Inclusive Growth!
Among the many young volunteers I spent time with were Rahul( Class 12), Sunil Gaikwad( MA, B.Ed), Ghanshyam Mhaske(BA), all from Village Mahunale(Chakur block). I was keen to understand their backgrounds, motivations and future plans. While they are all reasonably educated, none of their families own land; they have no hope of picking up a government job, while they have limited access and skills for private sector jobs.

For the moment, they are deeply involved as volunteers, but what will happen a few years hence when 4000 aware, educated youth stare at a blank future?
Clearly, agriculture needs to be enhanced via greater productivity and new techniques. Allied activities like dairy farming need to come into play. But, there is little evidence or effort right now in Latur district.
Equally important, Self-employment will also be a key ingredient. But, as the enlightened T.K Navale pointed out, to succeed, self-employment needs training and success stories. Among the few successes that Navale could point out is a Food Stall. “ The Idli-vada stall has long queues”, as he says, but Latur district needs many more success stories and answers to crack the livelihood challenge.

On the Road!

My final-year ‘Term Paper’ at IIM was on Rural Marketing. Thereafter, during my many years of working with FMCG( or other mass-market) companies, the rural marketing challenge would inevitably come up as a topic for discussion. Some companies are hailed as pioneers in rural marketing, while other lag behind.
Having taken a close look at how the network of NGOs and volunteers operate in Latur district, it is time to proclaim that Rural Marketing 1.0 is passé.

It is quite an eye-opener to see how this ‘field-force’ achieves comprehensive coverage of ALL ( almost 1000 villages) in the district, every month.
I met Sheikh Firoz( B.A) with 1.5 years experience now. He could well have been a Sales Executive in a consumer good company, if you look at the way he works. As a Field Co-ordinator( F.C), he has a monthly ‘Beat Plan’ of 32 villages. On a typical day, this is what his beat itinerary looks like: meet Gram Panchayat( 10 am-12 noon); meet SHGs in meetings( 12-2 pm); Meet Young Girls Group( 3-5 pm); meet youth( after 5 pm). It’s a new village every day, but he comes back to the same village a month later.
Firoz has learnt that planning leads to success; that relationships with key village folks is important. Over the last one-and-half years, he has acquired confidence while dealing with village politics, and handling antagonism from those who want immediate gain.
All ten Blocks of Latur district have such dedicated FCs who, through their monthly beats, ensure 100% coverage of villages.
Clearly, FMCG companies, who talk about rural marketing, have a long way to go!!

Inclusive Growth!

 ET readers, CNBC viewers and Business School students know it well that India is mobile-phone country. Penetration and sales of mobile phones far exceed those of personal computers. It is literally as though the mobile phone has tapped into a deeply latent need of Indians to chatter away with their dear ones. On the contrary, the serious PC- while indeed making headway in the Indian market- lags far behind in terms of its impact on the lives of Indian families, especially lower-income and rural ones.
Consider this: during my two days in Latur district’s villages, I barely came across anyone who used computers or saw schools where kids had access to PCs. BUT: every youth and woman volunteer I met had a mobile phone, whose numbers were well publicized, and were the accepted means for fellow villagers to reach out to them.
However, as a result of this dichotomy, there is a great deal of spoken communication among the volunteers, NGOs and villagers, but the programs are overall weak in terms of documentation, information access, tracking and reporting.
To plug this key gap, the PC needs to catch up with the mobile phone… for the sake of development.

Growth-for-All will soon embark on an ambitious program to get corporates and others to chip in with used PCs which can be deployed in village schools and community centers. Watch out for more information.

On the Road!

