Udyam Utthan Samiti: Empowering Women Producers and Creating a Self-Reliant Economy through Sustainable Livelihoods in Jharkhand, India

Udyam Utthan Samiti - Farmers Producers Organisation (FPO) is a women-oriented cluster providing sustainable livelihoods to women in the region of Kamdara block, Gumla district in the state of Jharkhand, India.

The cluster is spread across more than 20 villages, involving over 1200 women producers who are engaged in the collection, processing, and sale of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) like tamarind, chironji, and lac.

The FPO has undergone various developments from its inception to reaching maturity, which has helped in creating livelihood opportunities locally and reducing distress migration.

The Udyam Utthan Samiti has primarily constituted to work as a not-for-profit organization committed to the cause of bringing prosperity to the life and livelihood of the rural community of the state of Jharkhand. The organization was established with the help of Udyogini , an implementing agency that worked to promote end-to-end value chain interventions in NTFP and other rural products, youth mobilization, and linking them with career solution pathways for sustainable livelihoods.

The project objectives of Udyam Utthan Samiti included establishing a requisite common processing cum training centre, upgrading the skill sets of women producers, enhancing income levels by encouraging less capital-intensive activities that can be taken up at the household level, improving the entrepreneurial skills of the trained women, expanding the market base of the cluster by familiarization with a new client base, and advancing the competency of the cluster products through quality control training.

The FPO has achieved various milestones in its journey, including engaging 120 artisans in the processing of products, 500 members in production, and 30 members in aggregation, which has increased livelihood opportunities locally and increased rural household income. The project has also helped create a more self-reliant economy with local enterprises offering high-quality goods and services locally, which decreases external reliance and increases the resilience of local communities.

However, the journey of Udyam Utthan Samiti was not without challenges. Some of the challenges faced in the process of setting up FPO included data tracking and dashboard presentation, institutional operational cost management, and cluster enterprise development-concept seeding. To overcome these challenges, the FPO has taken various solutions, including creating an app for data tracking and dashboard presentation, multi-stakeholder linkage, and promotion of Community-Based Organization (CBO) web page, developing a business plan, backward and forward linkages, and identification of entrepreneurs.

In conclusion, the journey of Udyam Utthan Samiti - Farmers Producers Organisation (FPO) has been a remarkable one. The FPO has not only created livelihood opportunities for women but also helped in creating a more self-reliant economy with local enterprises offering high-quality goods and services locally.

The challenges faced in the process of setting up FPO have also helped in identifying areas of improvement, which have helped in the growth and maturity of the FPO. The FPO's journey can be an inspiration to many other organizations working towards creating sustainable livelihood opportunities for rural communities.

To know more please visit :- https://udayamutthansamiti.org/