Development of Common Lands allotted to Dalits Top

AFPRO is supporting 75 families of Dalit and backward class Communities of villages Borkhed and Mangwadgaon in Beed District, Maharashtra for developing 85 ha of common lands that are now their possession. These lands are quite degraded which had rendered cultivation impossible. An innovative method of support to farmers for land and water resource development activities in the form of loans from a revolving fund is being used in this project. The loans are transferred in the form of direct payments by the local partner NGO or VDC for labor and material utilized. AFPRO is providing technical and facilitation support to the farmers.

World Vision Top

World Vision India and AFPRO are working together in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for poverty alleviation through soil and water conservation and drought mitigation programmes. AFPRO is providing technical assistance to the World Vision India Area Development Programmes in Perambalur, Palani, Thally, Mannargudi, Kalrayan hills and Usilampatty. These regions are highly drought affected areas. The people living here are generally poor or marginalized tribals who do not have access to basic infrastructure. Agriculture is their main occupation. While agricultural lands were dependent on canals or tanks for irrigation, there was a large scale infestation of weeds in the feeder channels and tank water spreads, heavy silting, choked or leaky sluices and damaged surplus weirs, weak or reduced tank bunds, and other similar cases of improper construction and management. Lack of recharge measures and over-exploitation of ground water resources have further compounded the situation. The failure of monsoons has led to abysmally low crop yields, and even crop failure. In the absence of allied trades, the poor inhabitants have been forced to migrate seasonally in search of livelihood options.

In order to improve the situation, tanks and other water impounding structures are being desilted, deepened and developed. Additional structures like check dams and earthen dams are being constructed. Bunding and trenching is being undertaken in order to promote a second crop. These measures will help recharge the aquifers and ensure water in bore wells and open wells. Fish rearing is being promoted as an alternative for income generation.

All these activities are being implemented with the avid participation of the community. Selection and location of project components was done in consultation with the community. Through activities for awareness creation, the formation of Water and Sanitation Committees, exposure visits for community representatives, the community is being capacitated and given responsibilities for monitoring construction work and eventual maintenance of the structures.

Drought Proofing Programme Top

Activities were carried out in 5 districts, four districts in Gujarat namely Ahmedabad, Banaskantha, Patan, Sabarkantha and Mehsana, and Udaipur district of Rajasthan. The project area was divided into three broad categories - Hilly Tribal region of border Gujarat and Rajasthan, Alluvial region of Banas and Saraswati river, and Bhal region of Kambey basin. While the comprehensive Watershed approach was used in the hilly tribal region, a combination of separate soil and water conservation measures were used in the other two regions. 23 villages populated by 3320 families of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes have benefited. 

Drought Mitigation Programme Top

Wells for India is funding this programme that is seeking to improve the quality of life of tribal villages on the Aravalli hills. Repeated droughts have hit the natural lifestyle of these people, leaving them to struggle for water, food and fodder. AFPRO’s socio-technical support for planning and effective implementation of the programme is helping capacitating these people to create replicable models of drought mitigation for the region.

Started in June 2001, the programme is being implemented by ten grass root level organizations. 5487 people belonging to 1122 families of the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Castes in ten villages are the benefiting partners. The programme aims to address surface and subsurface water conservation, soil and moisture conservation, afforestation and wasteland/pasture land development; agriculture and horticulture development; animal husbandry; rural energy; income generation programmes and community level capacity building. 

