UNNAYAN- A BRIEF PROFILE A) The legal Status: Union, as an NGO came in to existence in the year 1990 with registration under Society Registration Act 1860 and subsequently with FCR Act.1976. While the Registered Office is situated at Bhubaneswar (S-42,Chandralok Market, Niladri vihar,C.S.Pur, BBSR-16) the Project office is situated At- Tambakhuri, PO- Rajghat, Dist- Mayurbhanj for implementation of various developmental action programmes. B) The Project Area-Rasgobindpur Block of Mayurbhanj district is taken as the Project Area of the organisation, but concentration is given on 12 villages of Amarda G.P. of the same Block. C) Demography-The total population of the block is 68322 out of which 35585 belong to STs and 5481 SCs. This SC/ST dominated block has low literacy rate i.e.39% and socio-economically backward. D) Problem of the arera -Dominated by SC/ST population the project area has remained backward in regards to education and socio-economic conditions. With no idustry or major developmental project, the area is dependent on agriculture as a major source of income for its people. But the low facilities of irrigation (less than 15% of the total land is irrigated) obviously can not provide the people a good income from the agriculture. Earlier forest was a source of livelyhood for majority of landless ST/SC people. But to-day huge deforestation has snatched away that scope from the people. Of course sal-leaf (collection, stitching, plate making) still provides opportunity of livelihood for majority of landless SC/ST people but lack of proper marketing linkage creates problem in getting remunarative price by the poor people. Likewise Sabai-grass -a perennial grass grown in abundance in the district of Mayurbhanj, provides considerable income oppertunities to the people.A preliminary survey by this agency shows around 40000 people of the area earn their livelihood out these activities.In case of Sabai-grass the producers face the same marketing problem. It is worth mentioning that in both the sal leaf and sabai, the middle men/local traders exploit the producers. This economic backwardness of the people has its bearing on educational, health and social aspects. This prolonged socio-economic backwardness of the tribals in particular tends to destabilise the cohesive social order and becomes a major cause for increasing migration of ST people to the cities of inside and outside the state. E) UNNAYANs Intervention- In the given background, UNNAYAN has made strategic intervention to arrest the problems of poverty and marginalisation, which as UNNAYAN considers to be very very important.The broad area of its intervention since last four years are; a) Agro-based activity b) Non-farm activity c) Basic amenities and disaster management d) Health and sanitation F) THE ACTIVITIES- Sl.no Nature Activities undertaken Achievements 1. Agro-based ? Awareness building on use of modern technology in agriculture / multi-cropping pattern / use of hybrid seeds / use of modern equipments and practices / group farming etc. were conducted through group meetings / seminars exposure visits / exhibition / demonstration etc. ? Building Farmers Organisations : i. VVV (Volunteer Vikash Vahini) . This organisation comprising of 20 progressive farmers of 5 villages was formed in the year 1995 with support from NABARD . The VVV acts as a catalyst agency for socio-economic change among the farmers. It organises meetings, seminars, exhibitions etc. for the farmers. It acts as a bridge between bank and common villages and motivate the people for effective use of credit. ii. Water Management Committee 5 such committees operate in the target area which look after the proper maintenance of existing lift-irrigation points of OLIC. The committees collects water cess from the farmers, look after the proper use of water and sees overall maintenance of the units. ? Around 2000 farmers have been motivated to take-up modern agriculture. ? The VVV is active now and has been awarded as one of the best VVV of the state by NABARD. ? More than 250 farmers are actively involved in the committees and take part active role in management of the lift-irrigation point. 2. Non-farm activities ? SURVEY-The organisation conducted a survey to explore the potentialities of non-farm activities in the target area in the year 1995. The findings of the survey revealed that Sabai-grass, Sal-leaf, Bamboo, etc. are some of the minor forest produces which provide or can provide ample opportunities for non-farm based activities. Value can be added to the traditional activities of the people on these items by which the income of the people can be enhenced. ? TRAINING- On the basis of the findings of the survey the organisation organised skill development trainings on Sabai-grass craft and furniture making Sal-leaf stitching and plate making, Bamboo basket making etc. with support from DRDA, State and Central Govt.,NABARD etc. Training on SHG were also conducted. ? MOBILISATION OF CREDIT- After the training the organisation takes special interest for mobilising credit to these trainees from banks through various Govt. schemes like IRDP, PMRY, EAS etc of ITDA, DRDA, OSFDC etc. Various other funding agencies are also contacted for financing these people. ? MARKETING LINKAGE-For marketing of the product of the rural people the organisation has established marketing channel with ORUPA(Orissa Rural and Urban Producers Association), and other such agencies. It has also developed its own marketing channel and also participates in various exhibitions for selling of the products. ? PROMOTION OF SELF HELP GROUPS-The organisation has promoted and promoting SHG activities among the rural poor with emphasis on women to sustain various economic activities on a self help manner. So far 21 such SHGs have been formed in the target area of the organisation. Savings and credit programme is being undertaken by these groups. ? The potential areas for starting non-farm-based activities have been explored. ? More than 400 rural women have been provided with such skill development `training. ? Around 70 persons have been linked up with financial institutions and provided with credit to start their own business. Out of them some have done excellent. ? Marketing channel with ORUPA and other such agencies has been strengthened. The participation of the rural producers in the state and national level exhibitions has been ensured. ? 