MoRD signs MoU with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to strengthen institutions of the rural poor

MoRD signs MoU with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to strengthen institutions of the rural poor

On 22nd January 2020, the Ministry of Rural Development signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-BMGF under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). This is for furthering their mutual objectives of strengthening grassroots institutions of the rural poor.

Key Points:

• It focuses on improving the lives of India’s poor and the marginalized with the aim of reducing poverty through institutions of marginalized rural women for promotion of diversified and gainful self-employment while creating skilled wage employment opportunities.
• The Ministry is striving to remove barriers like poor health, gender inequality and lack of opportunities for women’s entrepreneurship while providing them access to financial institutions and markets.
• DAY-NRLM is also developing social capital and ensuring financial linkages to alleviate poverty and enhance the quality of the life of rural poor women.
• It has ambitious plans on innovations for alternate channels of financial inclusion like digital finance, creating value chains around rural products, rural enterprise, improving market access and also creating awareness on social development issues and services.