SOIL Report 2008 - ACCESS Development Services

Chapter VI6. SEWA Co-operative Federation (Gujarat Mahila SEWA Cooperative Federation- Responsible for organizingand supporting women’s cooperatives. The Federation is currently comprised of 86 formally registered cooperativesand 14 cooperatives in notification stage.7. SEWA Bank (Shri Mahila SEWA Sahakari Bank Ltd) This is a financial institution set up by SEWAmembers for micro-finance and related services to its members directly in urban areas and through through SHGsand/or District Associations in rural areas.8. SEWA Housing (Gujarat Mahila Housing SEWA Trust)- This Trust undertakes projects and activities witha view to providing housing and infrastructural facilities the members.9. SEWA Bharat- This is a registered federation of SEWA organizations and unions in 7 States of India,including Gujarat. This unit focuses on development of SEWA organizations in other states.10. SEWA Manager ni School- SEWA Manager ni School organises management training programs and contributesto managerial capacity building of various units of SEWA. Such initiatives also include inputs in Research,Communication, Production, Marketing, Finance and Human Resource Development.iWatershed development combined with community pasture development and improved agricultural practices for small farmers in Bhilwaraand Bundi districts of Rajasthan, led to silvipasture development covering 2825 hectares in 85 villages. It also demonstrated increase in fodder,fuel wood and agricultural production while raising the ground water table.iiWadi is the local term for orchard.iiiAnnual report BAIF, 2006-2007ivBAIF has promoted a multi state marketing company -Vasundhara Agri-Horti Producer Company Limited (VAPCOL) under Section 581Aof the Indian Companies Act I9S6, to market the products across the country. This company is establishing a linkage between Farmers’Cooperatives and bulk consumers and exporters for marketing the produce in large volumes.vSEWA Bharat is a federation of SEWA member organisations, with the mandate to highlight issues concerning women working in the informalsector, and to strengthen the capacity of the organisations that serve the interests of these women. Presently nine such SEWA memberorganisations are working in 35 districts of seven states, and together they account for a total membership around 12,00,000.viCo operatives are of three types – labour and producer co operatives, marketing operatives and co operatives providing services such as healthcare, child care.viiComprising of rural member based organizations such as SHGs and producer groups but not members of SEWA co operative federation.viiiThe first training is on basic rights and awareness based on the critical need of the district and achieved through campaigns. The secondtraining is on leadership and the role of leaders in SEWA, the third is savings and asset building and fourth is the technical training on theskills needed for the trade of the member.ixChild care facilities provide women the opportunity to concentrate on their trades and improve quality and productivity and thus income.Similarly health care increases producitivitya nd income – disease results in costs and loss of time and malnutrition results in low energy atwork.xthe Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded a pilot study on the costs and benefits of a dedicated trade facility. Subsequently,IFC was inspired by the model and provided funds for trade fairs, consultancy, hiring designers and finance persons, legal expertiseand travel.xiGRAM Mahila Haat was established by SEWA in 1999 as an marketing organization to provide market related support to rural producergroups.xiiRudi means a gentle noble lady and is also acronym for Rural and Urban Development Initiative.xiiiThe most successful commodity cooperative model in the country is the Anand Pattern Cooperative Society (APCOS) in the dairy sector,which deliberately keeps credit out of the cooperative and sees this as one of the reasons for its success. However, the specific situationprevailing in the fisheries sector made a marketing intervention sans credit, a non-starter.xivTypical Micro-Credit approaches apply well to financing of fish vendors/hawkers, etc and perhaps fishing crew (coolies). Holistic approachesappear to be more suitable for financing activities in the low income fisheries value chain-especially for capture fisheries. This integrated approachcan be delivered by multi-purpose, large, well networked institutions that can diversify risks across craft types, geographies, etc.xvThere has always been a discrepancy between the EMI based system of the bank and the percentage based repayment system of the SIFFSsocieties. However, given the banks’ poor recovery when loans are given directly without a society, this was generally accepted by the banks.The problem would start only after the loan term ended (generally 3 years) and the fishermen not repaid the loan in full. By and large, given thesuperior repayment performance of the SIFFS societies vis-à-vis the normal agricultural loan portfolio of the banks, a considerable amountof lenience is shown. Given that the bank linkage system was a decentralised affair and largely left to the abilities of the local leadership andcommunity organiser to implement, there was considerable variability in performance and a lack of standardisation and bench marks.xviThe local conditions were suitable for cash crops such as betel nut, rubber, cashew, vanilla, and coconut, and all these have long gestation periods.The smaller farmers were helped to convert their land to these profitable tree crops by facilitating their access to necessary wherewithal.xviiThe member on whose work the group are engaged has to feed his colleagues that day, but no money changes hands.xviiiThe list of such activities includes jointly owned power tillers, retail shops, crop processing businesses, joint land leasing and cultivation,vegetable vending, and milk production and marketing. Many other income generating activities have also been set up, including milk processing,vanilla, banana, ginger, vegetable and jasmine flower cultivation, detergents, incense stick rolling, beekeeping, and tailoring.xixEach of the 2,000 SHGs has contributed towards the share capital of SIRI. SIDBI has provided low-cost long-term loans to finance itsoperations. The SGSY programme has also financed all the buildings that are needed for collecting, stocking and sending out the wide rangeof raw materials and finished goods that SIRI handles.150