PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS AMONG THE TRIBAL COMMUNITIES ADILABAD District, Telangana

Poverty is one of the major problems among the tribal communities within the targeted area. The prime occupation of the area is agriculture which is highly dependent on seasonal rainfall for irrigation due to a lack of appropriate soil and water conservation practices. Due to this the overall agricultural production highly varies and thus the area's rural communities have to strive for food and livelihood during harsh conditions. Further, due to a lack of knowledge about appropriate market linkages, the farmers do not get back fair prices for their produce; as a result, most of them live below the poverty line. The lack of adoption of diverse cropping options and the absence of effective alternate income generation options is also a major constraint in hampering the socio-economic development of the tribal population in the area. In addition, due to seasonal and unpredictable income from agriculture, the majority of community youth migrate to the nearby cities in search of jobs which mainly include labour work.     

Moreover, Most of the villagers, majorly women are illiterate and they give very low importance to education and skill-based training. Due to this, the majority of women within the area are unemployed and they normally stay at home and work or work outside the home, usually alongside the men in the agricultural fields. Women's productive work consists of a mix of agriculture, gathering of non-timber forest products, and wage labour. What they do at any given time depends on whether they have land and the time of year. Women's workday generally consists of 16-18 hours of often physically demanding labour, but they do not consider this work drudgery, but rather a way of life. At the same time, women are also expected to look after their families. Adolescent girls are also often abstained from pursuing education and going for professional jobs and are normally forced to marry at a very early age. 

Also, due to financial constraints, the majority of willing adolescent girls are unable to pursue higher education / professional courses and therefore remain engaged in agricultural activities. As a result, the targeted area has remained highly backward in terms of socio-economic development. In view of the above, there is an urgent need to promote education and employment among these women to ensure effective skill development and empowerment among them.  

The proposed project shall be conducted within the villages of the Mancherial block of Adilabad district and shall benefit about 200 unemployed tribal women by promoting education and appropriate employment opportunities among them. The project shall start with sensitizing the rural communities and Gram Panchayat about the importance of the intervention for the overall development of the women and the community itself. The community mobilization shall be followed by conducting orientation training for the existing 20 SHGs, each SHG comprising 10 women, who will be trained about the group functioning and managing their expenses. Entrepreneurship training will also be imparted to these SHGs and this will consist of entrepreneurship-specific training on quality control advertising branding etc. Market studies will be conducted to identify the most profitable business and then the women will conduct the market study to find out the scope. They will be taken for an exposure visit to a similar sort of microenterprise so that they understand the challenges of setting up an enterprise. The enterprise's profits will be kept aside as a health insurance pool from which the women will withdraw the money in case of emergencies. These SHGs shall also be trained on effective bank linkages including account opening, taking loans, undertaking transactions, etc. 

Thereafter, a skill development training program on Backyard Poultry Farming and Backyard Kitchen Gardens shall be provided to these SHGs wherein every member shall be provided with theoretical as well as practical hands-on sessions. The training shall also be facilitated by conducting exposure visits to ensure a better understanding of the concepts among the beneficiaries. These training will not only improve their untapped skills but also raise self-confidence among them. Further, this shall provide an alternate source of income generation for their families thereby ensuring food and livelihood security. 

Improved overall education status of the targeted area., Increase in the annual income of SHG members.

The targeted women shall become self-reliant and be able to effectively contribute towards family expenses. 

SHGs shall also start an enterprise through a pooling of expenses.

Increased participation of rural women in village elections.  

SHG formation may be extended to other areas in the district and even to other districts, thus empowering rural women. SHGs shall sell their products in the neighbouring districts and States. 

The women in the neighbouring districts shall get motivated and demand similar interventions in their area.