FOSTERING ORGANISATIONS FOSTERING ORGANISATIONS FORFOR AND AND WITHWITH THE POOREST THE POOREST

AND HUNGRYAND HUNGRY

T.Vijay Kumar, IASChief Executive Officer

Society for Elimination of Rural PovertyGovt. of Andhra Pradesh, India

Core beliefs about poor …

Immense desire and innate ability to come out of poverty

A strong spirit of volunteerism

Obstacles –psychological, social, economic, political - suppress this capability

Social mobilization – to unleash innate abilities

Poor can come out of poverty only through their own institutions

Organizations for the poor - catalysts

Why: To induce social mobilization

Nature: Sensitive, dedicated, support organizations

Who: Government Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, and, Local self government

Prerequisite: firm conviction in the capability of poor, and, in organizations of the poor

All interventions must demonstrate internalization of the core beliefs about poor

Role of Governments

Enabling atmosphere and long term commitment for social mobilization

Effective pro poor policies and programmes

Belief in empowerment and organizations of poor

Dedicated institutions for nurturing organizations poor

Scaling up – whole state, country

Building organizations of poor …

Organizations for poor initiate social mobilization

Dedicated and committed personnel

Start with women - forming Self Help Groups (SHG) - 10 to 15 members, based on affinity

Thrift and credit, collective action around key issues

Group activities strengthen members, and, vice versa

Nurturing groups – role of support organization

Key for a strong foundation

Regular capacity building of Group members and leaders

Facilitation role in group meetings

Guidance on collective action

Link with key service providers

Role changes when federations of poor emerge

Federations of poor – force multipliers

Social mobilization does not stop at SHG level

Federating all S.H.Gs at village level – multiplies strength of the poor

Federation understands better the problems of the most vulnerable poor

Collective actions acquire scale and momentum

Greater pressure on service delivery

Self management – reduce dependence on support organization

Freedom from hunger:

Effective accessing entitlements – P.D.S, Employment Guarantee scheme

Collective action – market intervention – bulk purchases

Financial intermediation

Logistics management

Strengthens bonds between S.H.Gs and Federations: win – win -win

Village federations and food security in A.P, India

Food security seen from ‘consumption’ and ‘distribution’ view, and not from production side

Poor solve their food insecurity by organizing themselves into consumer cooperatives

From ‘coping’ to ‘planned intervention’

Traders see poor as important bulk buyers and quality conscious customers

All these positive impacts from investments in organizations of poor

Paradigm shifts from A.P initiative

Organizations of poor at higher level to:

Support member organizations

Influence policies and programmes in favour of poor – ‘voice of poor’

Linking other organizations with poor – banks, markets

Take over some roles of support organizations

Virtuous cycle - interventions strengthens bonds among the tiers, and, enhances capacities to do more

Higher Level Organisations of the Poor

Scaling up? – poverty eradication by poor

Partnership between organizations of the poor and for the poor – crucial for scaling

5 years of intensive work to create impact in a limited area

Emergence of strong institutions, and, champions from poor

Scaling up for a state or country – another 5 – 10 years

Unique role of community resource persons from intensive phase

Impacts of social mobilization in Andhra Pradesh, India

Intensive phase (1995 to 2000) - 500 villages and 100,000 rural poor women organized

Scaling up – 2000 to 2007 and continuing

90% of rural poor households organized

8.7 million women in 688,000 S.H.Gs, 31,500 Village federations, and 946 II tier Federations

Accumulated corpus of US $748 million

Bank loans to S.H.Gs - $50 million in 01/02 to

$850 million in 06/07 – 17 fold increase

Low interest loans to S.H.Gs – freedom from exploitative debt

Impacts in Andhra Pradesh, India …contd

Comprehensive food security – 1.6 million households now, 8.0 million by 2010

75 Community financed nutrition centers for pregnant women– 100% safe deliveries and 100% normal birth weights

Collective actions for:

Livelihoods promotion

Social issues, gender equality

Service delivery improvement

Accessing all anti-poverty programmes

All key interventions will be scaled up statewide in 5 years