Rajasthan Mission on Skill and Livelihoods

Monthly Progress Report-August 2009

Planning and policy advocacy

In a major bureaucratic reshuffle in the Government of Rajasthan, Sh. Ajit Kumar Singh, IAS, has taken over charge as Principal Secretary, Labour and Employment. The Labour and Employment Department is the administrative department for RMoL.
The proposal for registration of RMoL under Section 25 (not for profit Company) of Companies Act is under active consideration of GoR.
It has been decided that RMoL will coordinate with the CM office to facilitate youth of the state seeking jobs in government sector to acquire better vocational skills through RMoL’s existing skill training system.

Skill Development

So far 577 skill training programmes have been approved for 2009-10 and with these 206 training providers have been given sanction letters for conducting 493 training programmes. In principle 61 Government ITIs, 21 KVKs, 17 General Education Colleges, 81 other agencies like ITC, RUDSETs, JSS, DCTC, Polytechnics, PIs and NGOs have been approved. Financial sanctions have been given to 97 Institutions so far and accordingly 123 programmes are provided with financial support till now. Total 69 training programmes are ongoing. Course content of 131 courses are ready to use.
So far 430 trained youth have appeared in the Kota Open University certification examination. These youth have undergone skill trainings provided through RMoL.

Initiatives for Livelihood Promotion

The training program on Entrepreneurial Development for 34 Prachetas (the Block level Govt. functionaries) was organized during 17th to 24th August, 2009 and was highly appreciated by Prachetas. The training was facilitated by EDI, Ahmedabad. The second batch training has been fixed for 16th-23rd September, 2009.
Four proposals have been received from as many agencies for the implementation of pilot project for promotion of fisheries in cluster and are being scrutinised for awarding the work to the potential agency.
The pilot project for cluster based sheep breed improvement has been initiated in Bikaner district. The project being implemented by URMUL Trust will cover 4 blocks and 16 Gram Panchayats and will benefit 100 families.
BA-LAMP had submitted an additional proposal to train the two hundred youths for taking up Business Correspondence/Facilitator examination being conducted by Indian Institute of Banking and Finance.
Under promotion of diary cluster project in Tonk district, 25 SHGs have so far been formed. The partner agency Srijan has identified four milk routes and collection of milk from source (communities/SHGs) has started. Provision for dairy pass books and training of Para-vets has been made.
The concept note on the project ‘Livelihood options for Kanjar Community in Jhalawar’ has been shared with potential agencies for implementation of the project.

