Rural Sikkim begins appraising Poverty Pathways Approach towards prosperity

GANGTOK, 11 Dec [IPR]: The National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) is a program of the Ministry of Rural Development implemented by the State Rural Development Agency (SRDA), RM&DD. The program envisages reducing poverty by building “strong grassroots institutions of the poor” so that the underprivileged households have access to gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities. It aims to provide meaningful livelihood opportunities so that a woman of every such household earns a minimum of Rs. 50,000 a year which will be a step towards realisation of the vision of a Poverty Free Sikkim.

The first Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) for preparation of State Perspective & Implementation Plan (SPIP) and Annual Action Plan (AAP) for National Rural Livelihoods Mission was held on the 05 and 06 December at Padamchey, East Pendam Gram Prashasan Kendra.
East Pendam GPU villagers, Self-Help Group members and youth attended the PRA in large numbers despite the cold weather and made the program a huge success with their active participation. The program was a unique one as it is the first time that the Poverty Pathways Approach was used to understand the linkages between poverty and rural livelihoods.
Poverty pathways approach identifies the reasons of escape and descent into poverty by widening the pathways of escape so that descent into poverty can be prevented in the future.
The program was conducted by senior officers of RM&DD & Mr. L.P. Chettri Project Director, SRDA & attended by other officers & staffs of SRDA in collaboration with IL&FS Clusters Dev. Initiative, Kolkata & experts from Kanchendzonga Conservation Committee a local N.G.O from West Sikkim.
More of these PRAs are to be held in all the districts of the state in the month of January 2012.