Sa-jeevika- Rehabilitating, the victims of Gujarat Earthquake

The present programme is a development programme which aims at securing the livelihoods of the poorest of the poor women and help them rise above the poverty line. An integrated approach is adopted for the purpose. The activities in the programme include various support services which will improve the quality of life of the rural poor and help them in increasing their income.

The villagers also contribute to a Livelihood Security Fund which will be helpful to them in times of disasters and will ensure sustainability of the programme.

The programme is highly decentralized wherein Village Development Committees (VDCs), and Self Help Groups (SHGs) play the central role in program planning, implementation and monitoring. The main aim of the programme is to make the village members and families aware and self-reliant in such a way that they can face, sustain and overcome any disaster, securing their livelihoods.

For achieving the above goal, VDCs are formed in each village which are the local level committees formed by the villagers themselves comprising of representatives from poorest of the poor households from all castes and communities.

When SEWA withdrew from the Jeevika programme, the villagers resolved, to continue the activities already initiated since last two years. The villagers, the Village Development Committee and the District Associations, conducted a detailed SWOT analysis, and prepared a plan of action to continue the activities — as “Sajeevika??? — means Jeevika — alive and continuing. This was because the Jeevika programme was completely owned by the villagers. Thus, the full ownership and mangement of the programme by the villagers themselves, makes it sustainable.

· Who are your customers and why will they buy your product/service?
How many customers will you have in year 1 + 2?

The products manufactured under the economic activities such as crafts, salt production, agricultural produce, etc. will be marketed through SEWA’s marketing outlets viz. SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre and SEWA Gram, Mahila Haat.

Gram Haat provides marketing support to agarias linking agarias directly to buyers eliminating middlemen so they are able to obtain a better price for their salt. During the year 2004, 18101 MT salt was sold through Gram Haat worth Rs. 46 lakh. In addition to this, SGMH has tied up with leading corporate buyers like Unilever (HLL) and Digital Partners for marketing the agricultural products such as sesame seeds and cumin seeds. Gramhaat has set-up RUDI Bazar which procures raw produce from farmers and sets up rural processing units operated by other members where the produce can be cleaned, processed and packaged. The finished goods are sold through outlets and by members directly in rural areas. The salt manufactured by the members is also sold directly to companies such as Dhrangadhra Chemical Works, Sabar Dairy, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemical Ltd.

SEWA Trade Failitation Centre provides marketing support to the members who are engaged in handicrafts activity. STFC markets its product under its brandname “Hansiba???. These products are marketed through its retail outlet in Ahmedabad and Delhi. In addition to this, the products are marketed through national and international exhibitions, participating in trade fairs, etc. STFC takes orders through its website and sells the products manufacture by the rural artisans.

The products manufactured by the members will be marketed through our network of marketing organisations viz. SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre and SEWA Gram Mahila Haat.

A company incorporated under Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, with the main objective of promoting access to national and global markets by the women workers in the informal sector. STFC is a unique company owned by more than 15,000 women artisans pursuing craft activities in the drought affected and disaster prone districts of Kutch and Patan districts of Gujarat in India.

The main objective of SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre is 1. To create marketing network at a global level. 2. Provide input like customers and preferences and market trends. 3. Create new avenue of marketing in the physical as well as in the virtual marketing arenas.

Set up in early 1999, SGMH aims to protect rural artisans from market exploitation and to provide them with a platform to market their traditional goods. It provides marketing facilities, managerial and technical support services and working capital assistance to District Associations which are federations to rural producers groups.

These services have boosted the production capacity and marketability of products of rural producers and have enabled them to earn a regular minimum supplementary income of Rs. 2000 per month

2. Who are your potential competitors and how will you deal with them, why is your product/ service better?

Different products will be manufactured by the rural poor from the economic activities which they will undertake which includes salt, handicraft products, agricultural produce. These products are easily available in the retails market and will have a lot of competition. However, SEWA has already set-up market avenues for these products.

In case of slat manufactured by the members, SEWA has tied-up with the Government’s Mid-day meal programme. Under this tie-up the salt required by them is procured from SEWA. In addition to this, we have set-up our own salt testing laboratory which ensures good quality of the salt making it more marketable. Also the quantity of salt manufactured by SEWA members is high. As a result of this, the entire requirement of companies are met by SEWA and they do not have to source salt from other places. Also, the fact that this salt is manufactured by the poor themselves, encourages the companies to procure salt from SEWA.

SEWA has entered into partnerships with corporates for selling its agricultural produce. Also, food processing and packing is also done by the members themselves and they can deliver packed goods to the corporates.

In case of handicraft products, the products are manufactured by the artisans which gives it an advantage over the factory made products. STFC helps in marketing these products at national and international level.

3. Do you already have business partners? If so, please specify your partner’s role, added value and location.

SEWA is pursuing private sector partnerships to build linkages between the rural poor and markets as the third prong in its livelihood support strategy. SEWA’s private sector partnerships focus on establishing forward linkages for members as a tool for sustaining livelihood interventions. Partnerships with the private sector are also aimed at improving cost effectiveness in SEWA’s activities, developing human resources and building the capacity of SEWA’s marketing and commercial activities. Key business partners of SEWA are mentioned below

§ ICICI Bank - SEWA has entered into a partnership with ICICI Bank for agriculture commodity trading through NCDEX. ICICI will facilitate commodity trading through their website and set up warehousing facilities. This will provide farmers some security against price fluctuation and strengthen their direct linkages with the market to improve their terms of trade. The same farmers will also be linked with ICICI’s weather insurance products of the partner

§ Hero Cycles - Through this partnership members will have improved access to transport resources while the sub-dealerships will also create new livelihood opportunities marketing transport vehicles and in repair and maintenance of vehicles.

§ HLL and Digital Partners - SGMH launched a rural distribution network initiative called RUDI Bazar and developed a brand, “RUDI??? for goods sold by its members through the distribution network in a joint venture with Unilever (HLL) and Digital Partners.

Grassroots Trading Network (GTN) - GTN provides marketing support services at the global level to SEWA’s members. It also provides capacity building, business support and linkage services at global level. Through GTN, SEWA aims to set up a network of rural producers and producers’ cooperative across the globe that can trade with each other bringing the benefits of globalization to the rural poor.

4. How will you organize your start-up funding, apart from possible BiD Challenge prize money?

The members have started some of the activities on their own through loan funds. In addition to this the members have created their own Livelihood Security Fund which is being used by them for implementing the economic activities.

· (In)direct employment — to 25,000 households
· (In)direct income — The programme will provide an income of Rs. 1500 to 5,000 to the local communities. In addition to this the communities will have access to various supportive services and thereby improve the quality of life of the communities.

· Quality of living standard
The quality of the life of the communities will improve as a result of this programme. The members will have access to safe drinking water which will in turn improve the health of the members. Also as a result of micro finance activities, the women will start saving and they will also obtain revolving fund from their groups. As a result of child care facilites, the women can devote more time to economic activities which will in turn improve their purchasing power. Also the children will have access to education and nutritious food.

· Knowledge and skills

Various technical trainings will be given to the women members. This will improve their technical skills. In addition to this, capacity building trainings will be given to these women members to improve their decision making power and in order to make the women owners and managers of their own trade.

· Environment and biodiversity

As a result of the nursery and plantation activity, the women will be encouraged to raise nursery which will also give them an income through sale of saplings. Also the women will be encouraged to undertake plantation of fruit trees which will improve the vegetative cover and at the same time generate an income for the women. When environmental activities also generate an income for the women, these women will be encouraged to undertake it.