Five Impactful Social Innovators from Andhra Pradesh Honoured at the 2nd Bihar Innovation Forum
HYDERABAD, India, March 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Youth 4 Jobs Hyderabad Pvt. Ltd., Access Livelihoods Consulting Pvt. Ltd., Smaat India, CAP Workforce Development Institute Pvt. Ltd. and Centre for Sustainable Agriculture Amongst the Winners
The Government of Bihar honoured 27 winners of the 2nd Bihar Innovation Forum for developing innovative and impactful rural solutions. The winners were chosen from 9 key livelihood areas: agriculture, livestock, financial services, rural energy, ICT-based solutions, skill development, non-farm sector, access to entitlements and access to services. Out of the eight finalists from Andhra Pradesh, five social innovators - Youth 4 Jobs Hyderabad Pvt Ltd, Access Livelihoods Consulting Pvt Ltd, Smaat India, CAP Workforce Development Institute Pvt Ltd and Centre for Sustainable Agriculture were declared winners at the 2nd Bihar Innovation Forum.
The 2nd Bihar Innovation Forum saw 27 winners from about 500 high impact innovation applicants while 5 winners were chosen from about 1700 applications from the District Innovation Forum which covered grassroots innovations from within the state of Bihar. The winners will get an opportunity to access social capital of 1 million organized rural households to which an investment of US$ 120 million has already been made. The investment will increase to US$ 1 billion and is expected to take the number of organized households to 15 million by 2017. Winners will also receive mentorship and support from the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Scheme (BRLPS) and its partners for last mile delivery, field level logistics and implementation.
The 2nd Bihar Innovation Forum was launched on April 28, 2013 and received an overwhelming response from the innovators across the nation with an unprecedented 500 applications being received. Out of this initial pool, winners were chosen though a rigorous and highly competitive multi-step process that involved on-site due diligence, on the basis of impact, scalability, innovation, sustainability, inclusion, replicability and growth potential by an eminent panel of jurists.
Shri Arvind Kumar Chaudhary, Chief Executive Officer, Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS) said, "The first Bihar Innovation Forum was a radical approach that helped us unearth pioneering innovations such as the System of Root Intensification. The tremendous success of the 2nd edition of the Forum is a testament of the country's entrepreneurial spirit and resolve to effect social change. I on behalf of Jeevika congratulate the winners and look forward to collaborating with them for solving the problems of the poor."
Mr. Parmesh Shah, Lead Rural Development Specialist, World Bank said, "The Bihar Innovation Forum has created an institutional eco system for investment by innovators and social entrepreneurs. It has enabled the investment made by the Government of Bihar in creating high quality social capital to be matched with creative and entrepreneurial energy of innovators and social entrepreneurs from all parts of India. Break through innovations, spotted and surfaced will lead to significant improvement in livelihoods and ensure higher and affordable access to services."
The 1st Bihar Innovation Forum was introduced by BRLPS in 2007 in recognition of the importance of identifying, nurturing and supporting innovative ideas to address the livelihoods needs of the rural poor across key sectors. The forum was thus conceived as a development marketplace where innovations and social enterprises from public, private & civil society organizations and individual innovators converged to develop partnerships for scaling up and replicating successful innovations in a sustainable manner for maximum impact. More than 150 proposals were received from Bihar, out of which 25 were selected through a rigorous and transparent process. Some of the winners of the 1st Bihar Innovation Forum were PRADAN, EDA Rural Systems, COMFED, Shakti Sudha and Sakhi.
For more information, please visit www.biharinnovationforum.in.
About Bihar Innovation Forum:
Bihar Innovation Forum was previously launched in 2007 and was first of its kind in the country wherein more than 150 innovators were identified through a rigorous process and of which 25 were celebrated and awarded with the cash prize awards and certificates of merit. Out of the winning entries BRLP established partnerships with five innovators - COMFED (for empowering milk producers by organizing the unorganized); PRADAN (for System of Root Intensification); EDA Rural System Private Limited (for organizing beekeepers for the market); SHAKTI SUDHA (providing technical assistance to farmers to grow "makhana") and SAKHI (for creating fisherwomen's' collectives). A few others were supported by development agencies including DFID and one of the them (SAMMAN) went on to be recognized by the President of United States with Global Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
About BRLPS
Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project or JEEViKA (which means livelihood in Sanskrit) is implemented by Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS), an independent society of Government of Bihar with support from the Government of India, Government of Bihar and the World Bank. The organization has been appointed as a nodal institution by the Government of Bihar and has been designated as the State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLM) to rollout the activities of National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) in the state.The JEEViKA project builds on the experiences and lessons emerging from Bihar's efforts at poverty reduction. The objective of the project is to improve livelihoods of the rural poor through social and economic mobilization and enable them to access credit, assets and services such as social safety nets from public and private sector agencies, including commercial banks. The project is being implemented across the state of Bihar.
Media Contact : Aanchal Agarwal, [email protected], +91-9717440834
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