Bharatiyam Jeevika (Livelihoods)
As India becomes more globalized, mechanized, and modern, there are many traditional livelihoods that are at risk of extinction. For instance, as mass manufactured clothes flood the market, cottage-level textile and handloom workers are losing their livelihoods. A vast majority of workers do not have education or alternative means of earning sufficient income. For those who continue to cling on to traditional jobs, their wages are becoming dismally low while the prices of goods are continuously rising. Bharatiyam has two strategies for addressing these circumstances:
- Collectivization and Efficient Systems: This strategy works when certain traditional jobs can still be salvaged. By bringing together detached fragments of an industry, it's easier to achieve economies of scale, decrease distribution costs, and increase the returns for each individual.
- Metafishing: If you give a man a fish, he is satisfied for one day. If you teach a man how to catch a fish, he is satisfied for a lifetime. But what if the whole lake dries up and fishing is no longer an option? This scenario calls for metafishing, which is the development of alternative skills for sustenance. In Bharatiyam's context, this translates to providing skills training programs for former traditional workers and transitioning them into well-paying, high-demand jobs in the market.
How You Can Help
Sponsor a Livelihood:
Bharatiyam's intervention in livelihoods is multifaceted. Through the organization's networks, we will optimally provide monetary funds to members of vulnerable livelihoods, and also guide them to better markets for their goods/services. We will begin this approach with the weaving, tribal, coastal and dry-land clusters in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Bharatiyam will identify poor families across a portfolio of livelihoods, and support them accordingly. One of the predominant concerns that needs to be addressed is that most producers and service providers earn a mere 20% of the retail selling price of their products. The absolute necessity of many middlemen is putting them in a further disadvantage. Bharatiyam's Sponsor a Livelihood subprogram seeks to make most of these livelihoods remunerative again by identifying gaps in value chains that can be plugged along with opportunities that can be tapped with proper leads. In areas where livelihoods cannot be resurrected, there is also scope and need for new livelihoods opportunities that reach the poor. Bharatiyam will bridge that gap between workers' skill set and trending market requirements.
If you would like to sponsor a livelihood, click on the Donate button below and enter "Sponsor a Livelihood" in the "For which program? In honor of..?" field on the donation page.
Donate now by making a one-time or monthly recurring contribution.
Bharatiyam's intervention in livelihoods is multifaceted. Through the organization's networks, we will optimally provide monetary funds to members of vulnerable livelihoods, and also guide them to better markets for their goods/services. We will begin this approach with the weaving, tribal, coastal and dry-land clusters in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Bharatiyam will identify poor families across a portfolio of livelihoods, and support them accordingly. One of the predominant concerns that needs to be addressed is that most producers and service providers earn a mere 20% of the retail selling price of their products. The absolute necessity of many middlemen is putting them in a further disadvantage. Bharatiyam's Sponsor a Livelihood subprogram seeks to make most of these livelihoods remunerative again by identifying gaps in value chains that can be plugged along with opportunities that can be tapped with proper leads. In areas where livelihoods cannot be resurrected, there is also scope and need for new livelihoods opportunities that reach the poor. Bharatiyam will bridge that gap between workers' skill set and trending market requirements.
If you would like to sponsor a livelihood, click on the Donate button below and enter "Sponsor a Livelihood" in the "For which program? In honor of..?" field on the donation page.
Donate now by making a one-time or monthly recurring contribution.
Sponsor a Village
Another approach to tackling the livelihoods problem is through a broader approach of intervening in villages' microeconomics. Bharatiyam's goal in villages is to evolve the participatory Livelihood Enhancement Action Plan (LEAP) that addresses both the short-term and long-term structural foundations for a healthy economy, such as building education institutions, ensuring adequate health facilities, and understanding the assets of a region (both natural and human capital). The organization will explore possible interventions for key struggling villages across the region and support the least cost action plan that would best affect the highest number of poor people. Different communities would require different support services such as collectivization of purchases, local value-addition, marketing, etc. Bharatiyam will work at the grass roots level and deal with villages on a case by case basis to optimize how funds are put to use.
If you would like to sponsor a livelihood, click on the Donate button below and enter "Sponsor a Livelihood" in the "For which program? In honor of..?" field on the donation page.
Donate now by making a one-time or monthly recurring contribution.
Another approach to tackling the livelihoods problem is through a broader approach of intervening in villages' microeconomics. Bharatiyam's goal in villages is to evolve the participatory Livelihood Enhancement Action Plan (LEAP) that addresses both the short-term and long-term structural foundations for a healthy economy, such as building education institutions, ensuring adequate health facilities, and understanding the assets of a region (both natural and human capital). The organization will explore possible interventions for key struggling villages across the region and support the least cost action plan that would best affect the highest number of poor people. Different communities would require different support services such as collectivization of purchases, local value-addition, marketing, etc. Bharatiyam will work at the grass roots level and deal with villages on a case by case basis to optimize how funds are put to use.
If you would like to sponsor a livelihood, click on the Donate button below and enter "Sponsor a Livelihood" in the "For which program? In honor of..?" field on the donation page.
Donate now by making a one-time or monthly recurring contribution.
