HELPING COMMUNITIES TO TAKE CHARGE

Journey of Micro Planning in Maharashtra

United Nations Children’s Fund

State Office for Maharashtra

19, Parsi Panchayat Road

Andheri East, Mumbai 400069

India

26th July 2011

I am indeed delighted that UNICEF and YASHADA have facilitated the documentation of the various experiences that they have crafted in piloting a community-based micro-planning process that empowers communities to evolve their own development plans, and together with government departments, implement and monitor these plans. With the Integrated District Planning becoming a mandate for development programming in the country, the model that has evolved in Maharashtra through their efforts has emboldened the Government of Maharashtra to decide on adopting the Gram Panchayat based decentralized planning process across the state.

The document traces the evolution of the micro planning process at the Gram Panchayat level, the impact it has had on communities and the changes it is bringing about in people’s lives, the investment that has been made into creating large number of resource institutions and persons as well as the challenges it presents in the scale up process. It is also heartening to note that a community audit process using the Community Score Card has also been integrated into the process. I am glad to note that the Maharashtra experience has been integrated into the GOI manual on Integrated District Planning as a ‘best practice’ that could be adopted by all states. I do believe that the enormous work done by UNICEF, YASHADA and their partners in collaboration with the district administrations has come as a silver lining when states are seized with the challenge of moving towards a community centered and bottom up approach in development programming.

The foundation laid and the resource network established through their efforts has given confidence to the state government in deciding to scale up this approach across the state. The Rural Development Department has already decided to implement the Gram Panchayat based planning process across all the 12 BRGF districts and the 10,000 GPs that will come under the innovative ‘Eco – Village’ scheme. I also view the six-day process as the critical first step towards a systematic approach to decentralized programming and governance. Building on this foundation it would be viable to develop various thematic development plans at the GP level.

With much of the ground covered through the six day process, it would be possible to develop village plans related to livelihood (MREGS), health and Nutrition (NRHM/ICDS), Education (SSA), water, sanitation and environment (Eco-Villages) etc. by putting in two to three days of additional inputs under each theme, using similar kind of community dialogue tools, leading to much better convergence and coordination at the field level.

I am sure that this document will be of great interest for all of us engaged in development work. The process should help us to ultimately reach ‘the least of the last’ leading to an inclusive and equitable programming process.

Shri. Sudir Thakre

Secretary, Rural Development

Government of Maharashtra

FOREWORD

The 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments are an acknowledgement of the ‘rights’ of citizens to participate in developmental activities that impact on their future – empowering communities through ‘local self governance institutions’, deciding on activities they wish to take up under development plans, and make elected representatives, government officials and functionaries accountable for implementing these plans in a transparent and efficient way.

Maharashtra has among the oldest traditions of Panchayati Raj in the country as well as a laudable track of devolving functions and funds to the local governments. The state initiated the practice of District Planning even before the District Planning Committees were constituted under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, a reflection that the policy environment in the state was always conducive for decentralization.

However, a need was felt to support the policy initiatives with actual, ground-level mobilization of people as well as public systems to effectively translate the policy into the practice as well as demonstrate how to do so on a scale. Many national programmes across different sectors – Reproductive and Child Health (now NRHM), the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, the Swajaldhara, Total Sanitation Campaign, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Backward Region Fund Grand etc. – though designed on the principle of decentralization, had yet to reflect the paradigm shift towards community-centered programming in the true spirit of the 73rd and 74th Amendment. For true sustainable development to take place, national goals needed to be translated into community norms.

It is widely accepted today that the measure for development is the capacity of individuals, families or communities to ‘make informed choices’. Micro Planning initiative, captured in the following pages, reflects the sustained efforts to strengthen the Panchayati Raj system and help communities initiate their development process through making their own decisions, setting goals and working towards a vision. It is planning at the grassroots, attempting to involve every single citizen, irrespective of caste, age, gender, economic background or religion.

Building on the experiences of UNICEF, YASHADA, and their partners, the Government of Maharashtra has decided to adopt this approach of micro planning as a key instrument for bottom-up planning as mandated by the Manual for Integrated District Planning released by the Planning Commission.

To meet the demands of the new mandate the approach has been consistently strengthened and revised.

This document attempts to trace this journey of empowerment, through its highs and challenges, backed by perspectives and case studies from all those working at the heart of the process; the village community, those who facilitate community centered planning, those who train, the NGOs who offer support, members of committees and the volunteers at the village level whose commitment and actions has been driving the process.

How has this process rolled out? How has it been in the field? What are the gaps that need to be covered? What have been the challenges? And more importantly, what can we learn from this experience?

The purpose of this document is three-fold: to function as a learning document by answering some of the above questions, to generate discussions about proactive communities and their development through grassroots level planning, and to present a formidable case for better support across all sectors so that the full potential of this participatory micro planning process is fully achieved.

UNICEF has expanded the scope of village planning by extending it from three Integrated Districts of Latur, Chandrapur and Nandurbar to three additional districts of Wardha, Yavatmal and Jalna. YASHADA has completed the pilot testing of this process in a ‘Six Block Pilot’ – one block from each of the six divisions to finalize the strategy for district planning.

The Government of Maharashtra, convinced of the effectiveness of the process has decided to adopt the microplanning approach across the State, as a tool for integrated district planning.

Despite the challenges in the scale up, the partnerships between UNICEF, YASHADA, SPARSH – Centre for Participatory Learning, NGOs and youth networks along with the State departments and district governments have demonstrated, beyond doubt, the replicability of the 6-day model for participatory planning to help communities to take charge of their own development.

ANC

ANM

ASHA

AWC

AWH

AWW

BRGF

CEO

CDC

CCA

CCMP

CDP

DPC

DLTF

IEC

GOI

MHDM

MREGS

HDI

ICDS

ID

MPW

NGO

NREGS

NRHM

PHC

PRA

PRI

RCH

RP

SSA

SHG

TSC

UNICEF

VHLP

VHND

VHNP

VIC

VV

Antenatal Care

Auxiliary Nurse Midwife

Accredited Social Health Activist

Anganwadi Centre

Anganwadi Helper

Anganwadi Worker

Backward Region Grant Fund

Chief Executive Officer

Child Development Centre

Community Convergent Action

Centre for Community Managed Programming

Community Development Programme

District Planning Committee

District Level Task Force

Information, Education, Communication

Government of India

Maharashtra Human Development Mission

Maharashtra Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

Human Development Index/Indices

Integrated Child Development Services

Integrated District

Multi Purpose Worker

Non-Governmental Organization

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

National Rural Health Mission

Primary Health Centre

Participatory Rural Assessment

Panchayati Raj Institution (local self-government institution)

Reproductive and Child Health

Resource Person

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Self-Help Group

Total Sanitation Campaign

United Nations Children’s Fund

Village Health and Livelihood Plan/Planning

Village Health and Nutrition Day

Village Health and Nutrition Plan/Planning

Village Information Centre

Village Volunteers

ACRONYMS

Mr. Tejinder Sandhu,

UNICEF, Chief of Field, Maharashtra

Mr. Sumedh Gurjar,

Director, Centre for Research and Development, YASHADA

Mr. Gopinath Menon,

Former Chief of UNICEF Maharashtra Field Office, 1998 – 2009 and currently Chairman of SPARSH

MILESTONES IN MICRO PLANNING: A SUMMARYThe all-encompassing dome of democratic sustainable development of communities stands firmly on the pillars of ownership and proactive participation. In the absence of these, democracy is an aspiration; development is a token effort and sustainability - a mere catch phrase.

Apart from a community’s involvement in the democratic processes of planning, implementation and monitoring, convergence becomes necessary if real needs are to be met and development is to be be all-encompassing. The micro planning approach stresses that development is the state in which individuals, families and communities have the capability to make informed choices1 .

Spread over three-lakh square kilometers, the second most populous state in India (110,878,627) and ranked 4th in India on its Human Developmant Indices2, Maharashtra has seen many experiments in decentralization pertaining to Panchayati Raj Institutions over the past few decades (before the 73rd Amendment in 1992) – some as far back as 1958 where the Bombay Village Panchayat Act assigned duties, responsibilities and powers to the Village Panchayats at a local level.

While there has been considerable (though incomplete) devolution of functions to the Zilla Parishads, Panchayat Samitis and Gram Panchayats and a long tradition of district planning, there was a strong need felt to supplement policy with participatory efforts , with ground-level mobilization of people and public systems to effectively translate the policy into the practice3. The beginning had to be getting village communities to take ownership through identification of their needs and priorities, and push towards a ‘bottom-up’ approach to planning.

Village level micro planning entails a series of exercises in which communities assess and analyze their situations related to developmental issues; explore alternatives and potential actions for improvement; develop an action plan for development; and monitor progress against the planned activities. This is a process-oriented exercise and draws heavily on a number of community dialogue tools and methodologies – including some from Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques. The aim is to bring about meaningful and sustained changes, especially in the lives of children, women and the disadvantaged.

The journey towards this began with efforts to mobilize communities for collective action through UNICEF’s various interventions in the past two decades – Formation of Women’s Self-Help Groups under the Community Convergent Action (CCA) project, developing village education plans through the Primary Education Enhancement Programme (PEEP), implementation of innovative projects like the Schools in Development (SID), Deepshika – Adolescent Girls’ Life Skills Education etc. in a number of districts in the state laid the foundation for community centered planning and action.

