SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY

Background

Importance of Exit/ Sustainability Strategy (SS) is receiving both attention and emphasise in IFAD Projects, as an excellent performing Project can fail to move further on in the event of SS not put in place, thereby failing to clinch long terms objectives of the Project or IFAD itself. All IFAD Projects do mention and talk of Sustainability Strategy, but perhaps adequate intensity of emphasise is missing in many cases. Therefore the need to pay adequate attention and put in place a timely Sustainability Strategy is the need of the hour.

North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP) is consistently preparing for SS since 2005 (it would have done much better had we start preparing the same much ahead or even better right from the beginning of the Project)

Sustainability Strategy is understood as follows:

a) Sustainability and further growth of Project intervention/ activities like Agri, Horti, Livestock, etc.
b) Culturelisation of Project or IFAD principles/ approach into the culture, values and traditions of  intervened and communities.
c) Sustainability of the Institutions established.
While the above three are crucial and intimately form part of Sustainability Strategy, our concern and focus is on point (c) namely Sustainability of Institutions. This is so as we believe the follwoing:

a) Project intervention spread over 7 to 8 years is indeed short and may not prove adequate to re- engineer new approach and values vis-à-vis all approach development handed over down decades and even centuries.
b) Once Institutional operation and arrangement is discontinued, fading of all hard work output/ outcome can happen in no time. In other words unless we keep up with an Institutional arrangement, the impacts sustained will be ununiformed and mixed situation which at times may be even hazy.

Rationale for Sustainability Strategy

Rationale for Exit Strategy is summed up as follows: All our interventions and initiatives need to be both sustained and grow further.
 

• To replicate / upscale all our interventions within project villages.
• To replicate the good, successful outcomes in non project villages, so that maximum possible cascading effect is realised.
• Continue to be the window as different Organizations, Institutions and entities prefer to interact with limited and specific windows. Needless to say, this way things get systematic, simplified, clear and highly time/effort saving. NERCORMP obviously needs to keep our two Windows opened even in post Project phase namely Regional Society (RS) and District Societies (DS) so that transactions/interactions continue with different relevant actors/players long after it is ended.
• To re-intervene on those families who could not make appreciable progress in the first round.

Institutions

The main institutions we have in the Project are as follows: -

•  SHGs (Self Help Groups)
• NaRMGs (Natural Resource Management Groups)
• SHG Federations
• NaRMG Associations
• District Society (the Apex Body in a District)

The above Institutions will continue with suitable additional/ modification wherever required to be reviewed from time to time. It is increasingly becoming clear that, economic factor is going to be Paramount driving force for all these Institutions/organizations and groups to both stay together and further move on. We shall continue to have the District Society (DS) in the all the districts. The key features of District Society (DS) assess will be as follows:

a) to serve as the window through which other institution/ organization and even donors can enter and operate with the community in the districts.
b) To provide broad guidance and policy to all its units from time to time as per emerging requirements.
c) To shoulder the responsibility of taken up such issues and matter which otherwise is not possible with individual members.
d) It will also function as lobby/ pressure group.
e) It will take step to reach out and benefit other non-Project villages with its lessons learnt by and by
f) It will also have business/ marketing objectives and facilitating other opportunity for its units/ members.

Organisational Structure

It will essentially have two components

a) The District Society (DS)
b) Management Team

The District Society (DS)
Membership Stakeholders shall be as follows:

Associations/Federations Representatives (Majority share / Stakeholders).
Govt. departments and Agencies (who may eventually wither away)
NGO Representatives who will also facilitates for gradual takeover by communities).

Project Management Team
Restructured DST obviously will be a small team in view of limited resource which DS will have at its command and also its function will be to a large extend toned down after the project ends.

Regional Society: Regional Society with a small Project Management Team at Shillong also will continue. There would be modification and changes in the composition of Board Members. The objectives will be to have more Community Representatives even though there will not be overwhelming majority as envisage for District Society (DS). It will continue to serve as the Regional window. It will also source fund on its own for sustenance.

NGOs
Partner NGOs in present form have been both strategic and crucial partner in implementation of NERCROMP. We have been associated with 50 partners NGOs. While some of them have handed over management back to the communities and some of them are still with us. They will indeed form very vital and crucial part in SS. We envisage a role of NGOs in the ollowing manners:-

• Some selected NGOs members will be members of District Society.
• They will provide services to the Communities according to their area of specialization from time to time as per requirement.
• NGOs will also continue to guide and support the communities / villages, which otherwise would be their own Organization's mandates and objectives.
• They will also be similar windows alongside with DS to various other relevant organization, Financial Institutions, Business, firms/partners etc.

Funding
Funding will continue to be a key factor indeed for Sustainability Strategy. All possible resources be explored to ensure regular fund/ revenue flow to District Society (DS) in order to sustain and progress. Following are the possible source/ revenue.

•  A corpus fund to be kept with DS by project in every district.
• Contribution by each household towards DS be encouraged from anything between Rs. 50 & Rs. 100 per annum to run DS.
• To explore funding possibility for DS, Govt. organisation, donors etc. atleast for a few years following closure of Project.
• Any possible role of Intermediary for Govt. Projects where DS can avail certain services charges.

Resource
Centre A resource centre in each district which will house both office and a training centre particularly for post project phase needs to be raised. Setting up of this resource centre can be explored from Govt. funding support and from other organization.

Recommendations and Suggestions:

1. Exit/ Sustainability Strategy should be emphasised right from the beginning of the Project. According to unique needs and situations, each Project is likely to have a different Exit Strategy. There is the need to work forward and backward to attain Sustainability Strategy.
2. Regular and persistent exercise on this involving stake holders like IFAD/ UNOPS, GoI and State Governments be conducted from time to time.
3. It would be worthwhile to come into a point of agreement between participating Govts. and IFAD right from the beginning on Sustainability Strategy. Also it will be important to inbuild in Project Appraisal itself and keep aside a limited fund to continue a small dedicated Project Management Team for a specific limited time even in post project phase, with the eventual aim of fully handing over the Society to the communities.