The workshop archive

West Champaran, Bihar · Degona, Jhakra, Baikunthwa, Pakadiya, Bahuarwa, Jagdishpur Block

35 participants: community members, SHGs, programme coordinators and associates, trainers, animators, management and governing body members.

The organisation

Founded in 1987 by a volunteer from Barefoot College Tilonia, in a remote village in impoverished Champaran, ALOK works on education and enterprise, regenerative agriculture and livelihoods. It runs night schools and solar-powered agri enterprises on the Barefoot College approach, and has started composting as a service, turmeric processing, Kisan Seva Kendras and mixed farming. Back from a hiatus after COVID, the new governing body wanted self-sustaining livelihood work independent of funding, which led them to GLIDE.

Field visit

Three villages in Nautan block. Bihar is densely populated, with roughly one Panchayat every five kilometres and about 12,000 people in 2,000 households. Villagers mostly farm vegetables, paddy and lentils. Most households keep one or two buffaloes; some do goatery, a few desi poultry. Migration is extremely high, with almost 80 percent of families sending their men to factories in Haryana and elsewhere. A visible sense of hopelessness, as climate change sends farm incomes down.

How the workshop went

Participants were grouped by village and asked to describe their dream village, then how long it would take to become real. The question that challenged them was what the village could do if neither government nor industry was interested. The unanimous answer was that they should stop paying taxes and become more and more self-employed. That led to listing 27 elements needed for any business.

What they found

• 61 skills listed, of which 52 can earn a livelihood without migrating
• 88 uncultivated and 89 cultivated raw materials: 177 types in all
• An average household of 6 on half an acre with two crops and one cow earned at most ₹2,27,000 a year
• The same household spent at least ₹39,700 a month, or ₹4,76,400 a year
• The Panchayat of 2,000 households was spending ₹95.28 crore a year
• 210 factory-made packaged goods accounted for it, with each household ₹2,49,400 a year over its earnings, met through revolving credit and generational debt
• The Panchayat was paying ₹10.96 crore a year in GST: far more than it received back in schemes, MNREGA and freebies

What they did

They found they already had the skills to make 46 of the 210 products. They formed 8 groups and chose 8 products they knew how to make from locally available raw material, together replacing goods worth ₹5.28 crore a year within just 2,000 households. The Panchayat realised it had the potential to become a supermarket in its own right.

Sri Sathya Sai District, Andhra Pradesh · Chennekothapalli, Kothacheruvu, Puttapathi, Roddam, Parigi, Ramagiri, Kanaganapalli, Penukonda, Somedapalli

35 participants: CEOs, directors and team members of 4 mutually aided cooperatives and their federation, programme leads and coordinators, field cadre, executive director and secretary.

The organisation

Founded in 1990 on 32 acres in a remote village in Ananthapur district by Bablu, Mary and their friend John, Timbaktu Collective now partners about 40,000 families across 347 villages in 14 mandals. It focuses on local leadership and has promoted member-owned organisations of marginalised people registered under the AP Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Act. Nine cooperatives exist; as of March 2025 their combined net worth stood at ₹77 crore. The Swashakti programme has promoted four women-led cooperatives forming the Mahashakti Federation, which in 2025–26 distributed ₹50.38 crore in loans to 7,973 women members, including ₹8.04 crore in business loans to 1,188 members.

How the workshop went

The workshop opened on the challenge of retaining youth in the villages. Participants felt confident at first, since the cooperatives had money and members could borrow. But asked where the borrowed money went, they were clueless, and asked how those loan-funded businesses were faring, the response was lukewarm. Deliberation showed that chasing a remote economy makes farmers vulnerable to shifting demand and to competing with each other, both pushing prices down. The discussion moved to cooperatives seeing themselves not only as producers but as consumers, and designing livelihoods for local rather than remote markets.

What they found

• 121 skills listed, of which 66 can earn a livelihood without migrating
• 173 uncultivated and 184 cultivated raw materials: 355 types in all
• An average household of 5 on three acres with two crops and two cattle earned at most ₹3,08,000 a year
• The same household spent at least ₹63,000 a month, or ₹7,56,000 a year
• A village of 300 households was spending ₹22.68 crore a year
• 443 factory-made packaged goods accounted for it, with each household ₹4,48,000 a year over its earnings
• The village was paying ₹2.91 crore a year in GST

What they did

They already had the skills to make 200 of the 443 products. Ten groups formed and chose 10 products with free uncultivated raw material available locally, replacing goods worth ₹61.08 lakh a year within 300 households. With each cooperative holding around 2,000 farmer members, they had a combined consumer base of over 9,000 families, the cooperatives had the potential to become supermarkets themselves.