21 SHGs have been formed involving 350 poor women. The groups have started thrift and credit programme of their own. 3 Basic amenities and disaster management ? Housing-By promoting peoples committee the agency could chanelise housing loan to 95 families from ORHDC. The use of low cost house materials was also made popularised among the people. Training was given to 15 masons to enable them to produce low cost house materials. ? Flood control-To meet the challenge of severe flood situation in the river Subarna Rekha the agency has floated a peoples organisation called Subarna Rekha Suraksha Mancha involving people of 50 villages along the course of the river. The people were motivated in such a way that they could be able to construct a flood control embankment of 3.5 k.m. With free labour. ? Relief Work-During the time of natural calamity i.e. floods and cyclone the organisation has taken up relief measures and came to the aid of the distress people. ? Peoples Organisations-The organisation has developed many peoples organisation in the target area as well as in the Northern part of the state. Among these worth mentioning is 1) Subarnarekha Surakhya Manch 2) Uttar Balasore Bikash Parisad 3) Khet Mazdoor Sangha etc. ? 95 families were able to construct their houses. 15 persons were trained to produce the low cost house materials ? A peoples organisation has been floated involving people of 50 villages. 10,000 people could be mobilised to donate free labour for construction of a flood control embankment. ? During different time relief measures were taken up and nearly 15,000 people were given support like food, clothing, temporary shelter etc. 4 Health and sanitation ? Health and eye camps-The organisation has been organising Health and Eye camps in a regular basis. In organising such Camps the agency has got wide appriciation by the district authority. Health education Camps are also organised in a regular basis. ? Small family norms and population control-This Scheme of the Govt. has been successfully implemented. Even after the completion of the project the activities on this is going on. ? AIDS control programme- Campaign on this was taken up by the organisation in the form of street play, meetings, seminars, and distribution of leaflets, wall paintings etc.covering 25 villages. ? Low cost latrines- Programme on improving sanitary condition of the target area was undertaken and villagers were given orientation training on construction of low cost latrines. With support from CAPART the organisation provided 136 latrines to the families belonging to SC/ST/ marginal farmers etc. ? 8 number of eye camps has been organised and around 500 people had undergone cataract operation in their eyes. The equal number of Health Camps was also organised involving around 10,000 people with free treatment and medicines. ? 25,000 population of the target area was covered, providing counseling to 10000 eligible couples, distributing condoms among them, 105 have been sterilized. ? More than 50% of the population of the targeted villages know about the danger of AIDS. ? 136 families have constructed low cost latrines. ---------------------- Questions asked: To: sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net cc: seeds@cs.columbia.edu Subject: Our questions/comments on Unnayan proposal Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 12:54:51 -0400 (EDT) Dear Sudarsan babu Thank you very much for your submission of the proposal to the SEEDS forum. We were able to see a lot of details and were encouraged by Unnayan's commendable grassroots activities. The participating SEEDS members have a few questions to you and comments, below (we may have more later): 1. How will the 3 groups be formed? How many members will each group have? How do you identify the poorest of the poor? 2. In the section for strategy for implementation, it says that the group members will decide on how to share the money. Are they planning on sharing the money equally among all group members. If so, recovery of the loan is going to be very poor. The way group lending works in micro-credit is that first one person in the group gets a loan. The other persons in the group get loans in future, only after the first borrower of the group has successfully repaid the loan. The concept of group lending in micro-credit is based on group/peer pressure on the borrower. If UNNAYAN plans to distribute the loan amount equally among all group members, their is little incentive, or peer pressure topay-back. 3. The strategy section also mentions that loan repayment will start after one year. Loan disbursement and repayment should match the cash flow cycle of the project. Suppose, it takes say a month from the time of taking the loan to producing these products and selling them to get the revenue. Then the loan should be paid back in a monthly cycle from the begining of the project. The disbursement of the loan should similarly match the project cycle. If it requires a total investment of Rs.1000 to complete the first cycle, then the borrower should be given Rs.1,000 in the first installment. Giving the borrower more money at this time can result in the money being used for other purposes. I therefore think, we need more clarification on the rationale for the one year moratorium on pay back. 4. The interest rate should have a floor based on the market rates of interest. 4% interest looks like subsidized loans not micro-credit. It would make many unprofitable projects look good, because the cost of capital has been artificially lowered. Such projects and micro-credit funds cannot be sustained without external financial help. I think we need to analyze the proftability of these projects based on market rates of interest and then determine the minimum. The group can then add some spread on that. 5. Besides book keeping, and accounting, the group support programs may need to address some more basic problems like literacy and numeracy. 6. We are really impressed by Unnayan's stated array of accomplishments. What were the keys to your success that you can share with us? How many volunteers who were not direct beneficiaries and were beneficiaries themselves involved? 7. We assume when you say "employment generation", you meant income generation scheme involving self-employment and practice of local trade (micro enterprise?). 