Livelihoods project
ChildFund India’s life cycle approach starts from a child’s conception and continues till a healthy, educated child becomes a self-reliant, financially secure young adult who contributes actively to the family, community, and society. Our livelihood programs in sync with the changing market needs and opportunities strive to prepare the youth to work through technical and vocational training. We work on building their life skills involving personal competencies, problem-solving and managing conflicts, effective habits, entrepreneurship, and related skills for long-term success in the workplace. The goal of this program is to support the youth to achieve improved economic, physical, and social well-being, and become the catalysts for positive change in their family, community, and the country. Furthermore, we support women and farmers in gaining livelihood through various interventions focusing on empowerment, employment, and entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship
The ‘Strengthening Civil Society Organizations towards Fostering Women Empowerment in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India’ addresses the gaps that hamper the progress of women, especially women farmers, and fosters opportunities to empower themselves through local civil society organizations (CSOs).
The project aims to support and strengthen 10 selected CSOs to provide an opportunity for women to empower themselves. Over 15,000 women farmers were experiencing marginalization in 10 districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh in climate-resilient agriculture, by December 2022. Additionally, the project seeks to help them achieve their rights, emerge as skilled and independent business entrepreneurs to create sustainable livelihoods, and enhance their collective power to strengthen and transform communities.
Broadly, the project promotes women’s economic, and social rights and provides opportunities to empower themselves, working towards teaching women to use their voice, inculcate leadership, and participate in social and economic activities. It promotes gender equality to improve women’s access to resources and guarantee their equal rights, strengthens the capacities of CSOs for undertaking policy dialogue with decision-makers to enhance women’s participation in the climate change agenda, and promotes trilateral cooperation on the above issues through the engagement of Indian CSOs with CSOs in Africa.
Geographies Covered
Eastern Uttar Pradesh
SDGs Covered
Supported By
European Union and Barnfonden
The ‘Poultry for Profit’ project was aimed to equip tribal women experiencing poverty, of 18–40 years from 10 villages in Dhar District, Madhya Pradesh with entrepreneurship and financial inclusion skills, to create an alternate source of livelihood from poultry farming. Additionally, the project aimed to bridge gaps between demand and supply of poultry products by training women in economically viable technology and methods in poultry management.
During the term of the project, that is, from March 2019 to August 2020, we supported 270 women with poultry sheds and distributed 20,250 chicks among them. The intervention included community mobilization, selection of women participants for practicing poultry farming, training on poultry management, construction of poultry sheds, provision of chicks to the particpants, formation of linkages to a poultry producer company, and establishing market linkages to generate income.
Geographies Covered
Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh
SDGs Covered
Supported By
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)
The ‘Poverty to Prosperity’ project connects rural women with economic opportunities through a market-based intervention model that is both scalable and sustainable. In the first phase, the project was implemented in Jhabua, Dhar and Alirajpur districts in Madhya Pradesh to equip 1000 women to become entrepreneurs in poultry farming with necessary skills, infrastructure, and knowledge. Starting with one chicken shed and 100 chickens, currently, each of the 1000 women earns close to Rs. 4000 a month. And, at least 800 of them now have access to financial services as they have a bank account in their names. To support these 1000 entrepreneurs, ‘Sramadha Adiwasi Mahila Murgi Paalan Producer Company Private Limited’ was also been established.
After successfully supporting 1000 tribal women in the first phase, the project was replicated in Mahad, Raigad district of Maharashtra, benefitting 700 below the poverty line rural women aged 18–35 years.
Geographies Covered
Jhabua, Dhar and Alirajpur districts in Madhya Pradesh and Raigad district in Maharashtra
SDGs Covered
Supported By
Citi Foundation
Employment
E-Saksham aimed to build a better future around the youth from low-income communities in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai by equipping them with skills that would enable them to find gainful employment and act as agents of positive change in their communities. The key interventions of this project were setting up of ‘Youth Resource Centers’ (Employment Hub) within communities, providing english communication, career guidance courses, organizing basic computer training courses, organizing life skills, soft skills training programsand setting up libraries for the youth, etc. In addition, the youth were provided with training on entrepreneurship, vocation, civic engagement and leadership. The project also helped caregivers to improve their livelihood security so that they have sufficient resources to devote to their children.
Furthermore, ChildFund India organized community-level seminars for networking and to provide exposure to the youth.
Geographies Covered
Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai
SDGs Covered
Supported By
State Street Foundation
Swabalamban, which was conducted in 12 selected villages in 3 districts of Karnataka from April 2019 to March 2020, had aimed to increase the employability of the youth and women by making them more adaptable to the changing demands of the labor market.
Under the project, ‘Youth Resource Centers’ (YRCs) were established to provide training on beautician courses, spoken english, computers, 4-wheeler driving, organic farming, tailoring, etc. to the youth. The training aimed to augment their access to job markets and capacitate them by developing their leadership skills.
By the end of the first year of the project, two YRCs were operational, more than 250 youths were successfully enrolled in various vocational and entrepreneurship skill training and 171 youths were self-employed.
Geographies Covered
Karnataka
SDGs Covered