The ‘Integrated Districts Approach’ (IDA) formulated in late 2004 and early 2005 is the culmination of key strategies outlined in the successive Master Plan of Operations of UNICEF India since the mid-eighties. These strategies focused on promoting community action and the integrated delivery of services by establishing horizontal linkages between line agencies on one hand and establishing an interface between the communities and the line agencies on the other to ensure responsive, relevant and convergent delivery of services.

These led to the initiation of village-level micro planning process around health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation issues in 2004. The focus, intentionally, was on the well-being of the child and its rights so that communities could be united over a common vision.

These decentralization-related initiatives resulted in other outcomes: it provided a base for the conceptualization of the Integrated District Approach (IDA) in 17 districts (see box) across the 14 states.

The positive impact seen in Maharashtra prompted the UNICEF country office to adopt the approach across the country resulting in the selection of 17 districts across the 14 states selected to pilot the village level micro planning towards an Integrated Districts Approach (IDA) in development programming (see box). Micro planning would be used as the key strategy to enable community involvement in all aspects of development planning and decision-making as well as spur horizontal linkages between the community and the service providers. An active step towards this end was taken when UNICEF India office brought its State offices together in Nagpur to orient them on the experiences in Maharashtra and build consensus on the Integrated Districts Approach. In Maharashtra, many of the departments – Health, WCD, Water & Sanitation and Education had already piloted this approach in their sectors in close partnership with the UNICEF State Office. The participation of civil society organizations led to a strong network of NGOs, trainers and local youth well versed in participatory activities.

Source: 'Journey & Experience of Decentralized Planning in Maharashtra', August 2010, presented by Sumedh Gurjar (Director, Research & Documentation Centre, Yashada, Pune)

Andhra Pradesh Medak

Assam Dibrugarh

Chattisgarh Rajnandgaon

Bihar Vaishali

Gujarat Valsad

Jharkhand E. Singhbhum

Karnataka Raichur

Madhya Pradesh Guna, Shivpuri

Maharashtra Chandrapur, Latur, and Nandurbar

Orissa Koraput

Rajasthan Tonk

Tamil Nadu Krishnagiri

UP Lalitpur

West Bengal Purulia

Districts Adopted for the Integrated District Approach with Village Planning as nodal to programming

1 Concept Paper on Micro Planning – ‘Community participation as central to development programming’ authored by Shri. Gopinath Menon2 National Human Development Report, 20013 Initiatives of UNICEF and YASHADA for Promoting Decentralization in Maharashtra: An Overview

Subsequently, in a series of national training programmes conducted at YASHADA jointly by UNICEF, YASHADA and key NGO partners, UNICEF officers, counterpart government officers and NGO representatives received inputs on micro planning and allied strategies. Taking this sensitization a step further and making it truly experiential, three Inter-State Learning Visits in the Integrated Districts (IDs) were organized for sharing and exchanging the experiences with all states.

Building MomentumBy 2004, UNICEF had already tried out the village micro planning process in close to 6,000 villages covering from 12 districts in close collaboration with district administrations and NGO partners. This was achieved through dialogue and field visits conducted for district officials – Collectors and Chief Executive Officers included. It was time to evolve a more institutionalized approach for scaling up the village planning activity. In 2004 the UNICEF State Office entered into a strategic dialogue with YASHADA, the apex training institution of the State, to enlist their active involvement in the scale up of the process in Maharashtra. This led to the setting up of the Centre for Community Managed Programming (CCMP) in 2005, fully supported by UNICEF. The Centre was envisaged to play three critical roles – undertake training and capacity building (for all UNICEF state level and NGO teams), documentation and data management and advocacy/scale ups with the aim of mainstreaming micro planning in the government system.

Without committed frontline functionaries to take charge, sensitize, mobilize and generate awareness, such an intensive participatory process would have not got off the ground on the scale that it has. The network of hundreds of trainers created in the districts was brought under one umbrella through the creation of a registered agency SPARSH – Centre for Participatory Learning in 2007. This has enabled a systematic way to further build the state’s resource persons requirements for critical support in training, mentoring, supervising and documenting all the initiatives in participatory planning processes in the state.

One of the first activities done in collaboration across all sectors by YASHADA, CCMP and UNICEF, including NGOs and government functionaries was consolidation of all the training resources into standard modules for master trainers, facilitators, NGOs, and volunteers. The core strategy under almost all National flagship programmes – Integrated Child Development Services National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Total Sanitation Campaign, Swajaldhara, Backward Region Grant Fund, National Rural Livelihood Mission – is based on the paradigm of decentralized community based programming providing ample scope for active participation of PRIs and communities with special focus on the inclusion of vulnerable groups.

The Crawl towards Scaling Up The involvement of YASHADA acted as a spring board in mobilizing government departments and district administrations in support of the process. At a meeting in YASHADA held on 27th May 2005 and attended by a number of Secretaries and Directors a decision to create a State Task Force on village planning was taken. The Task Force was composed of Secretaries and Directors of the Women and Child Development, Rural Development, Planning, Education, Water & Sanitation and Health along with the Director Generals of YASHADA and the State Nutrition and Health Mission. The Principal Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office was the Chairman. UNICEF was also a member. The Task Force further facilitated in getting the Health, ICDS, Water & Sanitation and Education Sectors to pilot village planning under their programmes. Close to 15,000 villages from 25 districts implemented the activity with the active support of YASHADA, UNICEF and the partner NGOs, primarily SPARSH. The Human Development Mission also took up micro planning in all the 25 blocks under its mandate. The major achievements during the period were:

1. Village action plans developed in all villages with active community involvement and activities implemented through community action with support of government functionaries.

2. Youth volunteers trained in each of the villages and a network of youth got actively involved in the developmental activities of their communities. A number of these volunteers started getting elected into gram panchayats

3. Village database created and a system of community monitoring of key indicators introduced.

4. Village Information Centres established in a number of villages by youth with three main functions a. maintaining the data base and monitoring progress, b. Regularly undertaking IEC activities within villages and c. functioning as a depository of all government schemes being implemented in the villages and creating awareness on them.

5. Monthly review meetings at the PHC and block levels institutionalized in the three UNICEF assisted districts of Chandrapur, Latur and Nandurbar; Block and District Task Forces created consisting of HODs from different departments and chaired by the BDO and CEO respectively.

6. Various sector related ‘add on’ modules developed and transacted. They include a. School Mapping and development of School Improvement Plans, Mother & Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN), Schools in Development, Child Rights and Child Rights Audit, SHG training, Development of Bio Village plans, Life Skills Education for adolescents and youth with special focus on reproductive health and HIV/AIDs, etc.

7. In mid-2007 Satara District integrated the use of the Community Score Card (CSC) (a tool facilitating the social audit of village service delivery centres into the village planning process in 178 villages. The purpose of this social accountability initiative was to assess and monitor service delivery at the village level and to develop and implement ‘sector improvement plans . Within a year of its implementation, the district saw a 46 percent increase in normal-nutritional-grade children, a 16 percent increase in immunized children, and significant decrease in waterborne diseases in all 178 villages4 .

4 Social Accountability Series : Case Study 6 – Impact of Social Accountability Mechanisms of Achieving Service Delivery and Health Development Outcomes in Satara District, Maharashtra, India – A World Bank Document

12

Evolution of the 6-day ProcessThe micro planning initiatives of the State Government, UNICEF and YASHADA received national acceptance when it was integrated into the Planning Commission Guidelines on Integrated District Planning released by the Prime Minister in January 2009.

To take it a notch further, it was felt that the 6-day process should also reflect and harness the political realities of existing Panchayati Raj Institutions and strengthen them through sensitization and capacity building. This resulted in a rejuvenated 6-day process, and a pilot on gram panchayat-centered planning was launched in 500 Gram Panchayats across the three UNICEF supported integrated districts of Latur, Chandrapur and Nandurbar in Maharashtra beginning October 2009.

The process now includes building capacities of the elected representatives of the Panchayati Raj institutions, the Community Score Card process on social accountability, facility-assessments using sector formats, and relooking at the household surveys which incorporate aspects related to livelihood, infrastructure development, visioning etc and preparing village development plans that are technically and financially aligned towards exploring linkages with block and district development plans, and plan finalization through gram sabhas.

Similar pilots are being initiated under Backward Regions Grants Fund (BRGF), National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), etc. to bring in a convergence of bottom-up planning processes of all sectors. The final objective is to establish a unified process of bottom-up planning that incorporates planning needs across all sectors leading to a holistic demand driven block and district plans5.

OutcomesOne of the significant outcomes of the process has been acceptance of the strategy by the government, which is now piloting the process to test the suitability of plans to the needs of district planning as mandated by Government of India.

The Planning Department of Maharashtra has supported a 6-day Gram Panchayat Based Participatory Planning in six backward blocks, one each from six revenue divisions of the State –to demonstrate a strategy of bottom-up planning focused on human development.

Combining funds from the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) with UNICEF funds, the Rural Development Department has also supported four out of six pilot blocks taken up for microplanning. The ‘Eco Village’ scheme of Rural Development Department which aims at promoting environmentally sustainable village development through people’s participation has also incorporated microplanning as a key strategy of the programme and will cover close to 8000 Gram Panchayats.

