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Supported by
Vocational Education and Training for Inclusive Growth
of Marginalised Communities
Partners in action :
Skill Development in India: For over two decades India has witnessed impressive economic growth rates. Yet the country faces the formidable challenge of providing meaningful employment to its very large workforce of 430 million people with an additional 10 million entrants every year. Out of this workforce 395 million are employed in the unorganized sector where agriculture alone accounts for 253 million including agricultural labourers and small farmers. India is lagging far behind than other Asian or European counter parts in providing meaningful employment to its workforce The government's measures to expand skill training still focuses largely on creating a workforce to meet the requirements of the organized sector adding up to the already existing large exodus of rural population. Several studies carried out on migration indicate tremendous exploitation, health hazards and a degrading social climate in the urban slums. It is here where the importance of vocational education and training (VET) strongly needs to be underlined. The VET programme is one such step towards this direction.
The “Ecopreneur” business model under the ambit of VET developed by Welthungerhilfe and partners is an alternative vocational training in the area of agriculture and natural resource based trades, an area given scant attention in mainstream training. It addresses rural poverty and high unemployment in the unorganized sector. Its two pronged approach is based on the principles that a) farmers are entrepreneurs producing not just for self-consumption but also for trade b) their trades need not be restricted to just conventional harvesting / selling of crops but producing /selling of eco-friendly products using easily accessible resources from the environment. The programme a d d r e s s e s t h e i m m i n e n t p r o b l e m o f unemployment and underemployment in the backward rural states of India namely Odhisa, Jharkhand and West Bengal by preparing the rural youth through skill training for setting up their own businesses getting employed as barefoot technicians, government/NGO extension workers or as “Ecopreneurs” by selling products, services, or technologies. The target audience or the trainees in this case are young people in the age group of 15-35 years belonging to marginalized communities such as the scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) or other backward classes in India.
The Idea of “Ecopreneur':
Courses offered: i. Certificate course on sustainable farming and farm management techniques:
ii. Certificate course on sustainable harvest, processing & marketing of non timber forest produces:
iii. Certificate course on agro processing and value addition:
The course is designed to upgrade the skills of the new generation farmers by blending their traditional knowledge with modern scientific practices. Agriculture is taken up holistically by integrating the improved package of practices of the existing cereals, vegetables, pulses with scientific methods of organic cultivation, soil & water conservation, nursery raising, seed production and preservation. The trainees with their own farm lands are getting well equipped to double the productive efficiency of their farm leading to significant enhancement in income. The business plan for each farm is also shared with banks, government for financial support required for making necessary investments. The course also equips the trainees to work as extension workers in government agencies, NGOs and in private farms.
In the forest fringed areas livelihood of the rural communities is very much linked to the forest. However these communities have never been able to earn a better livelihood beyond subsistence. The training is helping the youth tap into forest resources to take up certain forest based trades such as Tussar cocoon production, disease free seed cocoon production, Lac farming & processing etc. Apart from the specific products, training on sustainable harvesting techniques, storing, processing & marketing of many minor forest produces are also being taken up to encourage better use of the existing resources towards enhancing the livelihood of the “Ecopreneurs”.
One of the main reasons of the poor performing agriculture economy in India is because farmers are unable to receive better rate for their farm produces due to lack of value addition. The course is equipping the trainees to process the local agro products which are in demand and then market the products in local as well as city markets. Skill training related to drying, storing, grading, processing, preserving and packaging of local food products is being taken up under the course. The trainees are also getting trained on market survey and developing market strategy to sell their products. The business plans
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for the units is being shared with banks, financial institutions (FIs) for mobilizing financial resources. The trainees are getting self employed by setting up small individual or group based food processing units. Employment in food processing industries and private food processing units can also be obtained.
The course is helping the trainees coming from communities where conventional energy has not reached to serve their area by making solar energy systems available. The services include sale of the solar equipments and provision of post sell repair and maintenance services. Training is being imparted on installation, repair and maintenance of solar equipments. Trainees are being linked to private companies who make solar products and also to state agencies promoting alternative energy systems. The trainees are finding employment as agents of private companies selling products & services or getting self employed as service entrepreneurs providing repair, sale and maintenance of solar equipments.
Training is being provided to the youths from the rural communities who have been rearing livestock traditionally for ages to upgrade their skills and knowledge by learning scientific methods and setting up commercial animal husbandry units. Trainees are also being selected from the existing para- veterinarian (who have not attended any formal training) or from the educated local youths, being subsequently trained on diagnosis & treatment for all the diseases of local animal husbandry except cases which requires institutional vet care where they act as a point for referral. The trainees are either getting self employed as service entrepreneurs or privately practicing and charging community for their services. In future trainees could also get jobs as para-vets with block and other government hospitals, in private farms and in the NGOs as extension workers.
