Technical Assistance Facility for Strengthening Implementation of Rural Livelihood Projects at the National Level ( )

Transcription

1 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Project Id: P Technical Assistance Facility for Strengthening Implementation of Rural Livelihood Projects at the National Level ( ) Supported by DFID Trust Fund Implementation Completion Report June 10, 2013 South Asia Rural Development and Livelihoods Sustainable Development The World Bank 89282

2 CONTENTS Executive Summary 8 I) Context And Project Objective 11 II) Knowledge Management & Learning For Programs 14 A) Approach Papers B) Guidance Note on Green Business Opportunities C) Book titled Banking on Self Help Groups: 20 years on D) Co-Sponsored Two Summits on Access to Finance & Livelihoods E) Case Studies On Impact Of Rural Livelihood Programs III) Knowledge Management For Systems Development For Nrlm 36 A) Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation and Social Observatory B) Governance and accountability systems C) Knowledge management and communications D) HR framework E) NRLM website F) Financial Management Framework G) Procurement Framework H) Innovations and Partnerships Guidelines I) Creation of a Knowledge Repository J) Business Process Study of NMMU IV) Stakeholders Consultations & Partnerships 44 V) Institutional Capacity Enhancement 45 A) Technical Assistance to MoRD, Government of India B) Technical Assistance to Jeevika and Bihar State Rural Livelihood Mission C) Technical Support to Bihar Innovation Forum II D) Technical Assistance to Tripti, Orissa State Rural Livelihood Mission VI) Impact 49 A) Creating A Knowledge Architecture For Nrlm B) Bringing Innovation in the project design C) Policy Reform D) Institutional and business process reform E) Technical Assistance To Low Income States F) Creating A Multi Stakeholder Constituency For The Mission VII) Lessons Learnt From Nlta Execution 52 2

3 VIII) Suggestions for improvement 53 IX) Future Areas of Work 53 A) Knowledge and Research on Community Organization Federations, Producer Organizations and other Institutions B) Impact of community to community extension and learning approaches C) Sectoral studies in key livelihood sectors D) Impact assessment of rural livelihood programs and various interventions E) Understanding the continuum of rural urban transformation in terms of livelihoods F) Development of Social Media platform for Knowledge and Learning for Young Professionals working in area of Rural Livelihoods Annex 1: Log Frame of project with outputs and impacts 56 Annex 2: Component-wise expenditures of the project 58 Annex 3: List of Outputs Produced under the NLTA 59 Annex 4: Additional Information on Approach Papers 61 Annex 5: Description of case Studies 64 A) Supporting Institutional Platforms for Rural Poor in Andhra Pradesh B) Enabling environmentally sound and economically viable agriculture through community institutions C) Providing jobs for rural youth through Public-Private-People Partnerships in Andhra Pradesh, India D) Building a pro-poor Dairy Sector in Andhra Pradesh Dairy E) Enhancing Agricultural Livelihoods in Bihar though System of Crop Intensification F) Enabling Innovation: A global case-study of ICTs in Financial Inclusion G) Case Studies on Rural Livelihoods Interventions H) Rajasthan Microfinance Sector Report Annex 6: Governance and Accountability Framework 72 3

4 FIGURES AND CHARTS IN THE REPORT Figure 1: Microfinance Penetration Index and Microfinance Poverty Penetration Index Figure 2: Institutional arrangement for enhancing the new economic roles of women Figure 3: Design of Community Institutions in NRLM Figure 4: Innovations in service delivery of Micro-insurance services in AP Figure 5: Sequence of investment required for developing livelihoods Figure 6: Institutional Arrangement for the improvement of the Dairy sector Figure 7: Creation of a single-window system for dairy production Figure 8: Impact of Convergence on Service Delivery Figure 9: A Thematic summary of SP and nutrition recommendations Figure 10: Proposed IT Infrastructure at the State and Community Level Figure 11: Participatory Bottom-Up Knowledge Creation Figure 12: Synopsis of processes in SthreeNidhi Figure 13: Process followed in m-book-keeping Figure 14: Summary of processes in SthreeNidhi Figure 15: Mobile application menu of m-ndccs Figure 16: Why Green Opportunities for Rural Livelihoods? Figure 17: Converting Green Opportunity to Green Jobs Figure 18: Identify GREEN Opportunities in Energy Figure 19: Cover of the book on Banking on Self-help groups: 20 years On Figure 20: Activities of Social Observatory Figure 21: Components of performance management systems Figure 22: Snapshot of the NRLM wesbite Figure 23: Life-cycle of innovations and partnerships Figure 24: Screenshot of the Knowledge Repository Figure 25: Roles and responsibilities recommended by the CRISIL report Figure 26:: A vision of MoRD conceptualized under the project Figure 27: Roles and responsibilities of the management agency Figure 28: Partnership approaches in Bihar Innovation Forum

5 Acknowledgements This report has been authored by Parmesh Shah(Lead Rural Development Specialist, World Bank), Aarti Dayal(Consultant, FAO) and Abhishek Gupta(Consultant, The World Bank). Authors would like to thank Shobha Shetty(Sector Manager, Rural Development and Livelihoods, World Bank), Samik Sundar Das(Senior Rural Development Specialist, World Bank), Biswajit Sen(Senior Rural Development Specialist, World Bank), Sitaramachandra Machiraju(Senior Rural Development Specialist, World Bank), Shruti Gaur(Consultant, FAO) and Vinay Kumar Vutukuru(Consultant, The World Bank) for their valuable inputs. The authors would like to thank the peer reviewers Janmejay Singh, Senior Social Development Specialist, The World Bank and Meena Munshi, Senior Economist, Agriculture and Rural Development Department, The World Bank for their comments. The task team acknowledges the generous financial support from Department for International Development of the Government of UK and their India office which made the NLTA possible. The task team would also like to thank Mr Vijay Kumar(Mission Director, National Rural Livelihoods Mission and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development (MORD), Government of India), the project staff of MORD and National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and all other State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs) for their cooperation and efforts. 5

6 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. 6

7 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS BPL Below Poverty Line CAS Country Assistance Strategy CBO Community Based Organization CDD Community Driven Development CRP Community Resources Persons EC Executive Committee enrlms Electronic National Rural Livelihoods Management System FMM Financial Management Manual GAAP Governance and Accountability Action Plan GAP Gender Action Plan GB Governing Body GC Governing Council GOI Government of India ICT Information Communications and Technology IDA International Development Association MFI Micro Finance Institution ME&L Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning MGNREGS Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme MIS Management Information System MoRD Ministry of Rural Development MoU Memorandum of Understanding NGO Non Governmental Organization NMMU National Mission Management Unit NFSM National Food Security Mission NRLP National Rural Livelihoods Project NRLM National Rural Livelihoods Mission PDO Project Development Objective PME Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation RD Rural Development RFP Request for Proposal RKVY Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana RSETI Rural Self Employment Training Institute RTI Right to Information Act SAWP State Annual Work Plans SC Scheduled Caste SGSY Swaranjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana SHG Self Help Group SIL Specific Investment Loan SPMU State Project Management Unit SPIP State Perspective and Implementation Plan SRI System of Rice Intensification SRLM State Rural Livelihoods Mission SSA Sarvya Siksha Abhiyaan ST Scheduled Tribe TOR Terms of Reference UT Union Territory VRP Village Resource Person UIDAI Unique Identification Authority of India 7

8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY India is one of the world s fastest growing economies in the world. The key challenge is to ensure that this growth is inclusive and leads to significant rural poverty reduction. Current poverty estimates put the number of rural people below the official poverty line at 220 million approximately 44 million households. These are geographically concentrated primarily in the so-called lagging states. Poverty also disproportionately affects marginalized groups such as the scheduled castes and tribes, which accounted for 80 percent of the rural poor in , considerably more than their share in the rural population. Various programs like Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) initiated by the Government of India (GOI) for poverty reduction have yielded positive results. The State governments take an active role in implementing these programs but, despite their success, there are a number of critical gaps and constraints. These include absence of last mile program delivery systems, lack of organization among the poor, limited access to finance to invest in their livelihoods opportunities, inadequate expertise in livelihoods development, high vulnerability of the poor and their limited access to government social services, among others. Changes in the institutional arrangements, design, approach and sequencing of the programs targeted at rural livelihoods could vastly improve their impact on the rural poverty and economic growth. GOI restructured SGSY as National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) to make it a pivot of all poverty reduction efforts in the country. The central objective of the Mission is to reduce rural poverty through promotion of diversified and gainful self-employment and wage employment opportunities for sustainable increase in income of the poor. By investing in MoRD/NRLM with a strong multidisciplinary team at the GOI that takes up the role of providing technical assistance and knowledge and learning services (apart from financial resources) to the State Governments, particularly in the lagging states the issue of limitation of capacity can be addressed. As the GOI launched the national Rural Livelihood Mission, it requested the Bank to invest in a Knowledge Management, learning and Systems development facility which will enable development of the new program and create a foundation for design and implementation of NRLM. The World Bank approached DFID for financial support and prepared a project paper in consultation with various stakeholders, DFID agreed to finance the facility and the facility was initiated in The Technical Assistance (TA) facility, supported by DFID Trust Fund was created to provide analytics and knowledge support for designing, strengthening and monitoring the implementation of rural livelihoods programs with particular focus on the low income states in India. The objective of the facility was to enhance institutional capacity of MoRD for effective planning, designing, implementation and monitoring of rural livelihood 8

9 programs. Furthermore, the NLTA aimed to develop systems for implementation and monitoring of activities of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). The key tasks carried out under the NLTA were the preparation of knowledge and learning products to support rural livelihood projects and project design of NRLM, preparation of approach papers and studies focusing on various successful national and international livelihood development initiatives; and technical assistance to states for implementation of NRLM and establishment of a technical cell with multi-disciplinary teams of professionals. This cell was formed to support MoRD for rolling out the NRLM and building an ICT based M&E system and had functional expertise in institutional building, capacity building, microfinance, rural livelihoods, HR, finance and procurement. The NLTA facility has had significant impact in various areas, particularly influencing the content and design of National Rural Livelihood Mission and creating a multi-stakeholder platform for knowledge management, learning, innovation and implementation. First, a significant number of stakeholders were able to learn about various approaches from experts and brainstorm the design of a national program. The knowledge architecture created for NRLM brought together thematic content and expertise on a digital platform for access by designers, stakeholders and implementers of NRLM. Eventually, some of those recommendations have been integrated the design of a national project. Second, various innovations have been incorporated in the design of NRLM and NRLP facilitated by this NLTA. Third, various lessons learnt during the course of this NLTA and materials produced during this NLTA also catalyzed policy level reforms at the center and state level such as setting up of an autonomous society for implementing NRLM, replacement of capital subsidy by a community investment revolving fund and using of participatory identification of the poor as the targeting methodology. Fourth, a special-purpose vehicle in the Government was created for delivering technical assistance to various state missions. Fifth, technical assistance was also provided to state governments such as Bihar and Orissa, on developing effective implementation architecture of State Missions under the facility. Lastly, this facility has continued beyond design stage into the first 18 months of implementation of the NRLM and invested in learning from the first two years of implementation of NRLM. The study on reform of business process of NRLM was also initiated during this period. However this activity had limited impact on working of the MORD due to various other factors. The outputs and consultations have also helped in creating a more enabling environment and a multi-stakeholder constituency for NRLM The review of the NLTA shows that more resources and time could have been spent on converting knowledge products into learning for senior decision makers and creating partnerships with centers of excellence in the country. In addition, more efforts were required to develop a community of practice around various thematic areas in the country. 9

10 The feedback from Ministry of Rural Development and National Rural Livelihood Mission on performance and work of the NLTA Facility indicated that the most significant impact was creating an enabling environment and foundation for establishment of the National Rural Livelihood Mission. The feedback also shows that content of the program was significantly shaped by the knowledge management activities carried out. The facility also helped in providing key inputs for critical system development inputs which were required for designing the program and the initial implementation. The feedback also shows that more efforts were required to convert knowledge and systems work into learning modules and opportunities and provide opportunities for cross learning across states and other stakeholders. This report has been organized to reflect the key outputs of the TA. Firstly, it lists out and gives details of the various knowledge and learning products that were developed for thematic programmatic support. Various recommendations from these approach papers were incorporated in the design of NRLP. The report provides several examples of these incorporated project designs in accompanying boxes in the relevant section. Secondly, the details of the various knowledge products and technical support activities prepared to improve systems and organizational efficiency have been included. The following section illustrates several consultations and partnerships, organized for National Rural Livelihoods Mission. The subsequent section describes the elements of the support provided for institutional capacity enhancement of MoRD and technical support provided to various state missions. Lastly, the impact and lessons learnt from this project are highlighted. 10

