Business Guide to Partnering with NGOs and the United Nations
This innovative product created in partnership between Dalberg Global Development Advisors, the United Nations Global Compact, and the Financial Times, aims to facilitate partnerships between companies and NGOs/UN agencies. As such, it provides information to assist in the partner selection process and aims to systematically identify the leading non-profit social actors from around the world that have demonstrated skill and excellence in partnering with companies. In essence, the Guide provides a market-based assessment of the competencies of partners from the NGO and UN communities. BAIF has been showcased in this Guide as a role model displaying execution capabilities, accountability and entrepreneurship. It has been featured as a leading non-profit social actor that has demonstrated competency in partnering with companies in areas such as advocacy, awareness raising, health and the environment among others.
Executive Summary, Advance Release, Dalbergy
Global Development Advisors and the UN Compact,
July 5, 2007
India's Untold Story For those at the bottom, standards of living are inching higher
Just a few years ago, Kharonda and the Jawhar district of which it is a part were typical of the rural villages where 650 million of India's 1 billion people live. There was only grinding poverty. Today the district's transformation proves what can be done, even with limited funds, to combat the poverty that many have thought would always be the fate of most Indians. Dhavalu Mahale of Kharonda is one of those unsung heroes. Mahale like other Jawhar residents, was a textbook example of extreme poverty 10 years ago. In 1995, he approached workers of BAIF Development Research Foundation. The Foundation had started a programme in Gujarat in which it worked with impoverished villagers to diversify their farming by combining agriculture with horticulture and forestry on fallow land. Maharashtra authorities had asked BAIF to replicate the programme in the Jawhar district. It targeted 10 mountain villages, including Kharonda where 1000 families lived. BAIF workers found their way into the pathless mountains on motorcycles, carrying seed and fertilisers with them. They helped the farmers plant saplings and fruit grafts on the hillsides. Until the trees could bear fruit - it takes four years - the Foundation taught farmers modern farming practices for the millet they were still sowing. When the trees finally bore fruit, each participating family netted an average of $35 - way over the $ 7 savings they generally had upon returning from the city. Mahale planted high-value crops like watermelons until the mango trees bore fruit. He managed to get his first crop to the nearest town. It earned him $115 - more than he had ever earned in a year.
Today, villagers like Mahale are local role models. Mahale owns the largest house in the village of Kharonda. His income is now nearly $4000 a year the fruit of the 20 mango trees, 40 cashew trees and a stand of eucalyptus plus the 6000 mango sapling grafts they sell annually. The income of the entire district has increased. The successful programme in Kharonda is a model that is giving the abject poor of India hope and could do the same for others who live in poverty around the world.
Chindia: How China and India are revolutionising
Global business. The Social Agenda, Edited by Pete
Engardio, senior writer, Business Week 2007, 281-285.
Tribal Development and Wadi Approach
With over 8% of the population comprising of tribals largely dependent on forests, livestock and agriculture, NABARD found a holistic approach by addressing production, processing and marketing of the produce with wadi (or a small orchard in Gujarat) was found to be an effective tool for tribal development evolved out of concerted efforts made in association with Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF). The project also envisages other development interventions viz. environment, gender and health. The programme completed 10 years in Gujarat and 5 years in Maharashtra, has registered significant socio economic and ecological impact. In Gujarat, the programme has covered 162 villages and 13,663 families while in Maharashtra, the programme has touched 13,848 families in 258 villages.
Twenty fifth year of Empowering Rural India
NABARD, The Times of India, October 2006
BAIF Programme Changes the Lives of Tribal Farmers
Six years ago, Mohan Gavit, a farmer from Raitale village in Thane district worked as a construction labourer in Mumbai despite owning five acres of land. Today, however, he grows mango, cashew, guava and jackfruit on one acre of his land which fetches him Rs. 20,000 per annum besides Rs. one lakh from his nursery. Similarly, Asha Kumbhar and her family were landless labourers always migrating to nearby cities in search of work. Today, they are involved in non-farm activity like tassar sericulture and earn up to Rs. 30,000 per year. Mohan Gavit is now planning to start mango grafting as a new activity. The programme has helped create a chain of work for farmers. Women are encouraged to form self help groups and to take up vegetable cultivation, vermicomposting, operation of flour mills and goat rearing for additional income. The entire scenario has changed.
The Times of India, Pune, March 31, 2007
BAIF helps Tribals Overthrow the Shackles of Poverty
To break the cycle of starvation, malnutrition and migration, BAIF launched the comprehensive tribal rehabilitation programme in the village. The programme focussed on the integrated development of the village. The wadi concept has had a major impact on the lives of the villagers. With the improvement in their economic condition, villagers no longer need to make their annual trek to the urban areas in search of employment. The success achieved by fellow farmers of Rajenbhai has encouraged many families in his village to join the programme. As the trees start bearing fruits, families are able to improve their incomes to almost Rs. 25,000 per acre of orchard within four to five years. The days of drudgery and suffering have become a distant memory. There has been an increase in happiness and a complete elimination of addition to alcohol and other similar evils. With empowerment, women have begun playing an active role in the economic, social and cultural life of the villagers. The children are now attending school regularly. Several girls and boys have completed education up to the graduation and post graduation levels. Processing units ensure the sale of the mango and cashew produce in markets of Gujarat and Mumbai. The products are sold under the brand name “Vrindavan”.
