Project
Panchayati Raj Institution Action for Community Development
- India
- January 2011
The project aimed to support elected members of selected village councils in Haryana and Uttarakhand States – especially women – , to fulfill their roles: planning and implementing village public works and their maintenance; local social and welfare activities; and contributing to community harmony and social justice. The findings from the baseline survey were considered for inclusion in the project plans to ensure that the reasons preventing women village council members executing their functions were addressed. The integration of both elected council members and Self-Help Group members into a single target group enhanced the project’s focus on social and developmental community issues.
The project achieved its long-term objective to increase the participation of women in local decision-making processes. Elected council members confirmed that they understood their rights and obligations to contribute to the improvement of local democracy. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women were empowered and that they have begun to intervene openly and more frequently during village council meetings.
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- Community activism
- India
- January 2011
The grantee required its project teams to adhere to a single project plan while implementing the project in different local circumstances. For example, the scheduled elections which took place in the state of Haryana, India were not addressed in the project plan.
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- Community activism
- India
- January 2011
The grantee phased out its operations in one of the two supported districts without a clear exit strategy. The grantee abandoned its presence in Nainital district shortly after the establishment of the federation, withdrawing leading key personnel and equipment. This jeopardized the project’s sustainability.
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- Community activism
- India
- January 2011
Local staff were unfamiliar with the baseline survey methodology, since the analysis of collected baseline data failed to make a gender distinction despite the project’s focus on elected women village council members. A second survey to determine the project’s outcome has not been carried out. The assessment of the project’s impact would have been more reliable had an end-of-project survey been implemented.
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- Community activism
- India
- January 2011
The project mainly addressed social issues through women’s federations, which were recently founded in Haryana and Uttarakhand States in India. The federations provided opportunities for women from several Panchayats to share and exchange ideas on how to solve pressing local issues related to domestic violence, health and education. Former project staff – on a voluntary basis – are still involved as facilitators in the federation process.