Youth in villages are playing a pivotal role energizing communities. In different instances they have convinced families to send children to school regularly, girls between the ages of 13 to 18 known as kishoris, are instrumental in starting savings groups, promoting study circles for other children in the village, in preventing child marriages. Self-help groups have mushroomed, doing their bit to free themselves from the clutches of moneylenders.

Learnings To analyze the impact of micro planning it is essential to look at it from three different levels:

a) At the Village level - where it has been successful in strengthening the Gram Sabhas as a tool for self governance, behaviour change, generating awareness, mobilizing communities, better governance through capacity building and inculcating the spread of healthy practices like weighing children, immunization of infants, encouraging breast feeding, washing hands before eating meals, etc. Including promoting volunteerism where it has brought youth together on a common platform to take initiatives and play the role of active change agents

b) At the Block and District Levels - where in order to sustain interest in participatory planning at the village level, there is a need to put mechanisms in place for effective utilization of the existing funds through establishing meaningful linkages between micro plan and block/ district plans

c) At the State-Level – where micro planning can be used extensively as an operational strategy for translating policy intent on participatory planning into action, including plans under schemes like BRGF, MHDM, Eco Villages, NREGA/MREGA, NRHM etc.

Way ForwardWith the pilot testing over in the six blocks, the state is now gearing up towards scaling up the process in all the GPs of the 12 BRGF districts it is expected that the district plans under BRGF for 2012 – 13 will evolve from this process. Similarly, the Planning Department will be introducing GP based planning process in all the 125 blocks under the State Human Development Mission.

Micro planning is a constantly evolving process, a bit like atoms and molecules rearranging themselves to provide the best natural selection, aided by environments that are conducive. The roles of the organizations and trainers are that of catalysts, of enablers, and the highlight is village communities working with government functionaries and becoming change agents through individual and collective action.

The heart of the process is its people, and the hiccups have served as pointers: how can more communities and more service providers across sectors be taken along on this journey? How can trainings be made even more effective? How can there be a more systematized and regular follow up? How can this process ensure sustainability in the long run?

There is a strong case for better convergence, for all ‘bottom up’ planning requires now and then, a push from the top. It is only proactive convergence and involved district leaderships that will result in ensuring genuine sustainability and a viable model of participatory community engagement that will ensure benefits to the most marginalized individual in the remotest corner of the state. It is visualized that each National Flagship programme will develop ‘add on’ modules of two to three days to develop sectoral development plans using the six-day process as the foundation that initiates community planning and action. This will truly result in making the bottom up planning process a reality.

5 Initiatives of UNICEF and YASHADA for Promoting Decentralization in Maharashtra: An Overview

METHODOLOGYFIELD VISTS

PUNE: Muslhi District (Kolvan Village),

JALNA: Ambad Block, (Villages of Jhirpi, Jhirpi Tanda, Kolisiraj, Ramgavan, Biwandi Bodkha, Sarangpur, Katkheda)

LATUR: Udgir Block (Kallur), Jalkot Block (Jagalpur), Ausa Block (Udgir), Nilanga Block (Hadoli)

NANDURBAR: Navapur Block (Bhardu, Nangipada ), Shahada Block ( Waghoda), Nandurbar Block (Waghoda, Lonkheda)

SOURCES

Primary data in the form of field visits and interviews with key representatives from NGOs, as well as Resource Persons, Master Trainers, Consultants and Government Representatives from the above visited areas.

Secondary data in the form of existing reports, compilations, surveys, record of exposure visits, concept and approach papers on micro planning, and NGO reports which include action plans drawn up by Gram Panchayats and their status in the follow up.

Interaction with members of YASHADA, Centre for Community Managed Programming, and UNICEF

DOCUMENTATION

Document prepared by Pooja Nayak, Consultant, UNICEF, Mumbai

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSFor feedback, recommendations, and depth of data, this document owes its sincere thanks to:

Mr. Tejinder Sandhu, Chief of Field, UNICEF, Maharashtra, Mr. Gopinath Menon, Chief of Field, Maharashtra Office (1999 – 2009), Ms. Anuradha Nair, SPPME Specialist, UNICEF Mumbai

Mr. Sumedh Gurjar, Director, Research & Documentation Centre, YASHADA, Pune, Ms. Pradnya Dasarwar, Coordinator, YASHADA

Mr. Shafqat Hussain, Ms. Arpita Nahar, Consultants, UNICEF & Centre for Community Managed Programming.

Mr. Sachindra Pratap Singh, CEO, Zilla Parishad, Latur

Mr. Parimal Singh (IAS), CEO Zilla Parishad Nandurbar between February 2009 – June 2010

Mr. Ikhtiyar Pathan, Mr. Kailash Jadhav, Ms. Mangala Vasave, (Master Trainers, Sparsh Alliance)

For field facilitations, that ensured a rich experience:

Various village communities, Gram Panchayat members, service providers across villages, who were were enthusiastic, welcoming, and eager to share their time and thoughts despite it being peak livelihood season.

Nandurbar – Dr. Dipak Ganvir, UNICEF Consultant, Dr. Sameer Pawar, UNICEF Health Consultant, NGOs

Latur – Dr. Prabhudas, UNICEF Consultant, Ms. Ziya Sayed, President SATH (NGO working in Latur district), Mr. Girish Sabnis, Assistant Coordinator, District Resource Team (another UNICEF initiative)

Jalna – Entire team of Resource Persons, Master Trainers, NGO facilitators, Mr. Dyanesh, UNICEF Consultant

INDEX

1. DECENTRALIZATION AND MICRO PLANNING 01

Case Study: Waghoda’s Warriors

2. DESIGN AND FRAMEWORK OF MICRO PLANNING 08

Case Study: Talaniche Tarun

3. PARTNERSHIPS AND ALLIANCES 14

Case Study: Kolvan – Stepping up to the Challenge

Case Study: Profile of a Master Trainer

4. FIVE-DAY MICRO PLANNING & EVOLUTION OF THE SIX-DAY PROCESS 22

Case Study: Journeys in Jalna

5. BEST PRACTICES, IMPACTS & KEY LEARNINGS 36

Case Study – Converting Dreams into Reality, Latur District

6. WAY FORWARD 42

Introduction to the 6-Block Pilot

GLOSSARY 46

CASE STUDY: WAGHODA’S WARRIORS

A group of 22 boys in Nandurbar are taking their village on a slow but steady upward curve to progress. The biggest reward for their dedication – being elected by the village to form a special Protection Squad that comes with a spanking new uniform and a lot of respect.

Baliram from Waghoda is extremely proud and almost reverential as he leads us to a small room nestled in the back of the long village hall. His friends Govind, Ganesh, Raman and Mogya, trooping in after him are awaiting our reaction. Posters on health, some government schemes with passages highlighted in florid inks, a photocopy of the village plans, the village map marked with houses and important landmarks, and a chart with statistics of the village adorn its orange walls. We are at the Village Information Centre that came into existence post the micro planning process that took place in June 2010.

Dipak, their Field Co-ordinator is waiting, beaming at the side. Lest I miss out, Baliram directs my gaze to the photocopy of plans – they have small black tick marks next to a few of them – ‘Those are the ones we have completed; we’re slowly working our way through the list. We recently made a list of all the senior citizens in our village who are below the poverty line; there are about 35 of them. And on their behalf we’re going to submit their names for a scheme through which we can get money’. He looks to Dipak for affirmation, who confirms, ‘Under the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojna, we’ll try and get them some compensation’.

Waghoda lies in the Shahada Block of Nandurbar, and the micro planning process took place here in June. All along the main road are miles of cotton fields as far as the eye can see, dotted with children as they pick and roll cotton into waiting pouches on their person; the

work is hard, and the cotton balls stubborn.

It’s been 5 months since the trainings took place, and what is notable is that the youth have been meeting every single day that they’ve been in the village. They usually discuss the news, important happenings of the day, and if there is a special occasion like an immunization day or a weight-checking day, they inform the mothers and other relevant people in the village.

Their moment came when the village decided to vote twenty-two of them to a special Village Protection Squad, paid for their uniforms, and got them a stick and a torch each. Now they patrol their village every night, to keep an eye on the fields as well as the occasional troublemaker.

Cleansing the Village

The Deputy Sarpanch Rajendra Surya Patil has just arrived, he settles himself on a nearby chair as he announces ‘I think the biggest achievement of the youth in the village is banning the sale of alcohol here. Alcoholism used to be one of the biggest vices in Waghoda, drunken miscreants used to make a lot of commotion almost daily, some used to beat their wives… It’s not that it has stopped completely, but we have made it difficult for them!’

Baliram, the most vocal of the boys, adds, ‘We took this decision in the Gram Sabha which took place on the 15th of August, the women’s Self Help Groups in the Village also rendered their support. Over the next few days, those who were found guilty of still selling liquor were warned, and then we complained to the police.

Interestingly, the village didn’t leave the matter there. As an incentive to those fond of their drink, the Gram Panchayat has announced a cash reward of Rs 500 if they avoid consuming liquor continuously for a period of 6 months.

Chapter 1.

