New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV), in collaboration with Swades India, a non-profit organization has initiated a drive #SwadesBuildingLivelihoods to raise funds to build livelihoods of 15,000+ most needy households (tribal, migrant/daily-wage homes and others, poorest of poor families) in rural Raigad and Nashik districts of Maharashtra. The aim is to create self-sustaining communities as their capacities are built, inputs and market linkages strengthened to ensure that every household earns at least Rs. 2,00,000 per annum through a basket of programs - be it farm based, off-farm or non-farm interventions.
The current COVID-19 pandemic and associated slowdown has impacted livelihoods and resulted in inflow of over 90,000 people back to their villages in Raigad. Further, cyclone Nisarga left loss of property and livelihoods. The situation continues to be a double whammy for both residents and the reverse migrated families.
While as a first response, immediate relief with medical aid and grocery/daily essentials has been released, the parallel need now is for recovery, to overcome loss sustained and build their livelihoods.
Here are the Highlights of the #SwadesBuildingLivelihoods Telethon:
The way forward for Swades Foundation
Kaushik Shaparia, CEO (India), Deutsche Bank on their association with Swades Foundation
We have seen first hand, what is reverse migration. We have worked with Swades Foundation on drinking water and during COVID also what stood out for me was how Swades helped migrants stand on their feet. I feel very proud to get associated with NGOs like Swades. What swades is doing, concentrating in one location and doing a 360 degree approach is very impressive and eye-opening.
Arun Nanda, Founder & Chairman, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd & Member, Advisory Board, Swades Foundation on the #SwadesBuilidingLivelihoods telethon:
Harsh Mariwala, Founder & Chairman, Marico and Member, Advisory Board, Swades Foundation on the telethon
I have been on board of Swades Foundation for last 2 years and have been attending the meetings. I was bit skeptical initially and a bit unsure but after hearing them for over 2 years, I think they have adopted the approach of gaining the trust of the rural people. I think that trust has been won and that was the big step. They have looked at health, nutrition, water, sanitation and livelihood. These are all interconnected and that is very important. All I can say is that they have done wonderful work. They need support. They have mastered the system over the period of past three years.
Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog on why Swades Foundation models are important especially in times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic
Jiji Mammen, Managing Director, NABFINS on the work done in Raigad, Maharashtra
NABFINS is a subsidiary of NABARD. It was previously known as NABARD Financial Services Limited. It's a microfinance institution engaged in providing micro credit to the the rural populous. We have so far supported more than 8 lakh families, 8 lakh members and 8 lakh families, with around Rs 7,000 crores plus of credit support. As part of the initiative of Swades Foundation in Raigad district, we had associated with them in supporting the livelihood activities of the rural poor, especially the tribal people in the seven blocks of Raigad district.
Basically to acquire productive assets like milch animals mainly. And also we supported for other kinds of animal husbandry activities like acquiring goats and sheep and those kind of things. So more than 2,500 families have been supported in these 7 blocks of Raigad district, mostly the tribal people. And we have extended around Rs 11 crore of credit to these tribal families for acquiring milch animals thereby getting the livelihood activities in place.
Vikas Khanna, Chef, restaurateur, cookbook writer & humanitarian on #SwadesBuildingLivelihoods telethon
I would like to donate Rs 10 lakh: Zia Mody, Corporate lawyer, Founder & Senior Partner, AZB & Partners & Member, Advisory Board, Swades Foundation
Trust, familiarity is very important. The people in the grassroot know the problems of their people. Very often people who come from the outside and don't get the real day to day problems. The people from that area will provide more practical solution. The entire Swades team is on the ground. The entire team is utilising every rupee of money. They don't waste any money. You can see the results and what the outcomes are.
Mangesh Wange, CEO, Swades Foundation, explains how their programme impacts income of rural household
Skilling programme of Swades Foundation is such that it can help increase income of a family in 2-3 months. And in one year, a family can increase its income by Rs 1-2 lakh, after a youngster of the family get the skill training and is placed somewhere. We keep in touch with these trainees for 2 years, help them with soft skills and in setting up of their business. We have trained over 3000 people till now.
