ANDHRA PRADESH RURAL LIVELIHOODS PROGRAMME APPROACHES

·   Project initiatives are implemented with focus on poor.

·   Moving beyond ‘physical structures’ to ‘social solutions’.

·   Address the needs of marginalized groups of people, such as those with no land, women and the poorest of the community.

·   Participatory, decentralized, integrated and multi stakeholder capacity building, including infrastructure development.

·   Implementation of the project watersheds through Village Organizations of women Self Help Groups.

·   Cost effective structures and adoption of four waters concept in NRM activities with Participatory Net Planning.

·   Efficient usage and management of natural resources for enhancement of production and productivity.

·   Promotion of sustainable watershed based livelihoods with focus on poorest of the poor.

·   Credit linkages to sustain and strengthen the livelihoods and VO corpus enhancement.

·   Mainstreaming of Gender, cutting across all core area activities of the project.

·   Convergence with other line departments viz., DRDA, IKP, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Horticulture, Fisheries, SC & BC Corporations etc.,

·   Co-ordination with Research Centres and Resource Organizations.

·   Internalization of self-monitoring mechanism at different levels.

·   Innovation to enhance the impact of watershed work.

UP-SCALING OF ANDHRA PRADESH RURAL LIVELIHOODS PROGRAMME APPROACHES

      The DFID’s Mid Term Review (10^th – 14^th November 2003) Team observed in its report that APRLP is well placed to deliver the project purpose and recommended the upscaling of the APRLP approaches to all watersheds in the five project districts and the remaining 17 districts in the State.  The State Level Management Committee took up this recommendation and on the 15^th December 2003 the members of that Committee agreed that APRLP approaches would be upscaled to all other districts in Andhra Pradesh.

In early 2004, work began to prepare for the upscaling to all the watersheds in the State:

·               A series of discussions were held to assess the preparedness, both at State and District level, for scaling up.

·               A Project Directors & NGOs conference was held to discuss the strategies for upscaling.

·               Several discussions were held with Resource Organizations, Research Centres, NGOs and district level field functionaries on strategies for scaling up.

·               A `convergence meeting’ with Chief Executive Officer, SERP and Project Directors of IKP (World Bank supported programme working in the whole State) was held to agree to working together and avoid of duplication

  Based on the above, a strategy for scaling up APRLP approaches to all the districts in the State was prepared.  The following are the elements of that strategy:

i)                 Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Programme approaches, particularly the focus on the poorest of the poor with the aim of promoting sustainable livelihoods will be adopted in all the ongoing watersheds in the five project districts as well as in the other 17 districts.  There are about 4000 ongoing watersheds in the state in which the APRLP strategies are now beginning to be followed.

ii)                  In order to facilitate the District Water Management Agencies (which oversee the implementation of the watershed programme at the District level), Project Implementing Agencies, Watershed Committees and the communities themselves to follow APRLP strategies, additional staff capacity has been provided in the 17 new districts.  Three staff members, to support the Project Director in seven of these Districts (that have more number of watersheds) have been put in place.  These people cover the thematic areas of capacity building, productivity enhancement and convergence with other programmes/departments.  The person responsible for capacity building is also the gender focal point in these districts.  In the remaining 10 districts (which have few watersheds) six individuals provide on-going support to the Project Directors, drawing support from other Districts, if and when, required.

iii)                  Intensive capacity building inputs are now being provided to the communities, community based organizations and various secondary stakeholders on APRLP approaches and pro-poor watershed management through newly established Livelihood Resource Centres:

·                District Livelihood Resource Centres (DLRC) at the district level impart training and support to the Watershed Development Teams, Project Implementing Agencies, Multi-Disciplinary Teams and all other secondary stakeholders in the 17 districts.  Existing buildings and other infrastructure are being utilized for the housing of the DLRCs.  A Course Director and assistants to run the DLRC have been put in place supported by APRLP-funding until September 2007.

·              Cluster Livelihood Resource Centres (CLRC), each covering about 80 watersheds have been set up to provide training to all primary stakeholders i.e., self-help groups, user groups, Village Organizations, Watershed Committees, Labour Groups, Watershed Secretaries & volunteers and Gram Panchayat members etc.  These CLRCs are established in all 22 districts. Existing infrastructure is being used for these new Centres and, as with the DLRCs, a Course Director and assistants are being provided through APRLP until September 2007.

Scaling-up requires additional support so that the approaches can be effectively grounded in the next two years.  A consortium of 22 Resource Organizations (including the AP Academy of Rural Development) is beginning to play a major role in providing intensive capacity building inputs as part of scaling up strategy.  They have been entrusted with the following tasks:

• Setting up and supporting the DLRCs and CLRCs
• Developing a pool of Resource Persons for each district.
• Preparation of training modules
• Process monitoring.
• Provide professional support in the areas of Productivity Enhancement & Enterprise Promotion. 

               The Office of the Commissioner, Rural Development has been reorganized and strengthened to take care of the following 3 major areas.

1)      State-level Programme Support Unit

2)      Administration

3)        3)    Monitoring & Evaluation  

The additional human resource support at the district and PSU level will not only help to ensure enhanced levels of watershed activity but also provide support to special projects like Comprehensive Land Development Programme (CLDP), National Food For Work Programme (NFFWP), Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) and Watershed Development Fund (WDF) and the implementation of the Employment Guarantee Act.  

 The Government of Andhra Pradesh is implementing almost 9000 projects under different schemes which are related to watershed development. Through the scaling-up of the successful APRLP approaches, it is anticipated that Andhra Pradesh will be able to demonstrate the effectiveness of a livelihoods approach in contributing to the elimination of poverty from the State.

The progress achieved in scaling up of RLP Approaches to all the watersheds in the state

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• Additional professional support is provided to 17 districts by positioning DCBC teams consisting of 3 professionals in the thematic areas of Capacity Building, productivity Enhancement and convergence.
• Decentralized capacity Building institutions are set up at District and Cluster levels to meet the training needs of secondary and primary stakeholders.
• Pool of Resource persons are developed at state, District Cluster and Village levels drawn from various Govt. and Non Govt. sectors and community.
• Training Modules are developed based on programme and stakeholders needs, which are user-friendly at all levels.
• Detailed Training Calendars are prepared by all districts for all DLRC & CLRCs to ensure adoption of Rural Livelihood Project (RLP) approaches and to provide Capacity Building for various stakeholders.
• Convergence with Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP) is ensured by establishing District Livelihood Resource Centers (DLRCs) in Technical Training Development Centers (TTDCs) and Cluster Livelihood Resource Centers (CLRCs) in Mandal Training Centers (MTCs) of IKP for conducting integrated training programmes.
• Revised process guidelines are prepared incorporating Hariyali guidelines and APRLP approaches.
• Participatory Net Planning trainings were completed in all the districts and Action Plans are prepared adopting PNP tool.
• Annual Action Plans are prepared in districts for 2005-06 duly making provisions for Productivity Enhancement and Enterprise Promotion.  Similarly the Annual Plans for 2006-07 are under preparation. 
• After conducting 2 days workshop with PD DWMA, DRDA and State Level Functionaries of both CRD & IKP strategies are drawn up for effective convergence between Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP) and Watershed programme.