 A great deal of progress has been made in these villages in preventing or discouraging early, adolescent marriages. But, I would still keep hearing about this girl, or that, who had got married when she was 15,16, 0r 17. This remained a niggling question in my mind until that Eureka moment, while I was with the Deepshikha group – a group of 30 girls in Jagalpur sub-center.
This is an organized group that meets together for one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays to discuss health and social issues that affect their lives. The group meetings are facilitated by Anita, who underwent a 10-day training run by Unicef.
As an observer and participant in this particular meeting, I heard that this group has been in existence for several months now, but it has had its share of ‘floating’ population, as some girls have left to get married, while new entrants have come in after getting married into this village. It was evident that many of these girls had got married well before they had turned 18, and I couldn’t get clear reasons even though I probed.
Then the discussion turned to education, and I popped the question as to why girls were dropping out of school after Class 10, and not continuing to study further. That’s when it emerged that girls drop out of school because the senior secondary school is now in the next village which is 4 km away. Parents naturally dislike the idea of their daughters walking all the way, or hitching a ride. As a result, the girls stay at home, and as a natural corollary, are persuaded to get married.
The immediate answer was cycles ! If the girls had cycles, would they be able to continue schooling? When I offered this suggestion, there was an immediate, excited outburst of chattering. So, I went a bit further, and offered two cycles if they could guarantee that four girls would indeed attend Class 11-12. I certainly didn’t expect the group to burst out applauding, but they did, and it told me that this could well be the answer to empower these young girls, with mobility and freedom.
It was clear to me that a large scale project, to make cycles available, would have to be an essential ingredient in any rural initiative that Growth-for-All would roll out in the coming months.
( An interesting aside: none of the 30 girls has ever learnt or used a computer)

Remarkable People!

Music and dance take over the lives of 50+ children on weekend afternoons as they learn intently from their ‘guruji’, Mr Lal. These kids, mostly girls, learn music and dance as part of the ‘Hasmukh Kala’ program launched at Savda Ghevra.

The brainchild of my friend and IIM classmate, Hemu Javeri, Hasmukh Kala builds on the vision and experience of his family’s decades-old Swami Samarth Foundation in Mumbai. Hemu and his friend Shailja Dutt( the Delhi-based CEO of Stellar Search, the reputed executive search firm) first visited Savda Ghevra few months ago to get to know the community better. Thereafter, Hemu and Shailja quickly gave shape to the ‘Hasmukh Kala’ program, identified the right teacher, and got started.

Hemu has articulated his vision  upfront,”Hasmukh Kala is a unique initiative that is dedicated to a woman who has inspired me over the years. Music is universal, and Hasmukh Kala is focused on using music, dance and drama, to empower women and unite communities. Through guru-shishya based training methods, and with instruments from both Indian and international music, intense learning is imparted to students to enrich their lives. The goal would be for our students to reach the pinnacle of music, dancing and acting and empower them to achieve their dreams!”.

 One hour each of singing, dancing and instrumental music is now the regular routine on Saturdays and Sundays. A few boys also join in to play the ‘bongo’. While most of the talent at Savda Ghevra is raw, ‘guruji’ has already spotted some real bright sparks. Everyone is pretty excited - the kids, guruji, as well as Hemu and Shailja.

Hemu and Shailja are busy planning a big community music event on August 15th, as well future roll-out of Hasmukh Kala, in tandem with Growth-for-All’s own expansion in 2008 and 2009.

For me, personally, it is immensely gratifying to have committed people like Hemu step in and complement the Growth-for-All movement, with their own thoughts and vision. This is a virtuous cycle which lends great strength.

CSR that works! 

Fifteen women from the Savda Ghevra resettllement colony( North-West Delhi) assembled in a room, in early-April, to begin a new chapter in their lives. Growth-for-All, in partnership with TCS, launched an Adult Literacy Program.

Shyamwati, who lives with her husband and four kids, is a classic case-in-point. As I chatted with her, a Bollywood-style story emerged. Her husband runs a tea shop; eldest son, Bhola, is a part-time security guard; other three sons are at various stages of schooling.  She hails from Etah district of UP, and recalls moving to Delhi a year after Indira Gandhi was assasinated. Illiteracy has its virtues: the mind relies on significant events as  anchors!

I was keen to find out why she had been never been to school.  Actually, she did have chance to attend school. For a few months,  she would walk 2 km to the next village , where the school was located. Until one day, the school master caught her plucking fruits from someone else’s tree. He whacked her. In anger, she hit him on the head with an iron rod, which resulted in 18 stitches on his head. Scared, she ran away from school, and never went back.

