On 5th March 2019, the World Bank and the Government of India signed an agreement, valued at $250-million, to promote farm and non-farm enterprises in India that are “women-owned and women-led.” The underlying goal is to help women belonging to rural households to shift to a new generation of economic initiatives, aimed at developing viable enterprise for non-farm and farm products.
The agreement was signed by Mr. Sameer Khare, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Mr. Hisham Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank India. This $250-million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a five-year grace period, with a final maturity of 20 years.
This agreement is a part of the National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP), which provides additional financing to the $500 million-worth National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP) approved by the World Bank in July 2011. The development objective of the NRETP is the establishment of efficient and effective institutional platforms for the rural poor to enable them to increase household income, via sustainable enhancement of livelihoods and improved access to public (financial) services.
The NRLP is currently being implemented across 13 states, 162 districts and 575 blocks. So far, 8.8 million women have been mobilized from poor rural households into 7,50,000 self-help groups (SHGs). These SHGs have further federated into 48,700 Village Organizations and 2900 Cluster/Gram Panchayat-level Federations. The new agreement will support these existing 13 states, but 125 additional districts in these states will be covered too.
According to Mr. Sameer Kumar Khare, “the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) aims to alleviate rural poverty and create sustainable livelihood opportunities in rural communities by promoting sustainable community-based institutions which will facilitate economic and financial services for the rural poor. He further said that this additional funding will help give impetus to the poverty alleviation measures by the Government and ensure equitable and inclusive growth in the country.”
Mr. Hisham Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank, India said that “the National Rural Livelihoods Project has mobilized close to 9 million rural women into strong self-managed institutional platforms, helping them access services, participate in Gram Sabhas and start engaging in income generating activities. Many of these women are now geared towards moving into higher order economic initiatives in farm and non-farm sectors. He further said that the New Project will now help them engage purposefully in an evolving rural economy.”
NERTP will enable the development of enterprise programs for the rural youth and power women by providing themaccess to markets, networks and finance, for start-up options and building individually/collectively-owned enterprises. A crucial component of the project includes the development of financial products using digital financial services to aid small producer collectives in scaling-up and engaging with the market.
NRETP will also play a role in supporting the development of youth skills, in collaboration with the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana. The demonstrated success of peer-to-peer learning under NRLP will be leveraged across the communities and states for employment generation.
By providing technical assistance, skills building and investment support, across value chains, for businesses to build and diversify into high value farm and non-farm commodities such as commercial crops and livestock products, and fisheries, the project envisions a transformation of the economic participation of the SHGs and rural women entrepreneurs. This will fulfill broader goals of economic growth and inclusion.
India Outbound
March 15, 2019
source https://indiaoutbound.org/coverage-of-icds-from-2006-2016-2/
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