Life and Livelihoods

The complete shutdown of all economic activities except essential services, has created an economic crisis and misery for the poor with job losses + migration back to the villages from urban areas. A significant proportion of rural household incomes comes from migration and daily-wage labourers. This has only compounded the existing problems of rural unemployment, low incomes, poverty & distress.

Further, rural economies are largely agriculture & allied activities dependent (see needs assessment below). Majority of farmers are marginal owning<2 acres of land or employed as daily wage workers or working in activities like poultry, fishing etc. With all supply chain getting impacted, these marginal farmers are the worst affected and will go deep into the clutches of poverty, with no means to restart their economic activities. Given this precarious livelihoods of many rural Indians, proactive measures & structured intervention are needed to safeguard rural populations from the economic fallout of this pandemic.

Going forward, one can foresee many challenges as farmers and farm labourers set out to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. Migrant labourers who have managed to return without any savings/income in hand, will not be able to go back immediately and may be dealing with insecurities around future jobs, income, shelter & food etc. in urban areas. Some may not wish to go back also, given the travails many may have endured following the lockdown. There is a need for both relief and rehabilitation measures, to help the affected overcome the loss sustained and rebuild their lives.

We now propose a structured intervention for the support & revival of livelihoods and drive income generating activities in our rural areas. Swades will commence its interventions in the to support the following Programs for livelihood & income generation for the underprivileged and migrant rural communities:

i) Off- Farm Livelihoods – Strengthening Cashew Processing Cluster (Employing 70% women), Animal Husbandry initiatives – Poultry, Goat rearing, Dairy

ii) Non-Farm Livelihoods – Fishing (River & Creek Fishing); Skilling – for Employability & Entrepreneurship

iii) Farm Based Livelihoods – Water for Agriculture & Plantations

iv) Women Self Help Groups - Capacity Building and Supporting industries like Textile (immediately), and further for Food Processing (Papad, Pickle Making) & Dairy (Paneer, Curd, Ghee), Animal Feed (Pashu Chaat) subsequently

1. Rebuilding Rural Livelihoods through structured interventions in various Farm Based, off-Farm & Non-farm activities (Programmatic details in next section) securing locally sustainable incomes, keeping the rural population meaningfully engaged & driving economic activity

2. Social & Economic Empowerment of Women enhancing their dignity, decision-making ability, increased community participation and inculcating a sense of self-worth & confidence along with the right to control one’s life

3. Sustainable Businesses: developing & supporting SHGs to create running enterprise + building capacities for sustained economic activities (generate profits + reinvest into other economic activities)

4. Strengthening & investing in Capacities of marginal farmers & daily wage workers, in such difficult times when gainful employment is a challenge 

In total we aim to impact the lives of approximate 67,000 beneficiaries.