AFPRO was also able to link the programme with Government Drought Relief Programme, and under this alliance intervened in 6 villages with 6 of the programme partners. Various activities were undertaken such as construction of field bunds, gully plugs, a loose stone check dam, counter trenches, farm ponds, stonewall terracing, protection walls in individually owned lands. The labor for this work was provided by the villagers themselves, who were paid in terms of food grain and cash. About 25000 person days of employment were generated during this work

Bundelkhand Consortium Watershed Development Top

Through the efforts of the AFPRO, funding partners CRS, OXFAM, IGSSS-Lucknow and FORRAD, New Delhi formed a consortium with the common goal of development of natural resources for three poor villages in Bundelkhand. The project, Bundelkhand Consortium Watershed Development Programme, is being provided socio-technical support by AFPRO. The Bundelkhand region suffers from deforested and degraded lands, a situation compounded by water scarcity. The small land holdings and small agricultural yields force the locals to resort to migration almost throughout the year. The 3 villages, Nathupura, Rampura and Pathrondi are populated by 576 SC, ST and OBC households.

Soil and water conservation measures have been implemented in the programme. This has helped control the soil erosion and land degradation as well as increased water for irrigation. Wells have been dug for the purpose in agricultural land. The people have been trained on organic farming, FYM and NADEP pit construction, Vermi-composting, Integrated Pest Management, Seed grading and priming, and other sustainable and environmentally friendly agricultural practices. Various trainings on group and institutional activities have been provided to help improve organizing, analytical and decision-making abilities of the community.

Process Monitoring of Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project (APRPRP – Velugu) Top

AFPRO providing services of process monitoring to the World Bank supported Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project being executed by the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP). This project works across 864 mandals in 22 districts, of which AFPRO is involved in five districts.

The objective of the project is to capacitate women so as to act as catalysts in the path of poverty reduction in the state. The beneficiaries of the project, chosen on the basis of participatory identification, are organized into Self-Help Groups, which federate into Village Organizations, and these further merge into Block or Mandal Samkhyas. Projects and activities for development are made at all these levels and submitted to the District office for approval. The process monitoring component seeks to observe the status of conversion of project inputs into expected outputs.

AFPRO’s role is to assess whether all planned project activities are executed and to help inculcate in the project staff a sense of accountability to the community they serve. Additionally, AFPRO also has to generate a learning and feedback mechanism mainly to enable required adaptation particularly in the early stages of this project. The role of process monitoring also entails the duty of empowering communities by linking the project to the community needs and demands, and to assess existing styles of work and management. Finally, AFPRO also has to facilitate required changes within the project, local institutions and involved government agencies. These critical issues and ground level information will help management make decisions necessary for improving effectiveness, as well as aid the replication of best practices.

Sustainable Tribal Empowerment Project Top

This project for tribal community empowerment is being implemented by CARE in four areas of northern Andhra Pradesh, in collaboration with ITDA. This project which seeks to improve the quality of life of the poorest and most disadvantaged tribals is being provided technical support by AFPRO in Paderu region.

The project aims to achieve its objective of tribal community empowerment by strengthening and capacitating community institutions, promotion of participatory planning, facilitate the establishment of community initiated micro-projects, link the project with other ongoing regional projects for poverty alleviation, and help improve the quality of services delivered by ITDA and partner NGOs.

Measures for development of natural resources, especially water, are being made implemented in the project.  These are to be based on a land plan which guides in the selection of an appropriate site for the water body, treatment of catchment areas, and utilization of various categories of land. A mechanism for maintenance of structures by the community has also to be established.

During this project AFPRO will identify 200 potential sites for project implementation in consultation with local partners and ITDA. Subsequently it will facilitate the development of project proposals for each of the sites, supervise the implementation through local partners, monitor the activities, and facilitate trainings for site supervisors on the qualitative aspects of implementation.

AFPRO has set up a satellite office in Paderu and recruited specialist project staff to complete the task. They are supported by specialists from AFPRO’s office in Hyderabad.

Vulnerability Assessment And Enhancing Adaptive Capacity To Climate Change In Semi-Arid Areas Of India Top

An innovative project funded by SDC’s (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation) Global Environment Fund called “Vulnerability Assessment and Enhancing Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change in Semi-Arid Regions of India” is currently being implemented in Andhra Pradesh (Mahabubnagar District) and Rajasthan (Udaipur District).. AFPRO and MANAGE (National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management) from Hyderabad are part of a National Consortium of three agencies formed for this purpose and lead by M S Swaminathan Research Foundation. An International Consortium consisting of INFRAS and Inter Cooperation (IC) is playing an advisory role.