In the rural economy we definitely need to go beyond just agriculture: Arundhati Bhattacharya, Former Chairperson, State Bank of India
R Vimla, CEO, Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission (MSRLM) on the telethon:
Swades is very similar to us. We believe that the community should take care of itself. and we ultimately exit from it. With this partnership we will be able to reach out to more than 2 lakh household. With Swades I believe we are not
ek aur ek - do (two),
but ek aur ek - gyarah (11).
Let's not go back to old normal, let's use this opportunity to create a better world: Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Nobel Laureate & Magsaysay Awardee
Swades Foundation project has scaled up significantly in these three years. There is a way to show the people in the village that there is a way to move out of poverty: Perry Garfinkel, Journalist, author, NY Times contributor
Women need to have a greater role in developmental process: Zarina Screwvala, Co-Founder, Swades Foundation
'Women manage poverty, they can also manage wealth' these are the lines that I heard six years ago from Dr Yunus and it is still in my heart. Women spend money on food, education and health. If we get women to manage wealth, then things will change. Women spend money differently than men.
Dr R Mashelkar, Former DG, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, & Member, Advisory Board, Swades Foundation on the telethon
Health is not merely wealth, it is far more precious than wealth: Manika Batra, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardee, Table Tennis
We should all adopt a healthy lifestyle and while we take care of our own health, we must also preserve our sensitivity towards the under-privileged sections of our society. Any kind of crisis hits this section the hardest. If we are good to them, we are best to ourselves, I feel. For example, my sports centre where I train in Pune, has been training street children in TT for the last 3 years, which is I feel outstanding. Of course now the training is halted due to the lockdown. But if we all care for those underprivileged sections in our different ways, it actually helps us more than it helps them because it gives us joy, satisfaction when we help them. When we provide those basic needs to them.
Nidhi Choudhary, District Collector, Raigad, on work done by Swades Foundation in the district:
Swades has been working in this district for the past many years. I remember when I was SDM here, even at that point of time, Swades used to work extensively for water conservation & sanitation activities. It has worked towards building toilets under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. And later Swades focused more on livelihood building in 7 blocks of Raigad district in which tribal population is mostly located. And off late, even during lockdown, as I mentioned we allowed civil society organisations to work towards livelihood promotion. And Swades was one of the good civil society organisations working in our district which worked towards the promotion of self help groups, dairy, skill building activities for tribals. And it has collaborated with us in COVID management also. Swades has basically given support through PPE kits and ventilators and other medical equipments for the frontline workers and also government hospitals.
Neerja Birla, Founder & Chairperson - Aditya Birla Education Trust, Chairperson - Aditya Birla World Academy on the telethon:
Children in our school had a great experience interacting with children from villages. Aditya Birla World Education Foundation is involved with teaching the children English, storytelling, grammar. It is a great programme. We are also involved in sanitation and health like anemia awareness, interaction on menstruation. Our children have gained a lot from these interactions.
Zarin Daruwala, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank on the telethon
India has been going through a very challenging phase during this COVID pandemic so, with Swades we tied up to provide meals to migrant labourers and we have provided over 3.3 lakh meals to the homeless migrant, daily labourers at 30 locations across Mumbai in a 6 month period. Regarding ongoing work, Swades has been a partner for us in some other initiatives and we have been working with them in the Raigad district which as people know is one of the poorest districts in India, and I think the poorest district in Maharashtra. So, there we worked with them to provide about 5,200 youth with scholarships. 30,000 children across 300 schools will get educated with our sponsorship. Also we are working with them on drinking water which will provide safe drinking water to 10,000 households.
James Crabtree, Former Mumbai bureau chief, Financial Times. Associate Professor of Practice, at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore on the telethon:
The approach of looking at the villages as whole, which Ronnie and Zarine were doing, is what got me interested. I have been tracking this from here in Singapore. While the pandemic started in cities and then hit rural areas, they are most affected. So the kind of things that Swades is trying to do is to help rural areas become more resilient. It is trying to find employment opportunities for those leaving the cities and going back to village.
