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Overview
India is the second largest and most heterogeneous country in the world, with a population of more than 1 billion increasing at a yearly rate of 1.8%. Despite a Gross Domestic Product of US$1.254 billion, this enormous population makes for a low GDP on a per capita basis. India has made significant progress in reducing the incidence of poverty, declining steadily from 55% in the early 1970s to less than 35% in the late 1980s. However, the development strategy during these decades proved unsustainable, with an extensive system of protection, regulation, and public sector presence in the economy, leading to worsening fiscal deficits in the 1980s. In 1991, India embarked on a series of economic and structural reforms. These measures had some very beneficial effects on the Indian economy, including higher growth rates, lower inflation, and significant increases in foreign investment. Social indicators, including gender-related indicators, also continued to improve in the 1990s. India was relatively less affected by the Asian Financial Crisis, keeping a calculated pace of international economic integration that reduced economic growth, but also vulnerability to external shocks. Notwithstanding the improvements in human development and the higher GDP growth in the mid-1990s, India's poverty reduction strategies have been less efficient in recent years with a poverty rate that has stagnated at 36% for the past decade. Moreover, analysis suggests that the large poor states in the north and east, containing 40% of India's population, have lagged in reducing poverty since the late 1970s, with poverty levels in these regions above 40%.



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Key Issues for India
With a population of more than one billion people, India faces some of the most complex challenges in development today. These include:

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CBED (Community Based Economic Development)
The Community Based Economic Development Project, managed by CECI and implemented by local partner NGOs, was aimed at helping prove the social and economic well being of poor households and communities in selected mountainous districts of Uttaranchal. The project focused on the strengthening of community-based organisations, including NGOs and cooperatives. An important dimension of the project was to expose communities and their leaders to responsive and participatory modes of designing and implementation of development activities. Project activities helped promote and improve livelihoods through the production and marketing of off-season agriculture and herbal and aromatic plants, as well as other micro enterprise activities and improved access to micro-finance services. This pilot project was operated in 250 villages in designated cluster areas in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts. CBED was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency and CECI.
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GRP (Gujarat Relief Project)
In January 2001, a cataclysmic earthquake killed more than 50,000 people in Gujarat. The goal of GRP was to improve the post-quake living conditions and environment of the population by contributing to the reconstruction of community infrastructure, such as 585 houses and 40 primary schools with 150 classrooms. Additionally, 48 poor communities received primary medical care from two mobile dispensary units and approximately 1,000 families benefited from nutritional supplements from kitchen gardens and fruit trees in their villages. Similarly, poor small farmers received training, technical and financial support for agricultural and livestock livelihood activities. This project was implemented through two local NGO partners in the devastated district of Kutch. GRP has been funded by CIDA and community groups in Canada.
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History
CECI Asia has developed recognized expertise in rural community economic development, natural resource management, community health, community media development and disaster-related humanitarian interventions. These skills, sometimes developed in a neighboring country, have been adapted to the context of India in a few selected states, where CECI has partners, a comparative advantage, and State government support. Besides the fact that the mere number of poor in India would seem to justify that an agency like CECI, whose mission and expertise is poverty reduction, be present, CECI further justitifies its presence in India with the creation of an adaptable developmental models that efficiently support and complement the government of India (at the state and local level) to reduce poverty and deal with natural disasters. Specifically, CECI with its civil society partners applies tested and viable economic and social development models in the South Asian Himalayan Region where there exists important disparities in terms of poverty, economic and social development, and high incidence of natural disasters. This model has had highly positive impact on family incomes and living conditions in Nepal. It has contributed to positive changes in terms of capacity building of local organizations and empowerment of the poor and women. Similar results are expected in India.

In regards to Humanitarian Aid CECI also uses a proven model, which focuses on reconstruction of houses and basic social (health, education) infrastructure in parallel with transition activities, strengthening of local organisations and development of disaster preparedness and mitigation strategies.

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Sectors

• Rural development with a focus on agro-forestry activities and linkages to markets
  
• Basic health and nutrition
  
• Disaster preparedness
  
• Humanitarian aid (reconstruction and transition) in earthquake areas
  
• Policy feedback at local and state levels to ensure reforms are demand driven and respond to expressed needs

Our approach is to:

• Work very closely with civil society as a change agent, but seek formal coordination or partnership with government and private sector.
  
• Foster micro- macro linkages between civil society (from cooperatives to independent media) that lead to dialogue and influence relationships at local, district, state, and when possible, national level.
  
• Focus on remote areas, but pilot interventions with urban poor in areas of presence. These sectors are consistent with Federal policies and State priorities where we work (Uttaranchal and Gujarat). This is also in line with CIDA's and other donor's own strategic orientations for India.

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Expected Results
The overall goal of CECI's programme in India is to reduce poverty by ensuring that poor, isolated rural populations in the targeted project areas actively and efficiently participate, as responsible actors, in the orientation, development and management of their economic and social environment. Greater involvement of rural populations ensures a more equitable redistribution of gains resulting from spin-offs and contributes to reducing poverty. The programme's expected results are as follows:

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Partnerships
CECI's approach in India consists of a multi-stakeholder participative approach, which involves working in close collaboration with local partners at all levels of project/programme development: situational assessments and problem identification project design, implementation and evaluation. Specifically, through its programme in India, CECI supports isolated rural populations, farmer associations (including their second or third level federations), local NGOs and community media and governmental agencies. It works in close collaboration with government, research institutes, agro-industrial companies, projects/programmes financed/ implemented by international funding agencies / NGOs. CECI seeks to create synergies among key stakeholders involved in the sectors where it works. It does this by being pro-active in seeking information on existing programmes and initiating meetings and forums to exchange information so as to build on one another's experience.

CECI envisages very close synergy between its Volunteer Cooperation Program and the other programs and projects (CIDA and otherwise funded) it operates in Asia in general and India in particular, all falling under one regional and country integrated framework. This includes projects and programs funded by Canada (CIDA bilateral, Food Aid, IDRC) and leveraging other donors (ADB, USAID, Ausaid, Ford Foundation), international organisations and NGOs.