Gayatri’s tale is sadder. This mother of three kids dropped out of school for financial reasons when her brother died of polio.

After all these years, Shyamwati, Gayatri and thirteen other women are determined to achieve functional literacy through TCS‘ Adult Literacy Program( ALP).

The TCS ALP is a fascinating program. Originally conceived by the legendary F.C.Kohli, TCS now has a complete set of structured, PC-enabled content that teaches adults to manage their lives satisfactorily. No degrees or diplomas are earned, but each adult is equipped to do basic things like reading signboards, application forms, and other simple messages so that they are no longer helpless.

TCS volunteers get involved in training a community trainer, and running some of the classes during the 40-hour module. The TCS model is a great example of CSR which plays to an organisation’s strengths. TCS know software; so, its only natural that they go out and create a software that helps fight illiteracy, using animation, sound and puppets. TCS has a massive work-force; so, it makes sense for them to engage them in voluntary efforts. The end-result is a great CSR effort whereby adults learn to read and write in as many as nine Indian languages.

Vivek, Bhavna, and other volunteers from TCS- who write software during the week - travel quite a distance, during weekends, to get to Savda Ghevra, and train the community trainers. By doing so, this sincere bunch is doing its bit to ensure that the benefits of the economic boom are shared with their not-so-fortunate brethren.

At Growth-for-All, we are privileged and delighted to have TCS with us.

It was a smartly-turned out batch of trainees that the CM, Sheila Dikshit, met yesterday, at Savda Ghevra re-settlement colony. Seeing them, it was hard to believe that these confident youngsters were, until just three weeks ago, just another bunch of aimless guys and girls who would surely not be part of the ‘India Shining’ story.

Hats off to the team from our partner -Dr Reddy’s Foundation(DRF)- for their efforts to transform the lives of these 100-odd people. By April, these kids would have specialised in either Customer Care, Retail, Sales, Hospitality or Auto Repair, and be geared up to enter India’s booming service sector. As the CM walked around the classes, the first signs of this promising future were already evident. Confidence, optimism and good cheer were in evidence rather than cynicism and bitterness.

Among the large group of ‘basti’ residents who had gathered to meet the CM were the parents of these youngsters. For them, it would’ve been immensely gratifying to see the change, especially when some of them went up on stage and took a pledge to make their family, community and country proud.

For us, at Growth-for-All, this has been a proud and satisfying moment.

It signifies that our first ‘pilot’ project at Savda Ghevra has started off well. Our entire model for integrated development hinges on working with the best external partners for each aspect. In that respect, our close working relationship with DRF, and our ability to facilitate and support their work, were on test. The first signs are that we’ve passed this test.

This bodes well for the future. Please wish us good luck!

On September 19th, we walked into the CM, Sheila Dikshit’s residence( thanks to a meeting fixed by my friend, Kanika Mathur, and her mother, Mrs Rajni Mathur) to describe the Growth-for-All model, and seek her advice for using this in Delhi. We hardly thought things would move so fast. But, the CMO quickly arranged for us to meet various stake-holders and before we knew it, we were in Savda Ghevra.

( As an aside, I must add that all our interactions with the CMO have been so dynamic that it goes contrary to popular perceptions that governments move slowly. Just about everyone-Principal Secretary to CM, Mr P.K Tripathi; Addnl Secretary to CM, Mrs Alka Diwan; Jt Secretary, Mr Kulanand Joshi; SuperintendentBhagidari, Mr Manoj Jain-has completely welcoming and responsive)

Its been an hectic, but energizing period for the team at Growth-for-All. We’ve spent the past few months creating the building blocks that will give shape to our ‘movement’ that helps achieve inclusive’ growth & faster socio-economic development through an integrated, scaleable model.

