South Asia Agriculture and Rural Growth Discussion Note Series March 2020 1 Social Inclusion: Implementation, Outcomes and Key Learnings Context The Government of India (GoI) approved the building community -managed institutions of them to increase household (HH) incomes National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) the poor, and universal financial inclusion. through livelihood enhancements and in June 2011 to implement a renewed improved access to financial and public demand-driven strategy of rural poverty The central objective of the NRLM is to services”. The overall approach is driven by alleviation and sustainable livelihoods, “establish efficient and effective institutional the following core beliefs and assumptions based on universal social mobilization, platforms of the rural poor that enable about the rural poor: 1.The poor have a 3. Institutions of the poor strong desire, and innate are platforms for collective capabilities, to graduate action and self-help, which out of poverty; increase their voice, space, and bargaining power; 2. Local human and 4. External, dedicated and social capital - such as sensitive support structures community resource play a crucial role in persons (CRPs) and inducing and sustaining community leaders - are social mobilization, crucial in addressing institution building and poverty concerns; empowerment processes. The mission has implemented a range of Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe (SC/ST) (ST), Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups social inclusion strategies in the country, households, and vulnerability reduction (PVTGs), single women and women including Participatory Identification of measures such as the vulnerability reduction headed families, landless and casual labor, the Poor (PIP), state specific poverty fund (VRF), health and food risk funds etc. elderly persons, person with disabilities assessments, promotion of inclusive (PwDs), minority groups, people living community institutions and community The mission prioritized the inclusion of in remote geographies and in uncertain cadre, priority targeting and mobilzation of the Schedule Caste (SC), Schedule Tribe political environment. Following a cabinet decision in 2015, the mission decided to Evolution of NRLM automatically include: As the program evolved, its focus 1. households expanded to include trafficked included as women, transgender persons, 3. households identified per “inclusion” Particularly Vulnerable Tribal on the Participatory criteria of the Groups (PvTGs), Witch-hunt etc. Identification of the Poor Socio Economic (PIP) list, as the target Caste Census households for NRLM. (SECC) 2011); 1.65 million) 2. households 4. DAY-NRLM is with at also mandated least one to ensure 15% “deprivation” representation criteria of women from (86.9 million) minority groups. Intervention: Inclusion strategies Prioritizing Poorest Geographies are mobilized and organized into Self Help Groups (SHGs) based on affinity and The DAY-NRLM is mandated to reach out, proximity. At least one member from each mobilize and support over 90 million rural household, usually a woman belonging to poor households across 600 districts, 6000 the poorest village areas, is initiated into blocks, 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats, in 6 lakh the SHG network within a time frame of villages. The National Rural Livelihoods two years. Project (NRLP) supported through World Bank funding, as a sub-project under This process is spearheaded by external the Mission, aimed to create a proof of and internal community resource persons concept for the DAY-NRLM. The NRLP was (CRPs) and social mobilizers. The SHGs implemented in about 571 blocks across rural assessment (PRA) exercises that are federated into Village Organizations 161 districts in 13 low income states that included social maps, wealth and wellbeing (VOs) and the VO mobilizes further account for over 85 percent of the rural poor ranking/grouping, vulnerability rankings, households. DAY-NRLM has also in the country. The state rural livelihood transect walks to poorest village hamlets supported and co-opted pre-existing SHGs missions (SRLMs) had applied pro-poor, etc. Through this process of participatory and SHG federations that accounted for inclusion criteria to select their first phase identification of the poor (PIP), a village 70 percent or more BPL households. The blocks based on higher concentration of list of different categories of poor and mission aims to ensure that 50 percent of poor and SC/ST households. A significant vulnerable households was prepared. the beneficiaries are SC/STs, 15 percent share of these prioritized blocks are The PIP would list the DAY-NRLM target are minorities and 3 percent are persons expected to have a strong overlap with households as poor or poorest of the with disability, while keeping in view the the GoI’s Transformation of Aspirational poor (POP), as well as by social category. ultimate target of 100 percent coverage Districts Programme. The list so prepared was endorsed by of identified rural poor families. Nearly the Gram Panchayat and the household 277,000 community professionals and included in the list would also become the CRPs (SHG members themselves) have target households under DAY-NRLM. A been trained and are responsible for specific advisory on the standard operating project implementation on the ground. procedure on PIP was issued to the SRLMs, and State Missions were provided Promoting Socially Inclusive Institutions training in the PIP process. NRLM