pri pilot
intervention

Capacity building for Gramapanchyat to undertake NRM - PARTNERS

Partners and Partnerships

The project will develop partnerships at three different levels. The first and most important partners are the Gram Panchayats- taking this to mean the people living in the selected villages. The second partner is a capacity building organisation that will provide services to the Gram Panchayat members. The third partner is a policy institution that can link this pilot initiative with experience in working with PRIs in other domains and areas, and make it accessible to policy decision makers.

Gram Panchayats

Under the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution and the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, 1993, the Gram Panchayat is the lowest electoral and administrative unit. It comprises a village or villages having a population of more than 5,000 and less than 7,000. Each Gram Panchayat is represented at the next tier of administration (Taluk) by a body of elected members including a Sarpanch (Chairperson), Up-Sarpanch (Deputy Chairperson) and sub- committee chairpersons. The caste and gender of Gram Panchayat representatives is determined by the GoK reservation policy. Often there is considerable scope for improvement in the skills and capacities of such representatives.

Each village within a Gram Panchayat has a Gram Sabha that consists of all persons registered on the electoral roll. The Gram Sabha is expected to meet on a biannual basis or as and when required. Its main formal role is to:

• plan and execute local development programmes through various thematic/scheme based sub- committees (eg. drinking water, rural housing, sanitation, adult education, etc.);
• identify and recommend to the Gram Panchayat those who should qualify as beneficiaries from such programmes;
• mobilize the voluntary labour in cash or kind for communtiy welfare;
• consider the annual financial statement of Gram Panchayat pertaining to the given village.

In reality, the degree of participation in Gram Sabhas varies considerably, and may not be high.

Grass Root support/ Training Organisation

The project proposes to work with a local organisation with proven capacity in training PRI members, and appropriate linguistic capacities. Under this project it will provide the following services:

• capacity building to promote Gram Sabhas as fully democratic, transparent and effective village institutions
• training in appropriate skills to elected Gram Panchayat representatives
• training for women leaders (present and potential)
• need based skill development for Gram Sabha members for income generation programmes, natural resource management interventions (particularly women, dalits and adivasis).

Project Coordination

The project will be coordinated by PSMU, drawing on a specific budget line under ISPWD-K. PSMU will take overall responsibility for:

• ensuring the smooth and transparent flow of funds
• supporting the gram panchayats in monitoring and review of the physical and financial progress
• supporting participatory baseline data collection
• documentation and dissemination of experiences with the policy institution