The Hindu Business Line : ‘DFID aid lifted 23 lakh people out of poverty’

Hyderabad, Sept. 7 The Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK has helped lift over 2.3 million people out of poverty in five districts in Andhra Pradesh through its projects.

These were the findings of the Programme Completion Review Mission held from September 5 to 7 here to review the AP Rural Livelihood Programme (APRLP).

The Mission was attended by representatives of the Central and State Governments and DFID.

The programme, ending in December 2007, has played a crucial role in improving incomes – particularly for landless and marginal farmers, the very poor and households headed by women.

DFID has contributed Rs 370 crore (£45 million) to the programme between 1999-2007, according to a press release from the UK High Commission.

‘Real impact’

The Commissioner for Rural Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Mrs A. Santhikumari, said: “Through this seven-year partnership with DFID, we have made a real impact in the lives of poor people in Andhra Pradesh. We continue to apply the approaches throughout our rural programmes in all districts.”

Ms Fiona Lappin, Acting Head of DFID India, said: “The Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihood Programme has had a positive impact on the situation of women and other disadvantaged groups. The strong emphasis of the programme on capacity building of the poor and the landless to learn skills like tailoring, weaving, poultry-farming, and to start small businesses through micro-credit and training has led to annual increase in income of over Rs 10,000 for almost half of the targeted households.”

The programme, which started in the five drought-prone districts of Anantapur, Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda and Prakasam, has now been scaled up to cover the entire State. It supports the watershed programmes managed by the State Government, making them more effective in addressing rural poverty.

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