A total of 1400 trainees have been trained upto October 2011 on all the above mentioned trades and most of them have been able to initiate their newly learnt trades/practices. The trainees post completion have been continuously provided support for trouble shooting as well as in taking up his/her business ideas with
iv. Certificate course on solar equipment maintenance & servicing:
v. Certificate course on animal husbandry and management:
Achievements:
the bank , government or other potential donor agencies and received significant enhancement of income to step above the poverty line.
Sitaram Soren hails from the village Chamubera under Mohamadbazar block, Birbhum district of West Bengal, India and belongs to the Santhal community which comes under Scheduled Tribes (ST). Sitaram owns 80 decimals of land in which he grows paddy during the monsoon. This caters to only three months of food requirement for his five member family. To take care of the remaining nine months, Sitaram and his wife have to work as labourers with other farmers or in the nearby stone quarries on a daily wage basis. He also searched for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme of Government, which provided him some days of work.
When staff members from Development Research Communication and Service Centre (DRCSC), Welthungerhilfe's partner in the VET project, visited the village they found a large number of Palmyra palm trees and Date palm trees unutilized in the village. Most of these palm trees were never tapped for extracting juice as villagers could not find an appropriate market for the product, which has a very short shelf life and ferments very quickly. Sitaram himself used to tap only two Palmyra palm trees on a regular basis, collecting the juice twice a day. The juice collected during the
A juicy tale of success: Case Study on Palm Products
Sitaram hanging a container for juice collection
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morning was sold by him fresh and the r e m a i n i n g w a s consumed as liquor. The juice collected in the afternoon would ferment more quickly and Sitaram and his relatives would consume the same as l iquor, e n c o u r a g i n g alcoholism. Even though Sitaram and many others from his village knew that palm juice could also p r o d u c e p a l m jaggery they thought of it as a tedious p r o c e s s u n t i l DRCSC selected some of the young people from Chamubera for a 15 days training on palm products. Various techniques related to proper pruning of the trees, collection of juice, liming inside the containers, testing of pH level in the juice, processing of the juice, balancing of calcium content in jaggery for solidification, testing parameters of quality were taught both in theory as well in practice. Linkages with KVIB (Khadi and Village Industries Board) turned out to be very useful in providing the best of knowledge to the trainees. Welthungerhilfe also conducted a study through management interns that helped DRCSC to develop a training module on palm products. Sitaram Soren and 39 other trainees from his village and also from the nearby villages of Birbhum district took the first phase training on palm products which was mainly on jaggery preparation from the juice.
Sitaram is now able to earn around 120 INR per day (2 Euros) for six months of a year by selling jaggery prepared from palm juice. The Palmyra palm season begins in the last week of March and
stlasts till 1 week of June whereas the Date palm season begins in the middle of November and continues till middle of February. Sitaram had tapped five trees this season and wanted to increase this to ten trees by next year. Unlike earlier years in the year 2011 he practiced appropriate liming inside the containers hung on to the trees to collect the juice. He also ensured that
he collected the juice early in the morning and conducted a pH test to be sure that the collected juice was of the highest quality. He also followed all the techniques taught during the training to make the best quality jaggery.
Once the news about jaggery preparation by youth
from village Chamubera spread, bulk buyers from the district town of Suri started to come in and bought all the jaggery that was produced by Sitaram and the other fellow villagers between Rs 100 to Rs 80 per kg. Sitaram now plans to move up in the value chain ladder to get more returns by preparing palm candy, hand fans (made of palm leaves), palm fiber and other possible products and also wants to remain economically engaged for a longer time in a year. The second phase of the VET programme is designed to equip him with this diversification.
Chandhrwa is a small tola (hamlet) of Senri village under Barwadih Panchayat of Manika block, Latehar district, Jharkhand. Rajdeo Bhuiya, lives in Chandhrwa tola and is the sole bread earner for his family of 7 members; he, his wife, three sons and two daughters. The area is drought prone as it falls in a rain shadow zone. Farmers have limited access to irrigation facilities and agricultural output is completely dependent on the vagaries of monsoon. Rain fed subsistence farming is a common practice in the area which results in a fragile livelihood. The incidence of Maoist insurgency has further aggravated the misery of
A boon in paddy through training on System of Rice Intensification (SRI) Techniques:
Practical training on cooking of Jaggery
Sitaram climbing a palmtree with amazing skills
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the people.
Rajdeo Bhuiya has total 3.4 acres of land in which only t w o a c r e s a r e suitable for paddy cultivation. Rest is unproductive tar (up land) land. He cultivated paddy in his two acres of land by following traditional methods up till last year and according to him, the production was sufficient only to feed his family for 5 to 6 months in a year. For rest of the period, the only option left for him was to engage in casual manual labour available in and around his village. The prevalent wage rate in the area varies between Rs 80/ to Rs 100/- which is lower than the standard wage rate of Rs 120/- per day in Jharkhand. He managed only around 50 days of such work in a calendar year during non agricultural season including wages available under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP). In such circumstances, Rajdeo found it very difficult to support his family to have a dignified life; even fulfilling the basic requirements was a challenge.