11 I) CONTEXT AND PROJECT OBJECTIVE India is one of the world s fastest growing economies in the world with high annual GDP growth in the last four years. The key challenge is to ensure that this growth is inclusive and leads to significant rural poverty reduction. Current poverty estimates put the number of rural people below the official poverty line at 220 million approximately 44 million households. These are geographically concentrated primarily in the so-called lagging states. Poverty also disproportionately affects marginalized groups such as the scheduled castes and tribes, which accounted for 80 percent of the rural poor in , considerably more than their share in the rural population. Various programs like Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) initiated by the Government of India (GOI) for poverty reduction have yielded positive results. The State governments take an active role in implementing these programs but, despite their success, there are a number of critical gaps and constraints. These include absence of last mile program delivery systems, lack of organization among the poor, limited access to finance to invest in their livelihoods opportunities, inadequate expertise in livelihoods development, high vulnerability of the poor and their limited access to government social services, among others. Changes in the institutional arrangements, design, approach and sequencing of the programs targeted at rural livelihoods could vastly improve their impact on the rural poverty and economic growth. GOI operates through a variety of agencies with the burden of organization, technical support, and monitoring placed on District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) and State Governments. These structures are already responsible for many programs, but often lack the capacity to take on the intensive processes required for implementation. To deliver these programs efficiently and effectively, GOI and the state governments need to invest in a support organization and autonomous delivery structure that focuses on the investments of capacity building, technical assistance, access to finance and markets and delivery public services. These institutions need to have professional human resources and recruitment systems so that good quality professional and multidisciplinary support is provided to the poor. GOI restructured the SGSY into the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)to make it a pivot of all poverty reduction efforts in the country. The central objective of the Mission is to reduce rural poverty through promotion of diversified and gainful self-employment and wage employment opportunities for sustainable increase in income of the poor. By investing in MoRD/NRLM with a strong multidisciplinary team at the GOI that takes up the role of providing technical assistance and knowledge and learning services (apart from financial resources) to the State Governments, particularly in the lagging states the issue of limitation of capacity can be addressed. 11

12 The Technical Assistance (TA) facility for strengthening the implementation of rural livelihoods programs was designed in context the Country Strategy (FY , CPS) for India and is also in line with the focus of the current CPS with focus on low incomes states of India. The CPS focus on inclusive growth, sustainable development and increasing the effectiveness of public-financed service delivery is in consonance with the TA strategy on achieving inclusive pro-poor development in the lagging states of India by building the capacity of institutions to address rural poverty at the national and the state level. The objective of the NLTA was to enhance institutional capacity of MoRD for effective planning, designing, implementation and monitoring of rural livelihood programs. Furthermore, the TA aimed to develop systems for implementation and monitoring of activities of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). The key tasks carried out under the project were: Preparation of knowledge and learning products to support rural livelihood programs and project design of NRLM. 1 and Bank support through IDA resources for National Rural Livelihood Project (NRLP) Studies focusing on various successful national and international livelihoods initiatives; and technical assistance to states for implementation of NRLM Consultations with various stakeholders to support the project design Establishment of a technical cell with multi-disciplinary teams of professionals. The cell was formed to support MoRD for rolling out the NRLM and had functional expertise in institutional building, capacity building, microfinance, rural livelihoods, HR, finance & procurement and M&E. Building a ICT based M&E system Figure 1 summarizes the investment framework and investment strategy of NRLM Figure 1: Framework for investment for NRLM developed under the TA developed under the TA. Figure 2 provides a framework for program intervention of NRLM developed under this project after various consultations. It also presents the role of key stakeholders like the World Bank. 1 This will include best practice documentation, training modules, training aides like best practice films, case studies, etc. and innovations forums. 12

13 Figure 2: Framework for program interventions Annex 1 provides a log-frame of project indicators along with achievements. Table below summarizes the component-wise expenditures of the TA. Table 1: Summary of component-wise expenditures Component wise expenditures Expenditures (in $) Component A: Strengthening Institutional Capacities Component B: Knowledge Management and Learning Systems Component C: Information Technology based M&E System 0 Component D: Others Total 988,241 Annex 2 contains a more detailed cost table that indicates the main components/activities under the NLTA and the associated costs. Annex 3 has the complete list of outputs prepared under the project. Annex 4 has additional information of the various approach papers that have been discussed in the first section. Annex 5 has the details of various case studies that have been prepared. Annex 6 has the detailed Governance and Accountability framework prepared for NRLM under the TA. 13

14 II) KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT & LEARNING FOR PROGRAMS The objective of this activity was to develop the knowledge base for design of National Rural Livelihood Project (NRLP) and strengthen the institutional mechanisms for knowledge management. The knowledge products were used to develop quality training and learning systems for rural livelihood programs. The following tasks were carried out: Various approach papers and strategy notes were commissioned to support the design of NRLP i Various best practice thematic and sectoral case-studies were prepared and disseminated Expert consultants were hired to give various recommendations for design and implementation of NRLP 6 approach papers prepared 8 learning notes and impact notes prepared 4 major studies and reports 2 workshops sponsored Technical support provided to Bihar Innovation forum The following section summarizes the key findings from various knowledge products and recommendations for design and implementation of rural livelihood programs in the NRLM. Several recommendations from the approach papers have been incorporated in the design of NRLP and NRLM. The accompanying boxes provide examples of the changes that have been incorporated. For further information see the Project Appraisal document of NRLP 2 or Project Implementation plan of NRLM 3. A) APPROACH PAPERS 1) FINANCIAL INCLUSION Self Help Groups(SHGs) induced bank linkages and Microfinance Institutions(MFIs) are emerging as the primary source of credit for the rural poor, particularly for small and marginal farmers. Per capita credit accessed by SHG and MFI clients is Rs.9652 and Rs 6928 respectively, equivalent to about 67 percent and 48 percent of the average expenditure of small and marginal farmers (Rs.14300) 4. However, more than 60% of the population in the high poverty states does not have access to microfinance services, neither 2 NRLP PAD can be found here: 3 NRLM PIP can be found here: 4 National Sample Survey Organization Report No. 497 (1999)

15 from the MFIsnor the SHGs (bank linkage) 5. The penetration of microfinance ranges from less than percent in States like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, which incidentally also have the highest rates of malnutrition and poverty, to nearly 84% in Andhra Pradesh. There are also huge regional disparities both in the case of SHG Bank linkage as well as MFI operations. Southern states, which have made significant investment in the institutional architecture(see Figure 1 ), outperform every other state in reducing the credit deficit. The rural poor have to depend on informal sources to bridge this gap; particularly money lenders who charge usury rates (e.g., in excess of 5 percent per month). However, the high demand for savings amongst SHGs has been an encouraging sign for financial inclusion efforts. The savings of SHGs as deposits in the banks is estimated to be about US$1.35 billion, as on March ,7. The average savings per head, in SHGs, works out to less than Rs. 990 (or US$21) which is about 3-4% of BPL household income level. Successful cases demonstrate that rural livelihood projects have created new clients for the financial institutions. This close linkage between financial inclusion and livelihoods promotion makes access to finance credit critical to livelihoods promotion. Figure 1: Microfinance Penetration Index and Microfinance Poverty Penetration Index 8 Based on past experiences and best national and international practices, the following financial inclusion strategy was prepared for NRLM. A short summary is given in Box A. 5 Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Northeastern State (Assam) 6 State of Microfinance in India (2009), Frances Sinha 7 Microfinance India, State of the Sector Report Microfinance India: State of the Sector Report

16 Box A: NRLM: Key Features of Financial inclusion strategy of NRLM Goal: Poverty elimination in rural areas through building and nurturing institutions of poor, with a focus on women SHGs and their federations Target: Reaching 70 million rural poor households in the next 10 years. Core assumption: It takes 6 8 years for a poor household to come out of income poverty provided they are organized, supported and nurtured by their own institutions, and are enabled to access at least Rs.100,000 from external sources (banks) through repeat loans. With this kind of long term nurturing, annual household incomes of Rs.50,000 per annum from 2 3 livelihoods can be ensured Coverage: Phased coverage of villages in the country over a period of 10 years. Comprehensive livelihoods promotion - Overcoming shocks - Food security credit, health risk fund, usurious debt swapping fund, etc. - Strengthening existing livelihoods - Agriculture, livestock, NTFP, fishery, weaving, etc. - Skilling and placing youth from rural poor households - Micro-enterprise development: EDP trainings, skilling, apprenticeship and handholding - Risk management: Life, health, assets and livelihoods risks Required investment: During the intensive phase (first 6 years), an investment of Rs.9000 per household is required. Subsequently, during the maintenance phase (4 years), an investment of Rs.3000 per household is needed. Financial inclusion: Full range of financial services made available to the poor. SHG-bank linkage as main source of institutional finance. Leveraging credit 1:8 times the scheme investment per household Anticipated Outcomes in Intensive Blocks over 5 years - 80% poor households mobilized into SHGs - 80% of SHGs rated as good quality - 80% of SHGs are credit linked - 70% of villages have nested federations of SHGs - 70% poor households have food security - Jobs for 10 million youth from poor households Following recommendations of the approach paper have been incorporated in NRLM s design: (a) Demand-Side Mechanisms The project supports financial literacy and business education programs for all clients. The project has developed robust financial management and accounting systems at the SHG/federation level It focuses on promoting savings as against credit. SHGs engage in a range of livelihood support activities and last mile service delivery of public service for poor households. 16

17 (b) Supply-Side Mechanism The NRLM fosters partnerships with WB-supported projects and other related programs, to work on the supply-side of financial inclusion. SHG Federations are engaged as intermediaries in these partnerships. The project has developed alternate banking models and provides support where possible through banking correspondents/ banking facilitators/ customer service points. The project has invested in piloting financial products in partnership with mainstream financial institutions, which could be an alternate to the livelihood grants provided to SHGs (see Box A for some of the risk management and financial solutions that are currently in the design of NRLM). The NRLP has invested in GIS overlay on SMS based client feedback mechanisms along-side effective and transparent third party verification process which can then be used as Customer Relationship Mechanisms by various institutions. Box B: Risk Management and Financial Innovations solutions provided under NRLM Climatic risks, economic fluctuations, and a large number of individual-specific shocks like death of the bread winner, food shock, and health risks, etc. leave poor households vulnerable to severe hardship. The result is that risk is an important constraint on broad-based growth in living standards in many developing countries. NRLM therefore works with insurance companies to ensure universal coverage of microinsurance services, particularly to cover life, health and asset risks of the poor households. NRLM collaborates with mainstream financial institutions to coordinate supply side response in the form of product innovations, technology led channel innovations and alternate business solutions. Innovative Risk Solutions Micro Insurance Safety Nets and Micro Pensions Product innovations enhancing human development outcomes Heath Savings and Heath Risk Fund Food Security Fund Nutrition Credit Financial Innovations Financial literacy and debt counseling services Electronic Bookkeeping Innovations in last mile delivery of financial services SHG federations as banking correspondents/csps Bank Mitra In addition, innovative financial pilots have been identified for scale-up in the region and other parts of India. See Box C for an example from Bihar 17