Kalaburagi and Yadgir, Karnataka · 156 villages across Sedam, Chincholi, Kalgi, Aland, Chittapur, Afzalpur, Yadgir, Shahapur and Shorapur blocks

33 participants: CEOs, coordinators and activators of 7 Farmer Producer Organisations, plus field information officer, MIS assistant, accountant, project manager, field director and field officer.

The organisation

Founded over two decades ago on the belief that small producers deserve to prosper and live resilient, dignified lives, Vrutti (an offshoot of Catalyst Management Services) strengthens the economic ecosystems of farmers, fishers, nano-entrepreneurs and artisans through tested, data-backed models combining digital innovation with deep field engagement. A recent project has them pursuing 15,000 resilient and wealthy small farmers through 11 FPOs across 8 districts of Karnataka.

Field visit

Dharmapur, population 2,000 in 350 households, average landholding four acres, grows red gram, wheat, vegetables and flowers, water table good at 150 feet. Around 2 percent are landless, 30 percent own buffaloes and 30 percent goats and sheep. Yields have improved but rising input costs have cut profits. Migration is increasing: 70 percent of households have one or two youth working in factories in other Karnataka cities, and 30 percent of families have already left. In Azadpur, a young experimental farmer doing multi-cropping with organic methods has shown that good market and demand analysis can produce year-round income without depending on market forces. In Petsharur, an FPO processes red gram into dal for the wholesale market.

How the workshop went

The workshop opened on the challenges the FPO staff faced in meeting their targets. They initially felt they had met 40 percent of their objectives and could reach the rest in two or three years. After listing 27 challenges they realised that the harder they pushed towards the goal, the further it slipped away.

What they found

• 65 skills listed, of which 46 can earn a livelihood without migrating
• 86 uncultivated and 111 cultivated raw materials: 197 types in all
• An average household of 5 on four acres with one crop and a migrating member earned at most ₹2,63,000 a year
• The same household spent at least ₹38,000 a month, or ₹4,56,000 a year
• A village of 300 households was spending ₹13.68 crore a year
• 348 factory-made packaged goods accounted for it, with each household ₹1,93,000 a year over its earnings
• The village was paying ₹2.12 crore a year in GST

What they did

They already had the skills to make 152 of the 348 products. Nine groups formed around 9 products with free local raw material, replacing goods worth ₹1.68 crore a year within 300 households. With 750 farmer members each, the seven FPOs had a combined base of 5,250 families.

Deoria, Uttar Pradesh · Badhya Buzurg, across 5 tolas

30 participants: prospective rural entrepreneurs, mentors, migrated youth, farmers, men and women young and old, Udyam cores from Ballia and Deoria, Amrit Prayas, the bioregional centre of excellence, and the marketing team.

The organisation

Founded 17 years ago on the belief that entrepreneurship can transform individuals, communities and nations, Jagriti Enterprise Centre Purvanchal has worked to spark an entrepreneurial movement in the tier 2 and tier 3 districts of Uttar Pradesh. It has incubated over 400 enterprises, touched 26,000 livelihoods and created over 2,000 jobs, making it the largest small-town incubator in the state. Its bioregional centre covers seven districts, and it works in 1,000 villages in Deoria alone.

Field visit

Badhya Buzurg, population 10,000 in 2,000 households, grows wheat, paddy and vegetables. Yields have improved but rising input costs have cut profits. Some families do goatery and cattle rearing, and a private dairy collects milk. Nearby factories employ some village women. Migration is increasing, with almost every family having one or two youth working in factories in other states, and 25 families already gone. Despite Jagriti's 400-plus startups, mentors were struggling to retain youth and to make the startups sustainable. Khoraram, smaller and on the highway, has more businesses but faster migration, with migrated youth living in difficult circumstances as daily labour, and no active SHGs.