places emphasis on building inclusive, participatory and accountable federations – a process intensive task that requires sensitivity and the active involvement of the community. Women Participatory Identification of the Poor from SC/ST and minority households are included in leadership roles within the To ensure that no poor family is left out, SHGs, VOs, Cluster Level Federations NRLM implemented multiple strategies for (CLFs), Producer Groups (PGs) and identification, inclusion and mobilization Producer Organizations (POs). The of target households. All rural poor Social Action Committee (SAC) of households with at lease one deprivation, VOs and CLFs undertakes collective as listed by the Socio-Economic and Caste Universal Social Mobilization social action and promotes inclusion Census (SECC) conducted by MoRD, are by preparing lists and coordinating the target households under DAY-NRLM. Mobilizing the poor to form their ‘own visits to HHs left outside the purview In addition, during village entry, social institutions’ is a hallmark of the NRLM. of SHGs in order to enroll and offer mobilizers would carry out participatory After identifying the PoP households, they them handholding support; as well as Inclusive Livelihood Models for the Poor It is well established in development literature that borrowing for emergency food NRLM recognizes that the poor have and health expenditures in distress often multiple, seasonal, farm and non-farm leads to the dispossession of productive livelihoods, and focuses on stabilizing and assets and loss of livelihoods among the promoting their existing livelihoods portfolio, poor. NRLM has supported the primary as well as diversifying them into more remu- SHG federations to allocate dedicated nerative areas. The mission also fosters a resources to finance food and health vision of bringing all beneficiary farmland expenditures, in addition to resources for within the ambit of sustainable agriculture. livelihoods assets. Certain key livelihood interventions (with a SHGs are empowered to coordinate and clear bias toward socially excluded commu- respond to exigencies by preparing and to represent them at socio-political nities and POP households) have focused operationalizing micro-plans. Models such as forums and inform them about various on community-managed sustainable financing food purchases from PDS and bulk government entitlements and programs. agriculture (CMSA), goateries, fisheries and purchases from the open market – which are NRLM support structures facilitate and Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) based distributed as in-kind loans – are tailored to nurture these institutions such that they interventions. Several SRLMs have tailored address food security. SHG members are become truly independent, self-managed focused interventions to suit ultra-poor HHs. encouraged to contribute to separate ‘Health and self-sustained over a period of time. Risk Funds’ to meet health emergencies. Vulnerability Reduction Fund (VRF) All State Rural Livelihood Missions Access to services, safety nets and (SRLMs) have deployed State Program A VRF has been provided to address the entitlements Managers (SPM/PM) to anchor and special needs of vulnerable SHG members support the key thematic programs of Large government resources/entitlements social inclusion, social development and such as the Public Distribution System convergence with other government line (PDS), pensions, Mahatma Gandhi National departments and programs. At the district Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme level, these programs are managed by (MGNREGS), social insurance, health dedicated staff, while at the community services, etc., are able to strengthen level there are more than 16,000 CRPs the household economy with additional viz., Yojana Sakhis, Setu Didis, Gender incomes, savings on expenditure and Point Persons, Poshan Sakhis who focus increased consumption. The DAY-NRLM variously on nutrition, health and sanitation has actively leveraged the SHGs for reliable agendas with community. and efficient delivery of these services and entitlements. or destitute non-members in the village. VOs are empowered under the aegis of a Vulnerability Reduction Plan (VRP; a par- ticipatory bottom-up plan) to recognize and address food insecurity, health risk, sudden sickness/hospitalization, natural calamity, etc., faced by individual HHs or the commu- nity. These plans can also be aggregated at the Gram Panchayat/Cluster/Block level and converged with other departments. Community institutions created under asset risks of the poor and vulnerable Bima Yojana, Prime Minister Jeevan Jyoti the ambit of the mission are mobilized to households. They have converged with Bima Yojana, Rashtriya Swasthya Yojana expand the coverage of micro-insurance insurance schemes launched by the GoI, and agriculture and livestock insurance services – particularly life, health and such as the Prime Minister Sureksha schemes. Implementation/Achievements: Inclusion Outcomes more than 7.75 million women The program has effectively targeted some of the poorest 2,586 households with more than Cluster/Panchayat 56 percent of the households level Federations mobilized into SHGs belong to (CLFs/GPLFs) SC/ST and minority households. Under the aegis of the DAY-NRLM 42,500 more than 67.9 million women have 6,77,000 VOs been mobilized into 6.14 million SHGs SHGs. In addition, 3,56,313 village NRLP, as of organizations and 31,781 Cluster/ March 2019 Panchayat Level Federations have been promoted. Area Specific