18 Box C: Bank Kiosks in Bihar With growing emphasis being placed on financial inclusion, the ability of the poor in India to access financial services is increasing rapidly. However, the country s banking network does not have the capacity to cater to this increase in demand. An alternate banking model was piloted in village Phillki in Nalanda district of Bihar by Jeevika. The State Bank of India (SBI) has established a Kiosk in this village with the help of SAVE, a business correspondent. Aimed at providing financial access, financial literacy and counseling to SHG members, the kiosk model has been a huge success in this village. It resembles the brick and mortar model of banks. All kiosks are operated by local trustworthy individual entrepreneurs called Customer Service Points (CSP) on behalf of banks with the help of business correspondents. A kiosk thus acts like a one-stop-shop for basic banking services. As a result of this pilot, all SHG members in Philki Gram Panchayat have been trained on financial literacy by the 18 trained VithMitras. Social security pensions are now directly paid to individual accounts of the pensioners. 2) INSTITUTION BUILDING AND CAPACITY BUILDING (IBCB) The poor are vulnerable and not organized, diminishing their ability to become a strong demand system for better response from the mainstream financial institutions and government. Lack of employment, assets, and access to financial and social services, entitlements and markets keeps the poor in perpetual poverty. The purpose of National Rural Livelihoods Mission is to build and sustain the organizations of poor, especially women(see Figure 2 for more details) for collective action to address poverty and development. The poor thus lead the process of development and the interventions that are locally relevant and suit the specific needs. Overall development of poor is possible only when they are organized and empowered socially in addition to economic development. These institutions focus on ensuring timely and sustainable access to financial services, arrest the leakages of incomes, smoothen the cash flows and support the existing and new livelihood activities in addition to building their skills for increasing employment and incomes. These institutions of the poor create a new gender-centric ecosystem for changing the role of women in the economy. See Figure 5 for a description. 18

19 Figure 2: Institutional arrangement for enhancing the new economic roles of women The approach paper on institution building concluded that the guiding principle of institution building should be as follows: The benefits of development need to reach all the poor more specifically the poorest and vulnerable on an urgent basis. The SHGs and their federations shall be built on the principles of self-help and mutual cooperation. Primacy would be to build the ownership and control by the members. The focus needs to be on building the capacities of the community members and leaders and creating social capital through handholding support and guidance. The community would set the direction through active involvement in governance but supported by a cadre of community staff with defined roles and functions to sustain the institutions. In order to sustain the SHGs, there is a need to build federations at different levels over a period of time. However each institution would have its own identity, purpose, functionality and life cycle. Substantial financial resources and development support is required to help the poor to come out of poverty. Based on various successful community institutions model, NRLM has adopted the following design of Community institutions.(see Figure 3 for the summary) 19

20 Self Help Group is the primary building block and should be promoted based on homogeneity and affinity of members. There needs to be a strong feeling of affinity which connects and binds every member of the SHGs together. The SHGs would be encouraged to promote federations at different levels based on functions and/or Figure 3: Design of Community Institutions in NRLM levels to build and sustain SHGs and promote collective action at higher levels. The primary and secondary federations would involve in nurturing and sustaining primary groups through ensuring the quality, facilitate learning, manage revolving funds of different genres, and mobilize access to public services and entitlements. Second Generation Collectives for promotion of business or selected livelihoods can be facilitated with selected members of SHGs involved in a particular activity such as dairy, agriculture or any other income generation with a specific focus on collective production/ processing or marketing or any other activity which would increase their income. Several recommendations of the approach paper have been incorporated into the project design. Some of these recommendations were: The expansion in a state needs to be phased out. During the initial phase, few blocks or locations can be selected for intensive demonstration of the NRLM interventions. This would also help in building a cadre of experienced project staff, community staff and community service providers who would play a key role in expanding to other blocks/locations. Use community members who have experienced the process of coming out of poverty in their own lives as a result of similar interventions. Social mobilization should be organic and should evolve over a period of time. The sequence of key activities and processes would define the evolution and growth of community institutions. More specifically, strategies for various aspects of social mobilizations were developed. Box D below has an example of CRP strategy in social mobilization. 20

21 Box D: Recommendations for the role of COMMUNITY RESOURCE PERSONS (CRP) in social mobilization The World Bank supported SERP project in Andhra Pradesh has developed and practiced the Community Resource Person strategy wherein experienced community members undertake social mobilization, capacity building and scaling up of various processes within the project. There are two types of CRPs - Internal and External CRPs. Internal CRPs are the community persons from within the block, while external are from outside the block/district or state. A systematic process of identification and orientation is given for the CRPs before their services are utilized. CRPs are paid a fee for their services as well as travel and food costs by the project. They are expected to deliver a defined set of outputs in a given time frame. CRPs are used primarily as an interim strategy to trigger the process and support the project staff and work on a campaign mode to address specific tasks especially on a scale in a given period of time. 3) LAST MILE SERVICE DELIVERY Making markets work for the poor and making public services work for the poor are two integral elements of the rural livelihood projects in India. The business model for both these elements are centered on leveraging investments made in a) institutions of the poor namely SHGs and Federation of SHGs at the Village, Mandal/Block and District level for aggregating demand; b) human social capital i.e., cadre of grassroots workers and resource persons such as health activists, community nutrition specialist, quality controllers, insurance agents and claims management specialists among others; and c) IT infrastructure including call centers. All these combine to provide effective last mile service delivery architecture for the rural poor. Over the last 10-years: More than 1.5 million SHGs have been formed and about 4-5 million individual bank accounts have been opened (which are still active), and over US$6 billion of credit accessed from commercial banks More than 11million SHG members and their families have life & disability and health insurance coverage and over US$100 million in terms of claims have been settled Over 4.5 million SHG members have individual co-contributory pension accounts, and more than 400,000 SHG members are receiving pensions On the health front, over 1,000,000 million SHG members have a separate health savings account and more than villages have dedicated health risk funds to mitigate health emergency funding needs Based on several best practice innovations, the NLTA recommended several convergence initiatives as well as use of ICT innovations in last mile service delivery. For example, use of technology in Micro-insurance services(see Box E) and other safety-nets(see Box A2) such as pension was recommended And incorporated into the design of NRLM and NRLP. 21

22 Box E: Use of ICT in the service delivery of Micro-insurance services On the insurance front, livelihood projects have invested in building a cadre of resource persons or BimaMitras who are trained on various aspects of insurance products and services including member enrollment, claims documentation and claims processing. In addition, livelihood projects have invested in putting in place insurance call centers and developed web-portal for all insurance transaction processing. This has ensured providing a better last mile service delivery model and in ensuring seamless claims processing wherein the turn-around-time in insurance claims settlement has been brought down from an average of 4-6 months to 3-4 weeks. Figure 4: Innovations in service delivery of Micro-insurance services in AP 4) LIVELIHOODS PROMOTION The livelihoods strategy of NRLM follows a three pronged framework livelihoods security, livelihoods protection and livelihoods promotion. Livelihoods security aims to increase accessibility and affordability of basic services through safety nets, food security, health security, literacy and life skills and shelter. Livelihoods protection aims to reduce vulnerability and enhancing reliability of coping mechanisms by improving access to entitlements, debt restructuring, insurance and pensions, skills transferability and managing climate risks. Livelihoods promotion aims to increase incomes, assets and well being through market access, support services, improvement in productivity, cost efficiency and transfer of technology and skills. See Table 2 for more details on the livelihoods framework of NRLM. 22

23 Table 2: Livelihoods framework under NRLM Livelihood Security Livelihood Protection Livelihood Promotion Objective Increasing accessibility Reducing vulnerability and Increasing incomes, and affordability of basic enhancing reliability of assets and well being services coping mechanisms Livelihood Strategies Safety nets Food security Health security Literacy & life skills Shelter Access to entitlements Debt restructuring Insurance & pensions Skills transferability Managing climate risks Market access Support services Productivity Cost efficiency Technology & skills More specifically, NRLM and NRLP will provide livelihood grants to the institutions of the poor to enable them to undertake productive livelihood enhancing initiatives. The SHGs will receive livelihood investment support when they reach a certain level of Figure 5: Sequence of investment required for developing livelihoods maturity, as measured by pre-defined milestones. Figure 5 illustrates the sequence of investments required for developing livelihoods for the households. The livelihood grants are envisaged to be incentives and investment to the SHGs/federations for the purposes of undertaking productive livelihood activities (as specified in their livelihood plans), coupled with the funds they collect from their own saving and proceeds from the inter-loaning within the group using market-based interest rates. The specific use (i.e. agriculture, dairy production, sewing machine, etc.) of this livelihood grant, and the groups savings, will be demand driven by its members. The livelihood grants and their savings will also enable SHGs to leverage funds from the banking system and/or other government sources to scale-up the different livelihood activities that each member is undertaking. Furthermore, the project will support linkages with service providers and market institutions in key pro-poor value chains. Box G illustrates the interventions required for developing dairy based livelihoods. 23

24 Box G: Strategies for Dairy Development in India, an example from the Livelihoods Approach Paper The dairy sector faces the following constraints: 1) Low price realized for milk; 2) Poor per animal productivity of milk; 3) Decreasing cattle head due to migration of poor HH; 4) Seasonal fluctuation in the production of milk and market demand; 5) Capture by local private milk collectors by extending loans for purchase of cattle; 6) Ease of adultering milk; and 7) lack of significant capital investments in the dairy infrastructure such as cold chain. A 360- degree intervention strategy with the creation of a single-window system is required to increase the productivity of the dairy sector. One of the strategies suggested by the paper is summarized in Figure 10. Figure 7: Creation of a single-window system for dairy production The paper also suggests that the following nodes of institutional arrangement need to be looked at to enhance the productivity of the dairy sector. Individual cattle owner should get remunerative price of milk to encourage them to invest in increasing cattle stock. Village procurement centreshould be established for aggregation of produce at a close location. Bulk milk coolers (BMC)should be set up for milk cooling and to take care of operational expenses, depreciation, etc. Paravets(community animal health workers) should be trained and compensated such that they continue to contribute their services. Figure 6: Institutional Arrangement for the improvement of the Dairy sector A suggested institutional arrangement has also been explained in adjacent Figure

25 5) SOCIAL PROTECTION AND NUTRITION Over the last ten years, livelihood projects in India have implemented a range of SP and nutrition interventions with a focus on convergence with existing government programs. Figure 8 below has a brief summary of how convergence can improve service delivery of social protection and nutrition initiatives. On ground research indicates that these pilots and innovations have worked well, delivered tangible and much-needed benefits to members, and are highly compatible with the projects philosophy of creating sustainable institutions of the poor. Moreover, not only do the SP pilots address critical vulnerabilities of the target group, they also foster social transformation with evidence of increased confidence; changes in gender and caste relationships; and aspirations for dignity, voice, and political representation in project communities. A menu-based approach to SP and nutrition is recommended whereby States choose different combinations of interventions depending on their needs and opportunities. The Food Security Fund (FSF) and basic convergence with universal safety net programs such as pensions and RSBY would be part of the core Figure 8: Impact of Convergence on Service Delivery model everywhere. On health and nutrition, the paper recommends establishing an institutional platform in the form of VO-led Health sub-committees that would engage service providers and address the entire range of nutrition and health inputs in a bottom-up approach. Continued piloting of the Health Risk Fund (HRF) is also recommended. Insurance approaches emphasizing life and cattle insurance, and possibly index-based weather crop insurance would form part of an expanded model in states with high capacity. The SP agenda would be overseen by state social development project managers and district counterparts. Finally, food security could be elevated to a PDO-level indicator and the MIS systems should account for food security and convergence. Key recommendations are summarized thematically in Figure 9. 25

26 Figure 9: A Thematic summary of SP and nutrition recommendations Food security (core model) Food Security Fund / Rice Credit Line Grain bank (to start groups for very poorest and only where free grains are available) Basic SSN Convergence (core model) Awareness of rights and enrolment procedures Enrolment in social pensions, RSBY Ensureingall members get UID Basic Health (perhaps core model) Health Risk Fund Health & hygiene promotion Expanded Convergence State-specific range of service promotion, social accountability & service delivery PDS, NREGS, housing, Water & Sanitation programs Insurance products (expanded model) Life (life/accident/disability) and cattle Index-based crop insurance (to pilot) Health insurance and convergence with gvt health insurance Nutrition (expanded model) Set up VO Health sub-committees Stimulate demand for nutrition, outreach, promote behavior change, hold service providers accountable 6) INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY (ICT) (i) Approach Paper Rural livelihoods programs have been extensively using ICT and other technology in various aspects of program implementation. Under the TA, a detailed study of all the technologies used by various projects was consolidated. Table A1 in Annex 3 illustrates the technologies that are used in various livelihoods projects in India. The following section illustrates the proposed framework for computerized data management architecture, ICT applications envisaged under NRLM and various cases illustrating the use of ICT innovations. (a) National Level Data Centre A National Level Data Centre to house a central system, which gathers specific data from the field and state level systems for monitoring and evaluation State level data should be available for menu driven drill down through gateway Reports should be shared with state/district/sub district functionaries, concerned central ministries, other stake holders Knowledge modules should indicate need for intervention based on targets and thresholds set (b) State Level Data Centre 26

