This document outlines strategies for scaling up a fishery program in Bundelkhand, India. It discusses establishing producer companies and cooperative clusters to promote women's economic empowerment and market access for small fisherfolk. Key strategies include training local leaders to strengthen governance and planning, ensuring 50% of enterprises are women-led, linking women's groups to support programs, formalizing agreements between cooperatives and companies, and engaging in policy advocacy. The end goal is to replicate successful community-driven fishery models across Bundelkhand and influence supportive state policies.

1. Bundelkhand Fishery Program
Scale Up strategy
Neelkanth
Neelkanth.mishra@gmail.com

2. Major area of Intervention:
1. Institution Building – for
i. Socio political empowerment
ii. Economical empowerment
2. Womens economic empowerment
3. Market and Value chain
4. Advocacy and leverages with government
programs
5. Diversification of pond based livelihood
opportunities

3. Institution Building:

6. Relation between Sangathan and Producer Company:
C
1
c
2
…
C
Cluster
unit 1
c
2
…
C
C
1
Cluster
unit 2
Cluster
unit ..n
c
2
…
C
C
1
Sangathan
(Apex Body)
membership
Sangathan
(Apex Body)
membership
Fisherfolk’s
producer
company
Fisherfolk’s
producer
company
Function:
•Community mobilization for
control and access over pond
•Develop internal governance
system, transparency and capacity
building
•Community leadership
development
•Policy advocacy and liaison with
Government
Cluster level unit will be responsible for:-
•Rout chart of fish for marketing from pond site
•Ensuring quality of product
•Maintaining records for cluster level and
individual member transactions
•All decisions related to providing individual
benefits like loans, credit, govt scheme etc
•Capacity building of member cooperatives and
empowering members
Function:
•Backward and forward
•linkagesDevelop Enterprise around fish
value chain
•Promote womens economic leadership
All the Cooperative in any cluster that
follow norms of sangathan can hold
membership. Only shareholding cooperative will be
member of producer organisation
( they will also have agreement with
company)

7. What is a Producer Company?
• It is essentially a cooperative organisation
functioning within the Company Law
• It retains many of the features of a cooperative while
bringing the following benefits of a company
– Autonomy in management
– Good monitoring over legal compliances
• A producer company helps us run a collective
business without outside interference but ensures
that the business is done in a disciplined way

8. Main features of Producer Company
• Membership can be given to individuals and/or
producer groups (unregistered as well)
• One member—one vote or in the case of producer
groups, voting can be on the basis of business done
with company
• Limited dividend like cooperative
• Withheld price can be distributed at end of season
• Surplus can be shared in proportion of business with
member

9. • Freedom to decide on all internal affairs—staff
appointments, elections, audit, etc.
• Board size of 5 to 11 Directors including experts who can
be inducted
• Good rules to avoid misuse of company by directors
– Loans to Directors to be approved by General Body
– Directors will lose position if they do not conduct regular
meetings, submit accounts regularly
– Loss suffered by company on account of illegal decisions by
Directors will have to be paid by Directors
– Gap between annual general meetings should not exceed 15
months
• Importance of professional management stressed
by Act
– Full time Chief Executive required
– Company Secretary to be appointed if turnover
exceeds 5 crores

10. Our plans for company registration
• Initiated operations as a unregistered organisation
• Will have a small six member committee on temporary basis
till registration is done (one from each cluster unit)
• After consultation with members, we can finalise by-laws and
register the new organisation
• One Company secretary is preparing Bye laws and other
document.
• Process of registration-July ‘2009 onwards

11. Cluster level: Market facilitation unit
• Cluster level unit will be responsible for
– Rout chart of fish for marketing from pond site
– Ensuring quality of product
– Supplying fish as per district organisation instructions
– Maintaining records for cluster level and individual
member transactions
– All decisions related to providing individual benefits like
loans, credit, govt scheme etc
– Providing facilities for members to handle fish and process
it

