Livelihood,

                         PROjECT BASED LIVELIHOOD — 2017

“Dust Smoke …
And crowded streets
Between the noise
When four palms
Found
And two pairs eyes
Bright
Then from behind the tree
Hide and peep
Fourteenth moon
Left speechless
And shimmering lights
Whispering
That between the whole heart
life
Will run now!
“Is livelihood related to generating income for people only? Or do we also keep in mind the social and cultural aspects?

 Since being nominated as a partner in the Social Justice of the Central Government and still being nominated as a livelihood research assistant for nearly a year, I have always been associated with income generation only for livelihood. For me, the only way to see such a successful opportunity was that whether a person is earning enough money through any income generating activity. Currently, I am part of an initiative, where we encourage self-help groups (SHGs) in the villages of Raigad to train products like ragi laddoo, papad and chutney and they are trained in the market in Delhi and metropolis Help. It was started to stop the migration and provide livelihood opportunities within the village.
After working closely with Women’s Public Health Foundation in Madhya Pradesh, I have realized how each group is different from one another and even within groups, every person’s expectations change in the initiative. They have come together for the same goal but they have different needs and aspirations. The women we talk to regularly, they become the face for us. We work with them to promote encouragement, empowerment, training for self-confidence and identify ourselves as entrepreneurs. With many sessions, resource persons and exposure visits, we think we are doing our best and expect a similar result but are frustrated and sometimes irritated when things are done by us Are not there. nitially, it was difficult to find people interested in making products. When we formed the SHG and started working with them, I struggled to attract women because they were not already planned for sale.

It was difficult to understand why a woman is making more money by becoming part of this initiative, yet she will be ready to go to the brick kiln, where she will have toilets in the summer with her entire family including the children. Why would he go back to work in less money and is not ready to earn through a structured business model where he is also a boss. All of these questions came to me only recently when we came in contact with Ahwa in Gujarati. We visited some of the enterprises started by Self Help Groups, which are supported by the Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP). Most of them are involved in running a bakery, poultry farm or a hotel with minimal supervision from the organization. In conversation with AKRSP employee Mr. Harpreet Singh, I was curious to ask whether they had any difficulty in bringing women together or if many of them started them.

They told how they started, the processes they followed and gave importance, it was necessary for them and the family members of SHG to know, to understand how much they received from them and their socio-economic background can do. . When I thought of women in the context of which I am working with, I realized that we may have missed out much more than their names and villages.
With a little research and personal interaction, I came to know that most decisions are made by the family as a unit, especially the husband. In many cases, this is the husband who does not support the woman, or the family is not good to sell their products. Occasionally, the responsibilities of taking care of the work of the household, taking care of the children and dealing with the water crisis in the village starts to accompany him. As I thought it was not as simple and straight forward. Not only financially, there was a need for constant intervention at all levels.

    I had failed to realize complex interconnections and kept my mind on racking to better understand the SHG members in order to get into the business of making and selling food products.
    Google defines livelihood as ‘the means of achieving the necessities of life’ and therefore a broad understanding of people’s needs, backgrounds and aspirations is needed because it includes all aspects of their lives. Answering my own question at the beginning of this writing, I now feel that economic, social and cultural aspects play a big role in creating livelihood opportunities for people due to their high impact. It is important for people like me to spend a lot of time understanding, research, cooperation and adequate time with the community before planning a course of action. This seems like a basic pre-requisite for any project, but sometimes, to reach the goal quickly, we forget the necessary steps and leave it. In this way, the results remain long.
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