Financing the Challenging Segments of Sustainable Livelihoods in India

Session Description

Despite India’s impressive economic growth, there is still a staggering population of 70 million people who are struggling to access stable and sustainable livelihoods in its rural hinterlands of India. The growing urgency to address the country’s wealth gap has spurred rigorous efforts from the social economy – from the Government of India to social investors to an array of Social Purpose Organisations. While this is a promising trend, not many funders are willing to support the most challenging segments of sustainable livelihoods be it due to programmatic or geographic preferences, or due to legal and governance barriers.

In this session the speakers will discuss the most challenging segments of sustainable livelihoods, the gaps in resources (financial, human, and intellectual capital), and how to work together to overcome them.

 Key Takeaways:

1. Challenges and gaps in funding of sustainable livelihood from the demand and supply side perspective.
2. The status of sustainable livelihood in India, through the gender-lens.
3. Challenges in, and opportunities for funding ability based livelihoods as well as agro based livelihoods.
4. Why is it necessary to fund the challenging segments of sustainable livelihoods, and what are the opportunities for collaboration?