Inviting Institutions/Organizations to Prepare Detailed Project Report for Selected Villages in Korchi Block of Gadchiroli, Maharashtra

(Individual applicants are requested to not apply)

WRI India

WRI India, an independent charity legally registered as the India Resources Trust, provides objective information and practical proposals to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable development. WRI India’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Through research, analysis, and recommendations, WRI India puts ideas into action to build transformative solutions to protect the earth, promote livelihoods, and enhance human well-being.

Envisioning an equitable and prosperous planet driven by the wise management of natural resources, we aspire to create a world where the actions of government, business, and communities combine to eliminate poverty and sustain the natural environment for all people.

We are inspired by and associated with World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organization. Currently over 250 researchers are working with WRI India in our offices at Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Background

Nature based solutions focusing on landscape restoration and sustainable agricultural practices such as adoption of crop diversity, use of bio-inputs and biocontrol, optimal utilization of residual soil moisture etc. not only reduce the cost of food production but can also help in building farmers resilience towards climate change. Tree resources on common land and from forests provide an opportunity to meet sustenance needs of millions. By integrating crops, trees and livestock, sustainable agriculture provides an opportunity to mitigate the negative spillovers associated with intensive cultivation. Recognizing the benefits of landscape restoration and sustainable agriculture, the Government of India has initiated schemes like PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth and Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati. Dedicated missions, such as National Mission on Natural Farming and National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture, have been launched. Managing landscapes sustainably is critical for realizing these ambitions, as it enables discussion on competing and complementary priorities of conservation, production and economic development. Sustainably managed lands can potentially help India meet the sustainable development goal that aims to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

About the Project

WRI India as a project partner and lead under the Food and Land Use Coalition India and with support of implementation partner Amhi Amchya Arogyasathi (AAA) has developed a strategy action plan for ecosystem restoration in the Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra. For strategy development potential for restoration was assessed at district, block and village level using a landscape approach. This assessment identifies more than 5,00,000 hectares of Gadchiroli land as having restoration potential with different types of interventions for implementation. Focused on agriculture, forests and water resources conservation, when implemented these interventions can make rainfed agriculture more sustainable, promote crop diversification, conserve water resources, build farmers’ resilience to climate change, advance landscape restoration, improve nutrition status, support biodiversity as well as generate livelihood opportunities. To take this work forward WRI India is inviting applications from institutions/organizations for the preparation of detailed project report (DPR) for phase wise implementation of identified interventions in six villages within two-gram panchayats of Korchi block in Gadchiroli district.

Scope of work

The scope of work for the identified agency includes the following:

Conservation and Rejuvenation of Water Resources:

• Conduct a detailed hydrological study and prepare an integrated water resources conservation plan by adopting watershed level planning approach to ensure long-term water availability. This would require identification of the type of water conservation structures and suitable areas for creation of new structures in six village.

Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices

• To identify and document the current cultivation practices and locate sites for adoption of non-paddy Rabi crops by farmers based on opportunity of residual soil moisture.
• To identify areas suitable for adoption of vegetable cultivation in Rabi season based on critical irrigation from available surface water
• To locate areas for cultivating paddy through water efficient methods such as Alternate Wet and Drying (AWD), System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
• Recommend landscape specific package of practices for integrated nutrient and pest management (INM and IPM) with special focus on areas recognized under Individual Forest Rights lands and farms alongside the forest edges
• To identify potential site and farmers/ user groups for creation of a community owned common bio-input preparation facility utilizing cattle manure and biomass at village level
• To come-up with combination of native trees and horticultural crops for adoption under agri-horti-forestry model and identify potential sites for adoption on farms and marginal productive lands

Sustainable Forest Management and Conservation of Biodiversity

• To carry out forest inventory for documentation of biodiversity with the help of biodiversity management committees of each village
• To identify sites for mixed species enrichment plantation in the Community Forest Resource rights (CFR) areas, in consultation with CFR management committees of each village
• To identify sites for rejuvenation of the declining bamboo population in CFR areas, in consultation with CFR management committees of each village
• To identify sites for development of grazing pastures within CFR areas by identifying resource efficient native grass species from forest and develop strategy for pasture maintenance, in consultation with CFR management committees of each village
• To identify potential site and farmers/ user groups for developing nursery in each village by ensuring community ownership and to calculate potential cost for developing it

Improved Market Linkage

• Identify potential activities to improve forward linkages for surplus agricultural / agri-horti- forestry production.

Assessing Fund Requirement

• Prepare estimates of cost required for implementation of each interventions mentioned above
• Assess willingness of farmers (women, men, small and marginal and tenant farmers) to contribute for the implementation of identified interventions on farms
• Identify and review relevant government policies and schemes which comes up during discussion with stakeholders, to highlight the possibilities of convergence for implementation of interventions mentioned above

Roles and Responsibilities:

In preparation of DPR the applicant will keep WRI India apprised, consult with block administration and key departments and coordinate with AAA, in the following specific activities:

• Engage with key stakeholders. This will involve exhaustive field work for village level participatory planning, watershed planning, human resource planning, scanning of capacity of village level community institutions, civil society organizations of the block
• Collect baseline information through field surveys, scientific analysis, regular interaction with community and local administration on:
  • current and traditional agricultural practices, major crops cultivated, cropping intensity, pests and disease incidents in major crops, seed source, end-use of the agri-produce
  • water and irrigation sources and total area under irrigation
  • soil health and nutrition, quantification of different types of agri-inputs, sourcing of agri-inputs, observed risks of soil/land degradation
  • diversity and density of trees on farmland, including IFR lands
  • livestock holding per household, fodder provisions, livestock health status and utilization of livestock derived resources
  • village level socio-economic and resource sharing scenarios, covering at least 30% of the households in each village
  • village wise CFR boundaries maps, inventory of forest resources, disposal of collected minor forest produce and forest management strategies adopted by communities in the past
  • existing forward linkages/market mechanisms for dealing with surplus agricultural production and collected minor forest produce
  • possible bottlenecks towards adoption of identified interventions
• Work closely with the WRI India and AAA and participate in a bi-weekly partner calls to co-create the project.

Qualifications and Requirements

• The organization/institution should be a legal entity registered in India
• The organization/institution should have prior experience of working in rainfed region with tribal communities and developing at least two Detailed Project Reports for similar projects of at least 12 lakhs INR
• The team should essentially be inter-disciplinary with expert from the field of agriculture/agronomy, hydrology, forestry, a social scientist and an economist
• Team should have exceptional research and analytical skills; should be able to carry out qualitative and quantitative surveys and have good report writing skills
• Should have at least one team member well versed with Marathi language to capture nuanced details on interaction with community
• Team should be willing to spend considerable time in villages for field assessment and baseline information gathering
• Prior experience of working in Gadchiroli district will be an added advantage

Reporting to: Dr. Seema Yadav

Duration: 4 months

Location: Korchi block, Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra

Start date: As soon as possible

Budget: 15 Lakh INR

To Apply:

Interested institutions/organizations should submit a concept note on developing Detailed Project Report for Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. The concept note:

• Should not exceed 10 pages using standard page margin and 12pt font
• Should mention the methodology that the applicant proposes to follow for preparing the DPR and highlight past experiences that support their application.
• Should be submitted by 6th October 2023
• Submitted concept notes will be screened, and most suitable organizations/institutions will be invited to submit the proposal. The shortlisted organization/institutions would be informed through an email within 10 days from the end date of submission
• WRI India reserves the right to accept/ reject one or all concepts note or stop the process of approval at any stage, without assigning any reasons and this action shall not attract any liability on WRI India