In the Tanzanian Bush

We were discussing how grateful we were that it wasn’t the rainy season when the offshoot path from the main road would have been impassable. Perhaps, we should have knocked on wood. A few minutes later, we found ourselves stuck deep in a muddy section of the cleared bush several kilometers “off the beaten track.” No traction could be gained no matter how hard the driver pressed on the accelerator. If anything, the vehicle was sinking deeper with each attempt to propel out, almost comparable to attempting to break free from a constrictor’s grip (alright, not quite that comparable). As villagers passed by on foot or bike, they dropped their buckets of water, machetes, or whatever other livelihood or household-related good was in their arms and proceeded to help dig out the vehicle from the mud. In the end, 9 village members had banned together, and three hard attempts and 10,000 Tanzanian shillings later, the vehicle was pushed out and parked before the mud pit. To avoid the risk of plunging back in, we continued on by foot. As we approached the village, we heard several women singing in Swahili at a high tempo. They approached us one by one with massive smiles spread across their faces, shaking our hands with the traditional 3-grip movement as they welcomed us into their village.  The laughing, dancing, and singing continued through the coconut tree “forest” and through the village until we reached the place of their weekly meeting. I suddenly felt as if we were lone travelers who had lost our way and had suddenly come upon a lost society that had decided to take us in. It was sort of an Indiana Jones moment….but, not really.

The optimism of the savings group members we’ve met this past week doesn’t cease to amaze me. Their song and dance help them to forget their hunger and other daily struggles. They feel empowered as they adopt ways to carve out a better future for themselves and their families. This is especially the case in Lindi region, where poverty and food insecurity are far more prevalent. As I visited villages, I was taken aback by the sight of starved children with massive tummies, evidencing the intense malnourishment. Savings groups in these villages were some of the youngest in the program we were evaluating, and much of the greater program’s interventions hadn’t yet reached this region due to low population density, highly dispersed villages, and extremely poor infrastructure.

CBSG group in Masasi District celebrates their first shareout



Heading into a CBSG meeting



Client of a savings group

Child of a savings group client in Lukuledi District, Lindi

Where the program’s interventions and outputs had had sufficient time to mature, the impact was inspiring and noteworthy. Men and women came together into groups, met and saved each week, accessed loans that supported their livelihoods, agriculture production, paying of school fees for their children, and purchasing materials to build a new or improve an existing home. These were the most common purposes for credit. Concluding each 12 month cycle, savings (the deposit handled as a purchase of value-assigned share(s)) are added up with the interest paid on loans, and members celebrate the momentous shareout of the accumulated funds through festivities comprised of music, song, dance, and an extravagant meal of pilau, meat, and potatoes. It is the day, especially after the first cycle, that a member has held the most amount of money he or she has ever seen in a lifetime. It is long-awaited and enthusiastically anticipated, as if a lottery-winning moment. Members use the massive wad of cash towards bulkier purchases that they would never have been able to save up for had they not been members of the group. Some used the cash to purchase a small plot of land for agriculture production, while others applied the fund to start a microbusiness, or again, invest in constructing a new home altogether. We were fortunate to have some of our group meetings coincide with shareout festivities. We were invited to give speeches and take part in the memorable event that I will cherish for a long time to come. On one occasion, after I was introduced as being from the United States, the Tanzanian music instantly transitioned to Rihanna and Akon’s newest hits. I watched with so much enthusiasm as village children got down and dirty to the beats. It was incredibly adorable! My translator colleague, Alfred, whispered to me, “I think they’re trying to make you feel more at home by playing these songs from your country.” I was, to say the least, amused.



Children getting down in Masasi District at shareout festivities



CBSG members



Fishing in Mnazi Bay during the low tide





Big brother brings his brother along to enjoy in the dancing festivities




Shy to dance





Shareout in Kilwa District



Almost stranded

During Mtwara visits, each night required a different accommodation. We felt like nomads traversing through southern Tanzania. We typically had no access to food during the day and energized off of water, warm soda, and cashew nuts or bananas bought along the roadside. I was glad to reach Lindi and learn that I would have the main town as my central base for the subsequent 4 days of visits. It’s difficult to cohesively weave the many experiences and unique events, traditions, and people I met along the way. One person who comes to mind is the Italian-Ethiopian man from Rome, who moved to Tanzania 20 years ago for what he anticipated would be a 6 month getaway. He fell in love with a mountain top of Lindi town and opened a small guesthouse offering some of the best Italian food I’ve had in a while. Every time I passed through, he would say, “Ah, Luxury, my dear! Come see me tomorrow, and I will make a pizza for you. No charge!” I didn’t have the heart to correct him.

Well, I’ve returned to Dar as of this morning, and what a contrast. But, I will stop here. It’s time to get back to my assignment.  Over and out. ;)



Boresha Maisha! Weka Akiba! (Keep Saving! Making Life Better!)

Life is once again moving at a faster pace than I can keep up with, especially through blog posts! Let’s hit the pause button on the narrative of my recent travels through the western Balkans and head straight into my latest, most spontaneous adventure to date, at least with regard to work. I was aware as early as September that a trip to Tanzania in October was possible. We had submitted our bid, waited patiently, and come October 1st, hadn’t yet heard back from the client on the assignment scheduled to begin that very day. Come Thursday, October 4th, after a few joyous moments of celebration having learned that my proposal had won the competition, the panic and chaos roared in as we were subsequently notified that my colleague and I were required to be on a plane that weekend for our first meeting in Dar es Salaam the following Monday morning. With a pending presentation on microfinance and inclusive economic growth to be given that Saturday morning in Baltimore, it became unfathomable. Airline tickets were bought in a rush on Friday afternoon just before close of business, and after some negotiation with the client and delivery of my presentation, we found ourselves on the first plane out to Dar Sunday morning. And, well, here we are, on day three of our month long consultancy.


It has been over four years since I last visited Sub-Saharan Africa, and I have missed it dearly. I deboarded the Emirates flight with tremendous enthusiasm to be back in Africa, Tanzania, and always, “the field.” My colleague and I are here to conduct a midterm evaluation of a community-based savings group project that is a part of a larger program to enhance the quality of life and social wellbeing of households in Lindi and Mtwara regions through sustainable socio-economic interventions in food security, income generation, health, and education. Have I lost you yet? To put it simply, access to finance and reliable livelihoods in the poorest regions of Tanzania (Lindi and Mtwara) was practically nonexistent until the commencement of this program. As an introductory step to increasing the access to financial services for the poor living in these rural, quite disconnected parts of the country, informal savings groups are being established throughout the regions to promote a savings habit, financial literacy, social cohesion, and access to credit that is primarily invested into expanding small businesses and agriculture production. There are several methodologies in practice today to promote similar groups, the most common being Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA), the model we are assessing on this assignment, and Savings for Change (SfC). Our assignment entails conducting a qualitative and quantitative analysis of these groups and assessing whether these truly have increased access to finance in a sustainable way for the poor, understanding in what ways membership has impacted lives, assessing and then advising on the potential for self-replicability of savings groups, and finally assessing and helping devise means to create synergies between this and other livelihood/agriculture programs in the region.




Children of clients in Masasi District in Mtwara






A savings group meeting in Masasi District, Mtwara






Female savings group member in Tandahimba District, Mtwara



Child in Tandahimba District, Mtwara

Savings group models are quite simple and typically involve groups with 15-25 members, who are required to establish a governance committee and meet once a week to engage in small financial transactions --- savings deposits and loan disbursements. All transactions are recorded in individual passbooks, and funds are kept in a box secured by three locks, for which three different keys are kept with three different group members exclusive to the governance committee. All transactions are done with particular transparency in front of all members as each individual transaction is announced multiple times to the group. Though simple, this model has truly changed lives by building the financial literacy and confidence of members. Through small loans and the cash received at the end of each annual cycle through the payout of shares, members have had the means to send their children to school, build a new home, and as I learned today, even purchase small plots of land to grow produce and supplement their household income. It is absolutely fantastic. Irrespective of how many savings groups I’ve observed in my career, I can never tire of seeing how well some of these groups function and the positive impact they have on the lives of the poor, especially women. I adore the welcome songs, dancing, and clapping we are greeted by and sent off with, and the exchange of smiles and handshakes meant to strike a sincere human connection.

Savings group in Masasi District, Mtwara



Waiting for his turn to deposit savings






Child of a cashew growing client waits for the meeting to end



Money counters each count and announce all funds

Children in Mtwara town



How adorable is she? Another child in Mtwara town






One of two male clients in a savings group in Mtwara town






My colleague showing clients their photos on his iPad!