Migrants cannot vote if they are out of their state and because they can't vote politicians don't care about them: Anu Aga, Former Chairperson, Teach For India & Former Chairperson, Thermax Limited
We have all become aware of the problems migrants face and this invisible group came to light, thanks to COVID. And in a small way, some of us along with an NGO called Dasara, that's a few corporates, a few NGOs are getting together to find ways in which, when they come back, how can we make their lives better. How can industry follow at least the legal requirements, if not beyond. So we are creating model for business houses about what needs to be done. We need to have somethings done by the government, for example.
Mahatma Gandhi has said that India lives in its villages. So if you develop villages, India will get developed: Suresh Prabhu, Former Minister of Commerce & Industry
The skill development programme will greatly help in creating local opportunities for the local people - the youth and the women - and local farmers. So therefore, not just cities which have been a prime attraction for people to migrate there. But now the rural areas will be the real growth centre for the country. Because of so many programmes that have been initiated by PM Modi, I think we can see a great amount of opportunities for rural youth in rural areas. So I think training will be a key component, market linkages will be a key component.
Surendra Rosha, CEO, HSBC India on #SwadesBuildingLivelihoods telethon:
We started the partnership with Swades Foundation 5 years back. We have worked with 25,000 people. The project helped provide sanitation to 9000 families, 50 schools and thousands of children now study in clean environment. Swades gave us scale. Recently, we worked with them for a COVID relief programme.
You cannot work on subsidies, so your model has to be sustainable - be it a cooperative or an NGO. In India, the share of cooperative is growing: R S Sodhi, Managing Director, Amul
100 million rural household are engaged in dairy, poultry, fisheries. It is a 100 billion dollar industry out of which only 30 billion is organised economy. Now with more prosperity, we our consuming more and more food that has more protein and more fat. The best source of income is dairy, poultry and fisheries. Today we have 135 crore people in India and these many stomachs to feed and so that is huge market we have to cater.
Animal husbandry and dairy is one industry that landless farmers can be engaged in. With cows and buffaloes, any farmers can earn sitting in their village. Farmers can earn Rs.3000-4000 per animal and so with 3 animals, a farmer can earn about Rs. 10,000 per month.
Ronnie Screwvala, Co-Founder, Swades Foundation on #SwadesBuildingLivelihoods telethonOur ability to be right in front and on ground has made us nimble and enabled us to work better and build the trust of the community. In terms of 360 degree, we have taken the approach that if can connect water, sanitation, livelihood etc together, we can bring about the change.
Poverty is not just material and needs a holistic approach: Zarina Screwvala, Co-Founder, Swades Foundation
Since last 20 years we have been working to create a model in rural economy that can lift people from poverty. We deeply believe in collaborative model. We take into consideration the geography and believe in holistic approach of development. We have 1000 community volunteers. We are grassroots execution foundation. The uniqueness of Swades is 360 degree model.
2-hour #SwadesBuildingLivelihoods telethon gets underway
With off-farm interventions the foundation engages households in poultry, goat rearing, dairy or fishery augmenting their income by Rs. 25,000 to 80,000 per annum. The foundation provides input support, training and continuous handholding and so far has created over 13,000 entrepreneurs.
The aim is to create self-sustaining communities as the initiative builds their capacities, strengthens inputs and market linkages by ensuring that every household earns at least Rs. 2,00,000 per annum through a basket of programs - be it farm based, off-farm or non-farm interventions.
It begins with the selection of the right beneficiary - a ~150 member strong field team along with the Village Development Committees that we have created at hamlet level helps us reach out to the right and needy beneficiaries. Post identification, every beneficiary undergoes a rigorous training and certification process before they are engaged in a livelihood initiative.
New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV), in collaboration with Swades India, a non-profit organization has initiated a drive #SwadesBuildingLivelihoods to raise funds to build livelihoods of over 15,000 most needy households (tribal, migrant/daily-wage homes and others, poorest of poor families) in rural Raigad and Nashik districts of Maharashtra.