Projects-about

About the project

The Centre for Sustainable Urban Livelihoods (CSUL) will serve as a Centre of Excellence under DAY-National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) and PM SVANidhi to provide technical support in effective implementation of urban livelihoods component of the mission. It will also act as a learning partner for the national and state units of the mission and will facilitate cross learning and knowledge dissemination. Additionally, CSUL is conceptualised as a learning partner for national and state units of the mission, facilitating cross-learning and knowledge dissemination. It will work to promote the development of sustainable frameworks for cities and local bodies to support the urban poor, women, and vulnerable groups through improved livelihoods and entrepreneurship initiatives, leveraging an intersectional and gender-inclusive lens. CSUL’s mission is to strengthen socio-economic resilience in urban areas by addressing livelihood challenges through innovative research, policy development, and capacity building.

Status: On-going

Funded by: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

Location: Pan India

Partners: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs,

Contact: uchoudhury@niua.org muktanaik@niua.org kanhupradhan@niua.org

Highlights

Policy:

Supporting the development of technical guidelines for 100 vending bazaars to be developed as part of PM-SVANidhi scheme.
Ongoing compilation of good practices in street vending – to developed into a Compendium for cities to refer for the 100 vending bazaars challenge.
Policy briefs in development on care work, gig economy, and construction workers aligned with the six vulnerable groups identified under the new mission.
Formulation of a multi-stakeholder Urban Livelihood Alliance to support by sharing knowledge, foster collaborations, and provide a clear roadmap to cities/ULBs across India to implement national and state schemes related to urban livelihoods and poverty alleviation.

Research and Innovation:

Developed a City Livelihood Action Plan (CLAP) framework to MoHUA for the new livelihood mission.
Reviewed the data collection template for capturing the learnings from the new mission's pilot program.
Completed the design and pilot run for a rapid assessment study of the PM SVANidhi scheme

Outreach and Advocacy:

Launched CSUL on 4th Nov at WUF12 in Cairo by Hon’ble Secretary MoHUA.
Hosted an expert roundtable in Jan 2025 on vending markets to support the development of guidelines for 100 vending bazaars.
Knowledge Partner to the joint Annual Event of DAY-NULM & PMSVANidhi - “Celebrating Achievements, Inspiring Excellence". NIUA supported the event in finalization of the session outlines/ sub-themes, identifying experts & moderator for the panel discussion, assisted in creating content for panel discussions, and documentation for the event. Detailed scope of work is attached
Contributed to the discussions on disaster management in urban livelihoods.
Hosted expert talk by Dr. Gregory F. Randolph on the topic of "Urbanisation from within"

Publications