self-sustaining community institutions. This special project was designed as a prototype Interventions for for the DAY-NRLM, to be implemented Vulnerable Groups across the country. Several special projects and pilots for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities SRLMs were engineered as proofs of (PwDs) concept in order to bring vulnerable and marginalized communities into the fold To ensure greater inclusion of persons and universalize key lessons and insights. with disabilities into the program, SRLMs Some of the major pilot projects were have adopted a participatory vulnerability designed to promote the social inclusion of communities in Kerala, the Ministry of victims of human trafficking, persons with Rural Development (MoRD) approved the disabilities (PwDs), the Lepcha in Darjeel- Attappady Comprehensive Tribal and PVTG ing, West Bengal and PVTG communities development special project in 2014-2015. in Attappadi, Kerala. Some experiences are An overall allocation of INR 52.12 crore was enumerated below. made for seven years, wherein the first of two phases (April 2014 - March 2018) was Attappadi Comprehensive Tribal and allocated INR 30.19 crores. The project PVTG development special project mobilized nearly 7,500 families among the Irula, Muduga and Kurumba tribal Against the backdrop of the high communities in Kerala and helped facilitate rate of infant mortality among tribal the formation of the four-tier PIPs to create assessment as an entry point activity to among the community. The aim of the identify households with disabled members. Lepcha Inclusion Project was to build a The promotion of SHGs with exclusively vibrant, sustainable institutional structure differently-abled persons and their caregivers with Lepcha women at the center of SHG was prioritized. Organizing PwDs into groups based federations, in line with traditional has led to an increased awareness of - and structures of the community. access to- their rights and entitlements. About 790 Deptong (SHGs) DAY-NRLM prioritized financial support comprising 7,527 Lepcha women, in the form of a Revolving Fund (RF) and have been federated into Community Investment Fund (CIF) to these 295 Kyongs (VOs), 30 Thooms SHGs. The mission provided 50 percent more (CLFs) and 1 Poom (Central-Level funds to these SHGs, as CIF. Tamil Nadu of Kalimpong and Darjeeling district, Federation) named Mayel Lyang has led the way in vulnerability reduction and West Bengal, are among the most Deptong Mahila SHG Cooperative rehabilitation interventions for PwDs. marginalized communities in terms of Society Ltd (CLF), which is access to government and social systems, registered under the Cooperative Lepcha Inclusion Project (Kingchoom basic infrastructure etc. This ensued Societies Act. Darmit Rural Livelihood Mission) a cascading effect on generations of Lepchas, culminating in low education, Lepchas, an indigenous tribal community malnutrition, ill health, decline in livelihood residing in the mountainous terrain base and loss of culture and language Social Development health and nutrition at every meeting. A Master Circular on FNHW was issued to The convergence strategy adopted all States outlining the interventions and under the DAY-NRLM has successfully suggested modes of implementation. The provided SHG members access to rights, intervention covered more than 600 blocks entitlements and services of government in 13 NRLP states. schemes and programs. Thematic verticals like food, nutrition, health, Water Sanitation Tamil Nadu and Kerala escalated the and Hygiene (WASH), education, local original interventions to address the health governance, social security, etc. were and nutrition needs of the elderly and the addressed under this strategy. Some disabled persons, as well as focus on non- examples are enumerated below. communicable diseases. They developed and Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), and a pool of 23 National Resource Persons Food, Nutrition, Health and WASH primarily focused on generating demand (NRPs) and 50 State Resource Persons (FNHW) for their services. Significant strides have (SRPs) to provide technical support to been made by women’s SHGs in Bihar, SRLMs, and developed capacity building To reduce expenditure on medical Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, modules for staff and community. care, increase economic productivity Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and and improve the quality of life of rural Uttar Pradesh to promote the usage of SWABHIMAAN women and their families, DAY-NRLM toilets. The mission promoted social and promoted necessary and appropriate behavioural change practices centered on The SWABHIMAAN project was originally Food, Nutrition, Health and WASH (water, maternal and infant health and hygiene. implemented in five tribal blocks across sanitation and hygiene; altogether FNHW) Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Bihar, in interventions upfront. These interventions In 2017-18, an advisory on Dashasutri collaboration with UNICEF. Following a converged with the activities of the was issued by MoRD to all States, which successful implementation of institutional National Health Mission (NHM), Integrated mandated that SHGs and VOs were to systems to address maternal under- Child Development Services (ICDS) address and discuss issues relating to nutrition, after a period of three years the PRI-CBO convergence: details of pilot projects 598 Gram Panchayats 598 Gram Panchayats PRI In 67 Blocks CBO across the eight states of 598 