Strengthening and Broad-basing Pashmina and Wool Value Chain in Leh, UT of Ladakh by NABFOUNDATION through Looms of Ladakh Women Cooperative (LLWC)

One of the greatest challenges for Govt/semi Govt organizations working in the social sector is to ensure that the financial or non-financial support reaches the people for whom it is intended. In my entire career spanning 34 years, I have interacted with many well-meaning individuals and organisations who are very eager to support the target groups under their domain. But, although their intentions may be good, these individuals and agencies are not able to implement the projects in an effective manner and which can stand the scrutiny of the public at large, RTI activists, government agencies and the monitoring, review and evaluation of the funding agency itself. There is therefore a need for capable and committed implementing agencies that can ground a project. There are many individuals who are committed, enthusiastic, honest and want to do a lot for the community. But, it is practically impossible for organizations like NABARD to support individuals in this regard and we therefore look for agencies or suitable stakeholders to implement the projects.Another challenge is to reach out to a large number of people in a short span of time i.e., reach the so called ‘target’ beneficiaries. Hence, funding agencies try and design schemes that can deliver the results and reach the benefits to the largest number of beneficiaries in the shortest time possible. The biggest problem with such schemes is that, they are designed to be very rigid to ensure that there is no misuse or diversion of funds. In my view, the problem starts here. Many funding agencies have a ‘one size fits all approach’ as they have an all-India presence. Further, India is a huge country where the language, religion, culture, landscape, practices, infrastructure etc., differ every few miles. Hence the economics of the project or scheme could vary from district to district or even within the district. Thus, a project which is good in one State, may not succeed in another. However, the schemes remain the same. The implementing agencies start making adjustments in the project to fit into the scheme, which ultimately harms the project and does not give the desired outputs. Thus, the solution lies in designing projects which provide for flexibility. Flexibility in concept, costing and implementation. Flexibility is required both for the implementing agency and the funding agency that sanctions the projects. This is easier said than done because it needs deep knowledge and experience of the ground level situation and understanding the requirements of one other. In this backdrop, Off Farm Development Department, Head Office NABARD came out with a scheme known as Off Farm Sector Projects in DPR mode during 2021-22. This is a scheme which is flexible and instead of prescribing what to do, prescribes what cannot be done! The list of what cannot be done is very small. Thus, effectively it draws the contours within which the project has to operate. This scheme is proving to be extremely handy at the field level. Looms of Ladakh Women Cooperative (LL) empowers rural Ladakhi women by endowing them with skills necessary to add value to raw pashmina and woollen fibres to turn them into the high-end products perennially in demand. Under the initiative, 150 uneducated, unemployed women from different and distant villages were brought together, formed in to a society and imparted training in spinning, weaving and knitting quality sheep wool and pashmina products to enhance their income earning potential through.They required support towards strengthening of the Society by attaining scale of production by adding new members, skill building of new members, development of a cadre of master weavers, and setting-up of infrastructure to provide better working conditions for the women producers, establishing marketing tie ups and thereby enhancing their income.When NABFOUNDATION posed the project to us we realized that this could not be covered under our existing schemes like OFPOs (Off Farm Producers Organization) or skill development programme. The requirements and the challenges were very different. It required skill support, support for construction of a Common Service Centre, Support for marketing and so on. However, we were impressed with the commitment shown by the founder director and the other elected artisan bearers. To do something for the UT of Ladakh was always in our mind. But the dream that the Ladakhi women could create a brand and instead of selling raw wool to the middlemen for a paltry sum, produce high quality items which could find a place in fashion shows was overwhelming. Hence, we decided to cover it under the above mentioned scheme of NABARD. Further, the fund requirements were also much higher. Thus, we decided to implement under NABFOUNDATION which being a subsidiary of NABARD and a Section 8 Company, has functional liberty. NABARD has sanctioned grant assistance of Rs. 107.50 lakh to NABFOUNDATION for the strengthening of the Society and benefiting 400 members engaged in the activity in 09 villages of Leh and Ladakh. NABARD’s support is comprised of assistance towards HR cost, training and capacity building, setting of work studio cum training center including a crèche as the cooperative is 100% women managed and marketing interventions. In fact, it is for the first time that we have on our own initiative provided a small sum of Rs 50000 for a crèche in any of our projects keeping in view the special requirements of the young mothers who would be using the facility.We are eager to see the dreams of the Ladakhi women take shape and succeed. I wish the very best to Looms of Ladakh Womens Cooperative Society Ltd.,. I will be watching you very closely and assure you that NABARD would always be willing to lend a helping hand.

Your cart is empty

All Collections

All Collections

Your cart

Subtotal

Strengthening and Broad-basing Pashmina and Wool Value Chain in Leh, UT of Ladakh by NABFOUNDATION through Looms of Ladakh Women Cooperative (LLWC)

Subscribe to Read the Full Article