Over half the cultivated area in Andhra Pradesh depends on rainfall, although the State is prone to drought. A sustainable livelihoods approach to watershed development could prove a useful strategy for the development of this and other dryland areas.

The Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project (APRLP) was supported by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), as a joint venture with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Government of India. It contributed to a refocus of the government-led watershed development programme in Andhra Pradesh and nationally. Watershed development refers to the harmonised conservation, regeneration and use of land, water, plant and animal resources.

The author describes how DFID supported a change in focus from water and soil conservation to a sustainable rural livelihoods (SRL) strategy.

Starting in five drought-prone districts in 1999, the APRLP expanded to the state’s other seventeen districts in 2004. With the introduction of the SRL approach, the project moved away from schemes benefiting male landowners to supporting the livelihoods of previously marginalised people. This includes women, landless people, landholders who struggle to cultivate on small areas of poor land, and those who undertake wage labour, graze livestock and/or make use of common forest or scrubland products.

In the 5 districts where work began in 1999, APRLP has offered support to 2,000 ongoing and completed watershed programmes and 500 new ones, directly benefiting 300,000 poor and vulnerable people and a further 1.2 million indirectly.

During initial planning, emphasis was placed on participatory processes to establish existing livelihood options as well as land and water-use, and to ensure the inclusion of poor people. Negotiation with villagers, to establish what needed to be done, and establishing Watershed Associations and Village Organisations (VOs) was time-consuming. However, resisting pressure to put watershed structures into place without consultation was essential for building local ownership.

APRLP has watershed development at its core, but has involved additional activities:

• dairy farming and horticulture
• savings and credit programmes
• social mobilisation and capacity building of community-based organisations and self-help groups, often in conjunction with non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
• lesson learning, policy influence and promotion of the national watershed guidelines to sustainable natural resources management (the guidelines were intended to simplify procedures and involve local government institutions in planning, implementing and managing economic development activities in rural areas)
• ensuring state and local officials work cooperatively and build links with other development programmes
• participatory technology development.

Gender equity has been a key concern. Local management of the previous watershed programme used to be controlled by male landowners. VOs, made up of women’s self-help groups, have since taken over in many places. However, APRLP managers were determined that the initiative should not be seen as a ‘women’s programme’, and actively encouraged male participation, recognising that interventions for women often fail because the power and social relationships between women and men are not taken into account.

The reports stress that:

• APRLP has never been a stand-alone project, so the impact will not fade when the donor funding ends.
• Gender priorities are not just relevant for villages: the way people behave, write and speak in their offices reflects their view of gender so more effort is needed to ensure that women are treated fairly at all levels and their skills valued
• Human resource management and development is vital to ensure staff remain enthusiastic.
• Local – rather than state-level or national – NGOs are best placed to work with communities.

Source(s):
‘Lessons Learnt From the Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project: 1998-2007’, by Janet Seeley, October 2007 (PDF) Full document.
‘The Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project: An Overview’, by Write-Arm and the Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project, Bangalore, 2007 (PDF) Full document.

Funded by: UK Department for International Development (DFID)

id21 Research Highlight: 27 April 2008

Further Information:
Janet Seeley
School of Development Studies
University of East Anglia
Norwich, NR4 7TJ
UK

Tel: +44 1603 593370
Fax: +44 1603 451999
Contact the contributor: j.seeley@uea.ac.uk

School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, UK

Office of the Commissioner
Rural Development
5th Floor, Hermitage Office Complex
Hill Fort Road
Saifabad
Hyderbad-04
India

Tel: + 91 40 23298903
Fax: + 91 40 23243518
Contact the contributor: comm_rd@ap.gov.in

Office of the Commissioner Rural Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, India

Other related links:
'Watershed development: what’s in it for India’s rural poor?'

'Confluence of interests. Object lessons from India in participatory watershed management'

'The sustainable livelihoods approach to project design: does it work?'