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 How? ICDS-IV CDAP BRGF NREGA SSA RCH NRHM TSC D I S TR I C T PG LN AI NN

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 Mobilization Organization Collective Reflection Awareness Negotiation / Conflict Resolution Consensus Collective Action S E L F R E L I A N C E ExternalFacilitation

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 (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 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

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 non- governmental 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 Steps in Block Response Planning …

Section-III Participatory Monitoring & Social Audit

The Community Score Card Selection of key services by communities Determination of quality indicators and score- scales (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 !