SCALING UP IN AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, AND NUTRITION
SEWA: Supporting Village-Level Organizations to Improve Rural Livelihoods RAJ M. DESAI AND SHAREEN JOSHI
Focus 19 • brIeF 14 • June 2012
only modestly. Increasing indebtedness, rises in input prices, and rapid commercialization have contributed to what some policymakers call “generalized rural distress.” Partly in response, the Indian government is in the process of scaling up a national rural livelihoods program that envisions a substantial role for nongovernmental organizations. This brief explores the determinants of the scaling-up path chosen, examines the effectiveness of village-based rural-livelihoods programs managed by the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), and explores questions regarding the role of NGOs operating at scale. Two principal drivers behind the scaling up of the rural
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livelihoods programs have been the continuing problems of traditional large-scale antipoverty programs and the potential effectiveness of the small-scale model. The large-scale programs typically have been impeded by capacity bottlenecks at the district or village level. And the lack of organization and collective action among the principal beneficiaries has meant that projects have been implemented without strong oversight and accountability. The government has responded with a mix of (i) greater commitments to decentralized governance, (ii) new partnerships with NGOs and the private sector, and (iii) greater use of alternate service-delivery mechanisms for program implementation. In recent years, antipoverty programs have expanded the
role for rural membership-based organizations in improving livelihoods. These organizations’ members provide each other with mutual support while attempting to achieve collective objectives. NGOs have been the primary facilitators of these organizations, identifying and selecting poor rural households and mobilizing them into self-managed institutions such as self-help groups and their federations. The NGOs also provide capacity-building and training activities. These efforts increasingly focus on women as the primary beneficiaries of poverty-alleviation programs. In 2009, the national government established the National
Rural Livelihoods Mission, which will ultimately spend $5 billion dollars on strengthening institutional platforms for the rural poor in the country’s seven poorest states. A significant component of this effort finances “livelihood grants” to village-based membership organizations to undertake “productive livelihood activities” including skills development, training for financial literacy, and business education. Eligible organizations include self-help groups, producers groups, farmers collectives, and producer companies. Their success in supporting the scaling up of rural development programs will be determined by answers to three questions: (i) Do they help improve rural livelihoods? (ii) Do they strengthen accountability? (iii) Are they able to function at a large scale?
n spite of the rapid growth of the Indian economy, the fraction of the rural population living in poverty has declined
Impacts of two programs of village-level membership organizations
Two recent programs undertaken by SEWA highlight the impact of membership organizations on rural livelihoods. The first, a program for poor female farmers in Gujarat, established village-level producer associations. The second, based in the southern “tribal belt” in Rajasthan, created self-help groups.
Producer associations in Gujarat Women Farmers with Global Potential was designed to support female farmers in accessing global agricultural markets. About 200 village-level producer associations were established in villages in four districts in Gujarat. These producer associations were (i) linked to banks for access to savings accounts and credit services; (ii) given technical training in crop management and farming techniques; (iii) provided access to seeds, organic pesticide, fertilizer, and farming equipment available for rental; (iv) provided with price information for various crops, often on a daily basis; and (v) linked with SEWA’s own processing centers as well as larger markets. After 18 months of implementation, the Women Farmers
project raised awareness of available opportunities among participants, linked women to the financial sector, and diversified employment opportunities, particularly in nonfarm work. SEWA members were less likely to work as unpaid workers, more likely to have better knowledge of loan products, more likely to have obtained those loans, and more likely to have superior information about market prices than nonmembers. SEWA women were also more likely to sell outside the established state-procurement system than nonmembers. Finally, we saw no discernible effect on household incomes
of SEWA participants, nor any effect on consumption, agricultural employment, or crop sales.
Self-help groups in Rajasthan In 2007, SEWA established self-help groups in 32 villages in one of the poorest state districts. Participants met once a month and saved Indian Rupees 25–100 each in a linked bank account, thereby becoming eligible for credit. SEWA conducted educational and job training programs and employment and income- generation workshops. The program was evaluated through a randomized-controlled
trial. Baseline and follow-up surveys were conducted in 2007 and 2009, respectively. Women in SEWA villages were 24 percent more likely to participate in group savings programs, 11 percent more likely to save money regularly, and 5 percent more likely to be involved in nonagricultural employment than women in control villages. They were 4–7 percent more likely to participate in household decisions about children’s education and the use of family-planning technologies. They were also 13 percent more likely to know where to report grievances regarding water, 10 percent more likely to have actually reported problems of water access to
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