About Anandadhara
Background
Before NRLM, the programme of Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India that directly targeted poor families for creation of assets and self employment started with Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) in the year 1980. A major reform took place in 1999, when IRDP was transformed into Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). Self-employment through organizing poor into Self Help Groups (SHGs) became the cornerstone of SGSY.
However, a systematic review of SGSY had earlier brought into focus certain shortcomings like vast regional variations in mobilization of rural poor; insufficient capacity building of community based institutions; insufficient investments for building these institutions; and weak linkages with banks leading to low credit mobilization and low repeat financing. Absence of aggregate institutions of the poor (in many states), such as the SHG federations, precluded the poor from accessing higher order support services for productivity enhancement, marketing linkage, risk management, etc. Several evaluation studies have shown that SGSY scheme has been relatively successful in alleviating rural poverty wherever systematic mobilization of the poor into SHGs and their capacity building and skill development has been taken up in a process-intensive manner. In other places, the impact has not been that significant.
Mission & Vision
"To reduce poverty by enabling the poor households to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, resulting in appreciable improvement in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through building strong grassroots institutions of the poor"
- 6 Lakh vibrant women SHGs ? covering the most vulnerable sections of society: 3.24 crores of poor people impacted positively by the movement.
- 3341 Women?s Cooperatives in the State at the Gram Panchayat level providing financial services to members.
- HG Institutions playing a positive and significant role in the poverty reduction plan of the Gram Panchayat (meaning the entire rural landscape).
- Women leaders developed at the grass-root level for ensuring that women have a voice in determining their future as well as the future of their community
Salient features
Focus on most vulnerable: SC/ST, minorities, particularly
vulnerable tribal groups, single women and women headed households, disabled,
landless, migrant labour, isolated communities and communities living in
disturbed areas. Formation and nurturing of inclusive institutions like SHGs
and their Federations at village, GP and block level. Continuous capacity
building, key to strong institution building and empowerment (enabling the poor
on requisite skills for: managing their institutions, linking up with markets,
managing their existing livelihoods, enhancing their credit absorption capacity
and credit worthiness, etc.) Project Funding: Revolving Fund to SHGs, Community
Investment Fund and Vulnerability Reduction Fund to Federations / Sanghas
(providing financial literacy & catalytic capital) Emphasis on at least 2/3
major livelihoods (farm, non-farm and off-farm), accounting for 80-85 % of the
incomes of the poor & primarily agriculture and livestock (as a coping
mechanism, poors have multiple livelihoods) NRLM encourages public sector banks
to set up RSETIs in all districts of the country. RSETIs transform unemployed
rural youth in the district into confident self-employed entrepreneurs through
need-based experiential learning programme followed by systematic handholding
support. Banks are completely involved in selection, training and post training
follow-up stages. NRLM would seek to ensure that the infrastructure needs for
the major livelihoods activities of the poor are met with. It would also
provide support for marketing to the institutions of the poor. NRLM would place
a very high emphasis on convergence with other programmes of the Ministry of
Rural Development and other Central Ministries and programmes of state
governments and also reputed NGOs, identified National Resource Organizations
for developing synergies directly and through the institutions of the poor.
Dedicated sensitive support structures at all levels to trigger social
mobilization.
Training Management