27 All data should be captured at source where it is generated for maximum transparency & accuracy Data should be processed to produce timely and relevant information for stakeholders. State level Data Centre should house database server and application servers It should be accessible over the web for external consumption All intelligence, knowledge modules, analytical tools and decision support tools should reside in this backend Database to be suitably partitioned for level specific access, reporting and intervention System to capture data on social, financial, economic inclusion and consumption The state level reports and database should be accessible at the national level for tracking and monitoring Figure 10: Proposed IT Infrastructure at the State and Community Level 27

28 (c) Community Level A platform should be created to deliver field level functionality/service for social, financial and economic inclusion and facilitate disbursement of entitlements and social development services System to act as a gateway to all external institutions e.g. banks, government departments, healthcare institutions etc. All intelligence, applications, work flows and related tools to reside in back end Field level devices to function both online (web based) and offline (application agent & screens) for synch up Access to the system to be secure using smart cards and biometric authentication System to be virtual front end to external organizations to facilitate agent use and intervention (ii) ICT-based M&E System Box F: ICT-based applications used for digital empowerment The approach paper Digital empowerment through use of Computers, IPADs, hand-helds, mobiles recommends that the project also Use of electronic equipment like moisture meters, milktesters support efforts to institutionalize results-oriented M&E processes Build an e-governance platform using the following: in rural livelihood programs. The activities under this component UID enabled architecture linking villages, blocks, districts, state and national institutions and actors included developing a framework Information and transactions through biometrics, GPS mobiles, portals, BPOs, call centers, payment gateways for ICT-based results monitoring systems and MIS-based decision Virtual communities of practice and knowledge through the support systems, thematic following strategies: studies and policy notes. These Face-2-Face (Digital Green) activities were initiated by inhouse M&E and IT experts Peer-to-Peer (3G Mobiles, Skype, Google) Social Media (Facebook, Twitter) Internet (Solution Exchange) recruited by NRLM. An appropriate external agency was also hired to work on systems development for ICT and for linking it to MIS based decision support systems. Essentially, ICT is envisaged to be used as an organizing, enabling and empowering tool. (iii) Establishment of enrlms Technical assistance from the project also facilitated an e-governance platform for NRLM (called e-nrlm) to use state of the art ICT platform for hosting and delivering a variety of project services like Management information System (MIS), Financial Management System (FMS), Decision support systems (DSS), etc. This system has connected villages to the national level and is Aadhar (UIDAI)/ National Population Registry (NPR) compliant. It will also be leveraged to deliver ICT based services to rural poor households in the last mile. 28

29 (iv) Case studies on ICT innovations in Rural Livelihoods Several learning notes and studies were prepared to document and analyze the impact of various ICT innovations in Livelihoods project in South Asia. These are currently undergoing review and will be published soon. Summary of some of the key notes is given below: (a) Bottoms-up digital library for the small and marginal farmers Community-driven programs in South Asia have traditionally used local facilitators to disseminate information and external best-practices. However, the massive scale of these programs has made this strategy both a time-consuming and an expensive exercise. This note focused on an innovative ICT based Rural Digital Libraries project in collaboration with Digital Green. Digital Green trains members of local communities about group facilitation, videography and basic video production. These videographers create digital content locally, highlighting both internal and external best practices. The videos are stored at the village level (and also uploaded on YouTube) creating a local and online digital library and are disseminated widely through a network of village resource people using low-cost pico-projectors. These libraries are a decentralized, localized solution that combines the institutional platform with a digital knowledge platform to create multiple nodes of communication and learning in rural communities across the country. Initial results have shown that this approach can triple the adoption rate compared to traditional extension systems at one-fifth the cost. With more than 150,000small and marginal farmers in India participating at village-level video screenings, rural digital libraries offer a promising solution for faster and more accessible livelihood knowledge sharing and extension in geographically dispersed communities. Leveraging a video production and screening platform, community organizations have started to develop a localized, scalable model for agricultural extension, financial literacy, health and nutritional awareness and technology and livelihood training. 29

30 Figure 11: Participatory Bottom-Up Knowledge Creation (b) Building an ICT based data collection and MIS system This note focused on the MIS system built by Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) for building up-to-date information on the ground realities in the poorest of the poor communities. The PoP strategy at SERP collected and used the information collected through mobile apps to target Ultra-poor households to help them escape the poverty trap through affordable credit and sustainable livelihood support. Digitized baseline information on poor households, regularly updated through mobile phones was built and used for targeting and counseling households, monitoring and supporting staff, and measuring impact. This MIS system has Figure 12: Synopsis of processes in SthreeNidhi 30

31 improved the project officials ability to administer programs and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. (c) SthreeNidhi This note focused on SthreeNidhi (or women s bank), which is a cooperative bank that enables community organizations to manage their own risk through a powerful collective credit record incentive at the group, village, and block levels. The communitybased organizations in Andhra Pradesh have contributed INR 900 million to the share capital of the bank. It has been innovative in two major ways: community organizations completely manage the operations of the organization; and it heavily uses technology to improve efficiency and to ensure timely approvals and disbursement. These innovations have significantly reduced the operational cost of SthreeNidhi and the organization has been able to provide Figure 14: Summary of processes in SthreeNidhi affordable low-interest loans for the poor in a timely manner. SthreeNidhi has also tied up with several banks to improve its network and can now reach 90 percent of villages in Andhra Pradesh. Since September 2011, SthreeNidhi has disbursed INR 4.96 billion to 255,555 households in 918 Mandals. (d) m-nutrition Day Care Center mndcc is an initiative to capture and track attendance, health outcomes, and sustainability at the village-level nutrition centers called Nutrition and Day Care Centers (NDCC). Using mobile phones to track activities and outcomes of NDCCs has enabled coordinators at the block and state-level to be more aware of ground realities and facilitated a direct line of communication with field staff. This case study focused on the deployment of a customized mobile application, its design, development, implementation, and initial results from data collected. 31

32 B) Figure 15: Mobile application menu of m-ndccs GUIDANCE NOTE ON GREEN BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES Green Opportunities are sets of activities that constitute new or alternative approaches to do things that lead to social and economic Farmer uses locally produced organic development while inputs in CMSA (Green Opportunity) at the same time having beneficial or lesser negative impact on the Cost of production is reduced and thereby economic risk that may be caused due to environment / market or crop failures is reduced ecosystem. The note discussed various green opportunities and why they are important and necessary in a livelihoods project. It also described some approaches for finding such opportunities and Fertility of soil and its water-holding capacity is improved and thereby overall productivity and ability to tide over water stress is enhanced. Environmetal risk is reduced Overall risk of the farmer is reduced. Thus, Green Opportunity in the form of locally produced organic inputs coupled with a CMSA reduces risk and makes the livelihood more robust and sustainable. provides a menu of Figure 16: Why Green Opportunities for Rural Livelihoods? such opportunities. is a synopsis of why using opportunities in the green jobs sector is crucial for rural livelihoods. Figure below gives a synopsis of how various opportunities in green economy sector can be converted to green jobs. 32

33 GREEN OPPORTUNITY GREEN BUSINESS GREEN JOBS Usage of organic inputs such as Jeevamruth, Pot Manure from locally available material instead of using chemical fertilizers and pesticides Organizing and motivating individuals/shgs to produce and market these locally produced organic inputs to other farmers who may not have the time or the access to resources to produce these Employment created in production and marketing of these inputs Figure 17: Converting Green Opportunity to Green Jobs Figure below has an example of how green opportunities can be identified in the energy sector. Based on this work a separate grant proposal for Climate Adaptation and Livelihoods ( $ 8 million) has been prepared and being submitted to Global Environment Facility (GEF) for financing. This will focus on drought and flood prone regions in India. Figure 18: Identify GREEN Opportunities in Energy 33

34 C) BOOK TITLED BANKING ON SELF HELP GROUPS: 20 YEARS ON A study was done on the two decades of SHG-bank linkage program by ACCESS Development Services. Based on the study, a book called -Banking on Self Help Groups - 20 years on - was also published. This was co-financed through the NLTA. The study provides both a substantive historical examination of the SHGs in financial intermediation in India and abroad as well a comprehensive discussion of ongoing issues and more recent concerns related to their microfinance operations. The study addresses three core issues related to costeffectiveness, impact and sustainability; an informed review of findings of major impact assessment studies of SHGs undertaken over the years in terms of their poverty targeting, livelihood and income generation effects and social empowerment, particularly the gender dimension; and a critical examination of the models of sustainable functioning of SHGs, and community institutions fostered by them, in the provision of financial and non-financial services to their members. Figure 19: Cover of the book on Banking on Self-help groups: 20 years On (i) Roundtable on the SHG Programme Based on the above study, a day-long roundtable was organized, also by ACCESS Development Services, on the next phase of the SHG programme. The roundtable looked at the two decades of SHG programs from a review angle, discussed stakeholder perspective on the evolution of the SHG model and future direction of growth, deliberated on the potential of SHG federations as financial intermediaries and finally discussed the strategy and design of the next phase of SHG programs. The roundtable was attended by key officials of the MoRD, the World Bank, ACCESS Development Services, Banks and other CSOs. The report of the conference is available on: df. D) CO-SPONSORED TWO SUMMITS ON ACCESS TO FINANCE & LIVELIHOODS The World Bank was one of the key sponsors for two annual Conferences the Microfinance India Summit and the Livelihoods India Conference to generate discourse on two issues identifying and testing alternate banking models; and encouraging social enterprises to enhance rural livelihoods. Through these national knowledge events, the World Bank sought to bring perspectives of policy makers, practitioners, civil society, multilateral/bilateral institutions, etc. to impact NRLM's agenda of fostering financial and livelihoods innovations. The World Bank structured and participated a session each at two of the conferences. 34

35 (i) Microfinance India Summit, 2012 This conference was attended by over 1,000 people and the World Bank structured a session focusing on alternatebankingmodels.the session put in perspective the need for alternate banking models customized to the needs of different communities and geographical areas, discussed existing models operating in the country and the need to scale them up, and deliberated on areas in which innovations are needed. Conference website: (ii) Livelihoods India Conference, 2012 This conference was attended by around 400 people and the World Bank structured a session called Scaling up Rural Livelihoods: Role of social enterprises. The session discussed the role played by social enterprises/ entrepreneurs in livelihoods promotion of the rural poor and ways to identify such innovators. With views from entrepreneurs from across the board and representation from a successful innovation forum, the session also deliberated on the role of NRLM as an incubator of livelihoods innovations. Conference website: E) CASE STUDIES ON IMPACT OF RURAL LIVELIHOOD PROGRAMS Following case studies, best practice cases and high-quality training modules were prepared through this TA. Following is a listing of some of the key studies and notes prepared. A) Supporting institutional platforms for rural poor in Andhra Pradesh B) Enabling environmentally sound and economically viable agriculture through community institutions C) Providing jobs for rural youth through public-private-people partnerships in Andhra Pradesh, India D) building a pro-poor dairy sector in Andhra Pradesh E) Enhancing agricultural livelihoods in Bihar though system of crop intensification F) Enabling innovation: a global case-study of ICT in financial inclusion G) Case studies on rural livelihoods interventions H) Rajasthan microfinance sector report 2011 Annexure 4 has the detailed description of various case studies produced under the TA. Various studies mentioned in this section are at different stages of finalization. A few of them have been published. Several blogs and feature stories have been written to disseminate knowledge products as well reach as wide an audience as possible. Following are some of the blog entries and feature stories that have been already published on the World Bank external site: 35

