Mithika Rachel Mathew

UM4000-1

Livelihoods at Shahpur Ward

The National Urban Livelihood Mission addresses urban poverty alleviation by aiming to reduce occupational vulnerability, and strengthening community-building and representation of the urban poor. It works through 6 components, of which Social Mobilisation and Institution Development has been looked at in this study. This component deals with the formation and federation of Self-Help Groups (Sakhi Mandals), which are thrift and credit groups formed by a group of 10 women; and establishing City Livelihood Centres(CLC) which are meant to be business service centres for the urban poor. In Ahmedabad, NULM is executed by the Urban Community Development(UCD) department.


Report Content

This proposal suggests a new model for City Livelihood Centres(CLC), to move away from the current agnency-run, insufficiently monitored practice by handing over ownership to the community it targets, and increasing responsibility of the city government. It creates an alternate institution to support UCD activity, and to empower the urban poor community.

Apart from the core team to administer CLCs which consist of technical staff and community representatives, this model suggests a web of Ajivika volunteers, one from each SHG, spread through the community to maintain constant connect and appropriate response from CLCs.

The set-up of the Centre could be in phases where the staff is trained in running the Centre, while simultaneously defining scope of the CLC by understanding community requirements.

A comprehensive and up-to-date database of the target population is necessary for the CLC to be most effective, and this table describes the type of data to be collected and mode of data collection in the initial phase of CLC set-up.

Services offered by CLC

Regular monitoring of CLC by all stakeholders is necessary, and this table lists some of the methods and criteria.

The city government does not currently fund CLCs and therefore have a limited interest in the functioning of this potential resource. This proposal recommends city funding to set up the Centre, to increase accountability and reduce risk for the supporting Agency/NGO. Past the initial phase, the CLC is meant to sustain itself through income generated by the services it provides.

One of the services that could be provided through the CLC is the City Project cell, which could mobilise women in SHGs as a local labour force for AMC activity. This would meet AMCs need for short-term, low-skill labour and community outreach ( for works such as communication campaigns, solid waste management etc). It also provides a source of income for the women, many of whom are unwilling or unable to leave their communities or dedicate several hours daily for more formal employment.

CLC could act as liaison for up-skilling and certification of skilled labourers among urban poor, by enabling convergence with other government schemes. This would also be useful to attest the quality of labour that CLC supplies.

Shelter for Urban Homeless is a component of NULM and CLC could support it by helping shelter inhabitants access appropriate government schemes, a service currently not provided by the overloaded and under-resourced shelter staff.