Gram Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Panchayats Maharashtra, Odisha, 12,497 Rajasthan, Tripura and SHGs Chhattisgarh. that each of the institutions may leverage Organization (NRO) to support other the strengths of the other. The MoRD has SRLMs on PRI-CBO convergence. supported the SRLMs to champion pilot PRI - CBO convergence pilot projects projects on PRI-CBO convergence with the cover 12,497 SHGs in 598 Gram following objectives: Panchayats in 67 blocks across the eight • Empower the poor to know, demand states of Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, and access rights and entitlements, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tripura • Include poor and vulnerable sections and Chhattisgarh. in local development process, and • Make Gram Panchayats responsive and accountable by making them inclusive and increase participation in project completed a baseline study and the Gram Sabha and working of the commenced field level implementation in all Panchayat. DAY-NRLM villages. Several capacity building measures have Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) - been initiated to mainstream convergence Community Based Organizations (CBOs) in general and Panchayat–Community Convergence Pilot Projects based Organisations (CBOs) convergence in particular. The State Rural Livelihoods DAY-NRLM promoted partnership and Mission of Kerala (Kudumbashree) has convergence between PRIs and CBOs so been designated the National Resource Key Lessons and the Way Forward Monitoring and Evaluation stakeholders and successfully facilitated Social inclusion and saturation has community engagement on issues of unfolded in a phased manner While the Participatory Identification poverty and vulnerability, its execution and of the Poor (PRA/PIP) exercise found quality monitoring at scale has remained a The social inclusion process under NRLM widespread acceptance among all challenge. happened in three discernible phases. The first phase was through the social mobilization drive of external CRPs, the second through VO leaders and community cadre (active women, social mobilizers, internal CRP) and the third phase through community leaders. PoP households need more focused interventions, supported by dedicated teams PoP households, comprising the bottom populations that they are meant to target, and include the most vulnerable sections 10 percent, lack the basic assets and skills a concerted effort towards promoting of rural communities with women at the to participate in DAY-NRLM institutions, community ownership is built into program forefront, provides critical lessons for similar and suffer multiple deprivations and design. By creating champions among rural community development programs. As discrimination based on caste, gender and program beneficiaries it is envisioned that the program continues to mobilize excluded remoteness. It is a cause for concern if successful interventions will be sustainable households, there is a need to expand the PoPs are not being served in an impactful and replicable, while retaining the end goal scale of existing social inclusion initiatives way by the universal institutions of the of inclusivity at their core. and facilitate access to other government poor. The mission needs to develop rights and entitlements. tailored, household-focused and differential Systematic tracking of inclusion strategies to lift this constituency out Building on these lessons of poverty. Successful interventions in The DAY-NRLM MIS has consistently and good practices, the next this regard have been led by the states tracked the proportion of SC and ST generation of rural livelihoods of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, households among total SHGs, SHG programs including the NRETP Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. More membership, leadership, borrowers of CIF, will work to graduate the robust learning, evidence and dissemination and as beneficiaries of other livelihood livelihoods of the poor through of information on economic mobility of the support interventions. This cross-cutting inclusive groups including PoP households are required to develop and sustained tracking of inclusion is rare Producer Collectives. Finally, state-specific, targeted interventions. among government programs and has efforts need to be made to contributed significantly in the achievement ingrain and sustain the progress Sustainability of impressive social inclusion outcomes. made towards challenging restrictive cultural and gender To ensure that these interventions The scale and reach of DAY-NRLM’s norms. continue to benefit the marginalized unique interventions designed to mobilize About the discussion note series This note is part of the South Asia Agriculture and Rural Growth Discussion Note Series, that seeks to disseminate operational learnings and implementation experiences from World Bank financed rural, agriculture and food systems programs in South Asia. Author(s): Varun Singh, P. Usha Rani Series editors: Alreena Renita Pinto, Deepti Kakkar Publication design & illustrations: Satwik Gade We are grateful for the generous support from the Ministry of Rural Development, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Department for International Development, and various State Rural Development departments. Disclaimer: The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this note are entirely those of the author(s) and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations or to members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent.