The meetings with policy makers in Delhi, the Stakeholder Meeting in Ranchi and the Jabarrah field visit in West Bengal, all conducted in September 2003 and reported in this document, are the first activities of the DFID NRSP project R8334 which follows on from, and aims to promote together with key policy actors, the pro-poor policy lessons of project R8100.

The meetings and this document discuss the lessons learnt by project R8100 and consider how the follow on project might take these forward. Project staff reminded stakeholders of the project which concluded recently following a Policy Review Workshop in Noida in April 2003 and presented the proposed project goal, purpose and outputs to stakeholders and elicited their feedback and suggestions.

The GOI, had received the policy change recommendations and outcomes of R8100 formally in August, and had already provisionally analysed these, supported the Deputy Fisheries Commissioner to attend the R8334 Stakeholder Workshop in Ranchi. Representing GOI, Dr Chauhan suggested that a suitable mechanism for carrying forward these change recommendations might be to look at how they could be incorporated into the Fish Farm Development Agency scheme of the Government.

The follow-on project was strongly welcomed and there was good agreement on the elements of the project and some important changes to proposed actions which were highlighted by stakeholders. These included suggestions for more study of existing policies and acts, and calling a meeting of financial and banking representatives including the Reserve Bank of India, NABARD, and the State-level Bankers Committee to discuss rural provision of financial products especially to Self-help Groups. There were many excellent suggestions about communications including addressing communication strategies at state-level. The Policy Working Group concept was welcomed, but it was suggested to call this a Project Working Group (of a pro-poor policy project uniting a range of stakeholders), as policy making is the role of GOI, the role of the project is to advice and support. It was also suggested that PWG’s might be conducted at the state level. Policy makers and other stakeholder highlighted that some of the policy recommendations from R8100 could be implemented as changes in ways of working and may form Policy Briefs which could be circulated.

A number of stakeholders from locations across the three states offered spontaneous significant change stories to the stakeholder meeting, illustrating changes that have occurred in the lives of people, as well as illustrating the value of significant change stories. The meeting journeyed to the village of Jabarrah in rural West Bengal to witness at first hand changes that have occurred over many years of support from EIRFP and GVT, complemented by DFID NRSP research and changes in rural banking approaches.

This document combines the minutes of the Delhi meetings and the Stakeholder meeting in Ranchi, and captures as stories the summary of project R8100 and the visit to Jabarrah. The objectives of R8334 are presented, with comments on these recorded, and the project flow chart and proposed revisions to it are included.