8. Does the interest payment on seed grant support the management overhead after the first year or so? 9. Please suggest a set of "measurable" objectives on half-yearly basis so we can identify any problems with this project in execution or to affirm that our overall project goals are being met. --- Some general questions we ask in our grant application form ----------- 10. If, to your knowledge, any development projects similar to the one you are proposing has been carried out within last 10 years, please give the name, its sponsoring organization, its current status, and a brief description of its accomplishments and failures, for each such project. ( If you already have experience in this type of project: What are the different methods that Unayana applied to overcome this challenge. Did they involve the beneficiaries in the lead role of the co-operative management? How did they make sure that these farmers in the new role did not turn into middleman themselves?) 11. What do you foresee the project to evolve into after the grant period? Will it become self-sufficient ? 12. To help us understand your project plans, please indicate below the major activities that you hope to undertake during the grant period. Give a brief description of each activity and its plan quarter & year. If you receive a grant from us, we require periodic progress reports and yearly audit report for the project. On-site monitoring may be arranged according to mutual con- venience. Example: Funding year 1993: Quarter 1: Begin construction of well Quarter 2: Conduct health camp, get more women & men involved Quarter 3: Training for new farming technique. Quarter 4: Finish well 19__ Funding Year 1 Quarter 1: Quarter 2: Quarter 3: Quarter 4: 13. List major funding sources for your organization during last 5 years: Please indicate funding agency's Name , Address & Affiliation where possible. (Affiliation: Political Party, Social Action Group, Gandhian/Sarvodaya , or Other (explain)) 14. With this application form please enclose bibliographical materials on t he project director and project coordinators whose names are given on page 1. T hese materials should include information on the educational qualification and w ork experience of these individuals, as well as their past activities and accomp lishments in the field of development. 15.Finally we need your agreement to the following: I certify that the information provided in this application is true and complete to the best of my knowledge. I also certify that if I and the organization I am authorized to represent should receive a grant from SEEDS we will abide by the terms and conditions of that grant as established by SEEDS. I further certify that all grant monies from SEEDS will be used exclusively for the purposes stated in this application unless I formally request and receive prior authorization from SEEDS for any changes. From seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu Tue May 18 09:30:20 1999 X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["4445" "Tue" "18" "May" "1999" "12:14:35" "-0400" "Priyadarsan Patra" "ppatra@ichips.intel.com" nil "79" "experience of a ngo leader" "^From:" nil nil "5" nil nil (number " " mark " Priyadarsan Patra May 18 79/4445 " thread-indent "\"experience of a ngo leader\"\n") nil nil] nil) Received: from hebe.or.intel.com (hebe.or.intel.com [134.134.248.4]) by ichips-jf.jf.intel.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1/d: internal.m4,v 1.2 1998/11/09 19:18:37 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id JAA01818 for ; Tue, 18 May 1999 09:30:20 -0700 (PDT) Received: from cs.columbia.edu (cs.columbia.edu [128.59.16.20]) by hebe.or.intel.com (8.9.1a+p1/8.9.1/d: relay.m4,v 1.6 1998/11/24 22:10:56 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id JAA21636 for ; Tue, 18 May 1999 09:40:50 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id MAA08214 for seeds-outgoing; Tue, 18 May 1999 12:17:48 -0400 (EDT) Received: from ganymede.or.intel.com (ganymede.or.intel.com [134.134.248.3]) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id MAA08208 for ; Tue, 18 May 1999 12:17:47 -0400 (EDT) Received: from ichips-jf.jf.intel.com (ichips-jf.jf.intel.com [134.134.50.200]) by ganymede.or.intel.com (8.9.1a+p1/8.9.1/d: relay.m4,v 1.6 1998/11/24 22:10:56 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id QAA26419; Tue, 18 May 1999 16:14:45 GMT Received: from dtthp161.pdx.intel.com (dtthp161.pdx.intel.com [134.134.102.96]) by ichips-jf.jf.intel.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1/d: internal.m4,v 1.2 1998/11/09 19:18:37 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id JAA29198; Tue, 18 May 1999 09:14:35 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from ppatra@localhost) by dtthp161.pdx.intel.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1/d: client.m4,v 1.3 1998/09/29 16:36:11 sedayao Exp sedayao $) id MAA22512; Tue, 18 May 1999 12:14:35 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199905181614.MAA22512@dtthp161.pdx.intel.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="4nEXp7+ElPOxfVSVM2MyT6+KchO2g1kw4qdwK+yi" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: VM 6.22 under 19.15 XEmacs Lucid Precedence: bulk X-majordomo-list: seeds from majordomo.cs.columbia.edu From: Priyadarsan Patra Sender: seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu To: seeds@cs.columbia.edu, sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net, AKambham@aol.com Subject: experience of a ngo leader Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 12:14:35 -0400 (EDT) Status: RO --4nEXp7+ElPOxfVSVM2MyT6+KchO2g1kw4qdwK+yi Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Friends, I had asked a few questions to Susila whom I knew many years ago in connection with other activism in the past. To my appreciation, she has replied in great detail (despite the circumstances). --Darshan --4nEXp7+ElPOxfVSVM2MyT6+KchO2g1kw4qdwK+yi Content-Type: multipart/digest; boundary="EnLstyn/jQe4m2uRFCYxso4pp+0pKX5cnwn5D+WC" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This is a forwarded message, MIME encapsulation. --EnLstyn/jQe4m2uRFCYxso4pp+0pKX5cnwn5D+WC Received: from hebe.or.intel.com (hebe.or.intel.com [134.134.248.4]) by ichips-jf.jf.intel.