VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT – AN NGO MODEL FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Dear All

Hope, everyone is ready to face the consequences of Environmental Emergencies. COVID 19 is also termed as BIOWAR and every one should get prepared to face more such emergencies. 

I am happy to convey that i have taken this situation as an opportunity with positive attitude and concentrated on developing study papers on the priority areas. In this journey, during Oct 2020, published one such needy paper on "VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT -AN NGO MODEL FOR SUSTAINABILITY. 

A brief details of teh paper were pasted below for information. 

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ABSTRACT

Villages do have limited or poor access for basic amenities and resources with poor connectivity which results for poor development, marginalization, isolation, and migration of people, affecting dynamics of the village with lowered quality of life. A village is a perfect place to live, if you are in search of harmony with nature. A Gram Panchayat is the grassroot level of Panchayati Raj Institute. The processes of Liberalization, Privatization & Globalization and modernization with profit motto have exploited resources and affected the life of people and environment and further widened the gap between poor and rich. In this process, the family and community dynamics got affected and particularly Children, Persons with Disabilities, Women, Elders and other vulnerable groups. Nation has accepted Global Goals and developed its future vision as Modern India to achieve its targets and indicators with better Universality, Integration, and Transformation and thus village development gains priority. The challenges are many and are alarming with poor development and lowered quality of life. The opportunities are need based and will work on the model of design, implementation, monitoring & evaluation and thus results for an accessible, inclusive, integrated and sustainable development as an empowerment of people and villages with improved wellbeing. The initiatives taken up have resulted for significant impact in the lives of people and villages. The NGO model will support for the strengthening of PRIs with better sustainability and quality and is simple, flexible, scalable, replicable, and sustainable.                                                                          

 

Key Words: Water, Sanitation, Agriculture, Education, Employment, Livelihoods, Development, Opportunities, Accessibility, Sustainability, Quality of Life.  

 

Statement of the Problem

Village as a smallest administrative unit, though structured do have limited or poor access for basic amenities and resources with poor connectivity which results for poor development, marginalization, isolation, and migration of the people, affecting dynamics of the village with lowered quality of life.  

Introduction

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town. There are around 649,481 villages in India (according to Census 2011), the most authoritative source of information about administrative boundaries in the country. A village is a perfect place to live if you are in search of harmony with nature. People have everything for their minimum requirements of life. Villagers are just satisfied with the necessities of their living. They are always provided with fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, water, and clean air. There exist several advantages with village life covering: fresh food, fresh air & atmosphere, wide area (lower density of population), joint family system, take care each other, take care each other, healthy environment, healthy environment, no pollution, no tensions and no worries. A Gram Panchayat or Village Panchayat is the only grassroots-level of Panchayati Raj formalized local self-governance system in India. In the process of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG), and modernization or development with dominance of top down approaches with profit motto exploited the resources and affected the life of the people and environment. Though such processes brought development on one side but one other side its benefits are not uniformly distributed among the people and areas and thus widened the gap between the poor and rich and Urban and Rural areas. Affected with such poor or limited benefits and less scope for income generation activates like agriculture, employment, livelihoods, product making, and others tuning to the local resources (inputs) and demand for marketing have forced majority of them (mostly young) for migration in search of basic livelihoods. In this process, the family and community dynamics got affected in general and particularly the life of Children, Persons with Disabilities, Women, Elders and other vulnerable groups. Such migration either seasonal or permanent or both have affected the villages as well as the cities (where they have migrated).    

 

Panchayati Raj Institutions are main instruments of village local government which play vital role in enhancement of primary education, health care, water, sanitation, agricultural developments, women and child development and women participation in local government. Village or Gram Panchayat or Panchayat Raj Institute (PRI) do have development plan and steps to become an 'Adarsh Gram' includes: Identify people's needs and priorities; Define activities that can mobilize the complete community; Use resources from running government schemes; Repair and renovate existing infrastructure; Strengthen the Gram Panchayat; and Promote transparency and accountability. Smart Village is a concept adopted by national, state and local governments of India, as an initiative focused on holistic rural development, derived from Mahatma Gandhi's vision of Adarsh Gram (Ideal Village) and Swaraj (Self Reliance). Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana is a rural development programme broadly focusing upon the development in the villages which includes social development, cultural development and spread motivation among the people on social mobilization of the village community. The key feature of Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana that each MP should adopt a village of his choice, which should not be his own or his in-laws. Villages should be adopted not from urban constituencies but from nearby rural areas. Emphasis is on empowering the poor families to get rid of poverty by implementing a proper plan for every identified gram panchayat.