36 Creating an Ecosystem for Sustainable Financial Inclusion through Community Institutions: Building an Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship in Rural Livelihoods: Banks and Community Institutions Partner to Create an Ecosystem for Sustainable Financial Inclusion in Bihar, India: III) KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT FOR SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT FOR NRLM A) MONITORING, LEARNING AND EVALUATION AND SOCIAL OBSERVATORY Given the geographic scale and magnitude of the resources and activities to be supported by the NRLM, a comprehensive and robust monitoring and evaluation system is needed to not only track implementation progress but also to provide meaningful reports on household level impacts and implementation experiences. This approach paper details the strategies to be adopted to establish such a system so as to enable MoRD and state governments to take corrective actions, if necessary. 36

37 Box G: Design of the Social Observatory in NRLP Based on the Approach Paper The Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation System under NRLP will serve more as a social observatory, incorporating various monitoring and evaluation tools to measure change (both economic and non economic), assess the effectiveness of the project, and pinpoint design and implementation challenges concurrently. It will be driven by the following principles: 1. Real time learning from monitoring 2. Long term learning from periodic quantitative and qualitative evaluations 3. Special studies to understand key issues for project implementation and design The National Social Observatory has been housed in the National Project Implementation Unit of the National Rural Livelihood Mission. The State Social Observatories will be similarly housed in the state level project implementation units. Figure 20: Activities of Social Observatory B) GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS Looking at the size and scale of the NRLP, a comprehensive, though simple, result oriented and standardized, governance and accountability (GAC) system is extremely critical for program success. The GAC system is meant to be risk informed and results oriented so that it can serve as a management tool, rather than seen as a compliance or checklist type activity. Given the federated implementation structure of the NRLP, the GAC system has involved development of an overall GAC framework and then separate GAC Action Plans (GAAPs) have been established at the national level and participating states developing their state plans. 9 The GAC Framework is set up to respond to the key GAC risks and 9 This is similar to the approach used in safeguards where an environmental and social management framework (ESMF) is prepared when actual investments are unknown. Environmental/social action plans for specific investments are developed 37

38 vulnerabilities faced at the three levels of implementation structure i.e. national, state and community institution level. The different GAC mechanisms would focus on three aspects; (a) prevention (e.g. business processes, disclosure mechanisms, HR systems, and capacity building/participatory processes), (b) detection (e.g. monitoring, grievance redress), and (c) response (e.g. sanctions policies and performance based incentives). Four distinct set of actors NRLM national team, SRLM teams, community organizations, and civil society actors will be engaged in different types of GAC instruments. A detailed GAAC framework can be found in Annexure 4. It has been organized according the following clusters: Business Processes, Guidelines, and Project Principles(BP) such as Sevottam standards, and service standards for key processes. Financial Management and Procurement (Fiduciary) Controls(FM), e.g. pilot e- procurement and e-bookkeeping program, random checks of books of FM records etc. Transparency and Disclosure mechanisms(td), e.g. disclosure guidelines at the national level, project website and notice boards, community and project information centers with FM and procurement records, community and project information centers etc. Sanction Policy(SP) e.g. sanction policy for fraud and corruption issues Human Resource Policy and Codes of Conduct (HR) such as recruitment audit and HR review. Performance (GAC) Based Incentives(PB), e.g. annual GAC awards, performance/output based contract disbursement, milestone based disbursement system to SHGs and federations, milestone based disbursement system to SHGs and federations etc. Capacity Building and Participatory Processes (CB), e.g. participatory governance norms for SHGs and federations, financial literacy programs for federations, establishment of grievance sub-committee at village and federation level etc. Complaints Handling and Grievance Redress Mechanism(CH) such as telephone hotlines and web complaints mechanisms. Project Monitoring Mechanism(PM) e.g. annual user citizen report card, GAC barometer survey, solid MIS system which tracks performance and governance, regular performance monitoring of TA providers, institutionalized social audit process, asset verification and utilization certificate monitoring etc. C) KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS It is crucial to incorporate lessons from experience and communicate consistently at both a policy and operational level. In this regard, technical assistance was provided for building a knowledge and communications (KMC) architecture. The primary role of KMC team was to build a knowledge driven community of practice in NRLM. The following recommendations based on the ESMF. Similarly, the GAC framework would provide the overall menu and approach to identify risks and GAC mechanisms to deploy in different states, while the individual state GAAPs would lay out the actual GAC measures being deployed and the actions, timelines, and responsibilities for their implementation. 38

39 have been incorporated in the project design of NRLM:1) website and user targeted program briefing and guidance material as the basic hub for program information;2) community radio programs, TV programs in vernacular channels, films and other material for engaging community audiences; 3) An investment in proactive dissemination and feedback mechanisms on information and knowledge products internally; and 4)a webbased solution exchange program; regular awareness survey to be conducted; films on NRLM to be prepared and aired in TV channels. This is being implemented by a knowledge management and communication unit at the national level, which will also assist States in linking and setting up similar units. D) HR FRAMEWORK For the first time, professional management systems were introduced to the functioning of government departments. A professional agency 10 was hired to develop the HR policy of NRLM. The framework included national level organization structure and job descriptions, compensation structure at national level, national NRLM HR policy with results framework, TA to states, recruiting HR person at national level. The objective of HR development of NRLM was to create a large pool of good quality professionals that is available for implementation of NRLM in all states in the country. Following are some of its key recommendations that have been incorporated into NRLM s design: Development of partnerships with well-established training and research institutions in the field of rural development and livelihoods promotion throughout India which can deliver focused training programs for successful implementation of the NRLM. Introduction of performance based HR systems in the functioning of state missions (See Figure 21 for its various components) Figure 21: Components of performance management systems 10 - SRIJAN Infrastructure and Development Services Pvt. Ltd 39

40 Systematic building of capacities and managerial skills of the NRLM staff through accredited training programs developed and rolled-out in partnership with national and regional institutes. For this a repertoire of case studies and innovation briefs will be developed covering various livelihood initiatives across the country. A National Center for Rural Livelihoods feasibility study will be conducted The framework proposed a salary structure that has been adopted by MoRD as the basis for benchmarking of the salary and benefits for the NMMU. (i) Reference Book on Human Resource Management A compilation of various resource materials on human resource management from existing rural livelihoods projects was put together as a reference handbook. This included samples on advertisement for staff recruitment, recruitment and selection processes, terms of references, job description, and comparative salary structure, along with learning material on performance management system and young professional recruitment and induction. There were also guidance notes that were included for helping the States to use the reference book effectively. E) NRLM WEBSITE A comprehensive website for NRLM was developed to give the project a presence on the web. The website details out the key features of the project, the various sub-themes under the programme, the national team working on it as well as latest news and events. The website also contains several project documents and success stories from across the country. In addition, an intranet was also developed for NMMU s internal knowledge sharing and management. Figure 22: Snapshot of the NRLM wesbite 40

41 F) FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK The framework details out FM procedures applicable at all levels in the project and aims to bring in uniformity in FM arrangements, such as accounting, financial reporting, audit etc. G) PROCUREMENT FRAMEWORK This framework sets forth the NRLM procurement policies and procedures for the guidance of all personnel involved with procurement responsibilities, with the aim of ensuring that programme resources are properly managed and safeguarded. It aims to achieve economy, efficiency and transparency in the implementation of the project, including the procurement of the goods, works and services involved; and ensuring that all eligible bidders are provided the same information and equal opportunity to compete in provision of same. H) INNOVATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS GUIDELINES A framework for innovation and partnership guidelines was developed. The key principle behind this arrangement is to create an enabling environment to increase the supply of high quality TA providers and facilitate mutual support and learning exchange between NRLM, SRLMs and other implementing agencies. Furthermore, the implementation capacity of SRLMs and other implementing partners of NRLM was also strengthened by arranging technical assistance and implementation support of resource organizations. Figure 23: Life-cycle of innovations and partnerships 41

42 I) CREATION OF A KNOWLEDGE REPOSITORY A repository of documents relevant to NRLM was created within the World Bank so as to enable easy access of data. Following are the main component of the repository: Annual Action Plans of SRLMs NRLM approach papers Community Operational Figure 24: Screenshot of the Knowledge Repository Manuals General Guidance Notes on preparation of field notes, innovation notes, etc. Guidelines and Implementation Frameworks National and State HR Manuals Learning Notes National and State Project Appraisal Documents National and State Project Implementation Plans State Perspective and Implementation Plans Sample ToRs Studies Other relevant documents J) BUSINESS PROCESS STUDY OF NMMU Based on the assessment by the government officials as well as the task team of NRLM, it was concluded that the business process efficiency of NMMU was low. CRISIL, a management agency, was hired for a study of MORD and its business process. The agency studied various aspects including the scheme level governance mechanisms, organization structure and staffing, business processes including those related to program management, procurement and financial management and service standards for critical activities. The problem diagnosis included the findings about the current transaction times for various consultancies e.g., 479 days are taken to complete procurement of management agency,

43 days taken to finalize a proposal and a ToR of Young Professionals. In its study, CRISIL developed the following list of recommendations: Create a robust system w.r.t annual planning and budgeting: There is a need to define and implement business processes for procurement and preparation of the annual work plan by NMMU. This will improve predictability, as a detailed annual work plan will outline the activities to be undertaken and completed during the year. Figure 25: Roles and responsibilities recommended by the CRISIL report Streamline decision making process for approval of procurement: The Empowered Committee of NRLM to approve annual plan and procurement plan of NMMU. This will be possible by pooling of procurement proposals for approval by Empowered Committee leading to fast track implementation and defining of the evaluation system, procedure for evaluation of proposals, etc., in advance. Have standardized norms and formats: There is a need to prepare business policies and define norms for workshops, travel allowance, resource persons. This will facilitate procedural simplification, improve efficiency, and provide operational flexibility to carry out various activities as needed. Implementation of functional division structure envisaged in Organogram: The standards for the completion of procurement activities and the annul work plan need to be well defined, including timelines and roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder. To start with, the standards should be monitored on a monthly basis. Develop and Implement Enterprise Resource Planning System: NMMU s efficiency is hampered by inadequate process flow management due to lack of decision-tracking, multiple file movements between functionaries, and inadequate data management systems. In this context, a comprehensive IT infrastructure that facilitates online decision-making, 43

44 data repository, collaborative workflow process, and performance tracking is needed at NMMU. IV) STAKEHOLDERS CONSULTATIONS & PARTNERSHIPS To provide a comprehensive outlook to NRLM, various stakeholders such as NGOs, CBOs, academicians, thematic experts, etc. were consulted with. This also created a multistakeholder constituency for NRLM. Based on these consultations, approach papers, guidelines and frameworks were developed to facilitate the roll out and implementation of NRLM. More than 1,000 people have participated in the following consultations: i. Brainstorming Workshop on NRLM strategies (August, 2010) ii. Workshop on Approach Papers (November, 2010) iii. Consultation on the role of Panchayats in NRLM (December, 2010) iv. Workshop on Building National Programme Strategies (January, 2011) v. National Workshop on Preparation of SPIP (January, 2011): This workshop was organized for States to understand the SPIP framework and was attended by the then NRLM nodal officers from different states. The first section of the workshop was for NRLP states. In second section, the remaining states were invited. The Initial Action Plan for the states was also discussed in the workshop. Social, Environmental, Financial and Procurement Framework of NRLM (February, 2011): A one day workshop, was organized to discuss issues such as social management framework, environmental management framework, procurement framework and financial framework. The participants were NGOs, thematic national level consultants, representatives from State governments, World Bank officials and Ministry of Rural Development officials. The participants worked in groups and came up with recommendations and suggestions which were subsequently incorporated in the related framework of NRLM. vi. Workshop for Action Planning NMMU-MoRD (February, 2011): The two day workshop was held in February, Topics of discussion included detailing, prioritization, sequencing and allocation of activities to be undertaken by NMMU, SMMU and MoRD, deliberation on the procurement plan, costing and fund flow and discussion on the role of NRLP and NRLM and their synergy at the national and state level. As outcomes of the workshop, an Annual Action Plan of NMMU was prepared, clarity on the relationship between NRLP and NRLM, including phasing strategy was achieved and the nature of technical assistance of NMMU at national and state levels was charted. The workshop was attended by NMMU, World Bank, MoRD and NRMC officials. vii. National NGO s Consultation Workshop (April, 2011): The two day workshop discussed issues such as household targeting in NRLM, exclusion of the poor in the BPL list, subsidy administration under NRLM, norms for partnerships with CSOs/NGOs (selection, outcomes, monitoring, role of State Govt.), SPV formation in the context of promoting NGO partnerships and knowledge management and 44

45 capacity building. The workshop was chaired by Dr. Mihir Shah, Member, Planning Commission, and was attended by representatives of NGOs/ CSOs from across the country, bankers as well as RD commissioners of several states in addition to NMMU and WB officials. Quite a few issues raised at the workshop were subsequently incorporated in the recommendations of the working group constituted by the Planning Commission on NRLM. viii. Workshop on HR practices of SRLMs (June, 2011): The three day workshop, focused on the need to adopt sound HR practices and establish dedicated support systems as well as the importance of cross learning among the different states. The HR strategy of the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project (BRLP) was taken as an example to discuss the various contours of a successful HR policy. The role and functioning of staff at different levels (state, district and block) was also discussed. ix. Workshop on Team Effectiveness of NMMU (September, 2012): A one day workshop was organized in New Delhi for enhancing the effectiveness of working of NMMU. The workshop was facilitated by Nira Anand, Human Resource Manager, World Bank, New Delhi Office and focused on conflict resolution, effective communication and listening skills and feedback process within a team. x. Training on Competency Based Interview (September, 2012): As a skill development exercise for CEO and HR Managers of SRLMs a training program on how conduct interviews focusing on analyzing competency was conducted. xi. Consultancy on Content Management System: Meetings were held with content service providers such as SAP and EMC to explore the possibility of instituting a content management system for NRLM which would be separate from the MIS. Such a content management system would help in organizing data and documents for NRLM, create a digital library for internal use by the team and would also help in general e-office file administration. Based on discussions, EMC s Documentum, a comprehensive content management system, was thought to be ideal for NRLM s requirement, and further discussions were held with the EMC team. However, eventually, it was decided that the need for such a system would be taken care of by the e-nrlms, and some finer points that came out of the discourse with content service providers were used to enrich the ToR for e-nrlms. V) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT A) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO MORD, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA This component was aimed at incubating a technical cell with a multi-disciplinary team at MoRD and building its capacity through exposure and immersions in best-practice locations. The vision was to make MoRD eventually a technical service provider or a Ministry of Rural Economy (See Figure 26). 45

46 Figure 26:: A vision of MoRD conceptualized under the project This component was used to hire a team of expert consultants, which eventually became the founding team for NRLM. In addition to providing technical and knowledge support the team organized stakeholder workshops, national consultations and policy seminars to develop approaches for improving the quality of rural livelihood programs and develop convergence strategies with social security, food security and income security schemes like MGREGS. This team also helped in creating institutional capacities of MoRD and assisted in the setting up of NRLM and was eventually handed over to the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, for implementation of NRLM.A management agency 11 was hired to carry out these tasks and its key roles and functions of the agency (see Figure 27) were as follows: Implementation support provided to State governments for launching NRLM activities: Comprehensive work programs was prepared to provide technical guidance and handholding support to State governments in developing poverty diagnostics ; preparing poverty reduction action plans; formulating social mobilization strategies; and setting up effective program management systems, particularly for human resources. Annual Action Plans of SRLMs Putting in place a multi-disciplinary team of professionals: Hiring and placement of core team members, consultants and resource persons who would be a part of the NRLM- MU. Before the HR policy for NMMU was made, the core staff members, consultants and the resource persons were hired by the agency. It established a process for hiring of consultants in agreement with the World Bank and MoRD. It then identified potential 11 NR Management Consultants was hired for this role 46

47 candidates in accordance with the Terms of Reference and eventually hired them. It also prepared a roster of consultants and resource persons to support NRLM-MU. Procurement of equipment: As the MA, NRMC was responsible for purchase of the required equipment (as agreed with MoRD) and make it available for use by the NRLM- MU. Travel and logistics: Since the core team hired for NRLM-MU undertakes a considerable amount of official travel outside their base station (New Delhi), the coordination for travel bookings and other logistics support for the core staff was also the responsibility of the MA. Finance and Accounts Systems: For the initial period, and only for the NRLM Core Team, financial management and procurement, payroll accounting and other administrative support was provided by the MA. Office set-up and maintenance: The agency was also responsible for identifying office space for NRLM-MU. Figure 27: Roles and responsibilities of the management agency B) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO JEEVIKA AND BIHAR STATE RURAL LIVELIHOOD MISSION Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project, popularly called Jeevika is the designated component of National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP) in Bihar. It started implementation in October 2007 and is currently present in 21 districts and 167 blocks that accounts for nearly 30 % of Bihar. A consultant with deep technical expertise in development studies and rural livelihood programs was hired as a resident representative to provide overall technical assistance and day to-day operational support to BRLPS and NRLP. The technical assistance included: 47

48 1) Support in designing and scaling up new livelihood and entitlements interventions: Assisted with development of concept notes of pilots, piloted interventions and visited the pilot areas to capture the learning s from the pilot. Furthermore, consultant helped with developing guidelines, operational manuals and scaling up of the intervention. See Box H for an example. 2) Diagnostics to tackle implementation issues: Analysis of the MIS data backed by evidence gathered from the field visits was used to identify constraints being faced in the implementation. The consultants later worked with the CEO and thematic heads to tackle implementation constrains and developed appropriate design changes to the interventions. 3) Support in undertaking quick assessments of implementation effectiveness: The respective thematic heads were provided support in designing and rolling out short assessments (carried out by the field teams of the project itself) that provided key inputs on the effectiveness of the implementation and necessary mid-course corrections were made. 4) Documentation of implementation experience: Learning notes based on the implementation experience were developed for documentation of the lessons from implementation and for wider sharing with other livelihood projects/other NRLP states. 5) Enabling an authorizing environment for the project in the state: The consultant undertook periodic and regular formal/informal interactions with senior government officials, members of the executive committee of the project and other stakeholders like leading development economists in the state to build an authorizing environment for the project in Bihar. Box H :Scaling up Food Security Intervention across 2500 villages The consultant worked with the social development team to prepare a guideline on implementing the food security intervention through village organizations (federation of self-help groups). Based on the draft guidelines, the intervention was piloted across 60 villages. Over the next 6 months, intensive visits to village organizations and the concerned households who were part of the piloting were undertaken to identify implementation issues. A short assessment on the efficiency of key business processes followed in the intervention was also carried out during this stage. Based on the inputs from the field diagnostics and the business process analysis, appropriate changes were made to the policy guidelines and an operational manual including the MIS to be put in place for scaling up this intervention was developed. Over the next 2 years the intervention has been scaled up to nearly 2500 villages across the project. A learning note on the process followed and impacts achieved through the intervention have also been developed for wider dissemination. C) TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO BIHAR INNOVATION FORUM II A consultant specializing in fundraising and social entrepreneurship was hired to provide technical assistance to the Bihar government for a unique initiative called Bihar Innovation Forum II. The consultant helped formulate the complete architecture of the Bihar Innovation forum and assisted the Bihar government partner with more than 20 agencies working in the social entrepreneurship sector. The consultant also provided the 48

49 government with support in hiring professional agencies to reach out to as wide an audience as possible. The innovation forum will be held in July For more details about the forum visit: D) Figure 28: Partnership approaches in Bihar Innovation Forum TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO TRIPTI, ORISSA STATE RURAL LIVELIHOOD MISSION A consultant with deep expertise in rural development was stationed in Orissa as a resident representative to provide overall technical assistance and day to-day operational support to Tripti. VI) IMPACT The NLTA facility had significant impact in some areas, particularly influencing the content and design of National Rural Livelihood Mission and creating a multistakeholder platform for knowledge management, learning, innovation and implementation. This was the first instance when significant number of experts and stakeholders were able to learn about various approaches and brainstorm about design of a national program. Although NLTA created a good professional base for the National Program and incubated a design team within the Government, it had limited impact on the business process reform within Government of India. During implementation of the program, NLTA facility commissioned a 49

50 rapid study on business process reform and collected many comparator cases on examples of reform within Government. However it had limited impact on the actual business process at the central level. Similarly, technical assistance was provided to States of Bihar and Orissa on developing effective implementation architecture of State Missions under the facility. However this could not be extended to other states due to lack of an enabling environment at the state level. Due to the time lag in implementation of World Bank supported National Rural Livelihood Project (NRLP), the project has been restructured and total support reduced and rationalized. However, Government has recently approved many policy level reforms including setting up of an autonomous society for implementing NRLM, replacement of capital subsidy by a community investment revolving fund and using of participatory identification of the poor as the targeting methodology. Many of these reforms are based on various lessons learnt during course of this NLTA and material produced during this NLTA. The outputs and consultations have helped in creating a more enabling environment for the NRLM to be implemented. The key impacts are summarized as follows: A) CREATING A KNOWLEDGE ARCHITECTURE FOR NRLM The project was able to create knowledge architecture for NRLM and brought together all the technical expertise and knowledge on a single platform for design of a National Program like NRLM. Many national and international experts were commissioned to write approach and practice papers. These formed the basis for decisions about content and design of the various strategies and investments proposed under NRLM. These were disseminated to various stakeholders at National and State level and have helped in creating a knowledge based design. Many of these experts have continued to be engaged in providing strategic and operational advice during implementation. The key challenge is to make a knowledge management and learning a concurrent and ongoing activity for the mission. However an organizational culture which puts emphasis on knowledge collection and learning has been initiated which is helping the mission to learn on a continuous basis. A digital library and a accessible web site has been created which is being accessed by state mission staff and other stakeholders. However, continuous investment is required in this area B) BRINGING INNOVATION IN THE PROJECT DESIGN NLTA facility was instrumental in introducing various innovative aspects like Social Observatory for concurrent monitoring and evaluation, use of ICT as a cross cutting investment, organization of state level innovation forums for developing public people and private partnership and last mile service delivery components in the design of a national project. Many significant HR Innovations like introduction of Young Professionals Program recruited through campuses of reputed management and development institutions in the country have helped in rapid professionalization of the sector. These have been now accepted at the State level but still require continuous TA which is being provided by the Bank team and a network of external providers. 50

51 C) POLICY REFORM Several state level and national policy changes were catalyzed due to the NLTA Facility and states have realigned their focus from an entitlement-based system to a planning and performance based system for the states under NRLM. Development of Five Year State Perspective and Implementation Plans including Poverty Diagnostics, Poverty Mapping, Assessment of Financial, Social and Economic Inclusion and various sectoral livelihood analytics was initiated, which has lead to better planning and targeting and a medium term view of implementation and results., SGSY merger with NRLM was also facilitated by the technical support provided under this project. The other key reforms which were initiated included replacement of capital subsidies by a revolving community investment fund and adoption of Participatory Identification of the Poor (PIP) as a targeting methodology. These were based on various approach papers prepared during the NLTA. The Government of India used material produced during the NLTA as a significant input towards policy papers presented to the Cabinet. D) INSTITUTIONAL AND BUSINESS PROCESS REFORM NLTA incubated a Special Purpose Vehicle in the Government and helped bring professionalization and HR systems into implementation of a National Progrm. The NMMU was housed within the MoRD for delivering technical assistance through professionals hired from the market to work within the government system. This model has helped shift from project to program mode and provide a new role for the central government that of a TA provider and not just that of a financial management and disbursement agency. The management agency approach, facilitated by the TA, is an innovative institutional arrangement being emulated by several other projects. However the second part of this agenda did not work well. Internal business process of the MORD continued to be managed through departmental procedures thus delaying critical procurement actions resulting in reduced efficiency and time lag in implementation and lag in states receiving technical assistance from the Centre. Although NLTA facility commissioned a reputed management consultancy to suggest options for business process reform, these could not be implemented due to the prevailing environment at the Centre. However many other innovations like Setting up of a High Power Empowered Committee for approvals of Five Year State Plans and Annual Plans have resulted in streamlined procedures for appraisal and disbursement of funds to States. Other innovations have included recognition of leading states with track record as technical assistance providers to states implementing these reforms and programs. The recent approval of Cabinet for setting up an autonomous Society for implementation of NRLM will also help in improving institutional and business process efficiency and effectiveness E) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO LOW INCOME STATES NLTA provided a Just in Time 24 by 7 model for technical assistance to State Missions in Bihar and Orissa. These included a full time professional recruited by the Bank team based in Patna and Bhubaneshwar who was accessible to the State Mission Director and senior 51