How the workshop went

The workshop opened on why parents push their children to migrate. Participants said they knew their migrated family members were suffering and falling into bad habits, but depended on their income. Bringing migrated youth back would be hard given their changed lifestyle, but if respectable and sustainable livelihoods existed locally, they would happily keep their adolescent children in the village.

What they found

• 68 skills listed, of which 53 can earn a livelihood without migrating
• 127 uncultivated and 65 cultivated raw materials: 192 types in all
• An average household of 5 on half an acre with two crops and a migrating member earned at most ₹1,95,000 a year
• The same household spent at least ₹41,500 a month, or ₹4,98,000 a year
• A village of 2,000 households was spending ₹99.60 crore a year
• 206 factory-made packaged goods accounted for it, with each household ₹3,03,000 a year over its earnings
• The village was paying ₹9.96 crore a year in GST

What they did

They already had the skills to make 98 of the 206 products. Seven groups formed around 7 products, replacing goods worth ₹4.87 crore a year within 2,000 households.

Khunti and Ranchi, Jharkhand · 33 villages across Torpa, Karra and Ormanjhi blocks

43 participants: Lok Preraks (field workers), mentors, Panchayat members and enterprising youth from the community.

The organisation

The Deendayal Gram Swavalamban Yojana aims to make villages self-reliant, providing skill development, horticulture and employment opportunities under MNREGA, especially for women, and strengthening the Gram Sabha. Launched in 2018–19 by the Rural Development Department under then MNREGA Commissioner Siddharth Tripathi, the pilot started in Khunti district targeting 760 villages, with an emphasis on rural development and water conservation. Major activities include horticulture promotion, the Birsa Green Village Scheme and self-employment under MNREGA.

Field visit

Chhota Urikel in Karra block, population 300 in 73 tribal households, grows paddy and vegetables. Twenty-eight farmers run drip irrigation and 19 have moved to organic farming. Stone cutting is a major livelihood. Only 30 percent of the land is cultivable, being hill country, and irrigation is through wells. Water conservation has raised the water table and drip irrigation has cut waste, raising cultivable land to 80 percent with crops year round. Even so migration is rising and 10 families have left. Roro in Torpa block, population 450 in 100 households, has seen strong work in horticulture, sal plantation and lac production, with group livelihoods in livestock, vermicompost, cow-urine bio-fertiliser and honey. All SHGs are financially active, but migration with families is increasing and market linkage is very hard.

How the workshop went

The workshop opened on the rising rate of migration and the challenges the Gram Swavalamban team faced. The primary reasons were a lack of non-farming livelihood options and, above all, a lack of market linkage for both farm produce and non-farm products. Participants said their communities would happily stay if they had a respectable, sustainable livelihood locally.

What they found

• 127 skills listed, of which 94 can earn a livelihood without migrating
• 148 uncultivated and 155 cultivated raw materials: 303 types in all
• An average household of 5 on two acres with one crop and a migrating member earned at most ₹1,12,000 a year in Khunti and ₹2,54,000 in Ormanjhi
• The same household spent at least ₹5,73,600 a year in Khunti and ₹3,04,800 in Ormanjhi
• A cluster of 500 households was spending ₹28.68 crore a year in Khunti and ₹15.24 crore in Ormanjhi
• 297 factory-made packaged goods accounted for it
• The Khunti cluster was paying ₹2.86 crore and the Ormanjhi cluster ₹1.52 crore a year in GST

What they did

They already had the skills to make 119 of the 297 products. Fourteen groups formed around 14 products with free local raw material, replacing goods worth ₹2.10 crore a year across 500 households.

Shahjahanpur and Badaun, Uttar Pradesh · Ningohi and Kuttar blocks

20 participants: field coordinators, field executives, FPO representatives and enterprising women from the community.

The organisation

Grameen Foundation India works across six districts of Uttar Pradesh, empowering farmers by creating Farmer Producer Organisations. In three years it has created 31 FPOs with 18,000 farmers in those districts. Most are trading agricultural inputs and produce; some have begun value addition, producing edible products from farm output.

