The core belief of National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) is that the poor are entrepreneurial and have innate desire to come out of poverty. The challenge is to unleash their capabilities to generate meaningful and sustainable livelihoods. The first step in this process is motivating the urban poor to form their own institutions. They and their institutions need to be provided sufficient capacity so that they can manage the external environment, access finance, expand their skills, enterprises and assets. This requires continuous and carefully designed handholding support. An external, dedicated and sensitive support structure, from the national level to the city and community levels, is required to induce social mobilisation, institution building and livelihoods promotion.
Strong institutional platforms of the poor support them to build up their own human, social, financial and other resources. This enables them to access their rights, entitlements, opportunities and services, both from the public and private sectors. The social mobilisation process enhances solidarity, voice and bargaining power of the poor. These processes enable them to pursue viable livelihoods based on leveraging their own resources, skills and preferences. Thus, they can come out of abject poverty and not fall back into a vicious cycle. NULM believes that any livelihoods programme can be scaled up in a time bound manner, only if it is driven by the poor and their institutions.

 As per the Constitution (74thAmendment) Act, 1992, urban poverty alleviation is a legitimate function of the Urban Local Bodies (ULB). Therefore, ULBs would need to undertake a coordinating role for all issues and programmes concerning the urban poor in cities/towns, including skills and livelihoods. State/Union TerritoryGovernments will facilitate such coordination by Urban Local Bodies. Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation will function as the nodal Ministry for programmes undertaken by various Ministries relating to the urban poor, including skills training, microenterprise development, social inclusion, etc.

Mission
The mission of the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) is: “To reduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households by enabling them to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, resulting in an appreciable improvement in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through building strong grassroots level institutions of the poor”.

Guiding Principles
The guiding principles of NULM are:
a. The urban poor have a strong desire to improve their quality of life and come out of the clutches of poverty. They have an innate capacity to do so. However, the key enablers empowering them to take positive action in this direction are missing;
b. Social mobilisation and building strong institutions of the poor in urban areas are critical for unleashing their innate capabilities. For this, an external, dedicated and sensitive support structure is essential so as to catalyze social mobilization, institution-building and empowerment process of the urban poor, in partnership with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)/Community-based Organizations (CBOs)/the private sector;
c. Access to livelihoods enhancement opportunities though information, knowledge, skills training, tools, infrastructure, credit, marketing, collective effort, etc., security of tenure, shelter and basic services enable the urban poor to gain access to improved living conditions, sustainable livelihoods and come out of poverty.
d. NULM would aim at universalisation of coverage of the urban poor in access to skill development and credit facilities. It will strive for skills training of the urban poor for market-based jobs and self-employment, facilitating easy access credit through measures such as a credit guarantee fund, etc.
NULM believes that convergence with policies, programmes and schemes of other Ministries / State Governments / ULBs dealing with skills, livelihoods, entrepreneurship development, health, education, social assistance, etc. is crucial to the success of the mission. It will strive to enable the urban poor, including slum dwellers, street vendors, etc., to access the opportunities made available through different schemes in a convergent manner.

Values
 The Mission will espouse the following values:
a. Ownership and key role of the urban poor and their institutions in all stages – community needs assessment survey, planning, programme formulation, implementation, monitoring, review and evaluation;
b. Inclusion of the vulnerable sections of the urban poor in all programmes and processes - equity to the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups of the urban society;
c. Transparency in programme design and implementation, including institution-building and capacity strengthening; proactive disclosure at all levels and stages;
d. Mutual accountability of government functionaries and the community;
e. Partnerships with industry and other stakeholders; and
f. Community self-reliance, self dependence, self-help and mutual-help.

Objectives
The central objective of NULM is to reduce poverty among the urban poor through the promotion of diversified and gainful self-employment and wage employment opportunities, leading to increased income on a sustainable basis. NULM will adopt a five-pronged strategy:

1. Enhancing and expanding existing livelihoods options of the urban poor;
2. Building skills to enable access to growing market-based job opportunities offered by emerging urban economies;
3.  iii. Training for and support to the establishment of microenterprises by the urban poor – self and group;
4. iv. Ensuring linkages to shelter, basic services and empowerment to promote sustainable approaches to poverty alleviation; and
5. v. Building capacity of the urban poor, their institutions and the machinery involved in the implementation of livelihoods development and poverty alleviation programmes.

In the long run, NULM is expected to ensure broad-based inclusive growth and reduce disparities across communities, sectors and regions. Other objectives of the Mission include:
a. To achieve inclusion of the urban poor and the vulnerable sections as an integral and valued part of the urban society and economy;
 b. To build capacity and skills at the bottom of the pyramid in emerging industry and service sectors, offering value-added, new employment opportunities in association with the private sector, wherever possible, and thereby also alleviating the skill shortages of the industry and service sectors;
c. To organize the urban poor through formation of occupation based and neighborhood level collectives/institutions founded on self-help principle and federate them at slum, ward/zone and town/city levels to address livelihoods as well as social development concerns;
d. To promote more equitable access of the urban poor to shelter and basic services such as water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, electricity, roads, transport, etc., and converge livelihoods with other programmes;
e. To promote financial inclusion by facilitating easy access of the urban poor to financial services such as savings, credit, insurance, money transfers and pensions:
f. Enable the urban poor to exercise voice in governance structures and decision-making processes.

Implementation of the NULM (Year wise Target and Achievements)

Mission Document on NULM

Master Circular of RBI on NULM

NULM Website

NABARD CIrculars

Bankwise Progress As on 31.12.2023