Saxena, Rajiv S.

The article explores the processes and structures of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), which is a cross-sectoral consortium of services into a holistic women and child development scheme. The authors argue that one of the biggest obstacles experienced during the implementation of the ICDS programme was the poor level of community participation. The article goes on the explain scaling up participation in a pilot experiment and the process undertaken.

The World Bank-funded Uttar Pradesh Diversified Agriculture Support project (UPDASP) in India is supporting a Farming System Approach (FSA) in 32 districts of the state of Uttar Pradesh, with the major emphasis on natural resources management, employment generation, value addition and marketing. Training is an important part of the project for both farmers and field staff.

In this article the authors share their experiences from working with farmers' organizations, where a process, which reinforces human values, has helped farmers to keep themselves on the path of self-reliance. The Uttar Pradesh Sudhar Nigam (UPBSN) started up a sodic land reclamation project in 1993, where the main beneficiaries were small-scale farmers. Under the project, land has been reclaimed affecting 150,000 families. The project was initiated through the formation of farmer organizations at village level and the project was implemented in collaboration with local NGOs.