Inclusive growth!

There has been considerable public discussion and media coverage in recent times about how ’skills development’  is the magic wand that will create millions of jobs for unemployed youth. The underlying assumption is that as the Indian economy makes a transition from rural to urban, farm to non-farm, and from other traditional to non-traditional methods, our youth are hampered by lack of skills to cope with this changing world. Very true. However skills development, while a necessary condition, is by no means a sufficient one to ensure that our teeming millions live happily ever after.

Based on our own experience at Growth-For-All, and validated by a study we commisioned earlier this year, it is clear that the issue is indeed very intriguing and complex.
 
The first community that we got involved with - Savda Ghevra, N.W Delhi-  has several thousand unemployed youth. Looking at this, we went in with am ambitious skills-development( & job placement) offering free of cost. However, only a few hundred of them signed up and completed the courses. It’s been a struggle to make headway beyind these numbers. To understand this better, we commissioned a study which validated what we had suspected for a while:
a) that skills development was NOT an answer by itself. Low motivation & aspiration levels ( even in a city like Delhi) were the fundamental softer issues that needed to be addressed. Programs that build motivation & aspiration need to go hand-in-hand with ‘hard’ skills-development courses.
 
b) while focusing on skills development for youth is important from a short-term standpoint of providing livelihoods, the longer-term approach requires that we ‘work on them’ when they are much younger, say between 12-18 years. By the time they are 18, its too late to build motivation & aspiration. We have used music for girls( & are contemplating sports for boys) to build this connect with them so that other messages like education & careers find a receptive audience.
 
c) in a city like Delhi, with its distances, the youth - even after they have been trained for skills - have an aversion to commute for 1-2 hours by bus to get to their place of work. They are willing to settle for less if its closer to home( a Jhuggi-Jhopri colony or resettlement colony in most cases).
 
d) finally, the whole discourse on skills development seems to want to move youngsters into ‘jobs’, while ignoring self-employment as a route, which is both an opportunity and a necessity. For the self-employment route to success, it needs to get tied to related aspects like mentoring, microfinance, etc. In private conversations, I have been very surprised to find policy advisors summarily dismiss self-employment as a something not worth pursuing.

All this suggests that the government, in all the euphoria and optimism surrounding skills-development should not ignore related, and softer issues like motivation/aspiration, urban distances, as well as possibilities of self-employment.
 
If you’d like a copy of the detailed report, drop me a mail at srikant.sastri@growthforall.org.

Corporate Social Responsibility!

When Growth-For-All was invited by CII Northern Region to be the Knowledge Partner for the CSR ‘Best Practices’ Meet, one of our key recommendations was focus! Focus on the specific needs of the ‘home’ states of a majority of the delegates, viz. Punjab, Haryana and HP. And, more important, focus on some real action, instead of just listening and discussions.

We were delighted when other CII members agreed to go down this path.

That brought us to the real question: do these ostensibly-prosperous states have any real challenges at all?  After all, Punjab, HP & Haryana are ranked 1,3 and 6 respectively in India Today’s 2008 ‘Ranking of States’. We spent time talking to NGOs and government officers to debate this. Simultaneously, we also commissioned a researcher to scan through all available published information.

A closer look revealed that Punjab itself had real problems. Its economic development is now the second-slowest, while its human-development indices for health and education are comparable to backward states. Livelihoods is a real challenge: while Punjab and Haryana face unemployment and underemployment on account of crisis in agriculture, HP’s problem is to meet the aspirations of its educated youth. The gender challenge is serious in all three states.

We now had our direction. And set about creating three highly-focused Panel Discussions: on livelihoods, gender and CSR. These, we knew, would provide delegates with ample food-for-thought on the real challenges facing their states. At the same time, we wanted to ensure that delegates ended the day with a clear, actionable CSR plan. So, we invited Mumbai-based Green Kettle Consulting to do a workshop-format session which would provide delegates with a framework within which to plan their own CSR.

I am delighted to announce that everything went as per plan, and we had a very-successful CSR ‘Best Practices’ Meet.

Inclusive Growth!

As many as 113 books, papers and articles were reviewed in order to take stock of the entire body of knowledge available in the public domain. The result is a comprehensive ‘Knowledge Paper’ focused on the challenges faced by Punjab, Haryana and HP. Union Minister, Ms Meira Kumar, released the Paper at CII’s ‘CSR Best Practices’ Meet recently.

Having been through a common, lived history, the three states have somewhat common trajectories of growth as well as challenges faced.

