BAIF

It was March, 1946 - the dawn of Indian Independence. The brief sojourn of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi to Urulikanchan, a backward village near Pune, marked the turning point in community development. Promotion of community health through nature cure became a reality with the establishment of a Nature Cure Centre, managed by his trusted disciple Manibhai Desai.
Unemployment, underemployment and erosion of natural resources being the root causes of poverty, Manibhai promoted income generation activities as the main plank of development. Cultivation of high yielding varieties of food crops, vegetables and fruits was his first successful venture but his successful experiments for improving non-descript cattle through cross breeding had greater potential to generate gainful self-employment for most of the poor farmers.
The encouraging response from the rural community motivated Manibhai to establish the Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF) at Urulikanchan near Pune in 1967 and later renamed as BAIF Development Research Foundation, to replicate his novel programme in rural development. Presently, the organisation is professionally managed by a team of multidisciplinary experts, under the guidance of the Board of Trustees.
BAIF focuses on poor rural families to provide sustainable livelihood, health, literacy, clean environment, strong grassroot organisations and better quality of life, using degraded natural resources like land, water, livestock and vegetation. The programmes are implemented through various Associate Organisations

MDMTC

This Training Centre was set up in 1993 to provide training to BAIF staff and to the staff of other development agencies, in sustainable management of rural development programmes.
The Mission is to develop training programmes to improve the management quality of development programmes and to conduct research with a view to build up the scattered accumulated experience on development into a structured body of knowledge. Training of staff and training of trainers is an important activity of this training centre. The training is participatory in nature.
The priority areas for course-module development include :

	People's participation in development
	Gender concerns in development
	Participatory extension
	Rural credit and enterprise development
	Monitoring and evaluation of development initiatives
	Project formulation and management
	Agro-based rural development strategies
	Non-farm sector

The facilities include a conference room, four large classrooms, an auditorium, library, computer centre, hostel with 30 double rooms and a dining hall. The faculty consists of the core training team, senior techno-managerial staff, development specialists and managers from BAIF, who are responsible for the planning, execution and periodic review of training and related activities. Expertise is also drawn from visiting faculty.
The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) had provided advice on institutional building, faculty development, research and documentation. The International Agricultural Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands had provided guidance for course development.

MITTRA

This Associate Organisation was established as a Public Charitable Trust in 1993 with its headquarters at Nashik to coordinate the multidisciplinary programme being implemented in Maharashtra. This includes

	Livestock Development
	Watershed Development
	Tribal Development
	Women's Health and Empowerment
	Establishment of Greenbelts around factory premises

MITTRA has also established offices in various project locations in the state for smooth implementation of the development programmes. The livestock development programme is being implemented in six districts with the support of Sugar Factories, Farmers' Cooperatives and local youth. The tribal development programme, supported by the Government of Maharashtra, German Development Bank (KfW) monitored by NABARD and the European Union is being implemented in Nashik and Thane districts. The Watershed Development is being implemented in Ahmednagar district with the support of German Development Bank (KfW) and the District Rural Development Agency, Government of Maharashtra. The Women Health and Empowerment Project is being supported by the Canadian International Development Agency. A Comprehensive Community Health Programme is also being implemented. Industrial Greenbelt Projects are being implemented with the support of Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd. (IPCL), Nagothane, Raigad district, National Organic Chemical Industries Ltd. (NOCIL), Thane and Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL), Khamgaon, Buldhana district.

