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The project is targeted at mountain
communities living in the western and eastern Himalayas.
Traditionally, communities in these regions had evolved
subsistence-oriented but stable agriculture and a diversified,
livelihood strategy combining crop, livestock, and forestry along with
resource recycling and collective sharing.
In recent years, this equilibrium has
been seriously disrupted and the virtually self-sufficient system has
broken down due to the need to spread cultivation marginal and forest
lands, making food crop-based farming system unsustainable. Improved
communications have also led to aspirations for vastly different
lifestyles.
The net result of this process has been
a weakening of the sustainability of past survival systems and an
accentuation of poverty. Although production systems in mountains tend
to have lower productivity than those in plains, mountains offer
substantial opportunities to enhance economic growth and alleviate
poverty while at the same time conserving the unique natural resource
base.
Himalayan people are recognizing that
out migration is not a viable solution to economic security and that
opportunities for improved well-being must be found closer to home, in
the mountains themselves. A growing tradition of cooperation through
the Self-Help Group movement, especially among women, offers a strong
foundation from which innovative initiatives can be launched. High
levels of literacy hold promise for quick adoption of improved methods
and relevant technologies that are required for sustainable livelihood
development.
Based on the above, the project will
provide opportunities to the poor households to create or enhance the
livelihoods by applying the principle of self-help and utilizing the
self-help group (SHG) movement as the platform from which project
activities will be launched. By doing so the project would be
contributing towards developing a replicable model of livelihood
improvement in the mountains. It would do so by developing community
institutions and investing in their capacity to take livelihood
decisions, and by providing a range of support services and linkages.
The
project intends to provide opportunities to create or enhance the
livelihoods to the poor households by applying the principle of
self-help and utilizing the self-help group (SHG) movement as the
platform from which project activities will be launched. By doing so
the project would be contributing towards developing a replicable
model of livelihood improvement in the mountains. It would do so by
developing community institutions and investing in their capacity to
take livelihood decisions, and by providing a range of support
services and linkages.
In
order to meet the above, the project will follow an approach that is
targeted at the poorest households and at women in project area.
Source : Project Appraisal
Document, ULIPH. |