In 2011, he came to know about the VET programme. He attended a meeting organized by the staffs of CWS partner Bihar Pradesh Yuva Parishad (BPYP) in his village for sensitizing the villagers on the benefits of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) techniques. SRI is a method of increasing the yield of paddy by bringing changes in the cultivation practices. Rajdeo Bhuiya, undertook a 10 days training programme on SRI by BPYP along with 47 other farmers. The training covered both theoretical and practical part suitably designed for semi literate rural youths. During the training he learned how to select a good plot for SRI method of paddy cultivation, how to prepare land before the agriculture season, methods of seed treatment, methods of preparing nursery, transplantation techniques following rows, mechanized weeding techniques, irrigation
& water management, integrated pest control management and harvesting techniques.
On completion of the training Rajdeo Bhuiya decided to implement the same practices in 1 acre of his land out of the total 2 acre paddy field following the entire package of practices. Since SRI method of paddy cultivation requires less seed, irrigation and labour in comparison to that of traditional method, his input cost came down to a large extent. Previously, 70 kg of seed, at the rate of Rs 25/- per kg, was required to cultivate two acres of land, but under SRI he required only 2 kg of seed per acre which reduced his input cost significantly. Similarly only 8 man/women days labour was required in 1 acre of SRI paddy transplantation against 12 man/women days in traditional transplantation at the rate of Rs 100/- per man/women days. Apart from reduced input cost, the yield of paddy cultivated through SRI method came out to be double. He got 12 quintals compared to the 6 quintal received in the field where he grew paddy by following traditional practices. This will help his family with additional 6 months of food sufficiency providing year long food for the year.
All 48 VET trainees trained on SRI practices have also been linked up with National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for further input supports such as seed, fertilizer, weeder and have taken up SRI methods of paddy cultivation in 15 acres of land. The extension workers and project coordinators of BPYP, under the guidance of CWS & Welthungerhilfe, have been continuously providing field support to Rajdeo Bhuiya and other farmers trained under the VET project. Another 400 farmers have also taken up the same practices by getting motivated with the strong demonstration and are being trained on the same module through a NABARD supported programme by BPYP.
Like Sitaram Hasda and Rajdeo Bhuiya thousands of other rural youth who otherwise would never have had opportunity for getting a formalised training are being trained to take their traditional livelihood with a fresh approach making significant enhancement to their livelihood
It is important for the “Ecopreneurs” to get linked to banks, financial institutions and other relevant government programmes and make
Challenges:
Rajdeo Bhuiya of Senuri village-moving from
subsistence tosustainability
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necessary investments towards taking forward their businesses and their newly learnt skills. Welthungerhilfe and partners provide support to the trainees so that they can prepare their business development plans and share with the relevant institutions for support. But as the trainees are from the poorest communities with a poor asset base, banks often consider them as credit unworthy and their enterprises non viable. It takes lot of persuasion to convince the mainstream institutions on the genuineness of their action and profitability of the enterprises. Welthungerhilfe partners have been able to change this orientation with some success however significant numbers of trainees are yet to receive capital for expanding their business. Support from various donors and other relevant stakeholders are being sought to fulfill these intermediate gap. With the sound demonstration made by the first lot of trainees the linkage rate would also go higher.
Welthungerhilfe is also trying towards institutionalization of the VET courses by transforming the training centers into Community Colleges which will provide these certificate courses in these areas on a sustainable basis. Each trainee after going through the course will be properly assessed and if found appropriate will be acknowledged by certificates provided from NCVT/ (National Council for Vocational Training)/ IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University)/ other similar institutions which have the mandate for such certification in the country.
Salient Features of the
“Community College”
= Education meant for the disadvantaged
and socially excluded communities
= Developing entrepreneurs in rural areas as a
result directly impacting rural economy
and economy of the country at large
= Need based, cost effective institutional
training which has the requisite flexibility
for training the marginalized
= The training package consists of skill
building, experiential learning, interaction
with potential employers and support for
Future Plans:
Salient Features of the
“Community College
raising resources from financial institutions
and government
= Certification approved by government of
India recognizing the skills and thereby
enhancing the employability
= One year incubation support from the
institution post training for fine tuning the
business ideas and troubleshooting
Welthungerhilfe along with the partners are currently exploring appropriate funding for taking forward the idea of the Community College.
If you are any individual, organization or a donor wanting to contribute towards supporting the cause you can adopt an “Ecopreneur” by providing the following support
i. “Low range support”- If you can provide INR 3,500 or 50 Euros you will help a youth with equipments and materials necessary to start/expand/improve his trade post training (since these youth are the poorest of the poor from the tribal communities, most of the financial institutions consider them non bankable and because of absence of a small capital they are often not able to adopt the best practices required )
ii. “Middle Range Support”- If you can provide a support of INR 5,000 or 70 Euros you will be able to support her/him to attend a full fledged training on eco friendly natural resource based livelihood practices. This will further help her/him to use these newly attained skills and knowledge seamlessly for enhancing income.
iii. “High Range Support”- If you can provide a support of INR 8,500 or 125 Euros to a youth, she/he will be able to attend training to upgrade/learn new skills and knowledge as well as she/he will be able to receive doorstep expert support continuously for 2 years after the training that will guide her/him to sail through the ups and downs of the business.
Please call us or write to us in the following addresses for further information on supporting “Ecopreneurs”
Adopt an “Ecopreneur” for support:
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Organizations Involved
Welthungerhilfe
Contact: Head Office:
Agragamee
Contact:
Centre for World Solidarity
Contact:
Originally founded in the sixties as the National Committee of the FAO Freedom from Hunger Campaign and earlier called “German Agro Action”, is a secular, non-profit, non governmental organization in the field of international development cooperation and emergency aid, dedicated to rural development, food security and eradication of root causes of poverty. Since over 40 years Welthungerhilfe, with its headquarters in Germany, supports voluntary and civil society partner organizations in rural India, at present more than 45 project partners in nine states
Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V. , Friedrich Ebert Strasse 1, 53173 Bonn, GERMANY website: South Asia Regional Office: S-41, Ground Floor, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi- 110 017, Tel: +91-11-40520137/34/31, website: email:
Agragamee has been engaged on people-centred, culturally sensitive and ecologically balanced sustainable development of remote tribal communities in Orissa for over two decades. Currently, they work directly in 8 districts of Orissa and indirectly through a consortium of 9 partner NGOs called Sanjojana. Their mission is to promote all aspects of tribal development throughout India, with a focus on Orissa and integrated approaches to help tribal communities mobilize for self-sustaining development initiatives.
At/P.O-Kashipur, Dist.-Rayagada, State- Orissa, India, Pin 765015, Phone/Fax: 91-6865-285174 website: , email:
Center for World Solidarity (CWS) has been working on Human Dignity, Livelihood and governance issues through network and partnerships with voluntary groups, NGOs, networks of NGOs and individuals since 1992 to promote people centered, participatory development in five states of India namely Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar through its resource centers in respective states. Jharkhand Resource Center (JRC) of CWS has taken up VET project in 2010 with its field level partners Society for Rural Industrialization (SRI), Bihar Pradesh Yuva Parishad (BPYP) and Mahila Mandal Trust (MMT) to implement in Ranchi, Latehar and Hazaribag districts respectively.
Centre for World Sloidarity (CWS), H.No. 12-13-438, Street No.1, Secunderabad - 500 017. (A. P). India, email: , Phone No: +91-40- 2701 8257 Website:
www.welthungerhilfe.de
www.welthungerhilfe-southasia.orgsubhankar.chatterjee@welthungerhilfe.de
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Development Research Communication and Service Centre
Contact:
Contact:
DRCSC is a non-government development organization working in 12 districts of West Bengal and other states. They are a developmental training & resource centre focusing mainly on reducing malnutrition and food insecurity, generating natural resource based employment, improving self sufficiency as well as disaster preparedness, through group and community based initiatives. DRCSC has also worked extensively on: -Integrated multi component farming systems (seasonal/perennial crop, pig/cow/rabbit/goat, poultry, biodigestor, insects, and fishery) with support from Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India.
Development Research Communication and Services Centre, 58A, Dharmotola Road, Bosepukur, Kasba, Kolkata 700042, West Bengal, INDIA, Tel: 91 033 2442 7311, 2441 1646, Fax: 91-033 2442 7563, Email: website:
Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur has experience of imparting vocational training to the rural youths for promotion of livelihood since the 1960's. Lokasiksha Parishad the development wing of RSKM has separate units for imparting vocational trainings in different spheres .e.g. Agricultural Training Centre ( supported by State Govt. of WB) for agro- based programmes including animal husbandry , Jana Sikshan Sanstha ( JSS, supported by the Government. of India ) for non-agro based themes , Training cum Production Centre ( TCPC, supported by NABARD, SSI of Govt. of WB and occasionally by LSP) for handicrafts and agro-based value addition and Commercial Training Institute for techno-based options. Further, for making provisions of employment, either self or in other sectors, a Unit for Entrepreneurship Development Programme is also being run by RKM effectively.
Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Lokashiksha Parishad, Narendrapur, Kolkata, West Bengal Pin- 700 103, Tel: 03324770249, Fax: +91 33 24772070 email : website:
[email protected] www.rkmnpur.org
Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama
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