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India Foundation for Humanistic Development (IFHD) is a not for profit foundation working across India to realize its vision of rejuvenating productive landscapes equitably and sustainably. It does so by investing in transformative development interventions and collaborating with individuals, civil society organizations, the private sector and the government.

Overview
Guided by humanist values, IFHD’s mission is to contribute to a just, free and equitable society in which all people, regardless of gender, caste, ethnicity or other identities, have equal access to opportunities and resources, and actively participate in decision-making processes that determine their lives and their future. IFHD’s vision is to rejuvenate productive landscapes equitably and sustainably. IFHD’s key thematic priorities are sustainable agriculture, livelihoods, biodiversity, and green food and energy systems. Our main strategy is to create, support and participate in catalytic platforms – multi stakeholder initiatives with the potential for enabling large-scale social change. IFHD’s flagship program is ProCIF (Producer Catalyst and Incubation Facility), which incubates and transforms asset-poor Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) into sustainable and commercially viable enterprises. Besides serving as the Secretariat of ProCIF, IFHD also manages the initiative’s Technical Assistance Facility. IFHD is also a partner in the Leaders for Nature India platform that includes the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Netherlands (IUCN-NL), the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), and the Wildlife Trust of India. Leaders for Nature India is a business engagement network that stimulates companies to take the lead in transitioning towards a sustainable economy by incorporating the concept of ‘natural capital’ in their core business. IFHD’s role in the network is to provide technical assistance and field support in the domains of environmental and social development, share expertise and inputs on livelihoods and biodiversity, and undertake pilot initiatives on the intersection of business and biodiversity. IFHD was established in October 2011, and its Head office is in Bangalore City, Karnataka.


 * Developing capacity: IFHD helps individuals and communities acquire necessary skills, share relevant knowledge, and apply productive technologies needed to build successful farms and businesses.
 * Strengthening market connections: IFHD helps coordinate industry players and connect emerging businesses and farms to capital, networks, and suppliers.
 * Improving the business environment: IFHD helps encourage self-sustaining economic activity by addressing the policies, information and incentives that help markets function better

ProCIF
ProCIF is a multi-stakeholder partnership which seeks to incubate and transform asset-poor FPOs across India into self-reliant and sustainable enterprises. It has two main pillars – ‘Access to Finance’[which currently has three funding instruments] and a ‘Technical Assistance Facility’, to incubate FPOs and help them grow and become self-reliant. ProCIF facilitates FPO access to funds through grants, soft loans, and market-based finance – depending on the maturity and readiness of the FPO, coupled with cross cutting technical assistance to support FPOs through their stages of growth and evolution. ProCIF incubates FPOs in the agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries sectors. The official launch of ProCIF took place during a workshop attended its promoters and partners in Bangalore on March 26-27, 2013, with the Pilot phase of implementation lasting from November 2013 to March 2016.

ProCIF aims to work with 100 FPOs by 2020, and improve the lives of over 92,000 small producer families i.e. approximately 460,000 rural people in India. Of the 100, 67 FPOs would have been incubated under the ProCIF’s mentoring program. Of the 67, 11 FPOs will be in a ‘mature phase 'accessing loans at market based rates, 22 FPOs will be in a ‘growth phase’ accessing loans at market rates for the first time, and 34 FPOs will be in an ‘emerging’ phase with access to finance at subsidized rates.

ProCIF is implemented by IFHD, and the program was conceptualized by Hivos International. The program is supported by the Tata Trusts, IUCN, Welthungerhilfe, and Catalyst Management Services, and it has been established in partnership with Friends of Women’s World Banking India (FWWB India), Vrutti Livelihood Resource Centre, Progresso/AVANCE, NABFINS and Caspian Investments Private Limited.

Past and current Work
Currently IFHD is working the following regions:

Southern Cluster
• Karnataka

• Telangana

• Andhra Pradesh

• Tamil Nadu

• Kerala

Central Cluster

 * Madhya Pradesh
 * Odisha

Western Cluster

 * Maharastra
 * Gujarat
 * Rajasthan

Incubation Process
ProCIF is a platform of FPOs, their promoters, financial institutions and other stakeholders and IFHD hosts the Secretariat as well as the Technical Assistance Facility. To ensure that such a multi-stakeholder approach is effective and well-coordinated, we have a specific Incubation Process for our Mentoring Program clients. This Incubation Process became operational during the reporting period. The various steps in the Incubation Process are as follows:

•	Sourcing of applications from FPOs via Calls for Proposals, Expressions of Interest, or partnership agreements with other agencies or the Government •	After a rigorous desk appraisal process, the shortlisted applications are forwarded to the relevant investor and to the Technical Assistance Facility. Lead: ProCIF Secretariat •	Due diligence visits and facilitation of FPOs’ self-appraisal using the MIDCA tool by the Technical Assistance Facility in partnership with the relevant investor •	Approval of the FPO application by the ProCIF Secretariat and the investor •	Preparation of mentoring plans by the Technical Assistance Facility. For this purpose, inputs are sought from both the FPO and its promoter •	Signing of an MOU between the FPO and IFHD followed by their on boarding onto ProCIF’s Mentoring Program •	The investor signs an agreement with the FPO and begins on-lending. •	Initiation of support to the FPO by the Technical Assistance Facility •	Monitoring of progress and financial performance followed by a mid-term appraisal or rating by an external agency to determine status of transformation. Lead: Technical Assistance Facility •	Modification of Mentoring Plan, if required, by the Technical Assistance Facility •	Graduation of the FPO from ProCIF. At this stage, the client FPO will be in a ‘mature phase’, when it is self-reliant and can rely on the provision of loans from banks and other mainstream financial institutions.

Impact
• Since its launch in January 2014, ProCIF has supported 52 FPOs in 11 states, covering 33 districts and approximately 45,000 farmers. By 2020, ProCIF expects to support 100 FPOs across the country • 25 FPOs were included in ProCIF’s Mentoring Program and engagements with them entered the scale-up phase. Of these, four FPOs received total loans worth Rs. 65 lakhs from ProCIF’s Incubation Fund while one FPO client received a loan of Rs. 90,00,000 from the ProCIF Debt Fund • 13 FPOs received short-term financial and technical assistance as part of ProCIF’s General Program for FPOs. These FPOs combined received loans worth Rs. 1.57 crore from ProCIF’s Incubation Fund with a 100% loan repayment rate • As part of the Small Grant Facility, a total of 10 FPOs were registered. 7 of these FPOs are now part of ProCIF’s Mentoring Program • During the previous reporting period, 11 FPOs participated in a Training Program on Business Planning organized by ProCIF • In terms of financial support for the initiative, IFHD received funding from Welthungerhilfe, Catalyst Management Services, IUCN Netherlands and the Tata Trusts to manage the Secretariat of ProCIF and provide technical assistance services to FPO clients.

Partners
Public and private partners are a key component of IFHD's work in the developing world. TechnoServe works with the following organizations:


 * Tata Trust
 * Progresso
 * Hivos
 * Nabfins
 * FWWB
 * Caspian Finances
 * Azim Premji Foundation
 * IUCN
 * Vrutti