Transcript Building Community Based Institutions in Western Orissa Rural

BUILDING COMMUNITY BASED INSTITUTIONS IN
WESTERN ORISSA RURAL LIVELIHOODS PROJECT FOR
GREEN DEVELOPMENT
G Bhaskar Reddy and Niranjan Sahu
ORISSA WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT MISSION
ORISSA,INDIA
WESTERN ORISSA RURAL LIVELIHOODS PROJECT(WORLP)
WORLP
 Goal: To reduce poverty through more effective ways of
promoting sustainable rural livelihoods
 Approach: NR-based watershed platform, ‘watershed
plus’ addressed livelihoods
 Area: 4 districts of rain-fed western Orissa
Watershed ?
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Approx 500 ha
Rainfed area
Low productivity
Scarcity of water
Occurrence of drought
Poverty
Vulnerable community
Climate risks in WORLP
High variability of rainfall:
1.
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Drought and dry-spells:
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3.
gives two peak periods of food stress
Dry-spells every 2 years
Major drought every 5-6 years
Flash floods during the rainy season.
WORLP region characteristics
 Reduced natural environment
 Weak asset base (esp. access to natural, financial and
human capital)
 High levels of unemployment
 Low levels of literacy
 Poor health indicators
Socio economic profile…..
Well Off, 9
Very Poor,
29
Manageable,
24
Poor, 38
Very Poor
Poor
Manageable
Well Off
Watershed Plus: the WORLP Strategy
 Based on the sustainable livelihoods approach
 Participatory planning – based on real needs
 View vulnerabilities with a climate lens, thereby reducing them
 Increase climate resilience of communities (including low carbon
approach)
WORLP at a glance……
• Government initiatives funded by DFID,UK
• Project Period
:
2000 to 2010
• Project Outlay
:
£ 32.75 million
• Operational Area
:
Bolangir, Nuapada,
Kalahandi &Bargarh
• No of Blocks
:
29 Blocks (Phase I)+ addl 8Blocks (Phase II)
• No of Watersheds
:
290 Watersheds phase-I
387 Watersheds in Phase-II
• WORLP OPERATES IN A WATERSHED PLATFORM
Operational Modalities…….
 WORLP Components:
 Promoting livelihoods improvement
 Capacity building
 Encouraging an enabling environment
 5 year project cycle
 Introduced watershed plus approaches to WS
 Area development @ Rs 6000/- per Ha (US$= Rs 43)
 Additional livelihood component @ Rs 3500/- per ha
( Plus component)
 Technical Support
The Western Orissa Rural Livelihoods Project
outputs
 The poorest are organised and able to plan and
implement;
 The livelihood asset base for the poorest is
enhanced and diversified
 Partnerships
 Policy and practice constraints are reduced
 Project approaches are adopted across the State
Five Outputs:
Potential bearing on Climate Change:
The poorest are organized and are able to plan
and implement participatory livelihoods
focused development effectively.
Where social capital is raised, communities are
more resilient and better equipped to handle
climate shocks effectively.
The livelihood asset base for the poorest is
enhanced and diversified in 290 microwatersheds.
An enhanced and diversified asset base,
especially for natural and financial assets, should
permit increased adaptability and reduced
vulnerability.
Government, PRIs and NGOs work together to
implement participatory, livelihood focused
development effectively.
Policy and practice constraints to livelihoods
are reduced in the areas of Non-Timber Forest
Produce, migration, land rights, disaster
preparedness and gender issues.
The Project approaches are replicable
elsewhere in the KBK region and Orissa.
Better convergence and pooling of ideas and
resources will strengthen the capacity of
stakeholders to deal with climate stresses and
encourage building on each others’ strengths.
Policy issues which all have a direct bearing on
reducing climate stress.
Approaches proven helpful in reducing climate
stress can be identified and scaled up.
Potential link of Climate change to project outputs
Developmental challenges
The capacity of people living in these areas – in particular
the poor – to adapt to a changing climate, and their
potentially increased vulnerability to increased levels of
stress, becomes a strategically important issue.
Building social capital by organizing community into
different community based organizations helps the
community to become more resilient towards these
changes
Institutional arrangements
DFID
STATE
Watershed Mission
Managers/Asst
Managers
MC
PSU
DISTRICT
Project Director
(Watersheds)
APD
CBT
BLOCK
PIA
LST
WDT
VILLAGE
Watershed
Committee
SHGs
UGs
MC: Management Consultant, PSU: Project Support Unit, APD: Assistant Project Director, CBT: Capacity Building Team,
WDT: Watershed Development Team, LST: Livelihoods Support Team, SHGs: Self Help Groups, UGs: User Groups
Institutional Issues
 Dedicated Institutional delivery
 Strengthening of Watershed Mission
 District watershed offices in 4 WORLP Districts
 SMS (Subject Matter Specialists) engaged at all levels.
 NGO PIAs in watershed development.
 Capacity building through CLRC in WORLP
 Technical support to WORLP
 Promotion of Community based institutions
 Replication of participatory processes in non-WORLP watersheds and other
projects
Community based institutions
 Watershed Associations
 Watershed Committees
 Self help Groups
 User Groups
 Common Interest groups
 Community Link workers
Social Capital accumulation
 Total House holds(HH): 1,89,686 (Phase I: 84,427+phase
II:1,05,259)
 80% poorest households are members of groups
 4250SHGs; 65,000 members ; Rs. 6.5 crore savings; 3476 SHGs linked
with banks
 5,395 user groups with more than 39,327 members
 Rs 3.7 crore WDF contribution by community
 Human Capital development through skill up gradation
 Participation of women in decision making
Strategies to reduce pressure on
natural resources
 Alternate livelihoods opportunities through on-farm
and off-farm income generation activities
 Food security through Grain banks
 Nutritional security through Kitchen gardens and
tuber crop promotion
 Increase capacity of the community through better
practices
 Institutionalized capacity building through Cluster
level resources centers(CLRCs)
Development interventions for
green jobs
 In-situ soil and water conservation
 Tree plantations
 Water harvesting
 Organic farming
 Composting
 Low cost micro-irrigation techniques
Results
 These interventions provide eco-system services such
as availability of water, food, clean air and also mitigate
the effect of Green House Gases (GHGs).
 Creation of green jobs
 The eco-system services have also impacted the lives,
livelihoods and the environment positively.
 Increased drought coping capacity
 Inclusive development
 Empowered community
Lessons learned
 WORLP operated in Government structure has helped
create ownership, scale up and replication by
Government in other watershed programmes
 Reducing poverty through increasingly diversified
livelihoods
 Both NRM and Livelihoods components should be
implemented in tandem to realize larger impacts
 Plurality of institutions at the watershed level has
enabled implementation of pro-poor strategies and
has helped in reducing vulnerabilities of the poor
people