This is a three-year training program started in the 2016 in collaboration with Engineers India Limited at Bolangir District, Odisha. Subsequent to completion of its first year of the project on goat rearing and poultry, second year of the functional literacy is launched in May 2018 to provide functional literacy on mushroom cultivation and beekeeping to 120 tribal women.

Balangir is a district in the western part of Odisha. This district lacks behind the rest of the state in terms of infrastructure development, education and health care facilities for which it demands quick attention from the government. It is famous for its natural beauty and its tribal establishments and has a predominately rural population. It is an agrarian district with more than 70% of the population depending on agriculture for their livelihood. The tribes of Balangir district are mostly marginal, small and landless farmers. Majority of the tribes depend on farming for family income and few of them depend on dairy animals, goat and sheep.

Out of 14 blocks of the Balangir district, the AHF Livelihoods project was launched in two blocks, namely Deogaon and Puintala. The project has been taken up in three villages - Atgaon, Babijor and Uparjhar - belonging to the blocks of Puintala and Deogaon respectively.

The project on goatery, poultry, mushroom cultivation and beekeeping are being implemented in these three villages. The beneficiaries are tribal women who are poor and in grave need of additional earnings to support their families.

The selection of beneficiaries for the livelihoods project was based on various parameters such as poverty, possession of little or no land holdings, those interested in a new livelihood system and people with the imperative support by family heads. The selection of beneficiaries also included the prior approval of male members of their families in order to overcome social resistance.

The long-term objective of the various development initiatives for women is be to raise their economic and social status in order to bring them into the main stream of national development. The basic approach of these activities is to inculcate confidence among women and bring about awareness of their own potential for development, as also of their rights and privileges. An integrated multi-disciplinary approach has been adopted, covering employment, education health, nutrition, application of science and technology and other related aspects in areas of interest to women. Efforts are being made to extend facilities for income generating activities and to enable women to actively participate in socio-economic development. These beneficiaries are being trained for empowerment to add income to their families. Their technical competency is being updated for increasing production as well as income. They are however, not being trained for employment outside their home.