FOSTERING ORGANISATIONS FOR AND WITH THE POOREST AND HUNGRY T.Vijay Kumar, IAS Chief Executive Officer Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, India

Core beliefs about poor … Immense desire and innate ability to come out of poverty A strong spirit of volunteerism Obstacles –psychological, social, economic, political - suppress this capability Social mobilization – to unleash innate abilities Poor can come out of poverty only through their own institutions

Organizations for the poor - catalysts Why: To induce social mobilization Nature: Sensitive, dedicated, support organizations Who: Government Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, and, Local self government Prerequisite: firm conviction in the capability of poor, and, in organizations of the poor All interventions must demonstrate internalization of the core beliefs about poor

Role of Governments Enabling atmosphere and long term commitment for social mobilization Effective pro poor policies and programmes Belief in empowerment and organizations of poor Dedicated institutions for nurturing organizations poor Scaling up – whole state, country

Building organizations of poor … Organizations for poor initiate social mobilization Dedicated and committed personnel Start with women - forming Self Help Groups (SHG) - 10 to 15 members, based on affinity Thrift and credit, collective action around key issues Group activities strengthen members, and, vice versa

Nurturing groups – role of support organization Key for a strong foundation Regular capacity building of Group members and leaders Facilitation role in group meetings Guidance on collective action Link with key service providers Role changes when federations of poor emerge

Federations of poor – force multipliers Social mobilization does not stop at SHG level Federating all S.H.Gs at village level – multiplies strength of the poor Federation understands better the problems of the most vulnerable poor Collective actions acquire scale and momentum Greater pressure on service delivery Self management – reduce dependence on support organization

Freedom from hunger: Effective accessing entitlements – P.D.S, Employment Guarantee scheme Collective action – market intervention – bulk purchases Financial intermediation Logistics management Strengthens bonds between S.H.Gs and Federations: win – win -win Village federations and food security in A.P, India

Food security seen from ‘consumption’ and ‘distribution’ view, and not from production side Poor solve their food insecurity by organizing themselves into consumer cooperatives From ‘coping’ to ‘planned intervention’ Traders see poor as important bulk buyers and quality conscious customers All these positive impacts from investments in organizations of poor Paradigm shifts from A.P initiative

Organizations of poor at higher level to: Support member organizations Influence policies and programmes in favour of poor – ‘voice of poor’ Linking other organizations with poor – banks, markets Take over some roles of support organizations Virtuous cycle - interventions strengthens bonds among the tiers, and, enhances capacities to do more Higher Level Organisations of the Poor

Scaling up? – poverty eradication by poor Partnership between organizations of the poor and for the poor – crucial for scaling 5 years of intensive work to create impact in a limited area Emergence of strong institutions, and, champions from poor Scaling up for a state or country – another 5 – 10 years Unique role of community resource persons from intensive phase

Impacts of social mobilization in Andhra Pradesh, India Intensive phase (1995 to 2000) villages and 100,000 rural poor women organized Scaling up – 2000 to 2007 and continuing 90% of rural poor households organized 8.7 million women in 688,000 S.H.Gs, 31,500 Village federations, and 946 II tier Federations Accumulated corpus of US $748 million Bank loans to S.H.Gs - $50 million in 01/02 to $850 million in 06/07 – 17 fold increase Low interest loans to S.H.Gs – freedom from exploitative debt

Impacts in Andhra Pradesh, India … contd Comprehensive food security – 1.6 million households now, 8.0 million by Community financed nutrition centers for pregnant women– 100% safe deliveries and 100% normal birth weights Collective actions for: Livelihoods promotion Social issues, gender equality Service delivery improvement Accessing all anti-poverty programmes All key interventions will be scaled up statewide in 5 years