NABARD has been promoting non-farm sector activities as alternate livelihood options. Several promotional schemes have been designed for the rural entrepreneurs. The focus has always been on skill updating and capacity building of the rural entrepreneurs on different activities such as small, cottage and village industries, handloom,
handicrafts and other rural crafts and service sector. Building an entrepreneurial culture and necessary skills among the rural youth and women has been a priority area for NABARD along with developing markets for non-farm sector Rural Entrepreneurship Development Programme (REDP) is one ofthe important Non-Form Sector (NFS) promotional programmes supported by NABARD for creating sustainable employment and income opportunities in a cost-effective manner for the benefit of educated unemployed rural youth The objective of the programme is to develop entrepreneurial and activity-oriented skills among unemployed rural youth willing to set up small/micro-enterprises by assisting Voluntary Agencies (VA) Non- Governmental Organisations (NGO)/
Development Agencies (DA)/ RUDSETIs etc. with good track record in conducting REDPs. NABARD is playing a very prominent role in the process of developing entrepreneurs in rural India. For generating self-employment and wage employment opportunities in rural areas, NABARD has been supporting Rural Entrepreneurship Development
Programmes (REDP) and Skill Development Programmes (SDP) since the early 1990s. As on 31 March 2018, NABARD has cumulatively supported
training of more than 8.37 lakh rural youth through 32,520 REDPs/SDPs.
NABARD supports and provides marketing platform to rural artisans and producers to exhibit their traditional art crafts, produce and products through exhibitions and melas, which facilitate the artisans in increasing their sale and also income.To enable the artisans to sell their products, NABARD extends financial assistance by way of grant for setting up of Rural Haats and Rural Marts.NABARD also provides support to specialized institutions such as RUDSETI/RSETIs for providing entrepreneurship development and training to rural entrepreneurs, which can generate better livelihood options. Besides, NABARD through its three training establishments, i.e., Bankers institute of Rural Development (BIRD)- Lucknow, Mangalore and Bolpur, offers skill training and capacity building
of bankers and officials of NGOs in farm, off-farm and micro finance sectors that would have the potential to promote livelihood opportunities and employment in rural areas.
