Livelihood
Live Projects
Access To Education Urban Livelihood & Microfinance
Centre for Rural Development (CRD), Assam (2005), ($31,111)
CRD is a registered society. It was registered in the year 1994-95 with the initiation of a few young professionals who were already working in the field of rural development for some years. The Society, since its inception, has remained actively involved in developmental work for the poor and underprivileged of the North Eastern Region of the country.
CRD has started a Rickshaw Bank in Guwahati, Assam. The rickshaw bank purchases rickshaws and leases them out to unemployed youth and/or existing rickshaw pullers. Each day, the rickshaw puller returns a small fraction of his earning to the Rickshaw Bank. Over a period of one year, the daily payments sum up to the total cost of the rickshaw. In this way, the rickshaw puller owns the rickshaw at the end of one year. CRD will also replicate the Rickshaw Bank project in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. With AIF support, CRD will be working with 200 rickshaw pullers. 100 rickshaw pullers in Guwahati and 100 rickshaw pullers in Noida will be able to acquire their assets in 12-15 months in the first phase, and it will be scaled up further with an ICICI bank loan. The Rickshaw bank project is also being supported by organizations like Oil & Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) in Guwahati city. The project period is 2 years.