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1/d: internal.m4,v 1.2 1998/11/09 19:18:37 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id JAA26168 for ; Tue, 18 May 1999 09:01:42 -0700 (PDT) Received: from imo23.mx.aol.com (imo23.mx.aol.com [198.81.17.67]) by hebe.or.intel.com (8.9.1a+p1/8.9.1/d: relay.m4,v 1.6 1998/11/24 22:10:56 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id JAA19961 for ; Tue, 18 May 1999 09:12:12 -0700 (PDT) Received: from AKambham@aol.com (364) by imo23.mx.aol.com (IMOv20) id mTDWa02609 for ; Tue, 18 May 1999 11:56:14 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <4fd8b7db.2472e79d@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 3.0 for Windows 95 sub 64 From: AKambham@aol.com To: ppatra@ichips.intel.com Subject: Re: For Sushila: Our questions to Sushila Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 11:56:13 EDT hai, darsan, iam sorry i could not reply earlier as i was sick. here are some thoughts . 1 for self help groups, it is better to have smaller and homogeneous groups. Then there will be less quarrells among the women.2 Interest rates better be above 18% . The thrift money aswellas the interest money go into the kitty or corpus fund and increase the assets of the group. Subsidies are the bane of any developmental plan. I am speaking from experience. 3. The proposal should sound like a commercial prospect and not like an altruistic or even a semi charitable venture. Then only it gains the true respect of the participents. Believe me , when I say this I am speaking from experience. 4. When I started my disabled women's SHG group, I explained them the types of loans we offer, loans for income generating ventures( like running a shop or a tea stall, maintaining live stock like cows, water buffaloes, goats and sheep, sewing clothes , making soaps, candles etc or growing fruits and evgetables for market aso on) loans for consumption( like fixing up the home or hut, buying consumer items, for rituals and rites, medical expenses and so on and so forth) and finally , loans for expenses occur during emergencies. The client has to explain the group her need. My group gets only the first and the third types of loans. Our decisions should depend on the amount we have, the nature of the need and all that ofcourse. 5. Rural folks need flexibility in scheduling repayment. For example, for shops and snack stalls we collect once a week. For milk sellers twice a month( when they get paid by the dairy companies) and for animals raied for meat, right after they sell the animal and for agriculture, we collect after harvest. 6. We hold meetings on regular schedules and those who manufacture excuses to avoid are fined.Meetings are a relief from mundane daily chores and also help foster cohesiveness, sense of responsibility and accountability.We deal with business issues first and socialization next.6 We involve the group in decision making and explain the reasons when and if we do not take upon their opinions , ideas or decisions. We believe that this step is very important as it makes them serious team players. 7. We make sure we keep the meeting minutes and read them in the next meeting. 8.We ask the neighbours about their economic situation, not directly but in a round about way. 9. We make sure whether they are spending the loan amount as they should or not. If they do not, we discuss it in the meeting before everybody. 10. We kept the funds in a local bank. I do not know whether all this is useful or not. I thought I would explain how we work. sorry it is too long. love, Susila auntie. --EnLstyn/jQe4m2uRFCYxso4pp+0pKX5cnwn5D+WC-- --4nEXp7+ElPOxfVSVM2MyT6+KchO2g1kw4qdwK+yi-- From seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu Tue May 18 22:04:54 1999 X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil t nil nil nil nil] ["4120" "Wed" "19" "May" "1999" "15:44:43" "+0530" "sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net" "sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net" "" "87" "Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd)" "^From:" nil nil "5" nil nil (number " " mark " R sudarsan@kit.kiit May 19 87/4120 " thread-indent "\"Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd)\"\n") nil nil] nil) Received: from hebe.or.intel.com (hebe.or.intel.com [134.134.248.4]) by ichips-jf.jf.intel.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1/d: internal.m4,v 1.2 1998/11/09 19:18:37 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id WAA26197 for ; Tue, 18 May 1999 22:04:54 -0700 (PDT) Received: from cs.columbia.edu (cs.columbia.edu [128.59.16.20]) by hebe.or.intel.com (8.9.1a+p1/8.9.1/d: relay.m4,v 1.6 1998/11/24 22:10:56 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id WAA12580 for ; Tue, 18 May 1999 22:15:24 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id AAA15528 for seeds-outgoing; Wed, 19 May 1999 00:52:39 -0400 (EDT) Received: from kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net (IDENT:sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net [198.139.127.114]) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id AAA15509 for ; Wed, 19 May 1999 00:51:55 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost (sudarsan@localhost) by kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id PAA04587; Wed, 19 May 1999 15:44:43 +0530 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Precedence: bulk X-majordomo-list: seeds from majordomo.cs.columbia.edu From: sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net Sender: seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu To: ppatra@ichips.intel.com cc: seeds@cs.columbia.edu Subject: Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd) Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 15:44:43 +0530 (IST) Status: O Priyadarshan Baboo, Thanks for your prompt reply. If your SEEDS members are of opinion not to exceed 40% of the loanees to be covered initialy,then we propose to start the activity by covering first two groups(Bamboo & Sal leaf).The third group may be covered subsequently. We have reported you earlier that the interest rate charged from the individual members by the group is left to the groups decission.Here the interest rate varies from 12% to 24%.But ideally interest rate should not be more than 15%.In many cases the interest rate is made 24%, because this is a number very easy to calculate by the illeterate women in the group.We usualy encourage the group to charge 15% from its members.The balance amount *(interest collected from individuals and interest paid to the funding agency) (say SEEDS) is kept in the group account which help the group to sustain the programme.If the funding agency charges 15% interest from