Decentralization and Micro Planning

02

1.1 Decentralization in the National Context

Over the years, development schemes have been sanctioned, and crores of rupees earmarked in a series of plans, acts and yojnas; most of which are yet to find their way to the rightful beneficiaries.

India is a country of a billion people and counting. Close to 70 percent of the population (2001 Census) lives approximately six-lakh villages, making a formidable case for rural local governments – popularly known as Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

The large size of the country, the uneven resource endowment, a highly differentiated nature of the society in terms of language as well as institutions, and varying levels of social and economic development in different areas make the plea for decentralized planning a weighty one.6 Given this diversity, it is impossible that needs across sectors are the same. How then, can genuine needs be identified?

Village participation in planning and implementation is a not a new concept; it dates back to the Indian post-Independence era. During the First Five Year plan (1951-1956), as our newly-independent country

grappled with development in post-colonial chaos, one of the action plans which emerged was that the planning process needs to be undertaken at the state and district level. This resulted in the formulation of District Development Council (DDC) in each district to prepare plans, based on village-level participative processes.

However, the scope of district planning in that era did not include local bodies as owners of the plan. At best, the Panchayati Raj Institutions were seen as aides in a planning process that functioned from the top to the bottom, rather than as initiators or stakeholders.7

The fundamental aim of decentralization is a ‘bottom-up’ approach, which by nature is cyclical. For instance, shifting decision centers closer to the people encourages and enables their participation as well as shifts bureaucracy under local popular control, which leads to building capacities of institutions and its people, justifying the need for decentralization of powers.

The subsequent Five Year Plans emphasized the importance of micro level planning for the various sectors (Agriculture, Soil Conservation, Animal Husbandry, Development of Co-operatives, Village Industries, Elementary Education, Rural Water Supply etc.) identified for utilization of manpower resources in the rural areas. The states were entrusted with drawing up plans using the blocks and districts as planning units.

A Helping Hand

Twenty-eight year old Dipak, appointed the Field Co-ordinator from the Manav Vikas Sanstha NGO in Shahada, has played a supporting role in their progress; he has been checking and coordinating regularly with the boys. Apart from helping them with their queries, he helped organize an exposure visit to Kokanwada, designated as one of the Ideal Villages in Nandurbar. Dipak felt it would be an excellent opportunity for the youth to interact with other youth who too have played similar roles in the past. Ganesh, one of the youth, attests that the visit was inspiring and seeing the Village Information Centre there has inspired them to make theirs as good, if not better.

Dipak’s first experience with micro planning was as a volunteer at the village level. He decided to become a Resource Person after his nephew of 9 months was diagnosed with pneumonia. ‘The trainings on health, hygiene and sanitation’, he feels, ‘were most useful for everyday life and it’s easy to take charge of one’s surroundings. It is a shame for anyone to suffer due to carelessness or lack of awareness.’

Apart from Waghoda, Dipak has 25 villages under his watch, and one of the challenges, he feels, is keeping the momentum going. He envisions bringing youth in other villages to come together the way it has happened in Waghoda.

Impacts

• Requesting an Auxilary Nurse/Midwife for the village

• Repairing 13 toilets that were in a state of disrepair, unfortunately many don’t use it in the village

• Getting a separate room for the second Anganwadi, which earlier didn’t have its own designated space and constructing a toilet next to it.

• 45 villagers applied for and received work under the MREGS scheme for building low boundary walls in the fields

• Cement Roads constructed between Waghoda to Tardi, Waghoda to Pariwarda, Waghoda to Waijali, which has facilitated easier moving of farm produce to these villages.

• Registering 35 senior citizens under the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojna to seek compensations.

• Decided to sell the cotton produce from the fields to the traders at the same price so that everyone could make reasonable profits, and promoting fair competition.

• Strengthening the seven Self Help Groups in the village by conveying their importance at the village level.

• Gram Sabhas that earlier never took place in a proper manner, now have an audience of atleast 200-250 people in attendance.

Future Plans

Filling up the vacant post allotted for a teacher and building compound walls for the school A gymnasium and reading room for the youth Encouraging people in the village to use the toilets Taking up a water-bunding project under the BRGF scheme to increase agricultural productivity

Panchayat Samiti

Centre

State

District (Zilla)

Gram Panchayat

Decentralised Decision Making

Panchayat Samiti

Centre

State

District (Zilla)

Gram Panchayat

Previous Decision Making Structures

6 SC Sharma in ‘Decentralised Planning in India, 1998. 7 Manual for Integrated District Planning: Planning Commission, Government of India Publication

03 04

Later, in the Fourth Five Year Plan it was clear that formulating plans at the state level meant that diverse conditions and realities existing in different areas of the states had been ignored. After deliberation, it was decided that in order to take maximum advantage of local initiatives, harness potential in the form of available resources and capacities of a community, it was necessary to delve into the aspirations and requirements of specific local areas.8 This provided the base for preparing plans at the district level, since it was here that data was available.

However, a slew of Centrally Sponsored Schemes from the mid-60s to the mid-80s meant that since line departments mainly implemented these, it made the Panchayats expendable, leading to a collapse of the district planning process.

Later in 1987, the Planning Commission decreed that ‘popular participation in the planning process was necessary, to involve the people in the process to help in knowing the needs of the people, mobilizing local resources for implementation of the plan, addressing potential conflicts in the planning and implementation stages and therefore bring about a change in the power structure in peoples’ institutions in favour of the poor.’

The decentralization objective received a much-needed boost with the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution necessitating the need for Panchayats at the district, intermediate (block) and village levels as well as setting up District Planning Committee (DPC) for incorporating the plans developed at those levels into the overall district plans (including those developed by urban local bodies).

The Gram Panchayat, a body of elected officials at the village level, is the most-local decision-making

unit. And the Gram Sabhas, village meetings mandated to be held 6 times a year, are a significant institution for participatory democracy and decentralization. The sabhas are a forum in every locality to meet and discuss the local development and social problems, and consequently, understand the needs and aspirations of the community. Thus, providing for opportunities infor self-governance.

1.2 Present status of Decentralization

India’s vision for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007 – 2012) has been developed in context of four important dimensions: Quality of life, generation of productive employment, regional balance and self-reliance. Under the ambit of inclusive growth, it seeks to reduce disparities across gender, regions and communities by ensuring access to basic physical infrastructure as well as health and education services to all. With this spirit in mind, the Planning Commission emphasized that the ‘district planning process’ should be an integral part of the process of preparation of State’s Eleventh Five Year Plan.

Against this backdrop, the Planning Commission constituted a study in 2008 to gauge the stage of District Planning in each State. In November 2008, the findings of the study undertaken to analyze the status of District Planning Committees (DPCs) in the states was released. The key fact that emerged was: the DPCs don’t function in most states, and are mostly a constitutional formality.

For instance, in Maharashtra – the study pointed out – that ministers are the Chairpersons of the District Planning Committee (DPC). This, the report concludes, hampers the participative nature of planning in the DPC.

Other findings included:9

• District Planning Committees (DPCs) are not functional in most of the States. In a few States, they are not yet constituted, while in most of the States they are constituted but not as constitutionally required.

• Several States such as Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh have Ministers as Chairpersons of DPCs. This hampers the participative nature of the planning process in the DPC.

• DPCs are functioning effectively in Kerala, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

• DPCs have not been able to effectively enable rural urban linkages.

• Coordinated planning is not taking place and any joint project planning has not necessarily resulted in integrated project implementation.

Based on discussions with representatives of the State Government and Technical Support Institutions (TSIs) the report also concluded that a ‘big drive or pressure on the State Governments was needed to allow and strengthen DPCs to perform their constitutionally ordained functions.’

1.3 Decentralization in Maharashtra

The Bombay Village Panchayat Act 1958 defines the duties, responsibilities and powers of the Village Panchayats. Subsequently, the State of Maharashtra emerged in 1960 and the new Government of Maharashtra set up a Committee under the Chairmanship of the then Chief Minister Shri V.P. Naik for strengthening of the Panchayats.

The Act (amended in 2003) also formally gave the Gram Sabhas extensive powers. Some of these are as follows:

a) Six meetings of the Gram Sabha have been provided for, every year.

b) It is mandatory to call the meeting of the women members of the Gram Sabha before every regular meeting of the Gram Sabha.

c) A Panchayat is required to obtain permission of the Gram Sabha for incurring any expenditure on the development.

d) Gram Sabha is also competent to approve the social or economic development plan, projects to be implemented by the Panchayat.

e) Gram Sabha has the power to select beneficiaries for individual beneficiary schemes of the State or the Central Government.

f) Unless exempted by the Gram Sabha, all the Government, semi-Government and Panchayat employees are required to attend the meetings of the Gram Sabha.

g) The Gram Sabhas will report to the Block Development Officer

Based on the recommendations of the Committee, the State enacted the Maharashtra Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti Act 1961. The objective of the Act was “to provide for establishment in rural areas, Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis, to assign to them local Government functions and to entrust the execution of certain works and development schemes of the State Five Year Plan to such bodies, and to provide for the decentralization of powers and functions under certain enactment to these local bodies for the purpose of promoting development of democratic institutions and securing greater measure of participation by the people in the State Plan and in local Government affairs.”

