The Saksham programme, implemented by 18 partners in five North Indian states, has significantly increased the overall food availability of marginalised communities by helping them produce more from their small and marginal holdings. Apart from helping communities increase food and nutrition availability, Saksham has also contributed to empowering communities, particularly women, to participate more beneficially in the grassroots-level governance and decision-making processes.

During the two-day reviews held in Delhi and Lucknow, partners shared their successes in promoting sustainable agriculture and community leadership, especially in the local development processes. Addressing the review-cum-reflection programme held in Delhi, Fr. (Dr.) Jolly Puthenpura, Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India lauded the efforts of the partners for providing livelihood, food and nutrition security to marginalised communities. “Communities are beset with multiple challenges. Saksham should be able to provide solutions to all these challenges that reduce the quality of life of communities. Apart from working to provide livelihood, food and nutrition security to communities, we also need to work for establishing peace in communities”, Fr. (Dr.) Jolly said

While addressing the review meeting, Fr. Jolly highlighted the importance of the Saksham project which very well connects the components of livelihood security, food, and nutrition with a good governance system. “We need to find an answer to the question of whether Saksham is a comprehensive response to the existing socio-economic reality of the community and whether it offers effective solutions to the needs of communities”, Fr. Jolly said. He urged the partners to align the programmes to the global call for promoting millet. “Considering the importance of millets to the food and nutrition security, especially of tribal communities, United Nations has announced the year 2023 as the Year of Millets. We need to work more vigorously to popularise millets among communities, especially Adivasi communities”, Fr. Jolly added. He also urged the partners to prove themselves relevant to the Biblical call of becoming the ‘salt of the world’ by bringing positive transformation in societies.

The Saksham programme is being implemented by 18 partners in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and Rajasthan and works especially with marginalized communities including Dalits and Adivasis for enhancing their livelihood, food and nutrition security. Saksham adopts the two-pronged strategy of good governance and localized agriculture for helping communities achieve livelihood, food and nutrition security. Partners have also been motivating, reorienting, capacitating, organizing, and empowering local communities to be their own voices and solution to their own problems. Saksham partners work with Panchayati Raj Institution for local development and enable local communities to establish transparent and accountable grassroots governance systems.

Caritas India organized two rounds of two-day partners consultation in Delhi and Lucknow to review and reflect on the progress of Saksham and to bring together experiences and perspectives of working with the local governance system through people’s participation. The first review of western cluster partners was held in New Delhi on 29 and 30 January whereas the review-cum-reflection meeting for the eastern cluster partners was held in Lucknow on 2 and 3 February 2023.

During the review meetings partners presented their results in the context of promoting participatory governance and localising agriculture. The major results that were highlighted in these reviews included the community’s initiatives to organise special Gram Sabha, community-led transparency and accountability initiatives, starting of local weekly markets, the setting of a nutrition garden in large numbers and localisation of agriculture practices. During both consultations, exhibitions were organized for partners to showcase their impacts and innovations. The consultations served as platforms for the exchange of seeds and localized farm solutions as well as some cultural value of the place.