52 staff for advisory and operational advice on demand driven basis. This staff was backed by the Bank Task team through constant back-stopping. frequent missions. This has resulted in much better performance of the State missions and better development performance. It would have been better to spend more resources on this approach in other states. However, it could not be implemented in other states due to lack of an enabling environment. However this approach has been accepted by NRLM and resident representatives of NRLM are being appointed in many states to increase the responsive and just in time support. F) CREATING A MULTI STAKEHOLDER CONSTITUENCY FOR THE MISSION Various consultations with stakeholders to bring in a broad based understanding of the context has created a multi-stakeholder constituency for NRLM in the country. These include commercial banks, research and academic institutions, civil society organizations, social entrepreneurs, private sector organizations and have created a good ecosystem for partnership in implementation and monitoring of the mission. These will be further strengthened through organization of State Level Innovation Forums in various states. VII) LESSONS LEARNT FROM NLTA EXECUTION At the design stage, Bank wanted the NLTA to be executed through the recipient, Ministry of Rural Development (MORD), Government of India but MORD suggested that it will be better if Bank executed the NLTA as they had no experience or protocol to handle such activities. At the initial stage, Bank thought that managing many small contracts would be very difficult for the Bank. However subsequently, Bank hired a management agency to hire consultants and process transactions and ensure that outputs are delivered efficiently. Also, the Bank team was also able to commission very good quality papers by academics, practitioners and researchers on various topics in a very nimble and flexible manner. These were a combination of national and international consultants. Variety of topics was explored based on the client demand and the opportunity. These included the International stocktaking of experiences of ICT and Financial Inclusion and development of e-nrlms system. MORD feedback shows that Bank execution and flexibility in process helped in improving the quality of content and incorporation of current practice in design of National Rural Livelihood Mission. The subsequent experience in business process of MORD has vindicated the decision on Bank execution. While Knowledge Management and Learning happened better through the NLTA Facility, the support given through NLTA did not work for system and business process reform. On hindsight the business process reform study should have been launched earlier as the time required for structure and process reform in Government and MORD was grossly underestimated. While HR Reform, Social Observatory and MIS introduction were accepted due to detailed work done under NLTA, these were still difficult to implement due to lack of consensus within MORD. These changes and studies should have been pursued earlier in NLTA and accompanied by more direct work on change management within MORD. 52

53 VIII) SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT The NLTA facility created a variety of products at different points of time and they were disseminated through workshops and presentations to various stakeholders. These were also disseminated through publication of papers, learning notes, web sites and occasional blogs. Significant part of this material has been included in various project documents and knowledge products which have been disseminated on the Aajeevika (NRLM) web site. The knowledge products should have been accompanied by development of a web based knowledge dissemination platform. Significant number of these outputs has been converted into usable power-point presentations. Preparation of simple guidance notes, based on the knowledge products, which can become ready reference material for program managers, around different themes and sectors, would have helped more in program implementation Greater emphasis on audio-visual knowledge products including short films on you tube platform as compared to papers would make the knowledge products more user friendly for government functionaries and other stakeholders. A significant part of this material was converted into learning material by Bank and the NRLM Team. However more portion of resources could have been spent on converting knowledge into learning modules and products concurrently to reduce the time lag between knowledge and learning. Given the fact that the lagging states have low implementation capacity, greater focus on developing partnerships with training institutions and developing content for training programs that can be adopted would have led to more impact. Currently MORD and World Bank are working with key academic institutions to develop good quality learning material. Efforts were also made to create a national level community of practice around the key themes around discussion of the knowledge products but more resources were required to have a dedicated human resource within the Bank team to lead this effort. Although NLTA facility supported many cross visits to various projects, more resources should have been spent on cross learning of senior functionaries on the cases which were documented as part of knowledge management efforts. This is now being attempted in the current National Rural Livelihood Project (NRLP) supported by the Bank. IX) FUTURE AREAS OF WORK A) KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH ON COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION FEDERATIONS, PRODUCER ORGANIZATIONS AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS There has been significant investment in higher level federated community institutions through bank supported programs, other large cooperative sector efforts and a number of large civil society organizations. However there is less research and knowledge about the effectiveness and impact of these efforts on development outcomes and 53

54 B) C) sustainability. This would be an important area of research, knowledge management and learning in future. IMPACT OF COMMUNITY TO COMMUNITY EXTENSION AND LEARNING APPROACHES National Rural Livelihood Mission is making significant investments in community to community extension and peer learning approaches, popularly known as community resource person (CRP) strategy as opposed to staff intensive approaches for program expansion and extension. About such community professionals are involved in providing key services to community organizations. A systematic study of the approach on costs, quality and outcomes is required. SECTORAL STUDIES IN KEY LIVELIHOOD SECTORS Most investments being done under NRLM are focused on agriculture, livestock, nonfarm and jobs sub sectors of the livelihood economy. Although, some work in these areas was started in the current NLTA, there is a need for work on productivity, technology and value chains in each of these areas to develop more concrete and specific assessment of various strategies being tried out in programs including seed production, replacement, system of crop intensification, small ruminant productivity, technologies for value addition, entrepreneurship and labor markets. D) E) IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF RURAL LIVELIHOOD PROGRAMS AND VARIOUS INTERVENTIONS As a number of impact assessments have been carried out by various other agencies like DFID, IFAD and are being carried out in World Bank supported rural livelihood programs. These need to be bought together in form of an Annual Impact event to enable cross learning and initiate a dialogue with Planning Commission, decision makers,, implementers and evaluators. UNDERSTANDING THE CONTINUUM OF RURAL URBAN TRANSFORMATION IN TERMS OF LIVELIHOODS India is going through a significant transformation with urbanization and migration from rural areas. Many households are linked with the urbanization process but are often working at the bottom end of the urbanization process thus resulting in urban poverty. There is a need to develop understanding of how this is unfolding by tracking communities and households who are transiting and migrating and strategies being adopted by them both in context of rural livelihood programs under NRLM and World Bank supported programs and other urban livelihood programs run by Social Entrepreneurs and large civil society organizations. This is also critical in context of the proposed National Urban Livelihood Mission proposed by Ministry of Urban Development. 54

55 F) DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM FOR KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING FOR YOUNG PROFESSIONALS WORKING IN AREA OF RURAL LIVELIHOODS Most professionals working on rural livelihoods in NRLM, States, Social Enterprises, Private Sector and Civil Society organizations are young and are linked with Social Media and acquire learning through social media and related tools. An interesting pilot in terms of a Facebook Page for Young Professionals was tried in Bihar and has shown interesting results. Future area of learning would be to develop a Social Media Learning Platform for NRLM and the rural livelihood professional community. 55

56 ANNEX 1: LOG FRAME OF PROJECT WITH OUTPUTS AND IMPACTS Project Development Objectives To enhance institutional capacity of MoRD for effective planning, designing, implementation and monitoring of rural livelihood programs. Component: A: Institutional Capacity Enhancement at MoRD Component: B: Knowledge Management and Learning Output/Outcome Indicators Key Outputs Outcomes/Impacts a. Setting up of technical cells at MoRD and select high priority states to manage rural livelihood programs b. Institutionalizing systems and procedures for NRLM c. Training materials and aids developed and validated in the field a. Multi-disciplinary technical cell set-up at MoRD as prelude to NRLM b. Implementation support provided to State governments for launching NRLM activities a. Best practice case studies developed and disseminated 1) Incubation of NMMU 2) Technical Assistance to Jeevika and Bihar State Rural Livelihood Mission 3) Technical Support to Bihar Innovation Forum II 4) Technical Assistance to Tripti, Orissa State Rural Livelihood Mission 5) Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation and Social Observatory 6) Governance and accountability systems 7) Knowledge management and communications 8) HR framework 9) Reference Book on Human Resource Management 10) NRLM website 11) Financial Management Framework 12) Procurement Framework 13) Innovations and Partnerships Guidelines 14) Creation of a Knowledge Repository 15) Business Process Study of NMMU 16) Stakeholders Consultations & Partnerships 1) Approach Papers: a) Financial Inclusion Several state level and national policy changes were catalyzed due to the project and states have realigned their focus from an entitlement-based system to a planning and performance based system for the states under NRLM. Various reports and studies were used for various changes in policy. For instance, SGSY merger with NRLM was facilitated by the technical support provided under this project. The learning from other state projects convinced the government to form NRLM as a society, it also replaced capital subsidy with community investment fund. Furthermore, the BPL method of targeting was replaced with participatory identification planning. Lastly, the government also agreed to a phased implementation of 6-7 years in the program. Incubated a Special-purpose vehicle in the government:the NMMU was housed within the MoRD for delivering technical assistance through professionals hired from the market to work within the government system. This model has helped shift from project to programme mode and provide a new role for the central government that of a TA provider and not just that of a financial management and disbursement agency. The management agency approach, facilitated by the TA, is an innovative institutional arrangement being emulated by several other projects. Bringing innovation in the project design: For the first time, the project was able to bring various innovative elements like Social Observatory, ICT and last mile service delivery components in the design of a national project. Creating a knowledge architecture: The project was able to create a knowledge

57 Systems Component: C: Information Communication and Technology based M&E System c. Training modules developed and field tested d. National level Innovation Forum organized a. Support facilities and business processes have been established to support the project management function b) Institution Building and Capacity Building (IBCB) c) Last mile service delivery d) Livelihoods Promotion e) Social protection and nutrition f) Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) 2) Enabling Innovation: A global case-study of ICTs in Financial Inclusion 3) Case-Studies on IMPACT of Rural Livelihood PROGRAMS 4) Supporting Institutional Platforms for Rural Poor in Andhra Pradesh 5) Providing jobs for rural youth through Public-Private- People Partnerships in Andhra Pradesh, India. 6) Building a pro-poor Dairy Sector in Andhra Pradesh Dairy 7) Enhancing Agricultural Livelihoods in Bihar though System of Crop Intensification 8) Guidance Note on Green Business Opportunities 9) Case Studies on Rural Livelihoods Interventions 10) Book titled Banking on Self Help Groups: 20 years on 11) Roundtable on the SHG Programme 12) Rajasthan Microfinance Sector Report ) Co-Sponsored Two Summits on Access to Finance & Livelihoods 14) Microfinance India Summit, ) Livelihoods India Conference, ) Enabling environmentally sound and economically viable agriculture through community institutions 1) Learning systems and technical support for Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) 2) Establishment of enrlms architecture for NRLM and brought together all the technical expertise and knowledge on a single platform. Earlier, big Indian government programs were not prepared based on knowledge inputs. In this case, new ideas were incorporated and point-of-views of various stakeholders were incorporated through the various consultations. In addition, various national and international thematic best practices were introduced in the NRLM design. Created a multi-stakeholder constituency: Various consultations with stakeholders to bring in a broad based understanding of the context has created a multi-stakeholder constituency for NRLM in the country. The project was able to incorporate various ICT based innovations and technologies in the project design 57

58 ANNEX 2: COMPONENT-WISE EXPENDITURES OF THE PROJECT Component wise expenditures Allocated amount Expenditures Component A: Strengthening Institutional Capacities SRIJAN CRISIL Risk and Infrastructure Consultants NR Management Consultants Sutra Consulting Component B: Knowledge Management and Learning Systems Training, Workshops 857 Contract Printing 2210 Centre for micro-finance 9350 Access Development Services Knowledge Management production - INTV The Livelihood School Press Conference/Meetings Consultant Component C: Information Technology based M&E System 0 0 Component D: Others Advertising for Management Agency Operational Expenses Total 988,241 58