Through this act, a total of 82 functions have been assigned to Village Panchayats under 12 heads: Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Forests, Social Welfare, Education, Medical and Public Health, Building & Communication, Irrigation, Industries & Cottage Industries, Cooperation, Self-Defence & Village Defence and General Administration.

1.4. Importance of Building Communities and Planning at Grassroots

The 4th day of the micro planning process has been completed in Bhiwandi Bodkha, a village in Ambad Block of Jalna. Through focus group discussions with kishoris in the village, one of the problems that emerged is that of transportation to the nearest high school, in Ambad town. The

distance from the interior of the village to the main road (where there is a bus service) is about 3.5 kilometers, which the girls need to walk back and forth every single day. Often, even the bus that arrives is already loaded with passengers from previous stops. This difficulty has led to many students (mostly girls) dropping out from school.Thisschool. This issue is brought up by the Resource Persons and is actively discussed at the village level meeting in the evening. Some of the Gram Panchayat members respond that a request for a bus service has been submitted to the bus depot; however, they (the village) haven’t followed up on it since.

Planning at the grassroots, with consensus, is necessary if there is any difference to be made. It is difficult for officials sitting at the

8 Page 3, ‘Status of Micro level Planning in India’ – By Mumtaz Thaha9 Report on District Planning: Status & Way Forward, IRMA & Planning Commission, 2008

05 06

Centre and the State to wholly understand the cultural context, the resources available and the kind of problems that a particular village faces. Therefore, the villager by default has the advantage of context as well as stake in the village’s progress.

At the same time, other points need to be examined: does every villager have an equal right to making her/his voice being heard? Or is power monopolized by vested interests?

During the process, particular care is taken to give opportunities to the women and vulnerable groups to express their viewpoints. Sunita, from Talani village in Latur, attests, ‘I went for the classroom training every day. The trainings helped us think about what kind of leadership we wanted for our village, about how this will help not just the rich and educated but even the poor sections. I also helped conduct the Ward Sabha in the evening. I was very nervous because I had never spoken like this in front of everyone before.

A traditional village economy, unlike that of a city, works around cohesive relationships between people. One reason for this is that the population is significantly smaller, making it easier to forge personal relationships when the occupations revolve around small-scale agriculture, animal husbandry and/or handicrafts, sewing etc in comparison to the large scale, mechanical and industrialized economy of a city.

Often, farmers share their bullocks with those who may not have them during the harvest; one produce is exchanged for another, milk is traded for jaggery or pulses, some grind spices, others in the village make jewellery or sell bangles. What is produced, often does not travel very far before it is consumed. By contrast, in the city, it is difficult to know who the

producers of our goods are, much less establish personal relationships with them.

So in a village, there is immense scope to know one’s neighbours, the service providers and leaders and demand accountability.

To demand accountability there needs to be an awareness of one’s entitlements, duties and responsibilities. The atmosphere is conducive to decentralization when co-operation and mutual understanding are encouraged as a precursor to taking charge and discharging responsibilities.

1.5. Need for Micro planning: Present State of Human Development Index Indicators in Maharashtra

‘Nirmal Gram’ announces a tin-board resolutely at the outer limits of Mardi village in Jalna district. Nirmal Gram is a title conferred by the State Government upon those villages that have managed to achieve total sanitation and are open defecation free. It comes along with a cash award that corresponds to the population of the village.

The reality? Most residents of these villages continue to defecate in the open, despite having toilets. This often means that there is an outbreak of diseases during monsoons because of the unhygienic conditions that prevail.

Such a scenario is not limited to sanitation; it spills across other sectors too. 30.7 % of the population in Maharashtra is below the poverty line, while 39.7% below the age of 3 are underweight (both severe and moderate) despite mechanisms like Integrated Child Development Services in place. Close to 35 infants die out of every 1000 that survive, while an alarming 46.7 (out of every 1000) of them don’t make it past the age of 5. Today, we rank 137th on the

Human Development Index. And India being the second most populous country in the world, the percentages and figures tell a grim story.

Usha, an Anganwadi worker from Bhardu village in Nandurbar adds that, ‘…most women even today need to be told that breastfeeding is extremely valuable to the infant, especially for the first six months. That is not all; she needs to understand that her health and habits too have implications on the baby’s milk. If a mother doesn’t eat well, how will there be nutritious milk for the child? It is all connected”

Legal implications go only some way as a deterrent. What will work, in terms of sustainable changes, is an aware community making decisions. This decision can be backed by legal processes and encouraging schemes, but the change needs to be felt from within. As Kailash Jadhav, a Master Trainer points out, ‘The essence of village level planning is the changing of mindsets, of moving beyond infrastructure, financial assistance and schemes.’

Chapter 2.

Framework of Micro Planning

07

CASE STUDY: TALANICHE TARUN (THE YOUTH OF TALANI)

The 6-day village planning process in Talani took place in March 2010. The process saw poor participation by the Panchayat members during the Gram Panchayat based Planning but enthusiastic reception from the youth and villagers. Post the process, a group of youth in the village contested the Gram Panchayat elections. Four out of five won – with overwhelming support. In the one month since assuming leadership, they have taken their first steps towards change. Data points to similar such changes taking place in 40% of the 404 Gram Panchayats in Latur District.

Forty kilometers away from the main town of Latur lies the village of Talani - home to approximately 5000 people. The sun burns down on the plains, and for miles, one can see endless vast expanses of flat land – farms with their sugarcane stock harvested for the year, some with jowar awaiting their turn, and a sprinkling of dry shrubs rooted firmly in the seemingly arid soil.

The district is famous for its sugar factories and it is easy to see why; boiling under the stern 40-degree gaze of the summer sun are large open vats of frothing sugarcane, stirred relentlessly by the workers. The most intensive water-absorbing crop is the king here, never mind that fresh water hard to come by.

The houses are plain pink, single-room cement blocks with an antechamber, stretched in rows, which the Government built in the aftermath of the 1993 earthquake that killed close to 9,000 people and injured several thousands.

Some streets are clean, there are pumps, and the people are warm and welcoming. The school with its colourful inscriptions, date charts, historical figures, spacious grounds, hexagonal classrooms and 400 students, is the pride of Talni. With help from dedicated teachers, the school has been on the slow march upwards. It is here, that the six-day Micro-planning process had taken place in March 2010.

It is November now, the fields are lush with crops, ponds are brimming in post-monsoon abundance and other perceptible changes have taken place.

For one, the youth in Talani swept the once-in-five years Gram Panchayat elections and formed leadership. Second, they were uncontested; they won without exchanging money or favours for votes and the

newly-initiated Sarpanch, Khairnath won the majority from two different wards. Third, they realized their vision of taking charge and developing their village post the 6-day empowering micro planning process.

The Beginning

Talani could be any other village in Maharshtra. The biggest roadblock here is the most fundamental to any democratic process: awareness. Lack of awareness due to either ignorance or disinterest in the functioning of their village.

Here, the concept of a Gram Sabha hasn’t been taken seriously for the past decade: a regular feature of many villages in the country. Political factionalism has often resulted in fistfights, which made most villagers wary of attending one in the first place.

Vilas, a Resident & Block Co-ordinator of his Block feels, ‘People here (In Talani) have had a ‘dependent’ mindset post the Latur earthquake. They used to feel that any development is the government’s duty. The most important message the Micro planning process has conveyed is that progress begins with us and how much interest we’re willing to take for our communities.’

The newly elected team held its first Gram Sabha on 2 October 2010, a befitting day for the first significant step; and it was replete with loudspeakers, mikes, and was recorded on camera. The crowds spilled out of the temple area onto the road. It was for the first time in a decade that the Panchayat had, of their own accord, initiated a Gram Sabha.

Khairnath, the Sarpanch, adds ‘The atmosphere during the elections was very charged, thanks to all the awareness generated through the micro planning trainings that took place few months earlier. I think everyone had had enough of promises.’

He grins as he adds shyly, ‘I am a photographer by profession, and have always been behind the camera. I never thought I would become a Sarpanch. I have always been a shy person, hesitant to talk to people. I had ideas but never gathered the confidence to voice them openly, and this confidence has come only through awareness.’

The various committees in the village have also been formed carefully, selecting those who are willing to be accountable. Another interesting development: the ex-sarpanch of the village is also a part of the Panchayat. He claims that since he was the only youth member then, he didn’t get to do much and feels. He feels this is a fresh start in many ways.

Impact

• Complete disclosure of financial records and transactions of the Panchayat at the Gram Sabha, including past transactions.

• Opening up action plans as decided under the previous Gram Sabha (held as a part of the microplanning process)

• Repairing pipes in Ward 3 that has led to better water facilities for its residents

• Putting up streetlights and fixing existing lamps in the whole village, no street is unlit. This has made it safer for the residents since most of their roads are still kuccha.

