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Village Microplanning : Vehicle for Decentralized District Planning Lessons from Maharashtra Presented To The National Advisory-cum-Review Committee on BRGF October 31, 2009 YASHWANTRAO CHAVAN ACADEMY OF DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION The Challenge of Decentralized Planning CDAP RCH D I BRGF S T R I C T SSA G TSC How? NREGA P LA ICDS-IV N I N N NRHM Key Questions • How to generate village plans? – How will communities get mobilized? – Do communities have the requisite competencies? – What should be the nature of village plans? • How to integrate village plans into the district plan? – – – – Will village plans ever fit into sector schemes & guidelines? How to consolidate and integrate village plans? Who will decide what to include and what to exclude? How to tackle conflicting demands / priorities? • How to achieve balance human development through decentralized planning? – How to target human development through decentralization? – How will communities participate in implementation of plans? – How will they monitor the implementation? Section-I Village Microplanning Participatory Empowerment Sensitization Awareness External Facilitation Mobilization Organization S Collective Reflection E Negotiation / Conflict Resolution L Consensus F Collective Action R E E L C I A N Empowering Communities to Plan their Own Development • A five-day participatory process of community mobilization using PRA techniques • Focus on key areas of human development • Participatory village and household surveys for creation of baseline data • Identification and prioritization of development issues by communities themselves • Result : a village development plan prepared by the community The 5-Day Process of Microplanning • The process followed is same as that suggested on page 92-93 (Box 38) of the Manual for Integrated District Planning • Broad Schedule : Day one: Rapport establishment & confidence building Day two: Village stocktaking and database creation Day three: Data analysis and identification of issues Day four: Identification and prioritization of solutions Day five: Formulation of village plan and formation of action committees Microplanning in Maharashtra • A joint initiative of UNICEF-Mumbai, YASHADA, district administration and an alliance of NGOs • Over 12000 villages across 110 blocks in 27 districts covered so far • Funding carved out of existing programmes such as ICDS, Jalswaraj, TSP, NRHM, etc. • Efforts to pool together all IEC funds in a district to support microplanning in every village • Efforts to link microplanning to BRGF, NREGA and such other programmes, which mandate decentralized plans How it Works? • YASHADA & UNICEF act as an overall catalyst • A network of NGOs for local support and anchor • A network of master trainers for capacity building • Local youth are trained to act as ‘facilitators’ and ‘volunteers’ • MoUs are signed between YASHADA, district administration and local NGOs • Funds are carved out of existing programmes Key Steps • District and block level orientation workshops to determine the coverage of microplanning and availability of funds • Identification of NGOs • Identification of local youth • Training of officials, NGOs & facilitators / volunteers • Collection of secondary data on key services and human development indices in that area • Conduct of 5-day process of village microplanning • Formation of village committees to follow up the plan Village Development Plan • Broad & thematic in nature • Reflects a consensual view of village majority • Lists down development needs in an order of priority • Does not include technical / financial estimates • Does not reflect regional needs such as watershed development, inter-village roads, etc. Section-II Block Response Planning Responding to Demand : The Block Response Plan • Redefinition of development priorities, allocations, and programmes in a block to match the supply with demand • A multi-stakeholder process involving community representatives, block administration, panchayat raj institutions, NGOs and experts. • Reengineering of planning processes to make them people-centric rather than scheme-centric • Piloted in four blocks of Maharashtra Steps in Block Response Planning … • Consolidation of village plans at the block level and aggregation of needs / priorities • Mapping of key facilities and services in the block • Identification of service gaps through: norms vis-a-vis actual availability • Cross-check of service gaps with the community needs / priorities Steps in Block Response Planning … • Cross check of needs /priorities with the block human development index • Sector-wise mapping of the existing pattern of allocations at block level • Comparison of existing allocations with the service gaps and community needs • Identification of key areas of demand-supply mismatch Steps in Block Response Planning … • Comprehensive mapping of fund availability in a block : central, state, local and nongovernmental sources of funds • Pooling of funds to match allocations with the actual demand • Convergence of programmes to match allocations with the actual outcomes • Vetting of block response plan by the block council Section-III Participatory Monitoring & Social Audit The Community Score Card • Selection of key services by communities • Determination of quality indicators and scorescales (normally a five point scale) jointly by communities and service providers • A round of service assessment and ranking by communities • Another round of service assessment and ranking by service providers • Common discussions and decisions on the two sets of scores in the gramsabha along with the block officials and NGOs Inferences • Participatory community mobilization can serve as a common vehicle for village level planning under different components of a district plan such as BRGF, NREGA, CDAP, etc. • Planning under these different components must happen concurrently so that the resultant village plan is truly convergent and makes optimal use of available resources • Technical support structures established under these different components / programmes also need to be pooled together • A good BRGF plan can emerge only if planning under all sectors / programmes happens in an integrated manner and it finally converges on certain key gaps to be bridged through BRGF Thank You !