Livelihoods and Institution Building , Tonk

The District of Tonk in Rajasthan borders Thar Desert and is situated in Aravali region. The soil here is poor and the district faces acute water scarcity due to recurrent droughts. Agriculture is rain-fed and the yield low. Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes account for more than 50 percent of the population in the villages of the district.

The Government of Rajasthan with World Bank support is implementing District Poverty Initiative Project (DPIP) in 7 districts, including Tonk. In May 2003, SRIJAN began work in the Deoli block of the district to promote livelihood interventions in 72 villages through small groups called the Common Interest Groups (CIGs). To ensure sustainability of assets promoted under DPIP and increase women's participation in the process of development, SRIJAN is now promoting SHGs with support from Sir Ratan Tata Trust.

Most of the SHGs promoted have been linked to the DPIP for taking up dairy as a livelihood activity. Organised into clusters, women of all the SHGs in a cluster meet every month to discuss problems and review the functioning of groups. Recently, the clusters have been federated into an organization aptly named Maitree Mahila Mandal [MMM]. Consolidated savings of the members of MMM stand at nine lac rupees.

Around 1300 women are a part of our Mahila Dairy programme now. Through our interventions we have been able to increase the annual income of the families upto Rs. 16, 000.