This document summarizes the work of an organization over 25 years empowering rural and tribal women in India by addressing factors contributing to their poverty. The organization enhanced production through scientific cultivation methods and value addition, diversified livelihoods through compatible enterprises, and strengthened market linkages. This approach was implemented for lac production, poultry, and goat rearing in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, benefiting over 20,000 women. Impacts included increased skills, knowledge, incomes, and decision making power for women as well as environmental benefits from tree planting. The organization aims to further scale up by strengthening monitoring, adding more products, promoting producer groups, and linking women to relevant government schemes.

1. 25 years of Empowering Women, Building them as Entrepreneurs

2. Overview of problems of rural –tribal women in Project Area
Factors
responsible
for poverty
• Low literacy, patriarchal mindsets, high population, religion & caste discrimination
• Poor health facilities leads to poor health and incidence of malnutrition
• Depletion of natural resource for survival (Agri, NTFP & livestock)
• Lack of knowledge and skills to tap better opportunities
• Poor governance support
• Alcoholism and left wing extremism
Factor
affecting
higher
income
• Lower & remotely disaggregated production at high cost of production
• Poor quality of land and infrastructural support to natural resource based income generation
avenues
• Limited Job Options
• Traditional cultivation practices with meager exposure to new technologies and improved/
scientific practices
Factors
affecting
market
linkages for
rural-tribal
women
• Poor support from financial intermediaries (loans/credit)
• Lack of knowledge on technology, Value addition and authentic market information
• Economy of scale and scope
• Exploitation by traders (under weighing, unfair grading and opportunist pricing)
• Lack of basic infrastructure (warehouses, transport facilities, packaging material

3. Services to address problems
Enhance
production
Process up-gradation
• Scientific methods of cultivation for Farm, NTFP, Livestock based enterprises
• Basket approach: adding compatible products value chains
• Deliver business services to achieve economy of scale
• Capacity building at key nodes of Value chain
Product up-gradation
• establish processing unit for primary & secondary level
• federated women FPOs/ cooperatives/WEGs
• Standard operating mechanism- step guide from harvesting to primary/secondary value addition
Diversify
livelihood
options
• “Basket Approach” or Economy of Scope for irreversible livelihood
• Compatible products locally suitable, technological feasible, environment friendly, affordable and
appropriate to women and also have significant market value (lac, agri-crops, mushrooms, kitchen
gardening/ BYP, NTFPs, micro enterprises)
Strengthen
market
linkages
• Deliver BDS (advisory services, financial & market linkages, convergence and dovetailing with government
schemes)
• Identifying multiple buyers (multiple products) to negotiate better with market and economic agents
through women led cooperatives
• Train groups in conducting detailed market feasibility, exploring and using best market strategy for better
negotiation

4. Enterprise Basket to diversify livelihood of rural-tribal women in Project Area
Madhya
Pradesh &
Chhattisgar
h
• Lac (PSCL) and Brood farm
• Livestock care services (vaccination, feeding and shelter practices) for
backyard poultry and Goat Rearing
• Lac cooperatives

5. Geographical coverage and outreach
Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh
No. beneficiaries 11,000 9,000
No. of Districts/
Blocks Villages
1 district/3 block/56 villages 4 districts /5 blocks/106 villages
Enterprise Basket
Lac (PSCL) • 4,628 indirect lac producers
• 8,688 direct lac producers
• 7,684 direct lac producers
• 14 indirect lac producers
Brood farm 11 brood farms with 883 lac producers • 5 brood farms with 107 lac producers
Lac cooperatives 1 cooperative formed with 19 lac
producers
In process
Semialata
plantation
1,26,953 plants planted in 29.76 acre by
116 lac producers
50,000 plants planted in 11.5 acre by 6 lac
producers
Livestock services 12,907 (birds) and 6,437 (cattle) with
2,403 families
21,943 (birds) and 6,608 (goats) with
3,557 families

6. Impacts
Change in
Behaviour
Change in skill
• Adopted necessary business skills i.e. mobility, public speaking, bargaining, record keeping and etc.
• Saving habit and increased income through diversified activities
• Increased mobility for enterprise management
• BDSPs working as trainers to spread best practices
• Moved-up to the value chain to have more control on the value addition processes and better profit margins
Change in Knowledge
• Adopted improved practice of vegetable cultivation, kitchen gardening, accessing livestock care services
• Increased production and reduced cost of production
• Adoption of better management practices for multiple enterprises (mushroom, vaccination services, NTFPs)
Change in attitude
• Transition from collection to cultivation of lac and adoption of vaccination to birds/chicks
• Challenging social norms of a woman not being able to run a business
• Risk taking and competition facing ability enhanced
• Decision making in domestic and public sphere increased
• Access and control of women over cash increased
Change in
Policy
• The tools and equipment support to sustain NTFP production (including lac) is now supported by GoI.
• Semialata plantation is accepted and taken forward by Forest officials/Department and supported through MNREGS
• Discussion to incorporate Lac tress based farming system ( mainly semialata) under crop –insurance is started at
various forums

7. Impacts/Results
Change in
Institution
• Received best lac promotion institution” award from honorable Chief Minister of Jharkhand
Change in
Environme
nt
• Around 1.5 lac Semialata plants planted on 41.26 acre land.
1 acre trees annually consumes the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to the Oxygen
annually inhaled by 18 person.

8. Learning and experience
• Strong M&E systems need to be in placed to capture and document changes in people’s
lives
• Need to bring more products in the livelihood basket of rural-tribal women to ensure
regular and increased flow of income (i.e. tamarind, chironjee, custard apple, drum-
stick, gooseberry, mahua, cashew nuts) along with lac
• Promote entrepreneur /producer group led micro-enterprises in the value chains to ensure
primary value addition
• Promotion of brood farms is must for sustainable lac production
• Convergence with government schemes for construction of poultry/goat shed and
improved feeding practices and plantation of host trees
• Nutritional sensitive agriculture in addition to hygiene and sanitation which accounts for
40% of expenditure spent on meeting health expenditure.
• Link rural-tribal women to financial institutions & various government schemes for long
term sustainability.
• Functional literacy is crucial for better management of enterprises

9. Way Forward
• Strengthen M&E system using mobile applications for real-time review of critical
information for decision-making.
• Establishment of formal linkage among lac growers, processors/exporters and consumers
• Identifying appropriate government schemes, angel investors, CSR schemes to subsidize
establishment of primary processing units at village /cluster level
• Following ministries will be targeted for specific policy issue:
• Ministry of tribal affairs for MSP for NTFPs
• Ministry of MSME for processing units
• Develop local dialect tuned audio-visuals to disseminate the key messages along with the
functional literacy programme
• Strengthen model for building capacity of other NGOs and CBOs in enterprise development