Initiatives

The Author is well connected with community (as a Child, Farmer, Explorationist, Trainer, Counselor, Faculty, Manager, Facilitator, Guide, Mentor, Service Providers, Researcher, Documenter, Reporter, Writer, Facilitator, Referral, Organizer, etc.) and able to contribute in various areas (like Water, Health, Sanitation, Agriculture, Education, Disability, Livelihoods, Ageing, etc.) covering larger part of the Nation and some of the initiatives taken up includes:

ü  Creation of Awareness cum Advocacy on the needs of People and Communities; Mapping of Resources; Challenges & Opportunities; ways for betterment; and other aspects of Development and Sustainability.

ü  Support for Agriculture from inputs, crop management, better production & productivity, cutting & harvesting, storage & marketing, product making, soil & land management, and other issues for better returns both in quantity & quality.

ü  Mapping of Community Resources (with participatory tools) and SWOT Analysis with better understanding on the needs, demand, strengths, weaknesses (challenges, or limitations), systems, strategies, practices, interventions, service delivery systems, monitoring, evaluation, documentation, reporting, and other aspects of People and Communities for planning and implementation of Action Plan of Development with better sustainability and quality.  

ü  Teaching at National Institutes, Universities, NGOs, and other such Agencies with focus on Rural Development, Project Development, Disability Management, Water Resources Management, Management & Preparedness with Hazards & Disasters, Environmental Management, Resources Mobilization, NGO Management, and other aspects of People and Communities.  

ü  Mapping of Natural (mineral) Resources (Water, & other Minerals) with the use of Geotools (like: Geological, Geophysical, Geochemical, and associated tools with matching software for data acquisition, processing, interpretation, documentation and reporting) covering variety of geo-environments with better management starting form identification, assessment (both quantity and quality), excavation, monitoring, evaluation, protection & security, and other aspects for healthy and eco-friendly environment.  

ü   Mapping and Management of Groundwater Resources in various geo-environments and particularly along the Coastal Belt with saline water - fresh water interference both horizontally and vertically with suggestions to check & monitor the same.

ü  Trainings and Workshops for various stakeholders on the issues of village / community development with better participation and accountability with better visibility and ways to transfer the results developed at Lab to Land effectively and efficiently with better mechanism for implementation, monitoring and evaluation from time to time.

ü  Documentation and Report Writing of various Concept Reports, Projects Proposals, Project Completion Reports, and other such need based documents.

ü  Guiding Research Studies and Project Works at Masters Level covering: Water Management, WASH, Rural Development, Special Education, Inclusive Education, Livelihoods, Social Marketing, Mobilization of Resources, Resettlement & Rehabilitation, Environment, Acts & Policies, NGO Management, SDGs, and other aspects related with People and Communities.      

ü  Support and presentation of research studies at Seminars and Conferences on various aspects of Village development covering: Water, Sanitation (WASH), Healthcare, Disability, Education, Environment, Food Security, Employment, Livelihoods, Microentrepreneurship, Active Ageing, Childcare & Protection, and other specific issues with local priority.

ü  Publication of Study Papers (mostly on inclusive approach) at International and National Journals.

ü  Better Networking and Connectivity with Sharing and dissemination on various E Forums on regular basis.

ü  Mentoring selected NGOs working on various issues of People and Villages as a developmental model with priority for rural based organizations.

ü  Referral Services for Healthcare, Education, Employment, Livelihoods, and other need based services and supports required for the development of People and Communities.

