|
| |
Untitled Document
| Samriddhi
|
| Where do we work? |
The interventions of Samriddhi are concentrated in 16 districts of Rajshahi division and Sunamganj district of Sylhet division , covering a total of 58 Upazillas, 211 Unions, and 1899 Wards. The project will increase its outreach by vertically expanding inside the existing wards and horizontally expanding its intervention into new areas.
|
| Background to Samriddhi |
The Village and Farm Forestry Project (VFFP), initiated in 1986 under the SDC Sustainable Land Use Program, was reorganised in 2004 into the Livelihoods, Empowerment and Agroforestry ( LEAF) and the Sustainable Access to Agroforesty Knowledge, Technology and Information (SAAKTI) ( in addition to the Agroforestry Improvement Partnership – AFIP). During the first phase (2004-2007), LEAF focused on poverty alleviation through sustainable livelihoods, markets development and human and institutional development, while SAAKTI addressed the development of agroforestry technologies by national institutions, which were calling for institutional reforms.
LEAF was successful in achieving its objectives with regard to knowledge and skills development, capacity building of groups and communities and enabling environment. Through the project community based organizations (CBO) acquired resources and services, built linkages with service organizations and Union Parishad, addressed gender inequalities and involved the extreme poor in income generation activities (IGA). SAAKTI also successfully promoted private and commercial service provision. It could establish a network of 3,600 local service providers, who render advisory services to communities, most often on a fee-based transaction, either embedded or not.
Market development approaches and activities were given emphasis during the second phase of the two projects (2007-2010). Specifically, LEAF undertook IGA, market extension and enterprise development at community based organizations (CBOs) and cluster platform levels. The thrust of SAAKTI, on the other hand, was the promotion of local service providers and their associations. A number of value chain development activities were also part of the two projects, broadly for SAAKTI and specifically for LEAF in handicrafts through IGAs and their subsequent graduation into micro and small enterprises (MSE).
During the second phase, LEAF consolidated and expanded its core activities of the first phase. These included the promotion of self-propelling processes and human rights-based approach as a cross cutting issue. The “demand side” of LEAF concentrated on facilitation of communities' organizations and their networks to express their demand and access suitable stakeholders (market actors, service providers, local government, etc). SAAKTI also systematically developed a service provision system – and hence bringing to the fore the “supply side” – including stakeholders at national, regional and local level, which emphasized on a regional perspective of interventions and collaboration with the private sector.
In fact, the two projects increasing became complementary not only in terms of the focus on markets development, but also pertaining to geographical areas, clients/beneficiaries and partners (NGOs, line agencies, private sector). For instance, the groups involved in marketing extension naturally evolved as MSEs and were integrated in the value chain support system. At the same time HID contributed to strengthening the capacities of the CBOs, cluster platforms, MSEs and SPAs. The projects jointly supported a socio-economic system where cluster platforms, MSEs, service providers and market actors are closely working together, leading to a win-win situation for all involved, with the beneficiaries being the same for both projects. As a result of this close collaboration, it was decided to establish a common management structure and a very similar project set-up. The planning of the projects followed a programmatic approach and the objectives were converging. The evolution of projects naturally led to a decision of merging them in a new project, Samriddhi, which means “prosperity” in Bangla.
It is envisaged that bringing LEAF and SAAKTI together will also increase the link between the promotion of value chains (mostly done by SAAKTI) and the empowerment and participation of communities (mostly done by LEAF). It is considered as crucial for the sustainability of the achievements of Samriddhi that value chain promotion takes place within an enabling environment. Synergies with local governance will also contribute to establish an environment favorable to the inclusion of poor and extreme poor in the activities facilitated by the project. |
| Who do we work for?
|
| |
While emphasizing the need to embrace core actors, supporting role players and enabling environment influencers in the process of markets development, Samriddhi gives important weight to the inclusion of poor and extreme poor men and women across the project's activities. Although LEAF and SAAKTI have been able to significantly contribute to improved living conditions of the poor and extreme poor households, more efforts will be made for their inclusion in Samriddhi. Experiences show however that it is extremely difficult to reach the poorest level of the society, i.e. the bottom 10% without specifically targeted interventions like safety net support or asset transfer. In addition, past experience from LEAF and SAAKTI suggested that CBOs were reluctant to include more members because they are rather closed groups of people with common savings and common interests.
