The Odisha Mission Shakti Department on Thursday, 6 August signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre for Research in Schemes and Policies (CRISP) and the NSE Foundation to launch Project BLESS, a three-year initiative designed to prevent distress migration by building sustainable livelihood options, skill development and entrepreneurship among vulnerable rural households across the state.

Where and How the MoU Was Signed

The agreement was executed at Lok Seva Bhawan in Bhubaneswar in the presence of Chief Secretary Anu Garg and Mission Shakti Secretary Manasi Nimbhal. The project will be implemented in close collaboration with the Odisha Livelihoods Mission (OLM), which already operates an extensive grassroots network across the state.

Scope and Coverage

Project BLESS will span 69 blocks across eight districts — Balangir, Bargarh, Kalahandi, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada. The programme is expected to benefit approximately 8.81 lakh rural families and 86,468 Self-Help Groups (SHGs). Around 550 Jeevika Sakhis, drawn directly from SHGs, will anchor implementation at the grassroots level.

Execution will flow through SHGs, Cluster Level Federations (CLFs) and Gram Panchayat Level Federations (GPLFs) — a layered community structure that the state has built over years of SHG mobilisation.

What the Project Will Do

A mobile application-based vulnerability assessment will be conducted at the household level to identify families at risk of migration before they leave their villages. Based on each family's assessed needs, the project will connect them with livelihood opportunities, market-driven skill training, credit facilities and relevant government welfare schemes.

The department noted that the initiative aims to 'address the root causes of distress migration by creating long-term livelihood opportunities in rural areas.' Where migration is unavoidable, the project will extend support covering fair wages, legal assistance and social security benefits at destination locations.

Support for Migrant Families and Women

The programme includes a dedicated component to ensure continuity of nutrition, healthcare and pre-primary education services for children of migrant families — a dimension often overlooked in migration-focused interventions. It will also work to strengthen SHGs and their federations as a vehicle for women's economic empowerment.

This comes amid longstanding concern over seasonal and distress migration from Odisha's western and southern districts, where agrarian stress and limited non-farm employment have historically pushed workers to construction sites and brick kilns in other states. Project BLESS represents one of the more structured state-level responses to that cycle, with a three-year horizon and a multi-partner architecture. How effectively the vulnerability assessment tool identifies at-risk households — and how quickly families can be linked to viable income sources — will determine whether the initiative moves beyond intent.