An important focus of the Knowledge Paper is on Livelihoods. It would come as a surprise to many that Punjab & Haryana, considered as the grain-bowl of India, are actually faced with a serious crisis in agriculture. Consequently, both unemployment and underemployment are big issues. There is an urgent need for crop diversification and agri-business initiatives, as well as rural, non-farm options. HP has a different problem; with big success in education, the challenge is to have livelihood opportunities keep pace with the inflow of educated youth into the workforce. At the same time, balancing industry, tourism & ecology assume importance.

The ‘gender’ issue, on the other hand, is a problem that cuts across all three states. The most common manifestations being declining sex ratios, poor health, insufficient women in workforce, as well as the deserted NRI brides of Punjab. The Paper analyses failures and successes closely, looks at legislative interventions tried out, as well as other interventions and case-studies.

Beyond ‘livelihood’ and ‘gender’, the Paper looks at a host of other issues in these three states.

The Knowledge Paper got a great response, and the general view being that it would be a good ready-reckoner for any Corporate looking at CSR in these three states.

Remarkable People!

It would be no surprise to anyone that the states of Punjab, Haryana and HP face huge gender-related challenges. However, what is surprising is that not enough positive action has been witnessed; in fact, the reality is that this issue is usually brushed under the carpet.

Based on the strong hypothesis that gender discrimination can hinder the pace of development, Growth-For-All worked with CII to assemble a strong panel of speakers to focus on finding practical answers that could be supported and endorsed by CII members. Prof. Pam Rajput( Executive Director, Women’s Resource & Advocacy Center) anchored a spiritied discussion that went way beyond normal expectations. While Mr Anurag Agrawal( IAS; and author of a path-breaking book on the ‘missing girl child) emphasised the need to capture data and build case histories in order to sensitise people, Mr Subhash Mendhapurkar of NGO, Sutra, provided fascinating insights from HP. Dr Ashish Banerjee(Director, Fortis Hospital) & Mr Rajat Ray( UNFP) spoke about successful experiences with women in work-force, and the need for effective communication strategies.

What can corporates do to start making a difference?

The Panel came up with simple, elegant, and practical suggestions that corporates can start with. That corporates should hire more women, and focus on gender diversity was one clear answer.( In fact, Dr Banerjee provide a ringing endorsement when he said quite simply, ” women work better”). The other, equally-simple answer was that corporates should track the health and nutrition standards of their workers’ spouses as a routine practice, thereby driving widespread sensitization and awareness. Likewise, corporates are in a position to monitor incidences of domestic violence as well. Finally, corporates -especially those running factories - can create awareness about gender issues in their immediate neighbourhoods.

Inclusive Growth!

Who would ever believe that the prosperous states of Punjab, Haryana & HP have an underlying unemployment problem?

Raghuttama Rao, Managing Director, ICRA Management Consulting Services, and his team of consultants have looked at the livelihood problem closely across the country, and especially in these states.

As Raghu put it so succinctly at the CII Meet, almost 1.5 crore youngsters need into move the workforce each year, nationally. And the important thing is that they are completely unprepared for it. While a majority of these youngsters are from rural, farm backgrounds, most of the opportunities are in urban, non-farm sectors. At the same time, the education system does not prepare them at all with the kind of skills required for available jobs or self-employment opportunities.

In Punjab and Haryana, traditionally the granaries of India, a multi-faceted agricultural crisis has created a large unemployment and underemployment problem. Crop diversification, and initiatives in agri business and rural, non-farm sector haven’t quite kept pace. HP, on the other hand, has the twin challenge of generating livelihood avenues that keep pace with the inflow of educated youth, while- at the same time - balancing industry, tourism and ecology.

So, what can corporates do - as CSR - to help ‘prepare & repair’ this massive influx of unprepared/under-prepared entrants into the workforce each year?

Expertly anchored by Pradeep Narayanan, the CII ‘Best Practices’ Meet generated a set of ideas ranging from simple, practical ones( donate old computers; take interns) to more-involved ones( active participation in skills development and vocational training), to those with strong business linkages( e.g. co-create businesses that engage and benefit rural communities; make their produce part of the supply chain).

Reshma Anand, Founder & CEO of Earthy Goods, described her experience in helping horticulture producers in HP and Uttarakhand scale-up by providing market access, in a manner similar to what successful packaged goods companies have done for years. Anish Kumar, of Pradan, narrated how rural families in Central India have grown their low family-incomes by diversifying into mushroom, poultry, and tasar. 

The important thing now is to translate these ideas into concrete actions.

Inclusive Growth! 

Growth-for-All’s pioneering integrated and collaborative model is being run on a pilot basis in two project areas. The first project (urban area) began in early-2008 in the Savda Ghevra re-settlement colony of North-West Delhi, while the second (rural area) project work is about to begin at Potka block of East Singhbhum district in Jharkhand.
Growth-for-All aims to eventually scale-up, to cover a large number of India’s backward districts, as well as poor urban clusters.

Savda Ghevra is a massive re-settlement colony for slum dwellers shifted from rest of Delhi. Currently around 3000 families are living there, but this 259 acres’ area will eventually house over 21,000 families. Hasty, unplanned shift has led to plethora of problems for this poor population.
Since Jan’08, GFA has been working (with the Delhi government; Chief Minister’s office) to address livelihood, health, education, and cultural issues in partnership with various stakeholders such as : Dr Reddy’s Foundation (DRF), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Child Survival India (CSI), Jaipur Rugs, Hasmukh Kala, Association for Stimulating Know how (ASK), Society for All-Round Development (SARD), Multiple Action Research Group (MARG) etc.

Case Study: DRF’s Partnership with Growth-For-All

Dr Reddy’s Foundation(DRF) and Growth-for-All came together for a unique, collaborative effort wherein 105 students underwent an intensive training in Hospitality, Customer relations and Sales and Automobile Mechanisms.

After the successful training, the students were placed into various organizations. The program not only saw transformation of participants into confident individuals but also augmented the income of the family. Many of the individuals were placed into corporate organizations like Pizza Hut, Spencer’s, Radha Krishna Hospitality Services and in addition to this few also started their own micro-entrepreneurship.

Case Study: CSI’s Partnership with Growth-for-All( supported by Samir Arora & Paul Hamlyn Foundation)

Child Survival India and Growth-for-All, came together to collaboratively enhance the existing health systems in Savda.

Project Suraksha has sought to strengthen and enhance the primary health care facilities in the resettlement colony, and develop its linkages with public health system so that there is an improvement in the health status, especially the maternal and child health status.

Supported by Samir Arora, this is being done through three Prakash Arora Memorial Suraksha Clinics, which service over 3000 patients each month. Additionally, the project is working towards mobilizing women to form groups i.e., Swasthya samoohs of 10-15 members, for every 200 families. Monthly health and nutrition camps, and an ambulance service complete the picture. Paul Hamlyn Foundation supports these efforts.

Case Study: Hasmukh Kala’s partnership with Growth-For-All

 Hasmukh Kala uses art in the form of music and dance to bring. about transformation and empowerment of women. Envisaged as a long-term partnership, the first initiative has focused on over 100 young girls and women of Savda Ghewra, Delhi.  Hasmukh Kala, a brainchild of Hemu Javeri, endeavors to help them gain respect through their talent, and provides them the ability to earn a livelihood.

CSR That Works!

This year’s ‘CSR Best Practices Meet’ by CII North Region will be a departure from the past.  It goes beyond the traditional format of nice, informative panel discussions that create a feel-good factor, but don’t lead to tangible actions.

Growth-For-All( GFA) is working with CII to create a specific focus on the livelihood and gender challenges in the states of Punjab, Haryana, and HP. GFA has commissioned a ‘knowledge paper’ that researches these challenges in great detail. Having done that, the February 4 Meet will have participating delegates exposed to the government, NGO & Corporate points of view. But the most important innovation is a workshop that they will go through, which guides them on how to create an actionable CSR plan for their organisations. The workshop, anchored by consulting firm, Green Kettle, will aim to trigger positive actions in these three states, and especially relating to livelihood and gender challenges. 

Mrs Meira Kumar, Minister for Social Justice, will be the Chief Guest at this Meet.

Remarkable people!

I’ve met some very interesting people in recent months, who opened my mind to a range of issues and ideas.

Mrs Anjaly Duggal Chib( IAS), Punjab government’s Resident Commisioner in Delhi spent over an hour describing the various dimensions of the gender issue in Punjab.  While the outward manifestations of the gender issue - in the form of dowry and female foeticide - are well known, I understood well, for the first time, how basic cultural upbringing  perpetuates this inferior status further. Whether it is to do with women not taking a share of family property, or women eating after the men have eaten, or the fact that boys are taken to hospital faster, or how a ‘get rich fast’ attitude leads to dowry demands, these are facets of the gender issue that were put across very lucidly.

