be designated according to Grade pay. • The outstanding personnel, retired from govt. and its allied services, having relevant & specific experience may

by recruited for the benefit of the project. The upper age limit of such personnel would be 65 years. • The Annual increment of 5% would be given on the satisfactory performance of all the personnel • All the personnel working under RRLP would be having performance appraisal on quarterly basis. • The decision of making any change in any position is reserved with the Empowered Committee, RRLP.

74

Key Roles and Responsibilities of Key Institutions The following table shows the summary of the roles and responsibilities of project institutions at different levels: Empowered Committee � Providing overall policy guidance and direction to the project � Approving all annual plans � Representing the project at the state government level � Undertaking advocacy to ensure pro-poor policies are issued by the Government � Formulating policy regarding reducing poverty and enhancement of livelihoods of

the poor � Providing strategic support and guidance to program implementation � Monitoring project implementation and achievement of performance indicators � Coordinating with different government departments and agencies � Approving overall Human Resource policies � Redefining and reformulating project strategies based on emergent experience

from project implementation

State Project Management Unit � Recruiting project team at the state level, district & PFT level � Induction and training of all project staff and key stakeholders � Developing and issuing service standards, guidelines for various component

implementation, appraisal checklist and monitoring indicators � Developing strategy and action plan for strategic communications and institution

building � Preparing and financing annual work plans and budgets, financial management

and state-level auditing � Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning from project implementation and

knowledge management activities � Coordinating activities at district, PFT and cluster levels. � Converging with other government programs and developing partnership

support.

District Project Management Unit � Induction and training of all project staff and key stakeholders � Developing and issuing service standards, guidelines for various component

implementation, appraisal checklist and monitoring indicators � Developing strategy and action plan for strategic communications and

institution building � Preparing and financing annual work plans and budgets, financial management

and state-level auditing � Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning from project implementation and

knowledge management activities � Coordinating activities at district, PFT and cluster levels � Converging with government programs and developing partnership support

75

Project Facilitation Team (PFT) � Identification of Poor and BPL families (project beneficiaries). � Preparation of data base of the existing SHGs in the village. � Preparation of Inception Report consisting of annual plan as well as total project

period plan. � Organizing target community into SHGs and then federating them at the cluster

and PFT level. � Building capacity of SHGs and village organizations. � Identification and promotion of producer organizations based on value chain

analysis. � Constituting the apex structure of the Community based. � Institutions at the Block viz. Block Level Federation and ensuring functioning of

the same through handholding and regular capacity building inputs. � Managing the interface between banking system and community groups through

membership in Area Federation and liaisoning with banks. � Helping community based institutions in preparing livelihood sub projects (value

chain proposals), getting their approval from DPMU/SPMU and ensure their qualitative implementation.

� Supporting community based institutions in developing linkages with financial institutions, service provider agencies and line development departments.

� Facilitating community based institutions to develop forward and backward linkages.

76

Human Resources and Institutional Development

RRLP recognizes that for successful implementation and achieving the objectives of competent, dedicated and motivated human resource is a must. Based on this pretext, the project’s human resource recruitment and development strategy is constructed to aspire for achieving the following objectives:

• Identifying and enrolling best available human resources with project; • Imparting timely induction as well regular orientation inputs for staff; • Ensuring shared vision and ownership of project among all staff; • Bringing clarity among staff about their role and creating an enabling

environment where they can attain required service standards; • Fostering team building approach in all decisions; • Synchronizing attitudinal and behavioral attributes of staff towards achieving objectives

of the project; • Grooming leadership quality in key staffs; • Placement of system and functioning of the same for continuous assessment of

capacity building for staffs; • Adhering to participatory appraisal system for performance of staff and extending

rewards as well incentives accordingly; • Putting in place a functional mechanism for identification of grievances and their timely

redress; • Bringing competitive remuneration package for staff i.e. similar or better than the

package offered in the state for development sector; and • Addressing professional and personal dilemmas being faced by staff while performing

duties through face to face and group counseling.

In order to ensure the above objectives a comprehensive HR Manual has been developed in the project that elaborates the process in project. The HR Manual has following details,

• Recruitment process of various experts and functionaries • Staff contract policy • Roles and responsibilities • Training and Capacity Building • Performance appraisal • Compensation package, incentives and reward • Disciplinary control system • Grievance Redressal Mechanism • Gender Sensitization and Policy

The recruitment of functionaries for management and supporting implementation of RRLP: Project intends to build a team of best available human resources. Hence, it becomes imperative to design recruitment process in a very manageable and professional way and offer best working conditions and remuneration package. For the purpose rigorous staff selection process will be adopted by project.

The project will ensure an intensive induction process for all those who will be appointed for managing the RRLP project. The induction process will aim at bringing thinking of new recruits similar to the line of the project. It will also lay foundation among functionaries for sharing organizational vision and inculcating sense of ownership for the project. The capacity building of project functionaries will be the ongoing process.

77

The intensive induction programme will include the following: • Detailed understanding of RRLP. • Better understanding about target community of the project. • Understanding the functioning of the project. • Understanding basics of community Institution structure. • Information about the concept of rural productivity and value chain system. • Information about Human Resource Policy, Contract /Service Rules, Administrative

and Financial and Procurement guidelines. • Project Implementation. • Monitoring Evaluation and Learning mechanism etc. • Gender Sensitization and Policy

The project will also meet the needs of project management and facilitating agencies like State Project Management Unit, District Project Management Units and PFTs. The capacity building activities have also been designed to build the capacities of various service providers’, specialized agencies and internal teams would be engaged to impart training for better output at different point of time. The Capacity building will enhance the knowledge base and skills, and influence the attitudes of all project stakeholders at different levels of the project implementation, so that they are able to work as efficient teams and perform effectively the roles and responsibilities vested on them. Specilised trainings for disclosure under the Right to Information Act., will be an integral part of trainings. Initiating Learning Mechanism in the Project:

The learning experience of DPIP will continue to be an important part of the HR issues. Promoting cross learning within organization through scheduled staff meeting at all levels, encouraging informal project related discussions among staff, writing case studies of best practices in project and sharing of the same, documenting learning and disseminating them on different project forums and establishing system for information flow among staff. Cross learning with other program/project – This will be encouraged among staff to allow them attending relevant workshops, seminars and other events, sharing reports of attended events with other project staff and organizing exposure program for staff members. Developing systematic review process at all levels of project – This will focus on input and output review, process review with special reference to draw learning in project implementation.

The key functionaries will organize counseling for staff as and when required. The functional head at DPMU and PFT will also be delegated authority of motivating and counseling their respective colleagues/ functionaries. This will help in recognizing strength with staff and shape his/her job responsibility according to the need of project and staff comfort.

Developing linkage with the management institutions specially from rural development discipline for inviting management trainees (from both national and international institutions, colleges and universities) will help project to have external academic perspective of its work.

78

Table 5.2 : Capacity Building Plan

S N Capacity Building inputs

Key Participants Key Contents Mode/ Tools

1. Sensitizing key community institutions & . other stakeholders

CRPs, Para-professional workers, UTTHAN SANSTHAN members, Community, PFT and district level stakeholders.

Innovative project approaches and Key Project principles Social Action accountability and Empowerment modules on a range of topics.

Workshops, field visit campaigns

2. Orientation/ Induction Programs

Newly recruited Project Management Staff (State, District and PFT team members)

Project principles, community manual, Participatory methodologies, SHG formation Livelihood plan process.Social inclusion and safeguard mechanism

Training on COM, Field placement/ village immersion programs

3. Awareness Programs

Empanelled appraisers outsourced technical service providers, resource agencies, partners, bankers etc.

Key Project Principles, project institutional model, project processes Social inclusion mechanism

Workshops and Field visits.

4. Thematic / Performance Training Programs

Specialists in State,district and PFT unit,

Social mobilization, livelihood planning, marketing, micro-finance, institution building, entrepreneurship, procurement, accounts, monitoring. Social inclusion and safeguard mechanism (GAP,SATDF)

Separate modules on each thematic areas, experimental learning, thematic workshops and discussion forums.

5. Skill Building Programs

External Resource Persons, Project Staff

Accounting and monitoring, planning, community monitoring and reporting, conflict resolution, joint appraisal mechanisms, negotiation skills, operation maintenance, Leadership and managerial skills.

On the job training, field based training

79

Chapter 6 Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning System

6.1 Introduction Monitoring, evaluation and learning systems are integral to project management and for supporting key decision-making and learning processes at different management and implementation levels. Further, it is recognized that ME&L cannot operate or be used effectively in the absence of an enabling institutional environment, adequate staffing and appropriate organizational structure, recognizing the importance of ME&L in project management. This chapter outlines the objectives and scope of ME&L, describes the system with its components and sub-components, the institutional arrangements for its operationalisation, and the functions of various project units in implementation and use of the system. Finally, it provides a detailed results framework, outlining expected outcomes and indicators, with benchmarks and year-wise targets, frequency of monitoring, and methods and responsibilities for data collection and analysis. The project emphasizes the need to build ownership of the monitoring and learning system among potential users and proposes to accomplish this by involving relevant stakeholders, viz., project managers, CRPs, partners, and intended beneficiaries, in the design and use of the system. It also aims to have sufficient objectivity built into the system for obtaining valid and reliable information. It will, therefore, combine internal, external and participatory elements in the system design. As those implementing the project are faced with the dual challenge of both stimulating and responding to change, it is crucial that they are able to easily access and use timely and reliable information. To facilitate ease of access and use, the tools and methods would be kept simple, even though the system would be rigorous in design. Lastly, it must be mentioned that staff capacity building in M&E is crucial for effective M&E systems, and the need for training and capacity building at various levels has been indicated at different places in this chapter. 6.2 Objective The monitoring, evaluation and learning system/ framework for RRLP is expected to serve as a tool for better management and decision-support, learning and accountability throughout the project period; it • Intends to provide a clear picture of the project, showing the logical link between

inputs, activities, outputs, and the sequence of outcomes; • Outlines an institutional/ governance structure for ME&L and the roles and

responsibilities of stakeholders involved; • Describes a strategy to track progress, measure outcomes, support the evaluation

work, and enable continuous learning and improvement; and • Provides information regarding what the project aims to achieve, identifies the critical

processes and indicators, and how it will measure and report on results

80

The guiding principles that will be followed in designing the ME&L system are: • The ME&L system will be demand responsive; it will be based on understanding the

information requirements of the stakeholders (both primary and secondary), and will continually provide them feedback to enable performance improvement

• The system will be simple and easy to operate, enabling a wide range of users to access and benefit from the information

• The system will be replicable and scalable, so if the concerned authorities would like to expand its use to non-project areas, the same may be possible.

• The system will be developed in consultation with project stakeholders, taking their requirements and capabilities into consideration.

• Capacity building will be an integral part of the system, which will be designed to facilitate learning processes; operationalisation of the system will be done in a manner that encourages free communication of information

• Information and data will be analyzed and reviewed closest to the source of collection, so that it can be used meaningfully by those providing and/or collecting it

• The ME&L system will be linked with the project decision-making system/s

6.3 System Components Monitoring embodies the regular tracking of inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts of development activities at various levels; it involves the systematic collection of data on specified indicators to measure the extent of progress and achievement of objectives, as well as information on the use of allocated funds. Evaluation , on the other hand, is used to determine the significance of the project, including its relevance, efficiency of resource use, effectiveness of design & project interventions, and sustainability of results. Thus, while monitoring focuses on inputs-outputs, and immediate outcomes, evaluations are focused on intermediate outcomes (results), and provide macro-level information in a longitudinal time-frame. Together, monitoring and evaluation will provide project managers and other stakeholders with the information necessary for management and strategic decision-making. The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (ME&L) system of RRLP would consist of the following broad components, namely • Concurrent progress monitoring • Process monitoring and action learning • Results monitoring • Participatory monitoring and evaluation • Thematic studies and case-studies • Impact Evaluation The overall responsibility for planning and coordinating ME&L activities will be of the SPMU. The ME&L system will consist of three distinct and major essentials:

• Internal Monitoring – essentially input-output monitoring and part of process monitoring, for which data will be collected and/or collated by the implementing units at the state, district and PFT levels; quantitative data will be compiled and analyzed using the project CMIS.

81

• External Monitoring – for results-based monitoring, learning and evaluation, to complement internal monitoring efforts and objectives; this will include sample-based validation of concurrent monitoring findings, results monitoring, process monitoring, thematic studies and evaluation studies (at mid-term and end-of-project). It may be mentioned here that process monitoring will be carried out in close coordination with the project managers and implementers.

• Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation – to be undertaken by intended beneficiaries, primarily SHGs and CDOs, and other project-supported organizations and federations, viz., Producer Organizations and Area Federations. Facilitation support for PME will be provided by SSOs hired for the purpose.

6.3.1 Concurrent Progress Monitoring

The purpose of this component is to assess progress in implementation against timescales and resource use against budgets. It will report on progress of implementation and expenditure on a quarterly and annual basis. Concurrent monitoring will consist of two parts:

(i) Input-output monitoring (updated monthly, reported quarterly and annually) to be undertaken by project implementation and management units; and

(ii) Sample survey (quarterly basis), to be undertaken by external M&E agency Input-output monitoring will be supported by a transaction-based CMIS which tracks physical and financial progress of the project. The CMIS will be web-enabled and have links with the district and PFT levels. Updated MIS information will be uploaded to the project website, and be accessible by district, Block, Gram Panchayat and SHG name/s. Information related to project guidelines, manuals, monthly progress reports, project circulars and survey reports will also be available on this web-site. 6.3.2 Process Monitoring and Pathway Analysis

While progress monitoring focuses on physical, financial and logistic aspects of projects, process monitoring will deal with critical processes which are directly related to the project’s objectives, viz., identification of the poorest, formation of SHGs, preparation of livelihood development plans, and so on. Thus, if progress monitoring would consider information such as the number of SHGs formed, or number of groups obtaining livelihood grants, process monitoring would evaluate the process of beneficiary identification, and the degree of participation of members in the development of livelihood plans. It is expected that process monitoring will complement progress monitoring and enable bringing about qualitative improvements in project interventions.

Process monitoring will be combined with ‘pathway analysis’ to more systematically study and analyze the factors leading to achievement or non-achievement of project intermediate outcomes and impacts. Pathway analysis places the project within the broader social and political contexts, and attempts to construct possible sequences of events that lead from one stage (such as outputs) to the next (such as outcomes), thus examining the intervention hypothesis and its underlying assumptions. It is important to monitor and challenge pathways on an ongoing basis to maximize the lesson-learning

82

process. This includes examining internal and external influences, including unintended impacts. The logical framework sequence serves as a starting point for pathway analysis, but the focus is on mapping and monitoring the process of moving from one stage to another, exploring the causal links along a chain from activity to impact. The process monitoring component will investigate processes within the community, project and wider socio-economic context, and provide timely feedback to concerned stakeholders. The sharing of information and discussion on findings of process monitoring is expected to be undertaken in a learning environment, and serve as a mechanism for improving strategies, rules and procedures, thus making the project more participatory and responsive. The objectives of process monitoring in RRLP are:

• To assist in decision making, self-evaluation, and improvement efforts within the project, particularly on issues pertaining to project design, strategy and approach at the macro and micro levels

• To understand the local strategies and implementation processes, and provide an ongoing description of contextual and environmental factors that affect implementation at all levels, viz., village, cluster, district and state

• To give the stakeholders, particularly the implementation and facilitation teams, opportunities to analyze and collectively learn from implementation experiences

• To disseminate project learnings to a wider audience through various means, including publications, newsletters, videography and so forth

Process monitoring responsibilities will be divided between internal and external, and specific formats and checklists developed to facilitate process monitoring by internal staff members. To deal with the constraints of lack of capacity for undertaking such assignment, an external agency would be hired for capacity building of project team. Internal process monitoring would consist of following major steps: • Identification of critical processes, key process steps and their corresponding indicators

of success. This will be done by the SPMU in consultation with the project staff before each round of the PM in a workshop mode

• Samples selection, to be done collaboratively by SPMU and implementing unit staff. Significant degree of qualitative information is expected from the PM to validate the indicators of the result framework. Hence, while identifying issue/processes for PM the SPMU should ensure that issues selected are pertinent to the indicators of the Result framework.

• For the field implementation related processes where community is involved (viz. SHG Livelihood plan preparation and implementation) data will be collected by the project facilitation team using participatory appraisal tools like FGDs and village meetings. The benefit of using participatory tools is that the data providers will get on-the-spot analysis of the information provided by them. During data collection at the field the presence of the PFT Coordinators and Community Resource Persons (CRPs), is necessary as this would help them to follow up on the issues that emerge.

• The PM would be objective in its findings and presented in a structured manner. The findings and observations of PM would be shared at the DPMU and SPMU level in a workshop mode and an Action Required Report (ARR) would be prepared for follow up action. The subsequent round of PM will review the actions taken of the previous ARR and document it in the form of Action Taken Report (ATR) in the current report.

83

The following are suggested as critical areas and processes that need to be looked into as part of the process monitoring plan (these will be discussed by the SPMU with representatives from the PFTs and DPMUs before being operationalised): SHG level (planning, governance & funds management) :

• Characterize the processes of decision-making in project SHGs, and analyze the same in the context of the socio-cultural, political and economic profile of the village(s).

• Study and document the processes within SHGs for beneficiary and activity selection, funds management, and preparation of livelihoods development plans

• Understand and record the process-related internal or external factors that facilitate and/or impede project progress

Village/ Gram Panchayat level

• Assess the processes followed in identification of the poor(est) and formation of SHGs

• Study and document the impact of project-related activities on other forms of collective action taking place in the village, implementation of other projects, and wider functioning of the Gram Sabha within the Gram Panchayat, viz., planning and decision-making

CDO/ Enterprise-level

• Compliance with the social and environmental safeguards • Identify and study some of the (new) enterprises that are established in the villages

as a result of project activities, and review the following: capabilities, ownership patterns, sustainability, issues related to marketing, funds management and group functioning

• Utilization of infrastructure created/ provided by the project, etc. • CDO decision-making regarding funds allocation to SHGs • Communication across institutions spanning various levels, viz., SHG-CDO-PO-Area

Federation. PFT/ District level

• Compliance with the social and environmental safeguards • Observe and document the activities for establishing linkages with banks, other

projects, line departments and institutions, and the outcomes thereof • Understand and record the perspectives and concerns, if any, of district

administrative and executive agencies regarding the Project and its activities, particularly at the district level, and identify opportunities for better integration of the Project in their planning & implementation processes

• Observe and record the capacity building and other inputs provided by the district team/SSOs to the PFTs, the process of planning for the same and other relevant issues.

84

Project/ State level • Document the processes followed by the project at the planning stage, viz., area

identification, village selection, SSO selection and personnel recruitment; to record lessons learned during project implementation including but not limited to, team building, capacity building, conflict resolution, and gender sensitization.

• Observe and document the activities for establishing linkages with other projects, agencies, line departments and institutions

• Understand and record the perspectives and concerns, if any, of state-level administrative and executive agencies and other institutions and projects that are engaged in activities with objectives similar to that of the project

• Identify the crucial achievements in regard of the Project objectives, and prepare case studies for each significant achievement

• Process of procurement of goods, works and services • Adherence to the COM • SHG livelihood plan, Value chain proposal appraisal process • Fund disbursal process to the community institution and units • Process of social accountability/information disclosure plan • Performance of MIS and internal learning system • Adherence to the project business standards • Coordination among various stakeholders from the field to the state level • Performance of wider dissemination mechanism of the project 6.3.3 Results Monitoring Along with input-output monitoring, it is also necessary to track results on a continuous basis so that efficiency and effectiveness of the project interventions in translating into desired results gets tracked. The CMIS development process would take cognizance of the project need for regularly ascertaining progress with respect to the results and therefore would have system components designed to address the same, to the extent possible. While the CMIS would be able to track immediate results, tracking project progress in respect of intermediate outcomes would be done by an external M&E agency, which would also validate findings of input-output monitoring on a quarterly basis. Frequency of monitoring and distribution of responsibilities for various indicators is as mentioned in the table below:

85

Table 6.1 : Results Monitoring

Intermediate Outcomes Intermediate Outcome Indicators Frequency/ time period

Primary Responsibility

1.1. 90% of the (project) SHG members are from among the identified poor7

Six-monthly DPMU

1.2. At least 70% of the 33,000 SHGs supported by the project are self-managed

Mid-term, EoP

External agency (SSO)

1.3. All grade A SHGs (70% of total) obtain financial assistance/ credit from banks

Annually SPMU using CMIS

1.4. At least 70% of grade A SHG members obtain credit through inter-loaning within their groups

Six-monthly DPMU

1.5. At least 80% of the CDOs in the project villages manage (project) funds efficiently8

Annually DPMU, validation by external M&E agency

Outcome 1: Formation of inclusive and self-reliant SHGs, cluster development organizations and their federations

1.6. At least 70% of the CDOs report receiving services from their respective PFT Area Federations

Mid-term, EoP

SPMU and external M&E agency

2.1. At least 80% of the grade A SHGs have accessed credit support from the CDO

Annually DPMU & SPMU, using CMIS

2.2. At least 50% of grade A SHG members obtain credit support for productive activity

Annually DPMU, using CMIS; validation by external M&E agency

Outcome 2: Establishment and/ or expansion of individual and group/ collective enterprises for income enhancement

2.3. At least ten viable and sustainable9 Producer Organizations are established

Mid-term, EoP

SPMU and external M&E agency

Outcome 3: Increase in employment opportunities among youth in project villages

3.1. At least 17,000 youth (including more than 50% women) from the project villages are placed in appropriate jobs as a result of project efforts

Mid-term, End-of-project

SPMU and external M&E agency

Outcome 4: Establishment of innovative and participatory models for climate change adaptation with strong linkages in government programs

4.1. At least 2-3 pro-poor adaptation approaches identified and evaluated for scale up

Mid-term, End-of-project

SPMU and SSO

5.1. Project management has satisfactorily addressed statutory audit findings per agreed RRLP business standards

Annually SPMU, Bank and external M&E agency

5.2. Project management takes and records all necessary actions related to findings of regular M, E and L reports that it receives in a timely manner per RRLP business standards

Annually SPMU, Bank and external M&E agency

Outcome 5: Effective project management structure for coordination, learning and quality enhancement established

5.3. All complaints received by the Complaints Handling unit in the SPMU have been addressed per agreed RRLP business standards

Annually SPMU, Bank and external M&E agency

Using monitoring outputs of CMIS and external M&E, the project managers would be able to keep an eye on the results attained so that deviations if any can be assessed, causal factors identified and appropriate measures devised to minimize observed variances.