Since Samriddhi does not include this type of interventions, it will not be able to specifically target the economic development of this segment of the population. Nevertheless, through strengthening and transforming t he cluster platforms into community platforms as well as increasing the social responsibility of communities, local governments and enterprises, Samriddhi seeks to enable poor and extreme poor households to eventually profit from the project interventions. Based on more inclusive community platforms, the project focuses on interventions such as value chains, and social and economic activities to sensitize and build the capacity of community leaders, MSEs and SPAs for poor and extreme poor inclusiveness. In addition, the development of human and institutional capacities also aims at giving poor and disadvantaged members of the society a voice to be able to take responsibility for their own development by representing and defending themselves.
|
|
Our purpose and vision
|
| We work to enable p oor and extreme poor men and women to use of enhanced employment and income generating opportunities through the processes of defining, managing, and lobbying to secure a more enabling environment for their sustainable well-being. In order to contribute to poverty reduction, the project follows a systemic approach: the project's interventions lead to changes in the socio-economic system in which the poor and extreme poor live and work in. These changes lead to improved growth in opportunities, but also to improved access of the poor and extreme poor to opportunities, eventually contributing to well-being and resilience.
In order to contribute to poverty reduction, the project follows a systemic approach: the project's interventions lead to changes in the socio-economic system in which the poor and extreme poor live and work in. These changes lead to improved growth in opportunities, but also to improved access of the poor and extreme poor to opportunities, eventually contributing to well-being and resilience.
|
 |
Our objectives
|
| • |
Strengthening competitiveness of rural products, value addition at producer level and improved chain performance through value chain development. |
| • |
Enhancing the capacity of rural MSEs in business management and in the acquisition of financial capital for their operations through capacity building and collaboration with microfinance institutions, banks and private companies. |
| • |
Strengthening local service provision through capacity building of SPAs and collaboration with government line agencies and private companies. |
| • |
Community empowerment and building social capital through HID. |
| • |
Engaging women and encourage their participation in the local development process. |
| Our approaches |
| In order to bring about changes in the system, Samriddhi follows two main approaches, i.e. human and institutional development (HID) and making markets work for the poor (M4P), gender as a cross-cutting issue. HID is a process guided by existing values and principles, particularly concerning poverty reduction and developing social capital, which contributes to: |
| |
| • |
Developing the skills and behaviors of individuals so they can lead, manage, serve and strengthen their endeavors. |
| • |
Strengthening institutions (social, economic, technical, political and religious) in order to make them more responsive, effective and efficient towards the individuals or organisations they serve. |
| • |
Promoting equitable and cooperative relationships between stakeholders and their institutions. |
| The M4P approach uses the economic transactions of the poor as an entry point to its analyses and interventions. Its interventions are focused on changing the market based systems around the poor's transactions with the aim to make economic opportunities more accessible to them. Interventions aim to achieve institutional changes by defining functions of the market systems and finding appropriate actors within the system to fulfil these functions according to their incentives and capacities. By applying these principles, M4P projects generally reach a high level of sustainability. The M4P approach will be directed to establish sustainable and inclusive market systems for the selected value chains including MSEs and service providers. |
| |
| • |
The community platforms: address social issues of the community, particularly the women and the poorest. They will contribute to establishing an enabling environment for socio-economic issues. |
| • |
SPAs: play a critical role in building the capacities of producer groups and MSEs in the field of technical, managerial, marketing and organizational skills. The good functioning of the system, and hence, the benefit to the poor, considerably depends on the quality of services these actors will deliver. |
| • |
The private sector: increasingly takes part in the system, and is seen as an important partner of the project in the view of sustainability of interventions, particularly in the field of value chain promotion. The collaboration with private firms and companies will be therefore further developed in order to achieve the sustainability of the system. |
| • |
Public institutions and agencies: remain partners of the project, particularly with regard to extension services and capacity building of SPAs |
| • |
NGOs: have been for years the main implementing partners of LEAF and SAAKTI, will see their role decreasing with a transfer of some of their functions to other actors and partners. Regarding the community platforms, partner NGOs will still contribute to develop their organization capacities. |
| • |
AFIP, SHARIQUE, ILGSP and KATALYST as collaborative partners in order to promote synergies in strengthening collaboration with local government and private sector.
|
| Contact us |
|
|
|
|