Thanks to the CM’s Office, we’ve had the opportunity to launch our first pilot project at Savda Ghevra, the large re-settlement colony in North-West Delhi. Several week-ends and holidays were spent at Savda Ghevra, and it soon became apparent that this would be truly a test-case for the Growth-for-All model, which believes that each poor neighborhood or local community needs to have multiple ‘inputs’ dove-tailed simultaneously: livelihood, health, education, women’s empowerment, and whatever else is required.

With most Savda Ghevra families desperately looking for livelihood, this became the first focus for Growth-for-All. We quickly introduced Dr Reddy’s Foundation (DRF)to the community, and their livelihood program for the first batch of youth got underway. Three months from now, 100-150 youngsters will find jobs in hospitality, retail, sales, customer service, and auto repair. Repeat batches will then begin. A big ‘thank you’ to the dedicated, committed team at DRF-Amit Sharma, Sunil Sharma, and Gaurav- who’ve spent countless hours and road-miles with us, giving shape to this.

Meanwhile, I was joined by two exciting people as full-time members of the team- Shakti Callikan, and Mathew Mathai. My 3-month-long search for the ideal team-mates had ended, with Shakti and Mathew coming on-board, in February.

Our collective energies are now deployed in exploring a range of micro-enterprise options for the residents of Savda Ghevra, especially women. These include – carpet weaving, food products, assembly of kitchen appliances, running sales kiosks, offering community services, BPO services, and lots more.While livelihood programs get underway, detailed blueprints have been drawn up for upping the ante on health services - additional doctor(s) and clinic(s), specialized health camps and consultation, an ambulance service. In education, innovative education formats for school drop-outs, and adult illiterates are being explored.
While basic, and tangible areas like livelihood, health and education are vital priority, the socio-cultural environment cannot be ignored. Hence, Music & Sports - as a means of recreation & enjoyments, as well as away of building self-confidence and camaraderie. My friend, Hemu Javeri, flew down from Mumbai one week-end, to commit his support for a Music academy where 100 or more young girls will be provided formal training in music. The really-talented ones will be given special, individual coaching, as well as scholarships.

Watch out for more updates from Savda Ghevra as these programs get rolled out. And also, from Alwar district where our second- rural- project gets underway soon.
 

Ever wondered how different life in a big, glitzy city like Delhi or Mumbai would be if:
• no one in the family had a regular job, and one constantly wondered where the next meal would come from?
• the only hope of earning a possible daily wage lay in commuting 3 hours each way?
• the family just had a plot of land- 12 sq.m – and no ‘pucca’ house?
• there was no running water anywhere in the colony, and one had to fight a crowd to get to one of the Jal Board tankers that wandered in nearby?
• no proper toilets existed, and public places were the only option?
• one part-time doctor( 9 am-1 pm) catered to the needs of 7000 families? And due to the mad rush, the doctor spent precisely 20 seconds with you.

• no convenient hospital existed nearby in case of emergency or deliveries?
I discovered that this is how the 7000 families of Savda Ghevra lead their lives. As apparently does 50% of Delhi’s population.

Commonwealth Games, the Metro, a new airport, Gurgaon Expressway, new malls…. all these are part of Delhi’s exciting transformation that’s currently underway. Progress on these projects, their launch( and the opening glitches!) are stuff that newspaper headlines and party conversations are made of.
But the other side of this magnificent urban development is something that rarely makes headlines. The Savda Ghevra story is part of that ‘other side’.

 
For these families(‘below-poverty-line’ migrants originally from Eastern   Uttar Pradesh  , West Bengal, Bihar , Assam & Gujarat.), hasty and unplanned re-location has led to every kind of imaginable problem- lack of livelihoods, basic water & sanitation, adequate education and primary health services.
Savda Ghevra is symptomatic of the problems being created by rapid urbanization and migration. As Deepa Bajaj of NGO, Child Survival India(CSI) says, “As per the estimates of Economic Survey of Delhi (2000), the combined  population of  such resettlement and slum areas  is 72.5 lakhs ,which is  more than half of the total population of Delhi . Since  late nineties & 2000 ,the Delhi government has relocated a lot of slums from main city  to the rural outskirts of the city”.