EFICOR’s Musahar Sustainable Development Project is positively impacting 1,500 most vulnerable Musahar families in Bihar’s East Champaran
The Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR) is a National Christian Organisation engaged in Disaster Response, Development and Training. Formed in 1967, it serves the poor and the marginalized communities in situations of poverty, injustice, and disaster in the country. EFICOR has been committed to the empowerment of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs), including the Musahars in Bihar, the Bhils in Rajasthan, the Koyas and the Chenchus in Andhra Pradesh, the Bhois in Odisha etc., through awareness, capacity building, exposure visits, and promotion of diversification of livelihoods, collaboration, and networking with the government.
Musahar Sustainable Development Project
EFICOR is implementing the Musahar Sustainable Development Project with a goal to “improve household level food availability, and nutrition.” The initiative is positively impacting 1,500 most vulnerable Musahar families. The project is implemented in 20 Musahar tolas in Motihari block of East Champaran, Bihar. Majority of the families are landless and migrate to nearby towns/states to work as daily wage labourers. The community is poor, illiterate, ignorant and highly ostracized.
Implementation
The objectives of the project are focused on increasing average family income, improving the nutritional status of mothers and children under the age of 2 years, education, developing local leadership, improving community participation in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI), and reduction in distress migration.
To achieve this, the project has engaged in a four-pronged approach including training and capacity building, livelihood enhancement, and access to social security schemes.
The project efforts are concentrated on developing human resources based on local leadership for comprehensive community development. The Gramin Musahar Vikas Samiti (GMVS) formed by the project has a total of 158 members (with 53.8% female representation) who have undergone intensive training and exposure to development concepts. They will serve as key sustainable partners beyond the project timeframe.
EFICOR has created health awareness among the community, especially women and children on nutrition and health-seeking behaviour. This has been done in culture-specific message dissemination.
The project has engaged in several activities to increase the income such as strengthening of SHGs, livelihood support, and facilitating programs to identify cards for social security schemes which have not only bridged the gap between the community and the service providers but also paved a way for sustainable income.
School-going children’s parliaments, with a membership of 200, have been formed in 20 villages to develop them into responsible citizens. Thus EFICOR has engaged the community holistically for sustainable development.
Impact
As a result of leadership development among the community, 15 members (male 7 and female 8) have been elected as members of the PRI. This is a great achievement for the Musahar community leadership. Some of the GMVS have been successful in resisting corruption and the participation of the community in Gram Panchayat has increased by 15% after the project intervention.
Around 69.9% of the beneficiaries’ families were able to obtain PDS cards through project support; 80.33% of the beneficiaries have obtained government housing (Indira Awas Yojana) and 91.21% of families have obtained the Below the Poverty Line (BPL) card.
Moreover, over 4,000 individuals have been supported to access social security schemes. A total of
383 people have accessed livelihoods through linkage and direct support and are earning additional income.
Education is improved through awareness and intensive follow-up with parents and child migration has reduced by 35% in the operational area in the past 3 years. Significantly, no child mortality has been reported in the last three years with 95% coverage of regular immunization which has improved health of children below the age of 2.
In the past 6 years, EFICOR has installed 13 high-raised tube wells to provide clean water. Now the community members have enough clean water to drink, wash and bathe which was a struggle especially for women and children a few years ago, especially during floods.
Challenges
The villages receive floods every year due to geographical factors which lead to disruption of normal life, loss of human lives, crops, livestock, and community assets apart from affecting the income source. The discrimination against Musahars continues to impact their livelihood as the community has fewer options and a lower market given their caste status.
COVID-19 has increased the vulnerability of the community beyond the project limits. As a result, migration has drastically increased in the recent past. The education of the children has been hugely impacted due to the closing of schools during the pandemic. The impetus towards education has regressed for which the project had strived hard during the pre-COVID times.
Linkages with SDGs
EFICOR’s activities are directly or indirectly contributing to the SDG 01 -End poverty in all its form everywhere.
“At EFICOR, we strive not only to be the changemakers but also to create changemakers in the communities we serve. We believe in community-led creative actions to bring solutions to the socio-economic problems faced by the socially excluded, making intentional efforts driven by compassion and hinged on collaboration. Thus, we facilitate change leading to better lives with dignity and identity in the society,” says Ramesh Babu, Executive Director, EFICOR
