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fourth EF meeting
- background note - contd.


Governance

The definition of “Governance” is to exercise authority & control over the actions & affairs (Collins English dictionary). In the process of VDS taking the roles and responsibilities for various development issues/activities of the village/watershed many elements of good governance were observed. Some of them are presented below:

Transparency: Open sharing of information in Gram Sabha, display of boards & maps depicting plan, budget & progress in a common place/VDS office premises for the community information.

Decentralization: Decision making & approval at Gram Sabha level; delegating execution of watershed & livelihoods interventions to WMC & SHGs; develop local resource persons for supervision, guidance and book keeping.

Accountability: VDS members are responsible for overall project cycle; funds managed directly by VDS, Local & people’s contribution mobilized from community.

Gender & Equity concerns: Equal representation of women in all the forums, preference to landless, women, widows, physically challenged & marginalized sections as beneficiaries, knowledge & skills improvement training, and empowerment processes for these institutions to plan, implement various interventions.

Linkages & support to other institutions: Mobilizing resources & services from various government departments, agencies, banks and PRI; Support to other village institutions like SHGs, SDMC, Temple Committee etc; Shramdaan for village infrastructure development.

Financial management & other functions: Bank transactions, measurement & payment, maintenance of books, records & accounts by VDS members, facilitate VDS audit and legal compliances, settlement of bills & advance, conflict resolution at the village & household level, develop rules & norms for better functioning etc.

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