SDC/IC NGO Programme
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu

The newly integrated Programme Support and Management Unit (PSMU) in Bangalore provides coordination & support to the partners of SDC/IC NGO. This provides enhanced cross- learning opportunities and promotes cost-effectiveness.

The SDC/IC NGO Programme on Natural Resource Management in Karnataka – Tamil Nadu, was initiated in July 1996 and works in selected rainfed areas of the two states. It expanded in a second phase (1999 – 2002) to include a total of 14 partners, and has now entered its consolidation phase, April 2003 – December 2005 with 12 partners. The consolidation phase draws from lessons identified in the 2001 programme review, and includes aspects of the new SDC Country Programme (2003-2010)

The overall Goal of the programme, which remains as in the previous phase, is to assist resource poor rural households in managing natural resources in order to improve their livelihood in a sustainable way.

The objective of the programme is to support NGOs to evolve, implement and document context specific and participatory approaches to natural resource management by the people. The spheres of intervention include agriculture, forestry, water, biodiversity, energy and related environmental issues.

The guiding principles of the programme are:

• Innovation: the development of diverse and location specific interventions, and farmer-led technology development;
• Self-reliance: promotion of self-reliance and sustainable development;
• Strong people’s institutions: strengthening of community- based people’s organisations;
• Strong people’s institutions: strengthening of community- based people’s organisations

The main activities are as follows:

• NRM activities related to the sustainable use and conservation of water on rain-fed lands;
• Activities related to the strengthening of existing people’s institutions;
• Documentation of experiences and lessons learned;
• Capacity building, as a crosscutting theme in all these areas of intervention.

Partners and Partnerships
Rural communities and village level institutions continue to be the main actors of the programme. The programme places special emphasis on dalits , indigenous communities (adivasis), landless labourers, small and marginal farmers, women and their institutions.

NGO Partners in the programme number  12 in total in different districts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

In Karnataka, they are Grama Vikas, RORES and Prakruti (working in Kolar district), Vikasana (Chikmagalur district), and Rural Welfare Trust and Rural Education Society (both in Belgaum district).

In Tamil Nadu, the partners are LEAD (working in Trichy and Perambalur districts), CROP (Perambalur district), Keystone (Nilgiris), CHASE Trust (Madurai district), SCOPE (Tiruvannamalai district) and PHCC (Dindigul district).