WORLP, a Government of Orissa initiative, is a joint venture of the Government of India and DfID. The project works in four districts of the east Indian State of Orissa which are among the poorest in India. WORLP contributes to reducing poverty by promoting livelihoods initiatives for the poorest; the livelihoods approach adopted by WORLP focuses on building, and working with, people’s existing strengths and resources. The approach is about informing, enabling, initiating and empowering appropriate choices for long-term well being. It involves all sections of rural society across caste, class, gender and other divides.

NRMC, as a consortium partner is engaged in providing technical and managerial services to WORLP. The technical services include building capacities of different stakeholders on various aspects of watershed management, water harvesting, aquaculture, agriculture, enterprise development, institutional development and natural resource management skills. NRMC’s managerial services to the project include support to the Government of Orissa in contracting project implementation teams in the project districts, undertaking procurement of goods and services, finance and project monitoring and evaluation.

Click here for more information on the project (http://www.worlp.com/)

NRMC India has provided a range of technical support and advice though consultancy inputs in the areas of Non-Wood Forest Products, Common Property Management, training needs assessment and event and logistics management. NRMC India also supports NR International in contracting appropriate expertise, undertaking procurement and project monitoring

The projects’ aim is to tackle rural poverty through various land and non-land based activities using a participatory approach. Rain-fed agriculture in semi-arid conditions provide the foundation for current living standards in the project districts of Karnataka. The project is a process project designed to be participatory in nature, and has established grassroots institutions such as Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Microwatershed Development Committees (MWSDCs), who assist rural communities in determining their needs, the project then providesassistance for land and non-land based activities through partner NGOs.

The project structure works entirely though grass roots organisations and partner NGOs who have had their capacity built in order to implement the project.

The project has built the capacity of many 100s of Community Based Organisations (CBOs) – self help groups, savings and credit groups, and farmers organisations - in relation to understanding their rights and responsibilities, improving their technical skills in soil and water conservation and identifying alternative livelihood options and learning associated business skills. While preparing to withdraw the project is federating these CBOs at a village and district level to leave a sustainable structure behind the project.

NR International was responsible for:
i) Technical Assistance
The Project Management Advisor has acted effectively in collaboration with the Project Manager of the Government of Karnataka to provide professional advice, assistance and consultancy in core and non-core aspects of the project. Specific areas of technical support have included:

ii) Arrangement and facilitation of relevant workshops and training sessions

iii) Planning and budgeting of consultancy inputs

iv) Project Monitoring and Impact Assessment Systems

v) Reporting and Cost Effective Management

NRMC India was involved in providing project management and technical support to NR International in successful delivery of the project to Government of Karnataka. The main areas of support were:

» Institutional building
» Training
» Awareness-raising
» Gender issues
» Environmental issues

The main sectors NRMC India was involved in:

The aim of the project is to establish a more effective and efficient RNR extension service at field, district and central levels in order to better satisfy the needs of farmers. Project components include:

The project team work with and through the Royal Government of Bhutan, strengthening their capacity to deliver extension services to the rural poor in isolated and mountainous environments. Efforts have focused on:

Technology and information – support to planning, forums, on farm trials and dissemination, post harvest training, preparation of Master Plans and development of technology for packaging.

Delivery of extension – policy revision, capacity building, development of farmers’ organisations, training and support to small industries (e.g. apples and citrus).

Extension Management – conferences, management training, coordination, support to linked programmes.

Information and communications – inter project and donor meetings and field communications, through video, radio and other extension media, including street theatre and cartoon publications.

During the life of the project, the government has gone through a major restructuring and the NR International team has played an important role advising and facilitating during this process.

NRMC India provides the regional project management support to NR International in managing the technical assistance team. The support covers a range of technical areas from extension , developing and implementing communication strategies and monitoring and evaluation.

The Crop Post Harvest Programme (CPHP) forms part of the UK Government’s Department for International Development’s centrally funded research strategy. Research is seen as an important weapon in the fight against poverty and this strategy underpins DFID’s contribution to the achievement of international development targeted on poverty elimination and environmental sustainability.

The CPHP generates and promotes pro-poor post-harvest innovations. To date, over 150 projects have been commissioned in response to constraints and opportunities identified in national agricultural research strategies and through participatory needs assessments commissioned by the programme. A wide range of technologies, protocols, and policy recommendations addressing post-harvest problems have been developed, validated and promoted.

The current strategy (2002-2005) focuses on understanding and strengthening post-harvest innovation systems, in addition to addressing technical and socio-economic constraints.

NRMC India supports NR International Programme management covering monitoring & evaluation, capacity building and disseminating of knowledge generated by the Programme.

The Forestry Research Programme (FRP) forms part of the UK Government’s Department for International Development’s centrally funded research strategy. Research is seen as an important weapon in the fight against poverty and this strategy underpins DFID’s contribution to the achievement of international development targeted on poverty elimination and environmental sustainability.

FRP helps country partners in the eradication of poverty supporting research on priority developmental problems of the forest-dependent poor. These problems have been identified and documented in DFID forestry partner countries through consultation with a wide range of stakeholders.

FRP currently has a portfolio of research projects in 22 countries worldwide. These projects cover global issues and generic tools; land use/forest decision making; institutional change and reform; sustainable livelihoods and income generation. Projects span topics from tropical timber trees, multi-purpose trees and shrubs, trees in landuse systems to forest management, non-timber forest products and peri-urban issues.

NRMC India supports NR International Programme management team covering monitoring & evaluation, capacity building and disseminating of knowledge generated by the Programme.

BCRLIP is a project directed at strengthening conservation of biodiversity in six high-priority landscape sites of India. Enhancement of livelihoods for the marginalized sections of the inhabitant communities is seen a major plank of the strategy to aid biodiversity conservation. The project is the first national level attempt at linking conservation and local livelihoods on landscape scale. These landscapes encompass from high productivity and species-rich tropical evergreen forests to relatively low potential productivity and lower species-rich Rann and trans-Himalayan cold deserts. The landscapes encompass a wide range of ecosystems, each with its unique association of flora and fauna, which together span a major section of India’s overall biodiversity. They are also key sites for rendering ecosystem services that sustain productivity of large agrarian tracts around them. They are also of global significance for their biodiversity values and environmental services. The project has the following components:

Natural Resources Management Consultants India Pvt Ltd (NRMC), a subsidiary of NR International is part of the consortium led by PEACE Institute and is responsible for developing Project Logical Framework; Project Planning, budgeting and financing systems; Monitoring & Evaluation Frameworks; Institutional Framework Assessments and; developing the Project Implementation Plan.

The Department of Land Resources (DOLR) of the Ministry of the Rural Development (MORD), Government of India (GOI) spends about Rs. 1000 crores per year on centrally-sponsored watershed development schemes through out the country. Information on the performance of these schemes is currently only through Quarterly Progress Reports and funds Utilization Certificates sent by the project implementing agencies (PIAs), which focus more on the financial and physical works rather than on the quality of implementation. A Supplementary Observation Mechanism (SOM) proposed and funded by the DOLR has not found widespread acceptance among the state and district authorities, which are supposed to implement this mechanism. There is therefore a need for a better monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system so that the DOLR has access to up-to-date information on the quality of performance on the ground.

Specifically, the study addressed the following issues at both central and state government levels:

Natural Resources Management Consultants India Pvt Ltd (NRMC), a subsidiary of NR International addressed the study in two parts. Part I of the study focussed on existing M&E systems used by DOLR and MORD and involved interactions with DoLR officials and a desk review of existing documents to gain understanding of their information needs and requirements. The study also studied the experiences from the M&E systems in place in select Rural Livelihood projects. Part II of the study involved visits to two states, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, to interact with state government officials in order assess their operational reporting structures, M&E/MIS strategies adopted, institutional capacity etc. On the basis of the findings of the assessments at MORD and from the states, the study made recommendations for an improved M&E system (including institutional mechanisms for the proposed M&E cell and the cost) to meet the requirements of DOLR and MORD.

OFSDP aims to promote sustainable forest management in the State with a larger goal of supporting rural livelihoods. Recognizing the crucial linkage between rural livelihood, particularly in forest fringe villages, and the forest resources in the context of the state, the project will specially focus on the one hand on conservation and development of forests and their optimal and sustainable use, and on the other hand on creation of alternative livelihood opportunities based on local skill and other resources.

