Naushera Academy

nts. This can only be achieved by bringing in attitudinal change, disseminating knowledge and by imbibing participatory skills amongst various development stakeholders. Arts believes in mainstream development approach and recognizes the role of State in overall development of the rural communities. We have specialized in improving the existing delivery mechanism of the government by providing participatory soft skills. ARTS has a strong grassroots presence in some distinct regions of Central India, namely; Gond predominant eastern tribal region (MP & CG), agriculturally rich Feudal Malwa region and Bhil predominant western tribal region where we demonstrate by doing and Bundelkhand region. Poverty initiatives in areas where there is high incidence of poverty among scheduled castes and backward classes in feudal Malwa region (Ujjain, Shajapur, Agar, Dewas). The basaltic mountain chain of Malwa region is more fragile, complex and vulnerable to climatic changes. The impacts of ongoing changes in climate have already being experienced by the communities. The northern region has vast plains of high lands, which are very fertile. But in between there are hills and slopes, which are not suitable for settled, advanced agriculture. The Malwa plateau region has rich fertile lands over-used with excessive application of pesticides, chemical fertilizers and wrong agricultural practices (including excessive irrigation). The landowner community of Patidars or Patels owns these lands. The scheduled castes and scheduled tribes generally inhabit the slopes and hills, which are less productive. These economically weaker and agriculturally backward communities till their own small and marginal lands, and provide cheap labour to the neighboring landed community. The economy of the region is fully based on the rain fed agriculture. Our team started with facilitation of empowerment of Community Institutions (SHG/ CIG), Village institutions (Federations and VDCs) of marginalized communities in entrepreneurship development / livelihood promotion through self-help and farm sector development. The western tribal area is a part of the central west India comprising contiguous districts of Jhabua, Dhar, Barwani, Khargone and Ratlam. The area is predominantly tribal and is the home of over 3 million people directly dependent on a rapidly degrading natural resource base for livelihoods. The population growth rate is very high and functional literacy rate is very low. The primary occupation is agriculture, except for a minority; the production of food crops for subsistence dominates agriculture. The area is prone to the incidence of consecutive years of drought. The average annual rainfall of about 750 mm is extremely erratic. Farmers report a crop failure three years in ten and serious shortfall in 4 to 5 years out of ten. The degradation of the environment in this drought prone area has been caused by a combination of factors. The denudation of forest cover has led to extensive soil erosion in the generally undulating topography of the area. Declining farm productivity increases population pressure on natural resources and accelerates further degradation by inappropriate agriculture practices. ARTS entered the Bhil tribe dominated Jhabua and Dhar districts of Western MP Region, which is continuously facing the onslaught of desertification with Drought Mitigation experiment on Watershed Management guidelines during 2001-02. The World Food Programme and the Rajiv Gandhi Watershed Mission (MP) provided initial support. But the long term action was possible with CCF (now Child Fund India), which focuses on child centred integrated community development programme. The experiment has within a decade made significant change in the life style of this otherwise most backward and illiterate community. Hundreds of children have now passed the most significant barrier in education that is High School and are now ready to take up the challenges of profession. The IIT Bombay lead Million Soul (Solar Lamp) rural enterprise has brought a new ray of hope to the Bhil community. A small initiative has also begun to provide sustainable livelihood to the leprosy affected households with Sasakawa (SILF) support. The eastern Madhya Pradesh region though has abundance of natural resources, mineral as well as forest, but it is also one of the most backward regions as for as its socio-economic progress is concerned. The tribals, mostly rural, are subjected to various degrees of exploitation, because of their illiteracy and ignorance and consequent limited access to the development programmes even when and they are meant to be substantially for them. The major tribes of the area Gonds, Baigas Pradhans are known for their traditional cultivation practices almost away from modern appropriate technologies and market. The region has predominance of small cultivators and agricultural labourers among the main workers. Nine out of every ten workers are engaged in the primary sector. Though agriculture is the major support of tribal economy but only 48 percent of the total land is cultivable. Irrigation is limited to only 6 percent of total cultivable land. The agriculture development of the region is constrained by the small size of its land holdings. Hence the only approach to agriculture development of the region rests on productivity enhancement of these land holdings. Thus the tribals of Central India today, do not have a definite way of living. Here ARTS is actively involved in value addition to the local non-timber forest produce, through the self-help groups. Some of the Technology Management Packages (Honey, Natural Fibre, medicinal plants conservation and food processing) have drawn regional/national recognition. UNDP, DST, CFLI, Toyota Foundation have supported us in the past and now we are associated with IORA Foundation on an action research project supported by Biodiversity Foundation. ARTS has also facilitated a network of SHGs with Tejaswani, SGSY, TRIFED, etc. ARTS is promoting woman farmer based sustainable agriculture with MKSP (MoRD), SDTT and Ekgaon Technology. FPO formation is a new initiative across all the programme farmers. The objective is to increase farm output through diversified farming approach. Of late, ARTS has entered into a new region the Bundelkhand in the districts of Chhattarpur and Damoh. Chhatarpur district boasts of its world-famous Khajuraho temples of Lord Vishnu, Cupid occupied from exteriors and Damoh does not have any contemporary celebrity status, may be except for its name, which was once inhabited by Cleopatra-like “Rani Damyanti”, the consort of Nal. Bundel-Khand and probably some parts of Baghel-Khand are the toughest areas to work in. The problem in these parts is basically socio-political and political economy related. Issues germane to Bundel-Khand are - legacy of zamindari system, unresolved agrarian issues, large share of wastelands, inefficient use of water tanks, problems of fisher-folks, rampant castes politics, problems of large scale illegal stone-quarrying, problems of halwaha system of cultivation, problems of women beedi workers, child-labour, prevailing untouchability, exploitation, female foeticide, lack of reproductive health care, atrocities on women and many more. Bundel-Khand does not have a large share of tribal population, except in some pockets of Damoh and Chhatarpur. Settlements of four types of community groups occur in these tribal pockets. They are: Khairwars, Gonds, Bhumiyas and Bhils. In contrast to the small proportion of scheduled tribes Bundel-Khand has a large share of scheduled caste population. Over-all SC proportion in the Bundel-Khand region will come to around 22.5 percent of the total population. The region is also characterised by the vast stretches of wastelands. CARD has started Water and Sanitation (WASH) related initiatives in the region in partnership with WaterAid to support the Swachha Bharat Mission. We intend to play a major role in the livelihood promotion of Bundelkhand region in the coming years. These are the fields of experimentation for future strategy formulation and learning lessons for designing improved strategies and policies. Participation being its core value, ARTS acts as a facilitator rather than an implementer of development process. We believe in working through community institutions and women are at the centre of development approach.