CRBiz, Promoting Corporate Responsibility in India
and South Asia, Vol. 1 (2),June-July 2006
BAIF Project Helps Farmers Reap Rich Crop
Come summer, around 23,000 small farmers of Valsad and Dang districts are seen busy reaping the rich crop of cashew. It may sound odd but the south Gujarat region has made a name in cashew production since year 2000. Farmers have not only developed expertise in this new crop but have also been witnessing a substantial increase in the production for the past three years. In the current year, the region has produced 400 tons of cashew. Many cashew processing units have come up in Valsad. Private players too have shown interest in setting up such units in Valsad and Dang. Currently, the produce is being marketed in Gujarat and other states like Maharashtra. However, cooperatives and the non-governmental organisation BAIF are positive that soon farmers would be in a position to export the produce. The story began way back in 1982, with the BAIF Development Research Foundation (earlier known as Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation) starting a project for upliftment of tribal farmers in Vansda taluka of Navsari district. Talking to Business Standard, V.C. Badve, Chief Programme Coordinator, BAIF south Gujarat operations, said, “BAIF started the project in 1982 in Vansda village of Navsari district. The small tribal farmers were introduced to cashew crop after BAIF carried out research on the viability of the crop as cashew is not a traditional crop in Gujarat. Slowly, farmers of Dharampur and Kaprada blocks also joined. The actual production of cashew began from 2000. Ever since cashew has become a steady crop in the region. Giving details of the acreage and yield in the region, Jayanti Mori, Additional Chief Programme Coordinator of BAIF said, “Dharampur and Kaprada have the most cashew plantations. Cashew plantation is being carried out on 7,500 acres in Dharampur, Kaprada and Dang. Ninety per cent of this plantation is in Dharampur-Kaprada blocks and the cultivation area in Dang is slowly increasing. The production of cashew has been growing since 2000 but the last three years have seen major increase. The region produced 210 tons of cashew in summer of 2004, 285 tons in 2005 and almost 400 tons in 2006.
Business Standard, March 7, 2007
BAIF's Programme Highlighted in Jharkhand State Government Report
Under State planning, to improve the productivity of milking animals, Rs. 8.38 crores was invested for establishing 55 dairy cattle development centres managed by BAIF. Under this scheme, by January 2007, 15374 AI was achieved. Consequently, 785 crossbred cattle were produced. 58 infertility examination camps were organised and 326 dairy farmers were sent for exposure visits. A difference in operation of the cattle development programme was observed when the Department of the Government of Jharkhand performed 16092 AI and BAIF performed 9963 AI.
The State Plan proposed Rs. 940.30 lakhs for development of milking animals which included implementation expenses of 55 old dairy development centres and a proposal for establishing 105 new centres and for improving the productivity of milking animals through measures such as feed supplement, green fodder development, balanced animal feed, preventive medicines and inputs for milk collection. It is proposed to allocate Rs. 2,19,60,000 for development of dairy development centres and Rs.3,94,70,000 for tribal development for the year 2007-2008.
- Annual Progress Report 2006-2007 and Planning
Report 2007-2008, Department of Animal Husbandry
and Fisheries, Government of Jharkhand
Building a New India
The document focuses on the impact of the goat development project implemented by Socio-Economic Development Programme (SEDP), the local partner of BAIF in transforming the lives of the villagers in Ranibandh block of Bankura district of Kolkata. The transformation in Tuthashol village where the main source of livelihood was agriculture and which is faced with water scarcity is highlighted. This village has created a sensation in the block as several women goat keepers groups have been formed who are involved in the management and care of goats. Goat productivity has increased and due to improved care and feed management
practices, the goats are fetching a better price during festivals and marriages. The women are also able to afford certain luxuries in life which were denied to them earlier because of their poor economic status. Goat farming has also proved to be a quick source of money in times of emergencies.
A Report by the Press Information Bureau,
Government of India, April 2007
BAIF in Environmental Education Textbook
Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF), a major multifaceted NGO is involved in the regeneration of degraded resources such as land, livestock, water, vegetation and manpower. BAIF supports local leadership by providing technical know-how, research and management. It is active in the areas of crossbreeding of plants and animals, tribal rehabilitation, community health, watershed development, afforestation and bio-energy generation.
Environmental Education, Class XII, Frank Bros. and
Co., NCERT Syllabus, Board of Education including
CBSE, CISCE and various State Boards, May 2007
Out of the Shadows, into the Limelight
Koyari village in Vadodara district. A village with food insecurity, malnourishment, unemployment, scarcity of water and migration was in desperate need of development to bring the families above the poverty line. To ensure water supply for agricultural operations, a lift irrigation scheme was launched. Construction of a check dam has increased the water table resulting in an increase in the crop production. In fact, the dwellings of the villagers had to be extended to provide storage for the surplus foodgrain. With an investment of Rs. one lakh, the villagers could earn an income of nearly Rs. 2.74 lakhs from groundnut production. Installation of a hand pump has ensured safe drinking water for the village. The youth were trained in the maintenance and care of these pumps, thereby providing them an additional source of income in the village itself. For efficient use of time and to prevent health hazards, energy saving devices such as biogas plants were installed. Training in vocational skills such as driving a motor were given to 10 unemployed youth of whom, 3 are providing service in the village itself and earning Rs. 1200-1500 per month.
To organise the villagers, self help groups were promoted. There are 2 SHGs functioning which include 25 women. These women have been trained in operating the machinery for preparation of leaf cups, sewing machine, candles, incense sticks and door mats. They have established a consumer stores which apart from ensuring a steady income has also increased their confidence. Exposure visits and demonstration also enhanced their knowledge on vermicompost production. Sale of worms and vermicompost has further increased their income. The rate of migration has been reduced as the village itself is providing opportunities throughout the year. Koyari village has moved away from darkness.