Another client in Mtwara



Mtwara and Lindi are located along the southeastern coast of Tanzania and considered the poorest regions in the country, largely due to lack of infrastructure and investment. The region is most known for its production of cashew nuts, sesame, and rice in which most households are engaged. Newly discovered offshore deposits have recently attracted oil companies to drill and extrapolate this high demand commodity. This has led to the advent of recent construction of tarmac roads (a few) and a bridge that now connects the two sides of the Rufiji River, a once impassable obstacle during the rainy seasons that further limited the transportation of goods, services, and people. Still, our field work these last few days and for another week more continue to take us down dusty, bumpy dirt roads through sparsely populated remote areas with irregular access to electricity to reach our target areas. How I truly do miss the Hotel Serena in Dar es Salaam at this moment! But, as much as accommodation admittedly does stress me out, particularly difficult bathroom situations and the balancing acts that ensue, field work is where my heart is. It is where I find the most happiness and satisfaction. It really is where my livelihood most becomes my soul food.


Stay tuned for more updates and lessons we are learning out here, of course, access to internet permitting!

And another client in Mtwara



Treasurer of a group



The gorgeous Indian Ocean in Mtwara

A forum to converse on International Agriculture and Rural Development

I, along with two of my colleagues, recently became the newest (and very proud) members of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD). To join the plethora of associations and working groups in Washington, DC, AIARD brings together professionals from the public and privates sectors and academia to set learning agendas and create a forum for learning exchange on topics related to agriculture, food security, nutrition, and everything in between. The association is entirely run on a voluntary basis, and this year, I’m thrilled to share that my boss was elected President; the gavel was literally passed on during this year’s annual conference, held last month in DC.

The 48th annual conference was titled, “Priorities for Inclusive Agriculture and Rural Development,” a very pertinent topic that has infiltrated both donor and practitioner agendas in the last couple of years. As stated in the conference opening, “The current thinking of many development agencies around the world has been to include poor households as a target for development and keep the focus on using market-led approaches. While these two development objectives are not mutually exclusive, most current development activities either focus on the poor, where scale and market inclusion are a challenge, or focus on value chain development, which does not meaningfully include the participation of resource-poor households.” Practitioners are increasingly researching and attempting to design programs that incorporate approaches that are “market-based” yet inclusive of marginalized populations such as those of so-called ‘low caste’ and women, among others. Another link that practitioners have attempted to strengthen is that between agriculture development and food security and again, between food security and nutrition. Even in May of this year, prior to the G8 Summit, President Obama encouragingly spoke to the importance of global agriculture and its link to food security and has complemented his Feed the Future initiative with the newly announced (and very aptly named) New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. There are some very obvious and very pertinent trends here that AIARD integrated into its agenda this year.

Inclusive Agriculture and Rural Development. As we engage in programming to increase incomes and strengthen economies, market-based solutions are key to sustainable economic growth. Development should not be seen as charity; rather, it must be stimulated and then perpetuated through the extension or transformation of existing market systems that anchor new approaches and systemic changes. On that note, over half of the world’s population is comprised of women, who must be taken into account when promoting workforce development, job creation, and market development. The potential is immense. Women and marginalized populations do not and should not rely on charity; rather, they must be integrated into the system just as you and I are in the countries and economies that we are fortunate to work in. Provided with the right skills, equal opportunity, financing, voice, greater control of assets, and greater decision-making power, the potential for women, youth, and the poor to contribute to economic growth is spectacular. I almost feel I’m perpetuating a negative construct by categorizing women with the marginalized in my writing and ponder this as I write proposals and design program interventions that seem to do the same. I would like to move away from this practice, and this means changing perceptions of women, and simply seeing them as people too.

Market-based also means realizing the importance of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private sector investment to spur sustainable economic growth. Unfortunately, the sorts of such partnerships that appear to be most prevalent in high potential developing economies, such as those in Africa, are focused on extraction of resources with very little wealth, if any, being reinvested into the local economy. Particularly in rural economies, PPPs should focus investment in inclusive agriculture development that boosts local economies, while also securing household food security. Making markets work for the poor means making markets work for all!