Around the same time, I also met Ena Singh, who heads UNFPA, and tackles the gender issue with the same vigor and passion. She emphasized how it was critical for everyone to get women in Punjab into visible, non-conventional jobs like driving a crane, a tractor, or a taxi. This, in her view, would be an important step in changing society’s perceptions of what women can do, or should be doing. She  gave the example of the newly-started Azaad Foundation in Delhi, which is a ‘by women’, ‘for women’ NGO that aims to train poor women in Delhi to become drivers, besides organising them into a taxi service.

I was also introduced to Niranjan Khatri, who drives CSR for ITC Hotels’ Sheraton and luxury brands. Niranjan told me about their tie-up with the Ministry of Social Justice to train 400 destitute women in aspects like hygiene, cooking, housekeeping, and safety, which would prepare them for careers in hospitality or as domestic help. For instance, the Eva Floor at ITC hotels, meant exclusively for lady guests, is staffed only by women.

Then there was the conversation with Manish Sabharwal of TeamLease, who is on the PM’s Skills Development Mission. Manish broadly described the Mission’s attempt to create a supply of  range of skilled and semi-skilled talent for the job market simply by making available a vast array of vocational training options. It ended on a strong note of disagreement because I felt strongly that the approach would falter on two counts. One, because it appeared to be too much of a simplistic, cookie-cutter approach which fails to take into account the executional complexities. The bigger disagreement was on account of the Mission’s assumption that bulk of India’s unemployed should be directed to job-based employment, as opposed to self-employment. In fact, the Mission’s bias seems to be against self-employment. To me, it seems not just impractical, but a wrong objective to aim for. A large proportion of India’s unemployed youth- for reasons of education, or mindset - will not be the right match for the vocational training options offered.  More important, because they don’t want to commute long distances, or be dislocated from their communities, many are happiest being in self-employment. While I completely agree that inadequate or sub-optimal self-employment is undesirable, but any employment generation policy simply cannot discount the value of creating a vibrant self-employment culture and eco-system.

Finally, there was young Sumant Dubey, an executive at TERI, who reached out to me. He spoke about a range of innovations that various people and organisations were exploring. Apart from TERI’s own ambitious Solar Lantern project, he told me about the Water Purifiers’ project run by Nandi Foundation, and an Eco Tourism project in Maharshtra.

On the road!

Recently, in November, Growth-for-All took a trip into Jharkand’s predominantly-tribal East Singhbhum district. And discovered that India certainly wasn’t shining here.

Driving out of Jamshedpur, within 20 km, it was clear that development had either bypassed the tribal belt, or had been siphoned off.  Over the past eighteen months, I have spent time in rural UP, Rajasthan, Orissa, and relatively-prosperous Maharashtra, but this was very different. Leave aside the condition of the roads - which I would label as an urban luxury - even the basics were missing or had been stolen.

In most tribal villages we visited, access to government healthcare was non-existent; the absence of irrigation meant that agriculture was barely at a sustenance level; and, non-farming livelihood options were negligible. In one village, where we we were taken by NGO, Kalamandir, and sat down for a leisurely group meeting with villagers, the frustration was evident and articulated. Among other things we saw was a barely-begun canal-digging project under the NREGA scheme; apparently, the project was aborted after the villagers did not get paid for the initial phase of work.

This village, like a large part of Jharkhand, is close to the Naxal belt. In fact, during our visit, the villagers pointed out the hills through which they often get Naxal visitors. Given the state of governance, not surprising.

For us, at Growth-for-All, the priorities for our rural project quickly became clear. When we begin in early-2009, the initial focus will clearly have to be on providing access to basic healthcare( via mobile dispensaries); exploring sustainable, land-based livelihood and self-employent options; supplementing basic education via computer skills and adult literacy; and supporting local music and culture.

On the road!

We met Mansa Tudu in village Mahtabeda( population=400) as we drove around the district with local NGO, SEEDS, who wanted to show us the rural lighting project.

The Class-10 pass Mansa makes money by renting out 34 solar lanterns at Rs 2/lantern/day, to other villagers. Under the TERI model,  village “entrepreneurs” like Mansa( all they need to have is adequate infrastructure, viz. a pucca roof) are given a set of lanterns, charging units and solar panels. The villagers bring the lantern back every morning for recharge.

This model is an interesting self-sustaining model which provides livelihood for an entrepreneur and inexpensive, non-polluting lighting for the community. Vis-a-vis kerosene which, at Rs 32/litre, is expensive, and erratic state electricity supply, this model has many positives.

A nationwide, scale-based expansion of this project is currently restricted by the initial investment in lanterns and charging units. TERI presently funds this through sponsored support, but it does appear to me that, if one dovetails microfinance, this could be rapidly scaled up. The challenge, however, is that microfinance is not widely available in these most-needy states and districts.