The project is being implemented throughout the state based in selected project villages through active participation of the village community organised in to Vana Samrakshan Samiti (VSS), or the designated Project Executing Body, Biodiversity conservation amidst rising biotic pressure on forest is an important and integral component of the interventions planed under the project. The project will cover forests and forest areas including Protected Areas in 14 Forest wildlife divisions in the state.

The scope of assistance provided by NRMC includes:

Technical assistance to the Executing Body(EB) in process improvement, specifying procedures for project implementation at Project management Unit(PMU), Divisional Management Unit(DMU) , Field Management Unit(FMU) and VSS levels Providing technical inputs in different areas

Providing assistance to EB in organising State/National level and International Training, Exposure visits for EB members

Procure and provide necessary accessories such as equipments, vehicles required for project implementation

In addition to above, NRMC also provides technical inputs in areas of

Click here for more information on the project (http://www.ofsdp.org/)

In OFSDP, NRMC India is providing a range of technical and managerial services including

NRMC India has conducted “Special Assistance for Project Formation” (SAPROF) studies for JBIC/ JICA in Tripura, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. SAPROF studies are done to inform the funding agencies about the need and relevance of the project. The scope of work in these SAPROF studies included

TFIPAP, funded by JBIC/JICA aims to promote sustainable forest management, and poverty alleviation through creation of livelihood options, infrastructure for income generating activities duly linked with forest conservation in the project area. Recognizing the crucial linkage between rural livelihood, particularly in forest fringe villages, and the forest resources in the context of the State, the project specifically focus on conservation and development of forests and their optimal and sustainable use as well as on creation of alternative livelihood opportunities based on local skill and other resources.

NRMC’s role in the project is to provide technical and managerial assistant to the state Forest Department in effectively executing the project. To do this NRMC assists the PMU

Click here for more information on the project(http://tripurajica.com/)

In addition to above, NRMC provides technical inputs in areas of

OTELP is being implemented by the Govt. of Orissa (GoO) with financial assistance from the Department for International Development (DFID), Government of UK, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP). The programme is being implemented in 3 phases covering 30 backward blocks with tribal concentration in seven districts of the State.

The goal of the programme is to ensure that livelihoods and food security of poor tribal households are sustainably improved through promoting a more efficient, equitable self managed & sustainable exploitation of the Natural Resources at their disposal & through off- farm/non- farm enterprise development. The programme helps the poor to increase their incomes and improve their overall quality of life through more efficient natural resource management. The methodologies are based on the principles of improved watershed management, more productive & environmentally sound agricultural practices and through off- farm/non- farm enterprise development.

Click here for more information on the project (http://www.otelp.org/)

NRMC provides both technical and managerial assistance to the project. Technical assistance includes ensuring capacity building of the OTELP team at all levels, institution building, undertaking research studies and surveys, supporting organisation of national workshops and organising exposure visits/ trainings for project staff under the related technical support. Managerial support to the project includes assisting the PSU in planning and monitoring of both long and short-term management and national specialist technical assistance (TA) needs. The team is responsible for sourcing, contracting and managing the TA inputs, being responsible for quality, performance and timely delivery, financial management and administration of the above inputs and the overall TA budget, undertaking procurement of DFID-assisted TA component on behalf of the programme under the overall supervision and guidance of the Programme Director, OTELP;

Phase II of DASP commenced in 2008 with the mission to intensify and diversify agricultural production systems through farmers’ participation. The DASP assist Govt. of UP in its effort to accelerate diversified agricultural growth in the State in line with regional advantage of nine agro-ecological zones.

DASP Phase-1 focused on technology development, demand-driven technology dissemination system, rural infrastructure development, public-private partnerships, Project management and capacity for policy analysis. A Project Coordinating Unit (PCU) set up by the state government is monitoring the implementation of second phase of DASP.

As an external monitoring and evaluation agency for zone 1 (Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Fatehpur, Mirzapur, Sonebhadra, Chandauli, Sant Ravidas Nagar), NRMC will assist the PCU in overall monitoring and evaluation of the DASP II.

The specific assistance provided by NRMC would include