7 Identified poor includes households from the BPL list, as well as those that emerge through participatory identification of the poor

8Includes transfer of funds to SHGs as per RRLP’s business standards

9Sustainable defined as being active, financially viable and having a sound governance structure.

86

6.3.4 Participatory monitoring and evaluation Participatory M&E (PME) tools will be developed and used extensively at SHG, CDO and Area federation levels for, depending on stage of institutional maturity, for sensitization, capacity building, self-assessment of institutional capabilities, and so on. PME will be carried out with facilitative support from local NGOs; however, if required, an external agency may be contracted for developing and piloting the tools and methods and providing initial training to local facilitating NGOs and PFT representatives. Whereas elements of participation will be incorporated in most other M&E system sub- components, it will be particularly emphasized in assessment processes at the grass-roots level. The following two methods are planned, and others may be added as required:

a) Self scoring for community institutions (SHGs, CDOs and Area Federations) b) PFT facilitated assessment of institutional capacities at CDO and Area

Federation levels Results of self-scoring exercises will be integrated within the project MIS, and indices developed for assessment of institutional maturity. These, along with sample-based PFT facilitated assessment of institutional capabilities will be used to develop SHG/CDO/AF capacity building strategies. 6.3.5 Thematic studies and case studies Thematic studies would supplement and complement other monitoring components through validation of information on indicators of the results framework, as well as provide analytical inputs which go beyond routine monitoring functions. Wherever required, thematic studies on specific issues would be commissioned to enable generation of requisite information to assess project impact and review of performance.

Specialized agencies with expertise in areas to be studied would be invited for planning and conduct of these studies, to be supervised by the SPMU. The studies would generally be evaluative in nature, but may also capture good practices of the project. The need for thematic studies would emerge as the project progresses and from the findings of the process monitoring and external quality monitoring.

The project would proactively undertake documentation of processes, case-studies, best practices and lessons learnt from project experience. Documentation would be for internal learning as well as for disseminating project experiences to other stakeholders; it would be a continuous process through the project duration and across all the project personnel. Majority of the documentation would be undertaken by project personnel. However, in cases needing specific expertise, the same would be solicited from external specialist personnel and agencies. 6.3.6 Impact Evaluation The objective of the Impact Evaluation would be to establish the net contribution of the project to the sustainable livelihoods of the targeted families “before” and “after” the project and/or “with” and “without” the project. It is proposed that a quasi-experimental time-series design would be used for the project impact evaluation.

87

The baseline would be the first assessment for ascertaining the benchmarks against which project progress in respect of key results, outcomes and impacts would be measured. It will be used for determining the pre-project conditions in project and non-project (or ‘control’) areas, and findings from the baseline study would be used to inform and/or fine tune project strategy and interventions. An external agency will be contracted to undertake this study.

The mid-term and end-of-project evaluations would measure changes with respect to the baseline at mid-term of project implementation and at the end of the project. The indicators in the results framework would be central to the assessments and therefore guide development of methods, tools and analysis protocols. As necessitated by the nature of the project outcomes and impacts, an appropriate mix of quantitative and qualitative methods would be adopted for the evaluations.

While the baseline assessment would be at the start of the project, the mid-term evaluation would be commissioned in PY-3, while the final (end-term) evaluation would be conducted at the end of the project (PY-5). As in the case of the baseline study, an independent agency would be hired for the mid-term and end-of-project evaluation studies. Working under supervision and guidance of the SPMU, the external M&E agencies contracted for mid-term and end-of-project evaluations would be required to adopt the same sample set of project and control villages as in the baseline study, to the extent possible. For comparability of findings across the years, uniformity in data collection tools and methods would also be ensured, without losing out on quality aspects. 6.4 ME&L roles and responsibilities

ME&L responsibilities would be distributed across all the project units and staff. However, primary responsibilities at each management and implementation unit level would rest with ME&L specialists, as mentioned in the following paragraphs. 6.4.1 State level

The SPMU will be responsible for the overall project ME&L. It will employ and maintain throughout the project period, a senior full-time General Manager (ME&L), who will take overall responsibility for ME&L, including overseeing the MIS functions. To facilitate smooth operationalisation and utilization of the CMIS, an MIS Specialist would also be hired, who will work in close collaboration with the Dy. Director/ Coordinator (M&L).

An outline of the SPMU ME&L staff responsibilities is given below: • Dy. Director/ Coordinator (M&L) would be primarily responsible for operationalisation

of the project ME&L plan. Along with the staff from DPMU and PFT, the Dy. Director/ Coordinator (M&L) will facilitate reviews and endeavour to create a learning environment in the organization for discussion of ME&L findings. S/he will design and develop training modules for ME&L, in collaboration with external resource agencies, and be the nodal person for communication with external agencies on all matters pertaining to ME&L studies and capacity building programs.

• State Level MIS Coordinator would lead the MIS Unit and be responsible for its design, development, operations and maintenance functions, with support from external agency contracted for the purpose. He/she will be responsible for developing the network system between the SPMU and all the sub-units at the district and PFT levels.

88

6.4.2 District level

At the district level, there would be a District Monitoring & Learning Coordinator who would not only coordinate the ME&L functions, but also play a proactive role in building ME&L capacities. S/he would be assisted by an MIS specialist, as also the PFT member designated for ME& L functions. An outline of the DPMU ME&L staff responsibilities is given below: • District Level ME&L Coordinator would be responsible for implementation of the

project ME&L plan at the district level. In addition, s/he will be expected to undertake appropriate ME&L capacity building, with guidance from SPMU, for PFTs and DPMU colleagues in the district. As the ME&L node at the district level, the ME&L Coordinator will assist the District Coordinator in collecting/ generating necessary data and information for project monitoring and reporting purposes.

• District Level MIS Coordinator would be responsible for appropriate utilization of the MIS at the district level, ensuring quality of data entered, its analysis on a regular basis and generation of MIS reports for sharing with project stakeholders.

6.4.3 PFT level

At the PFT level, one member will be designated for ME&L duties, and s/he will be responsible for coordinating ME&L functions at the cluster level and below, including facilitation for timely completion of PME, and submission of data for MIS. 6.4.4 External agencies

Besides the above-mentioned full-time staff, the SPMU will hire the services of specialized agencies for:

a) design, development, operation and maintenance of project CMIS; b) capacity building in ME&L in general, and process monitoring in particular; c) results monitoring and sample-based validation of findings of concurrent monitoring d) design and piloting of participatory M&E tools for institutions, and PME training e) thematic studies; and f) mid-term and end-of-project evaluation studies

Table 6.2 : ME&L Responsibilities, Periodicity and Use of Information

Milestone Deliverable/s Periodicity Responsibility End use Progress monitoring

Progress Reports Monthly/ quarterly/ half-yearly/ annually

SPD, supported by SPMU, DPMU and PFTs Implementation responsibility rests with Dy. Director/ Coordinator (M&L)

Real time progress monitoring and decision-support system

Results monitoring

Progress reports Six monthly External agency Validation of findings of progress monitoring; assessment of project output

Process Monitoring & pathway analysis

Process monitoring reports and workshop presentations

Every quarter External Agency Evidence that processes followed are inclusive, and lead to social, political and economic empowerment Improved understanding of project processes leading to (anticipated) results

89

Milestone Deliverable/s Periodicity Responsibility End use Participatory monitoring & evaluation

Self-assessment reports

Annually Local facilitating NGOs Stakeholder capacity building and empowerment

Thematic studies

Study reports and presentations

Periodically, as required

External Agency (Depending on theme of study)

Baseline study

Baseline report establishing benchmarks

Before project inception

External agency Inputs for planning; benchmark for evaluation

Mid-term evaluation

Mid-term evaluation report

After utilization of 40 percent of funds or completion of 3yrs

External agency Assessment of project strategy and outcomes

End-of-project evaluation

End-of-project evaluation report

End year of project External agency(same at the agency for MTE, if it has satisfactorily completed it)

Project evaluation vis-à-vis expected/ targeted outcomes and objectives

6.5 Institutional arrangements for ME&L

A combination of methods will be employed for effective implementation of project M&E systems, and to facilitate learning from experience. This will involve use of internal, participatory and externally-aided mechanisms, which enhance accountability, and enable integration of M&E within project decision-support systems. 6.5.1 Zonal review teams

Monitoring responsibilities at the state-level will be divided among all SPMU specialists; the institutional mechanism for doing so would involve creation of four virtual project zones, consisting of 4-5 districts each. Each team, consisting of 3-4 specialists, will nominate a team leader on a rotational basis, and will be held responsible for ME&L related tasks in its assigned zone; team members will undertake field visits to review project progress and discuss matters with the district teams. Thus, while each specialist will provide expert inputs in his/her respective area of expertise, s/he will also play a management support role by serving on the ME&L team and reviewing performance in all the key project areas.

To enhance accountability, the collective performance of each team would be discussed and assessed on the basis of progress of work in its respective zone. Every quarter, teams would be expected to report on project progress in their zones (against key performance/ results indicators), providing reasons for variances or under-achievement of targets, if any. The forums would also serve as learning grounds, for sharing experiences, and discussing the need for revisions in project strategy and approach, wherever required. 6.5.2 Peer review

Peer reviews will form an important part of the project review system, especially at the PFT and community levels, and will complement other participatory/ process M&E methods. District level review meetings will be scheduled to take place at different PFTs in the district on a rotational basis every quarter. The 2-3 day review-cum-learning event will involve at least one day of field visit at a site selected by the hosting PFT, to be followed by deliberation and discussion on findings the subsequent day. This will enable

90

a close and intense review of processes by peers, in a non-threatening environment focused on learning and experience-sharing. The remaining session/s may be devoted to discussion of progress on specified matters in each of the PFTs. 6.5.3 Internal review missions

Every six-months, a high-level SPD or APD-led internal review team (consisting of 4-5 members drawn from SPMU, DPMU, PFT and SHG levels) will visit project field sites and undertake a thorough 1-2 day review, including discussion of challenges in implementation faced by PFT and DPMU level units. Other than the SPD and/or APD, other members of the review team will be appointed on a rotational basis. 6.5.4 Project review and coordination committees

Review and Coordination Committees will be formed at the Gram Panchayat, Block, district and state levels to review project progress and facilitate convergence. It is proposed to set up these committees in the first year of implementation; the composition and key roles of these committees are as mentioned in the following table.

Review and Coordination Committees – membership and key roles

Jurisdiction Key Roles Members

State-level • Review of project progress at the state level (at least once every six months)

• Addressing policy/ procedural bottlenecks, if any

• Inter-departmental coordination and facilitating convergence

• Provision of necessary support and guidance to project officials to facilitate implementation

District-level • Review of project progress every quarter, or more frequently if required

• Review & facilitation for bank linkages (DLBC) • Provide support to PFT-level Area Federation

of CDOs • Convergence with district development

programmes

Zila Pramukh, District Collector, CEO-Zila Parishad, concerned line department representatives, nominated members of Zila Parishad, project-nominated NGO representatives, and DPMU nominee

Block-level • Review project progress in monthly meetings at the block level

• Review & facilitation for bank linkages (BLBC) • Provide support to PFT federation/CDOs. • Convergence with block development

programmes

Block Pradhan, BDO, Block Level Officers, nominated Panchayat Samiti members, project-nominated NGO representative, and PFT nominee.

Gram Panchayat-level

• Logistic and technical support in capacity building

• Facilitation in village entry programme • Facilitate Social Audit • Convergence with Panchayat Development

programmes

Sarpanch, Ward Panch, Gram Sewak, NGO representative and PFT nominee

91

6.6 Action Learning, Documentation and Reflection Internal learning is crucial for the project to be responsive to the changing context of the project as it progresses. The effectiveness of internal learning would depend upon the degree of institutionalization of learning among the various levels of project organization. There are several actors in the project and therefore cross learning among them would play a crucial role in achieving project objectives. Review and documentation would be the two M&E mechanisms for internal learning. The mechanism does not entail any additional institutional mechanism; rather, it encourages strengthening of the existing project review and documentation mechanism by incorporating the learning aspects to it, and broadening the perspective of the review process. The effectiveness of internal learning would depend upon the institutionalization of learning among the various levels of project organization as well as the community. In addition to some of the events already mentioned for addressing the “L” aspect of ME&L, the following initiatives would also be organized to facilitate internal learning within the project: • It is proposed that from second year of the project onwards, a quarterly SHG

leaders’ convention would be held at the CDO level, where sharing of experiences, major issues, and leveraging resources from other programmes, etc. would be discussed. Most importantly, this convention would place emphasis on sharing of best practices among the SHGs, and facilitating voluntary inter-SHG exchanges and exposure visits. The PFT Coordinator and CRPs would play a proactive role in facilitating this event, for which they would receive training inputs on facilitation techniques. As the SHG movement strengthens, these conventions could be upscaled to take place at the district/ state levels.

• Annual (5 days) review and planning meeting of all SPMU staff and 1-2 representatives from each DPMU

• Periodically, documentation of ‘best practices’ by project staff, its presentation and collective reflection by PFT and DPMU staff at the district level, with the objective of contributing experience-based articles to the project newsletter. The process of documentation, presentation and reflection will result in enhanced awareness, an objective assessment of activities undertaken, and promote experimentation.

92

Table 6.3 : Results Framework and Monitoring India: Rajasthan Rural Livelihoods Project (RRLP)

Project Development Objective (PDO) : To enhance the economic opportunities and empowerment of the rural poor, with a focus on women and marginalized groups, in the 17 targeted districts of Rajasthan.

Cumulative Target Values** PDO Level Results Indicators* C

ore Unit of

Measure Baseline YR 1 YR 2 YR3 YR 4 YR5

Frequency

Data Source/

Methodology

Responsibility for

Data Collection

Description (indicator definition etc.)

Indicator One : Increase in number of sources of household income reported in at least 70% of the targeted households10,11

Percent

households

0 0% 5% 30% 50% 70%

Annual, mid-term

and end-of-project

Households/ Periodic sample surveys

External M&E

agency

There is evidence that with increase in savings and enhanced support for enterprise activities, there is diversification in sources of household income

Indicator Two : Reliance on informal credit sources drops by 90% among members of grade ‘A’ SHGs12

Percent reliance 24%13 30% 45% 60% 75% 90% Annual

SHGs/ semi-structured interviews

PFT/ external

M&E agency

As households get linked with financial institutions, reliance on informal credit sources is reduced

Indicator Three : At least 70% of the 33,000 SHGs supported by the project are financially viable and institutionally sustainable14

Percent SHGs

30-40%15 40% 50% 60% 70% 70% Annual

SHG self-scoring and

PFT facilitated

institutional assessment

CRPs/ PFTs

An SHGs ability to continue to meet and inter-loan among members reduces external dependence.

Indicator Four : At least 50% of grade ‘A’ SHG members routinely participate in Gram Sabha and other village meetings

Percent women SHG

members

< 5% 5% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Quarterly/ six-monthly (correspond

ing with GS)

Gram Panchayat records/

Review of records

CRPs/ PFTs

Attendance and participation in village meetings provides an opportunity for women to express their views on issues that concern them.

INTERMEDIATE RESULTS

10This may be further qualified to include proportions of income from different sources, with reduced dependence on those sources that are more vulnerable, viz., agriculture, animal husbandry, forests and seasonal

migration 11

Annual income per household in DPIP (Phase I) recorded an increase of Rs 9,760 for livestock, Rs 6,736 for Land based and Rs 2,284 for micro-enterprise sub-projects

12 It is estimated that 70% of the project supported SHGs will obtain Grade A

13 Source: CmF, 2010

14 Sustainability is defined as being active (i.e. regular attendance at meetings), financially viable (i.e. taking and repaying investment supports) and a governance structure that ensures independence and

representation. 15

based on case studies; exact values to be determined

93

Intermediate Result (Component One): Institution Bu ilding and Social Empowerment

Cumulative Target Values** Results Indicators*

Cor

e Unit of Measure Baseline

YR 1 YR 2 YR3 YR 4 YR5 Frequency

Data Source/

Methodo-logy

Responsibility for Data Collection

Description (indicator definition etc.)

All grade ‘A’ SHGs (70% of total) obtain financial assistance/credit from banks

Percent SHGs 44%16 45% 50% 60% 65% 70% Annual

SHG records/

MIS PFT/ DPMU

SHG-Bank linkage is the sustainable route to financial empowerment of SHGs/ its members

At least 70% of grade ‘A’ SHG members avail credit from inter-loaning within their groups

Percent

SHG members

34%17 - 35 45 55 70% Six-

monthly/ annually

SHG records/

questionnaire survey Process

monitoring

SHGs/ PFT/ process

monitoring agency

This indicator captures the within group dynamics of loan distribution among members – whether or not majority members are benefiting from credit.

At least 80% of the CDOs in the project villages manage (project) funds efficiently18

Percent CDOs 0 - 50% 70% 80% 80%

Annually from Y2 onwards

CDO self- assessmen

t/ PFT facilitated

assessment of CDOs

PFT/ DPMU

Funds management is the primary function of CDOs, and being able to do this efficiently indicates their maturity

At least 70% of the CDOs report receiving services from their respective PFT-level Area Federations

Percent CDOs

0 - - 50% 60% 70% Annually from Y3 onwards

CDOs/ FGD with

CDOs

External M&E agency

Area federations at the PFT level will sustain only if they are perceived as providing value-added services to their constituents, viz., CDOs

Intermediate Result (Component Two): Community Inve stment Support

At least 70% of SHG households access services of US$250 million from formal financial institution

US$ millions

US$8919 $100 $125 $150 $200 $250 Annually SHG

records and FGD

External M&E agency

Cumulative Target Values** Results Indicators*

Cor

e Unit of Measure Baseline

YR 1 YR 2 YR3 YR 4 YR5 Frequency

Data Source/

Methodo-logy

Responsibility for Data Collection

Description (indicator definition etc.)

At least 80% of the grade A SHGs have accessed credit support from the CDO

Percent SHGs 0 - 30% 40% 60% 80%

Annually from Y2 onwards

CMIS PFT

Funds for SHGs will be routed through CDOs; % SHGs receiving credit from CDO indicates its efficiency

16 Source: various, cited in CmF, 2010

17 There are no reliable studies undertaken in this regard; one study cited in CmF, 2010 states that only in 34% groups, more than 10 members availed credit.

