The National Leather Development Programme (NLDP) launched jointly by UNDP and the Government of India was initiated in the first quarter of 1992. Originally scheduled to be completed in December 1996 the programme was extended till March 1998. The recent extension of a year intended to facilitate the introduction of pilot initiatives for the SHD concerns of Government of India and the UNDP as per the Ninth Five Year Plan Document on Leather Sector.

1. Development of an improved and more practical institutional framework for human resource development.
2. Improvement of product development and marketing capabilities in footwear manufacturing.
3. Strengthening of R&D capacity of leather sector.
4. Improvement of support services and auxiliary industries catering to the footwear and leather product sectors.
5. Evolving a strategy for controlling pollution by identifying an appropriate technology.
6. Enhancement of exports
7. Introduction of systems of effective co-ordination within the 1ndian leather sector and generating information for the preparation of integrated and coherent policies for future development.

The Programme covered entailed a UNDP allocation of US$ 15.050 million and counterpart contribution of US$ 11.065 million from Government of India.

The Terminal Evaluation Mission (TEM) which was fielded by UNDP in January 1997 observed "Overall the Programme has been a considerable success in terms of outputs achieved'. "The Programme has been well managed and well controlled financially. It has produced value for money. The Programme management was able to operate with flexibility and rapidly became a focus point for change in the industry "

Sustainable Human Development (SHD) concerns were not initially a major focus of the Programme. The allocation for Artisan / Micro and Small Scale Enterprises till August 1996 was only US$ 404,738 i.e. less than 3 per cent of the overall allocation.

Consistent with the SHD concerns of UNDP, the policy of Government of India, and the recommendations of the TEM, a conscious effort was made to steer the Programme towards development of Artisan /Micro and Small Scale enterprises, for which additional allocation of US$ 2.7 million have been made. Since August, 1996, as a result, the projected expenditure under the programme for artisan sector till March, 1998 will rise to l 7.7 percent of the current extension phase allocation of $ l 7.38 million.

In the current extension phase, six sub-components of such income generating related, SHD oriented programmes have been taken up, viz.: