?Though unmeasurable, empowerment and confidence of women is striking?

With real and measurable ground impact, the World Bank-aided Tamil Nadu Empowerment and Poverty Reduction Project (Pudhu Vaazhvu) is emerging as model project for other states. Sukalp Sharma interacts with Kevin Crockford, World Bank?s task team leader of Pudhu Vaazhvu on its implementation, progress and the road ahead. Excerpts:

What is the nature and extent of World Bank?s involvement with the Tamil Nadu empowerment and poverty reduction project (Pudhu Vaazhvu)?

The World Bank has enjoyed a close relationship with the government of Tamil Nadu and the Pudhu Vaazhvu Project (PVP) since 2005. This goes beyond the provision of finance as we work closely with the project to discuss implementation progress and suggest ways to strengthen the project and maximise the impact on poor people?s lives. Sharing knowledge and experience from other countries is an important feature of our involvement. Lessons from the successes of the PVP are also now being promoted to other countries and states in India.

What are the modalities of $274 million that are being funded by the World Bank?

The $274 million is provided as a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) to the government of India, which is then on-lent to the Tamil Nadu government. The PVP is implemented through the Pudhu Vaazhvu Society (at state and district level), through which funds are routed to the community groups. While most of these funds are transferred as grants to the community institutions, they are then provided as small loans to individual beneficiaries, which are repaid to self help groups so that the village funds increase and can support the livelihoods of even more people.

What according to you are the advantages of the community driven development (CDD) approach being?utilised?in this project,?vis-?-vis?models that involves NGOs as the?ground implementation agency?

CDD puts the community in the driving seat and recognises that they are best placed to know who are the vulnerable and poor in a village and the livelihoods that can be strengthened. Based on plans prepared by the communities, the funds are directly transferred to the community institutions? accounts. This ensures better transparency, prudent use of funds and enhances accountability. The participatory decision-making process of CDD is also an end in itself, yielding significant intrinsic value to beneficiaries by enhancing their ?voice? and empowering the marginalised people.

Doesn?t the multiplicity of grassroots people?s?organisations, in addition to those like the?panchayat and gram sabha, which already exist, make the coordination and implementation of the project difficult?

It is true that there are many grassroots organisations and the PVP is designed to strengthen those institutions already existing in Tamil Nadu (such as self help groups and panchayat level federations) and promotes new institutions when needed (such as village poverty reduction committees and common livelihood groups). An important feature of the PVP has been the strong linkages fostered with the village panchayats and gram sabha. This includes validation by the gram sabhas of the target household identified by the VPRCs. In 2011, a large number of project beneficiaries successfully contested the local government elections in Tamil Nadu, reflecting both their empowerment and the positive relationship between their VPRCs and the panchayat institutions.

With regard to the youth skill training and placement aspect of the?project, what is your observation in terms of the people?s response to?it and how has it evolved over the last few years?

The youth skills training and placement component of PVP has been incredibly successful and is providing employment opportunities for a large number of rural youth from across Tamil Nadu. Of the 1,70,000 youth who have been provided skills training, about 145,000 are now in employment. In addition to the employment opportunities in districts where the youth live, the PVP has successfully developed relationships with around 50 large companies who have a growing need for skilled workers and are practicing policies of corporate social responsibility. This component is, therefore, helping rural youth to access the jobs that are being generated from the economic growth witnessed in Tamil Nadu. Furthermore, having at least one member in the household engaged in wage labour is helping to reduce the vulnerability of poor households.?

The expected year of exit for you is 2014. However, the project period?has already been extended once. What are the chances that it might be?extended beyond 2014, and under what circumstances?

The project was originally due to close in September 2011 but was extended by three years due to additional financing of $ 154 million that was approved last year. No extension would have been needed if the project financing hadn?t increased. With the excellent team of the PVP and the well established project processes, we are confident that the project will be successfully completed in 2014.

What is the impact on ground of the?Pudhu Vaazhvu?Project that you?ve?been able to measure?

The PVP has positively impacted the lives of the rural poor in many ways?particularly for women, differently-abled and youth. The mid-term review of the project showed significant improvements in household incomes for over 70% of households.

The strengthening of people?s livelihoods is also being tracked by the project, ranging from small individual enterprises to enhanced yields and incomes from major livelihood activities such as dairy (over 5.6 lakh litres of milk are produced daily by project beneficiaries). Although harder to measure, the empowerment and confidence of women is a striking feature when visiting villages supported by the PVP.

What are the major bottlenecks in?programme?implementation and what is?the strategy to deal with them?

No major bottlenecks are expected during implementation as the project has a well established process for the mobilisation of target households and access to credit to strengthen their livelihoods.

Are any other projects based on the Pudhu Vaazvhu model in the offing for other states?

The World Bank has been supporting projects with similar models in other states, including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. A rural livelihood project has also recently started in four states in the North East of India (Sikkim, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura). Experiences from these state level projects are now being taken to the national level through World Bank support to the National Rural Livelihood Mission.