Field visit

Uderna in Ningohi block, population 4,000 in 800 households, grows wheat, paddy, sugarcane, mustard and vegetables. Some families do goatery and dairy, averaging two cattle giving twelve litres a day, four for the household and eight for sale. There is jaggery making, tailoring and knitting for local markets. About twenty women's SHGs make masala, papad and pickle sold at city exhibitions, and three SC SHGs make chappals from Kanpur raw material on a buy-back arrangement. The district's ODOP is Zari Zardozi, but selling it is very difficult. Every product faces marketing and sourcing challenges. The only government scheme reaching them is pension, and MNREGA runs ten days per family a year. Around 12.5 percent of families have migrated to cities. Rath in Kuttar block, population 2,000 in 500 households, has no secondary livelihoods at all, few cattle, only seven SHGs doing lending, and almost 70 percent migration, mostly to automobile factories in Haryana. No government schemes or pension. Absolute hopelessness among the villagers.

How the workshop went

Participants were split into three groups (community, field staff creating FPOs, and management) and given one question: the challenges they met in enabling rural livelihoods. The exercise was not to debate or solve but to find the common thread. What emerged was that rural livelihoods were being designed only for urban markets and demand. Asked whether that had arrested migration, the answer was unanimously no. A change of perspective was badly needed.

What they found

• 65 skills listed, of which 57 can earn a livelihood without migrating
• 82 uncultivated and 135 cultivated raw materials: 217 types in all
• An average household of 5 on two acres with two crops and a migrating member earned at most ₹1,46,000 a year
• The same household spent at least ₹39,200 a month, or ₹4,70,400 a year
• A village of 500 households was spending ₹23.52 crore a year
• 350 factory-made packaged goods accounted for it, with each household ₹3,24,400 a year over its earnings
• The village was paying ₹2.35 crore a year in GST

What they did

The villagers already had the skills to make 85 of the 350 products. Four groups formed around 4 products, replacing goods worth ₹63 lakh a year within 500 households.

Melukote and Mandya, Karnataka · Banangadi, Ragimuddanahalli, Dudda, Sunkathonnur, Mandya, Melukote, Padavapura, Maddur, Malavalli, Srirangapatna

36 participants from Buzz Women and Puttannaih Foundation field staff, plus 19 observers from 12 CSOs including Rainmatter, PRADAN, Lipok Foundation, Transform Rural India Foundation, CEEW, Jagriti Foundation, DASRA, Socrates, KRRS, NRLM, SAAHAS and Anode Governance Lab.

The organisation

Rainmatter Foundation has been building a consortium of CSO partners working towards a circular green rural economy. The consortium, GramEEE, comprises ten partner CSOs and is supported by DASRA, aiming to produce a handbook that helps CSOs design rural livelihood interventions around local production for local consumption. Buzz Women India, one of its members, helps rural women start livelihoods without migrating, and has partnered Puttannaih Foundation in Melukote for home-based livelihoods.

Field visit

Chandagalu and Hongenahalli Panchayats showed the contrast between rainfed and irrigated land. The rainfed zone grew traditional crops while the irrigated zone was shifting rapidly to sugarcane. Cattle rearing was common and other livelihoods were being explored. The most alarming finding was migration: half of all families had one member working in a city factory, and 25 to 30 percent had migrated as whole families.

How the workshop went

The workshop opened on the high rate of migration and the difficulty organisations had addressing it. Participants listed causes including project-based approaches and short timelines, the difficulty of getting livelihoods adopted when immediate financial viability is unclear, missing knowledge of emerging crops and livelihoods, weak market linkage, absent actionable guidance, natural farming being labour intensive and less profitable, fear of failure among CSOs, money and people leaving the villages, weak financial literacy, poor facilitation, missing convergence and accessible services, livelihood uncertainty, high expectations of NGOs, low community ownership, weak trust within communities and with CSOs, and degrading natural resources.

What they found

• 110 skills listed, of which 91 can earn a livelihood without migrating
• 139 uncultivated and 169 cultivated raw materials: 308 types in all
• An average household of 4 on one acre with two crops and a migrating member earned at most ₹70,000 a year in Melukote and ₹1,11,000 in Mandya
• The same household spent at least ₹2,67,600 a year in Melukote and ₹2,92,800 in Mandya
• A village of 250 households was spending ₹6.69 crore a year in Melukote and ₹7.32 crore in Mandya
• 325 factory-made packaged goods accounted for it
• Melukote was paying ₹66.9 lakh and Mandya ₹73.2 lakh a year in GST

What they did

They already had the skills to make 139 of the 325 products. Eleven groups formed around 11 products, replacing goods worth ₹1.83 crore a year within 250 households.