18Includes transfer of funds to SHGs as per RRLP’s business standards

19 Estimates based on current level of outstanding credit for the Poor from SHG Bank linkage and MFIs.

94

At least 50% of grade A SHG members obtain credit support for productive activity

Percent SHGs 24%20 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% Annually

SHG/ Review of

SHG records and

FGD with SHGs

External M&E agency

‘Productive activity’ defined as any activity that is likely to result in an increase in income in the short- to medium-term (6 months – 2 years)

At least ten viable and sustainable Producer Organizations (POs) are established

Number of POs 0 - - 3 8 10

Annually from Y3 onwards

SPMU External M&E agency

‘Sustainable’ PO defined as being active, financially viable and having a sound governance structure

Intermediate Result (Component Three): Skills Devel opment and Employment Promotion At least 17,000 youth (including more than 50% women) from the project villages are placed in appropriate jobs as a result of project efforts

Number of youth 0 - 3000 7000 12000 17000

Annually from Y2 onwards

MIS (?)/ Project records

SPMU/ external

M&E agency

A direct result of the project’s interventions for enhancing employable skills and providing jobs to rural youth

Intermediate Result (Component Four): Climate Chang e Adaptation At least 3 pro-poor adaptation approaches identified and evaluated for scale up

Number of approaches

0 - - 1 2 3 Annually from Y3 onwards

Project reports/

Thematic studies

SPMU/SSO or specialist

agency

Intermediate Result (Component Five): Project Imple mentation Support

Project management has satisfactorily addressed statutory audit findings according to agreed RRLP business standards

Percent 0 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Annually Audit Reports

DPMU / SPMU

Project management takes and records all necessary actions related to findings of regular M, E and L reports that it receives in a timely manner, as per RRLP business standards

Percent 0 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Annually M & E Reports

DPMU / SPMU

All the complaints received by the Complaints Handling unit in the SPMU have been addressed, according to agreed RRLP business standards

Percent 0 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Annually ON LINE SYSTEM

DPMU / SPMU

20 Studies in Rajasthan have indicated that only 24% of the SHG members who avail loans use it for income generation activities

95

Chapter 7 Financial Management

The financial management system for the Rajasthan Rural Livelihoods Project is designed to ensure transparency and accountability and also richness in decision-making and allocation of financial resources to the blocks and villages. Financial Management Framework The financial management framework consists of simplified arrangements promoting transparency and accountability at all stages of the project. The financial management framework for the project is described as below in the table: Level Institutional

Arrangement Key Financial Management Arrangements

State Level

Governing Body

• Approval of annual budget, action plan and statement • Review the project Expenditure

Executive Committee

• Plan, review, revise and approve financial management policies for the project

• Approve annual budgets for the project • Review financial progress at the Apex level, District &

Block Level • Overall oversight of financial management functions

State Project Management Unit (SPMU)

• Compile annual budget of project based on annual action plan for SPMU and various DPMU & PFT and submit the same to GoR for sanction o f the budget

• Receive funds into its bank account from GoR as per the allocated budget

• Distribute funds to DPMU/PFT on a timely basis as per agreed annual work plans

• Institute mechanisms for proper accounting and auditing of project funds at state, district, Block and village level

• Maintain database on district/Block wise, component wise fund releases and expenditures

• Compile and forward regular quarterly/annual financial reports to GoR/GOI/IDA

• Submit regular claims for reimbursement/IUFR of project expenses

• Implement capacity building measures for financial management for staff at SPMU, DPMU and PFT

• Develop policy and strategy for book keeping capacity building at the PFT Federation & CDO level and implement the same

96

• Review financial progress at the District & Block level • Appoint auditors for a sample audit of PFT

FEDERATION & CDO and POs

Liaise with statutory auditors for the audit of the SPMU's, District & PFT accounts on an annual basis and place the audited accounts before the General Body and filing of annual returns as per requirements.

District Level

District Project Management Unit (DPMU)

• Coordinate with PFTs to initiate mechanisms for proper accounting and auditing of project funds at state, district, PFT and CDO level

• Compile annual budget for the district and submit the same to the SPMU

• Receive funds into its bank account from the SPMU as per allocated budget

• Coordinate and forward regular monthly/quarterly financial monitoring reports to SPMU

• Coordinate with PFTs to ensure regular and timely audit for district level and PFT level activities

PFT Level

PFT Coordinator

• Compile annual budget for the PFT and submit the same to the SPMU

• Receive funds into its bank account from the SPMU as per allocated budget

• Appraise Community Based Livelihood Business Plans and verify milestone certificates and release payments to CDO/PFT Federation & PO on a timely basis as per agreed activities and relevant contractual arrangements and utilize funds for its own activities at PFT level

• Maintain database on village wise agreements, releases, expenditures, contributions, monthly financial statements etc.

• Compile, prepare and forward regular monthly/quarterly financial monitoring reports to DPMU

• Ensure regular and timely audit for PFT level • Ensure implementation of capacity building activities for

building skills in financial management for CDO, PFT level institutions, etc.

• Facilitate linkages for easy flow of funds for the community to mobilise the community equity

• Assist the PFT Federation & CDO(UTTHAN SANSTHAN) in implementing the accountability framework (including public displays and external audit)

• Train and provide hand-holding support to the Master Book Keeper in book keeping functions and in preparing monthly & annual reports

• Monitor the maintenance of books of accounts at the CDO/PFT Federation & PO level

97

Level

Institutional Arrangement

Key Financial Management Arrangements

Area Federation, Secretary and Treasurer with Book Keeper as assisted by Finance and Procurement Sub Committee

• Sign financing agreements for PFT Federation Fund with DPMU

• Receive funds from DPMU against PFT Federation financing agreements and deposit the same in bank.

• Plan, implement and supervise activities under PFT Federation fund

• Engage an accountant and ensure that all project expenditures and income are accounted for in the books of accounts

• Request for funds from DPMU • Provide all books of accounts and other records for project

audit • Appoint Finance and Procurement Sub-committees with the

approval of General Body and entrust them with specific financial management and procurement functions

• Ensure that all financial management and procurement decisions are documented in the Minutes Books of the PFT Federation, Finance and Procurement sub-committee meetings

• Provide all financial information to Social Audit Committee • Submit monthly, quarterly, half yearly and annual financial

reports to DPMU. Disbursement and Funds Flow External Assistance and Disbursement Procedure: • The World Bank will make quarterly disbursement based on IUFRs which have to be

submitted within 45 days at the close of each quarter. Disbursement will be based on expenditure for past quarter. The expenditure reported in IUFR will be subject to confirmation / certification as per the Annual Audit Reports submitted for the Project. SPMU will be responsible for consolidation and submission of IUFR to World Bank/CAAA.

• An initial lump sum advance will be drawn from the World Bank through the state government and CAAA. Such advance would be replenished from time to time on submission of IUFRs. Interim Un-audited Financial Reports will be prepared on the basis of actual expenditure incurred at various operational levels and consolidated at SPMU level.

• The World Bank will make quarterly disbursements on the basis of IUFR to GoI. Funds will be disbursed in a special account with the Reserve Bank of India, Central Accounts Section, Mumbai, operated by CAAA in the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The disbursement will be determined as the Forecast expenditure less Funds available. Funds available are defined as opening balances less reported expenditure.

98

• Disbursement would be subject to receipt of Consolidated Report on Audit, which is due by September 30th of each year. As per the Bank Policies, if this report is not received by end January of the following year, further disbursements will have to be suspended till receipt of the report. GoI would however continue to submit the quarterly IUFRs as per schedule.

The basis for release of funds to the different levels of the project and the nature of accounts at these levels of the project are summarized in the following figure.

FIGURE 7.1 :- Fund Flow Arrangement

Indicate submissions

of expenditures account

Indicate flow of funds

IDA

GOR

STATE PROJECT

MANAGEMENT UNIT

(SPMU)

GOI

Transfer

to Bank

A/C

SHG SHG SHG

SHG SHG SHG

SHG SHG SHG

SHG SHG SHG

SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG

Producer Organisation

PFTs

17 DMPUs

UTTHAN SANSTHAN/ CDO

Preparation

of SOE

Preparation of

Claim

Reimbursement

Bill

99

Staffing, Capacity Building & Training Staffing: Adequate finance staff needs to be provided by all implementing agencies from the very beginning, so as to ensure that the project work does not suffer. The staff deputed for work relating to maintenance of project accounts and reports should be well versed with accounting system and preferably acquainted with externally aided projects of the World Bank or some other agency. The accounting/financial staff should not be changed / transferred at frequent intervals, unless and until required to do so on administrative grounds. Capacity Building of Financial & Accounting Staff Capacity Building Measures (CBM) should be adopted and initiated to develop the core strengths of the finance staff as per the project needs. Besides the subjective knowledge in finance staff should also be equipped with supplementary know how to adapt to the project requirements. Capacity Building Measures are objective in nature and should enhance the deliverable skills of the Finance Personnel. There are a number of means by which CBMs can be implemented in the finance staff.

a) Orientation Training b) IUFR, Monitoring, and Reporting & Audit Follow up c) Refresher Training d) Exposure Visits

TRAINING There will be a separate training wing at SPMU which will be headed by a General Manager (F), assisted by Manager Capacity Building who will be responsible for organising the training programmes, training schedules, training details and workshops. Entire Financial staff under the project at Institutional Level will be given training on Financial Management, including IUFRs, accounting procedures etc. The SPMU would be given training on Block basis at DPMU. An elaborate training plan should be developed for the project staff by the SPMU and the training schedules should be modulated for effective implementation. The training plan should be monitored by the General Manager (Finance) at regular interval. The staff trained in financial management shall be retained till the end of the project. However, in case of need they may be replaced by equally qualified staff, which should also be trained and provided guidelines of the project, e.g. IUFR & PIP and FM training material. Budget Estimates The project’s planning process will follow a “inverted” approach (refer flow chart) i.e. it will grow out of village level plans and get consolidated into PFT, District and State level annual work plans. The project planning process of each financial year will follow the budgeting cycle of the State and will be completed when the project estimates are included in the State Budget, presented and approved by the State Legislature. The project will be budgeted as a separate line in the State Budget and the budgetary funds will be released to SPMU by GoR according to Annual Work Plan Statement (AWPS) prepared as per project design.

100

Budget Preparation

The Budget Estimate of the Rajasthan Rural Livelihoods Project (RRLP) will be prepared annually for each financial year on the basis of the guidelines of the Project Design & Implementation. The Project shall prepare the Budget for each financial year on realistic basis to avoid the penalty clause of commitment charges imposed by the World Bank on unutilised earmarked fund.

The budget preparation exercise will be done at each level. The PFT shall prepare its budget on realistic basis every year based on the information and evaluation of demand at UTTHAN SANSTHAN level and submit the same to the DPMU by 15th October. The DPMU’s shall consolidate the budget of PFT and submit with its input to the SPMU by 30th October. The SPMU shall compile the DPMU’s budget and SPMU budgets and prepare and submit the budget for evaluation to Project Empowered Committee by 15th November and Project Empowered Committee after evaluation and examination put the budget in Governing Body Meeting for approval by 15th December and submit to the Government of Rajasthan (GoR) by 31st December every year for budget finalization committee meetings. Accounting Policies and Procedures

Accounting System

The Project Accounts should be maintained on computerised software at SPMU & 17 DPMUs along-with hard copy of cash book and other main books of accounts. PFTs should maintain accounts manually and submit expenditure statements in agreed standard formats to DPMUs on a monthly basis. DPMUs will incorporate monthly expenditures of PFTs through journals entries and forward the IUFR on monthly basis to SPMU.

Financial books of the Projects shall be maintained on cash basis at SPMU, DPMUs and PFT and UTTHAN SANSTHAN Level following double entry system of accounting principle.

Computerised Accounting Software: Detailed procedure for processing of transactions will be documented in another manual (to be developed later). Accounting Centres

The accounting centres are the offices where the basic accounting in respect of expenditure on the project activities shall be carried out. These accounting centres shall be responsible for maintaining the relevant books of account and shall account for all the financial transactions entered into by each of them.

The accounting centres for the project shall be as follows: (i) State Project Management Unit: One unit at the State level

(ii) District Project Management Unit (DPMU): One in each Project District. Each DPMU will submit monthly accounts to the SPMU.

(iii) Project Facilitation Team (PFTs): Units at the cluster level spread across 17 districts. Each PFT will submit monthly statement of imprest accounts to the respective DPMU.

(iv) Producer Organisations: Each Producer Organisation will submit quarterly accounts to the DPMUs of their respective districts

101

Bank Account

Every accounting centre should open a bank account in the name of the Project. There should be at least two signatories for every bank account that is opened for the Project. Community Operation Manual

The COM is being prepared detailing the accounting requirements and internal controls at CDO (UTTHAN SANSTHAN)/PFT Federation/SHG level. The COM elaborates the accounting and financial management processes at CDO (UTTHAN SANSTHAN)/PFT Federation/SHG level. Consolidation of Accounts

The consolidation of accounts for the project shall be done: Firstly, at the DPMU level by consolidating the imprest accounts of the PFTs with the accounts of the DPMU.

Secondly, at the SPMU level by consolidating the consolidated accounts of the DPMU with the accounts of the SPMU.

The accounts shall be consolidated on a quarterly basis. Consolidation of accounts at DPMU

The accounts of each DPMU shall be generated by consolidating the accounts of the DPMU with the accounts of the PFTs. The consolidation of the accounts for the district as a whole shall be carried out at the DPMU as follows:

(i) The DPMU shall generate the accounts for transactions effected by the DPMU. (ii) The accounting of expenses of the PFTs shall be done as a separate

accounting centre and separate computerized accounts shall be generated for each PFT under the DPMU at the DPMU office through monthly journal entries.

(iii) The imprest accounts of the PFTs shall be consolidated with the accounts of the DPMU.

(iv) A copy of the consolidated accounts shall be sent by each DPMU to the SPMU. Closure of accounts at SPMU

The same procedure that is being followed at the DPMU, shall be followed at the SPMU for account closing purposes.

The SPMU shall receive the provisional accounts from DPMUs by April 15 of the succeeding financial year and it shall generate its own provisional accounts and the provisional accounts for the project as a whole by April 30.

As explained in case of DPMUs, the SPMU shall also pass necessary adjustment entries, as recommended by the auditors, for its own activities through journal voucher and shall update its trial balance and annual accounts.

After getting copies of final accounts from the DPMUs, SPMU shall prepare the final accounts for the project as a whole.

102

Audit Arrangements (a) Statutory Audit

The Annual Accounts of the society are to be audited by the C&AG / Chartered Accountant appointed by the Society as per the guidelines agreed with the World Bank. The C&AG / Chartered Accountant will conduct annual audits of the project accounts as per approved TOR wherein the terms and conditions, required reports formats, along with time periods for initiation and completion of their audit are specified. The project shall be responsible for the maintenance of proper accounts and other relevant records, at SPMU, DPMU, PFTs and VDCs / SHGs as well as preparing Annual Financial Statements comprising the Balance Sheet with necessary schedules, Receipts and Payments Accounts and the Income and Expenditure Accounts. The Financial Statement of the project would be audited by the firm of chartered accountants appointed. A consolidated Annual Audit Report for the project will have to be submitted to the World Bank by 30th September of the following financial year. The General Manager (Finance & Accounts) shall ensure that annual accounts of the Project to be prepared immediately after the close of the financial year and after approval by the Project Empowered Committee shall have the accounts audited annually by a Chartered Accountant firm appointed with the approval of General Body. The audited accounts shall be submitted to the Project Empowered Committee which in turn shall submit a copy of the audit report along with its observations to the Governing Body for approval and onward submission to State Government within 15 days from the receipt of the same. Audit will cover SPMU, DPMUs & PFTs. (b) Internal Audit The overall objective of Internal Audit is to provide the project management with independent assurance that the internal controls established by management are designed appropriately and also to verify whether the overall financial management and arrangements including the system of internal controls as documented in the Project Financial Management Manual (FMM), Community Operations Manual (COM), the Project Implementation Plan (PIP) are in practice working effectively. In addition, it is expected that internal audit should play a role in assisting management in bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes. Standards The internal audit will be carried out in accordance with the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing issued by the Institute of Internal Auditors. The internal auditor should accordingly evaluate risk exposures relating to the project’s governance, operations and information systems, and plan the examination to detect indicators of fraud and corruption.

103

Scope In conducting the audit, special attention should be paid to assess whether adequate controls have been established and complied with to ensure:

(a) All project funds have been used in accordance with the conditions of the relevant legal agreements and only for the purposes for which the financing was provided;

(b) Project assets are adequately safeguarded and used solely for their intended purposes; and

(c) All necessary supporting documents, records, and accounts have been kept in respect of all project transactions; including expenditures reported via Interim Un-audited Financial Reports (IUFR).

Financial Reporting Reports are aimed at showing compliance with the budget. Nevertheless, transparency and accountability call for wider scope of reporting. A reporting system should provide a means of assessing how well the project is doing. For effective management information system report should be designed and devised in such a way that it should solve the purpose of management as to its completeness, reliability and relevance to the contents, and should be consistently followed in the system without any changes. Frequency of submission should be adhered at all levels and contents shall be comparable. Monthly Reporting

a) Trial Balance/Statement of Expenditure in prescribed format b) Fund Requirement c) Review Meeting

Quarterly Reporting

a) IUFR b) Budget Variances c) Internal Audit & Follow up

Annual Reporting

a) Final Accounts b) Annual IUFR c) Budget Estimates d) Internal/External Audit

Role & Responsibility

a) SPMU: The General Manager (F&A) shall be wholly responsible for the financial management reporting system at project level. He shall ensure timely submission of reports, estimates and compliances to respective authorities through the SPD.

b) DPMU: The Manager (F) shall be wholly responsible for timely submission of consolidated financial management statement (IUFR).

104

Chapter 8 COMMUNICATION

Communication plays the role of a pure support function. The communication is seen broadly in the perspective of correspondence, and the traditional “IEC” Campaign approach. The concern with this kind of approach is that it did not exploit the potential of communication to become a tool to enhance the programme implementation and desired outcomes. Designing the Communication Strategy :

Based on the learnings of first Phase of the project, some of the principles used to design this communication strategy are: • The strategy aims to provide space for communication in both directions between the

project team and stakeholders, creating opportunities for Information, Education & Communication as well as feedback and suggestions.

• The communication strategy has been designed as an evolving one, responding to the needs of different target groups at every stage. The plan laid out here is based on a current forecast of the way things will plan out over the project period.

• The core team responsible for undertaking communication work will be: At State level – Communication Coordinator, at District level – District Project Manager, at PFT level Coordinator PFT.

• At the Community Institution level, there will be concerted inputs to enhance their members’ capacities to undertake communication activities in a mode of increasing participation.

Objectives :

• To create channels and means of communication among project’s stakeholders that enhance the efficacy of the project.

• To use communication as a means for learning and growth among the team members and its beneficiaries.

Target Groups :

The target group of Project are classified into three types as: • Primary target group • Secondary target group • Tertiary target group

The categorization of these groups depends upon the benefit that goes in the project. The secondary and the tertiary stakeholders though have a great role in the project through their involvement will not be direct. Primary target groups :

Target groups whose participation is critical for the success of Project and are constantly involved in its implementation have been identified as: • Self-help groups • CDO/ Utthan Sansthan.

105

• Producer organizations • Entrepreneurs • Para Professionals • Physically challenged men and women • The World Bank • Project team at the State, District and Cluster levels • State level bureaucrats • Commercial Banks • Line department officials at village level

Secondary target groups : Secondary target groups who have an interest and opinion about project but are not involved on a regular basis in operation of project it has been identified as the following: • Block level – Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Parishad, Office bearers and members

of PRIs. • District level – District Collector, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Zila Parishad and other

Panchayati Raj functionaries, line staff of other Government Departments. • State level – Political Representatives, Ministers, other Line Departments at the State

level. • Cooperatives banks • District & Block level government functionaries.

Tertiary target groups : The target groups that need to be communicated with in order to enhance their understanding of the project and who have a right to know about the progress of the project in a larger framework of right to information, form the tertiary target groups. These groups may or may not want to communicate with the implementers of the project and have to be specially given a platform to elicit their opinion. They include: • Media • The public at large (especially in the project districts) • Members of other state, district and block level agencies who have an interest in

poverty reduction through micro-enterprise and livelihoods enhancement – other NGOs, Community Institutions, MFIs, banks, cooperatives and their federations, research institutions, etc.

• The project staffs of the other states who are implementing the same type of the project Keeping the different stakeholders into account the communication strategy will be an integral part in the different phase of the project. Pre-Implementation Phase : The period before the implementation of the project is significant in creating an acceptance and clarity about the project among its stakeholders. This is envisaged to create better convergence of the project with related components. The focus of communication in this phase is clarification of project’s mission, vision and goal; strengthen the operational plan for the project, and creating a favourable climate towards the project among stakeholders.

106

The pre-implementation strategy may be presented in the table following:

TABLE 8.1:- PRE-IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

Who? Why? How? State level Media • To reach out to a large

number of people with information about the proposed project.

• A press conference will be organised just prior to the launch of Project in which media persons from English and local media (print and electronic) will be invited and will be told about the mission, vision and objectives of Project and its coverage area.

Bureaucrats, political representatives, government departments

• To integrate the different departments of the government and make them aware about the implementation of Project.

• To obtain sanctions and approvals for the pre-implementation activities.

• Political representatives have wide outreach in their constituencies and getting their sanction is an effective way to create a positive climate about the project.

• A brief email is suggested to all department heads just prior to the launch of the project informing them about the implementation plan.

• Written communication is underway mainly for the purpose of obtaining approvals and sanctions for purchases, etc from General Body and Executive committee.

• It is proposed to reach out to political representatives with a letter from the team informing them about the mission, vision and plan of the project.

World Bank • To obtain support and capacity building inputs in preparation for the implementation and to undertake negotiations regarding operational issues.

