India

Final Evaluation of Climate Change Adaptation of Women Smallholders and Cotton Producers from Vidarbha Region, Maharashtra

CARE India’s project on “Environmentally Sound and Climate Resilient Cotton Production Practices (ESCRCPP)”, supported by Group Galeries Lafayette, was implemented from 2018 to 2021 in 10 villages of Jalgaon Jamod block of Buldhana district in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, aimed to promote environmentally sound, climate-resilient and inclusive cotton production. The location of the project was guided by the fact that Vidarbha accounts for half of the cotton area of Maharashtra, which has one third of cotton growing area in India and Buldhana district is the major cotton producing area in Vidarbha. The cotton based agricultural economy of the region faces challenges like water stress, climate variability and issues related to farming practices and technology. These result in low productivity, frequent crop failure, poor management of water resources, and high indebtedness of farmers.
The project had three purposes (sub-objectives or outcomes) and six expected results (outputs). The outcomes were: women small holders have the capacity to engage in environmentally sound and climate-resilient cotton production; strengthened collectives for building solidarity, promoting gender equity, and facilitating access of women smallholders from poor and vulnerable households to resilience building resources, services, and opportunities; and enabling environment in the form of supportive cotton value chain actors.
This report is 82 pages long. Read More...

Learning Women’s Participation in the Cotton Value Chain

The present gender analysis study of the Cotton Value Chain (CVC) was undertaken by CARE India as part of its ongoing three-year project to strengthen CVC in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state. The project, operating in the Jalgaon Jamod block of the Buldhana district in Maharashtra, aims to improve the productive engagement of resource-constrained women in resilient and sustainable cotton-based farming. It seeks to empower women smallholders from marginal communities and increase their productivity, income, and living standard to build a strong and sustainable CVC. The gender analysis study was conducted with a view to developing a robust understanding of gender relations, roles, and outcomes as they play out in the CVC of the project area. Read More...

CARE – SWITCH ASIA-II initiative on “Evolving a Women Centered Model of Extension of Improved Cook Stove for Sustained Adoption at Scale”

Over 45% of the country’s population is currently denied energy access. The project intended to transform the adoption of ICS by (i) creating a sustained demand for Improved Cook Stoves (ICS) as a clean cooking energy device among forest-dependent households; (ii) developing an enabling and supportive environment for women and their households to make clean energy transition and (iii) promoting and disseminating scaling up of clean energy transition. Read More...

Where the Rain Falls Phase III (2017 – 2019): Final Evaluation Report

In 2009, the Where the Rain Falls (WtRF) initiative started as a three-year research project investigating the impact of rainfall variability on food and livelihood security, and migration.

This research culminated in a global policy report (2012) and the development of more action-oriented community-based adaptation (CBA) pilot projects in each India, Thailand and Bangladesh. A second phase (2014 – 2016), and later a third phase (2017 – 2019), aimed to scale results, impacts and lessons learned to date for broader support for, and uptake of, CBA methods and approaches.

In October 2019, CARE France engaged an International Consultant to lead WtRF’ first multi-county evaluation. As per the Terms of Reference (TORs) for this evaluation (see Annex IV) the main objectives of the evaluation are two-fold:
(i) to assess the degree of achievement of the WtRF global and specific objectives in India and Thailand respectively; and
(ii) to extract common and/or comparable lessons learned about factors contributing to and hindering achievements (e.g. barriers and enablers) Read More...

Baseline Study Report KHUSHAAL PROJECT 2019

CARE India in partnership with Alstom Foundation is implementing socio-developmental projects in 7 villages of District Madhepura, Bihar. Project Khushhaal is one among the many initiatives being undertaken in the identified villages. It aims to enhance the capabilities of women and girls (age 12 years and above) and youth in the age group of 18-35 years for resilient livelihoods and improved health outcomes through a participatory process.

The project aims to empower 1500 individuals (women and girls) from these 7 villages (Tuniyahi Uttarwadi, Tuniyahi Dakshinwadi, LakshmiRampur Chakla Uttarwadi, LakshmiRampur Chakla Dakshinwadi, Ganeshsthan, Shreepur Utarwadi and Shreepur Dakshinwadi) with better health and hygiene practices and have better preparedness for gainful employment opportunities

The study focused at 5 specific areas
1. Menstrual Hygiene related status and challenges
2. Health and Hygiene related situation in young Girls, Pregnant and Lactating women
3. Work and Communication Skills status of Adolescents and Youth
4. Work/Market situation of women Entrepreneurs
5. Social Scenario / Current Situation on Safe Space for Girls in community and social realization regarding it. Read More...

