Category 1: Participative Institutions of the poor at the base
All of these institutions promote livelihood strategies and activities as well as empowerment, which we define as “discipline to attend meetings weekly, confidence to speak, to take decisions, to take risk and to lobby for change and against any form of oppression”. Some of them focus on providing market linkages, improving the management of water and quality of soil, on promoting sanitation and environmental management; some of them have recently been pro-active in promoting action against domestic violence, early marriage and female foeticide.

Category 2: Middle level representative Peoples Institutions
These are largely federations of the category 1 type of institutions. Examples included the community managed resource centres, Soukhya Samudhaya Samasthe (SSS).

Category 3: Technical and supportive institutions for Category 1 and 2
Institutions managed by people who are not the poor but which are totally dedicated to support the poor by providing financial services, training in institutional building and livelihood skills and in providing technical support such as CIDORRs/SNFTTE etc.

 

Category 1 institutions – community level Category 2 institutions – federation level
Self-help affinity groups (SAG)* – Affinity based groups of between 15-20 members engaged in savings and credit activities as well as other development activities in their village/area 6162 Community Managed Resource Centres (CMRCs)  77
Soukhya groups (SAGs of sex-workers with focus on health) 669 SAG federations – federations of around 15-20 SAGs that act as a lobbying force for SAGs  455
Watershed area groups – groups of farmers/inhabitants of watershed areas/catchments where land treatment activities are implemented  608 Soukhya federations (federations of Soukhya groups  44
Organic farmers association – registered bodies of farmers following organic farming practices 3 Soukhya Samudhaya Samasthe – district level registered societies comprising representatives from the Soukhya groups acting working for protecting the interests of its members, i.e. sex workers 5
Rosemary oil farmers association – registered bodies of Rosemary growers 3  Category 3 institutions – support level
MASS 1 Sanghamitra Rural Financial Services 1
MEADOW – Association of Women’s Enterprise; group of women entrepreneurs of Hosur district running a unit manufacturing watch straps for the watch company Titan. MEADOW is registered as a company 1 CIDORRs Training Centres 10
Kabini Organic Producers Co. – a Producers’ Company of Organic Cotton Farmers 1 Non formal technical training centres – Provides technical skills training to school drop outs and places them with local industry. Kinds of training provided includes masonry, driving, welding, etc. 1
Farmers’ Producers’ Organisations (FPO) – Groups of farmers based on the commodities that they grow, eg – toor dal, ragi, etc. 8 Myrada KVK ( Farmer’s Science School) 1
Joint Liability Producers Group 57 MYKAPS – NGO 1
Farmers Group 10

*Though Myrada has formed over 14000 SAGs since its inception, some of them have either disbanded or merged with other existing groups.

Mahila Abhivruddhi mattu Samrakshana Samsthe (MASS)

This is an organisation of former devadasi women of Belgaum district. MYRADA in partnership with the Karnataka Women’s Development Corporation (KSWDC) implemented a rehabilitation project for devadasis of Belgaum district. After years of successfully campaigning to eradicate the devadasi system, in 1997, MYRADA and KSWDC facilitated the establishment of a registered society of the former devadasis in order to ensure that the system is not revived and to continue to protect the interests of the women who had once been exploited in the name of tradition. MYRADA continued to provide hand holding support to the organisation and NOVIB, the funding partner funded MASS for some years after its inception. Today MASS functions independently, raising funds, recruiting staff and planning and implementing interventions. Besides working with the former devadasis, it also now works with the dalit communities in the district, providing services such as access to health and education, accessing government benefits and providing legal services to women and children in distress.


MYRADA Krishi Vigyan Kendra

A farmer science school promoted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) of the ministry of agriculture

www.myradakvk.org

MYRADA Kaveri Pradeshika Samsthe

Formerly a project of MYRADA in Mysore district, it is today an independent organisation; it shares MYRADA’s mission and goals

www.mykaps.in