North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP)

The North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project is a development project for the northeast rural region of India consisting of poor

tribal communities. The project aims to improve the quality of life for the tribal people by helping them with livelihood opportunities and other aid in social development. It is a joint developmental initiative of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), North Eastern Council (NEC) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Focus Areas of NERCORMP

There are two main focus areas of NERCORMP:

Mobilize the society as a whole: The Project aims to revive traditional customs in order to bring the tribal regions together and help the people realize their potential based on the tribal knowledge of forest produce, ancient ways of sustainable practices etc.
Economic and Infrastructural Intervention: The other focus area of the project is to provide help with infrastructure and economic aid like loans to help generate income for the people and improve their lives.

Operating Area

Regional Headquarters: Shillong, Meghalaya

States	Districts within the States
Assam	Karbi Anglong
	North Cachar Hills
Manipur	Ukhrul
	Senapati
	Churachandpur
	Chandel
Meghalaya	West Garo Hills
	West Khasi Hills
Arunachal Pradesh	Changlang
	Tirap

Groups formed under NERCORMP

Natural Resource Management Group (NaRM-G): This is a village-level body that helps the villagers representing every family to form a group and develop the economy of the village by sustainable use of natural resources available. Self Help Group (SHG): SHG is a small group of people mostly women who face similar issues and problems. The self-help group is started by a facilitator and helps in educating the group members about getting small loans to start a local business on their own or as a cooperative venture, promote savings and also have their own common bank account.

Major Project Activities

Capacity building: Strengthening community-based organisations (CBOs) at the institutional level and also provide help in building the capacity of participating organisations like NGOs. Credit: Provide microloans or credit to the local communities via Self Help Group, Natural Resource Management Group or Microcredit Institutions in the local areas. Community-Based Bio-Diversity Conservation and Communication: Helping the local communities manage their natural resources at the same time conserve the unique biodiversity of the local land. It also includes sharing information between different groups and documenting good practices of the project. Convergence with Ongoing Government Schemes: Help in converging the activities with Government and NGOs and facilitate in meeting financial shortfall or need for more technical support as per demands of the community. Economic and Livelihood activities: Promote Income Generation Activities using sustainable and environment-friendly practices in crop production, forestry, livestock, horticulture etc. Extension and Technology Transfer: Built on participatory extension methods, the extension is client-centric and demand-driven. This involves creating a trained group of volunteers at the village or cluster level who then extend the services at the grass-root community level. Marketing Support: Create marketing committees within NaRMs groups and also help in choosing activities. Build marketing infrastructure such as marketing and collection sheds to sell products. Provide value addition to produces, Analyse demand and supply and establish a matching value chain. Social Sector Activities: Help with activities affecting health such as provide access to drinking water, better sanitation, health care for the sick. Increasing awareness amongst the communities about the available Government social schemes and their significance. Village Roads and Electrification: Assist the communities in road building to improve accessibility to villages. This improves the overall local economy by helping to bring the produce to the markets faster. Help is also provided for electrification of households via connection to already existing grids or by through renewable sources of power were viable in rural conditions.

Project Impact

The NERCORMP project has helped

860 villages in Phase I (conducted between 1999-2008)
466 villages in Phase II (conducted between 2010-2016)
1320 villages in Phase III (started in 2014 – ending in 2021)

Over 5000 Self Help Groups and more than 1000 Natural Resource Management Groups have been set up to assist the tribal people to make a livelihood using available local resources and in a sustainable and profitable manner. Please click on the

official site on NERCORMP for more details and information.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about NERCORMP.

The NERCORMP (North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project) is a development project aimed at improving the quality of life for poor tribal communities in the rural northeast region of India. It focuses on mobilizing communities to revive traditional customs and sustainable practices, as well as providing economic and infrastructural aid through initiatives like microloans and income-generating activities.

The two main focus areas of NERCORMP are: 1) Mobilizing the society as a whole by reviving traditional customs and helping tribal communities realize their potential based on their knowledge of forest produce and sustainable practices. 2) Providing economic and infrastructural interventions through initiatives like microloans, income-generating activities, and infrastructure development.

NERCORMP operates in several districts across the states of Assam (Karbi Anglong, North Cachar Hills), Manipur (Ukhrul, Senapati, Churachandpur, Chandel), Meghalaya (West Garo Hills, West Khasi Hills), and Arunachal Pradesh (Changlang, Tirap).

The two major groups formed under NERCORMP are: 1) Natural Resource Management Group (NaRM-G), which is a village-level body that helps villagers sustainably use natural resources for economic development. 2) Self Help Group (SHG), which is a small group, mostly of women, formed to access microloans, start small businesses, promote savings, and have a common bank account.

Some of the key activities undertaken by NERCORMP include capacity building of community-based organizations, providing microloans or credit, promoting community-based biodiversity conservation, converging with ongoing government schemes, promoting income-generating activities through sustainable practices, extension and technology transfer, marketing support, social sector activities like healthcare and sanitation, and assisting with village roads and electrification.

NERCORMP promotes income-generating activities using sustainable and environment-friendly practices in sectors like crop production, forestry, livestock, and horticulture. It also provides marketing support by creating marketing committees, value addition to produces, and analyzing demand and supply for establishing value chains.

NERCORMP supports social sector activities by providing access to drinking water, better sanitation facilities, and healthcare for the sick. It also increases awareness among communities about available government social schemes and their significance.

As of now, NERCORMP has helped 860 villages in Phase I (1999-2008), 466 villages in Phase II (2010-2016), and 1320 villages in Phase III (2014-2021). Over 5000 Self Help Groups and more than 1000 Natural Resource Management Groups have been set up to assist tribal people in making a sustainable and profitable livelihood using local resources.

NERCORMP promotes community-based biodiversity conservation by helping local communities manage their natural resources sustainably while also conserving the unique biodiversity of the local land. It also facilitates sharing of information and documentation of good practices among different groups.

NERCORMP assists communities in building village roads to improve accessibility and bring produce to markets faster. It also helps with electrification of households by connecting them to existing grids or through renewable sources of power suitable for rural conditions, thereby improving the overall local economy.