Green College Odisha: Building Green Value Webs for Tribal Women Farmers

(October 2024 to September 2028)

About the Project:

February 2025 marked the beginning of BRLF’s new chapter in Odisha – the launch of the Green College Odisha project focused on nurturing tribal women farmers as changemakers in green entrepreneurship.

Conceived as a state-level centre of excellence, Green College Odisha aims to become the nerve centre for capacity building, innovation, and technical support in sustainable agriculture and eco-enterprise development. The project places a strong emphasis on promoting green livelihoods among tribal communities, with women at the heart of this transformation.

Green College is a key pillar of the Agricultural Production Cluster (APC) program, which is now in its second phase (APC 2.0). Originally launched in 2018 by the Government of Odisha in collaboration with Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (BRLF), APC has already made significant strides in strengthening women-led collectivisation and market access. With APC 2.0, the focus now extends beyond production to creating a long-term ecosystem for rural entrepreneurship and skill development.

Green College Odisha will serve as a hub to nurture changemakers, enabling tribal women to become skilled entrepreneurs, climate-smart farmers, and torchbearers of sustainable rural development across Odisha.

Goal:

To create a structured and sustainable system for building the skills and capacities of stakeholders involved in the APC 2.0 project across 40 blocks of Odisha, through a dedicated training and knowledge support framework.

Objective:

To establish a pool of qualified local master trainers through Green College Odisha, who will deliver high-quality, standardised training to Producer Companies, individual entrepreneurs, Producer Group members, and extension workers engaged in the APC 2.0 initiative. This will help strengthen implementation, ensure consistency in knowledge transfer, and promote green and sustainable livelihoods at the grassroots level.

Key Strategies:

Adopting a holistic approach to promote sustainable livelihoods and rural entrepreneurship.
Developing comprehensive training curricula and materials.
Building a pool of skilled trainers and subject experts through Training of Trainers (ToT) programs.
Promoting eco-friendly enterprises by training rural youth and women, with focused support for high-potential entrepreneurs.
Strengthening the grassroots ecosystem by enhancing the skills of Community Coordinators, Resource Persons, and Extension Workers.
Creating a digital platform for knowledge sharing.
Developing standardized training modules and IEC materials on key agricultural themes and trades.
Setting up field demonstration and exposure sites for hands-on learning and best practice adoption.

Key Deliverables and Outcomes:

Train 4,000 eco-preneurs across various trades, with business setup support for 400 high-potential entrepreneurs.
Identify and train 60 Master Trainers to lead Green College training programs.
Train 1,200 frontline community workers, including Community Coordinators (CC), Community Resource Persons (CRP), and Extension Workers (EW).
Build a pool of 200 resource persons to deliver ongoing ground-level training.
Provide livelihood and skill enhancement training, including record-keeping, to 80,000 Producer Group (PG) members.
Train Board of Directors from 30 Producer Companies on market linkages and operational management.
Develop 15 training modules, IEC materials, and learning videos on best practices.
Establish 25 demonstration sites across different trades for hands-on training and exposure visits.

Government Partners:

Directorate of Horticulture, Govt. of Odisha
Odisha Livelihoods Mission (OLM)
Mission Shakti and other line departments

Funding Partners:

Economic Development Cooperation (BMZ) of the German Government
Welthungerhilfe

CSO Partners:

ADHIKAR, BGS, CYSD, FES, Harsha Trust, JANASAHAJYA, JMA, LOKADRUSTI, PRADAN, SHRISTI, SEWA, SIDI, SSS, VIKALPA, YCDA.