Monitoring and Coordination

The Project Director, RMoL visited UNDP, New Delhi for review of activities under AWP, 2009 assigned to RMoL.
The Project Director, RMoL had been part of the delegation which met Dr. C.P. Joshi, Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Govt. of India on 4th August, 2009 to discuss on various issues pertaining to SGSY, National Rural Livelihood Mission and NAREGA. Later in the day he had a meeting with Sh. M.K. Khanna, Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, Govt. of India, where the Project Director was suggested to draw set of livelihood proposals focusing on improving status of Minorities in Rajasthan.
As desired by the Principal Secretary, Labour and Employment, the RMoL officials had two rounds of detailed meeting with the Secretary, Madrasa Board, Rajasthan and his team on drawing possible mechanism for provision of skill trainings for Madrasa students. The issue has been taken up in view of the DO letter sent by the Directorate General of Employment and Training, Govt. of India to GoR to encourage skill development initiatives for Madrasa in the state under Modular Employable Skills.
Under the Financial Literacy Project, a two day content sharing workshop was organized during 6th-7th August, 2009 at Jaipur by CECOEDECON. The Indian School of Micro-Finance for Women, Ahmedabad was the resource agency for the programme.
A workshop on ‘Documentation of Best Practices in SHG and Micro Finance’ was organized on 20th August, 2009 by SRIJAN under ‘Livelihood Resource Centre’ Project supported by RMoL.
A Mass Awareness Campaign on financial literacy was organized in collaboration with CECOEDECON and Indian Schools of Micro finance for women on 8th August, 2009 at Tonk.
The PPCP Consultant, Sh. Sanjay Gupta has submitted a detailed report on the potential activities where PPCP model based projects can be initiated by RMoL. The report has been reviewed and feedback has been given. The TNA exercise of RMoL staff has been conducted by the consultant along with few NGO representatives.
The PPCP Consultants have paid visits to Dausa, Tonk and Jaipur in the reference month to further strengthen the PPCP proposals.
The Communication Expert, Sh. Vinay Kaushik has submitted the communications strategy paper along with the Media and Communications work plan for the year 2009. The draft design for the RMoL brochure has been submitted and is in the process of finalization. Photo essay writing and story writing work has begun and two successes stories on RMoL’s interventions to support people with disabilities have been captured.
The RMoL officer paid visit to National Academy of Construction (NAC), Hyderabad during 12th-13th August to get first hand information on the civil and technical infra-structures available, training approaches adopted, overall functioning and explore possible collaborations with NAC, in view of the budget announcement made by the Hon’ble Chief Minister on establishment of Construction Academies at divisional headquarters level in Rajasthan.
The training programme on ‘Capacity Building of District Employment Officers’ on ‘Career Counseling and Guidance’ was organized during 18th -21st August’2009 at RICEM, Jaipur for 22 Employment Officers. Two resource persons, a retired professor, NCERT, New Delhi and Reader, PSSCIVE, Bhopal facilitated the whole proceedings.
Two days exploratory visit was undertaken by RMoL officers to District Karauli for identifying livelihood interventions required for Gurjar communities. The suggested interventions have been recommended accordingly.
A visit was undertaken by RMoL team to Netraheen Vikas Sansthan (NVS), Jodhpur to review the ongoing training programme for 9 blind students on ‘empowerment of the blind’ and to verify the assets procured.
A visit was conducted to Jal Bhagirathi Foundation (JBF), Jodhpur. RMoL team had a detailed interaction with 55 member agency of Marwar Lok Vikas Jal Manch, a confederation of 55 NGOs initiated by JBF. JBF desires for an effective collaboration with RMoL to work on sustainable livelihood promotion in the Marwar region.
Two days Personal and Professional Learning Review (PLR) programme was conducted for RMoL officers at Aapno Rajasthan. This provided an opportunity for everyone to interact with higher officials and share personal and professional needs.
The Project Director, RMoL participated in the review meeting called by the Department of Home Affairs, Govt. of India on 20th August, 2009 to review UNDP projects being implemented in India. RMoL initiatives were widely appreciated.

Initiatives at RMoL District Offices

Five member delegation team of Save the Children (Bal Raksha, Bharat) paid visit to RMoL district office, Dungarpur on 14th August, 2009 to explore possibility of working with RMoL on migrant children and other livelihood related issues for the poor of the district.
During the reference month, the District Manager, RMoL, Dungarpur had a series of meetings with parents of migrant children on exploring livelihood options through integrating with government schemes and focus on their children’s continued schooling rather than sending them outside for work.
The RMoL district office-Tonk organized District Convergence Meet on 18th of August 2009 under chairmanship of the District Collector. For better focus on convergence of government programmes and schemes it was proposed to have a District Convergence Committee.
The District Manager-RMoL, Tonk participated in the Community meeting of women Bidi Makers in Kalipaltan, facilitated by CECOEDECON on issues of low wages and their eagerness towards adopting alternate livelihood options for improving their income.
The District Manager, RMoL, Rajsamand attended the District Planning Committee (DPC) meeting held on 11th august, 2009 to approve the district plan for financial year 2009-10 and suggested for adopting land development measures through watershed development schemes in Kumbalgarh block of the district.
The District Manager, RMoL, Rajsamand shared the purpose of establishment of RMoL district office in the District Level Coordination Committee (DLCC) meeting held on 19th August, 2009.