Integrating Nutrition and Agriculture. Promoting agriculture development and the production of crops that not only have high income potential, both domestically and for export markets, but are also nutritious and can enhance food security and nutritional status is an increasingly obvious priority, but one that is rarely remembered. USAID’s Feed the Future initiative aims to embed food security and nutrition into its programming, which is a major stride in this area. To achieve this, women, again, need to be integrated into production, sales, and household-level programming that increases their access to all pertinent resources (e.g., water, land, credit). Production and livelihoods should be diversified, with production focusing on more nutrient-dense foods. As discussed in a post on Bangladesh in May, reducing post-harvest losses through improved technologies and improving processing to retain the highest nutritional value is immensely important. Finally, increasing market access and opportunities to all -- the inclusive factor -- will help individual and overall economies and greatly reduce the seasonality of food insecurity.

Agriculture programs can help improve access to diverse and quality foods, but increased nutrition requires complementary health services that will promote improved utilization of food and maternal and child care practices. The complementarity of high nutrition crops, increased dietary intake of these nutritious foods (rather than selling the whole harvest), increased agricultural incomes, improved nutrition knowledge and practice, and improved policy coordination are critical to the successful integration of nutrition and agriculture development.

A Double Bottom Line Business Case for Serving Very Poor Households

Five weeks after having moved on from Grameen Foundation, I'm so pleased to announce that the fruit of a laborious two-year long study has finally materialized.  Today, the organization published "A Double Bottom Line Business Case for Serving Very Poor Households," a paper that I co-wrote with my colleagues Brian Slocum and Kate Griffin, which explores, as the title aptly states, whether there is a business case to be made for microfinance institutions (MFIs) to serve very poor populations:

"Does reaching the poorest households actually cost an institution more? Can organizations build sustainable business solutions while reaching poorer populations? Are clients who graduate from ultra-poor loan products into mainstream lending programs actually successful?

We are extremely pleased to announce the publication of "A Double Bottom Line Case for Serving Very Poor Households" written by Luckshmi Sivalingam, Brian Slocum, and Kate Druschel Griffin in which these questions are answered and more. This paper investigates the “double” (financial and social) bottom line implications for two microfinance institutions, Fonkoze in Haiti and The Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF) in South Africa, that have added product lines to serve very poor households. The analysis seeks to understand how two product lines that successfully targeted poor clients affected the ability of these MFIs to meet both their social and financial goals. In the process, we also articulated a methodology for creating a double bottom line business case for reaching very poor households.

The punch line? The targeted products contributed to social goals in significant ways, and poorer clients saw faster gains against social outcomes than less poor clients. Financially, for SEF - where the product was profitable - there was no significant difference in terms of portfolio quality, retention, or profitability between clients of different poverty levels. At Fonkoze, where the product cost $38 a person, clients stayed with the program longer and had higher repayment rates. This allowed Fonkoze to see the $38 as a reasonable client acquisition cost to attract and retain good clients while significantly contributing to their social goals."

To read the full study, please visit www.grameenfoundation.org/doublebottomline.

Economic-Strengthening Pathways for the Bottom Billion

Hello, my lovely readers!  As mentioned in a recent post, it's very exciting to see the literary fruits after two years in my current role at the Grameen Foundation, working with some of the poorest populations of the world.  Of course, nothing beats seeing impact and an improvement in their lives.  As a practitioner, documenting our processes and learnings that allow for these outcomes is becoming increasingly important.  In May 2010, a group of practitioners gathered virtually to discuss how we can intentionally and more effectively reach and service the poorest to facilitate a sustained movement out of poverty.  This report summarizes the main issues raised during the e-consultation, “Economic-Strengthening Pathways for the Bottom Billion: Connecting the Dots,” sponsored by Poverty Outreach Working Group of The SEEP Network, May 17–19, 2011. A complete transcript of the discussion is available at http://tinyurl.com/2011econsult.

The e-consultation brought practitioners from different economic development disciplines together in order to learn about one another’s recent innovations in reaching the very poor and helping them move along an economic-strengthening pathway toward increased economic self-reliance and growth. By better understanding various dimensions of extreme poverty and identifying different segments within very poor populations, e-consultation participants started to lay a foundation for a common conceptual framework for economic strengthening. This framework reveals relevant entry points for different interventions and services along a pathway from extreme poverty to economic self-reliance.


The paper can be accessed by clicking here or copying and pasting the following link in your browser: http://www.seepnetwork.org/economic-strengthening-pathways-for-the-bottom-billion--connecting-the-dots-resources-349.php.

