With the approach of making the local community as the main actors in development, the Indo Swiss Participative Watershed Development Project Karnataka (ISPWDK) has started its second phase from 2000 in Bidar, Koppal and Gulbarga districts, Karnataka, India. The paradigm shift in Phase 2 of ISPWDK is the constitution of Village Development Societies (VDS). These organisations are meant to support the long-term development needs of the villages in a sustainable manner. The NGO partners of ISPWDK i.e., PRAWARDA, SAMUHA and MYRADA have taken up the responsibility to facilitate the establishment and capacity building of these institutions with the support of Programme Support and Management Unit (PSMU).

Village Development Society (VDS) - A decentralized and democratic village institution

The Concept: It is being recognised that sustainable improvements will only be realised if the people take control over the development in their village. Development efforts should therefore include empowerment of the people and support of the establishment of appropriate people's governance systems at the local level. People's institutions will have to be organised in such a way that the priorities and interests of especially the poor households will be effectively addressed. Project partners as well as outside experts contributed to the conceptual thinking. Experiences in other areas within and outside Karnataka were taken into consideration during the conceptualisation.

The VDS has the overall responsibility for planning and implementation of all developmental activities in the village, in a sustainable manner. Based on the needs, different committees are formed by the VDS to plan and execute the programmes. For example, Watershed Management Committees (WMCs) / People's Technical Resource Groups (PTRGs) are formed by the VDS to plan, execute and supervise watershed rehabilitation activities. The Self Help Groups (SHG) / thrift groups play a similar role towards livelihoods promotion activities.

The set up: One male and one female member of each and every "permanent" household in the village form the general body (GB) or Gram Sabha (GS). The general body chooses the governing council (GC) members. The GC has 9-15 members representing different sections of the communities in the village (landless, small farmers, marginal farmers, artisans and large farmers) and ex officio members (Representatives of the Gram Panchayat, constitutionally elected body under a statute). At least 33% of the governing body members have to be women. There is more than 50% women representation in certain VDS formed in ISPWDK projects.

Establishing & Capacitating VDS: Village Development Society is registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act (1960). It is intended to be a non-political institution away from party politics. Registration is necessary to meet the statutary requirements for receiving funds from the government and other development agencies. Establishing Village Development Societies requires time as the community needs sufficient time and opportunity to become aware of the needs and the modalities of such a village based organisation. The existing institutions, the village-specific social and political dynamics and the rapport of the NGO with the communities, influence the pace of institution building. Political threats to VDS are very much an issue. In one village, the entire process of establishing a VDS ceased because the outgoing elite did not accept the selected representatives because of their affiliation with a different political party. As on December 2002, in 14 villages the VDS has been functioning across three projects. The NGOs are given the main responsibility for capacity building at the field level, which is to be seen as an ongoing process throughout the project phase. The learning events at the VDS level aim at developing social, managerial and technical skills. The seeds of ownership and resource mobilisation are sown right from the beginning.

Learning from our experiences
Various factors help the process of started:

• Experiences in the neighbouring area: The people in the villages in Phase 2 area took the concept of VDS seriously because of the participatory processes that took place in the neighbouring villages during the first phase of the project.
• Rapport with NGO staff: NGO staff had a lot of credibility because of the support they gave earlier to community development activities in the same villages, like strengthening of thrift groups, support for income generating activities through street groups or SHGs etc.
• Organisational skills at village level: The members of established affinity groups are familiar with democratic decision making processes and have experienced the importance of unity, use and building of own resources and transparency towards members.
• Support from local leaders: The local leaders (informal as well as elected political leaders) supported the establishment of VDS, this further contributed to the VDS being able to get started and take up developmental activities.
• Identification of village level "social workers": The NGOs could identify one or two villagers who had already made efforts to preserve and regenerate the natural resources of the village. They could easily initiate the discussion on institutional development for natural resource management.