Evaluation cum Impact Study of STEP Project for Handloom Weavers of Assam (Phase I, II, III)

The study shows that there is concentration of beneficiaries in few of the districts. As far as experience of the selected beneficiaries is concerned the study shows that 9.81% of the beneficiaries are without prior experience in the activity and this could be a problem in the realization of the objective As far as the location is concerned it is seen that 63.07% of the selected beneficiaries are from the rural areas but the major problem is that beneficiaries from a minimum of three villages comprised one SHG which is creating a problem in group operation. Among the beneficiaries 42.69% of beneficiaries are those read upto the middle school and very few of them are with higher qualification. Speaking of the coverage it is seen that 67% of the targeted beneficiaries of phase I have been covered, while it is 84% and 48.8% for phase II and III respectively. As regards the positive impact around 79.23% of the beneficiaries have developed skill in weaving, 57.97% in designs and in case of 17.83% of the beneficiaries shift from low value to high value products is noticed. However the implementation process is found to be having some gaps, the most important being the distribution of the members of the SHGs. In addition to this some of the components of the training programmes were not available to all the beneficiaries which otherwise could have made a wider impact.