Baseline Assessment for Climate Change Adaptation of Women Smallholders and Cotton Producers

CARE India aims to promote environmentally sound, climate-resilient and inclusive agriculture among cotton producers of Vidarbha region. In pursuance of this aim, it has designed an intervention package that focusses on developing environmentally sound and climate resilient cotton production model plots for demonstration, on the lands of traditionally cotton growing women smallholders in 10 project villages of Jalgaon Jamod block of Buldhana district. To further accelerate the effectiveness of the project intervention, CARE plans to work with different stake holders like women Self Help Groups, Farmers’ Groups and men within households and communities, government functionaries, and market actors who collectively form important components of the supporting ecosystem. Read More...

Knowledge, Attitude, And Practice (KAP) Study Under TARINA

The TATA-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition has been awarded a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to promote nutrition–sensitive food system in India that enhances the availability and affordability of diverse, high quality and nutrient rich foods for the rural poor; through the project known as Technical Assistance and Research for Indian Nutrition and Agriculture (TARINA). CARE India has been the implementing partner under TARINA for the project activities in Odisha across 72 villages in two districts i.e. Kandhamal and Kalahandi. The project commenced on November 2015 and is ongoing. Now that the project has reached its midline, CARE India intended to understand and assess the changes (desirable and undesirable) and impacts (positive and negative) of intervention made so far through conducting a Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) study so that based on its recommendations, course correctional steps/actions can be taken to strengthen and maximize the positive impacts in the remaining years. The key objective of this study is to establish the impact of TARINA strategies on crop diversification and improved kitchen garden practices on diet diversity through technical assistance under TARINA project through assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of farmers. [64 pages] Read More...

TARINA Baseline Study for Interventions (TBSI)

After the Green Revolution in India the country could make available food sufficiency and the agricultural lands are dedicated to the staple grains wheat, rice and maize. But the conversion of diverse farmland into monoculture fields has come at the expense of micronutrient-rich crops, leaving much of the rural population chronically malnourished despite growing abundance in their midst . With an objective to boost the nutrition outcome at individual and women small holder household level in India, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) awarded grant to the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI). TCI launched Technical Assistance and Research for Indian Nutrition and Agriculture (TARINA) in 2013 as a research initiative to develop solutions in a country where childhood stunting and anemia in women threaten long-term health and .
1. Provide technical assistance to make agricultural projects nutrition sensitive
2. Provide an evidence-driven pathway to policy reforms that promote availability and affordability of a more nutritious food system
3. Leadership and capacity increased to institutionalize nutrition sensitive agriculture in India

In Odisha, CARE India, a national level development organization, has been entrusted as an implementation partner for the TARINA project activities across 72 villages of the two districts of Kandhamal and Kalahandi.
As part of the project design, it has been planned to undertake a comprehensive intervention specific baseline study for establishing benchmarks, where concerned key components of the project could be measured to comprehend the outcomes and impacts that is committed in the project’s result framework. The design of the baseline study has been planned in two parts viz. TARINA Baseline Study (TBS) and TARINA Baseline Study for Interventions (TBSI). The TBS was undertaken by TCI while CARE India as an implementation partner was entrusted to implement TBSI to observe the changes among impact population due to each intervention Read More...

Livelihoods Improvement for Economic Security (LIFE)

CARE in collaboration with TEAVANA, initiated the Livelihood Improvement for Economic Security (LIFE) - Empowering Tribal Small Tea Growers Project with the aim to support, bring social change and economic security in the lives of 1076 tribal small tea growing households. Goal of the project was to improve the productivity and incomes of at least 1,000 tribal households involved in tea cultivation in the Kothagiri and Gudalur taluks of the Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu. For project implementation, CARE partnered with two field organizations – Nilgiris Adivasi Welfare Association (NAWA) and Centre for Tribals and Rural Development (CTRD). [8 pages] Read More...

Impact Evaluation of Climate Change Adaptation for Resilient Small Scale Tea Production Project

The objective of the proposed study is to assess the impact of the climate change adaptation for resilient small scale tea production project with respect to set indicators for improved tea production and make recommendations.

The study had covered 30 percent of the impact population covered under the project for data collection. 150 tribal tea farming households out of 500 tea farmers and 33 hamlets out of 76 hamlets were covered. The desk review of project reports, documents, IEC materials and in depth interview with project staff involved in project development and implementation, physical verification of farms for adoption of best practices using a check list and taking photographs, in-Depth interview with key stakeholders like UPASI, Tea board members and other government line departments involved in the project, structured Interview with the tribal farmer, household members who are members of VLG, received trainings, participated in the programs like demonstration plots, adopted best practices, focused group discussion with VLG male and female members separately to identify challenges faced in adopting the best practices were done as part of the study. [49 pages]
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