The Central Indian Tribal Region (CITR) is one of the poorest pockets in India. Most of this region’s population depends on agriculture for livelihood. However, due to frequent crop failures, exacerbated by degraded natural resources and low agricultural productivity, many tribal people have left agriculture and agriculture-related activities to enter the informal labour market. Frequent crop failures due to a lack of irrigation facilities drive this emigration. The landholdings are also prone to severe topsoil erosion due to the inundated terrain, exacerbating their woes. This often leaves women in charge of the landholdings with limited knowledge and access to agricultural inputs, irrigation, credit, and markets.

To address these challenges, rejuvenating natural resources is critical, along with giving tools to women to be the powerful drivers of change for climate adaptation and building resilience. Research shows that investing in and supporting women farmers (individually or in collectives) has tremendous multiplier effects on households (education, health, ownership of farm and consumer assets, poverty alleviation) and community well-being (through political participation and collective action). At the individual level, improved incomes and financial empowerment can also increase women’s agency (decision-making, improved perception of self), promoting gender equity and equality. This, in turn, has broader positive impacts on agriculture, rural development, and the economy.

The proposed project uses an integrated natural resource management (INRM) approach (in-situ soil and water conservation) to improve farming practices and build communities’ resilience and adaptive capacities to cope with climate-related risks and impacts. The project also builds the capacity of women smallholder farmers to better address and manage climate related risks and improve income outcomes.

A key focus is also on creating sustainable impact at scale through multi-stakeholder orchestration of community-based organisations (CBOs) (including Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Village Organisations (VOs), Water User Associations, Farmer Producer Organisations), Panchayati Raj Institutions, and government line departments.

The project will be implemented in 25 villages in the CITR belts of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Rajasthan and can be scaled further based on donor interests. The indicative minimum viable scale for the project is 5 Gram Panchayats (GPs), covering 25 villages and 1000 households.