Andhra Pradesh District Poverty Initiatives Project (AP DPIP) India: Team Debriefing, and Meeting with Vijay Kumar - Managing Director to AP DPIP

Introduction

After decades of planned development and poverty eradication programs at the national and state levels, poverty continues to persist in large scale in India. The State of Andhra Pradesh (AP) lags behind in economic development as compared to better performing states in the country. and is epecially behind in human development indicators like female literacy, infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate and girls education.

Effectively reaching out to the poorest of the poor is a critical element in the project. AP DPIP’s goal is to alleviate the poverty of the poor by improving their capacity to act collectively and to use social and economic infrastructure and services. The project strives towards bridging the gap of access to basic services between the non-poor and poor, through direct interventions, and by influencing the delivery mechanism. This is done by (a). Empowering the poor rural communities by fostering strong self-managed grassroots institutions and making finance available to those groups (b). Building the capacity of established local institutions, especially Panchayat Raj (local elected government representatives) and the Government of Andhra Pradesh line departments to operate in a more inclusive manner in addressing the needs of the poor and to effectively respond to and be held accountable to local support and service organizations (c). Supporting investment in sub-projects proposed by grassroots institutions of the poor to accelerate their entry and expand their involvement in social and economic activities The project meets the needs of the extremely poor by developing a demand-driven approach with a focus on community ownership, in which the poor themselves would identify investments and participate in their implementation.

This video can be viewed in its entirety or via short video clips sorted along themes (blue underlined) which emerged during the debriefing. This debriefing was organized by the Knowledge and Learning Group as part of AFTQK's knowledge sharing and learning services. The Bank team facilitated and conducted the debriefing on June 27, 2004.

Part I. Meeting withy Vijay Kumar - Managing Director, AP DPIP. Click here to view full video of APDPIP meeting (1:35 hrs)

1. Bank and client group introductions (9:46 min)
2. Presentation (40:19 min)
3. Remarks from Bank clients (3:53 min)
4. Question and answer session (34:44 min)
5. Closing remarks (1:09 min)

Part II. Team Debriefing. Click to view Debriefing session on visits to the districts (47:19 min).

Group I: Visit to Kurnool and Mahaboobnagar, India

Presentation by Krishna Pidatala (17:00 min).

Overview: (2:59 min). Visits made included the Mahaboobnagaer and Kurnool district communities Kosigi and Orvakallu and the way that they deal with disabled children, and to a residential 'bridging school' and its treatment of girls who have been involved in child labor. The aim of the bridge school is to bring young child workers into the formal education process. Visits were also made to community groups involved in agriculture initiatives, and to a rural enterprise program for youth at risk.

Organization of Work and Self-Help Groups. Women's groups at the village level were federated into village- level Self Help Groups (SHGs). Several of the women's groups from the village level then federated into a larger district level organization - as was the case in the Mahila District.

Lessons Learned (14:03 min).

1. It is possible to target mentally retarded children through the SHG community approach. The challenge is how to mainstream these children into the formal education process.
2. Bridging concept. Child labor in the communities are identified by members of the self-help groups. These bridge schools are residential and target child labor and specifically female child-labor.
3. Rural enterprise for youth at risk is a private public partnership and conducts market scans to see what jobs are avilable for incoming students, provides entrance exams, and job placement services at end of the three month training period. Industry linkages are made by the organization.
4. Concept of Federation. The women's group is federated to the village level group, and this requires the pooling of resources. This in effect atttracts external resources. Federated groups can get higher levels of credit from Banks.
5. Profit Motive. Income generation and employment creation is a key ingredient to the formation and sustainability of groups in India. In Africa, income generation and employment may or may not be the key thing - might be that social aspects take center stage.
6. Income-generating activities are done at an individual level but with group support. This works because the process is both transparent, and accountable.
7. Savings Mobilization. The underlying economics must be there.
8. Cultural Traditions. The prayers and oaths conducted at the beginning and end of group activities served to bind the women together towards a common set of goals and activities.
9. Use of Fines. Women's group members were fined 5 ruppees if they arrived late to meetings. This servied to inculcate discipline in the actions of individual members.
10. Women's Empowerment was displayed in the way that the capacity building and ICT presentations that were created by the government, were givenand explained by the women themselves in the local languages.
11. Linkages with Government Programs. There was an integrated approach, which involved linkages between the private sector, banks, and microfinance institutions.
12. Cutting out the middlemen. Training was given directly to the women's groups.

Team Input (7:47 min). Feedback on Lessons Learned include the following elements:

Concluding Remarks (58 sec).

Group II: Visit to Adilabad, India

Presentation by Clara Gaussi (13:10 min).

Overview: Group 2 went North to Adilabad, and visited Utnoor, Kadiki, Powerguda, and Barenguda Districts (50 sec).

Lessons Learned (12:17 min).

1. Mobilization of Groups and Individuals Based on Affinity is common. It is based on who they are comfortable, and this proves to be an effective mecahnism.
2. Interventions give People Inputs at a Good Price. They are designed to do this, The organization of groups is highly effective - Self Help Groups link to form a village group, and village groups link to form larger groups.
3. Demonstrating SHG Status. To show that a group holds SHG status as such, they must demonstrate that they are i) holding regular meetings, and ii) that they have saved regularly for at least six months.
4. Grants Create Capacity at the Village Level.The grant is a rolling fund for whatever they need in the village.

Team Input (8:47 min).