• Electronic and verbal, one-to-one communication is ongoing

Project team • To clarify the vision/ mission of the project.

• To orient the team about the different elements of the project.

• To elicit participation in designing the project.

• Meetings and joint workshops regarding different elements of the campaign across the different levels of the project.

107

Who? Why? How? District level District Collector • He is the most important

person for coordination of project district team with other departments.

CEO Zila Parishad

• CEO-ZP is also an important link towards social development in the district, including SHG development and convergence with various RD schemes.

Panchayati Raj functionaries

• Through them we can get in touch with a large number of people in Project’s primary target outreach base in the district.

• Consultative workshop in which heads of other line departments will also be present.

Block level Block level agencies (banks, NGOs, cooperatives)

• To draw from their experience and to elicit participation from them in the implementation of Project.

CEO Zila Parishad and Community Development Project Officers

• They are a key contact point in the block who can help disseminate information to other line departments in the block.

• Consultative workshop in the presence of CEO ZP wherever possible.

Panchayati raj representatives

• They have a wide outreach among Project’s primary stakeholders at the village level.

• Leaflets communicating the mission, vision, targets and objectives of Project.

Implementation Phase : The focus of communication in the implementation phase would be to ensure the smooth functioning of the project and to enhance its effectiveness. Communication will be an integral part of the project components of institutional building and community investment fund.

108

TABLE 8.2 :- IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY OF IEC

Who? Why? How? State level State level agencies (banks, academic institutions, NGOs, research organizations, corporate bodies)

• Share the progress of the project with them and elicit suggestions for course corrections

• Quarterly Newsletters from SPSU.

• Project Website

Bureaucrats, political representatives, government departments

• Approvals and consent from administrative body will continue. It will also be updated about the progress of the project

• To reach out to the constituencies of political representatives with information about the project.

• Written communication for approvals and sanctions from General Body and Executive Committee.

• Quarterly newsletters about progress of project

• Brief presentations during state/district meetings

Media • To enhance outreach of information to the general public about best practices and achievements

• Press release as and when required.

• Media will be invited to all events and workshops.

• Radio and TV spots

World Bank • Resource support and to share progress status

• Quarterly progress reports, good practices reports as and when prepared

Project team (across all levels)

• Internal sharing, learning and course correction

• Video conferencing, meetings and email circulation of compiled individual reports. Circulation of quarterly newsletters

109

Who? Why? How? District level District level agencies (including banks, NGOs and cooperatives)

• Better linkage with target groups since they are working in the target areas and to elicit suggestions for course corrections

• Newsletters and periodic meetings.

• Project Website

District Collector and CEO-Zilla Parishad

• Clarify concepts, vision and mission of Project to time (since staffs keep changing) and to keep them updated about the progress of the report.

• Newsletters and periodic meetings

Panchayati raj functionaries

• To share progress of Project takes this information to a large stakeholder base.

• Meetings and newsletters

Block level Block level agencies (banks, NGOs, cooperatives)

• Better linkage with target groups since they are working in the target areas and to elicit suggestions for course corrections

• Meetings and pamphlets containing updated progress

CEO Zila Parishad

• People in the block have long-term association with community and have a certain trust in their word. By keeping them informed about the progress of project The project can ensure that it reaches out to a large target base.

• Periodic meetings and pamphlets containing updated progress

Panchayati Raj representatives

• Zila Pramukh and Pradhan, Panchayat Samiti and ward members have a strong link with the community

• Posters/leaflets/newsletters/A/v material

• One-to-one interaction in meetings

110

Who? Why? How? Village level SHG members Producer groups Entrepreneurs

• It is imperative to communicate on a regular basis with the primary stakeholders at the village level to ensure greater participation in and effective implementation and ownership of the project.

• Village meetings attended by staff

• Audio Visual on livelihood options

• Jagarti Dal to showcase and disseminate project information

• Annual meet where they can exchange experience as well as showcase products

• Trade-based exchange meet of entrepreneurs

• Large melas to showcase community produced material

• Participation in cultural functions in villages

Communication Means :

WEBSITE: A website in English and Hindi will be developed and managed by the SPSU. The website will cater to the public at large, especially in the project districts. The web site will be updated regularly by putting the information as major learning, reports and the achievements of the project .The website development and its maintenance is a part of communication strategy but the cost will be included as a part of monitoring and evaluation. The major aspects to be included in the web site are as follows: • Information about the mission, vision and coverage. • Progress reports. • Success stories and best practices documentation. • Information about products made by entrepreneurs. • Space for suggestions and opinion from visitors. • Space for airing grievances. • Contact information.

Newsletter: A quarterly newsletter Dhani Ki Wani was launched in DPIP-Rajasthan. It received good response. The Dhani Ki Wani "quarterly news letter" with a new face will be launched in RRLP. The newsletter will be regularly mailed to all district officers, project facilitation team members, officials of Union Ministry of Rural Development, Members of Parliament and MLAs representing the Project districts, Zila Pramukh, Pradhan Panchayat Samiti, Divisional Commissioners, District Collectors, district officials and media representatives.

111

Radio Programme: A Dhani Ki Wani Radio Programme forth-nightly was launched in Rajasthan DPIP broadcasted from 6 radio stations to cover the 7 DPIP districts. This radio programme received overwhelming response from the CIG members. The Dhani Ki Wani Radio Programme will be again launched in RRLP (DPIP-II) with a new face to create awareness among the beneficiaries of 17 districts. “PRAYAS” (An Assessment by Media Persons): This will be an initiative to publish free and fair comments by the media. The media representatives will be invited to visit the field. The reports will include objective reporting, news coverage and analysis in the media to document the social change caused by the interventions of project initiatives. These reports and features will be published in different newspapers and magazines. These will be compiled by the project and publish under the PRAYAS. Documentary Films: The documentaries serve twin purposes - First visual documentation and second learning materials. Short duration documentary films on successful initiatives will be produced with a motto to disseminate learnings and inspire the potential beneficiaries. Photo Gallery: The visual photographs are the important evidence of the project success and help to maintain transparency. A photo bank will be developed by the project. Each PFT will be provided with the camera. State/district level photography competitions will be organized regularly. To maintain the transparency, the selected photographs will be displayed in the project websites, groups register, federation offices and project offices. These photographs will be used in various publications by project, Department of Public Relations, Department of Rural Development.

Post-Implementation Phase The Cluster Development Committees and Producer Organizations are envisaged to play the lead role in post-implementation activities, including communication. Also the community mobilizer, book keeper and service providers will also have an important role in post implementation. During the implementation of the project, office bearers of the Community Institutions and the service provider will be taken through a systematic process of training and handholding in understanding communication and creating communication and dissemination material. They will be specifically trained to continue the practice of displaying information on display boards, to have regular meetings to share the information among themselves and their members. (Monthly/ Quarterly and annual meeting or as and when required.)

112

Chapter 9 PROCUREMENT

Purchase and Procurement has important role to play in the project for its satisfactory implementation, speedy transfer of resources by way of disbursement and achieving economy and efficiency in the project. It also helps the project staff particularly the procurement staff, in familiarizing with the World Bank Procurement guidelines, bidding procedures and standard bidding documents. Under the project a procurement manual has been developed (annexed). This section deals with the procurement arrangements for various project investments. Under the RRLP the following are the main principles which will be applied for purchase and procurement: • That resources needed to carry out the activity are procured with due attention to

economy and efficiency (lower cost, best quality and timely availability); • Project funds are used to pay for resources needed; and • All suppliers have an equal opportunity to compete and their selection is carried

through most transparent means. Procurement Methods Procurement of all goods, equipments, works and services under the project will be undertaken in accordance with the World Bank Guidelines (Guidelines for Procurement under IBRD loans and IDA credits-May 2004, revised October, 2006 and May-2010) for procurement and “Guidelines for selection and employment of consultants by the World Bank Borrowers” dated May-2004 revised October, 2006 & May-2010 and the agreed procedures described in the legal documents. Procurement by Project Management: Works: There will be requirements to award contracts for small civil works at SPMU/DPMU levels such as refurbishing of offices at the State, District and PFT levels and for pilot initiatives for innovation fund, mostly small contracts. These works would be procured by following Bank’s procurement guidelines. When following National Competitive Bidding (NCB) method bids will be invited using updated NCB model document as agreed between GOI- Task force and the Bank for use in India. All contracts whose estimated values exceed US$ 500,000 shall be subject to the Bank’s prior review. Procurement of Goods & Equipments These contracts may be awarded following the agreed procedures and depending on the procurement value, it would be by one of the four methods- International competitive bidding (ICB), National competitive bidding (NCB), National Shopping and Direct Contracting.

113

The procedures of these methods are described below : A. International Competitive Bidding (ICB): This method is generally adopted where supplies cannot be met from indigenous sources and need import; and / or foreign firms are expected to participate (irrespective of the value) and bring more competition. In case of RRLP procurement, this method is to be adopted where the estimated cost of the procurement is more than US$ 3,00,000 equivalent for goods. B. National Competitive Bidding (NCB): NCB is the competitive bidding procedure normally used for public procurement of goods and civil works within the country. The procedures shall provide for adequate competition in order to ensure reasonable prices. The criteria to be used in the evaluation of tenders and the award of contracts shall be made known to all bidders and not be applied arbitrarily. NCB procedures include:

• Only the model bidding documents for NCB agreed with the GOI Task Force (and as amended for time to time), shall be used for bidding;

• Invitations to bid shall be advertised in at least one widely circulated national daily newspaper, at least 30 days prior to the deadline for the submission of bids

• No special preference will be accorded to any bidder either for price or for other terms and conditions when competing with foreign bidders, state-owned enterprises, small scale enterprises or enterprises from any given State;

• The criteria to be used in the evaluation of bids and the award of contracts shall be made known to all bidders and not be applied arbitrarily.

• Extension of bid validity shall not be allowed without the prior concurrence of the World Bank (i) for the first request for extension if it is longer than four weeks; and (ii) for all subsequent requests for extension irrespective of the period (such concurrence will be considered by the Bank only in cases of Force Majeure and circumstances beyond the control of the Purchaser/Employer);

• Re-bidding shall not be carried out without the prior concurrence of the Association. The system of rejecting bids outside a pre-determined margin or "bracket" of prices shall not be used in the project;

• Rate contracts entered into by Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals will not be acceptable as a substitute for NCB procedures. Such contracts will be acceptable however for any procurement under the Shopping procedures;

• Two or three envelope system will not be used;

• No negotiations are allowed even with the lowest evaluated responsive bidder.

• Within two weeks of receiving the Bank’s “no objection” to the recommendation of contract award, the client shall publish in the RRLP web site the results identifying the bids and lot numbers and the following information: Name of the winning bidder, and price it at which contract awarded, as well as the duration and summary scope of the contract awarded.

• If after publication of results of evaluation SPMU receives protests /complaints from the bidders, and if as a result of analysis of such protests SPMU changes its contract award recommendation and the Bank accepts such changes, then the revised contract recommendations containing all the above details shall be published with in 2 weeks in the RRLP website.

114

C. Shopping: It involves comparing price quotations obtained from several national suppliers, usually at least three to ensure competitive prices. Shopping is intended to be a simple and rapid procurement method and is one of the least competitive procurement methods and may be abused unless it is carried out in compliance with legal agreements and observing a minimum formality in the process and with appropriate record keeping for verification and audit. Shopping should not be used as an expedient to by-pass more competitive methods or fraction large procurement into smaller ones solely to allow the use of Shopping.

Packages of goods, equipments (including vehicles) and civil works estimated to cost less than US$ 30,000 equivalent per contract would be procured following Shopping procedures in accordance with provisions of para 3.5 of the procurement guidelines. It can be used to procure small amounts of off-the-Shelf goods or Standard Specification Commodities or simple civil works for which more competitive methods are not justified on the basis of cost or efficiency.

State Government Rate Contracts or direct procurement through Super Bazar / Janatha Bazar are not acceptable as a suitable alternative to Shopping. It is one of the simplest and fastest procurement method involving 5 basic steps-

1. Issue request for quotation. 2 Received and open quotations. 3. Evaluate quotations and preparing comparative statement ensuring a

minimum of three quotations. 4 Select the lowest responsive offer 5 Issue purchase order

D. Direct Contracting: Direct Contracting system without competition shall be an appropriate method under the following circumstances:

• Extension of existing contracts for works or goods awarded with the prescribed procedures, justifiable on economic grounds and within reasonable time, say two months;

• Standardization of equipment or spare parts to be compatible with existing equipment may justify additional purchases from the original supplier;

• The required item is proprietary and obtainable only from one source, and

Works are small and scattered or are situated in remote locations where mobilization costs for contractors would be unreasonably high.

After the contract is signed the SPMU shall publish in UNDB online and in dg market the name of the contractor, price duration and summary scope of the contract.

Procurement of Consultancies/Services The project need services of a professional nature provided by consultants using their skills to study, design, organize, and manage projects; advice Borrowers when required and to build needed capacity. It is envisaged that RRLP will involve substantial efforts for capacity building at the level of the SHGs and their federations, of village/cluster level institutions, cooperatives and community members etc. such that they are enabled to be efficient, accountable, transparent and self-managed institutions.

115

Technical assistance services would be obtained mostly from service providers with domain specialization in livelihoods. Certain specialized agencies may be needed to act as service providers or for partnership arrangements to promote or enhance livelihoods activities

In addition, services of firms or individual consultants would be needed for other assignments that include baseline survey, monitoring and learning, environmental assessment, consultancies for developing training modules, issue based awareness campaigns etc.

Accordingly after the decision to procure the service is made, SPMU shall prepare the bidding documents, finalize the tenders/quotations as per the World Bank’s guidelines. The following methods of selection will be adopted depending upon size and complexity of assignment as defined in the Consultancy Guidelines.

1. Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS); 2. Quality Based Selection (QBS); 3. Least Cost Selection (LCS); 4. Fixed Budget Selection (FBS) 5. Selection Based on Consultants Qualification (CQ); 6. Single Source Selection (SSS); and 7. Individual Consultant (IC)

Thresholds for Procurement Methods and Review by Ba nk

THRESHOLDS FOR CIVIL WORKS Expenditure Category

Value (threshold) per contract

Procurement Method

Review Procedure by World Bank**

a) Civil works estimated to cost more than US$ 5 million [> INR 200 million] equivalent

International Competitive Bidding (ICB)

Prior review by the Bank- first two contracts regardless of value and all subsequent contracts valued above US$ 500,000

b) Civil works estimated to cost more than US$ 50,000 [> INR 20,00,000.00] and less than or equal to US$ 5 million [<= INR 200 million] equivalent

National Competitive Bidding (NCB)

First two works contract under NCB regardless of value and all subsequent contracts costing more than US$ 500,000 equivalent each will be prior reviewed by the World Bank All other contracts by post reviewed by the World Bank.

Civil Works

c) Civil works estimated to cost the equivalent of US$ 50,000 or less (<= INR 20,00,000.00)

Shopping (at least three quotations from qualified contractors)

Post review only

116

THRESHOLD FOR GOODS & EQUIPMENTS Expenditure Category

Value (threshold) per contract

Procurement Method Review Procedure by World Bank**

Contracts estimated to cost more than US$ 300,000(>INR 12.0 million)

International Competitive Bidding (ICB)

Prior review by the World Bank

Contracts estimated to cost more than US$ 30,000 and <= US$ 300,000 equivalent (>INR 1.2 million but < INR 12.0 million)

National Competitive Bidding (NCB)

First 2 contracts under NCB regardless of value and all subsequent contracts costing more than US$ 300,000 equivalent each will be prior reviewed by the World Bank All other contracts will be post reviewed by the World Bank.

Contracts estimated to cost less than or equal to US$ 30,000 equivalent (<= INR 1.2 million)

Shopping (includes issue of supply orders under DGS&D rate contracts. However, State Rate Contracts are not to be considered as alternative to DGS &D Rate Contracts. State Rate Contracts can be considered as one of the 3 quotations for shopping procedure) Direct Contracting , if the conditions of direct contracting are met.

Post Review only

Goods/ Equipment/ Machines/ Furniture/ Vehicles/ Proprietary software

Proprietary items estimated to cost less than or equal to US $ 30,000 equivalent (<= INR 12,00,000)

Direct Contracting

Post Review only

Books, Periodicals, Proprietary Software, Learning Resources and Educational Materials

Contracts estimated to cost US$ 10,000 equivalent or less (<= INR 400,000)

Direct Contracting Post Review only

117

THRESHOLD FOR CONSULTANCIES/SERVICES

Expenditure Category

Value (threshold) per contract

Procurement Method Review Procedure by World Bank

(a) More than US$ 200,000 equivalent [>INR 8.0 million]

Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS)- International Shortlist

Prior Review by the World Bank of all contracts valued above US$ 200,000

Research and evaluation contracts, professional services, training, workshops & fellowships etc.

(b) Contracts estimated to cost less than or equal to US$ 200,000 equivalent (<= INR 8.0 million)

Quality- and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS)/ Consultant Qualification (CQS) / Least Cost Selection (LCS). Short list may comprise entirely of national consultants Single source / Least Cost selection of firms/ Hiring of individuals

Post Review by the World Bank.

** If a transaction comprises several packages, lots or slices, the aggregate, estimated value of contracts determines the applicable threshold amount

Roles and Responsibilities for Procurement:

Management Office: Key

Officer

Role of Management Office

Key Responsibilities

State Project Management Unit: Consultant Procurement

Responsible for overall procurement plan and project’s compliance with procurement method’s/ procedures as per guidelines and procedures mentioned and agreed upon with the World Bank.

Prepare the annual procurement plan based on need assessment and project design.

Preparation and updating of procurement manual based on World Bank guidelines for implementation of the project at State, District, PFT and Producer Organizations.

Procure the goods, services and works at the State level and beyond certain ceilings at the District/PFT level with due diligence.

Train the DPMU, PFT and Producer Organizations in procurement with due diligence

Build the procurement capacity of District, PFT Staff and Producer Organizations.

Guide and monitor the process of procurement at various levels.

Prior review and clear bid documents and bid evaluation reports for all goods and works procurement planned by DPMUs valued above $100,000 per transaction within 7 days of receipt

Prior review and clear, short lists, RFPs and technical and commercial evaluation reports of all services planned by POs valued above $100,000 per transaction within 7 days of receipt

118

Prepare Unit Cost data Base and Item banks detailing names of respected manufacturers, indicative range of machinery / equipment etc.

Undertake or commission and manage yearly post review of at least 10 percent of contracts issued by POs and community procurement carried out by beneficiary institutions

Maintain a Procurement Management Information System (MIS) on all key indicators to be agreed with the Bank and generate and share reports with all stakeholders.

Maintain a Contract Register will be maintained and updated periodically

District Project Management Unit: District Finance Manager overall in-charge under the District Project Manager.

At the district level, the role of DPMU in the procurement is limited to the procurement of goods, services and works within the certain specified ceilings (as specified by the SPMU from time to time).

Responsible for the overall procurement plan at the District level and projects compliance with procurement methods/procedures as per the guidelines at the District level.

District level officers will act as procurement trainers for the PFTs and Producer Organizations in their respective districts.

Project Facilitation Team : Coordinator

The role of PFT in the procurement is limited to the procurement of goods, services and works within the certain specified ceilings (as specified by the state project management unit from time to time).

Responsible for the overall procurement plan at the PFT level and projects compliance with procurement methods/procedures as per the guidelines

Prepare the annual procurement plan based on need assessment and inputs received from concerned sections for the district, for incorporation in the overall project’s Annual procurement plans.

Procure the goods, services and works within the specified ceilings at the District/PFT level with due diligence.

Train the procurement related capacity building to the Community Institutions especially Producer Organizations.

Guide and monitor the progress of procurement at the community level.

Producer Organizations Chief Executive Officer. In addition POs

Each community institution will undertake all procurements required at their

Preparation of business plan

Preparation of consolidated value chain plan

Preparation of annual procurement plan

Procure the goods, services and works within the

119

can hire an accountant, a book-keeper and/or a procurement specialist as a consultant for a certain number of days per year.

respective organizations. The PFT/District Finance Manager will guide these Community Institutions at respective levels

specified thresholds limit with due diligence

Collect the demand note from the community for the procurement of Dealership/Agency

Maintain a panel of suppliers and service providers who are reliable and approachable an item

Publish and periodically update a rate bank consisting of the prices of all items to be procured

Collect market information on various items needed for implementing the business plan like rates, brands/suppliers etc. and ensure incorporation of these details in the business proposals and assist in procurement.

Display all procurement on the notice board and make available procurement records for verification by the community members

Purchase Committee

The officer in charge at each level is the key Procurement Personnel, however when making any purchase a Purchase Committee or a Procurement Committee needs to be set up. This Purchase Committee has to be constituted to comprise of at least three members, including a representative of accounts and finance and a technical member if required.