Dang, Gujarat · Jakhana and Wangan Panchayats, Dang block

30 participants: farmers aged 20 to 50, cattle, poultry and dairy owners, shopkeepers, other professions and students.

The organisation

AKRSP(I) is a programme of the Aga Khan Development Network, which works in over 30 countries. In India it has supported communities in over 3,255 villages across Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra, reaching over 3.5 million people. Over 80 percent of the households it touches are tribal, dalit or minority, and over 60 percent of beneficiaries are women. It began in Dang in 2009, focusing on watershed development, irrigation and vegetable farming.

Field visit

Dang is a mainly tribal district with a majority Bhil population. Forests cover 54 percent of the land and only 34 percent is arable, of which just 13 percent is irrigated. Continuous erosion has left topsoil only an inch and a half to two inches deep, cutting yields to 40 percent of the national average per acre. The migration picture is severe: 65 percent of the district migrates to Maharashtra and Surat as agricultural labour, families leaving for four to six months a year, with trucks lining the highways daily. The region has a distinctive form of money lending in which Mukaddams double as labour contractors and loans are repaid through bonded labour. They prefer lending to couples rather than individuals, since that yields two bonded labourers for one loan, which has driven a rise in child marriage and teenage pregnancy. Dang was declared an organic district five years ago, ending chemical inputs without any support or subsidy for organic ones. AKRSP deliberately chose one progressive village and one impoverished one to test whether GLIDE worked in both.

How the workshop went

The workshop opened on the high rate of migration and its causes. Participants said the region offered little opportunity and farming did not cover expenses, while inconsistent climate added financial insecurity. Forced migration far outweighed aspirational migration, and given the choice they would much rather have a respectable local livelihood. Asked what they needed to start one, they said skill training first, but when asked which skill, they were stumped. The journey then turned to looking at what they already had.

What they found

• 82 skills listed, of which 74 can earn a livelihood without migrating
• 300 uncultivated and 156 cultivated raw materials: 456 types in all
• An average household of 5 on one acre with one crop and a migrating member earned at most ₹1,01,900 a year in Jakhana and ₹66,500 in Wangan
• The same household spent at least ₹3,70,800 a year in Jakhana and ₹1,38,000 in Wangan
• Jakhana's 300 households were spending ₹11.12 crore a year and Wangan's 150 households ₹2.07 crore
• 442 factory-made packaged goods accounted for it
• Jakhana was paying ₹1.65 crore and Wangan ₹28.8 lakh a year in GST

What they did

They already had the skills to make 43 of the 442 products. Ten groups formed around 10 products with free local raw material, replacing goods worth ₹44.44 lakh a year within 200 households.

Nayagarh and Ganjam, Odisha · 14 villages across 6 Panchayats in Nuagaon and Jagannathprasad blocks

25 participants: farmers aged 30 to 50, Gram Vikas Sathis, Jeebika Mitras, Krushak Sathis, a mason, shopkeepers and students.

The organisation

Started as a student voluntary mission by Madras University students in 1971 and established as Gram Vikas in 1979, it is one of Odisha's pioneering organisations. In nearly five decades it has reached over six lakh people in 1,700 villages through work in water management, sanitation and health, habitat and technology, village institutions, education and youth, livelihoods and disaster response.

Field visit

Rudhapadar block in Ganjam district has its population spread around hills, with many hamlets making up a village and about 120 households within a five kilometre radius. Gram Vikas has worked here since 1988 on green energy, water conservation, improved agriculture and sanitation, distributing coconut, cashew and banana saplings to improve nutrition. Livelihoods work started only five years ago. The field visit saw mushroom cultivation, grain dehusking and nursery cultivation by SHGs, with Gram Vikas the prime buyer for the nursery. The real hurdle is access to finance, since villagers are reluctant to repay loans and Gram Vikas as guarantor has to fill the gap. Migration is rising and is considered respectable, since migrated youth are seen as more eligible for marriage.

How the workshop went

Since Rudhapadar had not yet been taken into the Gram Vikas Sathi Fellowship approach, it was an ideal place to test GLIDE and compare results. The workshop opened on rising migration and its causes. Participants admitted that farming had become high risk and loss making, and that inconsistent climate added insecurity. Given a chance they would much rather have a respectable local livelihood.