The objective of this programme is to secure the livelihoods of rural poor and vulnerable communities by building and enhancing their adaptive capacity to better cope with adverse impacts of climate change and improve their disaster preparedness. Adaptive mechanisms for this purpose will be developed on the basis of an assessment of the vulnerability of certain arid regions to climate change. In addition to this, the project aims to improve delivery systems, especially of extension services, and to promote multi-level policy dialogues and general awareness on the impact of climate change.

Earlier experiments under the same fund on coping with climate change have resulted in the understanding merely mitigating the effects of climate change would not be sufficient to face the great and as yet unforeseen impact of this global phenomenon. Adaptive mechanisms will address not just the present impact, but also future changes and associated impacts.

AFPRO’s role involves grounding the programme activities at the grassroots or community level, connecting people and research and bringing their perspectives into research, cooperating and coordinating with grassroots NGOs, CBOs and state level organizations.

This four-year project will look into three crucial areas – Water (Availability and quality), Agriculture (Food Security) and Rural Energy (Biomass). While the first year has been kept apart for project inception, the next two years will be utilized for implementation. The last year is to be spent on policy dialogue, outreach and dissemination.

The project is a result of intensive consultations between SDC India, SDC Natural Resources Unit, Inter Cooperation (IC) and INFRAS and implementing partners and has been formally approved by the Government of India. The project document which is the basis for implementation was developed as a result of a Design Workshop held at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi for this purpose. Around 50 experts from various institutions and specializations participated in the workshop.

Grassroots level consultations were also held both at Hyderabad and Udaipur wherein AFPRO brought in farmers, academics, NGOs and CBOs from different parts of each state on a common platform. This helped develop wider perspectives on ground level issues and decide on the selection of sites for project implementation.

Community Based Natural Resource Management Top

EED, Germany and AFPRO have been working together for rural development in the Northeast for the more than two-and-a-half decades in four of the states. The Community Based Natural Resource Management Programme is the latest in the series of programmes designed towards this end. Working with NGO partners in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, the partnership reaches out to tribal and deprived communities living in interior villages of the region.

The focus of activities been natural resource based development for enhancing water availability, food security and livelihoods in the region. Hence AFPRO has been providing socio-technical support for drinking water and sanitation, water conservation, agriculture, horticulture, small-scale livestock, fisheries, and the strengthening of village institutions. The programme seeks to attain its goals through a participatory and sustainable approach. Income generation activities and formation of Self-Help Groups are also being taken up for providing employment opportunities and livelihood options.

Many innovative technologies and approaches have been adopted for achieving the project goal. Among those implemented for provision of drinking water and sanitation facilities are gravity flow and rainwater harvesting systems, horizontal roughing cum slow sand filters for water purification, and low cost bamboo leach pit latrines. Plantations of various fruits and spices (pineapple, banana, orange, ginger, etc), and other useful plants like Assam fan palm (toco patta) and betel palm or Areca catechu have been encouraged and are being implemented. Activities for land development like terracing and compost pits too have been taken up. People have also been facilitated in rearing pigs and poultry

The programme places a major emphasis on training and capacity building activities. Much training has been provided in the above mentioned areas. Among these, a unique focus has been placed on mason’s training, specially on-the-job training during implementation of low-cost latrines to ensure its replication.

