Livelihoods India was initiated in 2010 as a national level initiative to bring together diverse stakeholders on a single platform to discuss critical issues that impede and afflict the livelihoods of the poor. ACCESS Development Services set up this platform in order to understand and assess the key issues and challenges that the poor face in sustaining their livelihoods and microenterprises and also to craft a vision and strategy for moving them from subsistence to sustainable levels.

Since then, the platform has evolved significantly and has emerged as an important forum for stakeholders to meet, share experiences, discuss issues, assess and analyze the policy environment and build consensus on strategies that will deliver sustainable outcomes.

The mission of Livelihoods India is to create a national platform that presents opportunities for cross learning and sharing of these unique experiences both successes and failures within the country. Livelihoods India aims at building sectoral consensus on critical issues and challenges faced by the poor, share best practices and inform and influence policy. Within Livelihoods India Platform, specific sub initiatives have been designed to make this platform an effective bridge for cross learning.

The sub initiatives include: