Grameen Development Services (GDS) is a Professional Non Government Development Organization (NGDO), registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. Established in 1993 by a group of development professionals, academicians and NGO leaders, GDS works for the development of the poor and disadvantaged sections of the society, with ‘livelihoods for the rural poor’ being its core sectoral theme. The target group of GDS’s interventions is the rural poor. Specifically, the target group focus by caste is on the Dalits and other backward and marginal communities; by class on those below the poverty line; and by occupation on the marginal and small farmers, landless and traditional artisans. GDS’s field based interventions are located in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and through its various ongoing programs the organization currently reaches 19000 poor families directly and approximately, another 31000 families indirectly. GDS today has a commendable field presence in 667 villages in 7 districts in Eastern and Southern Uttar Pradesh, and Central Rajasthan. With the commencement of a new program in April 2007 around revival of agriculture for local economy development, GDS will now also expand its programmatic reach to the districts of Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Madhubani in Bihar, through issue based networking with collaborating NGOs. The GDS endeavors may be broadly classified under the following activities: * 4 Field Based Programs and Projects * 4 Livelihood Resource Center * 4 Issue Based Networking with other stakeholders / NGOs