Natural Resource Management
Watershed Programme
WCUSS works in the drought prone districts of Anantapur and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. The organization has implemented watershed programmes funded by government through various schemes and also by NABARD. The programmes are implemented in such a way that community owns and develops the plan and WCUSS facilitates in implementing the programme. As the strategy is on participatory planning and implementation, it yields better results and also sustainability on withdrawal of the project.
Activities such as bunding, water harvesting structures, horticulture plantation, afforestation, common land plantations, etc are done
Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihood Project
The Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihood Project (APRLP) is a joint Initiative of Government of Andhra Pradesh and Department for International Development (DFID, UK Government). The aim of APRLP is to work in the rural areas to improve the livelihoods of the poorest people in the rainfed areas and to promote the participation of women in the land based development initiatives and other livelihood initiatives. So the activities were carried out in new watershed areas and also in the ongoing or completed watersheds.
APRLP Watershed Component
WCUSS implemented the programme in 7 new watersheds in Gooty Mandal of Anantapur district. Activities such as restoration of traditional waterbodies, creating of new water harvesting structures, gully control measures, dry land horticulture, irrigated horticulture, tamarind plantations in common lands, etc were implemented.
All these activities were carried out through user groups. Payments were directly released to user groups and horticulture beneficiaries.
The overall budget for the activities were Rs. 30,00,000 per watershed of 500 ha which includes administrative costs, capacity building costs and activity cost. Total worth of the project was Rs 2.10 crore and covered more than 3500 hectares of land
APRLP Livelihood Component
Apart from this, each watersheds were given an amount of Rs 4,00,000 to carry out the livelihood activities. These amounts were directly released to the Village Organisations (VO), who in turn identifies the Self Help Groups (SHG) and Self Help Group members to take up various livelihood activities. The amount remained with the Village organization and the individuals who had taken amount from the SHGs repay it and amount is revolved for various beneficiaries.
Under the project the poorest of poor who were not in the SHGs were identified and were formed into SHGs. Further the SHGs in the village were brought under one umbrella of Village Organisation.
WCUSS implemented the livelihood component in 67 watersheds (57 completed watersheds in Dhone, Peapully and Veldurthy mandals of Kurnool and 10 new watersheds of Gooty mandal of Anantapur District). The total worth of the project is Rs 2.68 crore
Desert Development Programme
Anantapur district is the most drought prone area in India next to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, To combat drought, Desert Development Programme was designed through which watershed activities are carried out. WCUSS implemented 3 watershed projects in Gooty mandal covering about 1500 hectares of land under DDP- Phase 8. These 3 watersheds were further supported with funds from APRLP Livelihood component as well. The total value of the project is Rs. 90 lakhs
Watershed Projects in Andhra Pradesh for DWMA
WCUSS has implemented watershed development projects for DWMA, Government of Andhra Pradesh. The watershed project was implemented in Kurnool district and focused on reducing exploitation of natural resources and providing livelihood opportunities to the landless farmers in the project locations. More than 1500 beneficiaries were covered under the project.
NABARD
NABARD has been supporting implementation of watershed development projects since the inception of Indo-German Watershed Development Programme in India (IGWDP) during 1990s. The participatory watershed development concept and methodology has proved to be a successful initiative in enhancing the productivity, production and improving livelihood security of rural community.
To replicate the initiatives further in the drought prone areas of the country, the Union Finance Minister, in his budget speech for 1999-2000 had announced the creation of a Watershed Development Fund (WDF) in NABARD. WDF comprises a contribution of 100 crore each by Ministry of Agriculture (MoA,) Government of India (GoI) and NABARD.
WCUSS is implementing the NABARD supported watershed programme in six watersheds in Kurnool district.
The key objective of the watershed project was to address agrarian distress in Andhra Pradesh. Watershed management projects have helped to reduce soil erosion and exploitation of natural resources through bio-physical interventions. Robust institutional mechanisms were introduced and maintained which have resulted in the sustainability of bip-physical interventions created under the project. More than 7,900 hectares of land and 3,500 beneficiaries were covered under the project. 1,120 households were covered of which 115 were landless households.
Various activities such as soil conservation, water harvesting, horticultural plantation, afforestation, Nutrition and Pest Management (NPM), livelihoods, etc are being implemented under the NABARD KFW Soil Conservation projects in these watersheds
Strengthening of Agricultural Land in Andhra Pradesh
WCUSS has undertaken a project for strengthening of agricultural land in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh. The project focused on improving land quality by following sustainable agricultural practices. The project was implemented for NABARD and 450 beneficiaries were covered under it.
Awareness Creation on Agricultural Crops and Sustainable Agriculture
WCUSS has implemented an awareness creation project on sustainable agriculture in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, for NABARD. The project focused on imparting knowledge and practices to the beneficiaries on adopting sustainable agricultural practices including water management, suitable crops, cropping patterns, soil moisture conservation, etc. 200 beneficiaries were covered under the project.
Farmers Producer Organisation
WCUSS with support from NABARD is initiating two Farmers Producers Organisation (FPO) in two watershed areas of Dhone, Kurnool. The FPOs will be basically for ground nut, redgram, castor and pulses. WCUSS will help the villagers in these two villages to form Producer Organisation through training, exposure visits, market linkages, value addition, forward and backward linkages etc. WCUSS will also help in ensuring these two producer organisations and are given hand holding support to sustain and scale the business directly to the consumers and avoid the middlemen through better quality produces and value added by- products
Jatropa and Pongamia project of ICRISAT
WCUSS implemented a Jatropha plantation project spread over 430 acres in Midhtur mandal, Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh. The project focused on promoting Jatropha plantation for production of bio diesel which is an eco-friendly fuel. Nearly 1,000 Jatropha plants were planted in 1 acre. The project was implemented for ICRISAT.
