RAP Nepal

RAP SED Programme focuses on institutional development of target groups and beneficiaries for a sustainable enhancement of their livelihoods through an inclusive development approach. The programme has laid special emphasis on the socio-economic empowerment of women, poor, marginalized, and excluded groups. RBGs are mobilised in road building works and wages are directly paid to them based on work performance through LRUCs. The composition of groups and committees representing the target groups is depicted in the following table.

Table: State of social inclusion

Group/committee	No of Groups	Total member	Dalit		Disadvantage Janajati		Women
			No	%	No	%	No	%
Road Building Groups	750	14,389	2,590	18	4,172	29	6,475	45
Women representation in different committees (RBGs, LRUCs and LRCCs) in RAPII district road corridors is well above the target of 33% set during the programme design.

RBG Saving and credit
All RBGs have continued operating their saving and credit schemes. Total amount of group savings by October 2011 has exceeded NRs 96 million with an average lending turnover ratio of 2.6 within the group members. Each savings group has fixed its lending interest rate in a range of 12-24% per year and is being supported by the NGO Social Mobilisor in monitoring the effective use of funds. The range of group saving varies from one to the other both intra and inter RAPII road corridors based on work deliveries and the amount of income earned by the groups. The group lending is made for both the productive and unproductive sectors, with more weighted on productive sector in general. The major area of investments is in agricultural related income generating activities, including livestock rearing with minimal amount of investments on off-farm related ones.

IGA training and demonstrations Income-generating activity training to RBG members is mainly confined to vegetable farming and livestock rearing. Local Resource Persons (LRP), identified and trained with refresher training from the RAP programme, provide IGA training to interested RBG members. In addition, expert level services through outsourcing provisions are being provided to enhance skills of LRPs and support motivated RBG members on IGA initiatives. Through institutional linkages facilitated by the programme, the LRPs are taking initiatives to embark on agro-processing and value-added enterprises. LRPs are also known to offer their services and advisory support to the wider community in RAP districts. Up to October 2011, a total of 48,920 equivalent days of training provided to RBG members on various income generating activities by means of 4,086 ‘live’ demonstrations. The majority of participants received training on vegetable farming followed by livestock, ginger and fruits farming. Analysis of participation by gender shows an increasing trend in women participation with almost 46% women registering themselves for training, mainly with a view to better utilise the available land and livestock resource. This is partly attributed to RAPII effort in encouraging women participation and in part by peer-to-peer sharing of learning experiences and tangible benefits within the RBGs.

Other skill development training Apart from on-farm related income-generating training, RAP has provided skill development training to SPAFs and other needy people engaged in road construction. These training programmes are focused at imparting specific skills such as tailoring, electric wiring, mason, carpentry and food processing. Up to October 2011, a total of 248 RBG members received training on skill development. The duration of these training ranges from 7 days to 3 months. In order to assess the effectiveness of the training programme, RAP management has initiated a training impact study. The outcome of this study will guide the management on future course of action to improve and sustain capacity developed under RAPII.
IGA initiations by RBG households
RBG members who acquired skills and knowledge related to on-farm and off-farm enterprises through various training of RAPII have used these to initiate different income-generating activities. The outcomes of income-generating activities have started contributing enhancing sustainable livelihoods of the participating members in the immediate future. Total income through sales of surplus production from various IGAs has reached at NRs 37.7 million and is in increasing trend. The outcomes of different IGAs achieved so far are encouraging and provides a platform for achieving a sustained reduction of chronic poverty and social exclusion in the seven programme districts, provided that present initiatives are continued during the post construction phase of RAPII activities. To reduce the start-up risks experienced by the RBG members, the field based NGOs continue to monitor and provide advisory services to the nascent enterprises.