the implementing agency, then how the groups fund will be raised which helps in sustaining the group? Hence there is difficulty in paying 15% interest to SEEDS. Dr. Parameswar's BCT stories are educating for us. We think have clarified your points. Thanks. Sudarsan ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 13:02:03 -0400 (EDT) From: Priyadarsan Patra To: sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net Cc: seeds@cs.columbia.edu Subject: Micro-finance project...Unnayan Sudarsan babu and SEEDS colleagues, I was eagerly waiting for some response from Sudarsan babu, and now that he has replied to some of our concerns, let's examine and decide. First, a large majority of us like to fund this project... subject to the conditions we have discussed. There is a strong feeling among most of us is that (1) the groups should be small and only a fraction of each group needs to be funded first. Sudarsan babu's point about forward/backward linkage has some merit. There may be some compromise needed such as limiting the group to 10, not 20 or 5. Limiting initial percentage of loanees to 40% and not 100% or 20%. What do you all think? Sudarsan babu, the primary issue for SEEDS is not the funding amount, so just making one group does not alleviate the concerns about the project's success and viability that both you and us have in mind. The third moot point is the interest rate issue. Sudarsan babu, would you explain why an interest rate close to legal, market rate is not a good idea for the group of people you would like to serve? In pointing out these issues, the SEEDS members have cited existing successful microlending principles and stories. If you have any specific reason why the this microlending effort should be the way you have proposed, please explain some more. I want to close this matter after one more round of debate if necessary -- one more round because both sides are very well-meaning and have significantly different views. Afterall, we are educating ourselves too! Finally I will present the experience and opinion expressed by people who oversaw the Dr. Parameshwar Rao's Bhagabatulla Charitable Trust's micro-lending effort near Vishakapatna. "In the BCT project, they did charge 12% interest. Most women paid the loan back. They did use peer pressure to encourage women to pay back. They did not give the women loans until they got into a saving habit first. They canceled the loan in some cases (if the business failed for a reason other than the woman's lack of efforts) Susila (who has moved from the US to BCT) also has a list of business ideas that were tried but were not profitable. For example making chalks and supplying to schools is an idea that was tried and did not work. She also said that local established businesses do plenty to put the struggling women out of business -- for example they lower their prices until the women are out of business. Therefore it is important to choose ideas for which there is no competition. She said that the idea that was most successful was to buy baby animals (chicken or goats) and raise them and then sell them." ------------------- Priyadarsan From seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu Wed May 19 12:27:36 1999 X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil t nil nil nil t] ["2084" "Wed" "19" "May" "1999" "15:14:41" "-0400" "Priyadarsan Patra" "ppatra@ichips.intel.com" "<199905191914.PAA02449@dtthp161.pdx.intel.com>" "41" "Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd)" "^From:" nil nil "5" nil nil (number " " mark " R Priyadarsan Patra May 19 41/2084 " thread-indent "\"Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd)\"\n") nil nil] nil) Received: from hebe.or.intel.com (hebe.or.intel.com [134.134.248.4]) by ichips-jf.jf.intel.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1/d: internal.m4,v 1.2 1998/11/09 19:18:37 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id MAA24490 for ; Wed, 19 May 1999 12:27:34 -0700 (PDT) Received: from cs.columbia.edu (cs.columbia.edu [128.59.16.20]) by hebe.or.intel.com (8.9.1a+p1/8.9.1/d: relay.m4,v 1.6 1998/11/24 22:10:56 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id MAA00440 for ; Wed, 19 May 1999 12:38:00 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id PAA20172 for seeds-outgoing; Wed, 19 May 1999 15:14:46 -0400 (EDT) Received: from ganymede.or.intel.com (ganymede.or.intel.com [134.134.248.3]) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id PAA20167 for ; Wed, 19 May 1999 15:14:45 -0400 (EDT) Received: from ichips-jf.jf.intel.com (ichips-jf.jf.intel.com [134.134.50.200]) by ganymede.or.intel.com (8.9.1a+p1/8.9.1/d: relay.m4,v 1.6 1998/11/24 22:10:56 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id TAA23488; Wed, 19 May 1999 19:14:43 GMT Received: from dtthp161.pdx.intel.com (dtthp161.pdx.intel.com [134.134.102.96]) by ichips-jf.jf.intel.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1/d: internal.m4,v 1.2 1998/11/09 19:18:37 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id MAA23545; Wed, 19 May 1999 12:14:42 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from ppatra@localhost) by dtthp161.pdx.intel.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1/d: client.m4,v 1.3 1998/09/29 16:36:11 sedayao Exp sedayao $) id PAA02449; Wed, 19 May 1999 15:14:41 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199905191914.PAA02449@dtthp161.pdx.intel.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In-Reply-To: References: X-Mailer: VM 6.22 under 19.15 XEmacs Lucid Precedence: bulk X-majordomo-list: seeds from majordomo.cs.columbia.edu From: Priyadarsan Patra Sender: seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu To: sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net cc: seeds@cs.columbia.edu Subject: Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd) Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 15:14:41 -0400 (EDT) Status: O sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net writes: > Priyadarshan Baboo, > Thanks for your prompt reply. > If your SEEDS members are of opinion not to exceed 40% of the loanees to > be covered initialy,then we propose to start the activity by covering > first two groups(Bamboo & Sal leaf).The third group may be covered > subsequently. > We have reported you earlier that the interest rate charged from the > individual members by the group is left to the groups decission.Here the > interest rate varies