Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project

1. Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project Targeting and Inclusion of poor An Experience

2. Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project Poverty is multidimensional and Many times not in the form we try to visualise. • It is a relative phenomena with respect to - • Assets & Finance • Geography • Gender • Social discrimination • Access • Risk & Vulnerability • Compositely, it is more a deprivation from a dignified life. • The real challenge for development projects is to ensure inclusion poor and deserving households in the development process.

3. A framework…

4. Knowing the situation • Information collection on: • who is vulnerable • Where • Who is at risk • Why • How: • Baseline – Two levels • Depth (41 villages) • Width (822 villages) • WBR • Extensive consultation with communities for selection of beneficiaries

5. Targeting and inclusion in practice.. • Geographical • Project participant selection • Pro-poor intervention • Inclusion thru institutional sensitisation • Capacity building • Participatory M&E • Voice and response systems

6. Geographical • Selection of districts / villages: • Identifying the districts with poor human development indices • Worst connectivity and remoteness • Poor natural resource endowments • Predominance of tribes • Higher percentage of ST/SC • Low percentage of Female literacy

7. Project participant selection (and transparency) • Criteria defined by communities at local level – no rigid definitions by the project • Participative relative well being ranking of the households • Wellbeing ranking repeated regularly at hamlet level • Validation of Well being category at Gram Sabha • Display of HH well being category at a common place in village

8. Pro-poor interventions • Project focuses on taking up works which mainly poor benefit from • E.g.: goatery, basket making, NTFP… • Convergence with entitlement programmes for basic needs • PDS, Mid day meal, NREGA

9. Inclusion thru institutional sensitisation • Gram Sabha ownership on the process of identification of poor • Project Facilitation team to facilitate the process at Gram Sabha • Flexible Project operational Guidelines. • Empowering GS to accommodate the needs of the poor and marginalised • Facilitation to include the poor men and women in village level institutions. • System for revision of the Well-being class by Gram Sabha • Participatory monitoring of width & depth coverage by the project

10. Capacity building • Sensitisation (mentioned earlier) • Leadership programme with existing and new institutions • Promoting community institutions to take up collective voice • Less class room training; exposure and learning from each other

11. Participatory M&E • Participation Index tool – used for tracking inclusion and exclusion • Gram Sabha self assessment (which include pro-poor assessment) • Social audit • Transparency boards (e.g. display of well being ranking)

12. Voice and response systems • Strengthening gram sabha to raise the issues critical to poor • Sensitising leaders to be pro-poor • SHGs strengthened to take up social issues • Leading by example – implementing processes and costs • which set local standards and benchmark for raising transparency and accountability issues

13. Struggles • Existing social and power structures • Illiteracy • Local contexts and realities • group dynamics, historical problems… • Heterogeneous populations and caste politics • Geographical factors • remoteness of the villages, nearness to markets / roads • Performance pressures (physical and financial progress approach) push us away from working with poor • Easier to work with rich and much faster spend monies • Local leaders (specifically Sachivs) who the project is unable to work with or influence