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Livelihoods

Planting seeds for the future

10% of the world lives on less than $1.90 a day. Some of the biggest tools to fight poverty come from the simplest solutions—training, loans, seeds, animals, and access to a marketplace. Helping people provide for themselves creates change that can be seen for generations. Women in particular experience the positive effects by being able to enter a marketplace previously closed to them and providing dependable income, self-reliance, and even safety, to them and their children.

What we do

ADRA India supports vulnerable communities, in particular refugees, and women and youth, to attain better livelihood opportunities by enhancing their skills and linking them to the job market.

How we do it?

  • Identifying vulnerable youth and orientating them on better and alternative livelihood options.
  • Identifying the skill gaps and demand in the Industry
  • Establishing appropriate tie ups and providing suitable skill training and placement support
  • Creating linkages between available skills and the market opportunities in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka for refugees
  • Promoting Entrepreneurship with Micro Grant support
  • Advocating and raising awareness on discriminatory practices as well as social and cultural barriers in the labour market in Tamil Nadu
  • Promote sustainable livelihood and food security for small-scale farmers in Assam

Ongoing Projects

RISE II

Remedial and Inclusive School Education II – Tamil Nadu

Remedial and Inclusive School Education (RISE) is creating inclusive pathways for vulnerable children and families in Tamil Nadu by strengthening access to education and sustainable livelihoods. RISE focuses on bridging educational gaps among children who are dropouts or at risk of dropping out, while simultaneously equipping their families with tools to break the cycle of poverty through informed decision-making and economic empowerment. With ADRA Austria, it aims to empower communities to actively engage with local institutions and advocate for effective service delivery, especially for those at risk of social exclusion. It works towards the promotion of financial literacy and supports marginalized households in exploring livelihood opportunities, fostering resilience and long-term well-being.

PACE

Poverty Alleviation and Community Empowerment – Tamil Nadu

Poverty Alleviation and Community Empowerment (PACE) is fostering empowerment of marginalized communities with crucial resources and support in Tamil Nadu. PACE aims to amplify the voices of local communities, empowering individuals to advocate enhanced service delivery and engagement with local institutions, equipping community members with essential skills ensuring that the voices of the most vulnerable are heard. With ADRA Austria, PACE works on innovative strategies that tackle both immediate needs and long-term challenges faced by these communities. The program emphasizes the creation of sustainable livelihood opportunities, fostering economic independence and social inclusion for disadvantaged households.

SCORE

Strengthening Community Resilience through Engagement (SCORE)

Strengthening Community Resilience through Engagement (SCORE) is fostering inclusive development in the tea garden communities of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia in Assam by building stronger, more resilient societies through active community participation. SCORE works closely with residents across three tea gardens and three villages to enhance local engagement, strengthen social structures and improve collective capacity to respond to challenges. The project lays the foundation for long-term resilience and sustainable progress by promoting dialogue, collaboration and shared ownership. With ADRA Austria, SCORE ensures that the voices, needs, and strengths of the people are central to shaping a more secure and empowered future, emphasizing the power of community-led development.

PRECISE

PRECISE

PRECISE is strengthening the foundations of sustainable livelihoods and food security for small-scale farmers in Baksa region of Assam through innovative dairy development. It emphasizes gender-responsive approaches, empowering women in decision-making and increasing their participation in the dairy value chain. It focuses on improving dairy production practices, strengthening market linkages, and promoting inclusive access to productive assets for farming communities. Community members are equipped with advanced livestock management skills, improved genetic practices through artificial insemination and knowledge on herd health and nutrition. With ADRA Germany, it fosters market linkages with cooperatives and local institutions like WAMUL, ensuring long-term income security, gender equity and rural prosperity through a resilient and responsive dairy value chain.

Closed Projects

Wayanad Recovery Response Project

Wayanad Recovery Response Project

ADRA India worked to support families affected by the July 30, 2024, landslides and floods in Wayanad, Kerala. Under the Wayanad Recovery Response Project, we initiated two key livelihood programs: providing poultry livelihood support to vulnerable families in Noolpuzha Village with livestock kits, and distributing livelihood toolkits to skilled workers in Meppadi Panchayat, enabling them to resume professions like masonry, carpentry, and tailoring. These initiatives also include training on sustainable farming practices, financial literacy, and digital marketing.

HPDRR

Himachal Pradesh Disaster Risk Reduction (HPDRR)

The Himachal Pradesh Disaster Risk Reduction (HPDRR) Project, implemented with support from Aktion Deutschland Hilft eV and ADRA Germany, strengthened disaster preparedness and early recovery in Shimla, Solan, and Kullu. Impacting over 30,000 people, it improved WASH facilities, introduced livelihoods like mushroom cultivation and vermicomposting, empowered women, built Disaster Management Centres, trained teachers in school safety, and raised awareness on heatwave preparedness. HPDRR fostered community-led resilience, ensuring that disaster now sparks organisation, adaptation, and collective action rather than isolation.

FRESH HOPE

FRESH HOPE - A Hygiene and Livelihood Initiative

ADRA India reaches out to the Tea Garden community in Assam through livelihood opportunities and awareness programme. Through partnership with Assam Rural Livelihood Mission (ASRLM), ADRA has facilitated setting up a Low Cost Sanitary napkin production unit which is managed and operated by the Self Help Groups (SHGs) of the tea gardens of Assam. The SHG sanitary napkin unit is producing low cost pads, which are marketed by the tea garden community girls. Additionally, health and hygiene education is provided by the SHGs to the adolescent girls of the tea garden community.

LESS

Local Economic and Social Strengthening Project

The Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka, home to many war-displaced communities, continue to face socio-economic challenges, limited resources, poor coordination among development actors, and a strong out-migration culture, especially among youth. Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu camps often prefer voluntary repatriation but face barriers such as lack of accurate information, civil documentation, and livelihood opportunities. ADRA India and ADRA Sri Lanka work together to create durable social and economic solutions by capacitating refugees on repatriation procedures, providing protection assistance (IPA/CPA), supporting documentation and government entitlements, facilitating Red Seal attestation for education certificates, sensitizing stakeholders, raising job market awareness, and offering livelihood training to enhance employment prospects in both India and Sri Lanka.

NEWS & Case Studies

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