• Planting of 1200 saplings around the village. Under the Eco Development Project, an initiative of the Rural Development Department, if atleast 50% of the trees survive over the next three years, the village stands to get incentives. Additionally, the panchayats identified under eco-development project are entitled to a three year (phased) incentive package which is subject to adherence to certain pre-conditions – this is one such indicator

• Regularizing fixed bi-weekly visits by the Gram Sevak, between 7 am to 12 pm on Tuesdays and Fridays

Future Plans

• Clear outstanding dues of the village

• Application for Job Cards under MREGA and subsequently livelihood options for those unemployed in the village

• Haemoglobin testing of the kishoris, who are particularly susceptible to iron deficiencies due to poor dietary habits and inadequate access to leafy vegetables and fruits

• Soil Testing with the help of an agricultural expert to understand the nutrition values of the soil and how it can be made productive and seed knowledge of the present crops

Reflections

I lost the seat by a mere 6 votes! But I’m happy that the rest of our team managed to win on their own merit, without electioneering gimmicks. The aim of the micro planning process was to strengthen the Gram Panchayat and build awareness of the villagers, and the results are showing. My vision for my village: all girls in Talani should become well-educated and get elected to important positions in the village administration so that they can also prove their mettle as decision takers.

Shoba, Resident & Deepshika Co-ordinator

These days people from nearby villages say ‘Talani is lit up like it’s Diwali all 365 days a year’, because of all the repaired streetlamps. The trainings were interesting because of the games.

Govind, Resident

09 10

2.1 What is Micro Planning?

‘It may be seen that the extent to which the planning process captures the true needs of people depends upon how best the needs of communities are captured at the village, habitation or ward-levels within the panchayat. The process of micro planning mainly consist of participatory community mobilization at the village or ward level, primarily through techniques of participatory rural appraisal (PRA). Such processes have been tried out successfully in several states and the lessons learnt can be applied effectively to both rural and urban habitations.’

- Manual for Integrated District Planning

Micro- planning can be defined simply as a decentralized, ‘bottom-up’ approach towards planning. It means decisions regarding the welfare of the village will be taken by the villagers themselves, at the grassroots level i.e. at the lowest administrative unit, which in this case would be the Gram Panchayat. It removes decision-making from the hands of the Government and top body officials and puts it firmly in the hands of the locals.

How can the needs of a community be identified? How can a participatory process be expanded to a scale, such that the village participation gets transformed into a district planning process? How can the national goals become a community norm? These ideas are initiated through the means of a six-day participative planning approach that includes classroom trainings and interactive educational games.

For instance, some national goals are:

‘No child in our Panchayat shall suffer or die due to preventable diseases

No child in our Panchayat should suffer from malnourishment

No woman in our Panchayat shall lose her life while bringing forth a new life

No child in Panchayat should work at the cost of studying, learning, playing, exploring and enjoying

No individual shall be discriminated against and excluded from society

All men and women in the Panchayat shall have the freedom to participate and contribute to village development

All individuals in the Panchayat shall have an opportunity to access basic goods and services needed for healthy living

All individuals in the village shall contribute atleast 1 day every month for community service/ village development activities

Gram Sabhas will take place regularly in our village and all men and women will be present’

Building capacities of PRI institutions is done with certain critical objectives in mind. These include conceptual clarity on the roles and responsibilities of its members, powers of the Gram Sabha, enhancing understanding of the scope of decentralized planning and the relevance of bottom-up planning, mobilizing communities and their participation in the planning process, the importance of social inclusion and related aspects.

The village communities are mobilized to:

• understand the situation

• identify the underlying causes

• develop an action plan

• take action at a local level

• generate resources wherever required

• monitor the progress of the plan against established indicators.

People and communities are recognised as key actors in their own development, rather than passive recipients; their participation is both a means and a goal of development. The whole development process is locally-owned and therefore aims to be

empowering. The focus is on the marginalised, disadvantaged and excluded groups, and the goal is to reduce disparity, all of which are the core principles of the Rights Based Approach to Programming

This approach revolves around the following core principles -

Emphasizing the ‘how’ of programme rather than on ‘what’: A strong emphasize on ‘how’ programme activities are carried out and less on ‘what’ activities are undertaken. That is, in all its stages the programmes should adhere to the standards and principles of human rights.

Building of Suitable Partnership, Alliances and Networks: In essence, the approach envisages a multi-stakeholder partnership with the government (playing a central role for best results) and various components of civil society including communities to ensure ownership and effective implementation of programmes.

Community Participation and Empowerment: Community participation is not merely a means to achieve programme objectives, it is the explicit objective of the programme, and actively seeks the participation and empowerment of children, women, parents and families living in poverty.

Integrated and Holistic Approach: An integrated approach (as opposed to vertical, top-down approach) to programming is imperative for best results. This also implies identification of strategies, which could bring about relatively more basic enabling changes in the community. These basic enabling changes in the community would act as the favourable bedrock for subsequent interventions

Sustainability: Any initiated project or programme should be sustainable and not remain as a

one-time intervention. Further, the initiated programme should enable the sustenance of the resulting positive changes leading to a progressive cumulative virtuous cycle of social change.10

For example, building capacities of the youth becomes a key step towards sustainability. Since youth are the future citizens of tomorrow, they will be important stakeholders in a community’s progress. Empowering them could contribute towards setting off a positive feedback loop of social change. In many villages in India, child marriage is still a prevalent norm. Though deemed illegal and punishable by law, minors are married off by the elders in the families, often juveniles who have not even reached puberty. This translates into many other problems as education takes a backseat, often the young wedded wife has had no sexual education, she could become a young mother when her body is barely fit for rearing kids. Outside interference in such sensitive issues is often unwelcome.

In many such cases, groups of young girls in villages known as kishoris and youth groups have stood up to pressure, and educated families about the negative impacts of child marriage. They have visited such homes and convinced them, successfully, not to give in to such customs.

Scratching the surface deeper, not only has empowerment led to preventing child marriages in certain districts, but has also brought to the fore the often-neglected girl child to bring about a social change.

2.2 Framework of Micro Planning

Over a period of six days – excluding the environment-building day popularly known as zero day – a combination of classroom sessions and participatory planning tools help

understand and link aspects of governance to on-ground realities. It is intensive, both for people conducting these trainings as well as those exposed to it.

On field, this process is done in facilitation with civil society organizations (specific to the UNICEF- initiated programmes) and locally selected resource persons. The number of resource persons may vary according to the size of the block and time available for completing the process. It is ideal to select resource persons in such a manner that all gram panchayats in the block have at least one trained resource person available for follow-up activities.

A typical six-day planning process in a Gram Panchayat passes through the following stages:

Stage 1 - Situation Analysis

Resource Persons facilitate a community-based and Panchayat-led self-assessment of village problems to get an overview of what the existing situation in the village is and identify existing resources to solve these problems.

Method: This is done with the help of tools like Household Surveys, Sectoral Assessments, Village Transect, Village Mapping, Seasonality Exercise, Focused Group Discussions

Stage 2 – Interface and Problem Sharing

The process also enables bringing the service providers and the community in a common space, on one platform, for direct interactions. This helps in consolidating feedback for the service providers, as well as becomes an opportunity for the functionaries to share their experiences, problems (if any). It also provides immense scope for corrective action, and for both these important stakeholders to work together for an enriching common future.

10 The above two paragraphs have been adapted from ‘Community Participation as Central to Development programming – A Concept Note on Micro Planning’ by Shri. Gopinath Menon.

11 12

Method: Community Score Card exercise, Class room trainings

Stage 3 - Problem Identification and Prioritization

The village community supported by the Panchayat, village committees and community-based organizations analyze and consolidate problems identified during the situation analysis and interface and problem sharingproblem-sharing phase. Often as there is a long list of problems and it may be difficult to work on each of them within stipulated timeframe, the village community categorizes the problems into different sectors and selects those they consider most pressing.

Method: This stage is carried out through group work, providing little opportunity for dominant people or groups in the village to hijack such a process.

Stage 4 - Visioning

‘Where do I see my village 5 or 15 years from now?’ The aim is to encourage the village to develop a specific vision for Gram Panchayat development across sectors like health, nutrition, sanitation, education, livelihood and other selected social and/or administrative issues. The vision building process is a precursor to the village development plan.

Method: Open discussions with the community and representatives across all sectors guide the visioning process

Stage 5 Plan Finalization in the Gram Sabha

The entire village community develops action plans and development plans. The actions agreed upon by the community can be classified into three categories - (a) those that can be taken at the community level, those that can be taken at the Panchayat level; those which can only be taken at the service provider level where the Panchayat and village community needs to act as a pressure group to get the desired results.

Method: On day five, the plan is presented and discussed in the Ward and Mahila Gram Sabha. Once both these bodies approve the plan, then with the necessary modifications it is incorporated and presented for the final approval of the Gram Sabha on day six of the process. The Gram Sabha not only approves the plan but also sets indicators against which the progress of the action plan can be monitored.

Linkages with Block & District PlanningIn the six-block pilot, learning sessions were organized for building capacities of elected representatives, govt. functionaries, CBOs and volunteers.

The most crucial step of planning is the consolidation of the Gram Panchayat plans at the Block Level and further at the district level, in such a manner that that they find ready acceptance in the district development plan.

Chapter 3.

Stakeholders, Partnerships & Alliances

13

CASE STUDY: KOLVAN – STEPPING UP TO THE CHALLENGE

The challenge before such a participative process is: how can Action Plans be converted into reality? With the help of an ex-District Planning Officer and active involvement of the Block Development officer, the ball has begun rolling for the development in Kolvan Gram Panchayat in Pune District.

