Rural Livelihoods
In rural India, only one in ten internet users is a woman. Google, Tata Trusts and Jagriti Sewa Sansthan launched 'Internet Saathi', an initiative to close this gender gap. The programme's second stage was 'Udyam Sakhi' which provided the women with training on entrepreneurship and self-employment. Impactree was involved in making the transition from first stage of self-employment to second stage of enterprise.
We built an entrepreneurship curriculum from scratch.
Impactree designed a curriculum and built supporting material and resources needed for the entrepreneurship training based on the programme's objective of encouraging entrepreneurship among women.
- Impactree implemented the curriculum in a five-day workshop which was attended by the programme coordinators who would later train the rural women.
- The training was designed in such a way that the theoretical part was explained through activities and group participation. This was appreciated by many trainees as they believed that they grasped the concepts better.
- The final curriculum designed and planned by Impactree would be used as a guide by the Program Coordinators in their execution of it for the main target – the rural women.
A credit company, along with a not-for-profit society, undertook a vegetable garden farming program in two districts, aiming to support rural women. The objectives of the project were to promote women entrepreneurship and organic farming, and to increase food security in the beneficiary households. Impactree conducted impact assessment by interviewing a select group of beneficiaries.
Our involvement in this project was from start to scale.
Our Input
Before the implementation of the program, it was noticed that the overall economic conditions of the two concerned districts were different. The approach towards each district was planned according to the differing needs.
- The district which was economically better-off showed commendable improvement in livelihoods and empowerment of the beneficiaries through the program. So, we suggested the approach remain focused on farming activities with a view to engage the women in livelihood development activities in the next phase.
- In the other district, we put forward the proposal to provide the beneficiaries with an additional source of income by involving them in other activities, such as poultry and other small businesses.
The Impact Achieved
Overall, economically, we noticed an increase in investments (in vegetable gardens) and savings, and socially, witnessed the emergence of a strong sense of leadership and community. The beneficiaries expressed their happiness at being able to contribute towards the family income.
- While, at the beginning, some women were reluctant to take up the project of working on the vegetable gardens, they eventually got involved, resulting in the creation of a strong sense of community and social leadership.
- Women got actively involved in the programme and requested support to establish flower gardens as they fetch a higher price in the market and are useful in warding off pests.
- An increase in savings observed due to the encouraged use of bio-pesticides.
Medical
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One of India’s credit companies, in collaboration with a healthcare service provider for low-income families, set up medical camps in 3 cities for its rural customers. Impactree assessed the numerical data and looked into the long-term aspects of the camp.
Impactree focused on programme enhancement.
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Education
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ChildFund conducted two educational programmes in Rajasthan - a reading improvement programme and one that established community based learning centres for first-generation learners from tribal areas. Impactree assessed the last-mile impact of these interventions and developed a future roadmap for the programme.
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Impactree developed a custom strategy.
- Impactree developed custom tools to evaluate learning parameters based on age metrics and to assess impact of the reading improvement programs.
- A non-conventional methodology was adopted to assess rural and tribal children, especially as the latter had zero exposure to formal education.
- An all-round assessment was conducted. It included interactions with students, parents, teachers, management, trainers, principals and formal committees.
- The final KPI developed categorised students as either Accomplished or Emerging readers, and also considered the small percentage of students who fared poorly in reading. Based on the learnings of the study, Impactree developed future action plans for ChildFund to formalise curriculum, improve training attention span, and partner with the government on schemes for orphaned children.
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A global manufacturing company, in partnership with an NGO, launched a scholarship programme which provides end-to-end scholarship support to young girls from underprivileged communities in two select districts. Impactree assessed the numerical data and looked into the long-term aspects of the camp.
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Impactree conducted a baseline need assessment.
- Impactree conducted a baseline need assessment with the students (beneficiaries) to gather insight regarding further support needed to help the girls achieve their career goals.
- We designed and conducted a workshop for the young girls in order to gather the required insights. The workshop was tailored keeping in mind the demographic of the participants and comprised of games, oration, drawing, and other such related activities.
- The findings from the workshop and the need assessment questionnaire that the girls were given to fill, were then laid out in a comprehensive report.
Strategy & Development
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Jagriti Yatra is a national train journey that takes hundreds of highly motivated youth, especially those who are from small towns and villages of India, on a 15-day, 8000 km odyssey to meet role models across the country with the vision of developing entrepreneurial spirit.
For the 10 year anniversary of Jagriti Yatra, Impactree designed and assessed its impact and designed its scale up strategy for the next 10 years. |
Jagriti Yatra's Impact
Our Work
- Impactree designed the impact study framework for Jagriti Yatra and evaluated its long term impact by surveying 10% of all Yatris from the ten years.
