States / Maharashtra

Background

Maharashtra is a state in the western region of India and is India’s second-most populous state (11.23 crore inhabitants) and third-largest state by area (307,713 sq km. Out of the total population, 54.78% reside in rural areas while the rest live in urban places. Literacy rate of Maharashtra is 82.34 percent as per 2011 population census. Implementation of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Maharashtra has been in accordance with the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution. Local self governance institutions in rural areas include 34 District Panchayats, 355 Block Panchayats and 27,993 Gram Panchayats. Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission (MSRLM) which is also called Umed, has been launched throughout Maharashtra in July 2011 as a registered organisation under the aegis of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) with an objective of reducing rural poverty through a range of comprehensive and strategic livelihoods interventions in a time bound manner.

Kudumbashree has been working with Umed (Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission) for implemening PRI-CBO Convergence and MEC project in the state. 

MEC Project

The MoU for providing technical assistance and implementation support in the area of piloting of Micro Enterprises Consultant (MEC) model was made effective from 23rd August 2014, between Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission (UMED-MSRLM) and Kerala State Poverty Eradication Mission (Kudumbashree). Under this 3 year project, UMED-MSRLM have selected three districts viz. Wardha, Osmanabad and Ratnagiri for the pilot intervention of the MEC led micro enterprises development. The Micro Enterprises Consultants identified by UMED-MSRLM, were selected jointly by Kudumbashree and UMED-MSRLM. They were trained and mentored by Kudumbashree and were the primary target group for the intervention. UMED-MSRLM will make use of the services of the trained MEC for promotion and development of micro-enterprises in the pilot districts.

Initially, around 130 Micro Enterprise Consultants were trained and placed in pilot districts and towards the end of the partnership, 107 of them are currently active in the field. Among them, 30 have been trained and placed as internal mentors and master trainers. Master Trainer MECs go to other states for providing training support to MECs in those states. Apart from that, more than 32 festival markets were organized including 2 days Jack Fest, 7 days Diwali festival market, 3 days Holy festival market. More than 10 weekly markets have also been set up in pilot districts. MECs and MEC supported SHG women participated in different melas, such as India Food Court, Mumbai Mahalakshmi Saras, Bandra Fest, Goa Saras and Palghar Fest etc. Solkadi (traditional drink in Konkan area) supply in Tejas train, units supplying school uniforms for more than 5 schools, Ratnasangini branding, jack fruit value addition skill training and marketing of its products, support in availing MUDRA loans, FSSAI registration, Udyog Adhar, shop licences, various machinery procurements are some of the notable achievements of MEC project in Maharashtra.

 PRI-CBO Convergence 

The MoU between Kudumbashree NRO and Umed-Maharashtra SRLM for providing technical assistance and implementation support for PRI-CBO Convergence Project was made effective from January 2014. A total of three blocks, namely Deoli, Shahpur and Mohol were selected from Wardha, Thane and Solapur districts for piloting the Convergence project. Initially a total of 12 Kudumbashree mentor resource persons were deployed in these three blocks for handholding the SHG network and the Local Resource Group.

The major objectives of the Convergence project include the strengthening of the SHG network, increase awareness and access to various rights and entitlements, strengthening the Gram Sabha for enhanced participation of SHG women, bring a synergy in developmental initiatives of Gram Panchayat and the Community Based Organisations and for creating convergence platforms for institutional convergence. Maharashtra had always been a testing soil for the pilot initiatives of Kudumbashree NRO. The concept of LRG trainers was evolved from the experiences from Maharashtra. Apart from that, various tools for enabling convergence, particularly Participatory Assessment of Entitlements (PAE) and Entitlement Access Plan (EAP) were piloted in Maharashtra before implementing them in other partner states of Kudumbashree NRO. Kudumbashree NRO started withdrawing from the field by 2016, cutting the number of mentors into half and building the capacity of the LRG. After the completion of PAE, EAP and GP2RP and the MoU period in 2017, a total of 107 internal mentors were identified and selected from the existing LRG pool for supporting the Maharashtra SRLM in various other projects.