At the Panchayat Office in Kolvan, in the Mulshi Taluka of Pune District, people are slowly trickling in. It is 9 am on a Monday morning, and within an hour’s notice, people have turned up. First amongst them is Upa Sarpanch of the Panchayat, Kisan Pandurang Jori. He occupies the red high-backed chair with its plastic cover still intact. A while later, Sarpanch Baydabai Lakshman Yadav has also arrived. The meeting can now begin.

Mr Birajdar, ex-member of the District Planning Committee and now a consultant to YASHADA, is armed with a long list of village plans from Kolvan GP. He is meeting the community to discuss plans that have emerged through the microplanning process, and determine how best to take those plans forward constructively at the village and the Block Level.

Since communities don’t have knowledge of costing and budgeting their plans, most action plans often are stuck at the funding level. With his experience in the District Planning Committee, Mr. Birajdar is hoping to identify the various ways and schemes through which they can claim the funds. After understanding the nature and context of what is in the Action Plans, he will meet Mr. Satish Gadve, the BDO at the Block Panchayat Office at Paud.

With a population of 2200 people, Kolvan is a Group Gram Panchayat (when the population of individual

villages is less than 300 then two or more revenue villages are clubbed together to form a single local government unit known as group gram panchayat) formed with the three villages of Kolvan, Hotle and Dongargaon. The village planning process took place here between the 3rd to 8th of October 2010.

Now almost two weeks after the process, the enthusiasm remains. The members of the newly constituted Panchayat are more confident because of the valuable inputs they received during the micro planning process. The most active among them is Ramdas Padwal, a youth, a Panchayat Member and a resident of Dongargaon. Their team has been elected to the post in August this year. Ramdas feels, ‘We (our team) have a good 5 years before us to do lots of things for the village. The trainings took place at the right time. There is a lot more awareness amongst the community, even about how we as the representatives can do productive things for the village’.

Acting on the Plans

Five minutes away from the main market area, the stink hits you squarely in the face. There are no proper drains for the sewage water here, which results in the unclean water spilling onto the streets – and potential spreading of germs and illnesses. According to the Action Plan, the estimated funds for construction of the soak pits is Rs 10, 000/- . Mr Birajdar suggests they make use of the Gram Panchayat cess funds. One of the villagers also suggests fining an amount Rs 300/- to those who throw the water on the streets.

The other complaint is that there is a need for good connecting roads within the three villages. Mr. Birajdar suggests that the work should be taken up under the MREGS scheme by those unemployed in the village. This he feels would help tackle two problems together – that of constructing roads for the village, and livelihood for those who need it.

Manohar Jadhav, or Appa Jadhav as he is better known, is in the Tanta Mukti Samiti (‘Dispute Free Village’ Committee) of the village and a potter by profession. No one in the village has got jobs cards yet, which are most essential to apply for work under this scheme. And he feels, ‘I don’t think any of the youth in the village will be interested. All they want to do is have the money to spend, but are not willing to work for it. I can guarantee that they will give a hundred reasons why it won’t work’ But Ramdas states that if the youth have information about the scheme and that they will get the payment as soon as the work is completed, they will be sure to join in. At this point, the details of the MREGS scheme and how it works is explained to the community.

The topic moves to the Self Help Groups; and Sarpanch Baydabai, who has been silent until now, offers, ‘There are about 15 in the village but they aren’t very active. Some of the farmers have managed to buy light machinery equipment for their farm work, but that’s about it.’ Here Mr. Birajdar suggests that the groups can also invest in a small-scale dairy industry by buying cattle. There is enough land around for grazing, and feeding the livestock. And the milk obtained can be sold in the long run.

The meeting is interrupted by an old woman belonging to the Adivasi community from the village. She comes with her hands folded, and pleads, ‘Please do something about my house. The government had taken some land back from the rich farmer, we built our houses on it, now the farmer has taken it back saying it was his in the first place.’ The only thing that will do the trick here is pressure from the village community.

Mr Birajdar adds, ‘It is equally important to think and plan ahead. Under the Eco Village scheme, the community can also begin by banning plastics, composting and planting trees. This will be good for the environment in the long run, and farm productivity will rise with use of the compost as fertilizer. Rainwater harvesting ponds can also be built on farmlands to avoid water shortage in the dry summer months. All that is required is some will power and a desire to make some changes.’ He also suggests building a pipeline from the lake to the villages under the Jalswaraj Scheme, after the Deputy Sarpanch points out that the length of the pipeline won’t be more than a kilometer long.

Back at the Block HQ in Paud after the meeting in Kolvan, the plans are shared with BDO MrMr. Sanjay Gadvi. He is cautious, but positive about taking things forward. He believes, ‘When these plans go hand in hand with the funds, it is satisfying. There should be concrete outcomes of the planning; otherwise, people will lose faith in us. Action plans like these help us at

the higher levels understand what is needed. If this is not a reflection of democracy, what is?’

In the Pipeline

• Collecting tax of Rs.2/- to Rs 4/- per day from shop owners and hawkers as tax.

• Increasing usage of toilets from 60 percent to 100 percent, and working towards ‘Nirmal Gram’Gram’, status and prize by making the entire village open defecation-free.

• Getting Iron tablets from the sub-centre for adolescent girls in the village through the AWW and ANM

• Fixing a permanent day in the week for the Gram Sevak to be present

• Deciding upon fixed timings for veterinary doctor in the village

Perspectives

‘We didn’t have any knowledge about what can be expected from the officials and service providers. Earlier if we went with some problem to our Gram Sevak, he would say ‘No this is not possible,’ and because we didn’t know any better we used to come away quietly. Now we can demand because we have learnt a few things atleast.

Harimaruthi Durge, Resident, Hotle Village

The trainings that took place were very good. The educational games and activities were interesting. Our village (Dongargaon) was very participative, women used to walk every evening for a kilometer to the meetings to participate. The trainers stayed up with us till 1am almost every night, answering our queries and chatting with us.

Ramdas Padwal, Panchayat Member, Dongargaon

There are many like me who are always tensed about the condition of our homes because of the land dispute. Everyone here knows of our situation but nothing has been done till now. Atleast today everyone has heard me. I hope our situation will improve.

Ajji, Resident, Kolvan

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CASE STUDY: PROFILE OF A MASTER TRAINER

At Jhirpi Tanda, a Group Gram Panchayat in Ambad Block of Jalna, Ikhtiyar Pathan stops in the yard of a school. It is the end of a school day, and children are rushing about playing. With one word, he gathers children around him and asks them to hold out their hands. He then examines if all of them have cut their nails. The children are sheepish; some hide their hands with overgrown nails scuffed with dirt behind their backs. Pathan exclaims in mock horror, ‘You have eaten lunch with these hands! Do you know how many germs there might be in you?’ ‘Tomorrow whoever brings me the most nails will get a pen and Rs 50’.

There is a buzz, all the kids are interested. ‘Finger nails, toe nails. Get them from your parents, from your parents and sisters, from your aunts and uncles. Trouble them for it and tell them that it is not good for health.’ The children are excited and determined to win the prize, they rush home to begin their collection.

‘You see how they’ll trouble everyone at home for nails because they want to win’, he chuckles. ‘And many will end up having clean hands.

Observing Pathan in action is like watching a juggler. A deft 6-foot juggler of people, of emotions, and of situations; armed with an open smile that goes well with his trademark ease of handling anything that comes his way. Pathan, as he is fondly known, is a Master Trainer, and an adept one at that.

A native of Parbhani district in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, he has been with the micro planning process since its inception, and is now a State-level trainer moving constantly to wherever there is a village planning or training process taking place. He did his Masters in Social Work, and his first stint in working for social causes was with NGOs working on child labour. He was inspired to work with communities after attending a workshop organized by UNICEF in Mumbai on issues of child labour. He has not looked back since. ‘Despite having been on the field for 10 years, I enjoy it

all the time. The real action is out here. Every situation is different; every village has its own flavour’.

His motivation: villagers making informed choices. ‘Nothing else’, he says, ‘can make a real lasting change. The villagers themselves need to take ownership on how or what development should take place in the village, this can happen on the foundation of informed choices.’

What makes a Master Trainer?

The role of a Master Trainer in the Micro Planning Process is training and building capacities of Resource Persons, through classroom sessions as well as on the field. They also play an important part in innovating at the field level and therefore contribute in bringing about suitable revisions in the micro planning design. Another critical role they are expected to perform is that of Supportive Supervision on a case-to-case basis.

For instance, in the 6-day village planning process at the Gram Panchayat level that took place earlier this year in the districts of Latur and Chandrapur, the Master Trainers extended support by supervising the process by monitoring its quality and also undertaking basic documentation on the formats provided to them. Their observations took into consideration the efforts at the organizational level (the role of the NGO, Resource Persons etc), the village level (participation of the key officials in the process etc), important achievements of the process, as well as suggestions.

In the This effort will be scaled up in the 6-block pilot funded by the Planning Department/ Maharashtra Human Development Mission (MHDM) where 6 Master Trainers were have been jointly identified by YASHADA-SPARSH to work as Block Coordinators for supporting the entire intervention (right from village planning to block response planning) for a period of six months.

While expectations of a Master Trainer are defined by the project they work on, there is a quality that is non-negotiable, one that no amount of classroom trainings or booklets will teach how to get right: forging connections with their target groups. Be it while interacting with Resource Persons during trainings, stepping in to build an atmosphere at a village meeting, or even encouraging women to be active participants.