12. District level marketing unit/ Producer
Company
• District level organisation
• Responsible for overall planning and intervention
• Will organise the marketing
• Ensure timely supply and procurement of fish seed, fish
seed and services
• Negotiate terms with traders, exporters, etc.
• Direct sale to markets, if found necessary
• Ensure collection of money and payments to member
cooperative
• Deal with banks, financial institutions and other sources
for credit and financial services

13. Role of Different Bodies
• General Body
– To approve annual accounts, budget, work plan
– To appoint Board selected by Programming Committee
– To approve by-laws and amendments
– Appoint auditor
– To give policy guidelines
• Programme committee
– To review all activities and programmes on a regular basis
– To select Board members and put up to General Body for
appointment
• Board of Directors
– Overall responsibility for management of organisation
– Appointment of Chief Executive and staff and fixing their work and
terms
– Providing policy directions to Chief Executive
– Approval of accounts on regular basis and placing of annual report
and account to general body annually
– Sanction of loans, etc.

14. Governance
• The ownership of the collective and its ultimate responsibility
will lie with the primary members cooperative, fishermen and
fisherwomen
• However, a large marketing/business organisation is a
complex operation dealing with a fast changing outside world
and markets
• Hence the regular business or operations require qualified
professionals as Executives and staff who must be given
freedom to run day to day operations
• Need for independent directors is essential as they bring
neutrality and objectivity; they also bring knowledge, expertise
and useful links to the outside world

15. Strategies for scale up:• There is potential to involve MPRLP and MP-DPIP program partners to replicate pilot
project of vikalp with fisherfolk community in other parts of MP.
• Initiate or leverage Small organisations fellowship program through Bundelkhand
fisherfok forum to scale up above listed initiative in pilot basis and later on link
them with other support agency (Like NFDB, CIFE, American green bank, MP-
RLP,MP-DPIP etc.)
- Lead: Initial steering has to be commanded by Bundelkhand fishery forum (BFF) to
ensure accountability of Partner organisation and Sangthan. It will also serve as
organisation development, system development process at partner organisation
level.
- Limitation in this process: Lack of professional approach and support at Vikalp and
Sangathan level.
• Sangathna and Vikalp has developed member cooperatives quality appraisal tool in
form of Cooperative grading system. Earlier, it was difficult to use this tool from
Vikalp/Maria office because of distances and accessibility issue. But this year, block
level/cluster level offices has been started to address proximity issue. Now, local
block/cluster level leaders can perform Grading exercise at community level to
develop system, transparency, governance, production, entitlements and access to
service-market related issue
• Use of GIS based decision support system is important tool to make community
level planning, resource utilisation, make management decisions and ensuring
peoples rights and entitlements. Some staff should be trained enough to do step by
step planning using GIS based software.

16. • Deliberate effort has to made to ensure 50% enterprises to be
operated by women’s group along fish value chain.
• Mahila Shakti sangthan has potential to be as voice of fisherfolk
and other womens in Bundelkhand to address womens issue and
demand for womens right and entitlement
• Womens enterprise group/SHG can be linked with MP-DPIP
program for sustained support
• Develop systematic and formal agreement system with fishing
cooperative and Producer Company
• Young and new leadership will be promoted and trained at
block /cluster level with sangthan to imbibe value and culture of
right based approach. Then after two –three years of services
with sangthan will be placed with Producer Company based on
their interest and capability. In this way, flow of human resources
from sangathan to company will ensure human rights approach
with market initiatives.
• Annual shareholder sammelan will ensure better functioning at
company end

17. • Policy analysis and support level linkages with NFDB, CIFE,
Planning commission working group on fishery, and other
state level peoples organization to influence state level
inland fishery policy needs to be strengthen.
• Learning and sharing with other like minded organization like
SRTT, Wateraid, AIF, UNDP, Ford foundation etc. to ensure
scale up in other state and with other organization.
• Submission of pond wise plan to district administration to
leverage NREGA and other development fund using GIS
based planning software.
• Strengthen Bundelkhand fisherfolk forum for ensuring
awareness and advocate for proper implementation of new
fishery policy.
• Influence fishery dept. to develop model aquaculture based
economic development program in one block per district of
State.