Case Study Status Report on Gram Nidhi - APFED

Positive impact to local community
The perception of the villagers both male and female has been dramatically changing after the
implementation of the project. The traditional Indian society, a male dominant society where there
are no women participating in public settings, still strongly prevails in the rural area. In the early
stage of Gram Nidhi project, the men and old women were very sceptical of the project, citing a
negative effect on their wives and the other women. Now, however, they are pleased to send them
to SHGs meetings.
The villagers also have recognised that organic farming generates more income due to low input
costs and good market value in a sustainable manner. The villagers are now able to save some
money for further investment in livestock. The savings also can generate further investment for the
improvement of their lives, such as access to drinking water, toilets, and construction of a drainage
system in the village. The improvement of their lives in terms of sanitation and health can be
physically observed. For example, some houses have been equipped with the rainwater- harvesting
structure on the roof, and water storage underground through the Gram Nidhi loan. Also, the
awareness of sanitation and health has increased. After the implementation of the project, the
villagers are more aware of their sanitation and health, and some toilets have been installed.
Also, increased additional income and saving has been invested in their children’s education, health,
sanitation facility, and safe drinking water. In the target village, many members think that education
is important for developing their capacity as entrepreneurs. One female entrepreneur stated that
they want to give priority to girls for education over boys, since girls have more potential to be good
entrepreneurs, and through the enterprise activities, they can have more opportunity to explore
outside of the village, as well as to improve their lives.
It also notes that after implementing the programme, the rural economy has been diversified, so that
now it is less vulnerable to natural disasters and other inevitable stresses.
Now the villagers have developed confidence to run the self-employment style enterprise to
improve their life.
Key for success
It is important to note that CEE has been involved in the target area for a long time. Without this
long-term involvement of CEE, the project may not have built up such a big success. Before starting
the Gram Nidhi, CEE has been working in the target area since 1988 for Eco-development
programmes and from 1996 onward, the formation of Self Help Group (SHGs) was started. Since
then, many programmes have been implemented in the village and women's SHGs have already
existed in the villages. On this foundation and environment, the Gram Nidhi has started.
Photo 7: Women Entrepreneurs
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