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Livelihood

Strategy

Rural Livelihood & Microfinance

In rural areas, AIF concentrates on those geographies and constituencies that are characterized by being chronically drought-prone, undulating topography, an acute degradation of natural resources, semi-arid climatic conditions and afflicted by shortages of drinking water. In these places, even in years of adequate rainfall, crop distress is caused by the gaps in the rain at critical points of time in the crop growth cycle. In these geographies due to limited livelihood opportunities, people experience a high degree of out-migration seasonally or for extended periods of time, mainly of a distress nature. While the landless and asset-less are the first to migrate, small and marginal cultivators, whose eroded land productivity makes them unable to meet their food requirements for the entire year, are equally vulnerable. The poor and excluded communities are often trapped into widespread indebtedness, and have also been historically disadvantaged and deprived of development benefits. In such situations, people tend to be caught in multiple forms of vulnerability and marginalization, such as living with food scarcity, livelihood insecurity, ill-health and debt bondage.

In such geographies, AIF’s emphasis is on improving poor communities, particularly women groups’, with access to and additional control over natural resources, mainly around water and forest. Alternative and sustainable uses of water and forest are promoted in enhancing livelihoods opportunities. AIF believes that water is an important resource for improving rural livelihoods, reducing vulnerabilities, regenerating ecology and building economic futures. The link between water and development is recognized in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which set specific targets for water: By 2015, the population which has no sustainable access to safe water resources must be halved. But challenges surrounding equitable use and access to water are complex, and these have intensified in recent times due to abuse of ecology and poor management of water sources. This has put tremendous pressure on water resources, as well as a rise in competition over water resources, resulting in tensions and insecurity around water rights and claims.

AIF partners’ efforts are largely directed towards community mobilization, forming women’s self-help groups, and strengthening community-based institutional arrangements. This will ensure the sustainability of these institutions, proactively resolve the competing resource-use conflicts, and bring women’s perspectives to the top of the priority list. Particular attention is given to encourage dialogue to resolve contentious issues, allow women to make key decisions and choices, and lay dawn transparent resolution strategies and mechanisms to address conflict resolution. Systematically documenting community watershed works with an objective to learn from different situations - especially on conflict resolution and gender - and influencing the larger discourse and public policy, are of highest priority for AIF.

Before restoring and enhancing the productivity and ecology of a common natural resource base such as a village tank and commons, communities fragmented over entrenched conflicts are brought together, and in many cases encroachments and disputes have to be negotiated and resolved. AIF partners experiences have been that water harvesting works have been instrumental in contributing to crop diversification, rejuvenating and conserving soil and water resources, and generating additional employment and income. This benefited more where partners operated in rain-fed areas and fragile ecology, and cautiously targeted the poor and marginal farmers’ stake even beyond the planning and actual investment phase. This strategy has helped in increasing choices for the rural poor who do not wish to migrate.

AIF however realized that though interventions in community based low-cost earthen watersheds works do help significantly in reducing the vulnerabilities of small and marginal farmers, it may not necessarily help much to the absolute landless in the villages in many situations. Most of the natural resources under common or government ownership which are important sources of fuel, fodder and livelihoods for the landless rural poor, often tend to be poorly managed and highly degraded. The situation is further compounded by hostility from vested interests, violence, exclusion of landless families by traditional caste-based structures, and a lack of a public space that could bring them together and formulate common actions. Existing governance structures of Panchyati Raj Institutions rarely function on the principles of inclusiveness, gender equality, transparency and collective decision-making.

Beyond agriculture, non-farm income generating livelihood options have thus been viewed as one of the major sources of livelihoods for the pure landless, or sometime for artisans groups who have been gradually ruined or experienced a rapid death of their craft occupation. Off-farm livelihood sectors that AIF partners have been working on are: animal husbandry, poultry, tasar etc. In order to protect the producers’ interests from the vagaries of a highly volatile market in commodities, for instance, attempts are made to set up producers associations or companies. Sudden fluctuations or a crash in commodity prices often leave the producers at the receiving end. Promoting producers’ collectives, preserving stocks, and simple value addition facilities are the preferred strategy for avoiding a distress sale and dealing with controlling cartels in a commodity market. Simultaneously, in view of an increasingly market-driven economy, exploring links with corporate and research and technology institutions for developing new value-added products are also emphasized.