BASIX works with over 150,000 poor households in 25 districts in six states. The Indian School of Livelihood Promotion (ISLP) set up by the group is engaged in building a cadre of livelihoods promotion professionals, particularly among PACS Programme partners.

ISLP has developed and conducted a customised course for PACS Programme CSOs in Bihar to help them develop a strategy to link self-help groups (SHGs) with microfinance institutions (MFIs).

Through this training, CSOs are expected to:

• Develop a strategy and action plan to strengthen SHGs in building linkages with MFIs.
• Identify livelihood opportunities for enterprise development around SHGs.
• Gain an understanding of tools for analysis of livelihood intervention choices and their application.
• Build a livelihoods learning group at the state level.

ISLP has trained 66 operating managers of PACS Programme CSOs in Bihar. Through these managers, at least 120 more development workers are expected to learn the tools for SHG grading and identification of livelihood opportunities.

ISLP has also helped 49 CSOs develop a concrete action plan for livelihoods promotion in their area, and has developed four case studies on livelihoods promotion.

The training programme was preceded by a visit to three lead CSOs to develop an understanding of participants’ needs and develop a sense of the local situation and status of SHGs. Some “best practices” were documented.

Subsequently from April 5-10, 2005, a residential course on livelihoods promotion, formation and strengthening of SHGs/federations, principles of MFI, tools to grade SHGs and identification of livelihood opportunities was conducted at Bodh Gaya.

The course included the sharing of experiences, conceptual inputs and field visits for the application of tools.

Participants formally shared their learning with team members of their own organisations (including chief executives) and undertook an assignment given by ISLP on the identification of suitable livelihood opportunities in their work area. Accordingly, they developed a business plan for their own organisations.

The business plan was shared and a future course of action charted at a workshop held in Patna on June 15-16, 2005.

Some of the major findings and suggestions are:

Livelihoods promotion is a complex task

Livelihoods promotion is a dynamic and complex task and CSOs need to update their knowledge regularly. Further, it cannot be undertaken by a single CSO; there is a need to develop a synergy and collaboration among different CSOs.

A livelihoods learning forum of CSOs can lead to the exchange of knowledge through intensive small group discussions on specific issues of concern, such as access to markets, capacity-building, microfinance, social issues of entitlement and the very definition of livelihoods and interventions in livelihoods. This interaction can lead to the production and distribution of material to others.

CSOs need support

The Bihar CSOs participating in the programme were divided into four major categories on the basis of the following parameters:

• Timely submission of the assignment and its quality.
• Conceptual clarity on the process of making a livelihood intervention in the area of operation.
• Knowledge level of the participants.
• Willingness to learn and participate in the workshop.
• Quality of SHGs.
• Future strategy of the organisation.

On the basis of this categorisation it was found that CSOs in Bihar need external expertise, microfinance services and funds to reach a stable level of operation. Areas where support is required include:

• Strategies for initial operational fund requirements.
• Advance financial management.
• Use of software to generate and analyse reports on day-to-day operations.
• Training of staff and people from within the community.
• Strengthening financial discipline.
• Designing business plans.
• Strengthening SHG auditing, grading, institutionalising group norms, capacity-building of group leaders and members, re-scheduling of defunct loans, recovery.
• Vision-building.

According to a draft report submitted by ISLP, “Substantial work needs to be done on SHG quality improvement, especially to bring in financial discipline within SHGs before they can take up livelihoods promotion activities.”