Composition of Purchase Committee SPMU Purchase committee may comprise of the (a) Procurement related section

head, (b) Finance Controller/representative, (c) Procurement Coordinator- an officer having adequate experience in procurement and/or d) one subject matter specialist /technical or any other officer nominated by the State Project Director

DPMU Purchase committee may comprise of the (a) District Finance Manager (b) Manager Monitoring and Learning and/or (c) one subject matter specialist and any other officer nominated by the District Project Manager.

PFT Purchase committee may comprise of the (a) One/Two PFT members, (b) one member from another nearby PFT and/or (c) Any other officer nominated by the PFT coordinator. The PFT coordinator shall ensure that one of the members is a subject matter specialist. The member in (b) above will be nominated in consultation with District Project Manager

PO Purchase Committee should have a member who has sufficient skills in managing financial matters (e.g., the Accounts Office of the PO). These skills include: maintenance of cash in/out registers, recording quotations, checking market prices, and the ability to deal with a World Bank and manage a cashbox/safe. A minimum of 3 members are suggested for a PO Purchase Committee. A PO may invite more people to form this committee; and/or provide relevant technical advice.

120

The Committee will be responsible for: Approving what to buy and when to buy and how the payment would be made, Group similar expenditure items into relevant/ convenient package(s), Finalize technical specifications and terms of references for goods & equipments, Carrying out the procurement and record keeping as defined in this manual, Verification of the items, goods & equipments supplied (The procurement committee may hire services of the technical person/agencies if required under the provisions of the hiring of consultancies)

Community procurement process and method CBP in RRLP: The section provides guidelines for planning and managing procurement by the Producer Organizations (POs). POs are the federated structures of Self Help Groups (SHGs) formed for undertaking value chain linked activities for better production, storage, marketing, etc. of the produce of the members of the SHGs. Members of SHGs carrying out procurement from investment supports taken by them from SHG/UTTHAN SANSTHANs/CDO are not covered by under World Bank guidelines. Given the characteristics of returnable investment support the individual takes and private procurement, it is expected that the procurement by SHGs and UTTHAN SANSTHANs will be carried out with prudence. The supervision of such investment support will be focused on repayment and whether the same is used for intended purposes through the social audit mechanism established in the project.

Procurement Process at the Community Level The procurement by Producer Organizations is similar to the process at the Project office level, differing only in TWO ways - the level of participation is much higher and the need identification is directed by the community itself. The steps in procurement follow the same process of:

• Need assessment through a participatory process • Preparing procurement plan • Grouping items or services to be purchased (illustrative lists of packages is

mentioned in annexure of procurement manual) • Establishing purchase committee comprising of community members • Posting a general advertisement in a public place (i) including shopping areas,

community hall/centre, government office etc.; (ii) community discussion groups; (iii) local radio stations; (iv)Local news papers etc.

• Selecting a procurement method (As per procurement plan) and following the steps as per the method.

PO whose activity proposals/ procurement plan have been approved, will sign a MoU with the DPMU/SPMU. To do so PO must meet the minimum standards set forth in the MoU.

The most widely used methods of procurement of Goods and Civil Works by POs under RRLP would be Force Account, Shopping, Local bidding Method and Direct Contracting.

121

Community Procurement Methods and Value Thresholds

Procurement PO Methods

1. WORKS Cost Up to US$ 50,000 (INR 20,00,000) per contract

PO (i) By producer organizations themselves (force account ) or (ii) by a local contractor selected through shopping after inviting minimum three quotations in response to written invitation with a minimum of 15 days notice period.

2.GOODS Cost Up to US$ 30000 (INR 12,00,000) per contract

PO Through shopping (after inviting at least three quotations in response to written invitation), DGS&D rate contracts.

Cost Up to US$ 1000 (INR 40000) per contract

PO In exceptional situations, where (i) an adequate market to seek 3 quotations is not available in the location where the PO is located and (ii) costs of transportation etc. outweigh the benefits of seeking quotations from district head quarters and other cities, Direct Contracting method should be adopted. There should be adequate justification in the documentation that the above situation prevails and the Project/World World Bank retains right to terminate the contracts issued and recover the sums from the POs, if the justification is found invalid. To ensure that the single source is not charging excessive prices, unit rate should be verified as reasonable and comparable with the Item/Rate World Bank maintained by DPMU/PFT. Rate Banks maintained at PFT/DPMU can also be used if the Community Institutions, while preparing the procurement plans have utilized the standard specifications and price lists. The Rate Bank will be periodically updated (preferably in every 6 months) or there is a sudden change in the market rates.

3. SERVICES Cost below US$ 1,000 (INR 40,000) per contract

PO In case of individuals as per section V of World Banks guidelines for selection of consultants and through single source method for technical service provider. For Individual Consultants, advertisement is not required and Consultants do not need to submit proposals. Consultants shall be selected through comparisons of qualification of at least three candidates among those who have expressed interest in the assignment or have been approached directly by the borrower. Individuals considered for comparison of qualifications shall meet the minimum relevant qualifications and those selected to be employed by the borrower shall be the best qualified and shall be fully qualified for carrying the assignment. Capability is judged on the basis of background, experience and appropriate knowledge of local conditions. If any service provider is hired through single source, the same should be justified and approved by Procurement Committee of the DPMU It may also be useful for the SPMU to prepare a roster of qualified consultants and NGOs, and even to enter into indefinite delivery contracts with them; communities can then contact the consultant or NGO of their choice from such lists.

122

Conflict of interest: Enterprises owned by the PO members and their immediate relatives are allowed to participate only under the NCB but not under the quotations based method. Direct purchase method may be accepted from such sources if it is the only efficient and economical source.

Monitoring and Record Keeping: Producer organizations must keep procurement documents in proper order, which includes:

• Procurement plan; • Proof of advertisement; • Copies of contracts signed; • All receipts; • Payment record (voucher); • Record of items in storage.

Representative of the DPMU from time to time and at times from SPMU, will check records to ensure that the procedures described in this manual are followed and records are kept in proper order as part of the normal process of ensuring that program funds are used appropriately.

Post Review by the World Bank: Procurement post review under Community Driven Development cannot be handled following standard post review procedures as per Guidance Note 2009. Thus the Bank’s supervision of such projects may consist of reviewing reports of procurement post review carried out by the Borrower according to procedures acceptable to the Bank and verifying that they meet the Bank’s principles of economy, efficiency, transparency and fair competition. Training/ Capacity Building on Procurement It is an important function to train each and every person involved in the process of procurement. The following needs to be mentioned for procurement training: • A procurement manual for project staff and producer organizations will be developed. • Coordinator Procurement will be imparted special training on World Bank Procurement

procedures. • A training workshop will be organized for District level officers, who will act as trainers

for the PFTs and Producer Organizations in their respective districts. • As and when producer organizations are established at least two (2) staff members

including CEO will be trained on procurement procedures. • Further as and when required, the refresher courses will be organized.

123

Chapter 10 Governance and Accountability

Introduction It would always be good to have a system which can largely make marked influence on good governance. The system may include free and wider access to information by the public. It should also ensure that the principles governing implementation are not subverted by one at any level. Accordingly there is need to have a disclosure of information to ensure transparency. There is need to have an efficient and responsive grievance and redressal mechanism under the project. The objective of the GAAP (Governance and Accountability Action Plans) is to strengthen governance through well designed system, enhanced transparency, accountability and performance. It is thereby hoped to improve the overall risk management framework, contributing in turn to enhanced efficiency and development impact of RRLP. Key Principles for Implementation of the GAAP The key principles for implementation of the GAAP are:

1) Transparency: All the activities undertaken will involve decisions to be taken involving all those directly concerned and the process followed would be open, clear and accessible to all.

2) Equity Issues: The project will ensure participation of all stakeholders. 3) Team Work and Accountability : At each level the responsibilities will be

mutually and collectively owned. Each stakeholder is responsible for actions taken.

4) Sharing of Information: The information generated at all levels will be shared regularly.

5) Timely Decision Making : Project will develop an efficient and responsive grievance redresser mechanism based on a sensitive responsive administration, with provisions of online tracking/monitoring in a time bound manner.

Objective(s) To create awareness and provocating /encouraging the common citizens towards application of RTI act, as a tool in addressing corrupt practices in the governance. To empower the Civil Society Organizations and the vulnerable sections at the grassroots in curbing the corrupt practices by improving functioning of the existing accountability mechanisms and legal measures. Advocating with the policy makers to sharpen further specific tools i.e. The RTI Act, ensuring good governance and accountability in order to address the corruption in the state.

124

Beneficiaries The beneficiaries of the project would be the poor families and largely the women, CDO and other Community Based Organizations (CBOs). Other Stakeholders The Governmental Departments viz. PR & RD (Panchayati Raj and Rural Development) women and child department and other such departments involved in development works, women groups and research institutions. Key Activities • Formation of the Project Management Team (PMT); • Organization of State Level Launch Meeting (SLLM); • Preparation of Charts Showing Key Provisions of the RTI Act,), • Development of an Action Agenda • Block Level Consultations (BLCs); • Mid-term Dissemination Meeting (MDM); Dissemination Meeting (DM); • Periodic Reporting; Intensive Monitoring; Expected Outcome • The “corruption handling mechanism” will put pressure on the government to take

timely and effective punitive measures discouraging the corrupt practices. The entire process will ultimately help in facilitating the development growth of the state and reducing the poverty.

• In long term, an enabling and conducive environment would be created at the

grassroots making the governance more transparent and accountable. The legal provisions of Right to Information Act, will no longer remain merely on papers rather the rural poor by effectively exercising such provisions in accessing information and get their legitimate entitlement.

• The project will also create a synergy in various actions/movements combating

corruption. Innovation 1. Conceiving RTI Act application as a tool in addressing corruption. Delivery Model 1 Information Interactions with the community 2 Consultations at Districts and Block level 3. Dissemination meetings 4. Focused Group discussions

125

Key Operational Partnerships The partners are: • Various Departments of Government of Rajasthan • Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) • Media • Research & Academic Institutions etc. • Sector Support Organization The Governance and Accountability Action Plan (GAAP ) The Governance and Accountability Action Plan (GAAP) for the project builds on this existing government framework for tackling corruption in the state. It directly focuses on supporting the implementation of the Right to Information Legislation within the project and strengthening preventive vigilance and enforcements systems both at the level of the project as well as at the level of the department. Such departmental reforms will ensure that suitable “corruption proofing”. The GAAP will therefore comprise of:

(i) Project specific actions that support transparent systems and processes for procurement, financial management and reporting as well as support to better quality assurance through expanding citizen voice and involvement within the project boundaries and

(ii) Support overall reforms in the RRLP in order to create an enabling environment for better enforcement and prevention of corruption.

Key components of the GAAP include

� The Implementation of RTI is to increase transparency and accountability: � To comply with RTI agree on a disclosure policy of the project during

preparation with the intention of allowing greater access to information, including disclosure of mid-term review reports, safeguards information, audit reports and selected information on the entire procurement process .

� Developing systems and procedures to implement the disclosure policy including document management system and information management system;

� Developing organizational arrangements and a capacity building plan to

facilitate efficient, effective and accountable procurement execution, contract management and monitoring of project outcomes;

� Plan reporting and monitoring arrangements to monitor implementation of the disclosure policy including oversight by civil society groups;

� Complaint & Grievance: Handling Effective complaint and grievance

handling mechanism

126

� Procurement process: Follow of transparent procurement policy Financial Management Comprehensive financial management plan to ensure transparency and accountability.

� Third party monitoring – establishing a system of periodic audits

� Develop monitoring indicators for compliance to the above agreements and for

impact on outcomes,

• Disclosure of information indicators; • Complaint handling system indicators.

� Review and pending departmental enquiries The PMT will take care the

status of pending departmental proceedings. The committee is expected to review cases and agree on ways to dispose them efficiently. This will be of tremendous value in reducing backlog and also send a strong message about the efficiency of the administrative mechanisms that enforce integrity within government.

Project Risk Assessment & Plan for Mitigation The project has identified some of the major risk elements which can have an adverse bearing on the success of the project. The list below is not necessarily comprehensive one and it is very likely that some more may be encountered during the project implementation stage. Accordingly, the project has come up with a Risk Assessment and Mitigation Plan as per the table below: Table- 10.1 : Risk and its Rating along with Mitiga tion Measures for strengthening

Governance and Accountability

S.No.

Risks Risk Rating

Mitigation Measures

1. Bankers mindset reluctant to lend to SHGs due to quality of SHGs

High The representatives of RBI, NABARD and State lead bank are the member of GC. MoUs will be executed with the Banks at State & District level. State/ District/ PFT level Capacity Building workshops will be organized every year for the bankers. The bankers would be involved in grading of SHGs as well as appraisal of MCP & livelihood plan.

Staff scarcity at bank to handle numerous SHG accounts.

Moderate The CRP will help the bankers at branch level to complete the formalities.

2.

No clear credit plan for targeted groups (Branches district/ area wise for specific livelihood sector)

Branch Manager of Bank will be assisted by the DPMU micro finance specialist to prepare the credit plan for targeted groups to be submitted for further necessary action.

127

3. Un-availability of competent human resource from the market.

Moderate The project has developed specific human resource strategy and human resource manual which includes provisions to attract the best possible human resources available in the market.

4. Coordination with other line departments and Panchayati Raj institutions.

Low The Empowered Committee has been constituted for coordination among the various departments. Principal Secretaries/ Secretaries of these departments are the members of the Empowered Committee.

At district level, DPCC has been constituted for better coordination and convergence.

5. Interference and influence in selection of right field functionaries

Moderate The selection would be based on the specific norms and criteria. Quarterly Performance appraisal system.

6. Delay in recruitment, induction training and placement of functionaries

Low The project has high priority for systematic and timely recruitment of staff.

An induction training and placement plan for functionary will be in place for immediate establishment of district and PFT offices.

7. Transparency in Implementation and disclosure measures.

Low An independent website will be designed for the project to disseminate information related to project.

A proactive public disclosure system will be developed during the initiation stage of the project and all information will be available to the public on demand.

The project actions and initiatives will be subject to all provisions as outlined in the RTI Act.

At the community level, locally appropriate disclosure processes and transparency mechanisms like wall writing, community monitoring board will be displayed in the village and translation of materials will be done as elaborated in PIP and COM.

Tenders and Contract Award Notices will be published on the project’s website on quarterly basis.

8. Lack of knowledge and capacity to implement RTI Act within the project.

Moderate Public Information Officers (PIOs) and Additional Public Information Officers (APIOs) will be nominated at all level as per provision of the Act.

The project will provide the requisite trainings to its PIOs and APIOs for dissemination of required information under this Act.

9. Deficient Grievance redressals and complaints handling system.

Low At the state office, a telephone based computerized system will be installed and put into use for filing complaints through telephone, Such telephone number will be used for project information and redressal of complaints from various level including grassroots level.

Complaints will be segregated in order of gravity and senior officers may be asked to process serious cases and provide report in given timeframe. During supervision

128

mission regular review of progress in handling complaints will be undertaken.

All guidelines and documentation including bidding instructions will carry the details of complaints managements system.

10. Delay in transferring fund to CDO and Producer Organization.

Low The process of fund release has been developed through the Tally software. This will monitor the smooth release and gaps.

11. Violation in rules for identification and selection of Community Mobilizer, Book-keeper, Para workers and office bearers of CDO.

Low The community will select these persons with the help of PFT.

Performance based systems will be developed through score cards to ensure that these community level workers are performing by standards set in COM.

12. Intentional manipulation of SHGs or CDOs rating to have quick access of financial assistance

Low Internal appraisal teams will work periodically to do sample check of SHGs and CDOs that have accessed financial assistance from project.

Tools like appraisal by peer groups between villages will be used to address such practices.

13. Excessive influence of project staff in choice of activities, suppliers and providers of technical support.

moderate Internal appraisal teams will be sent periodically to monitor on sample basis.

14. Influential and Powerful producers getting elected as members of Executive Committee of POs.

Low The producer company manual will clearly specify the process of selection of Executive Committee members.

15. Continuity and longevity of Project Leadership at State, District and PFT level.

moderate Efforts would be made to provide resource support and conductive environment.

Agreements for specific period.

16. Frequent untested as well as unsuitable changes in the project policy.

High

Policy changes will be piloted or tested before taking place in the project.

17. Formation of micro credit Plan and livelihood plan

Multiple doses for capacity building on preparation of micro credit plan and livelihood plan will be given to SHG members as well as field functionaries.

129

Table – 10.2 : Governance Management Accountability Action Plan

Anticipated problem

Action To be Taken Completion Date Responsibility

Business process designing to support better accoun tability and transparency Develop organizational arrangements to implement RTI Act with provision of Appellate Authority and PIO/APIO.

April 2011 SPMU

Develop systems and procedures to implement RTI- web-site, News Letter, wall writing etc.

(1) web-site (2) News Letter (3) Radio Programme (4) Wall Painting

April 2011 October 2011 April 2012 September 2011

SPMU SPMU SPMU PFT

Conduct training on RTI for office bearers of SHGs, Federations and Beneficiaries for demand generation

(1) PIO/APIO (2) Office bearers of SHGs/CDOs (3) Beneficiaries

June 2011

December 2011 September 2011

onwards

SPMU

DPMU/PFT PFT

Regularly up-date and disclose information as per manuals prescribed by the RTI Act. From start of the Project (April 2011)

SPMU

Implementation of RTI

Maintain proper complaint database and public disclosure of actions taken. From start of the Project (April 2011)

SPMU

Strengthening Preventive Vigilance Lay down rules of business pertaining to use of administrative and financial powers at PFT, District and State level

April 2011 SPMU/RGAVP

Design suitable checklists on subjects requiring approval underpinning specific benchmarks for executive decisions at PFT, District and State level.

Dec. 201 SPMU

Chief Vigilance Officer, Department of Rural Development, Govt. of Rajasthan.. Already in existence Deptt. of Rural Dev., GoR

Notify project activities and benefits through locally suitable multi media campaigns.(Press Conferences)

April 2011 Chairman/vice chairman RGAVP

Action plan for participatory review meetings at different levels. September 2011 SPMU/DPMU/PFT

Safeguards against

corruption

Commissions periodic impact assessment studies.(3rd party mointering) Yearly SPMU Strengthening Complaint and Grievance handling at p roject level

Pending commissioning of an online computerized system adopt a manual for registering, tracking and monitoring of complaints.

July2011 SPMU/DPMU

Devise criteria to segregate complaints in order of seriousness and disposal in specific timeframe by designated authorities.

September 2011 SPMU

Effective of complaint and

grievance handling

mechanism. Formulate a transparent policy to initiate and complete disciplinary proceedings in specific timeframe.

September 2011 SPMU

130

Maintain an updated database on complaint received and action taken for s-uo motto public disclosure or in reference to application received

July2011 onwards SPMU

Tender and Procurement Project should have a transparent procurement policy based on established best practices and strict compliance with agreed bank procedures.

April 2011 SPMU

The project will develop a prospective procurement plan and place it on its website April 2011 onwards SPMU The practice of cancellation of bid invitation and corrigendum should be discouraged to avoid unnecessary cost and confusion.

April 2011 and there after Half Yearly

SPMU Collusion in tenders and procurement processes Definition of eligibility criteria for bidders and product quality needs to be standardized

restricting too may variations and subjective interpretations as regards to similar assignments.

Standard bidding document

SPMU

Financial Management The financial management plan to be in place to ensure that funds are used only for intended purposes in an efficient and economical way as per budget approvals.

December 2011 SPMU

DPMU and SPMU should enforce safeguards at respective level and generate financial progress reports in prescribed format capturing relevant parameters as laid sown in the project implementation plan (PIP).

September 2011 SPMU

Regular financial and procurement related audits. September 2011 SPMU Guidelines and procedures laid sown for inquiry into deviation from norms/corruption issues.

September 2011 SPMU

Absence of comprehensive

financial management plan to ensure

transparency and accountability Feedback received from participatory monitoring exercises on financial matters should

be incorporated in the financial reviews at quarterly intervals. Annual SPMU

Strengthening Systems and Processes for Project man agement Finalize operational manuals and Project Implementation Plan (PIP) April 2011 SPMU Complete institutional arrangements for project implementation at State, Divisional, District, PFT level.

June2011 onwards SPMU

Finalization of recruitment and training plan for both deputation and contractual staff. Each position should have clearly defined job description and performance indicators.

September 2011 SPMU

Finalize registration, terms and conditions and working procedure of federations. July2011 SPMU Develop micro strategies for extensive outreach especially converting very poor, tribal’s and differently-abled persons.

September 2011 SPMU

Insure timely flow of fund to the beneficiaries mobilizing internal and external resources. Form. of CDO onwards SPMU/DPMU Finalized terms and conditions and procedure for engaging support organizations (SOs). Sept 2011 onwards SPMU Finalized project MIS design as well as monitoring and review arrangements. The database should be linked to online reporting arrangements for quick review and follow up action.

September 2011 SPMU

Strengthen multi stakeholder coordination arrangements including line departments, financial institutions and technical resource agencies PFT, District State level.

From the start of the projects onward

SPMU

Empanel consultancy firms and reputed research and evaluations to be undertaken by the project.

