BAIF Institute for Sustainable Livelihoods and Development (BISLD), is a not-for-profit Organisation registered (Registration No. CIN: U73200PN2012NPL142984) under Section 8 (formerly Section 25) of the Companies Act, 1956 and formally established on April 16th, 2012. BISLD is closely associated with BAIF Development Research Foundation (BAIF), a reputed Non-Government Organisation founded in 1967 by Dr. Manibhai Desai, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. BAIF started its journey towards rural development in 1967 with the cattle development programme. It later took a multidisciplinary approach to create sustainable livelihoods that covers management of natural resources, tree based farming system through the wadi programme and women empowerment leading to improved lives.
BISLD is committed to promote sustainable livelihoods of the rural poor with an innovative and integrated approach to rural development and environmental conservation. The flexibility of the programmes enable BISLD to serve the most disadvantaged by addressing the specific needs of each family, village and local area. Community participation is the foundation of all the programmes.
The relevance and effectiveness of this work is vindicated by the fact that presently it has the overwhelming participation of farmers in over 98,000 villages in 13 states. The programme outreaches to over 5.15 million families.
BAIF Development Research Foundation made a modest beginning in Uttar Pradesh through Cattle Development Programme in the year 1976 in Banda and Prayagraj (Allahabad) districts in collaboration with Prayag Chitrakoot Krishi Avam Godhan Vikas Nigam Limited, Karwi with an objective to create productive assets at the doorsteps of the farmers in the form of crossbred cows, which can yield more than 2100 liters of milk in a lactation. The impact of the programme was well appreciated by the farmers and Government policy makers. In the year 1984, BAIF initiated cross – breeding activities in local non-descript cows using frozen semen technology with artificial insemination technique. After critical analysis and evaluation of the programme by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of UP, it was expanded to 62 livestock development centers in 10 districts to explore wider replication of the programme. Later on, looking at the success of the programme, the Government of India recognized BAIF as a reliable rural development agency and provided support to its rural development programmes through its IRDP Scheme which was later merged with its new SGSY scheme. It was expanded to 311 centers in 42 districts with the help of DRDAs. There is continuous expansion of the programme and it has been serving as a tool for sustainable livelihood of BPL families through improvement in milk production through dairy cattle. Various other projects were also taken in the field of Watershed Development, Ravines & Sodic land development, Diversified Agriculture, Sericulture, Human Health, Women empowerment and strengthening of Local POs to benefit the rural poor.
Field programmes of BAIF were implemented by separate state level societies. Considering the expansion of programmes and to streamline the operations , field programmes are now being implemented by BISLD through its state branches.
The programmes of BISLD are being implemented across 13 states of India through a team of senior development professionals and field implementation staff. The operations are spread over the following Regions:
The Regional Headquarters are located at Prayagraj (North), Hyderabad (South), Ranchi (East) and Nashik (West). The multidisciplinary programmes of BISLD and its Associate Organisations are spread across 250 districts reaching out to over 5.15 million families.
Our Programmes
In today's changing needs , BISLD is striving to keep abreast with relevant technologies such as sex sorted semen, climate change adaptation and is thus poised to meet the development challenges of tomorrow.