KARRA ELDERLY PROJECT –

JHARKHAND

A new zeal and hope of living in the life of an elderly

India is the home to world’s second largest elderly population of which over 80%
lives in Rural area with very limited or no access to social security and others
benefits. Nidan has  implemented in 2019  a very innovative project in 25 villages in
13 Panchayats of Karra block under Khunti district in the state of Jharkhand, with
5000 elderly men and women supported by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and
Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). The purpose of this project was  as follows –

 Enhance awareness level of elder persons on various Social Protection Schemes,

 Formation of elders group and nurturing them towards savings for financial stability
while improving their financial status that leads towards building social capital,
 Helping all potential elderly towards access to Social Protection with special
emphasis on OAP (Old Age Pension) scheme,
 Advocacy regarding concerns of elderly at different levels (District and State)
The project area was highly sensitive being Naxal affected ,lack of  regular
transportation facility, community people were alcoholic which took time  to build
trust and get support from the community. Most of the Elderly in the village did  not
have bank account and Aadhar card which is a pre-requisite to apply for Pension
scheme.

We started program with three pronged approach of Awareness, Organize and

access to  Benefits.  We empowered elderly and made them aware on Government
schemes and their entitlements. We organized health camps for screening for 
cataract and linked with PVt and Govt hospitals.  We established a Resource Center
“SHARTHI CENTER” in block office campus with the support of Block Development
Officer to increase awareness, access schemes and services which also included
Counseling and Guidance to elderly. We also provided livelihood training on
Mushroom cultivation, Poultry and Fisheries and linked them with Jharkhand Rural
Livelihoods Promotion  Society. This knowledge and training helped them to
increase their income and become Self Reliant.  We also develop a booklet  about
their issues and entitlements. 

We promoted “Vridha Sangha”  as a federation of Elderly Self Help Groups and
established a model in 13 Panchyats of Karra block under Khunti district in the state
of Jharkhand, which  sustains itself. We are looking forward to replicate this model in
other parts of country. 
LIVELIHOOD INTERVENTION IN DELHI
Background of the Project:

While the pandemic has stabilized for the moment, the need for recovery, rebuilding and
resilience remains urgent in India. The economic impacts of COVID-19 are particularly acute
in India, in part due to the vulnerability and scale of the informal sector. The COVID-19
pandemic in India has also had an unequal impact on women.  To address these challenges,
Nidan initiated a new livelihood intervention in Delhi. The target of our interventions are the
women who have lost the means of income in their households in Covid-19 pandemic,
whether that be their own ability to earn income or that of a family member.

Strategy:

Nidan organised these Women having new skills and resources that enhance their capacity to
initiate market-based income generation activities. Through our proposed interventions,
women will: gain confidence and increased mobility to enter the economic domain; have
greater access to information, skills, resources, and income gains; overcome gender
stereotypes at the household level; and undertake collective action to advance gender-
inclusive financial institutions, policies and laws.

Also targeted short and medium-term impacts include:

Activate Existing SHGs from the urban informal settlements benefitting directly through
livelihood interventions, with incomes increased by at least 10 percent and Enhanced access
to improved livelihoods practices leveraging various government projects. Also targeting
10,000 people to aware and knowledge building on social protection
schemes through community meetings and other communication channels.

Geography:

Nidan has presence in whole of Delhi but keeping the parameters of project in mind we chose
East Delhi and South Delhi areas for intensive interventions

 
 Through Nidan Shramik sathi app, Nidan started a survey of SHGs members and also
Developed a Questionnaire on google form to conduct an emergency market mapping and
assessment study to identify viable livelihoods.