From the start of the projects onward

SPMU

Weak implementation arrangements may adversely affect project

processes and results

Prepare withdrawal plan in advance and strengthen capacity of SHGs and federations for resource mobilization, business development portfolio management, book keeping, accounting, audit and sustaining operations beyond project cycle.

4th years of the project SPMU

131

Social Audit Social audit in the project is taken up for the purpose of enhancing Community/local governance, particularly for strengthening accountability and transparency in the project Objectives of social audit

1. Assessing the physical and financial gaps between needs and resources 2. Creating awareness among beneficiaries and project facilitators 3. Increasing efficacy and effectiveness of the project. 4. Scrutiny of various policy decisions at SHG, CDO keeping in view stakeholder

interests and priorities, particularly of rural poor. 5. Estimation of the opportunity cost for stakeholders of not getting timely access to

services. By WHOM Social Audit Committee (SAC) will be constituted by Grama Sabha which plays role of guardian of the project principles. This committee shall not be permanent, but will be set up according to the nature of the project. A 5 member Social Audit Committee nominated by the Grama Sabha monitors project activities and ensures adherence of the project principles during implementation. The Committee is accountable to the Grama Sabha and reports to the Grama Sabha on a regular basis. Social audit committee members can be drawn from among project stakeholders. It is advisable to use the services of retired functionaries of different organizations, teachers or persons of impeccable integrity living in the Gram Panchayat jurisdiction. Both facilitators and social audit committee members will be trained by social audit experts Rights of the Social Auditor :

1. seek clarifications about any decision-making, activity, scheme, income and expenditure incurred by the SHG,CDO

2. consider and scrutinize project and other activities of the SHG and CDO; and access registers and documents relating to all activities undertaken by the SHG and CDO.

WHEN Social audit would be conducted after closing of the each financial year. Process of the social audit The detailed process of the social audit under the project would be as under;

� Defining the scope of the social audit

Clarity of purpose and goal of the project

132

� Identify & consult stakeholders Identify stakeholders with a focus on their specific roles and duties. Social auditing aims to ensure a say for all stakeholders. It is particularly important that marginalized social groups, which are normally excluded, have a say on activities and have their views on the actual performance of project.

� Nomination of auditors Members can be drawn from among project stakeholders. It is advisable to use the services of retired functionaries of different organizations, teachers or persons of impeccable integrity living in the Gram Panchayat jurisdiction

� Develop indicators, collection of data Definition of performance indicators which must be understood and accepted by all. Indicator data must be collected by stakeholders on a regular basis

� Prepare the social accounts and verification Establishment of a group of trusted local people including elderly people, teachers and others who are committed and independent, to be involved in the verification and to judge if the decisions based upon social audit have been implemented

� Public hearings The findings of the social audit should be shared with all local stakeholders. This encourages transparency and accountability. A report of the social audit meeting should be distributed for Gram Panchayat auditing. In addition, key decisions should be written on walls and boards and communicated orally

� Advocacy and institutionalization Follow-up of social audit meeting with the panchayat body reviewing stakeholders’ actions, activities and viewpoints, making commitments on changes and agreeing on future action as recommended by the stakeholders

Capacity building for social audit

• Organization of a mass campaign to increase public awareness about the meaning, scope, purpose and objectives of social audit.

• Establishment of a team of social audit experts in each district who are responsible for training social audit committee members (stakeholders).

• Implementation of training programmes on social auditing methods - conducting and preparing social audit reports, and presentation at Gram Sabha meetings.

133

Key factors for successful social audit

• Level of information shared with and involvement of stakeholders, particularly of the rural poor, women, and other marginalized sections.

• Commitment, seriousness and clear responsibilities for follow-up actions by elected members of the Gram Panchayat.

• Involvement of key facilitators in the process. Social development monitoring SDM is a periodic observation activity by socially disadvantaged groups as local citizens who are project participants or target beneficiaries. It could also take the form of action intended to enhance participation, ensure inclusiveness, articulation of accountability, responsiveness and transparency by the project implementing agencies institutions, with a declared purpose of making an impact on their socio-economic status.

134

Chapter 11 Social Inclusion and Safeguards

Rajasthan Gramin Ajeevika Vikas Parishad (RGAVP) established by the GoR, as the agency for preparing and implementing the Rajasthan Rural Livelihood Project (RRLP) conducted a social assessment and tribal inclusion study which included household survey and community and public consultations in 6 project districts, and state consultations. The key finding of the study was higher levels of poverty, exclusion and vulnerability among the schedule castes, the most backward castes, the schedule tribes, vulnerable tribes, religious minorities and other groups like people with disability, women headed household, landless and houseless, agriculture and migrant labour etc. Women, particularly from SC, ST and minority households, face multiple deprivations and exclusion in terms of lack of access to assets, livelihood resources and social services and infrastructure; lack of voice and participation in household and community decision making processes; lack of mobility; social discrimination and exclusion; threat and violence; and very low capacity and confidence to advocate their interests and development needs. Based on the study and consultations, RRLP has designed specific social inclusion processes and safeguard mechanisms, including a tribal development framework (TDF) and gender action plan (GAP). Primary Stakeholders and Targeted Beneficiaries RRLP aims to reach out to around 580,000 households and mobilize about 400,000 BPL and non-BPL households (collectively called BPL+ households) in estimated 33,000 project supported SHGs in the 17 project districts. The primary target group and stakeholders, and beneficiary households, of RRLP are women from poor, vulnerable and the most excluded households in the project villages. This includes women from BPL as well as non BPL households from a range of social and economic groups – scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (STs), vulnerable tribal groups, most backward castes, religious minorities, people with disability, women headed household, landless and houseless, agriculture/migrant labour etc. The social, financial and economic inclusion of these marginalized groups is the fundamental and overarching objective of the project. The project recognizes that women from these social and economic groups are the most deprived and disempowered target group and gives them the highest priority in mobilization, capacity building and livelihood support. To ensure the inclusion of these excluded social and economic groups, a range of mechanisms and processes have been built in the project components and interventions, and these are summarized in the sections below. I. Social Inclusion Mechanisms Composition of Project Facilitation Teams

• Inclusion of a Social Development and Capacity Building specialist in the PFT team, with the responsibility for identification mobilization, capacity and institution building of the poor beneficiaries. The PFT will provide oversight to reduce possibilities of `elite capture’ and ensure social inclusion throughout the project cycle.

135

• Application of GOR policy on reservation for SC, ST, minorities, disability and women

• At least 1/3rd of PFT Coordinators will have demonstrable operational experience in social inclusion and community mobilisation in the context of rural livelihoods and development, including tribal development and gender equity;

• Majority of the CRPs, community mobilisers, book keepers and para-professionals will be from the village community and will come from BPL+ households.

• The project will make efforts that at least 30% of CRPs would be women from SC and ST households

Capacity Building of PFTs • Comprehensive induction, thematic and refresher training of all PFT staff and CRPs

throughout project implementation • Training on Project Implementation Plan (PIP), Community Operational Manual

(COM), Social inclusion and community mobilization mechanism, Gender Action Plan, Tribal Development Framework (TDF), Governance and Accountability Framework, and ‘Social Action, Accountability and Empowerment’ module.

• The PFTs will be provided intensive training on the participatory assessment methods. Thematic Training of PFTs and CRPs on Gender, working with people with disability, convergence, PRI processes, functioning of the subcommittees on participatory monitoring, Social Action, tribal development.

Socially inclusive Community Mobilisation Strategy

Area Selection and Entry • Poverty-based classification and selection of blocks and villages (with highest

concentration of BPL, SC, ST, income poor, minorities, landless). Preference to designated tribal area, areas reporting adverse gender sex ratio and female illiteracy, incidence of hunger, malnutrition, drought, most backward regions and pockets excluded areas in terms of social and economic infrastructure.

• Consultations with local development organizations, including Banks, Line departments, NGOs and PRIs

• Social Mapping, Resource Mapping and Transect Walks in pilot villages • Targeted consultations with communities, PRIs and development agencies and

documentation of key i) social inclusion; ii) tribal development; and i) gender issues as part of Area Inception Report

• Area Inception Report will identify villages and geographic clusters with highest concentration of targeted poor beneficiaries; sequencing of village entry and annual action plan; summary of poverty, exclusion and livelihood related challenges constraints and opportunities;

Village Entry • Inception Meeting with the participation of local government agencies, PRIs,

NGO, existing community Institutions • Pre-mobilisation, rapport building meetings in all village hamlets, specifically of

SC, ST and minorities

136

• Information, Education and Awareness Campaign targeting the primary beneficiaries. Engagement of external resource agency for developing RRLP-specific IEC material on gender, tribal and social inclusion themes.

• Transect Walk covering all village hamlets

Participatory Identification and Targeting of the P oor • Advance notification about date, venue and time of social mapping and

beneficiary identification • Targeted briefing on the participatory exercise for SC, ST and other vulnerable

groups • Social mapping conducted in most excluded hamlet (hamlet, caste, sub caste,

tribe sub tribe, religion, BPL status, SHG membership status, primary occupation)

• Community consultation on household poverty and wellbeing criteria, including criteria for “automatic inclusion” of households (poor within BPL, very low income, landless, houseless, marginal farmers, primitive tribal groups, women and child headed households, households with bonded or child labor, destitute, and nomadic groups, PWDs, highly indebted, food insecure, migrant labor etc) and other locally defined criteria.. Automatic exclusion of households in line with MORD BPL pilot survey 2011.

• Identification of poorest households on agreed poverty and vulnerability criteria • Verification and Gram Sabha Endorsement of list of beneficiaries • Household survey and profiling of identified poor households, initial identification

of Vulnerability reduction actions for these identified households which will be taken up by the PFT, and later on by the CDO.

• Village display of list of identified households. The PFT will also help in identification of those households which are vulnerable and could not be included in SHGs, and identify vulnerability reduction actions for such households.

• Targets and action plan for inclusion established. PFTs will work toward saturation coverage - 100% coverage of all identified poor households in the project villages.

The project will engage an external agency for developing and testing guidelines for identification of the poor households, development of a training material, and training for the project staff, including training of trainers. The methodology for identification of the poor will be formalized into an easy to use checklist of household characteristics of poverty, vulnerability and wellbeing, which would be used for rapid assessment in every project village. The first phase of participatory exercises will be facilitated by external resource persons/agencies and/or SSOs with strong operational experience with PRA methods. The PFT with active support of DPMU will be responsible for all the above activities. Facilitating community institutions of the poor.

• Social Mobilization i.e., Formation of SHGs and CDOs is a core intervention of the project.

• Priority inclusion and ‘saturation coverage’ of all identified poor households. • Sensitization and orientation of beneficiary households on the purpose, principles

and processes of group formation.

137

• SHGs formed on the basis of households’ internal deliberations, consultations and preferences, with support from PFTs

• Promotion of affinity based, exclusive SHGs of women, from similar social and economic backgrounds and hamlets on a demand-driven basis. Mixed gender and all men groups are not ruled out and could also be supported. At least 80% SHG’s are expected to be exclusive women’s groups.

• Wherever feasible and demanded, formation of exclusive SHGs of SC, ST, religious minorities, PWDs, landless etc.

• Mobilisation of left out (non SHG members households) in new or existing groups (which qualify for project support)

• All existing and new SHGs with 70% members from BPL+ category, and following the SHG performance criteria will be supported.

• Representation of SC, ST, minority, PWD households as office bearers, members of executive, performance monitoring, social action committee in the CDO, PFT AFs, POs. At least 50% membership from SC and ST Committee. at least 70% SHG members are expected to be SC, ST households

• CDOs facilitated as village/cluster level community institution representing, advocating and negotiating the interests and development priorities of its poor, members with government, PRIs, NGOs and markets. It will self sustain as an agent for economic and social empowerment of poor households.

• CDO committee on performance monitoring, social action and tribal inclusion will be formed. These committee will have 50% representation of SC, ST women, and suitable representation of PWDs and religious minorities (as applicable).

• The CDO committee on performance monitoring will receive training and undertake periodic social audits and performance scorecards for PFT AFs and PFTs.

• The Social Action Committee will develop and implement a social action and inclusion agenda, and engage with the PRI and government departments for delivery of entitlements and benefits to its members.

• A Tribal Subcommittee will be formed under each CDO with 10-30% membership from STs. The subcommittee will support the implementation of TDF, and promote better outreach and coverage of the tribal programmes of the government.

• Area Federation. The Area Federation Executive Committee will have 50% representation of SC, ST and OBC women, and suitable representation of PWDs and religious minorities (as applicable).

• Producer Organization. The PO Executive Committee will have 50% representation of SC, ST and OBC women, and suitable representation of PWDs and religious minorities (as applicable). The PO action plans will be based on the interests of its poorest members, a majority of which are expected to be SC and ST/ BPL OBC households.

Capacity Building of Community Institutions

• Identification and training of community resource persons (CRPs), as community mobilisers (CMs), book keepers and para workers. Some of the CRPs will be specifically trained as resource persons on Gender, Tribal Inclusion, PWD, forestry, social security schemes etc.

138

• Along the lines of the institutional and livelihood modules, a comprehensive ‘Social Inclusion and Empowerment’ module will be prepared for building the capacity of the community institutions and other project partners.

• This module will cover the entire range of community institutions supported and engaged under the project (SHG, CDO,AF, PO, PRIs, SSOs, etc).

• The module will cover a range of topics including: Poverty, wellbeing and vulnerability Analysis; Role and functioning of Social Action Committee; Role and functioning of Participatory Monitoring Committee (social audit, score cards, social inclusion monitoring); gender equity, women’s empowerment and Gender Action Plan; Tribal Development Framework; Social Audit, performance monitoring and Accountability mechanisms (RTI); Legal Rights and social security entitlements ;Accounting and functional literacy; Effective participation in PRI decision making processes; Community leadership development; Schemes for PWDs and other vulnerable groups; conflict and grievance resolution and other topics emerging from consultations

• While organizing Training programmes, exposure visits, the project will ensure that at least 50% households are from SC, ST and from Vulnerable Groups

• Capacity building will be organized through training modules which will be customized to the needs and understanding of primary beneficiaries. The training module will be in local language, more visual, less literacy and numeracy dependent, and informed by good practices elsewhere.

• Handholding Support for SHGs/CDOs of SC and ST households will be major strategies of capacity building in the Project. Project staff and other resource persons/ teams/ agencies will constantly be counseled by regular handholding support by the Training and Capacity Building Cell to improve the effectiveness of programmes at community level.

• PRIs will be sensitised to the need for effective targeting and monitoring of the poor’s access to social security and livelihood programmes of the government. A specialized training program including field visits to Other States where PRI are working closely with CBOs will be conducted. The project will also build the capacity of CBOs to understand the various social protection programs, eligibility criteria and access them.

Community Investment Support

• CBO Fund. The SHG priority plan will first focus on the credit needs of the SC, ST and other vulnerable households

• Livelihood Investment Fund (LIF). The Micro-credit Livelihood Plan will give clear priority to SHG members from SC, ST, PWD and other vulnerable households. Technical inputs will be provided to help prepare the livelihood plans of the poor households. Special assistance will be provided to those groups which are not able to qualify for this fund in the first instance.

• All livelihood projects (but mainly community projects on pasture and forestry etc) will be screened for any adverse impacts by way of involuntary resettlement and voluntary land donation impacts, including loss of land, structures, income, assets, common property resources, access to natural resources etc. The COM will prescribe a screening process, linked with the environmental screening of livelihood projects.

139

• CDO Funds on health, food security and fodder. RRLP will support CDOs to allocate dedicated resources for financing health, food and fodder expenditures of the poor households. These will be initiated in the most food insecure and health risk prone clusters of SC and ST first. Specific briefing and awareness activities on CDO funds will target the most food and health insecure households.

• Area Federation Fund. The EC comprising SC and ST members will decide on the utilization of this fund. The executive committee will have 70% of the members are SC, ST.

• Sectoral Fund to PO. Value chain identification and development for livelihood promotion will be based consultations with the SC/ST members and justified on the scale of impact on the livelihoods of the poorest. The executive committee of the PO will have 50% of the members SC, ST, BPL, including PWD and religious minorities

• Sector support organization (SSO) will be selected on the basis of demonstrable experience in supporting the livelihoods of the poorest households, including SCs, STs, landless, PWDs. Recruitment of staff will give priority to socially disadvantaged groups. Action plan based on extensive consultations with the poor PO members.

Partnership Development Bank Linkage

• Sensitization of Banks on ‘bankability’ of the poor, and lending to SHGs through workshops at district level

• Holding consultations between Banks and the SHGs and CDOs • Pro-poor banking arrangements like zero balance account, consideration of

defaulter members, free transfer of money among the community institutions. • Capacity building of Executive Committee of Community Institutions for engaging

with Bankers Sector Support • Partnerships with Sectoral Support Organisations (SSOs) working on employment

and livelihood in non-farm sector for the SC/ST, minority, PWD households. Convergence • Assistance in monitoring, collection and sharing of socially disaggregated data on

access to government social security schemes and entitlement • Assistance to line departments in organizing IEC and outreach events targeting the

vulnerable households • Convergence with NREGA specially in Pasture development, JFMC, water

harvesting structures, and development of lands of SC and ST • Cooption of women’s SHGs promoted by DWCD, SGSY and NGO’s • CDO support for effective functioning of school and health committees • Convergence with Forest Department in formation of JFMC in tribal areas • Convergence with Department of Social Justice & Empowerment on a special

component for livelihood enhancement of physically handicapped, aged persons, widow etc

140

• The Social Action Committee will be trained to spearhead the agenda of convergence, with active support of the PFTs and the CRPs. A convergence action plan will be piloted in some of the CDOs

• The PFT will engage with, and sensitize the Gram Sabha and the village leadership on the poverty and exclusion issues and the RRLP approach. This will be done through the Gram Sabha meeting and sharing workshops, prior and post the participatory assessment exercise. The CDO will be gradually empowered to engage with the PRI.

Value Chain Development.

• Identification of market based approach for collectives of the poor. • support to targeted households in upgrading their livelihood activities and

becoming members of producer organizations • Directly working with households involved in value chain. • support value chains that i) can affect maximum number of poor households; ii)

can offer greater scope of passing additional margins to the poorer stakeholders; • At least 50 percent of SHG members will be impacted through value chain

interventions either through POs or directly Innovation & Research

• Social Empowerment and Gender Equity’ is a key theme under this component (with 25% allocation) specifically focusing on socially disadvantaged and excluded groups

• Proactive identification of pilot projects on a range of social empowerment and gender equity themes. Some of the pilots could be on targeted livelihood strategies and action planning for landless, mining/quarry labor, migrant labor, religious minorities, PWDs etc.

Skill development and employment promotion. • Proactive preference to SC, ST, women, religious minorities, PWDs. At the

minimal level, preference as per the reservation policy of the Government • Identification of skills and employment sectors based on consultation sand FGDs

with the above social groups. • Special deliberation to identify women-specific skills and employment sectors

Climate Change Adaptation.

• Adaptation pilots based on community planning and vulnerability assessment, and include technical capacity building of communities to improving climate resilience of the livelihoods of the poorest groups

• Sensitization of policy makers on socially differentiated impacts and vulnerability of climate change.

Project Implementation Support.

• Empowered Committee. The project empowered committee will include representation from the departments of social justice and empowerment, women and child development, tribal development among others. Some of the leading NGOs of the state will also be included.

141

• Staffing. At the SPMU level, the Gender & Social Development Coordinator (Gr A) will be responsible for overall coordination, implementation and monitoring of the social inclusion mechanisms, gender action framework, and tribal development framework. At the divisional HQ level, 1 tribal inclusion coordinator (Grade B) will be placed (for the division comprising tribal districts). At the DPMU, 1 Social Development & Capacity Building (Gr. B) staff will be placed. Each PFT will have 4 staff of which 1 will be Social & Capacity Building (Gr. C) staff.

• The Project Facilitation Team (PFT) will be responsible for operationalising all activities and processes in the targeted villages. One of the key responsibilities of the PFT is to facilitate village entry, identification of the poor, social inclusion, and community mobilisation processes. The team leaders at district, division and PFT level will be the designated grievance redressal officer at state, district and block level, supported by the CRPs.

• Recruitment and HR Policy. The state governments’ reservation policy for SC, ST, OBC, women, PWD and religious minorities will apply to all recruitment. A special recruitment drive will be launched to realize this objective. Relevant relaxation in selection criterion will be introduced in recruitment process. One of the key selection criteria will be sensitivity and operational experience of working with poor and socially disadvantaged communities.

• Capacity Building of SPMU, DPMU & PFT Staff. Capacity Building Coordinator and the Gender and Social Development Coordinator at the SPMU will have the overall responsibility of building capacity of SPMU, DPMU, PFT Staff and the full range of community institutions including community resource persons, SHGs, CDOs, PFT AFs, POs and partners like SSOs, Banks, partnering NGOs and government departments.