District Level Monitoring (DLM) of Programme under Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) Top

AFPRO is providing its services to the Ministry of Rural Development of the Union Government in it District Level Monitoring Programme. A huge amount of budget allocation is made for poverty alleviation through launching of different schemes by the Ministry and it was felt to develop a strong mechanism to monitor the flow of funds and it’s utilization at the district level. Since July 2004 to March 2005, AFPRO was entrusted the task of monitoring rural development programmes in three districts Sambalpur, Nuapada and Kalahandi in Orissa. District wise physical and financial reports for 14 ongoing schemes (mostly for the identified poor) with data/figures are submitted to MoRD every month. In the year 2003-2004 AFPRO had been assigned the task of monitoring programmes of MoRD in three districts of Chhattisgarh, viz. Bilaspur, Kawardha, and Raigarh,  and one in Orissa, viz. Deogarh

The exercise has been initiated to ensure that authentic and reliable information about programme performance reaches the Ministry with regularity, and to check and verify the physical achievements reported. Besides this quantitative aspect, it seeks to ensure qualitative feedback regarding implementation and policy environment at the district level for increasing effectiveness and removing bottlenecks in implementation.

As a result of the programme, changes have taken place at different levels. While there has been an increase in the awareness levels of villagers regarding different schemes of the government, maintnenance of records and scheme-wise reporting too has improved at the district level. On the other hand, there is a lot of room for improvement, especially with respect to dissemination of information, use of local language in documents and records management.

Food Security & Irrigation Project for Tribal Farmers of Chhattisgarh Top

The tribals of Chattisgarh are being provided development support in project funded by Lutheran World Relief. AFPRO is providing the socio-technical component to grassroots partners and communities, and coordinating the implementation. Eight NGO partners working in 6 districts of Chhattisgarh are involved in this project which began in July 2003.

The project was designed after meetings with the stakeholders and works towards increasing food available for the community through soil improvement measures and provision of water for irrigation in participatory and sustainable manner. For this environmentally appropriate measures of tapping water, combined with soil conservation techniques and organic farming are being adopted. Village level institutions are being developed so as to produce sustainable and replicable impacts.

Watershed Development By The Marginalized Communities Of Kandhamal District Top

AFPRO and JANA VIKAS are involved in a project capacitating marginalized communities to carry out a watershed development project on their land in Kandhamal district of Central Orissa. This TROCAIRE supported endeavor is serving fourteen villages populated by 300 SC/ST/OBC families. They have to struggle with the degradation brought about by heavy soil erosion caused by sloppy meandering streams.                 

A participatory watershed development plan was first drawn up by AFPRO based on its study of field level problems and potentials. During the year 2004-05, project activities primarily involved strengthening peoples’ organizations like Watershed Development Committees (WDC) and Watershed Development Associations (WDA). This was primarily achieved through motivational trainings, capacity building exercises and awareness programmes for project staff and group leaders. While concepts and components of watershed development and bio-interventions characterized the technical trainings, awareness generation activities focused on rights and situations including the social aspects of gender, social equity and empowerment.

The period kept for project implementation has been increased from the 3 to 7 due to difficulties faced in community organization and encouraging people’s participation. This was done in consultation with the partners due to the importance associated with community mobilization while appreciating field level difficulties. 

Improvised Chuans For Irrigation Top

A pilot project for adapting chuans (traditional shallow wells) for use in irrigating vegetable crops during the Rabi season is being carried out by AFPRO. This project is  supported by SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation) and concentrates in selected villages in Khurda and Nayagarh district through partner organizations VIKASHDHARA at and NISWARTHA respectively.

The traditional chuan is being lined with concrete for sustainability. For irrigation, water is being lifted out of this well using either a treadle pump or a traditional lever based water lifting device called tenda. Recharge pits have also been suggested upstream. This is usually successful in high water table areas such as riverbeds or the downstream side of water retaining bodies. Each chuan is usually shared by 3- 4 small farmers. They are encouraged to cultivate low water consuming crops.

Successful vegetable cultivation by the farmers in village Kodiakahania in NISWARTHA sets a model for replication. The need to use the water for vegetable cultivation on sharing and not for higher water requirement crops such as sugarcane calls for intensive convincing and motivation of farmers. In the villages of VIKASDHARA the learning on selection of right beneficiaries from Kantabada and on site feasibility in Bhola forced selection of new villages and beneficiaries to meet the criteria,