Conference Report

Inaugural Session

The inaugural session was conducted by Onno Ruhl - Country Director ,World Bank. He took the audience

through his experiences in the sector how change in livelihood among villages especially in SHG's has altered

outlooks and aspiration of there children.

He said that the world bank is chasing the goal of 2030 to alleviate poverty and we are already very late and

need to upscale our efforts to ensure the goals are met. He also emphasized once more on the financial

inclusion of women for sustainable livelihood practices.

It was stated that for sustainability funding should be at least for 7 years ,when currently the funds which

come are mostly for 3 to 4 years. Advocacy is required to merge venture capital into livelihoods for long term

benefits.

Session 1

Livelihoods Promotion-Quest for Scale :

Panelists

The first discussion was on scaling up of current livelihood endeavors. Mr Sankar Dutta said that one cannot

talk of scaling up in India in thousands or lakhs since we are huge population and scaling up measures should

be varied and reach to a vast population. Various methods such as scaling out ,scaling with, scaling along

,scaling through and scaling deep for livelihood projects was suggested.

Skills certification should be done taking in consideration previous skills and growth of the individual across

the livelihood journey of the person. Certification which ensures livelihood is critical and helpful and if it

doesn't address to crucial livelihoods needs its of no use. This means scaling up of people is more helpful than

resources and infrastructure.

Session 2

Corporate social Responsibility -Commerce or Commitment:

Panelists

1. Sankar Datta - Prof. Azim Premji University

2. Rajesh Tandon - Cofounder & President, PRIA

3. S.Sivakumar - Group Head, IT & Agribusiness ITC Ltd

4. Brij Mohan - Founding Chairman, Access dev Services

5. Sbhashis Gangopadhaya - Director, India Development foundation

1. Ajay Sud - CA & Lawyer

2. Joy Deshmukh - Global head CSR,TCS

3. Aditi Haldar - GRI,Focal Point India

4. Praveen Agarwal - CEO, Swades Foundation

5. Viraf Mehta - Country Coordinator, Rags

The discussion started on a positive note where all panelists introduced CSR in the new companies bill as a

historical landmark. One of the Steve -Country Director Access, expressed his surprise and shock when he

came to know first about the 2% commitment of the companies towards the community.

Ms. Joy read the HR mandate of the TATA's where one of the clauses clearly mention employees' participation

in CSR. Mr Viraf said that 2% is not a good idea since it doesn't make sense in long term sustainability when a

multi billion dollar enterprise will also give 2% and companies with 5 crores of Annual profit will also

contribute 2% only.

The credibility of 98% earned was also questioned. Ms. Joy categorized the 3 kinds of CSR as Curative,

Promotive and Preventive depending upon the issue which is at question and needs to be addressed.

The dilemma of CSR within the companies is that very few have clarity on which department should handle

CSR.

Session 3

Producer Organizations Sustainability -Strengthening the Enabling Environment:

Panelists

Various aspects of FPO were discussed. The panelists took the audience through the journey and evolution of

FPO's and how in future they can benefit more. Need of modern warehouses was discussed to store large

quantities of grains and crop.

Mr Shastry expressed the need of reports ,currently published under NABARD and various other

organizations should be printed in regional languages as FPO's relish , if its in there language.

He also said that India needs a pure Agri business bank since refinancing agencies/banks like NABARD are not

helpful.

1. Pravesh Sharma - Managing director, Small Farmer Agri business Consortium

2. Trilochan Shastry- Prof. IIM Bamgalore

3. Amar KJR Nayar- Prof of Strategy, Nabard

4. Ved Arya- CEO, Srjan

5. Ayan Banerjee- India representative, Scope insight

Session 4

Livelihood approaches for the Socially Excluded Communities:

Panelists

Key Learning's

Fiinovation marched out with the following take away:

1. Better understanding of CSR - How this commitment is important for the long term

sustainability of business's. This extremely important since we are approaching organizations

daily.

2. The company bills is historical landmark and should be taken in the right spirit and not as a

burden or as a untapped fortune .

3. CSR will bring and demand more transparency and dynamism from the civil society

organization.

4. Livelihood projects which are being funded under CSR or otherwise should be at least for 7

years. This will give Fiinovation a clarity on how to pitch livelihood projects to CSR's.

5. The team learned that inclusion of venture capital s essential for benefit of both parties the

investor as well as the benefactor i.e. the NGO's.

6. Skill certification and recognition will gain momentum in near future as more investments will

be done to enhance skilled which are employable and sustainable. This can be incorporated in

all our livelihood as well as other projects.

7. Development of all parties in the value chain of livelihood interventions.

8. FPOs provide an opportunity for the other stakeholders (direct and indirect) to develop even if

they are not partners in the implementation.

9. Independent financing bodies are required for livelihood projects- For agri based projects

exclusive agri based banks are required. Micro finance schemes on the same lines can be

recommended in Finnovation projects as well.

10. All future projects should be aimed towards reducing the rural urban divide.

11. Since livelihood projects are at an evolutionary stage in India we can incorporate innovative

models which have maximize replicability since all previous models lack it.

1. Suryamani Raul - Vice President, Access Development Services

2. Vanita Vishwanath - CEO, Udyogini

3. Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya - CEO, Ek Gaon

4. Seth - CEO ,Shop for Change

5. Kamalendra Singh Rathore - Samarthak Samiti

6. Neelkanth Mishra - Inland Fisheries