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Highlights of #SwadesBuildingLivelihoods Telethon: Building Livelihoods Of Over 15,000 Needy Households
New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV), in collaboration with Swades India, a non-profit organization has initiated a drive #SwadesBuildingLivelihoods to raise funds to build livelihoods of 15,000+ most needy households (tribal, migrant/daily-wage homes and others, poorest of poor families) in rural Raigad and Nashik districts of Maharashtra. The aim is to create self-sustaining communities as their capacities are built, inputs and market linkages strengthened to ensure that every household earns at least Rs. 2,00,000 per annum through a basket of programs - be it farm based, off-farm or non-farm interventions.
The current COVID-19 pandemic and associated slowdown has impacted livelihoods and resulted in inflow of over 90,000 people back to their villages in Raigad. Further, cyclone Nisarga left loss of property and livelihoods. The situation continues to be a double whammy for both residents and the reverse migrated families.
While as a first response, immediate relief with medical aid and grocery/daily essentials has been released, the parallel need now is for recovery, to overcome loss sustained and build their livelihoods.
Here are the Highlights of the #SwadesBuildingLivelihoods Telethon:
James Crabtree, Former Mumbai bureau chief, Financial Times. Associate Professor of Practice, at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore on the telethon:
The approach of looking at the villages as whole, which Ronnie and Zarine were doing, is what got me interested. I have been tracking this from here in Singapore. While the pandemic started in cities and then hit rural areas, they are most affected. So the kind of things that Swades is trying to do is to help rural areas become more resilient. It is trying to find employment opportunities for those leaving the cities and going back to village.
#SwadesBuildingLivelihoods campaign is raising funds to build livelihoods of 15,000+ most needy households (tribal, migrant/daily-wage homes and others, poorest of poor families) in rural Raigad and Nashik districts of Maharashtra.
Our aim is to create self-sustaining communities as we build their capacities, strengthen inputs and market linkages ensuring that every household earns at least Rs 2,00,000 per annum through a basket of programs - be it farm based, off-farm or non-farm interventions.
In our farm based intervention we build check dams and harvest rain water to irrigate land enabling farmers do a second crop and for some even a third crop augmenting their farm based income by 4 to 5 times. We have so far irrigated over 2,500 acres of land and most of it through drip irrigation.
With our off-farm interventions we engage households in poultry, goat rearing, dairy or fishery augmenting their income by Rs 25,000 to 80,000 per annum. We provide input support, training and continuous handholding and so far have created over 13,000 entrepreneurs.
Through our non-farm intervention, i.e., skills training for youth, we ensure that the youth are imparted with the right skills to enable them find employment or are self-employed. We have placed over 2,600 youth in employment with an average annual earnings of Rs 1,00,000 resulting in more than doubling of their family income in most cases.
The current pandemic and associated slowdown has impacted livelihoods and resulted in inflow of over 90,000 people back to their villages in Raigad. Further, cyclone Nisarga left loss of property and livelihoods. The situation continues to be a double whammy for both residents and the reverse migrated families.
Whilst as a first response, we have supported immediate relief with medical aid and grocery/daily essentials, the parallel need now is for recovery, to overcome loss sustained and build their livelihoods.
Founded by Ronnie and Zarina Screwvala, the Swades Foundation operates with a single-minded focus of empowering one million rural Indians every 5 to 6 years. Our USP is a 360° intervention inside-out model of development, with a multiplier effect. Our holistic approach covers all aspects of individual and community development through 4 key verticals – Health and Nutrition, Education, Water and Sanitation and Economic Development. Our strength is our ~1,300 strong team comprising 1000+ community volunteers and 270 full time staff (FTE specialists and professionals); 90% FTE work at the grassroots, making us a strong execution foundation.