Community Based Organisation
WCUSS has been working predominantly in the drought prone areas of Andhra Pradesh District. It has been working in the pockets of Dhone, Peapuly, Veldurthy parts of Kurnool and Gooty of Anantapur. These locations are highly prone to drought and have more of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes. WCUSS has been working very closely with these communities apart from the rural farming community to ensure better livelihoods and also ensure that they are aware of their rights and help them in leading a better life.
WCUSS has carried out various projects to form groups among the women and the under privileged and have done various awareness and capacity building programmes and have helped them improve their livelihoods through various projects
Women Empowerment through SHG Formation
We have implemented women empowerment project for UNDP in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh. The project focused on women empowerment through formation of SHGs. We have formed more than 3000 SHGs covering more than 45,000 beneficiaries under the project. Enterprise promotion and economic empowerment were focused on under the project.
UNDP Project
WCUSS (FRIENDS) implemented the UNDP funded project during the year 1995 to 2002 to form self help groups among women, especially the under privileged, training them on thrift and credit, book keeping, strengthening the groups and create income generation activities. The project was implemented in Peapully and Dhone mandal of Kurnool district
- 3000 SHGs covering 45000 women used to discuss on various issues related to health, education, livelihoods and renewable energy etc that are practiced in their family or village and cross learning happens. This led to better health and education of the children in the village and also better livelihood opportunities for women folks.
- In this project 2000 families were directly involved in using the renewable energy and after seeing their progress, other women and villagers started practicing it
- Information sharing with all community – based organizations, Line- department and other agencies especially Govt. Agencies including energy development of Govt. of A.P. and Govt. Of India.
- The aim was to co-ordinate with other NGOs, and other similar rural organizations to uptake the renewable energy and energy efficiency system for continuous use.
DWCRA and APRLP
WCUSS worked closely with government departments of DRDA and DWMA in Kurnool and Anantapur districts of Andhra Pradesh. Groups were formed predominantly with women folks of the villages. WCUSS worked on 128 villages of which 54 villages for APRLP project which consist of new watershed villages and villages were the watershed programmes were in progress or have been completed.
Women groups were formed and then trained of savings, thrift and credit, booking keeping etc. They were liked to banks and also revolving funds were given from DWCRA. Women SHGs were networked and village level organisations (VO) were formed. Corpus funds were given from APRLP project to the VOs. The women from SHGs were guided in better livelihood activities either as groups or individuals and they were supported with loan from VOs and the banks. This led to betterment of the women in the villages which in turn helped in better education of children and also their health
With the help of UNDP and District Administration, the project implementing agencies promoted block leve and district level federation of SHG’s for better linkages and collaboration. This helped in strengthening the SHG’s better. The concept of SHG’s have now been renowned across the world.
NABARD KFW Soil Projects PFA WCUSS
NABARD Enrich Resources in Watershed areas through Soil Conservation Measures & Community Participation.
Thapalakottur(v), Krishnagiri(m), Karnool(Dt)
UNDP Project
WCUSS (FRIENDS) implemented the UNDP funded project from 1995 to 2002 to form self help groups among women, especially the under privileged, training them on thrift and credit, book keeping, strengthening the groups and create income generation activities. The project was implemented in Peapully and Dhone mandal of Kurnool district
Action Aid project
Action Aid supported WCUSS on a Project”Strengthening Social Mobilisation through a Three Tier Local Institution” for a period of three years. The project was implemented in the mandals of Peapully and Dhone of Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh.
The project was implemented across 96 habitations and resulted in formation of 318 self help groups with 5103 members. All these groups were linked with banks for loans. These groups were also helped in getting the benefit from the government schemes especially from DRDA and DWCRA.
Dalit Empowerment Programme (DEP)
With the support from Action Aid, WCUSS implemented a programme for Dalit Empowerment. Under the programme, Dalit Sammakyas were formed for women and children. They were helped with campaigns to create awareness on their rights, dignity and the schemes and other government programmes where they can get various accessibilities to education, loan, subsidies etc
This helped in improving the living standard of the Dalit’s in the area and also helped in them getting access to all their rights. Helped the children with better enrollment in education institutes
Education Programmes
WCUSS implemented the Residential Bridge Centres in Kurnool district. The project was funded by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan through Aide et Action, an International Non for Profit organization. The programme was focused mainstreaming the school drop outs into the academic line. WCUSS ran eight Residential Bridge Centres (2 in Veldhurty, 2 Dhone, 4 Peapully ) and had approximately 500 children
Other Projects
Rights Based Awareness and Capacity Building
We have done capacity building for beneficiaries on creating rights-based awareness. The project was implemented in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh and reached out to more than 5,000 beneficiaries. The project was implemented for Action Aid.
Sanitation Awareness Campaigns in Andhra Pradesh
Under this project, awareness campaigns were conducted in the community for orienting them on the benefits of sanitation and hygiene. The community was sensitized and made aware for construction of toilets. The project was implemented in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh and benefited 1500 beneficiaries