from 12% to 24%. But ideally interest rate should not > be more than 15%.In many cases the interest rate is made 24%, because this > is a number very easy to calculate by the illeterate women in the group.We > usualy encourage the group to charge 15% from its members.The balance > amount *(interest collected from individuals and interest paid to the > funding agency) (say SEEDS) is kept in the group account which help the > group to > sustain the programme.If the funding agency charges 15% interest from the > implementing agency, then how the groups fund will be raised which helps > in sustaining the group? Hence there is difficulty in paying 15% interest > to SEEDS. > Dr. Parameswar's BCT stories are educating for us. > We think have clarified your points. > Thanks. > Sudarsan That's very good. By the way, the ~15% that some members are advocating is not for repayment to SEEDS -- if that was the confusion. My vision was most of the interest will be kept for self-sustaining the advancement of the present as well as the future micro-entrepreneurs --- in innovative, co-operative and upon-need basis. I think SEEDS will be happy even if it gets no more than 4% (which SEEDS has discretion perhaps to invest in the very same micro-lending groups!). In other words, if you can collect 15% interest, then keep 15-4=11% in the group account -- this empowers the group too! Given as basis your present clarifications, we will inform you within a couple of days about the status of Unnayan's grant proposal for the microlending project. -- Priyadarsan From seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu Mon May 24 22:08:11 1999 X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["2477" "Mon" "24" "May" "1999" "21:51:27" "PDT" "Sambit Mishra" "sambitmishra@hotmail.com" nil "50" "Credit-for-Poor; future UNNAYAN like projects" "^From:" nil nil "5" nil nil (number " " mark " Sambit Mishra May 24 50/2477 " thread-indent "\"Credit-for-Poor; future UNNAYAN like projects\"\n") nil nil] nil) Received: from hebe.or.intel.com (hebe.or.intel.com [134.134.248.4]) by ichips-jf.jf.intel.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1/d: internal.m4,v 1.2 1998/11/09 19:18:37 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id WAA16658 for ; Mon, 24 May 1999 22:08:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: from cs.columbia.edu (cs.columbia.edu [128.59.16.20]) by hebe.or.intel.com (8.9.1a+p1/8.9.1/d: relay.m4,v 1.6 1998/11/24 22:10:56 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id WAA08091 for ; Mon, 24 May 1999 22:18:40 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id AAA25113 for seeds-outgoing; Tue, 25 May 1999 00:52:02 -0400 (EDT) Received: from hotmail.com (f151.hotmail.com [207.82.251.30]) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) with SMTP id AAA25108 for ; Tue, 25 May 1999 00:52:01 -0400 (EDT) Received: (qmail 63533 invoked by uid 0); 25 May 1999 04:51:30 -0000 Message-ID: <19990525045130.63532.qmail@hotmail.com> Received: from 129.59.9.83 by wy1lg.hotmail.com with HTTP; Mon, 24 May 1999 21:51:27 PDT X-Originating-IP: [129.59.9.83] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; Precedence: bulk X-majordomo-list: seeds from majordomo.cs.columbia.edu From: "Sambit Mishra" Sender: seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu To: seeds@cs.columbia.edu Subject: Credit-for-Poor; future UNNAYAN like projects Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 21:51:27 PDT Status: O Dear SEEDSians: Even though the decision has been made that we will fund Unnayan, and that too, just two and not the three groups (btw, that should be even easier to fund, as it should probably entail 2/3rd of the original costs), I could not resist the temptation of mailing you the following (please also note the word SUSTAINABILITY in the fouth point below): Ismael Getubig (Jr) in his thought provoking essay on ‘The Role of Credit in Poverty Alleviation: The Asian Experience’ has identified following five success criteria to assess the effectiveness of any credit-for-poor programme: (i) the extent to which the programme has reached the truly poor; (ii) loan recovery (measured by repayment rate) which indirectly reflects the productivity/profitability of the loan as well as borrower’s satisfaction and support of the programme; (iii) productivity of the loan measured in terms of returns on investment; (iv) impact on borrower’s income and sustainability at the programme level; (v) non-economic objective of a credit programme such as empowerment of rural women, increasing their status in the family, etc. Formation of groups with homogeneous background and interest which is a key to the success of the credit linkage programme gradually leads to a situation where the self-help groups transcend economic issues and are induced to take up other related issues.The successful experiment of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh has an inbuilt social development agenda, as all the members of the self-help groups are required to obey the norms already fixed for the members, i e, 16 principles/commandments, which have a social overtone... We have to hope that Mr. Sudarshan Das et al have a seasoned social development agenda in place. Then, SEEDS can get its money back and fund another such project in three years, as Unnayan seems to have promised. In any case, for future projects like this, SEEDS would do better to enforce some of the above conditions a little more strongly, in addition to what has been discussed by Suresh Baral et al, in the recent past. Since micro-credit is still in its infancy in Orissa, it is critical that we succeed with Unnayan/other such projects in Orissa in the future. Otherwise, micro-credit will die a premature death... And that would not be GOOD for ORISSA. ---Sambit _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com From seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu Tue May 25 22:44:38 1999 X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["4284" "Wed" "26" "May" "1999" "16:22:29" "+0530" "sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net" "sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net" nil "98" "Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd)" "^From:" nil nil "5" nil nil (number " " mark " sudarsan@kit.kiit May 26 98/4284 " thread-indent "\"Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd)\"\n") nil nil] nil) Received: from ganymede.or.intel.com (ganymede.or.intel.com [134.134.248.3]) by ichips-jf.jf.intel.