Two major constraints to promotion of livelihood activities are the condition of soil and scarcity of water. We have developed models of water harvesting and conservation by construction of farm ponds, earthen & check dams, field bunding, etc.

Credit linkage with banks and other financial institutions. Most rural families are heavily indebted. They begin their farming season with a debt. Average debt burden in some of our districts is Rs. 50,000 per family. SHGs and federations become perfect institutional platforms to access loans. Branch managers don’t hesitate to lend to those SHGs who have followed norms of regular saving and on-time repayment. These loans are used to create assets for poor family to join in a suitable livelihood activity. Animals are purchased with bank loans, for example, in Tonk where dairy value chain has been established.

Transfer technology from research institutions and best practitioner farmers in other regions. These technologies relate to seed, breed, pest and disease control, preservation and processing post-harvest. The Poor have a strong desire to adapt to new technologies, and have innate capabilities to practice the same once they have trust. In our model we transfer new technologies to the beneficiaries in agriculture, livestock & horticulture activities. Aim is to increase farm productivity and revenue and decrease input cost. For this, we collaborate with research institutes and universities.

Organizing the poor and investing in their leadership and management capacity at all levels. We promote strong women based community institution and collectives across our geographical locations. After organizing the poor women into SHGs, we develop their capacity to run their own institutions. SHGs within 2-3 kms together form clusters at Panchayat level. Further clusters within 20-30km form federations. The objective behind the promotion of community institutions is to make the program sustainable. These community institutions, starting from base to top, work collectively and without our support, for the benefit of their members. They also negotiate collectively with other stakeholders & access services for their members. These institutions become the foundation to promote commercial organisations with SHG members as shareholders, farmer producer companies registered legally.

Aggregate and collectively market the produce of small farmers. As productivity increases after the introduction of technology in related livelihood activities, the challenge is to sell the produce for a good price. We have promoted five farmer producer companies (FPCs). FPCs collect, aggregate, process and sell the produce in bulk.