Manipur State Rural Livelihood Mission

Veddis under its Governance for policy Action Transformation and Innovation (GATI) initiative partnered with the Manipur State Rural Livelihood Mission (MSRLM). Veddis-MSRLM partnership intends to maximize policy implementation through tech and data-driven governance. The partnership aims to improve the governance of the SRLM for efficient project roll-out and effective public service delivery. It will focus on the expansion to hill districts which have been largely excluded. It will pivot around strengthening community institutions, empowering SHG women, and enabling improvement in the standard of living for more than 50,000 rural households.

With setting up a governance Program Management Unit in Imphal since Nov 2022. We will be working closely with MSRLM toward systemic gaps assessment and advocate for policy changes to strengthen processes.

Challenges
Manipur State Rural Livelihood Mission (MSRLM) under the Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Department, Government of Manipur is an autonomous organization registered as a society. MSRLM started its operations in 2014 and presently is functional in all 16 districts of Manipur. However, there are multiple systemic gaps that have limited the program expansion and efficient project implementation.
- Limited reach in Hill districts: Out of 16 districts in Manipur, 7 are valley districts and 9 are hill. Tribals constitute 41% of Manipur’s population and are mostly concentrated in hill districts, despite being one of the most vulnerable & marginalized, these HHs are not yet included in the MSRLM fold. Since its inception, MSRLM has mobilized 51,398 households (HHs) under 4648 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) but only 14% of the MSRLM SHGs are mobilized from hill districts. Of the total 314 Village Level Federations (VLFs) in Manipur, only 10% are in hill districts. There is a complete absence of CLFs in hill districts.
- Decentralized and Planned Capacity Building Mechanism: Capacity Building is mostly facilitated directly by the State Mission Management Unit. Except for the two resource blocks, training is not decentralized in MSRLM. There is neither any training calendar nor training assessment tools. Except for Churachandpur, no beneficiary training has been organized in any of the hill districts.
- Financial Inclusion Challenges: Out of 4648 SHGs 38% have not received Revolving Fund (RF) and 51% have not received CIF. As per NRLM guidelines, an SHG becomes eligible for Community Investment Fund (CIF) after it has received RF and has effectively utilized the amount for inter-loaning among the associated SHG members. However, there is data evidence that proves that the guidelines are not followed properly (Out of 428 SHGs in Churachandpur (hill district) 28% have received RF and 37% have received CIF).
- Inadequate Human Resource (HR) Availability: The Human resource availability at MSRLM, especially in Hill districts is inadequate. Out of the provision for 12-15 personnel per district, 1-2 staff are present in each of the hill districts.