Lalita Mahto (32) lives with her husband and two children in Rola village, of Gola Block in Ramgarh district, Jharkhand. The primary occupation of her family is agriculture. Spouse of a daily wage labourer, Lalita grew paddy in Kharif season and some vegetables and potatoes during Rabi on her 0.4 acre of land. From buying seeds, and fertilizers, to selling her vegetables and paddy, she had to visit the nearby market. Most of the time, she would take her harvest to the market in the morning and came home after selling them in the evening. But many a times due to fluctuating demands either her vegetables used to remain unsold, or at times she would give away her produce at throwaway prices. Most of the days when she was unable to sell vegetables, not only did she lose money in commuting a distance of 5 kms, but also ended up wasting her time and effort.
Most of the times she would walk down the distance or would depend on her husband for conveyance whenever the produce was too much for her to carry on her own. Lalita shared “मार्किट में बेचने जाओ तो सुबह ही निकलना होता है, आधा पैसा तो गाड़ी भाड़ा में ही चला जाता है... कभी कभी तो कुछ भी नहीं बचता”
During the COVID-19 crisis, her husband, who worked as a wage labourer, remained unemployed. Also, since there was a restricted mobility, it became very difficult to go to market and sell vegetables. One day, while returning home from the market she got to know about an FPO-related meeting from her neighbour. She was eager to know about the purpose and functioning of the FPO, so she attended the meeting. In the meeting she got to know about the services provided by the FPO. She immediately gave INR 500 to the CRP (Community Resource Person) and became a member of Mannonati Mahila Kisan Producer Company Limited (PCL). In the Producer Group (PG) meeting, each member planned for their crop basket and generated their collective indent with the support of FPO supervisors. FPO supervisors and CRPs provided technical assistance and PoP (Package of Practices) training to all the PG members. Surendra, who is the CRP of that area, helped Lalita and her husband to learn about FPO and its services and provided training in agriculture inputs (crops, pest management, and livelihood planning) which gave her confidence that she could utilise her land to its full potential. With continuous support, field visits, and training over time, the member farmers also did collective marketing.
Lalita received seeds of paddy, watermelon, peas, and brinjal seedlings from the FPO at lower than the market price, and right at her doorstep. Also, while selling the harvest, she got full support from the FPO. She earned INR 20,000 in the Kharif season and INR 15,000 in Rabi and INR 13,000 in the summer season, thanks to the FPO marketing support. Lalita Devi says, “अब मुझे बाहर नहीं जाना होता सब्जी बेचने के लिए, मै अपने घर और बाड़ी पर भी ज्यादा ध्यान दे पाती हू साथ ही मुझे पहले से ज्यादा कमाई भी हुयी है” I have now planned to cultivate multiple crops on my land, and earn much more in the process.”
Lalita wants both her sons, Aditya and Vivek, to get enrolled in private school nearby where the quality of education is far better. Sunil, is a regular migrant to cities like Mumbai and Delhi where he works as a daily wage worker. She aspires to open a grocery store for him from the additional income she is started earning from agriculture so that he need not migrate to other cities for work. She also aspires to make a washroom in the near future for her family so that they do not need to go outside for defecation.
All these changes in Lalita’s life have been possible because of the support from the LEAP project supported by the Walmart Foundation. Lalita thanked Mannonati Mahila Kisan PCL for its continuous support and making her believe that agriculture can be seen as an income generation activity.
Edited by: Sudhir Sahni & Souparno Chatterjee, New Delhi
Organization: Professional Assistance for Development Action
Designation: Employment Facilitator
Number of Positions: 1
Locations: 1)Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
PRADAN aims at providing relevant employability skills to young women from its states of operation – Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh- and help them get linked to appropriate employment opportunities. A major destination of employment is in the four southern states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi NCR Region in potential sectors such as manufacturing, automotive, e-commerce, garments, textiles, hospitality, healthcare and retail industry. PRADAN is looking for a person to liaison with employers and young women who are engaged so that they work in a dignified work environment, able to retain themselves and build a long-term career for themselves. The person would be reporting to Integrator, PRADAN.
Key Deliverables:
QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES:
Education
Applicants must have Degree/Post Graduate Degree/ Diploma preferably in Social Sciences, Rural Development/ Management or equivalent, from a reputed institute.
Experience
(1) Minimum 3 to 5 years of experience in rural / urban development / skilling / employability programmes.
(2) Experience of working with employment generation programs is preferable, and not mandatory.
Skills and Competencies:
(1) Good written and oral communication skills in English and functional communication in Hindi and Tamil is preferable
(2) Excellent interpersonal skills
(3) Excellent team skills
(4) Willing to travel
COMPENSATION OFFERED
Compensation offered to the selected candidate shall be commensurate with qualifications, experience, and past salary history.
LOCATION
The job requires the person to be on the go; can operate from Coimbatore but should be willing to visit the employment facilities on a regular basis.
Founded in 1983, PRADAN has been at the forefront of innovations in rural development and has played a significant role in the design and implementation improvement of major rural development programmes. Given the deep deprivation in rural pockets, particularly among tribal and vulnerable groups, we promote sustainable livelihoods, integrated with work on issues of Gender, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Climate Change, Skilling and Governance. We currently work across 8 states, reaching out to 2.8 million households in collaboration with more than 100 NGO partners. PRADAN is an equal opportunity organisation. To learn more, please visit us at: www.pradan.net.
As an Executive (Communications), the incumbent is supposed to be a knowledgeable, self-motivated and passionate individual with a creative bent of mind. The major focus area would be to promote and help flourish the practice of reflective writing and process documentation. The role involves content generation, curation, presentation and publication of articles for internal forums and external agencies including mainstream media. The person will also be responsible for organising training events for the same. Creating and implementing the media strategy to showcase PRADAN’s successes and challenges will be another key aspect of the position.
The qualifying degree is a minimum of 16 years of education (A Master’s degree in English literature, or any other social science stream).
A degree or diploma in Mass Communication from a reputed institute is preferred
Nature of Engagement: Regular position with a probation period of six months.
Remuneration: Based on qualification and experience the CTC would be in the range of INR 8 to 10 lakhs per annum. The CTC includes basic pay and other allowances. Apart from this, provision of deferred benefits such as PF, Gratuity, NPS, Insurance (Term life insurance, hospitalization insurance for self and dependents and accident insurance policy) are provided.
Place of posting: In PRADAN locations (possibly district town or state capital)
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Those shortlisted will be invited to a selection process in Noida, tentatively in the first week of September 2024.
PRADAN is an equal opportunity employer. Women candidates are encouraged to apply.
Interested candidates with the relevant background and fulfilling the eligibility criteria are visit our website https://www.pradan.net/join-us/#careers and fill the ‘Application for Executive (Communications)’.Applications close by August 31, 2024.