Livelihood Pathways: Sequencing for Sustainable Market Integration of the Poorest

Blog posts have come to be recognized as a form of professional writing that can be consumed in real time and en masse by fellow practitioners.  They, like articles, can be digested quickly and provide a forum for a rapid exchange of ideas, debate, and clarification.  While I’ve written and shared quite a few through various sites, including my own,  I’ve been busy these last two years researching, documenting, and writing more formal technical pieces that I’m thrilled to report are under review for publishing.  On the first day of this new year, a case study on the ‘Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest’ project in Bihar, India was published by USAID's Microenterprise Development Office as part of a series under the Advanced Microenterprise Advancement Program (AMAP).  The publication, titled, 'Livelihood Pathways: Sequencing for Sustainable Market Integration of the Poorest,' details the flow of the integrated livelihoods model and how our interventions, products, and services are strategically sequenced to support the poorest's elevation out of poverty.  Please click here to access the full study.

Where the 'Integrated Livelihoods Model for the Poorest' (ILM) Stands Today

The Value of Group Savings and Lending to the Poorest People

Happy new year to my readers! I've lagged yet again on keeping the blog updated on recent travels from India to Qatar to Montreal and Quebec City that concluded 2011- a tremendously active year on the travel and professional front. I hope to eventually write 'catch up' posts over the coming weeks. In the meantime, I'd like to share a very touching story from the field in Bihar, written by one of our field executives (equivalent to an officer), Sudarshan Behera, which was posted on the Grameen Foundation blog, 'Creating a World Without Poverty' in December 2011. In this post, copied below, Sudarshan shares how nominal savings has proven to be a tremendous resource for our clients in Bihar:

Sugia Devi was a changed woman on November 7, 2011. She had just left the free cataract clinic in Bodhgaya in India’s northern state of Bihar and was grateful for her improved eyesight. She couldn’t wait to thank the people who had made it possible: the members of her adapted self-help group (ASHG), Durga.

The group is part of Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest, a joint project of Grameen Foundation’s Solutions for the Poorest group and BASIX/The Livelihood School that is designed to enhance the skills of the ultra poor, link them to income-generating activities, and build their savings habits.

Sugia lives in Khaneta village with her husband and her son, and his family. When she first heard about the ASHG in August, her husband did not want her to join the program because of mistrust and a lack of understanding on the benefits of participation. She persisted and began attending meetings and saving a small amount each week. Starting with an initial deposit of Rs. 10 (US 2 cents), by November, she had saved Rs. 130 (roughly US$2.40). But it still wasn’t enough to pay her fare to get to the free clinic in Bodhgaya some 30 kilometres (19 miles) away.

That’s when Sugia turned to the members of her ASHG. In addition to providing a safe place to save, the groups also provide its members with quick access to short-term loans. Sugia’s group members approved her loan of Rs. 100 (US$2), enabling her to cover her transportation costs for her operation.

Today, Sugia’s husband has a better appreciation for the value of the self-help groups, and she knows that her family can rely on the group when they need help. As her husband noted, before the ASHG, the family would have had to borrow from moneylenders who typically don’t lend less than Rs. 500 (US$9) and at very high rates.

Sugia has recovered from her operation and now Friday – the day her ASHG meets – has a special importance in her life.

Building Skills, Building Confidence: Ultra Poor Women in India Are Taking a Step Toward Self-Reliance

Until our households are able to build their skills to engage in more productive livelihood activities that can help them to generate increased income, through the Livelihood Pathways project, we have identified ways to help households meet their immediate consumption needs in the interim. The first is to link households to government welfare schemes that provide them with a minimum guaranteed wage employment or the equivalent wages, food rations, and other cash tansfers. The second is to train members of the household to engage in low skill activities, such as kitchen gardening and incense stick rolling, and link them to these local markets to generate relatively small but immediate and stable incomes. Avinash Kumar, our project manager in Gaya, blogs about these activities here. Special thanks goes to Julia Arnold for her immense editing contributions.

Building Skills, Building Confidence: Ultra Poor Women in India Are Taking a Step Toward Self-Reliance

Asha Devi’s eyes sparkled as she rolled agarbatti (“incense sticks” in Hindi) for the first time. Asha is a member of an adapted self help-group (ASHG) in Pali, a village in India’s Bihar state, where the Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest, a joint project of Grameen Foundation’s Solutions for the Poorest group and BASIX/The Livelihood School, is being implemented. The sparkle in Asha’s eyes reflects newfound self-confidence and pride that by selling handmade agarbatti, she will be able to supplement her family’s income.

