Nordeco undertakes an appraisal of a proposal for a programme by Caritas Denmark under the Danida strategy for strengthening civil society in developing countries. The proposal concerns development of family smallholder farming communities and their civil society organisations for some of the poorest sections of Indian society, in the provinces of North East mainly populated with various ethnic minorities. The programme aims at strengthening the capacity of indigenous civil society groups and at ensuring that these organisations are active and able not only to advocate and demand for services from duty bearers, but also to participate in planning and implementation of livelihood activities in the provinces as well as bring social change and poverty reduction to the involved communities.