GDS is a learning organization; and since its inception it has been desirous of enhancing its effectiveness by the ways of articulating and sharing, with other stakeholders from the development sector, the concrete lessons and experiences that routinely emerge from its endeavors in the field.
After this, GDS initiated a “Livelihood Resource Center” (LRC) in 2004 whose mandate was to act as a knowledge management center with the objective of collecting GDS’s learnings from field intervention and disseminating them in the sector through training programs, publications and workshops.
Under the aegis of the LRC, GDS has, over the years, organized over a hundred capacity building programmes (training and exposure events) for outside stakeholders on various themes of its expertise, such as, community institutions promotion; microfinance; rural entrepreneurship promotion; gender and women’s empowerment; livelihoods concept; agriculture & livestock-based livelihoods promotion; community based disaster risk reduction; water, sanitation & hygiene; budget based advocacy; professional management of projects; project monitoring and evaluation, etc. Over 3000 individuals from 250 NGOs and other development agencies have benefited from these events.
From 2007 onwards, the LRC has also gotten into ‘network’ based project implementation mode. The network created for this purpose is called Enablers has over 15 members and has been instrumental under GDS’s leadership in implementing agriculture-based projects in Eastern UP and Northern Bihar, and goat-based livelihoods promotion in the Bundelkhand region. The LRC presently also publishes a quarterly publication “Aajeevika Varta” which is widely circulated to development practitioners, NGOs, donor agencies and contains thematic articles with case studies. Often write ups are contributed by subject specialists and resource persons.