Kailash Jadhav, another Master Trainer from Nandurbar shares his experience with village level planning. ‘Every context in different, there are many realities that exist simultaneously. During the 3rd day of this process in Koli Siraj village, a woman died under tragic circumstances. The village participation had been very enthusiastic until then. Under such conditions, carrying out the usual trainings, even though it is time bound,

would have not been proper at all. We adjusted the schedule and combined some of the sessions the next day. It is important to remember that we are doing this with the villagers, not for them.’

Perspectives

My journey in micro planning began as a volunteer and resource person from Padmapur village in Chandrapur. We worked on youth awareness, health, sanitation, menstruation and HIV Aids. I had never gone out of home but my parents have encouraged me since this is something I am giving back to society. My father and my grandfather have both been social workers. My role here is to review the performance of the Resource Persons and give them feedback since for most it is their first time in the field.

Supriya, Master Trainer, Chandrapur

Orienting the planning process around the Gram Panchayat has made a lot of difference. There is more focused participation in the villages because the leadership is also involved.

Mangala Vasawe, Master Trainer, Nandurbar

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In a process that places people as its focus, robust partnerships with a wide section of civil society organizations for implementing programs on ground, and policy advocacy across issues, especially those related to children and women are essential. The following partnerships have been crucial for the process:

3.1 State Departments, District & Block Administration, Government of Maharashtra (GoM)The State’s key role is creating policy architecture for decentralization processes in the State. Without ownership of the decentralized and participatory processes by the district, block and local level administration, it would be difficult to implement an intensive participatory process on a large scale and sustainable manner.

The initiatives of the Planning Departments and Rural Development Departments have made possible financial allocations of over 700 crores (combined figure) this fiscal year. This has taken place through schemes like the Maharashtra Human Development Mission (MHDM) and sustainable village development through the ‘Eco Village’ Schemes. The MHDM is proposed to be scaled up to cover 172 most backward blocks in the State.

Setting up special missions to address critical issues, such as the Rajmata Jijau Health and Nutrition Mission to address malnutrition amongst children in the age group below 6 years of age, setting up of Delivery Monitoring Unit (DMU) to monitor and evaluate functioning of its departments, makes efforts to bring about social change through

the participation of communities. Such enabling policy environments help provide support to micro planning initiatives.

The district and block level departments play a key role in implementation of plans, and therefore their involvement during the stage of plan formulation is critical. District authorities have the much-needed mandate to coordinate various agencies and ensure that these agencies operate in a common framework.

Their responsibilities include – Providing resources (including financial) and Infrastructure Mapping, encouraging the role of Panchayats and responding to the needs of the village community, allocating resources and promoting intra-sectoral coordination

UNICEF Maharashtra UNICEF Maharashtra has worked extensively with communities, especially with nurturing capacity building. It actively promotes like-minded partnerships and alliances with a wide range of stakeholders for training as well as implementation of on-field activities. The Government Resolution on the 6-Block pilot in the State includes the name of UNICEF as a Technical Support Institution (TSI) supporting the Govt. of Maharashtra in the decentralization process.

One of the major outcomes of micro planning is that it has resulted in creating a huge pool of human resource, which is sensitive towards children, women and those that are disadvantaged – socially, economically and politically. The trainings imparted include both general foundation courses in development as well as thematic modules on child rights, gender, nutrition and health, education, hygiene and sanitation, local governance, child rights etc. One of the most important roles has been

that of creating a favourable environment at a policy level. At the ground level, UNICEF is working in close coordination with the Zilla Parishad (District Panchayats), with local NGOs partnering for community mobilization, awareness generation, and linking village communities with service providers.

YASHADA The Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (YASHADA) in Pune is a state level training institution for the Government of Maharashtra and it has been mandated to support the decentralized planning process in the State. Its role in drafting the Manual on Integrated District Planning, in the functioning of the Delivery Monitoring Unit, the presence of the State Institute of Rural Development in YASHADA, and linkages with state departments due to the presence of Chief Secretary and Principal Secretaries in its governing body has enabled support around decentralized participatory planning across different departments, programmes and schemes of the government.

Along with the Centre for Community Managed Programming (CCMP) initiated with UNICEF’s support, it has been instrumental in developing and designing training of modules specially geared towards decentralized planning. A training need assessment followed by a multi-stakeholder workshop organized in YASHADA in September 2009 paved the way for designing a 6-day Gram Panchayat bBased capacity building and participatory planning process.

Other roles include handling advocacy initiatives at the state level, organizing consultations amongst stakeholders, organizing capacity building programmes for Master Trainers NGOs, Zilla Parishad representatives, District

Planning Committee Members; Providing technical expertise in Data Management and tracking of service delivery using Information & Community Technology; Mentoring, Monitoring, and Documentation related activities

Sparsh – Centre for Participatory Learning Since micro planning aims to awaken communities to demanding quality, it requires active involvement and participation of rigorously trained facilitators and volunteers in mobilization and attitudinal change

- Manual for Integrated District Planning

The scaling up of micro planning processes throws up the challenge of identifying and mobilizing a large team of human resources well-versedwell versed in the participatory processes. The role of nurturing and creating these trainers is being played by Sparsh

– Centre for Participatory Learning, which supports the government and various agencies both in Maharashtra and in other states in a carrying out a large number of training programmes cutting across sectors.

The Sparsh network has informally been in existence long before its registration as an organization in 2007. Since 2000, UNICEF through its various interventions had focused on systematically creating and nurturing youth as trainers as trainers and had created a large pool of master trainers who were involved in training at the state, district, block and village levels. Their responsibilities include finalizing State, District, Block level teams of Master Trainers, and supporting YASHADA in finalization of training and participative modules as well as in supervision, mentoring, monitoring and documentation-related activities.

The network presently has over

600 trainers who are linked with various training institutions of the State for outreach training activities. SPARSH is also the coordinator of the National Alliance established to provide training and capacity building support for the Census 2011.

Non-Governmental Organizations The microplanning process requires the involvement of the total community within a stipulated period of 6 days. The primary role is that of co-ordination among development activities in different sectors. They work towards this by mobilizing communities and forging close partnerships between communities and government service providers and functionaries

NGOs bring with them their networks, which have resulted from the core areas they work on. Local youth have the advantage of familiarity and wield influence in the

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village. Their core role is to mobilize village communities in participating in the planning, implementation and monitoring activities.

In terms of long-term goals of monitoring and supervision, the responsibility vests with the NGO. For instance, in the UNICEF supported districts of Latur, Chandrapur, and Nandurbar, the micro planning initiative is being taken forward at various levels by the local NGOs. Sath NGO in Latur has made concentrated efforts to consolidate the plans at the Block Level, organized a meeting for the Gram Sevaks and a sharing session with their District CEO. In Nandurbar, NGOs like Manav Vikas Sanstha (Shahada), DIRA (Nandurbar) are linking the plans that have emerged through the village planning processes to the BRGF schemes offered by the government. In Chandrapur, the NGOs are playing an active role in the identifying villages that could benefit under the Eco Village programme of the RDD.

Resource Persons The core role of the local youth is to mobilize village communities in participating in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the planned activities, ensuring that the opinion of all interest groups are taken into consideration.

They are selected based on their performance in written tests, group discussions, and soft skills like confidence, leadership qualities, creativity and participation. Usually the number of resource persons may vary from 40-120 per block. It

is ideal to select resource persons in such a manner that all gram panchayats in the block have at least one trained resource person available for follow-up activities.

The selected resource persons undergo a 21-day residential training module, which includes 12 field days and 9 classroom days. This contributes in building social capital at the local levels for taking forward the process.

Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs)Participation of village communities and their elected representatives is intrinsic to the success of the process. It is the latter’s responsibility to ensure that the needs, preferences reflect accurately during planning and budgetary exercises. The PRI members are expected to take the lead in monitoring the work of service delivery agencies and ensuring that they respond to the emerging needs of the communities.

The other crucial role is in strengthening and activating Gram Sabhas, which are mandated under the Panchayati Raj system as a forum for village communities to take decisions and decide on priorities through building of consensus. Ensuring the practice of regular Mahila Gram Sabhas offers a platform for the women in the village to place their needs, concerns, and opinions and consolidate them such that they find relevance in the overall village plans.

Village Community, CBOs & Volunteers The village planning process is an exercise in empowering the communities through dissemination of knowledge, increasing awareness about social and political realities. They are instrumental in guiding the situation analysis, formulating the action plans that needs to be monitored till they are nearer to the goal of development. In many instances, existing groups within the village like the Self Help Groups, Youth Groups, Deepshika, (adolescent girls’ groups) and committees can promote better involvement in planning.

The volunteers act as nodal points between the village and the NGOs (Field Coordinators, Block Coordinators) and help keep the atmosphere alive. This is done by regularly updating the Village Information Centre, holding meetings about current issues, informing the village about important dates like the Gram Sabha, immunizations etc.

Their role includes creating and strengthening existing village organizations, mobilizing internal and external resources, ensuring transparent use of these resources.

While presently, this is specific to UNICEF focus districts, the State Department of Planning has also expressed keen interest in replicating this model.

Chapter 4.

Evolution of the Six-Day Process

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