BIRD-K

This Associate Organisation is registered as a Public Charitable Trust under the Society Registration Act, 1960 with its head office at Tiptur in Tumkur district of Karnataka.
BIRD-K, Tiptur is implementing development programmes in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Initially, starting with the cattle development programme, today, this Associate Organisation is also implementing research and development projects in tree-based farming, watershed development, tribal rehabilitation, afforestation, bio-energy, community health, off-farm activities with women empowerment and environmental protection cutting across all its programmes.
BIRD-K is implementing the livestock development project in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh with the support of the Zilla Panchayat and Andhra Pradesh Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Limited. Transfer of Technologies for Sustainable Development is being supported by the European Union, Water and Energy Conservation Project by the India-Canada Environment Facility, New Delhi. Sustainable agriculture through dryland farming is being promoted with the support of German Agro Action. The project for Eco-development is being implemented with the support of the Government of Karnataka. Industrial greenbelt projects are being successfully implemented with the support of Gokak Mills and Forbes Gokak Ltd. Conservation of medicinal plants and revitalisaton of local health traditions is being conducted with the support of the Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions. The other projects include Women Health and Empowerment funded by Canadian International Development Agency and Innovative approaches for safe drinking water by the International Development Research Centre.
Research Projects are also being conducted on Jatropha curcas production systems for small farms, soil nutrient management, goat productivity, effect of coir pith composting on mulberry and an experiment with Efficient Microorganism (EM).
The Gramodaya Training cum Research Centre at Lakkihalli is playing a crucial role in research, training and extension.

RRIDMA

This Associate Organisation was established in 1993 under the Societies Registration Act, 1950. The head office is located at Bhilwara. The divisional offices are located in Udaipur and Bundi.
RRIDMA is implementing the multidisciplinary programme covering Livestock Development, Community Pasture Development, Tribal Development, Water and Energy Conservation Project, Transfer of Technologies for Sustainable Development Project, Women Health and Empowerment with the support of the Government of Rajasthan, Dorabji Tata Trust, Indo-Canada Environment Facility, European Union and Canadian International Development Agency. A Comprehensive Community Health Programme is also being implemented. The Silvipasture Development Programme on 455 ha of community land is being efficiently managed by people's organisations with remarkable success.

BIRD-UP

This is an Associate Organisation of BAIF registered as a Public Charitable Trust under Uttar Pradesh Amendment Act in 1975, with its Head Office in Allahabad.
BIRD-UP is implementing a massive programme in livestock development which also covers Uttaranchal state. Training of para-veterinarians to operate the programme is a hallmark of this programme.
Land based programmes have helped the farmers to develop their sodic wastelands in Allahabad district and ravine lands in Kanpur Dehat district.
The Uttar Pradesh Diversified Agriculture Support Programme (UPDASP) is being implemented in Allahabad district to strengthen the extension services for increased productivity in agriculture, horticulture and livestock sectors.
The Transfer of Technologies Project, Community Health programme and Women's Health and Empowerment are also being smoothly implemented with the support of the European Union and Canadian International Development Agency.

SPESD

This Associate Organisation was established in 1996 as a Public Charitable Trust with its head office in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
SPESD is involved in integrated rural development which includes livestock development, watershed management and empowerment of rural women. A district poverty initiatives programme has also been taken up. A technology resource centre in Hoshangabad district aims at imparting science and technological inputs into rural development. Soyabean-based agriculture is being promoted to enhance income of small farmers.
The livestock development programme is being implemented with the support of the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The district poverty initiatives programme is being supported by the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the World Bank. The Science and Technology Centre is supported by Regional Resource Laboratory, Bhopal and UNDP. The Soyabean-based farming project is being sponsored by ICRISAT and the milli-watershed development programme by the District Rural Development Agency, Government of Madhya Pradesh. The Women's Health and Empowerment Project is sponsored by CIDA.

DHRUVA

This Associate Organisation was established in 1995 with its head office at Kaprada in Dharampur in Valsad district of Gujarat.
The focus of DHRUVA is people. The tribal development programme through `wadi' is the major programme of this organization. This project was show cased at the EXPO 2000 in Hannovar, Germany. This programme is being consolidated under the support received from KfW. Emphasis is laid on post-production activities and providing sustainable livelihood to landless families in the project areas. People's organizations have been strengthened in the project areas through the formation of Ayojan Samities. The tribal families are availing of credit facilities for procuring farm inputs and to set up micro-enterprises.
The Vasundhara Cooperative Society promoted by the tribal wadi owners at Vansda has made significant progress through the processing of pickles and mango pulp. Training is also an important component of DHRUVA for capacity building.