What they found

• 78 skills found, of which 64 can earn a livelihood without migrating
• 102 uncultivated and 136 cultivated raw materials: 238 types in all
• An average household of 5 on two acres with two crops and one member migrated earned ₹1,96,000 a year
• The same household spent at least ₹31,700 a month, or ₹3,80,400 a year
• A cluster of 120 households was spending ₹4.56 crore a year
• 310 factory-made packaged goods accounted for it, with each household ₹1,84,400 a year over its earnings
• Each cluster of 120 households was paying ₹60.76 lakh a year in GST, an average of ₹50,640 per household

What they did

They already had the skills to make 86 of the 310 products. Five groups formed around 5 products, replacing goods worth ₹20.23 lakh a year within 120 households.

Akola, Maharashtra · Adgaon Khurd, Akot block

30 participants: farmers aged 30 to 50, village leaders, SHG presidents and project coordinators.

The organisation

Founded in 1995 by a group of agricultural scientists with rural backgrounds, CARD works on natural resource management, women's empowerment, agriculture-based livelihoods with market linkage, and institutional capacity building of farmer groups and SHGs across the West Vidarbha region. It has worked with over 10,000 farmer families in 70 villages.

Field visit

Adgaon Khurd, population 2,000 in 400 households, led by the Laxmi Mata Society farmers' group. The field visit covered farming, dairy, tailoring, a grocery shop and a flour mill. Some farmers were switching from wheat and soyabean to sweet sorghum for ethanol production, which fetches a good contract price.

How the workshop went

The workshop opened on aspirations, benefits and challenges in livelihoods. Everyone agreed that owning land is primary since all livelihoods connect to it, but also admitted that farming had become high risk and loss making, with inconsistent climate adding insecurity. The need for additional respectable local livelihoods was strongly felt and they were ready for it.

What they found

• 45 skills found, of which 39 can earn a livelihood without migrating
• 111 uncultivated and 160 cultivated raw materials: 271 types in all
• An average household of 5 on two acres with two crops earned ₹1,86,000 a year
• The same household spent at least ₹38,000 a month, or ₹4,56,000 a year
• A village of 400 households was spending ₹18.24 crore a year
• 292 factory-made packaged goods accounted for it, with each household ₹2,70,000 a year over its earnings
• The village was paying ₹1.82 crore a year in GST, about 10 percent of its annual expenditure

What they did

They already had the skills to make 80 of the 292 products. Seven groups formed around 7 products, replacing goods worth ₹4.22 crore a year within 400 households.

Nagda, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh · 7 villages across Azamabad, Rohalkhurd, Delchi, Bercha, Umarni, Jhutawad and Koyal

40 participants: youth aged 16 to 22, village leaders, project coordinators and selected entrepreneurs.

The organisation

Mera Gaon Meri Dunia is a group of individuals working to enable change across communities by empowering young people to transform their own ecosystem. Since 2019 it has worked in Nagda and the surrounding blocks of Ujjain district on school education and the social and emotional development of youth. Its leading programme, Shrinkhla, works with 16 to 22 year olds on career development and youth leadership. The results have been strong, but retaining that leadership in rural areas became a struggle, and as youth retention got harder each year the organisation began looking for local livelihood options, which brought it to GLIDE.

Field visit

A visit on 10 December covered the local livelihoods already running: vegetable farming, dairy, tailoring, goatery, a grocery shop and mawa making.

How the workshop went

The workshop opened on the struggle of retention and migration among the young. Only five percent wanted to migrate by choice; the other ninety-five described it as forced. Everyone took pride in owning land, but admitted it was not enough to sustain them through the year, and inconsistent climate added livelihood and financial insecurity. The need for additional, respectable local livelihoods was felt strongly, and the youth were ready to prepare for it straight away. All 40 participants, representing seven villages, sat together and listed 22 elements needed for any business, feeling least confident about skills, raw materials, money and markets. Grouped into six, they then worked backwards to find those elements among themselves.

What they found

• 57 skills listed, of which 47 can earn a livelihood in the village without migrating
• 88 uncultivated and 130 cultivated raw materials: 218 types in all

The household income, expenditure, GST and product-replacement figures for this workshop are not yet migrated from the source archive.