SVSS is a grass root action oriented organization taken vows to work with poor communities in villages for enhancing their livelihood resources in a sustainable manner. Our work includes motivation, mobilization of community members, identification, adoption and promotion of technology, mobilization of resources, fostering of functional mechanisms, and skill development & capacity building, experimentation and fostering mechanisms for sustainable impact, growth & spread.

More than 1.4 billion people around the world live in extreme poverty —the majority of them in rural areas. Improving sustainable livelihood opportunities for smallholder farmers and forest communities is the most effective way to lift rural people out of poverty —and nourish a global population expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050. The cultivation of rural prosperity is core to our vision of a world where people and nature thrive in harmony, and it is embedded in our entire approach to sustainability transformation.

Rural poverty has been accepted as both a major cause and result of degraded soils, vegetation, forests, water and natural habitats. The importance of environment-poverty links for the natural resource, health and vulnerability dimensions of the livelihoods of the poor is evident in empirical research (refs). Environmental factors are responsible for almost a quarter of the entire disease burden of developing countries; unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and waste disposal, and air pollution are a major problem for the poor (DfiD, 2001). Rapid deforestation and biodiversity losses are depriving people of valuable forest resources, such as fuelwood, food and medicine. Soil degradation is a major threat to the livelihoods of 1 billion people, mostly the poor who are more likely to live in degraded or fragile areas. Projections of rural population growth, agricultural expansion and intensification and poverty in the next few decades suggest a potentially serious conflict between natural resource sustainability and poverty in rural areas (Pinstrup-Andersenet al.,1997; Scherr, 1997).

Research has made clear that not only do the rural poor rely heavily on natural resources; they also increasingly live in areas of high ecological vulnerability and relatively low levels of resource productivity such as subtropical drylands or steel mountain slopes. Estimates indicate that if current trends persist, by 2020 more than 800 million people could be living on marginal lands (Hazell and Garrett, 1996). Insecurity, risk and vulnerability to environmental stresses and shocks are thus one of the key concerns of poor people. The Red Cross estimates that 1998 was the first year in which the number of refugees from environmental disasters exceeded those displaced as a result of war (ICRC, 1999). Direct conflict - including wars - over natural resources also contribute to the livelihood insecurity of the rural poor as they have the least resources to cope with loss and recover from conflict.

Three key facets of community empowerment are:

• Organizing and improving community participation -Participation is a central pillar of the CDD approach. Rather than being mere recipients of services and grants, communities take the lead in the development process. Only communities know their local conditions and issues and are best placed to decide what their priorities. The participatory process gives communities the opportunity to analyze and discuss their local situation in systematic fashion, identify community needs and implement action plans. The pariticipatory process is inclusive of all the different social, ethnic groups within a given community. It provides the space for the hetrogenienty of the community to be exposed and thus would lead to identification of community needs and priorities that are reflective of all the different social groups involved. Participatory planning processes also tap into existing social capital, and also help build and strengthen the community’ social capital. The methods, tools and techniques needed for community participation are not new, and includes village mapping, Venn diagramming, semi-structured interviews etc. The process typically includes the following steps: diagnosis; identification of priorities; problem and solution analysis; elaboration of action plans ; ensuring fuller participation of vulnerable groups; strengthening community organizations; and strengthen community based accountability.
• Financing communities through matching grants- In order to develop local planning and resource allocation capacities, it is important that there is a shift from earmarking to matching untied grants where communities have control over the funds. Untying matching grants does not mean giving money with no rules or conditions at all. On the contrary, it must be accompanied by guidelines to ensure wide local participation; to promote transparency and accountability; to prevent fraud and misuse; to avoid elite capture and social exclusion. The money will not be tied to specific projects, but its disbursements must be based on the observance of approved procedures, and ultimately on performance. The concept of matching grants implies that local communities will contribute part of the share of project costs. Good social accountability mechanisms accompanied by a strategic communication and information dissemination campaign is a pre-requisite. Communities must be equipped with the information and knowledge required for them to actively participate and contribute towards the design and implementation of their own development initiatives.
• Targeting interventions to ensure the participation of socially excluded sections- It is important to recognize that communities are not homogeneous, and targeting may be needed to reach normally excluded groups such as the poor, women, youth, elderly, handicapped, socially marginalized groups (due to class caste or ethnicity) and minorities.