• Comprehensive induction, thematic and refresher training of all PFT staff and CRPs throughout project implementation. Training on Project implementation plan (PIP), Community Operational Manual (COM), participatory identification of the poor, Social inclusion and community mobilization mechanism, Gender Action Plan, Tribal Development Framework (TDF), Governance and Accountability Framework, and ‘Social Action, Accountability and Empowerment’ module. Additional Thematic Training on Gender, working with people with disability, convergence, PRI processes, functioning of the subcommittees on participatory monitoring, Social Action, tribal development and GORs legislation, policy and programmes on rural poverty reduction, social justice and empowerment and tribal development, and Participatory planning and research.

• Staff will also undergo a sensitization programme on gender and sexual harassment policy of the Society. The training module will consist of induction, thematic training, refresher, exposure visits. Training Modules will be prepared by the Project and training will be included in their annual calendar.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning The M&E system will include indicators for poverty based classification for area selection; identification of number of clusters with highest concentaration of targeted poor beneficiaries; number of villages in which identification completed; Number of

142

exclusive women, SC, ST and minority SHG’s supported; percentage of women, SC, ST, Minority and other vulnerable groups in the membership, officer bearers and committees of the community institutions. The project assistance received by SHG’s of poor including women from SC, ST, OBC and minority groups from different project components will also be monitored. The project will also undertake periodic and thematic studies for ascertaining the challenges and impact of the project on identified socially disadvantaged groups. II. Tribal Development Framework (TDF) The tribal development framework (TDF) has been developed in the specific context of Districts of Southern Rajasthan and the districts selected for RRLP implementation. Rajasthan has 7.10 lakh scheduled tribe population as per the 2001 census, of which nearly 95 percent reside in rural areas. Five districts viz., Udaipur, Banswara, Dungarpur, Jaipur and Chittorgarh account for more than half (54.50%) of the total ST population in Rajasthan. These districts in Southern Rajasthan have significant Tribal population, with four districts having designated Scheduled Areas. The rest of the ST population is scattered through the state. Only five project districts have less than 10% of the population as tribal. This sizable presence of tribal community requires a specific strategy to ensure their inclusion in the project interventions and processes. Based on the social assessment and the tribal study, and consultations at the community, block, district and state levels, a TDF has been prepared. Objectives

The objective of the TDF is to ensure prioritized and targeted identification, inclusion, mobilization, capacity and institution building of the tribal communities throughout the project cycle and across all project components. It supports informed and continuous consultations; tribal representation and participation in the community institutions supported by the project; targeting of credit and livelihood assistance to the tribal SHGs; tribal focused prioritization, development and financing of microcredit and livelihood plans; and building of skills and capacities of the tribals for livelihood development and employment. The overall objective is to design and implement project implementation processes and mechanisms that are socially, culturally and economically compatible with the uniqueness of the Tribal Communities in Rajasthan, and support their social and economic empowerment. The TDF will foster respect for the dignity, human rights and cultural uniqueness of the Tribal Communities in the project villages of Rajasthan. TDF Strategy

The overall strategy of TDF is based on the following principles. • Protection of social, economic and cultural interests of tribal communities in

project areas and elsewhere in the state • Facilitating informed consultations and broad community support for the project

among the tribal communities • Targeted identification and phased mobilization and capacity building of the tribal

community institutions • Promoting participation and representation of tribals in all community institutions,

and their committees • Forming exclusive tribal women’s SHGs, CDOs, AFs and POs

143

• Ensuring representation and benefits flow to tribal SHGs from CDO and Area federations

• Building skills and capacities of the Tribal SHGs for livelihood development and assured employment

• Financing demand-driven Micro credit & Livelihood Plan and value chain based support for key livelihood activities in the tribal areas

• Support to activities/sectors where tribal communities are able to participate effectively, especially relating to land, water, forest and livestock resource to ensure food security and sustainable surplus.

• Establishing linkage with public resources and legal provisions related to tribal development and welfare

• Monitoring of Tribal inclusion, participation and livelihood development through disaggregated M & E System.

Key Actions. The following key actions are envisaged as part of the TDF. Engagement of Tribal Inclusion Coordinator . The project will engage a tribal inclusion coordinator, based in Udaipur. The tribal inclusion coordinator will work under the supervision and guidance of the Gender & Social Development Coordinator of the SPMU, and be directly responsible for implementing the TDF actions in the tribal dominated south Rajasthan districts. The SPMU social development coordinator will supervise the implementation of TDF in the other districts where tribals are present. Targeted Allocation of Resources for designated tri bal areas . The project will have two pronged strategy guiding the action plans for tribal inclusion and development. In the recognized Scheduled Areas, MADA Pockets, MADA Clusters and Sahariya Development Area, the project will have special allocation of financial and human resources, and focused and relatively intense project engagement. In the other project districts and blocks, where tribal population is scattered, the ‘social inclusion mechanisms’ of the project will ensure adequate representation of the STs in all project supported community based institutions and interventions. Tribal focused community mobilization .

• The block selection will prioritize any scheduled Areas, MADA Pockets and Clusters, Sahariya Development Area, any other blocks with high concentration of tribal population.

• Inclusion and engagement with tribal communities and households in project entry activities. PFTs will ensure that mobilization strategies – IEC campaigns, consultations and training - are developed appreciating local culture, talent and resources

• The Area entry will involve information sharing on RRLP and TDF, and consultation with government agencies, NGOs, PRI staff and representatives on the key development challenges, priorities and constraints issues faced by the tribal groups in the area. The Area Inception Report will include the results of the consultations in a section called Tribal Situation Assessment.

• The Tribal Situation Assessment will guide the locally specific sequencing of community mobilization interventions, and prioritization of reaching out to specific ST groups.

144

• Targeted IEC materials (local language) with focus on folk practices and culture developed and campaigns mounted through folk media

• The Village Entry process will involve meetings with the formal and informal tribal leaders, community level disclosure of TDF and tribal oriented information campaign.

• The social mapping and beneficiary selection process will be held, with advance briefing and notification, in a public meeting in a tribal hamlet of the village.

• The poverty and vulnerability criteria will apply to most of the tribal households in the village, regardless of their BPL status. Sahariya, the primitive tribal group, will automatically qualify, as beneficiaries, along with other ST households. The habitation and household profiling of the beneficiaries will include the ST status of the identified poor.

• Identification and training of community resource persons (CRPs)/community mobilisers (CMs) and book keepers from within the tribal community

• Institutionalization of accessible formal and informal grievance redressal mechanisms for tribal groups

Mobilizing tribal participation and representation in community Institutions .

• Saturation coverage will ensure that all the identified ST households are included in community institutions

• Community mobilization process in tribal areas will involve pre-group formation consultations in ST settlements. Based on local affinities and community preferences, the project will support formation of exclusive Tribal SHGs, especially wherever the tribal population is more than 30% in a village.

• Group Formation in tribal areas to be given more time and greater technical support to ensure participatory, consultative and demand, -driven, processes

• To highlight the priority of the project on mobilizing tribal communities, the first SHG formed in a village will be of tribals. At least 70% of ST households are expected to be mobilized in SHGs. In tribal exclusive villages – at least 80 % of ST from identified Benefeciary households will be included in SHGs, and at least 50% of the tribal SHGs in other project areas.

• Representation of the STs in all community institutions and organisations and their committees will be ensured in line with the constitutional provisions.

• Every CDO, with tribal members between 11%- 30% of the general body, will form a tribal subcommittee to represent the interests of the tribal membership.

• The STs will be well represented as office bearers, and in the subcommittees of the CDO: i) CDO executive committee; ii) the performance monitoring subcommittee; iii) social action subcommittee; iv) and the tribal subcommittee. At least 50% of the CDO EC and office bearers will be tribal members in the designated tribal areas. The CDO president is expected to be a tribal in villages/ cluster where there tribal population is more than 30%. In ST dominant areas, the CDO-EC would comprise largely ST members.

• The STs will be well represented in the ECs and as office bearers of the Area Federation and the Producer Organisation. More than 70% members of POs and its EC will be SC, ST, BPL, including PWD and religious minorities

145

Capacity building of tribal leadership and institut ions.

• Focused training and handholding assistance will be provided to tribal community institutions, with respect to institutional functioning, concept of SHGs, savings and credit, book keeping and accounting, benefits of meetings and federating for sustainable livelihood activities and enterprises. They will also be supported in becoming office bearers and members of the executive and thematic subcommittees, and in advocating the interests of their ST members.

• Tribal communities will be provided accessible information on rules and regulations, processes and objectives of SHG formation through locally understood communication channels and language informed by folk culture of the area/region.

• In addition to the training modules on institutional development and livelihoods, the SHGs, CDOs, PFT AF and PO will undergo a training programme on Social Action, Accountability and Empowerment. This will involve training modules on TDF, government programmes and entitlements specifically targeting tribals, PESA, FRA, and other legal, administrative, welfare and social justice provisions for STs, social audit, RTI, improving engagement with PRIs etc.

• The community institutions in tribal areas will be provided additional hand holding assistance, with external partners as necessary, to improve their functioning, capacity and eligibility for accessing project support. One of the key areas of this additional support would be on preparing MCPs, LPs, priority plans, and managing community interventions on food and health security. Continuous feedback will be obtained on the relevance and usefulness of the capacity building programmes for further improvement.

Technical and handholding assistance on Community I nvestment Funds.

• The community investment support, through its various funds, will be based on preparation and approval of priority, microcredit and livelihood plans prepared by the SHGs. The priority plan of SHGs for livelihood investment tranche-1 will based on credit needs of the ST and other vulnerable households and will be prepared after internal consultations among the SHG members.

• Preparation of microcredit and livelihood plans will be based on prioritization of vulnerable ST households, and given preference in approval by CDO.

• All Livelihood Plans will be screened by the PFTs and audited by the DPMUs to ensure that no sub-projects adversely affect the tribal livelihoods and their community interests. The various community investment funds will support up gradation, development and strengthening of indigenous knowledge and skills of the STs through innovations.

• Technical inputs and handholding assistance will be provided to ST households in preparing their livelihood plan, and meeting the financial needs from project funds and other sources. Strong facilitation will come from the PFT to ensure that tribal SHGs meet the fund release conditions

• Tribal SHG members will be specifically informed and assisted on accessing the CDO funds on health risk, food security and fodder.

• Value chain development by the PO will be based on specific livelihood needs and capabilities of the tribal SHGs, and will involve extensive consultations with government, Sector support organization (SSO) and NGOs involved in livelihood promotion of tribals.

146

• At least 70% of the tribal SHGs will be provided funding under the CIS. Partnership Development Bank Linkage

• The institution building of tribal SHGs will make the poor creditworthy and eligible for bank linkage. At least 70% of the tribal SHGs will be linked to the Banks

• Holding consultations between Banks and tribal SHGs and CDOs • Capacity building of Executive Committee of tribal Community Institutions to

engage with Bankers

Sector Support • Identification and selection of SSOs working in tribal areas • Tribal communities, especially in the Scheduled Areas of the South Rajasthan

have significant dependence on the forest and/or natural resources. The project and its collaborators and partners will work closely with these tribal communities in the protection, conservation, regeneration and sustainable development of the natural resources and traditional skills including handicraft. The project will adopt regulatory and proactive approach to minimize tribal exploitation (mainly land alienation) and support better functioning of the Village level Forest Committees supported by the state Forest Department.

• Capacity building of tribal SHGs and CDOs in value addition and technology adoption through SSOs working in forestry, pasture land, dairying, handicrafts and other major livelihoods in the tribal areas

• Partnerships with SSOs to support implementation of TDF implementation in the tribal areas.

Convergence

The Project will support improved delivery of entitlements and welfare schemes of State and Central Government applicable in the tribal areas.

• Convergence with Departments of tribal area development, including Sahariya development, and rural development on implementation of tribal focused schemes and programmes in the project villages

• Convergence with Forest Department in formation of JFMC and collection of Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) by SHGs in tribal area.

• Assistance to line departments in organizing IEC and outreach events targeting the tribal areas and households

• Convergence with NREGA specially in Pasture development, JFMC, water harvesting structures, and development of lands of STs

• Assistance in monitoring, collection and sharing of disaggregated data on access to government social security schemes and entitlements by tribal households

• Co-option of women’s SHGs promoted by DWCD in the tribal areas • CDO support for effective functioning of school and health committees in tribal

areas • Social Action Committee of the CDO will develop and pursue priority

convergence actions in the tribal areas • Developing linkages with tribal development agencies at the state level

147

Value Chain Development. • Assessment of sustainable livelihoods challenges and priorities in tribal areas

and support of tribal livelihoods through value chain development and asset creation, based on local context and tribal communities’ skills and interests.

• Identification and implementation of market based approaches for aggregating and upgrading livelihoods in the tribal areas

• Handholding support and technical training to tribal SHGs and households in becoming members of producer organizations

• Support to forestry, water, land and natural resource based value chains that upgrade the livelihoods in the tribal areas

• At least 50 percent of tribal SHG members are expected to benefit from value chain interventions either through POs or directly

Innovation & Research

• At least 10% of the total outlay will be allocated for innovative action research projects specifically targeting social and economic empowerment of the STs.

• These could relate to enhancing ST women’s participation in NREGA, innovative benefit sharing models of JFMC, community based natural resource development projects, pilots on promotion of tribal handicrafts etc.

Skill development and employment promotion

• Preference to tribal youth,. The preference will be atleast 50% of tribal population in a village in schedule V, MADA pockets, Sehariya areas and atleast 30% of tribal population in a village in other project areas.

• Identification of skills and employment sectors based on consultation with tribal youth, agencies working with promotion of employment in tribal areas.

Climate Change Adaptation

• Adaptation pilot projects to promote and support augmentation and managed utilization of natural resources in the tribal areas. Location of pilot projects in climate sensitive tribal contexts, including drought prone areas, deserts, forest areas or traditional migration routes

• design and implementation of adaptation pilot project based on consultations with and broad support of the tribal institutions and PRIs, community involvement in micro planning and vulnerability assessment, and technical capacity building of tribal communities to improve the climate resilience of their livelihood systems.

• Screening of SHG Livelihood plans from the perspective of climate change and adverse impacts on the tribal lives and livelihoods.

• Awareness building among the tribal communities, tribal development agencies and government agencies on indigenous tribal practices in mitigating or adapting to climate change

Project Implementation Support

Empowered Committee. The project empowered committee will include representation from the departments of social justice and empowerment, women and child development, tribal development, the tribal research institute, Udaipur among others. Some of the leading NGOs of the state, especially those working in tribal areas, could also be included.

148

Staffing. The TDF will be anchored by a senior staff positioned at the project HQ, SPMU reporting directly to the Project Director. At the divisional HQ level, 1 tribal inclusion coordinator will be placed (for the division comprising southern tribal districts) to supervise, guide, support, facilitate and monitor TDF recommendations and expectations. The tribal coordinator, under the guidance of the the Gender & Social Development Coordinator at the SPMU will be responsible for overall coordination, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the TDF in the tribal areas. The SPMU based Social Development Coordinator will perform the same function in other districts. The Social Development & Capacity Building staff in DPMUs and the PFT team will implement the key actions of the TDF with the support of the CRPs. Recruitment and HR Policy. The state governments’ reservation policy on STs will apply to all recruitment in SPMU, DPMU and PFT. A special recruitment drive to attract and employ suitably qualified ST candidates will be continued. Relevant relaxation in selection criterion will be introduced. One of the key selection criteria for the Tribal Inclusion Coordinator, the DPMs and the PFTs in the tribal areas will be sensitivity and demonstrable work experience of working with tribal communities in the state and within the country. Staff Capacity Building on Tribal inclusion and TDF All project staff and partner agencies (SSOs, Banks, partnering NGOs and government departments) will undergo orientation and induction training which will include sensitization on the tribal exclusion and development issues in the project area. The divisional, district and PFT staff will undergo more intensive training through a specially designed module which will draw on the social assessment and tribal studies, TDF, PIP, COM, GAP and the ‘social action, accountability and empowerment module’ that will be designed for the community institutions. Additional Thematic Training on legal and welfare provisions for tribal areas, tribal livelihoods and inclusion strategies will be provided through external resources.

Grievance Redressal The PFT will support the participatory monitoring sub-committee of the CDO for handling complaints. Apart from this, contact numbers and official addresses will be displayed for lodging complaints and grievance redressal. A telephone hotline number will also be provided for filing complaints. The project will comply with the Right to Information Act, 2005. Budget The TDF forms an integral part of RRLP; hence the budgets for the above interventions are not estimated separately. The required budgets for implementing the TDF will be part of the Annual Plans and Budgets of the DPMUs with larger allocations for Udaipur, Dungarpur, Chittorgarh district which has significant Tribal population for institution building, capacity building and livelihood investments. This will be reflected in the Micro-Credit Plans prepared by the target households, SHGs and VOs in the tribal areas. Since the project is aimed to cover, the poorest of the poor, 80% of the poor tribal families are expected to be covered under the project.

149

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning The M and E system of RRLP will include: Six monthly reporting on implementation of TDF; Tribal membership in SHGs, CDOs, AFs, PO, their ECs, office bearer positions and committee; Tribal disaggrgated monitoring of funds utilized by SHGs; Thematic studies and learning events undertaken on Tribal issues relevant to the region; engagement of external agencies for semi annual assessment for TDF. The SPMU would hold Monthly review meetings on the Tribal issues and challenges being faced by the project staff, seek periodic guidance from the Empowered Committee, and update the Tribal Development Framework of the project, as necessary. The baseline and midterm evaluations, process monitoring studies will include Tribal disaggregated indicators across the study themes. Some of the TDF Indicators are mentioned below: • Application of GOR policy on reservation for SC, ST, minorities, disability and women • The project will make efforts that at least 30% of CRPs would be women from SC and

ST households • Formation of exclusive Tribal SHGs, especially wherever the tribal population is more

than 30% in a village. • At least 70% of ST households are expected to be mobilized in SHGs. • In tribal exclusive villages – at least 80 % of ST from identified Beneficiary

households will be included in SHGs • At least 50% of the tribal SHGs in other project areas. • Every CDO, with tribal members between 11%- 30% of the general body, will form a

tribal subcommittee. • At least 50% of the CDO EC and office bearers will be tribal members in the

designated tribal areas. • The CDO president is expected to be a tribal in village/ cluster where there tribal

population is more than 30%. • More than 70% members of POs and its EC will be ST, BPL including PWD and

religious minorities • At least 70% of the tribal SHGs will be provided funding under the CIS. • At least 70% of the tribal SHGs will be linked to the Banks • At least 50 percent of tribal SHG members are expected to benefit from value chain

interventions either through POs or directly • At least 10% of the total outlay will be allocated for innovative action research

projects specifically targeting social and economic empowerment of the STs. • Preference to tribal youth for skill development & employment promotion- atleast 50%

of tribal population in designated Tribal areas like TADA, MADA and atleast 30% of tribal population in a village in other project areas.

The SPMU will also undertake periodic surveys and rapid assessments on Tribal’s changing status and role with forest rights, PESA etc An external resource agency will be engaged for semi-annual assessment of implementation of the tribal development framework.