Women from the program hold up their newly-rolled agarbatti (incense sticks) during training

Nearly 100 women from six village ASHGs participated in our week long training. Agarbatti rolling, which is a common activity in almost all of the villages in the Gaya district of Bihar, is one of two income-generating activities being promoted through the project. These activities require simple skills and provide modest increases in income to help households meet their immediate consumption needs. As the clients’ confidence levels and skills increase, the project team will transition them into entrepreneurial income generating activities, such as poultry farming and goat rearing, which require higher initial capital investment and skill sets but can significantly help fill income gaps throughout the year.

The agarbatti rolling training was unique not only because it was the first time women from the poorest families were receiving it, but also because it was the first time local women were given a leadership role to train their fellow community members. The experience of having a local woman train them in this skill helped increase the participants’ confidence, leaving them optimistic about their prospects and ability to contribute to their families’ income. While agarbatti rolling is common in the region, many of the households participating in our project had never done it because they live in relative isolation, making it more difficult for them to access agarbatti agents and vice versa. Instead, they have depended largely on wage labor from agriculture production, construction work, and road building.

Faced with very unpredictable and insecure income sources, these families have not had the luxury of time nor the opportunity to experiment with an entrepreneurial activity. In fact, these households often lack the necessary self-confidence to take up and learn a new activity, even such low-skill ones as agarbatti rolling. One of the aspects of the project is building the self-confidence of the members and, which, thus far, has been successful.

This training is the beginning of a change in this aspect of these women’s lives. As their self-confidence grows and they see their income rise, this positive change cycle will encourage them to seek out other opportunities. As they move forward, our team will work with them to continue on this path.

Take A Walk In Her Shoes

The Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest project was featured in this month's Grameen Foundation newsletter. The piece can also be viewed on the Grameen Foundation website.

We all know the old adage: you don’t really know someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. This has taken on greater meaning for the Grameen Foundation team helping to build income-generating opportunities for poor people in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states. Together with colleagues from The Livelihood School at BASIX India – a noted livelihood-development organization – they have been slogging (sometimes barefoot) through muddy fields and monsoon rains to meet with clients of our Integrated Livelihoods Model project. One of team’s most challenging tasks involves understanding and working through the daily challenges of clients, who have faced a lifetime of chronic poverty, as well as the sacrifices that everyone in the household has to make to survive, irrespective of age.

The project’s goal is to identify and build immediate and long-term support for these households, which have been organized into groups. Over the past few months, the team has been working with the local government to link households to existing support programs that are available to them, such as child and women’s healthcare and short-term employment. These state services, which many of the poor did not even realize they were eligible for, help the households meet their immediate needs, while the livelihoods team develops and tests products and services that will offer long-term support.

In addition, we are working with groups to create an internal savings process that will give members access to funds in cases of emergency. Some of our more advanced groups have a savings box with a lock, which is held by one elected member, often the treasurer. There are also two sets of keys that are held separately by other elected members, typically the president and secretary of the group. This balance of powers allows no single person access to the group savings.

Two months ago, our team visited the group of Sunita Devi, whom you met back in April. The 35-year old widow and mother of two young children is her family’s sole breadwinner. Her sporadic work as a laborer earns her 21,600 Indian rupees (about $462) per year. Though her fledgling group still needs a higher level of support, she is already benefiting from our work with the local government. As a widow and head of household of a family living below the poverty line, she is eligible to receive a stipend and other services she didn’t know about. Our team will continue to make household visits, hold meetings with the village and provide concentrated mentoring to help strengthen her group, and will continue working with them to start their group savings plan.

Once our team’s target households have stabilized and the groups are further strengthened, we will begin training and introducing them to more high-skilled activities that generate stable yearly income. We hope this gradual transition will lead to a more effective and committed uptake of entrepreneurial activities and a very different approach to life itself. To ensure this, the final piece of our project will focus on financing products that support livelihood development, such as microloans and microinsurance.

Luckshmi Sivalingam, our program officer for the Integrated Livelihoods Model project, has been working on our project in Bihar since April 2010. Read her blog to learn more about her experiences living in and traveling through these poor communities.