Supported by the World Bank, PDAG worked with the ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department, Government of Odisha to develop a programmatic framework for the welfare and development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in the state. Odisha is home to 13 PVTG communities spread across 1,679 notified villages and habitations, with 20 Micro Project Agencies (MPAs) serving as a key institutional mechanism for delivering targeted interventions. The engagement was designed to bring together institutional experience, community perspectives and existing administrative data to identify gaps in welfare delivery and inform a longer-term approach to PVTG development. PDAG undertook consultations with government departments, MPAs, ITDAs, SCSTRTI, PHDMA and other stakeholders, alongside community-level pulse surveys to understand the needs, aspirations and barriers faced by PVTG households across areas such as education, livelihoods, nutrition and skills. The work also examined institutional capacities and implementation challenges and developed a data architecture to consolidate habitation-level information and enable better monitoring, convergence and evidence-based planning across all 1,679 PVTG villages.

Based on these findings, PDAG helped develop a State Policy Framework for the Welfare and Development of PVTGs in Odisha, complementing PM-JANMAN and existing state programmes. The framework proposed strengthening community-focused interventions across health, nutrition, education, livelihoods, skills, forest rights and cultural heritage, while strengthening MPAs and creating systems for continuous community feedback and programme evaluation. It also proposed an Odisha PVTG Digital Atlas for habitation-level planning and monitoring and a dedicated state-level institutional mechanism to anchor PVTG welfare and development. The overall approach sought to move from fragmented interventions and asset creation towards coordinated, evidence-led and outcome-focused development for PVTG communities.