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Category: Sustainable Livelihoods

The need to care about the care economy

Both unpaid and paid care work is essential for any society to survive and thrive and the indispensable nature of care work was further highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Apart from being necessary for the normal day to day life, the care economy is a huge employer, with serious growth potential.

Ria Kasliwal of the Observer Research Foundation has offered a fresh perspective on livelihoods generated through care work and its socio-economic impact.

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Using Blended Finance to sustain informal workers during Covid-19

According to the International Labour Organization, more than 400 million informal sector workers in India are at risk of falling into severe poverty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that informal workers have no health, social, or legal protections to fall back on. Without access to formal financing, their ability to survive serious economic shocks is handicapped.

This is the challenge that the REVIVE Alliance aims to address at its core. By bringing together industry leaders and philanthropic capital, REVIVE provides zero cost Returnable Grants and skill training to help India’s workers bounce back from the most severe economic crisis of the 21st century. 

To know more about how REVIVE and it’s parters are helping families and communities build sustainable livelihoods, read this article by our co-funder USAID. 

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Can the Microcredit Model Be Improved?

The problem here is not a lack of microcredit programs or their execution but rather something in the model itself. This leads us to ask: Can we modify or extend certain aspects of the microfinance model to achieve better outcomes for recipients?

Vikas Dimble, Director of Knowledge and Research at Samhita and Ahmed Moshfiq Mobarak, Professor of Economics at Yale University write on how microcredit can be used to help poor communities pull through unexpected shocks if the microcredit model is modified to incorporate inclusivity and flexible lending practices.

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Innovative lending practices can improve traditional microfinance

Research on the traditional microfinance model reveals the alterations that can be made to further small businesses and welfare gains. Vikas Dimble, Associate Director of Knowledge and Research at Samhita, and Ahmed Moshfiq Mobarak, Professor of Economics at Yale University emphasize the importance of flexible lending models, using local information to select eligible beneficiaries and allowing beneficiaries to make use of microcredit beyond entrepreneurial purposes.

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Freedom to earn a livelihood with dignity

Covid-19 was an eye-opener for many businesses in that it revealed the importance of migrant and informal workers in a business’s supply chains. Undoubtedly, the corporate sector holds the potential and responsibility to change the dynamics within which workers operate. It is therefore in their own enlightened self-interest that businesses should understand migrant workers’ perspectives and account for their welfare.

A particularly useful way of identifying vulnerabilities and addressing them systematically is the Responsible Corporate Citizenship Continuum (RCCC). The RCCC seeks to articulate the role of the private sector in society and provide companies with a framework to include human rights and social and environmental responsibility in their operations. In the context of a crisis revealing the importance of resilient business networks and a market that values business ethics and brand purpose, the incentives to perform along these lines are clearer than ever.

Priya Naik, Ragini Menon and Hrishikesh Bhatt from Samhita elaborate on this approach in an article for Forbes India.

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DHFL|How to explore potential and unlock demographic advantage

DHFL wanted to invest their CSR funds in such a way that they can address critical gaps in 3 cause areas that can in turn help India unlock demographic advantages and explore the full potential of available resources. Read on to find out how they impacted over 150,000 lives.

The DHFL Story

Operating with a vision to engage in programs that can promote the enrichment of the society, DHFL first identified 3 cause areas and then worked with Samhita to curate or redesign programs that can address critical issues across the areas. 

How to reap demographic advantages

Although India houses a high proportion of the world’s youth population, it has very few job opportunities and even fewer for those who are unskilled. Our research at the time indicated that the Indian government was able to train only 3.1 million of 12.8 million entrants into the workforce each year and needed private sector participation to address the gap.

Solution

We leveraged our research into corporate engagement in national skill development to design a skill program for youth within the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) and Construction sectors – that aligned to DHFL’s business goals. 

Samhita managed the implementation of the program in 24 centres across 6 states. Inclusion of innovative components led us to receive recognition from the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), at their ASSOCHAM Summit-cum-Awards.

Geographies

Impact

How to ensure early-life development

DHFL was already supporting smaller and scattered interventions in education however a focused program was not yet curated. At the time a focus on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programs was the need of the hour. 

Solution

We first undertook an assessment of the Anganwadis to understand specific needs of the target groups and gaps in ECCE. Then we curated a program that strengthened existing Anganwadi frameworks and ICDS schemes, and built capacities of the workers and helpers to become educators in Anganwadi centres. We also added a health and nutrition component to complement the education module and to ensure the sustained success of the program in the long run.

Geographies

Impact

How to tap into the society’s potential to transform

The water crisis is not new to India. Moreover, the unavailability of water can have a rippling effect on lives and livelihoods. Even in 2011, our research lended insights into how  climate change and successive years of drought had resulted in immense ecological damage including soil erosion, lack of vegetation and reduction in crop yield by 70 per cent. In order to ensure holistic development, it was necessary to invest in water as an impact multiplier.

Solution

5 drought prone villages in Aurangabad were identified and adopted where climate change and successive years of drought had resulted in immense ecological damage. This severely hampered the ability of the villagers to support themselves and their dependents.To holistically address the damage, we took a 5-pronged approach.  

Impact

Impact across the People-Planet-Profit (PPP) framework

Youth of India are trained to unlock job opportunities for them; Proper nourishment is ensured to women and young children to enable long-term health and survival; Holistic development of community is propelled by using water as an impact multiplier.

Community involvement prioritized to undertake water conservation and instill the component for the long term.

Supply of skilled personnel for the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) and Construction sectors – the primary

Reach out

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Nagar, Goregaon East, Mumbai,
Maharashtra 400063, IN

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csr@samhita.org

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