lives

• Program is present in the 4 major coconut growing states (Kar nataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh) that cover 88% of the coconut growin g area.
• Program caters to the challenges faced largely by marginal and small farmers.

• The program contributes to SDG-1 (No poverty), SDG-2 (Zero Hunger), & SDG-12 (Responsible Consumption & Production)
• The program is aligned with govt. priorities: Doubling of Far mers’ Income, More Crop Per Drop & National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture.

The Program’s objective of achieving higher and sustainable crop yield was reported to be achieved by 8 in every 10 farmers interviewed.

• The program has improved farmers’ awareness on disease, pest, water and nutrition management for coconut cultivation;
• Farmers interviewed have also reported increase in income due to resource (especially fertilizers & pesticides) optimization;
• Other program benefits reported by farmers interviewed include reduction in workload, increased time savings, expansion of existing agricultural practice, etc.

The program is working towards reducing farmers’ dependency on program support in order to onboard new farmers;

• The program will aim to further empower farmers by linking them to government agriculture and social welfare schemes.
• The program will aim to make farmers self reliant by enhancing adoption of the Kalpavriksha application and call centre services, thereby reducing their dependency on the program field staff.
• The program will explore other interventions (going beyond increasing productivity) to enhance farmers’ overall wellbeing

• The program has led to an increase in coconut productivity for 88% of the farmers interviewed. An increase in productivity led to an increase in income for around 50% of the farmers interviewed. Furthermore, farmers reported several benefits including reduction in workload and increased time savings.
• The program has spread awareness about sustainable agricultural practices to 62,918 farmers under the Productivity Improvement Program cumulatively till FY22
• The program has helped several coconut farmers access services such as root feeding, power tilling and brush cutting at prices lower than the market, in addition to supporting them with procuring various agri inputs.
• Through the Kalpavriksha call centre services and app, the program provides query resolution on challenges faced by coconut farmers and spreads awareness on sustainable agricultural practices to several coconut farmers who are situated beyond the geographic reach of the Kalpavriksha program.

The program aims to help coconut farmers in Tamil Nadu (a water stressed state) become water secure.

The program contributes to SDG-1 (no poverty), SDG-6 (clean water and sanitation), & SDG 12 (responsible consumption & production)

The program is aligned with govt. priorities: Har khet ko pani & Jal Jeevan Mission

In FY22, 246 farm ponds were constructed leading to creation of an estimated 48 Crore litre of water storage capacity.

Farmers interviewed reported benefits such as increased groundwater recharge and availability of water during summer months.

While the program has helped farmers overcome water shortage during summer months, in the absence of watershed level inter ventions, long-term water security cannot be guaranteed.

• The program will aim to evolve towards a scientific watershed level program by working with multiple stakeholders across the region to achieve long-term water security
• The program will seek to scientifically (based on soil characteristics, water drainage, aquifer mapping, etc.) select farm pond locations to maximize benefit to the community. Additionally, seasonal groundwater monitoring will be undertaken to study the impact of the farm ponds on ground water levels.
• The program will incorporate program design aspects based on specific needs of the farmer (could vary from region to region). For e.g., water storage structures in drought prone areas and recharge structures in less drought prone areas.

• The program has created an estimated 48 Crore liters of water storage capacity.
• The program has increased the availability of water for irrigation to farmers under the Jalashay program, especially during the summer months.

The state education system recognizes the need for a special fo cus on English language in the regional language govt. schools, due to the competency g ap amongst teachers and learning gap amongst children. To address this need, the program has introduced an innovative phonetics-based teaching-learning pedagogy, to improve teacher’s confidence and children’s interest towards English language.

• The program contributes to SDG-4 (quality education) and SDG-5 (gender equality).
• The program is in alignment with the Foundational Literacy & Nu meracy (FLN) component of Nipun Bharat Program, implemented by Govt. of India, under the New Education Policy (NEP). The program coherence is further augmented through formal agreement with the state education dept.

• The program has reached out to ~1.45 Lakh schools with a relati vely small team of 45 people. However, there is a scope for further intensifying the engagement with teachers.
• Program efficiency was increased by the adoption of online platforms, enabling statewide scaling-up.

• The program has improved competency and confidence in all the te achers covered under the evaluation.
• The program has also reduced children’s apprehension for English language in 70% of the children evaluated.

• As the program is designed to strengthen the Nipun Bharat Progr am of GoI and has formal buy-in of the state education dept., it is likely to contin ue even after the project exits.
• Sustainability aspects can be further strengthened through increased govt. participation in planning, monitoring and review processes.

• Repositioning the program as a technical support to Nipun Bharat program will minimize duplication of ef fort & increase govt. ownership, thus contributing towards program sustainability
• The program will seek to institutionalize monitoring within the govt. education system, to improve teacher’s accountability.
• Program will support teachers and children by making hardcopies of concept books a nd workbooks available.
• The program will aim to introduce a system of periodic evaluati on of learning levels of children using technologybased solutions.

• The program has positively impacted ~1.3 million children, with over 50% being girls, distributed across 5 states encompassing approximately 1.45 lakh schools in 50 underperforming aspirational districts (as per ASER 2019).
• The program have been successful in improving the English teaching skills of over 2 lakhs teachers in govt. regional schools through the phonetics-based pedagogy.
• 80% of the teachers stated that the resource materials provided under the program is very useful for them & the children. Besides that, these materials are also aligned to the SCERT recommended curriculum.
• Over 70% of the trained teachers have adopted the methodology and the resource materials reflecting high level of program adoption.
• Approximately 50% of the teachers interviewed have successfully incorporated the phonetics-based methodology, advocated by the project, while delivering the regular curriculum.

Livelihood losses as a result of the pandemic made the program relevant, especially for women, who were disproportionately impacted.

• The program contributes to SDG-8 (decent work & economic growth)
• The program was also aligned with the govt. priorities of ‘Skil l India’, (implemented through the National Policy of Skill Development Program).

Outsourcing the training to local agencies, as a means of circu mventing mobility restrictions during the pandemic, together with restricted field monitoring visits by the project implementing agency impacted the overall effectiveness of the program.

Though placement results were not encouraging, 85% of the par ticipants evaluated stated that their confidence was increased after attending the program. Moreover, computer literacy and communication has helped few participants secure jobs in other sectors.

Though the skilling program showed promise, it was unable to pr ovide livelihood opportunities for the participants.

• Future skilling program will be an optimal blend of online and offline to ensure effective learning.
• Future programs will employ a screening process to identify participants, who are likely to benefit the most out of the program
• Some of the other aspects of the program that will be further strengthened include monitoring & evaluation, rigorous on-the-job trainings, and post-training placement support.

• The program provided vocational skill building opportunities to around 3,500 female youth during the pandemic.
• 85% of the participants interviewed reported an increase in confidence towards securing jobs in the future.