150

III. Gender Action Plan RRLP aims at the social, economic and institutional empowerment of the women in the project villages through mobilization and capacity building of women’s SHG and their managed federations, enhanced access to credit for livelihoods and consumption, strengthening women’s asset base and improving livelihoods opportunities and income, improving women’s participation in local governance, enhancing women’s access to social protection schemes and entitlements of food security, healthcare, child care and employment, and enhancing the skill base of literate or semi literate young women and link them to jobs. Given the gender context of Rajasthan, this would require specific strategy and actions which have been summarized in the gender action plan (GAP). The overall objective of GAP is: Adoption of gender sensitive policies, procedures and processes in the management and governance of RRLP; building the capacity and sensitivity of male and female staff to understand and deal with gender issues; to addressing the gender specific needs and promote gender sensitive working environment for women in the Project. The objective of the gender strategy is to advance the empowerment of women so they can fully participate in the larger growth and empowerment strategy of the state. The key actions envisaged as part of the GAP are summarized below

Promoting Grassroots Leadership . The project will identify women leaders and train them as community mobilisers, community resource persons, para professionals and health workers. These will be provided exposure to community leaders in other states. CRPs will also be trained to function as Gender Resource Persons for the community institutions. Community Mobilisation . Initial consultations with the government agencies/staff, NGOs, PRI staff and representatives, women leaders, and other community leaders, during the area and village entry process will include discussion on gender discrimination and women’s empowerment issues relevant to the area, and identification of key priorities. A summary of the key Gender issues will be presented in the Area Inception Report. The participatory identification process for identifying the poor will give highest priority to SC, ST and women from religious minorities, women headed households, widows, and young women. The Area Inception Report will document the Socio- economic status of women with special focus on women from SC, ST and minority households These meetings will be used to brief the stakeholders about the gender action plan of the project. The information education and communication campaign will be tailored to communicating effectively with the women as well as men, and focus on women’s participation and gender equity themes. The communication activities will respond to the low literacy and mobility of women in the project areas and will be more visual and group based. The social mapping and beneficiary identification process will be preceded by specific briefing and orientation of the women to ensure their informed participation, along with the men. Engaging with Men . Given the highly gender unequal context of Rajasthan, the RRLP will proactively engage with the men both at the SHG level and in PRIs. The

151

engagement will be done through gender sensitization sessions in the pre-mobilization phase, regular meetings with the male members of the SHG members, CDO meetings held as part of the PRI deliberations, men’s participation in the CDO meetings. Many of the meetings of women SHGs will be used to introduce the project components on producer organizations and value chains to the men. Facilitating and Strengthening poor women’s social capital in community Institutions . The community institution strategy is based on building exclusive or women-dominated institutions at the hamlet, village, and area federation level and above. The SHG formation and facilitation strategy will factor in the practical needs of the women and will include: focus group discussions with women on their concerns and constraints with respect to SHG membership and functioning; women’s mobilization based on natural affinities and local demand; educating and sensitizing the men on women’s role in the project; SHG functioning norms based on the practical needs, capacity and status of women in the households and the community. Being largely exclusive women’s institutions, women will be in majority in the general membership, office bearer and executive and thematic committees in all the SHGs, CDOs, AFs, POs supported under the project. The CDO committees on Social Action will lead the agenda and actions on gender inequality and discrimination in the villages. Capacity Building of Women’s Community Institutions . Capacity building of community institutions will include a comprehensive programme on the theme of ‘Social Accountability and Empowerment.’ This will build on the existing capacity and build leadership among the women from SC, ST and minority households. Women will be assisted and trained to move into public domain and become office bearers and committee members in the community institutions and Gram Sabha. Specific awareness and training modules will be conducted on gender awareness and inequity in public and private spheres; Functional and financial; entitlements, legal literacy and political rights; gender sensitization of PRIs and capacity building of women PRI representatives; prevention of gender based violence and provision of legal assistance; gender based provisions of NREGA and other government programmes on women’s empowerment, welfare and entitlements; social accountability and audit; improving access to health, nutrition and reproductive health services; legal support on issues related to dowry, domestic violence, child marriage, wage discrimination and social justice; accessing information and grievance redressal etc. The CDO committees on Social Action will be trained and empowered to lead the agenda and actions on gender inequality and discrimination in the villages. Women will also review training on institutional functioning and assistance on securing Grade A. Livelihood Enhancement through Community Investment Support . The CIS component will provide women opportunities for livelihoods enhancement and asset creation. Women’s groups will receive targeted assistance and capacity building support to prepare microcredit and livelihoods plans, and access the funds on health, fodder food security and livelihoods enhancement. The planning process will involve extensive consultations with the women members of the community institutions.

152

Partnership Development . The Project will promote credit worthiness of women’s groups by increasing access to financial services through bank linkages with SHGs and federations. Women’s SHGs will be facilitated to have at least one bank linkage. About 70% of the women’s groups are expected to have bank linkage by the project completion. Bank sensitization workshops, exposure trips, and publications on bankability of the rural poor would include highlighting the gender and women’s empowerment issues in microcredit. Women’s groups will be facilitated to make presentations to the Banks on their group and microcredit activities. RRLP will initiate dialogue with UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA IFAD etc to identify project interventions, innovations and pilots which could be undertaken in RRLP project villages. Sector Support Organizations . The SSOs engaged by the project will be sensitized, and consulted on, building gender sensitive dimensions in their proposed interventions. These will be in agriculture and livestock development, technology dissemination, microfinance, non farm sector, skill development and employment, dairying etc. The SSOs will be selected to provide training to women producers, value chain development, and building skills of enterprise management and value addition among the women producer groups. Convergence . The Social Action Committee (SAC) and executive committee of the CDO will support the convergence linkages aimed under the project. These committees will be trained to undertake convergence action planning and monitoring in association with PRIs and government agencies on health and nutrition, education, social justice and empowerment, NREGA, women and child development, agriculture and horticulture, forestry etc. The community institutions of the RRLP will also support improved functioning of the school management committee, Village Health and sanitation Committee (VHC), ICDS programmes, public drug schemes, PHCs etc. Value Chain Development . The value chain development and selection process will involve consultations with women’s producer organizations and NGOs working on women’s livelihoods within and outside the state. Services of gender expert would be used to mainstream the gender dimensions in the value chain enterprises. Innovations and Research . Social Empowerment of SC/ST and women from religious minorities is a key theme under this subcomponent with about 25% allocation. The Gender coordinator of SPMU will proactively engage with gender focused agencies/NGOs to identify potential projects. Some of these innovative projects would be on supporting legal rights of SC/ST women, technical solutions for vulnerability and drudgery reduction; legal assistance on gender based violence, gender-based provisions under NREGA, development of private lands under NREGA, rights and needs of women working in mines/quarries, women labor (migrant, agriculture, bonded), empowerment of Muslim women, assistance and empowerment of disabled and other socially disadvantaged groups, capacity building of women CRPs to act as gender resource persons, gender sensitive migration, building women’s capacity and awareness on climate change adaptation etc. Skill Development and Employment . The project will make special outreach efforts to identify, train and provide employment to young women. This will involve documenting good practices and consulting with relevant agencies in identifying the skills and

153

employment sectors that have potential for women’s employment in the districts. About 30% of the beneficiaries of the employment programme are expected to be women. Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) . RRLP will support interventions for building climate resilience and adaptive capacity of poor households in rural Rajasthan. The subcomponent on adaptation pilots will base on consultations and inputs from women, their role in community planning and vulnerability assessment, and extensive capacity building of women in building climate resilience. The knowledge sharing and policy subcomponent will promote awareness on the gender dimensions of climate change and adaptation approaches through sensitization workshops, training and development of dissemination materials. Project Implementation Support:

Empowered Committee . The Empowered Committee of the Project will have representation from department of women and child development.

Gender Advisory committee. A gender advisory committee (GAC) will be set up consisting of representatives from Government, department of women and child development and others, NGOs, and research agencies/scholars to provide overall advice and guidance on enhancing the women’s empowerment and gender equity impact of the project.

Gender and Social Development Specialist. Gender and Social Development Specialist will be appointed in the SPMU, and Social Development and Capacity Building in each of the project districts. The specialist will be responsible for effective mainstreaming, implementation, supervision, monitoring and reporting of the GAP, through the social specialist at the district teams and the PFTs.

Gender and Sexual Harassment (preventive and remedi al) Policy. The SPMU will develop a Gender and Sexual Harassment (preventive and remedial) Policy for the Project and its partner agencies, with the necessary assistance of external resource agencies/persons. Gender balance in Project Staffing. Being women focused project, RRLP will undertake systematic, highly visible, and continuous recruitment drives to ensure fair representation of women staff at the state, district, divisional and PFT levels. All recruitment notifications will clearly spell out the ‘preference for suitably qualified women’. Relevant relaxation in selection criterion will be given to women candidates. RRLP will endeavor to exceed the GOR/GOI reservation targets for employing women. With the special recruitment drive for employing women, at least 30% of all project staff at SPMU, Divisional, district and PFT is expected to be women. At least 30% of DPMs and PFT Coordinators are expected to be women. The project will engage in a special recruitment drive to engage women in PFTs, and shall make attempts to exceed the 30% quota stipulated under the GOR’s reservation policy for women. Clear preference will be given to engaging women as CRPs. At least 50% of CRPs are expected to be women. Every CDO will promote Gender CRPs to act as a resource person for undertaking gender actions. All the PFT staff and the CRPs will participate in an orientation and thematic training program on gender sensitivity, gender policy of the project, and the gender action plan (GAP).

154

Gender Sensitization and Training of Staff. All project staff and partner agencies (SSOs, Banks, partnering NGOs and government departments) will undergo a mandatory orientation programme on gender sensitization, including appropriate and respectful behavior towards women in project staff, partnering agencies, and specially the women in the project villages. The divisional, district and PFT staff will undergo more intensive training through a specially designed module which will draw on the social assessment and tribal studies, TDF, PIP, COM, GAP and the ‘social action, accountability and empowerment module’ that will be designed for the community institutions. The orientation and training programmes will cover i) the Gender Policy of RRLP; ii) gender issues in the context of RRLP; iii) and GAP. Gender sensitivity and training inputs will continue throughout project implementation period and will include the Gender dimensions of accessing assets and controlling resources, labor, and rural livelihoods and the related decision making processes, within the household and the community. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning. The M and E system of RRLP will include: Six monthly reporting on implementation of GAP, MIS to track gender disaggregated indicators of SHG member participation in SHGs, CDOs, AFs, PO and their ECs and committee; Gender disaggregated monitoring of funds utilized by SHGs; Thematic studies and learning events undertaken on gender issues relevant to the region; Engagement of external resource persons/agencies on gender issues. The SPMU would hold monthly review meetings on the gender issues and challenges being faced by the project staff, seek periodic guidance from the Gender Advisory Committee, and update the gender strategy of the project. The baseline and midterm evaluations, process monitoring studies will include gender disaggregated indicators across the study themes. The SPMU will also undertake periodic surveys and rapid assessments on women’s changing status and role with respect to resources and decision making both within households and within communities; gender based violence; mobility, confidence and self esteem and other topics. The monitoring indicators would include:

• Documentation of Gender Issues as part of Area Inception Report. • % of women as project staff, PFTs and CRPs. • Adoption of Gender Policy. • Training Programme on Gender Sensitization. • Identification of Women as per the Inclusion Indicators. • IEC campaign customized to meet needs of women. • Entry level workshops for enhancing knowledge about project goals, values, and

services. • Exclusive Women SHG’s and ensure that atleast 70% SHG is of women. • 50% women will be officer bearers in all community Institutions- SHG, CDO,

PFT- Area federation and producer organizations. • % of women selected for skill training. • % of women got employment. • % of women from SC/ST/Minority got skilled training & employment.

155

Chapter 12 Environmental Safeguard

Introduction The Rajasthan Rural Livelihood Project (RRLP)—is to be initiated with the objective of increasing and sustaining the income of the poor, especially women, in the 17 selected districts of the state. As per World Bank requirements, an integrated environmental assessment study of the project is mandatory and hence the study was conducted that aims at understanding the environmental conditions, relevant policies and regulations; and preparing an EMF/Plan which include the simple sets of environmental guidelines to promote good practices with minimum environmental impacts. On the basis of climatic conditions and agricultural practices, Rajasthan has been divided into 10 agro-climatic zones ranging from arid western to flood prone eastern. Since Rajasthan is an arid/semi-arid state, availability of water for various domestic and industrial purposes is limited. Almost in each project district the groundwater table is categorized as over exploited, critical/semi-critical stage. Total forest cover in Rajasthan is 9.53%, which is low when compared to the national average of 20.6%. Soil fertility in the project districts is poor with low levels of nitrogen. The main source of irrigation is tubewells, due to which a rapid depletion of ground water is observed. All the RRLP districts have livestock density exceeding the recommended carrying capacity of land available for grazing. The western districts like Churu and Bikaner have high proportion of small ruminants (goat and sheep) as compared to large ruminants (cattle/buffalo). Degraded pasturelands and illegal encroachment of community grazing land aggravate the fodder problems, especially for small ruminants like goat and sheep. Hence, the crucial environmental issues pertinent to the project districts have been identified as: a) water scarcity and depletion of groundwater; b) groundwater salinity; c) poor soil fertility; d) poor forest cover; e) inadequate pastures and fodder management. In order to address the above issues an Environmental Management Framework to address the likely adverse impacts of the promoted livelihood activities in the project has been developed ensuring the compliance of rules, and regulations of the government of India, the government of Rajasthan and the safeguard policies of World Bank. Environment Management Framework The EMF essentially lays down a set of procedures and guidelines to deal with adverse impacts of any supported livelihood activity. The specific objectives of the EMF are:

1. To ensure that all promoted/supported activities meet the regulatory requirements

2. To mitigate any possible adverse environmental impacts of the proposed activities

3. To enhance any likely environmental benefits of the activities 4. To promote environment-friendly livelihood projects 5. To build capacity of the community institutions as well as the RRLP- project

functionaries to enable them to efficiently implement the provisions of the EMF.

156

The developed EMF is directly applicable to two components of RRLP, namely, community investment support and climate change adaptation. The Environment Management Framework (EMF) comprises a detailed strategy and procedures for environmental appraisal of activities to be promoted at SHG, CDO or producer organization level, capacity building and monitoring to enable the adoption of mitigation measures, and the promotion of environment-friendly activities as pilot subprojects. The main components of the EMF are: Environmental Management toolkit: The procedures for integrating the environmental issues in the overall livelihood plans of SHGs have been detailed out, and a format for the village-level natural resource assessment (PRA activity) has been developed for the same purpose. The information collated from this PRA activity will be useful for:

1. Understanding the environmental situation of the village 2. Identify the areas for mitigation that is required by proposed activities of the

project 3. Assessing the potential contribution of activities to cumulative impact on

environment 4. Allocating the village infrastructure investment fund for required investments at

the community level 5. Identification of interventions for proactive environmental subprojects 6. Help during internal monitoring and evaluation

Preliminary screening of the SHGs’ livelihood activities, cluster development plans, and business plans of producer organizations were conducted and all the activities likely to be promoted have been categorized as having negligible (like sewing, retail sale), low (like agriculture, horticulture, dairy, NTFP, stone carving), and medium (irrigation well, brick making) and high environmental impacts. Considering the nature and scale of the activities to be supported under the RRLP, the environmental impacts from SHGs’ livelihood activities are most likely to be small and localized, and manageable by implementing mitigation measures. Environmental appraisal: The environmental appraisal will help assess the adverse environmental impacts of any proposed livelihood plan. This exercise will be undertaken as part of the livelihood plan/cluster investment plan/business plan development process by the field-level project facilitation teams (PFTs) with the participation of the SHGs/ CDOs/POs. Each SHG's livelihood plan may include proposals for a single activity to be taken up by all members or multiple activities to be taken up by members as individuals or as small groups. In either case, the appraisal process will be conducted for the SHG livelihood plan in consultation with SHG members (Fig below).

157

Figure- 12.1 : Schematic presentation of environmen tal the SHGs’ proposed livelihood activities

The common and specific Environmental Guidelines (EG) are also prepared in the EMF plan. In appraisal of the SHG Livelihood Plans, the PFT will hold a detailed discussion with the SHG members and CDO members on the possible impacts of the proposed activity/activities, mitigation measures, feasibility of implementing these measures, and the support available from relevant departments/institutes to implement the same. This discussion session with the SHG is viewed as a capacity-building exercise as it will build awareness among the SHG members on the environmental management aspects of their livelihood activities. Subsequently, the PFT would fill the Environmental Appraisal Summary Sheet (EASS). The EASS for an SHG Livelihood Plan includes the following:

• Type of livelihood activity • No. of SHG members interested in the activity • Scale of the activity • Relevant details from a natural resource assessment of village • Mitigation measures the SHG members are interested in adopting • Need for any training, technical assistance, and so on • Legal and regulatory requirement (if any)

Once the PFT fills the summary sheet, the nodal person of the SHG and CDO would be required to sign the form. The environmental appraisal for cluster development plan would be facilitated by PFT in consultation with CDO, CRPs and paraworkers. Once the environment appraisal summary sheet is filled by PFT, the DPMU would approve the same.

SHG members identify the livelihood activity for the

preparation of livelihood plan (PFT facilitates the

process)

Environmental Appraisal of Livelihood Plan: By PFT in consultation with CRP, CDO, and paraworkers

with participation from SHG members. This must be done after referring to the environmental guidelines

Environmental appraisal summary sheet filled up by PFT and

signed by SHG. Attached to the livelihood plan

Approval by CDO

PRA exercise to gauge the

natural resources of the

village (by PFT, in

consultation with Ps)

Environmental screening

through negative list and

categorization of activities

158

Most of the producer organization activities would be classified as either medium category (detailed environmental appraisal required) or (a few) in high category, and hence, the primary screening holds mandatory. For the activities categorized as medium level of appraisal, the environmental appraisal would be carried out by DPMU. Subsequently, the DPMU would fill the environmental appraisal summary sheet (EASS).The overall process of environmental assessment for various proposed activities is depicted in Table below.

Table 12.1: Process for environmental assessment

159

Promotion of proactive environmental subprojects:

In addition to EMF, communities can take up proactive subprojects such as: i) Rainwater harvesting (farm ponds, roof top rainwater harvesting and Kund bagwani) ii) Fodder management iii) Organic farming

These proactive subprojects should be promoted: a) to demonstrate/showcase the feasibility and advantages of good environmental practices; and b) to identify the type and level of intervention required for scaling up. It is proposed that these activities should be implemented at a pilot scale in two project facilitation teams (PFTs), with three villages in each PFT per district. The PFT would identify the suitable proactive subprojects based on the environmental appraisal summary and village-level natural resource information. The Sector-specific Organization (SSO) would facilitate the process of pilot implementation, and would help in training of PFTs, partner SHGs, and CDO. Institutional Arrangement The institutional structure has been detailed out with overall responsibility and roles at the state, district, and village levels in order to ensure the successful implementation of EMF.

Table 12.2: Roles and Responsibility for EMF implem entation

Designation Overall responsibility Role in successf ul implementation of EMF State Level State Environment Coordinator

Key responsibility towards implementation of EMF

Key functionary at the state level with overall responsibility for efficient EMF implementation.

Ensuring environmental assessment and internal monitoring are conducted in accordance with EMF

Ensure that all legal requirements are met

Ensure periodical revision and updating of EGs as per requirement.

Review the overall process of EMF implementation

Ensure that external audits are conducted as per the EMF

Ensure implementation of pilot proactive environmental subprojects

Ensure that all capacity building requirements of the EMF are met.

District Level District Environment/Livelihood Coordinator

Overall implementation of EMF at district level

Ensure that the environmental screening/ assessment of the business plan proposed by producer organizations are conducted.

Ensure all the legal requirements are met.

160

Designation Overall responsibility Role in successf ul implementation of EMF Coordinate with PFT on the training requirement and technical support

Conduct half-yearly internal monitoring for all activities in all blocks

Identify the need and feasibility of proactive environmental subprojects

Ensure implementation of pilot proactive environmental subprojects

PFT Level PFT Environment/ Livelihood Coordinator

Ensuring EMF implementation at the block level

Environmental appraisal of the proposed activities

Collect data at village level for assessment of cumulative environmental impacts.

Coordinate support from relevant departments/ institutes for training/technical support to SHG members

Coordinate with SSOs and CDOs/SHGs on implementation of environmentally proactive subprojects

Internal monitoring: Periodic and regular internal monitoring by the project staff at district and state levels have been proposed through both desk review and field visits on the implementation of the EMF. A total of 10 internal monitoring exercises have been proposed for the five year duration of the project. This includes the process of assessing cumulative environmental impacts of any livelihood activity/cluster development plan or POs’ business plan. The details on the sampling design and methodology have been also provided. External environmental audit: Two independent external audits are proposed to identify ways to strengthen the EMF and identify the best practices. Performance indicators: A set of performance indicators has been developed to monitor the effectiveness of EMF implementation for all the components like process of environmental appraisal, pilot implementation of proactive environment subproject, institutional arrangement, and so on. Capacity building: Trainings have been proposed at various institutional levels for capacity enhancement of project staff and beneficiaries to ensure efficient implementation of EMF. The training program has two distinct objectives:

� To develop and enhance capacity for environmental management in the project implementation agencies, and

� To create environmental awareness and sensitisation in the target communities.

161

Chapter 13 EXIT PROTOCOL

RRLP will come out with self sustainable institutions like SHGs (30000), CDOs (2200), Producer Organizations and Area Federations in the Project area. With span of project, each CDO will have a corpus of Rs. 22.05 lacs with them for further supporting to the SHG’s members for enhancement of the livelihood activities. After project period handholding support to these community institutions would be provided by subsequent rural development programmes viz. NRLM etc. During the project, there will be a team of the para professional workers like book keeper, Krishi Jankar, Para-vet-cum-artificial Insemination at the village level to provide the technical support to the villagers on task basis in reducing manner through CDO/ Utthan Sansthan. In post project phase, task based payment will be made to these para-professionals by CDO/ Utthan Sansthan/ SHGs/ Individuals.

These institutions can also take support for the special services from the line Departments like WCD, NREGA etc.

Some Facts During & Post Project Phase

• Creation of self sustainable institutions

⇒ 33000 SHGs

⇒ 2200 CDOs having a corpus fund of 18.75 lacs

each.

⇒ 2200 CDOs having HRF of Rs. 1.65 lacs each.

⇒ 2200 CDOs having Food Security fund of Rs. 0.95

lacs each.

⇒ 2200 CDOs having Fodder Fund of Rs. 0.70 lacs

each.

• Project financial support in reducing manner for

facilitators (Community Mobilizer, Book Keepers,

Para- Professionals)

• Task based payment system to supporting para-

professionals.

• Handholding through the subsequent programs

(NRLM).