The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Gurugram-based Veddis Foundation to support setting up of effective governance systems under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM).
The MoU will also strengthen state capacities, establish innovative models and implement the national strategy for Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) and SHG convergence.
The partnership is for three years and is non-financial in nature. The MoU was signed by joint secretary, Rural Livelihoods, Nita Kejrewal from MoRD, and Murugan Vasudevan, CEO, Veddis Foundation.
Speaking at the occasion, Kejrewal said keeping in view the scale of works under DAY-NRLM, particularly in the areas of strengthening federations, it is important to have partnerships with various stakeholders with aligned vision. “We are confident that this partnership with the Veddis Foundation, which has a very good experience in such areas of work, will help MoRD in furthering its agenda in a more effective manner and also ensure much needed technical assistance to SRLMs, including improvement in the governance systems of the states.”
As per the MoU, Veddis Foundation will establish a PMU in the Rural Livelihood (RL) Division of Ministry of Rural Development for the next five years.
“Our work with states on the rural livelihoods mission over the last five years has shown that building state capacity is the most important factor in enabling sustainable and effective governance of large multi-stakeholder programs like the DAY-NRLM. We look forward to our partnership with MoRD to establish a replicable governance model at scale for such programs,” said Murugan Vasudevan, CEO, Veddis Foundation.
One of the initial focuses as part of the MoU is an annual report on the State of SRLMs in which various SRLMs are expected to be evaluated on the basis of a ‘Governance index’.
“Veddis Foundation, which has put in place PMUs in the State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs) of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Manipur will build field insights into policy action as well as effective implementation of government’s top-level priorities. It will be a strategic technical partner for extending policy support, embedding improved processes and enabling systems strengthening for effective implementation of DAY-NRLM along with training and capacity building support for state partners,” the ministry said.
The DAY-NRLM is a flagship programme of the Centre and is aimed at creating institutional platforms for the rural poor, mainly women, enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services in addition to increased access to rights, entitlements, and public services.
With an annual budget outlay of over ₹13,000 crore, the programme covers 7.15 lakh villages in 723 districts, and has brought more than 8.6 crore rural households under its fold.
