About Special SGSY Projects

The Special SGSY Projects titled “Promotion of Integrated Natural Resource based Livelihoods for the poorer households” in Dumka, Godda, Gumla, Khunti and Lohardaga districts of Jharkhand are being implemented in the selected blocks of above mentioned districts. The main focus of the Special project is large scale capacity building of poor families to facilitate adoption of improved technologies and practices to attain rapid growth in farm and farm allied sectors and enabling them to access mainstream markets to sustain the economic gains.

This Special SGSY Project is designed to capitalize on the extensive social mobilization of women achieved under “Social Mobilisation around Natural Resource Management (S.M.)” a collaborative programmes of Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), India implemented through a network of NGOs involving PRADAN in project implementation in Dumka, Godda, Gumla, Khunti and Lohardaga districts.

As a logical extension of the above effort, the Special SGSY projects endeavours to create sustainable livelihood opportunities for 25,000 poor families who were the part of Social Mobilization Projects in the identified districts. Additionally, the project envisages mobilizing an additional 17,400 poor families through promotion of Self-Help-Groups (SHGs) of women. A majority of the target families would be drawn from socio-economically weaker sections such as Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities and Other Backward Communities (OBCs). Using a group based approach, the projects will demonstrate and expand the potential of integrated development of natural resources and appropriate farming systems along with unleashing opportunities in farm allied sectors, financed through a combination of people’s own labour/contribution, bank loans and government subventions as a strategy to remove mass poverty in the project area.

The project would:

  • Nurture women’s SHGs in the project area to take up livelihood activities and promote up to new SHGs to saturate the project area and expand social mobilization.
  • Promote block level SHG federations in blocks. These institutions will be solidarity bodies to help the empowerment process of the women, in seeking their rights and entitlements.
  • Implement a variety of land and water development activities for 80% of the target families aiming at harnessing/ recycling rainwater in a highly dispersed way (in-situ).
  • Assist the selected households to diversify current Kharif paddy centric farming to include cash crops, horticulture, agri-silviculture, livestock rearing etc.
  • Intensify and modernise crop-based agriculture.
  • Introduce livestock based enterprises for marginal farmer families.
  • Promote a cadre of community based service providers to provide hand holding assistance and linkage with credit, market and technical agencies to the participating SHGs member families.
  • Promote and nurture suitable producer organisations (cooperatives or producer companies as per the new Act) to provide sustainable systems for services to the project participants.
  • Develop market linkages for various tradable farm products being promoted by it.

Most families reached by the project would be assisted to take up a mix of activities suited to their resource endowments and needs.

The project period is for three years, commencing from February 2009.

The combined budget of the five projects stands at Rs. 68.34 crore, out of which, people’s own contribution is Rs. 6.81 crore, bank loans is Rs. 10.44 crore, convergence is Rs. 10.41 crore, subsidy from the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India is Rs. 27.92 crore and subsidy from the Department of Rural Development, Govt. of Jharkhand is Rs. 12.77 crore.

The projects are being executed by DRDAs of Dumka, Godda, Gumla, Khunti, Lohardaga and implemented by PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action), an NGO that has been engaged in grassroots action in Jharkhand for over two decades.

The projects are being monitored by State Level Monitoring Committee (SLMC) headed by Secretary, Rural Development Department at the State level. The District Level Facilitation Committees (DLFC) headed by the Deputy Commissioners monitor the project in respective districts.

For more information on INRM, log on to www.pradan.net