Identification of area and SHGs

Areas in East -Delhi:                              No of SHGs identified
Ravi Dass Camp                                                    2
JJ Camp                                                                   1
West Vinod Nagar                                                 4
Sonia Vihar Sabzi Mandi                                      2
Shanti Marg                                                            2
Areas in South-East Delhi
D- Madanpur Khadar                                              9
A- Madanpur Khadar                                              4
C block Madanpur Khadar                                    2
B block Kacchi Colony                                            3
Priyanka Camp                                                         1
B1 Madanpur Khadar (phase -3)                           3
Total                                                                            33

Area Identification for Skilling:

The following skills have been identified through need Assessment form as Embroidery,
Bakery, Butacaine, Vegetable Selling, Spice packing, Grocery. This has been done through
One-to-one Meeting, and SHGs meeting. Coordination established with the National Urban
Livelihood Mission, Skill India Mission and Small and Medium Scale Industries for
sustainability around certification, recognition, further training and financial inputs from the
government for the training and smooth Linkage.
SHGs Meeting:

Nidan started holding regular meetings with the selected self-help groups and also told them
the benefits of the group.

  REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

  REGULAR SAVING PRACTICE OF INTERNAL LENDING

  FORMATION OF SHG BYLAWS.

  MAINTAIN BOOKS OF ACCOUNTS

  AWARENESS ON GOVT. SCHEMES

Linkage of SHGs members and individuals

Based on the details received through Google Form, Nidan started profiling each member and identified the gap in t
coordination of Government Department and linked members with:

 Aadhar Card   Ration Card

  Labour Card   Delhi Vidhwa Pensio
  E-Shram Card   Delhi Vridha Pension
  PAN Card   Artisan Card

The prime emphasis is to do survey on government entitlements of Informal workers and

SHG women who are associated with us. Then our first step is to do analysis of the same
survey and linking them to those entitlements which they are not linked to.

We firstly focus upon linking the workers and women to Banks by organizing Bank camps
and opening 0 account balance which makes it easy for them to get connected to various
schemes/entitlements. The bank camps are organized by talking to Bank Managers and staff
and according to the convenience of the SHG Women and Informal workers we organize the
camps at their nearest location. In South West Delhi and East Delhi we have organized 04
Bank camps in total.

We also have organized a mega camp for the Informal workers in North-East Delhi by the
help of DM Mr. Geetika Sharma and SDM Vikram Bisht. The mega camp covered Aadhar
Card, updating Aadhar Card, Voter ID card, and COVID Vaccination i.e., Booster doses.
Approximately 737 Informal workers got benefitted. Awareness sessions are done in
everyday basis by going door to door to SHG Women and Informal workers along with
survey which gives us a better picture of their status and accordingly we link them to various
entitlements. We also take the same populace to CSC center for social security schemes like
Maan dhan yojana.
 Training to SHGs Leaders and members: SHG members were Trained on the following
topics

 Member education to SHG members.

 Panchsutra, agenda, norms, and services to SHG Members.
 Book keeping to SHG Books.
 SHG Monthly Report.
 SHG Profiling.
 SHG Micro credit Plan.
Developed IEC

To reach out more and more members nidan developed a pamphlet highlighting the schemes.
The objective is to Link urban women with various social protection schemes through
information sharing,

Microplanning of SHGs Members

The objective of the microplanning of SHGs member is to understand the current economic
status and livelihoods. Also understand the source of family income and liability. We also
asses the current needs and matching the desire with skills.  Also developed many formats to
collect the data as mentioned below: –

 SHGs Profiling format

 SHGs Monthly reporting Format
 Micro credit Plan format
 Group declaration format
 SHGs Verification Format
 Hand Over Sheet to SHGs

Livelihoods Initiative after Profiling

Based on the profiling, Kalyan SHGs has been started the Grocery and Nari shakti Group
initiated the vegetable selling.  They participated in National Street food festival at New
Delhi from 13-15 January 2023.    

Future Action Plan 

1. Focus on creating livelihood options and strengthening existing livelihoods of the women involved in
SHGs 
2. Skilling training 
3. Linkages with Govts program livelihood program 
4. Promoting linkages with Social Security and entitlements programs of Govt – awareness generation,
individual linkages and organizing camps 
5. Strengthening the SHGs through regular meetings, savings and training