Stree test
Solutions for Transformative
Rural Enterprises and
Empowerment (STREE)
Technical Assistance to National Rural
Livelihoods Mission

The Government of India’s Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) has been working towards alleviating poverty in rural India by developing strong local institutions to enhance livelihoods opportunities in the farm and non-farm sectors. The National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) is one such effort of the mission that aspires to support women-led enterprise development by enabling access to finance, building markets and networks, and generating employment opportunities. NRETP is currently being implemented across 13 states to support 80,000 rural enterprises by June 2023.
STREE was conceived in December 2019 to support NRLM's vision of creating a robust enabling entrepreneurial ecosystem for women in rural India under NRETP. It is a technical assistance initiative spearheaded by LEAD at Krea University, which aims to drive women-led enterprise development, with research at the core of its work.
The STREE initiative is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Spotlight
Connections – How Social Interactions Shape Women’s Entrepreneurship in India
How are women entrepreneurs interacting and negotiating with their ecosystem? How do these interactions shape their business decisions, outcomes and aspirations? In this special episode of In the Field India, entrepreneurs, researchers and experts come together to share perspectives from their work and discuss insights from STREE’s latest study on the theme.
Hosts Samyuktha Varma and Radhika Viswanathan from In the Field are joined by Kanika Bansal, an entrepreneur, Vidhya Soundararajan, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay, Jeemol Unni, Professor, Ahmedabad University along with Mridulya Narasimhan, Project Head - STREE and Aishwarya Joshi, Qualitative Research Specialist from LEAD. The segment is produced by LEAD at Krea University.
Interventions at a Glance
Our Projects
Our Approach

Strengthen systems
Assist NRLM in designing, planning and implementing key non-farm project activities across
13 NRETP states

Integrate design thinking
Develop and test interventions using human-centric design thinking approaches as proof of
concepts in select states to encourage enterprise creation, promotion and growth

Mobilise stakeholders
Mobilise institutions, community-based organisations, SHGs and private entities to enhance sustainability of program

Measure impact
Design a robust monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) framework to facilitate
data-driven decision making and to assess the progress of activities and the program impact
Events

In Pursuit of Scale: Identifying Key Performance Indicators for Artisan Clusters in India
To support the NRLM in framing key performance indicators for artisan clusters through a baseline assessment in Budaun (Uttar Pradesh) and Dhamteri (Chhattisgarh) clusters, a workshop was organised for cross-learning. The session helped ideate various key performance indicators to measure intervention effectiveness.
Technical Assistance: Cluster Workshop
LEAD conducted a 9-day cluster development workshop for SRLM officials, along with the Foundation for MSME Clusters (FMC) and National Rural Livelihoods Mission. The session worked to strengthen the capacity of the participants in cluster development approach with specific reference to Cluster Development Program under NRETP.


Technical Assistance: Business Management Training
A business and financial management training for district and block officials of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission was conducted in collaboration with RBVPL. The training included sessions on product pricing, operations management, record keeping and financial management, and customer management.