- Stakeholder analysis was conducted to recognise the challenges and further value addition for the entrepreneurs.
- We found synergies across various initiatives launched by the Jagriti Sewa Sansthan and develop one unified road map for scale.
The Impact Evaluated
28% of the Yatris are now entrepreneurs.
- A large number of the Yatris consider the Yatra to be a significant influence and motivator in their professional and personal lives.
- The Jagriti Yatra Network has proved to be helpful to many – be it for moral support or for financial or business support for an enterprise.
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There is an urgent need for skill building and livelihoods training in Rajasthan that could reduce unemployment among the underprivileged population in the cities. To address this, a credit company and an NGO partnered to train women in Kantha work and tailoring. The products made by the women are sold to customers across India and globally. Impactree conducted baseline and endline assessment for the programme.
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Impactree understood the needs of the programme
- Impactree understood the need of the programme, the activities undertaken, the challenges faced and the expectations.
- Field visits were conducted. During these visits, the focus was on personal interviews and group discussions with beneficiaries chosen in the sample size.
- A comprehensive impact assessment report was collated which served the objective of assisting the organisations in sustainably scaling the program.
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Many rural women aspire to become self-employed or entrepreneurs but they usually lack higher education, skills and awareness of the market. Dalyan and SSP initiated a three-year long project to empower women at the grassroots level by providing them with entrepreneurship and leadership support. Impactree conducted a comprehensive assessment of the programme on various parameters across the two districts it is active in.
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Impactree tracked the growth of the women throughout.
- The training conducted during the programme was held in three progressive stages over a period of three years in two districts. So, Impactree’s impact assessment considered a sample of participants from all three stages separately.
- Impactree also studied two batches of women who were new to programme to understand their background before they attended any trainings. This helped track their growth and progress throughout.
Impactree also offered recommendations that could further improve the programme.
- Differences defined by the districts were noticed in the entrepreneurial direction that the women took. We recommended a change in the training that would cater to the different needs of the women entrepreneurs.
- We saw a need to introduce modules on financial planning, business planning and bookkeeping and recommended the same.
- The women would benefit from knowing about social media and the ways to leverage it to communicate with customers, network and market their products beyond their localities.
- Patriarchal mindset often held the women entrepreneurs back from making business decisions and participating in gram sabha and other local community bodies. We emphasised the importance of acknowledging this and working through it with the participants.
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Sakal Media Group is the largest independently owned media business in Maharashtra. Sakal Foundation was established with a vision of enabling communities to mobilise to support each other and build resilience during time of need. Impactree formulated a strategy for the coming years.
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Impactree identified various key principles and purpose of the foundation.
Impactree established the fundamental principles of the foundation being a platform for good where the power of on-ground work is valued. We developed Sakal Foundation’s purpose by adopting social change brand framework and defining its mission, values and vision.
We identified that the foundation aligned with two specific goals from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which are –
We identified that the foundation aligned with two specific goals from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which are –
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The Sakal Foundation structure is made up of –
Impactree also conducted impact assessments and developed case studies of the interventions done by each of the branches.
- ‘Sakal Relief Fund’ which focuses on providing on-ground disaster relief
- ‘Sakal India Foundation’ which offers scholarships to bright students from underprivileged communities across Maharashtra
- ‘Sakal Social Foundation’ which partners with various corporations and organisations to implement small pilots which, if successful, are then scaled through the Sakal Relief Fund or Sakal India Foundation.
Impactree also conducted impact assessments and developed case studies of the interventions done by each of the branches.
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Purushwadi is a small village in Maharashtra where, along with agriculture, tourism is also an income generator. Grassroutes, a social enterprise, established its presence in Purushwadi in 2006 with the aim of creating livelihoods through tourism. Impactree conducted an impact assessment for Grassroutes in 2019.
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The Impactree team was involved on the field.
Grassroutes is working towards bringing the rural lifestyle to the forefront by packaging activities like fruit plucking, machan building, stone grinding, star gazing and cooking on chulhas into experiential tours. This ensures the utilisation of the potential of tribal youth in the area, enhances community participation, and also brings awareness of the lifestyle and culture to urban tourists and students.
- Impactree adopted a mixed approach towards the impact assessment by utilising two frameworks – ‘theory of change’ and ‘life cycle approach’.
- We identified the stakeholders of the programme.
- The impact assessment was done on-ground by our team where an offline survey of the participants was conducted, interviews and focus groups were arranged with the management committee of Grassroutes, Purushwadi’s Gram Panchayat and other stakeholders.
- Based on the data collected during the assessment, Impactree listed parameters such as livelihoods of youth, women empowerment, financial impact and levels of aspiration and provided details on the programme’s performance against each.
- We provided recommendations addressing the areas that were found lacking during the assessment and which would help the programme moving forward.