59 ANNEX 3: LIST OF OUTPUTS PRODUCED UNDER THE NLTA Approach Papers a) Financial Inclusion b) Institution Building and Capacity Building (IBCB) c) Last mile service delivery d) Livelihoods Promotion e) Social protection and nutrition f) Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) g) Establishment of enrlms Case Studies on Impact of Rural Livelihood Programs a) Supporting Institutional Platforms for Rural Poor in Andhra Pradesh b) Enabling environmentally sound and economically viable agriculture through community institutions c) Providing jobs for rural youth through Public-Private-People Partnerships in Andhra Pradesh d) Building a pro-poor Dairy Sector in Andhra Pradesh Dairy e) Enhancing Agricultural Livelihoods in Bihar though SCI Guidance Note on Green Business Opportunities Enabling Innovation: A global case-study of ICTs in Financial Inclusion Case Studies on Rural Livelihoods Interventions Book titled Banking on Self Help Groups: 20 years on a) Roundtable on the SHG Programme Rajasthan Microfinance Sector Report 2011 Co-Sponsored Two Summits on Access to Finance & Livelihoods a) Microfinance India Summit, 2012 b) Livelihoods India Conference, 2012 Knowledge Management for Systems Development for NRLM a) Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation and Social Observatory b) Governance and accountability framework c) Knowledge management and communications systems HR framework a) Reference Book on Human Resource Management NRLM website Financial Management Framework Procurement Framework Innovations and Partnerships Guidelines Creation of a Knowledge Repository

60 Business Process Study of NMMU Stakeholders consultations & partnerships Institutional capacity enhancement a) Technical Assistance to Jeevika and Bihar State Rural Livelihood Mission b) Technical Support to Bihar Innovation Forum II c) Technical Assistance to Tripti, Orissa State Rural Livelihood Mission 60

61 ANNEX 4: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON APPROACH PAPERS Box A1: Improving service delivery of Health Services The approach paper recommends improving the health service delivery by building capacity and improving accountability across the health value chain. It is suggested that a cadre of community resource persons (CRPs) and health activists (HA) (or ASHAs) should be developed. Figure A1: Suggestions for Improving Health Service Delivery 61

62 Box A2: Innovations in Service Delivery of Social Safety-Nets GOI provides several social safety net products targeted towards the poor such as life and accidental disability insurance cover, pension for various socially excluded categories, public distribution system (PDS), the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) etc. However, the service delivery has beenimproved by building capacity at the last mile level by developing a cadre of para-professionals and community resource persons and ICT/IT architecture to facilitate access and distribute payments (i.e., social payouts). Figure 8: Pension Disbursement by Smart Card based on the AP model Table A1: USE OF ICT AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES IN LIVELIHOOD PROJECTS Sector Technologies Agriculture Sustainable and good agriculture practices Low cost agriculture equipment (transplanters, weeders, bio-sprayers) Low cost micro irrigation systems Ethno-veterinary SMS Alerts on weather information and pest attacks (AP) SMS Alerts on commodity prices (AP, TN) Agroprocessing Digital moisture meters Threshing and dehusking machines and value Crushing and milling of oilseeds and pulses addition Solar driers for fruits, vegetables, etc. Mini cold storages Milking machines and milk-o-testers Decentralized bulk milk cooling and chilling centers Arts and crafts Mechanized lathes Information Information dissemination (voice SMS) Systems Decision making tools, alerts and queries Imaging services (enrollments, documentations, etc.) Disaster alerts Development Financial performance of the community institutions 62

63 Tracking Traceability of agriculture operations Systems Tracking educational performance Tracking health seeking behavior Transaction Banking, Insurance and Remittances Mechanisms Aggregation, logistics and Market Transactions G2C, B2C, C2C transactions Banking and Electronic Benefit Transfers (NREGA payments, Old Age and Disability Pensions) Insurance using smart card-mobile interface SMS based information exchange with commercial banks Insurance claim processing Remittances Green energy Improved cook stoves and fuel briquettes Biogas plants (verified emission reductions units) Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) Solar energy Rice husk based distributed power generation Mini hydel power stations Housing, Green housing water and Bio-sand, ceramic based water filter environmental Solar disinfection and oxidation of water sanitation Solar oxidation and coagulation-flocculation for arsenic/fluoride Treadle pumps Low cost toilets and flushing systems Affordable Tablet PCs education Alternate learning systems E-learning and self paced learnings Health and Diagnostics kits nutrition Immunization kits Mobile and tele-medicine Affordable generic drugs Traditional healing practices 63

64 ANNEX 5: DESCRIPTION OF CASE STUDIES A) SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONAL PLATFORMS FOR RURAL POOR IN ANDHRA PRADESH In the last ten years US$ 477 million were invested in creating scaled up institutional architecture to address rural poverty in Andhra Pradesh. This investment facilitated a social mobilization of 11.1 million people; mobilized total credit of US$7.86 billion, augmented the resource base of poor to US$1.1 billion, and increased the household turnover to US$12.9 billion. The investments were highly cost-efficient: per employee turnover was over US$1 million; and the management cost to investment ratio was only 0.7%. These programs have also enhanced agricultural productivity and created a diverse pro-poor livelihood economy where poor have grabbed a much higher market share than earlier leading to a systemic impact. The community-based institutions have also created a single-window system, which has been utilized by both public and private sector to increase transactions with the poor. Furthermore, the project facilitated convergence and partnership with other stakeholders forcing the public sector to become more responsive to the needs of the poor and reduced the rent-seeking behavior of public sector employees. Eventually, the last mile-service delivery became more effective and several pro-poor policies were formulated. Lastly, several social and human development interventions promoted by the program have improved several key indicators. Figure below summarizes the major economic impacts of APRPRP.

65 B) Figure A2: Summary of major economic impacts in APRPRP ENABLING ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND AND ECONOMICALLY VIABLE AGRICULTURE THROUGH COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS Small and Marginal farmers in Andhra Pradesh, a state in Southern India, have lower agricultural productivity as well as higher cost of cultivation compared to rest of India. These farmers face several constraints such as high cost of inputs, poor access to credit, and inability to use government extension services. These factors have contributed to agriculture being perceived as an unviable and unattractive livelihood activity across the state. An agriculture intervention Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture, popularly called CMSA, has shown to make a difference and this note focused on its impacts. CMSA has been implemented by Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP), a program jointly supported by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the World Bank. IKP has been working with communities since 2000 and it has facilitated the creation of an institutional platform and several livelihood interventions have been piloted, customized and scaled-up through this institutional platform. The institutional platform has enabled the creation of a single-window system for small and marginal farmers. They can now demand better services from the public sector, reduce their dependence on informal sources of credit, and experiment and customize various technologies such as CMSA, to enhance their livelihoods. A number of innovative aspects account for the success of CMSA in the state. Foremost among these is the fact that it was implemented through community-driven institutions, which created a single-window system within a few kilometers of their village. Figure A3: Key investments of IKP in CMSA from the Impact note This system lowered the transaction cost of adopting the technology and farmers sourced their own solutions by tapping into an open-source platform of technology offered through CMSA. Its execution through community-managed institutions also helped it acquire characteristics similar to a social movement. CMSA has helped farmers save money by 65

66 replacing inorganic pesticides with organic inputs, resulting in total savings of 6.64 billion since The participant farmers have also witnessed yield improvements ranging from 8-25 percent. Eventually, an additional income of billion has been generated due to various sustainable agricultural interventions. CMSA has also improved food security, reduced pesticide related health problems for participant farmers and triggered several policy changes at the state level. Figure below has a summary of various services provided under CMSA. C) Figure A4: CMSA: End-to-end solution across agri-value chain PROVIDING JOBS FOR RURAL YOUTH THROUGH PUBLIC-PRIVATE-PEOPLE PARTNERSHIPS IN ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA India has one of the highest proportions of workers in the informal sector in the world. Rural youth face several constraints, which has limited their ability to transition to the formal sector. Indira Kranthi Patham, a program jointly supported by the World Bank and Government of Andhra Pradesh, has facilitated the creation of an institutional platform. Several livelihood interventions have been piloted, customized and scaled-up through this institutional platform. This note focused on Employment Generation Marketing Mission(EGMM), which has successfully provided end-to-end jobs and placement solutions for rural youth. 66

67 Figure A5: Implementation of EGMM through CBOs from the impact note A number of innovative aspects account for the success of EGMM in the state. Foremost among these is the fact that these were implemented through community-driven and community-managed institutions. EGMM s various partnerships with the public and private sector has made it the largest jobs mission for the rural poor in India. It has trained 582,295 youth and placed 449,205 youth till Nov Cumulatively it has generated income of INR 33 billion and an additional income of INR 11.9 billion. All of this was achieved at a very small cost of INR 2.84 billion. D) BUILDING A PRO-POOR DAIRY SECTOR IN ANDHRA PRADESH DAIRY Small dairy producers in rural Andhra Pradesh face several constraints: exploitation by middlemen; inability to access urban markets; huge fodder deficit; and inadequate government provided animal health and breeding services. Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP), a program jointly supported by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the World Bank, has been working with communities since The social mobilization has facilitated the creation of an institutional platform and several livelihood interventions have been piloted, customized and scaled-up through this institutional platform. A number of innovative aspects account for the success of these livelihoods programs in the state. Foremost among these is the fact that these were implemented through community-driven and communitymanaged institutions. The institutional platform has also enabled the creation of a singlewindow system for small dairy producers and end-to-end dairy solutions have been provided through this system. 67

68 Figure A6: Key investments of IKP and implementation strategy of dairy interventions from the impact note Small producers can now demand better services and invest in productive livestock assets. The project has also enabled higher livestock productivity and facilitated market linkages. Since 2004, 202 chilling centers have been established. These centers have aggregated milk produce from 4,215 village level collection centers, which cover 1,52,000 producers. On an average the turnover of the milk procured at these centers is over 250,000 liters per day. In addition, the various productivity enhancement interventions have resulted in higher income for participant groups and increased the ownership of livestock assets. E) ENHANCING AGRICULTURAL LIVELIHOODS IN BIHAR THOUGH SYSTEM OF CROP INTENSIFICATION Bihar s agriculture sector employs more than eighty percent of the labor force and more than four fifths of these farmers are small and marginal. They have one of the lowest agricultural productivity in India that has not increased due to several constraints. Jeevika, a project jointly supported by the World Bank and the Government of Bihar, has piloted, customized and eventually scaled-up several innovative livelihood interventions to improve the well-being of poor households in Bihar. A number of innovative aspects account for the success of these livelihoods programs in the state. Foremost among these is the fact that it was implemented through community-driven and community-owned institutions. The institutional platform that was facilitated by the project has enabled the creation of a singlewindow system at the doorstep of small and marginal farmers. 68

69 Figure A7: Key investments by Jeevika and the implementation strategy of SCI in Bihar from the learning note Farmers can now demand better services from the public sector, access credit from commercial banks, and experiment and customize various technologies. This note focused on System of Crop Intensification (SCI), which has evolved from a well-known farming methodology called System of Rice Intensification. It has been customized and adopted for wheat, green gram, oil seeds and vegetables in Bihar. The participant farmers have witnessed 86% increase in rice productivity and 72% increase in wheat productivity. The profitability of rice cultivation has increased 2.5 times and has almost doubled for oil-seeds. Since 2008, implementation of SCI has contributed to an additional income increase of around US$10.7 million. Following figure has an example of an innovative ICT based technology being used by the program. Figure A8: Innovative ICT based Extension technologies 69

70 F) ENABLING INNOVATION: A GLOBAL CASE-STUDY OF ICTS IN FINANCIAL INCLUSION A detailed study to evaluate lessons from the most successful and prominent branchless banking initiatives was conducted. The study had three major takeaways for communitydriven development projects in India. First, extending banking through alternative channels to bridge the last mile can be highly effective in expanding access to financial services to rural areas. Second, banks are integral to expanding financial access, in order to provide liquidity to correspondents, help adhere to regulation, and provide greater avenues to credit, savings, and insurance products. Third, demand orientation is key to achieve both customer adoption and financial sustainability, as a cut and paste approach of financial products and service models from urban to rural areas is likely to fail. The box below has a short case-study on the major concepts behind branchless banking. Box A3: Branchless Banking: The Idea and the Players The promise of branchless banking lies in the fact that mobile and card-based technologies are now gaining rapid rates of adoption, allowing them to serve a number of functions currently served by brickand mortar operations that were designed for exclusive access, rather than inclusive. These new technologies include: (i) a bank card that identifies the user and his/her account, (ii) a Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal to facilitate transactions, (iii) a human ATM with access to cash stored in savings, and (iv) an internet banking terminal with account information and ability to make transfers, among others. See figure below for the number of ways that a deposit can be approximated. Figure A9: Various ways to initiate a deposit process The following major case-studies were covered in the report: 70