Livelihood Interventions

UDP Interventions

Often Indian farmers are not able to access new technologies in an efficient manner. As a result, their productivity is relatively low. Other challenges involved with agriculture in India are that food production is the second largest cause of GHG emissions such as CO2 emissions.

Sustainable Livelihood Initiatives

CREATE has played a strong role in enhancing the livelihood of farmers. One such initiative is the SFURTI initiative, which was initiated in the two villages of Baraulia and Hariharpur in the Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh.

The focus areas of the intervention are: Educating and building the capacities of the local farmers to enable them to grow high return crops and learn about new farming techniques; Collectivizing farmers to benefit from scale and joint mechanisms of production, processing and forward linkages to leverage better profits from farming; Improving the returns from livelihood for the local farmers and also erstwhile artisans by linking them to profit making initiative of cultivating medicinal plants; Creating and handing over to farmers an infrastructure for processing of crops to enhance their marketability; also ensuring sustainability through handing over such a crucial unit to farmers’ collectives.

Farmer clusters were formed based on the medicinal plant that they want to cultivate. The farmers were asked to give in their names for the crops/plants that they would like to cultivate after they were sensitized with the pre-requisites for each crop. A recce of their land was done by experts to ascertain the condition of the land and soil before finalizing on plantation. Soil testing was done. Only after due diligence, quality seeds were sourced from reliable sources, such as CIMAP, Tata Trust backed clusters and recognized practitioners, and were provided to the farmers.

Sowing of medicinal plants such as Mint, Coriander, Lemon Grass, Turmeric, Vetiver, Basil, Menthe and Drumstick were initiated in a planned and systematic manner. A standard package of practice was established for each crop with the help of senior scientists and experienced practitioners.

As a result of CREATE’s efforts, today approximately 654 farmers are linked with this initiative and benefitting from it either directly or indirectly. The Common Facility Centres are a platform for the farmers to directly sell their crops to the buyers, thus increasing profitability for the farmers. These Centres are also providing opportunity for employment to 50 farmers. This is now working as a sustainable model by creating the ‘Pavni’ brand of spices, which is selling in these localities and generating income for the stakeholders.

Strengthening Livelihood Opportunities

CREATE runs certificate courses for electricians to enhance their employability. (A CSR initiative of Legrand) We have so far worked on these 15 districts of 10 states of India. So far as many as approximately 6000 electricians have been benefitted by this particular intervention.

Supporting Nano Enterprises

Module Building and Packaging Under the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Funded Project Named Promotion of Women-Led Enterprises in Uttar Pradesh

Project named Promotion of Women-led Enterprises to enable an intergenerational change in the lives of 244,000 women by leveraging women-led solidarity platforms, particularly Cluster Level Federations (CLFs), and nurturing entrepreneurship through a ‘social innovation’ approach. The project aims to capacitate 350 CLFs across the 4 states of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, and Jharkhand, leading to 100,000 women-led enterprises set up across diverse sectors over a period of 42 months. Based on DA’s existing evidence, we hypothesize 200,000 people will be directly employed in the 100,000 women-led enterprises, out of which at least 30%, i.e., 60,000 will be women. In addition to livelihood security, DA proposes the empowerment of at least 84,000 CLF members and the achievement of greater agency by them within their family, community and economy, Hence, the proposed project will impact the lives of 244,000 women (50,000 in Phase 1 and 194,000 in Phase 2).

For the purpose of transferring the knowledge on Entrepreneurship to the Cluster Level Federations, modules are to be developed and customized based on pedagogy best suited to them. The Technical Vendor- CREATE is being onboarded for module development and packaging based on their past experience of delivering similar products for multiple Government agencies, Multilateral agencies and other women empowerment programmes.

The Project entails Module Development on Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development and Entrepreneurship Promotion:

Conceptualize and design modules in both English and Hindi.
Develop comprehensive content, including theoretical descriptions, FAQs, Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) for tools, and practical tips for on-ground implementation.
ToT Manual Creation:
Prepare a detailed Training of Trainers (ToT) manual.
Include session flows, agendas for module delivery, activity plans, and orientation guides.

Technical Support:

Develop knowledge tools and packages based on these learnings.
Provide expertise in conceptualizing, designing, and content development.
Ensure the modules align with Development Alternatives’ mission to empower women and their institutions.