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1/d: internal.m4,v 1.2 1998/11/09 19:18:37 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id WAA25197 for ; Tue, 25 May 1999 22:44:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: from cs.columbia.edu (cs.columbia.edu [128.59.16.20]) by ganymede.or.intel.com (8.9.1a+p1/8.9.1/d: relay.m4,v 1.6 1998/11/24 22:10:56 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id WAA15467 for ; Tue, 25 May 1999 22:44:37 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id BAA06538 for seeds-outgoing; Wed, 26 May 1999 01:30:50 -0400 (EDT) Received: from kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net (IDENT:sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net [198.139.127.114]) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id BAA06516 for ; Wed, 26 May 1999 01:30:06 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost (sudarsan@localhost) by kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id QAA21157; Wed, 26 May 1999 16:22:29 +0530 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Precedence: bulk X-majordomo-list: seeds from majordomo.cs.columbia.edu From: sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net Sender: seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu To: ppatra@ichips.intel.com cc: seeds@cs.columbia.edu Subject: Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd) Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 16:22:29 +0530 (IST) Status: RO Dear Darshan Babu, Our server is ok.You may please try.You might have also seen my earlier message.What is your views on these points? With regards. Sudarsan Priyadarshan Baboo, Thanks for your prompt reply. If your SEEDS members are of opinion not to exceed 40% of the loanees to be covered initialy,then we propose to start the activity by covering first two groups(Bamboo & Sal leaf).The third group may be covered subsequently. We have reported you earlier that the interest rate charged from the individual members by the group is left to the groups decission.Here the interest rate varies from 12% to 24%.But ideally interest rate should not be more than 15%.In many cases the interest rate is made 24%, because this is a number very easy to calculate by the illeterate women in the group.We usualy encourage the group to charge 15% from its members.The balance amount *(interest collected from individuals and interest paid to the funding agency) (say SEEDS) is kept in the group account which help the group to sustain the programme.If the funding agency charges 15% interest from the implementing agency, then how the groups fund will be raised which helps in sustaining the group? Hence there is difficulty in paying 15% interest to SEEDS. Dr. Parameswar's BCT stories are educating for us. We think have clarified your points. Thanks. Sudarsan ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 13:02:03 -0400 (EDT) From: Priyadarsan Patra To: sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net Cc: seeds@cs.columbia.edu Subject: Micro-finance project...Unnayan Sudarsan babu and SEEDS colleagues, I was eagerly waiting for some response from Sudarsan babu, and now that he has replied to some of our concerns, let's examine and decide. First, a large majority of us like to fund this project... subject to the conditions we have discussed. There is a strong feeling among most of us is that (1) the groups should be small and only a fraction of each group needs to be funded first. Sudarsan babu's point about forward/backward linkage has some merit. There may be some compromise needed such as limiting the group to 10, not 20 or 5. Limiting initial percentage of loanees to 40% and not 100% or 20%. What do you all think? Sudarsan babu, the primary issue for SEEDS is not the funding amount, so just making one group does not alleviate the concerns about the project's success and viability that both you and us have in mind. The third moot point is the interest rate issue. Sudarsan babu, would you explain why an interest rate close to legal, market rate is not a good idea for the group of people you would like to serve? In pointing out these issues, the SEEDS members have cited existing successful microlending principles and stories. If you have any specific reason why the this microlending effort should be the way you have proposed, please explain some more. I want to close this matter after one more round of debate if necessary -- one more round because both sides are very well-meaning and have significantly different views. Afterall, we are educating ourselves too! Finally I will present the experience and opinion expressed by people who oversaw the Dr. Parameshwar Rao's Bhagabatulla Charitable Trust's micro-lending effort near Vishakapatna. "In the BCT project, they did charge 12% interest. Most women paid the loan back. They did use peer pressure to encourage women to pay back. They did not give the women loans until they got into a saving habit first. They canceled the loan in some cases (if the business failed for a reason other than the woman's lack of efforts) Susila (who has moved from the US to BCT) also has a list of business ideas that were tried but were not profitable. For example making chalks and supplying to schools is an idea that was tried and did not work. She also said that local established businesses do plenty to put the struggling women out of business -- for example they lower their prices until the women are out of business. Therefore it is important to choose ideas for which there is no competition. She said that the idea that was most successful was to buy baby animals (chicken or goats) and raise them and then sell them." ------------------- Priyadarsan From seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu Tue Jun 29 05:18:15 1999 X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil t nil nil nil nil] ["4913" "Tue" "29" "June" "1999" "23:00:44" "+0530" "sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net" "sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net" "" "111" "Re: Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd)" "^From:" nil nil "6" nil nil (number " " mark " R sudarsan@kit.kiit Jun 29 111/4913 " thread-indent "\"Re: Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd)\"\n") nil nil] nil) Received: from ganymede.or.intel.com (ganymede.or.intel.com [134.134.248.3]) by ichips-jf.jf.intel.