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empowerment of women in the farm                  occupations, adding another income   22,179 women beneficiaries on best
                                                                               and non-farm sectors.                             source, and convergence with       practices.
                                                                                                                                 government schemes, based on two
                                                                               LEAP aims to achieve various                      fundamental pillars: cluster planning   Building Dreams, Floor by
                                                                               objectives over four years, including             and a market-led approach. LEAP    Floor: Three-Tier Vertical
                                                                               increasing the real income of direct              has made significant progress at the   Livelihood Structure Model
                                                                               beneficiaries by 40%, benefiting                  district and state levels in terms of   Ajay Kumar lives in Gondey,
                                                                               over 500,000 women farmers and                    outcomes, income increase, building   Pratapgarh, in Uttar Pradesh,
                                                                               artisans spread over 120 clusters,                stronger institutions, enabling    with his parents and two younger
                                                                               leveraging new investments,                       convergence, and ensuring the      brothers. He is physically challenged
                                                                               including government schemes                      creditworthiness of the borrowers.   and comes from a landless family.
                                                                               and private-sector investments,                   The project has extensive backing   His daily wages are his only
                                                                               and enabling partnerships at the                  from government departments, and   source of income. He abandoned
                                                                               national, state and local level.                  financial institutions have partnered   studies to support his family. He is
                                                                                                                                 with POs to offer credit and financial   discriminated due to his disability.
                                                                               LEAP’s three-pronged income                       support for input and forward      The bank created a three-tier
                                                                               enhancement strategy includes                     linkages.                          vertical livelihood structure model
                                                                               improving income from existing                                                       to provide a stable source of income
                                                                                                                                 The LEAP programme is being        for him. HRDP Pratapgarh built
                                                                                                                                 implemented in 24 districts in     two vertical livelihood structures
                                                                                                                                 Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,    (as a prototype) for three livelihood
                                                                                                                                 Odisha, Punjab and West Bengal.    activities simultaneously. 1)
                                                                                                                                 The team has been receiving        Fisheries 2) Poultry; 3) Goats.
                                                                                                                                 tremendous support from            The structure has three floors to
                                                                                                                                 respective state governments       breed fish on the ground floor,
          in Tuticorin and Coimbatore in    conveyed its interest to extend the                                                  and their departments, such as     poultry on the first floor, and goats
          August 2022. The project aimed    project to further develop and scale                                                 the Department of Agriculture,     on the second floor. The chickens
          to be sustainable and scalable    it. In addition to the Industries &                                                  Horticulture, Rural Development,   eat goat waste, and fish eat chicken
          by training ten people from each   Commerce Ministry, the District                                                     and Planning. A unique feature     and goat waste. Additionally, chick
          village in Thoothukudi district to   Collector of Thoothukudi district                                                 of this project is digital literacy,   and fish feeds are also given to   clusters.
          produce commercially viable water   intends to extend the project to six                                               transparency, and equipping rural   boost their growth and reduce risk
          hyacinth handicraft products.     neighbouring villages, expanding its                                                 women with greater digital know-   from diseases.                    In conclusion, one can see the
          The government is planning to     impact.                                                                              how and capabilities, enabling                                       transformative impact of all three
          develop the model as a full-fledged                                                                                    them to function independently in   This livelihood structure        initiatives--Water hyacinth projects,
          program by forming a cooperative   LEAPing Towards Economic                                                            the long run without any external   demonstrates other village       LEAP and the three-tier livelihood
          where skilled artisans would work   Activation: Local Economic                                                         support.                           households to choose a model      model. The Bank customised
          and promote the Water Hyacinth    Activation Project (LEAP)                                                                                               for a substantial revenue. Once   solutions leveraging locally available
          Handicraft.                       LEAP is empowering rural women                                                       LEAP’s impact so far includes      developed, this structure will last   resources, markets and stakeholders.
                                            through the creation of efficient,                                                   the mobilization of 35,117         at least 30 years for a one-time   This helped persuading government
          The project weaver groups shared   transparent and income-generating                                                   women beneficiaries into POs,      investment. This model could be   and agencies to support the projects
          sample products with IKEA through   entrepreneurial platforms that                                                     the registration of 95 POs, INR    shared with Uttar Pradesh State   and create long-term impact. All
          Ramesh Flower Company. However,   facilitate sustainable livelihood                                                    35 million share capital by PO     Rural Livelihood Mission for a state   the three projects also influenced
          the shortage of skilled weavers   enhancement. LEAP is taking the                                                      members, and 11 sanctioned         level team for large-scale adoption   cultural perspectives about women
          presents a challenge in meeting   Self-Help-Group (SHG) movement                                                       Common Facility Centers. LEAP has   as a group enterprise with the most   and people with disabilities. HDFC
          demand. Director of Industries    to the next level by aggregating                                                     leveraged approximately INR 260    vulnerable/marginalized families.   Bank Parivartan is committed
          & Commerce visited the project    them in clusters for enterprises/                                                    million, sanctioned INR 10.05 million   By lowering investment costs   to help India achieve SDG goals
          villages and recognized the potential   income generation activities. The                                              in credit, recorded 9,273 digital   with landless families/people with   through its robust rural development
          of water hyacinth products and the   project was launched in 2022, and it                                              transactions, availed 23,716 central   physical disabilities, this model   focus, and take all stakeholders
          skilled weavers. The department   aspires to accelerate the economic                                                   and state schemes, and trained     can be expanded up in new HRDP    together in its stride.


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