Livelihood

Natural Resource Management

Western Orissa districts are endowed with natural resources in abundance, bet it land, forests & water. Yet, poor conservation & faulty planning has created a man made disaster like draught, almost perennially. Western Orissa receives on an average more than 1000 mm of rainfall annually, yet draught occurs as there is very little management of the water which comes in generally 35 to 40 days unlike in costal Orissa where the average rainy days varies around 70 per annum. Though draught has been breaking the backbone of the people, most of the other man made causes have been overlooked so far. We at SRUSTI have been promoting models which if replicated in a scale can plug many of the gaps.

Harvest water & harvest gold
 

SRUSTI believes in small Water Harvesting Structures (WHS) & promotes them to maximize the benefit with little displacement. Managing run offs also help retain soil fertility. We pioneer plantation in bundings to maximize benefits. Stone bunding in streams & “Nullahs” has been successfully experimented in Chacharabhatta village. Managing run offs in the foothills of hillocks to prevent sand casting & farmers benefiting from percolations has been effectively demonstrated in Rampurguma village. These low cost initiatives have been useful without causing any displacement.

From Ecology to Economy
 

NTFP supplements income of at least 70% of the households in rural areas. It is in the downswing as shrinking forest cover & growing number of stakeholders has led to over extraction of NTFP from the forests thereby increasing pressure on it.  This leaves very little scope for regeneration of the forests. Shrinking forest cover leads to more run offs thereby causing breaches on its way which are harmful to the farmers. To arrest the situation, SRUSTI runs value addition campaigns which promotes local value addition of NTFP. Increased value of the product ensures the same or more income from less products thereby aiding conservation. Such campaign has helped generate additional income for the poorest of poor & has been able to check distress migration.

Home Herbal Garden
 

The forests have been source of numerous resources for sustenance of rural poor. Plants have many medicinal value which is used to promote primary health care, particularly the preventive care. SRUSTI encourages & promotes HHGs which can be grown in the backyard of each person. Such enterprenuers are given a maximum of twenty varieties of medicinal plants as per availability of space. Plants like Akarakara ( toothache) Pataragaja ( diarrhea & gastritis) Brahmi( head reeling) etc.. Such plants are handy, easily available & cost effective particularly in remote areas where it is difficult to access modern medicine. We also encourage members of clusters to sell surplus products to herbal drug manufacturers.

You too can promote home herbal garden in your area. See Map.

Micro finance
 

Poverty being a major issue, finance is the biggest stumbling block for livelihood. Mismanagement & faulty planning has created indebtedness. Money lenders exploit the situation taking advantage of the urgency of the needy. The three hundred fifty plus Self Help Groups ( SHGs) promoted by us are encouraged to start thrift & credit activity from the beginning. This not only enhances their confidence level but also smoothen the process of future borrowings. Besides on lending money to them for business purposes, it also links the groups to banks for large borrowings.

SHGs promoted by us are graded by us on a continuous basis for getting assistance under Mission Shakti & revolving fund assistance & Swarna Jayanti Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY ) linkages from. Our groups have got assistance to take up onion cultivation, poultry, brick making, grocery shops, weaving etc. under SGSY.

Small business promotion

SRUSTI has promoted more than one thousand small businesses in its project area ranging from poultry, vegetable vending, small hotels etc. Addressing  vulnerability through women entrepreneurship was the starting point where we limited our support to widows & landless women, the two most vulnerable class in the society. The initial success drove us to try it in a bigger canvas.

HOW IT WORKS

SRUSTI informs the group about the amount of available funds for their group. Group members nominate persons democratically on the basis of maximum vulnerability & recommend their names. SRUSTI evaluates the viability of the small business proposal & at times counsels them for profitability. It also provides linkages to them wherever required. Project assistant foresees execution document & collects the service charge which works out to @2.5% intrest per annum. This money is utilized for day to day maintenance of the fund & SRUSTI doesn’t make any profit out of this process. Revolving fund ranging from Rs 2000 to 5000 as per requirement is transferred to the account of the SHG as individuals generally don’t have any bank account. The office bearers of the group withdraws the money from the bank & hands it over to the beneficiary. The money is collected back by the PA in ten equal monthly installments. Efforts are made to cover each member of the group, however good enterprenuers are rewarded with a higher dose of RF after they clear the entire loan.