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1/d: internal.m4,v 1.2 1998/11/09 19:18:37 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id FAA05220 for ; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 05:18:15 -0700 (PDT) Received: from cs.columbia.edu (cs.columbia.edu [128.59.16.20]) by ganymede.or.intel.com (8.9.1a+p1/8.9.1/d: relay.m4,v 1.6 1998/11/24 22:10:56 iwep Exp iwep $) with ESMTP id FAA28893 for ; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 05:18:14 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id IAA15147 for seeds-outgoing; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 08:04:48 -0400 (EDT) Received: from kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net (IDENT:sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net [198.139.127.114]) by cs.columbia.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id IAA15135 for ; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 08:04:28 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost (sudarsan@localhost) by kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id XAA02965; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 23:00:44 +0530 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Precedence: bulk X-majordomo-list: seeds from majordomo.cs.columbia.edu From: sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net Sender: seeds-owner@cs.columbia.edu To: ppatra@ichips.intel.com cc: seeds@cs.columbia.edu Subject: Re: Micro-finance project...Unnayan (fwd) Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 23:00:44 +0530 (IST) Status: RO Dear Darsanaboo, For a long time there was no contact between us.The last message I sent was on 26th May. Since then I was eagerly looking forward your message.But from Purna's mail today I came to know that you were yet to receive our final opinion on the project,which in fact I have sent you.I am attaching the last message with this mail. With regards. Sudarsan On Wed, 26 May 1999 sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net wrote: > Dear Darshan Babu, > Our server is ok.You may please try.You might have also seen my earlier > message.What is your views on these points? > With regards. > Sudarsan > > Priyadarshan Baboo, > Thanks for your prompt reply. > If your SEEDS members are of opinion not to exceed 40% of the loanees to > be covered initialy,then we propose to start the activity by covering > first two groups(Bamboo & Sal leaf).The third group may be covered > subsequently. > We have reported you earlier that the interest rate charged from the > individual members by the group is left to the groups decission.Here the > interest rate varies from 12% to 24%.But ideally interest rate should not > be more than 15%.In many cases the interest rate is made 24%, because this > is a number very easy to calculate by the illeterate women in the group.We > usualy encourage the group to charge 15% from its members.The balance > amount *(interest collected from individuals and interest paid to the > funding agency) (say SEEDS) is kept in the group account which help the > group to > sustain the programme.If the funding agency charges 15% interest from the > implementing agency, then how the groups fund will be raised which helps > in sustaining the group? Hence there is difficulty in paying 15% interest > to SEEDS. > Dr. Parameswar's BCT stories are educating for us. > We think have clarified your points. > Thanks. > Sudarsan > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 13:02:03 -0400 (EDT) > From: Priyadarsan Patra > To: sudarsan@kit.kiit.stpbh.soft.net > Cc: seeds@cs.columbia.edu > Subject: Micro-finance project...Unnayan > > > Sudarsan babu and SEEDS colleagues, > > I was eagerly waiting for some response from Sudarsan babu, and now > that he has replied to some of our concerns, let's examine and decide. > > First, a large majority of us like to fund this project... subject to the > conditions we have discussed. There is a strong feeling among most of > us is that (1) the groups should be small and only a fraction of > each group needs to be funded first. > Sudarsan babu's point about forward/backward linkage has some merit. > There may be some compromise needed such as limiting the group to 10, > not 20 or 5. Limiting initial percentage of loanees to 40% and not > 100% or 20%. What do you all think? > > Sudarsan babu, the primary issue for SEEDS is not the funding amount, so just > making one group does not alleviate the concerns about the project's > success and viability that both you and us have in mind. > > The third moot point is the interest rate issue. Sudarsan babu, would > you explain why an interest rate close to legal, market rate is not a > good idea for the group of people you would like to serve? In pointing > out these issues, the SEEDS members have cited existing successful > microlending principles and stories. If you have any specific reason > why the this microlending effort should be the way you have proposed, > please explain some more. I want to close this matter after one more > round of debate if necessary -- one more round because both sides are > very well-meaning and have significantly different views. Afterall, we > are educating ourselves too! > > > > > Finally I will present the experience and opinion expressed by people > who oversaw the Dr. Parameshwar Rao's Bhagabatulla Charitable Trust's > micro-lending effort near Vishakapatna. > > "In the BCT project, they did charge 12% interest. Most women paid the loan > back. They did use peer pressure to encourage women to pay back. They did not > give the women loans until they got into a saving habit first. They canceled > the loan in some cases (if the business failed for a reason other than the > woman's lack of efforts) > > Susila (who has moved from the US to BCT) also has a list of business > ideas that were tried but were not profitable. For example making > chalks and supplying to schools is an idea that was tried and did not > work. She also said that local established businesses do plenty to put > the struggling women out of business -- for example they lower their > prices until the women are out of business. Therefore it is important > to choose ideas for which there is no competition. She said that the > idea that was most successful was to buy baby animals (chicken or > goats) and raise them and then sell them." > > ------------------- > Priyadarsan > > > > > > >