Livelihood in mountainous region has always been the challenging issue; mainly due to lack of capacity & knowledge for utilizing locally available resources including land, plants, ecology & environment. Agriculture has also been losing its relevance & utility for past many years among rural communities due to various reasons. These are mainly related with availability of resources like modern agricultural tools, fertilizers, water & innovative know how. This scenario is further getting worse due to changed socio- economic perception & status, lack of inclination & interest of youth, uncertainty attached with yield & income.
RDI – HIHT has been working on Community Based Livelihood activities since 1990 till today on various livelihoods programme and Project directly benefiting to the Rural Population in Uttarakhand State. RDI initiated its first livelihood programme on General Handicraft and Tailoring activities, where the communities were sensitized and mobilized for its benefit and outcomes also enhance the skill and capacity building programs in many fronts to make them sustainable and self-dependent.
RDI seeks to change this by empowering community to take up small, sustainable livelihood activities such as tailoring, handicraft, bee keeping, aromatic cultivation & distillation, organic farming and weaving etc. Thousands of groups from different location was trained and imparted the practical skills to start off the program. Theoretical and practical trainings were conducted through Institutions or at grass-roots, mostly by trainers who have in-hand experience on livelihood programs. There were many positive outcomes which channelized the villagers, community, making them to start of their own entrepreneurship, business. The main benefit RDI impacted to the community was changing their conventional way of income generation to more productive and sustainable methods.
RDI-HIHT also has been involved in organic farming through different Livelihood farm based activities with the objective to enable the farming community in diversifying their agriculture enterprises for sustainable and increase in productivity and farming income. The approach rests on mobilizing the farming communities in to FIG & WSHG (Farmers Interest Groups & Woman Self-Help Groups). Various other interventions have been undertaken such as Research-based project on the cultivation of Aromatic /Medicinal plants aiming to promote Medicinal & herbal cultivation and increase the income & participation of community through both, backward and forward linkages.
To enhance the sustainable livelihood opportunities of person with Disability, Disability inclusion is vital in all elements of agricultural, horticultural, diary, floriculture, apiculture, medicinal & aromatic production programs including training, exposure visits, demonstrations, an active participation in farmers’ group, organic certification, processing and marketing. Under the Comprehensive Community Development program, currently the organization is working on revival of handlooms, cultivation of conventional pulses, spices such turmeric & ginger, rosemary condiment, aromatic plantation, establishment of distillation unit, establishment of nursery of medicinal plant, etc. All the initiatives transforming rural community for generation to come and initiate to stop migration with locally available livelihood system with utilizing local resources and hand on skills.
