Walmart Foundation and PRADAN, an NGO, on Thursday announced the implementation of the ‘PROWFIT’ project to improve livelihoods of small and marginal farming households, especially women farmers in the tribal regions of Eastern States.

PROWFIT

PROWFIT, which stands for the ‘prowess of organized resources and women-farmers for transforming FPOs into independent institutions’, intends to support 60 women-led Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) over a period of 30 months.

The project will be supported by a grant of $2 million from the Walmart Foundation, and will aim to empower nearly 120,000 women to create viable smallholder businesses with a total cumulative annual turnover of $32 million, according to a statement.

Julie Gehrki, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Walmart Foundation, said, “PRADAN’s projects like PROWFIT and LEAP align well with our efforts in India to strengthen FPOs by helping them increase volume, quality and sustainability of production, while building and deepening their connections to markets. The latest investment in PRADAN will expand their reach to even more rural women, while also deepening impact through sustainable yield growth and through unlocking income sources.”

As part of the project, the FPOs will receive assistance to develop business plans, build necessary systems and processes and implement governance systems for their ventures. In addition, they will also be provided technological and financial support through access to service partners and linkages with relevant national or State government programmes to avail complementary aid.

PROWFIT builds off PRADAN’s previous project ‘LEAP’ (Livelihoods Enhancement through market Access and Women Empowerment). LEAP, a two-year project, was supported by $1.9 million grant from the Walmart Foundation. LEAP impacted the livelihoods of 45,000 smallholder women farmers across Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal.

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