 

The initiatives are need based and matches to the dynamics of People and Villages and have resulted for significant impact in the lives of the People with better sustainability and quality of life (QOL).                          

 

Conclusions

The study made on Village Development has gained priority as the vision of Dream India matching to the targets and indicators of Global Goals connected with Sustainable Development and the resulted conclusions include:

ü  Village as a smallest administrative unit, though structured do have limited or poor access for basic amenities and resources with poor connectivity which results for poor development, marginalization, isolation, and migration of the people affecting dynamics of the village with lowered quality of life.

ü  A village is a perfect place to live if you are in search of harmony with nature as People have everything for their minimum requirements of life.

ü  Villagers are just satisfied with the necessities of their living as they are always provided with fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, water, and clear air.

ü  There exist several advantages with village life covering: fresh food, fresh air & atmosphere, wide area (lower density of population), joint family system, take care each other, take care each other, healthy environment, no pollution, no tensions and no worries.

ü  A Gram Panchayat or Village Panchayat is the only grassroots level of Panchayati Raj formalized local self governance system in India.

ü  In the process of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization, and modernization, and development with dominance of top down approaches with profit motto exploited the resources and affected the life of the people and environment.

ü  Though such processes brought development on one side but one other side its benefits are not uniformly distributed among the people and areas and thus widened the gap between the poor and rich and Urban and Rural areas.

ü  Affected with such poor or limited benefits do have less scope for income generation activates like agriculture, employment, livelihoods, product making, and others tuning to the local resources (inputs) and demand for marketing have forced majority of them (mostly young) for migration in search of basic livelihoods.

ü  In this process, the family and community dynamics got affected in general and particularly the life of Children, Persons with Disabilities, Women, Elders and other vulnerable groups.                      

ü  Panchayati Raj Institutions are the main instruments of village local government which play vital role in enhancement of primary education, health, agricultural developments, women and child development and women participation in local government.

ü  Village or Gram Panchayat or Panchayat Raj Institute do have development plan which includes: Identify people's needs and priorities; Define activities that can mobilize the complete community; Use resources from running government schemes; Repair and renovate existing infrastructure; Strengthen the Gram Panchayat; and Promote transparency and accountability.

ü  The key limitations include: limited resources; mismatched Service Delivery Systems; poor participation, accountability, responsibility, & transparency; poor in implementation, monitoring & evaluation from time to time; poor in Social Auditing; and poor in preparedness to face hazards, & disasters and its consequences.

ü  SDGs, set in 2016 by the United Nations General Assembly and intended to be achieved by the year 2030 and accordingly, India has accepted and developed its future vision as Vision India or Modern India to achieve its targets and indicators with better Universality, Integration, and Transformation.   

ü  In the process of Village Development, the first step is to understand its dynamics both in People and Resources and SWOT Analysis gains priority. Strength and Weaknesses represents internal environment where as Opportunities and Threats represents external environment.

ü  The cumulative impact of all such challenges affect the People, Communities and Resources both in quantity and quality and thus force the people to be the most marginalized with vulnerabilities of isolation with poor sustainability of the development which finally lowers their quality of life.

ü  The continuation of such opportunities with need based strategies, practices, systems and interventions will work on the model of design, implementation, monitoring & evaluation with better participation, accountability, responsibility, & transparency and social auditing results for an accessible, inclusive, integrated and sustainable development as an empowerment of people and communities / villages with improved wellbeing or quality of life. 

ü  NGO Model do have several advantages covering: support manpower, mobilizes resources, recording & maintenance of database, planning strategies, practices & interventions, implementation, monitoring & evaluation, coordination, and stay within the community.

ü  NGOs work with the units of PRI for making services & supports with better Availability, Accessibility, & Affordability by working on the model of Design, Implementation, Monitoring & Evaluation with better Participation, Accountability, Responsibility & Transparency and Social Auditing.

ü  All such initiatives and processes will supports to reach the people for better living with Accessible, Inclusive, Integrated and Sustainable Development with improved wellbeing or quality of life.                              

ü  The initiatives are need based and matches to the dynamics of People and Villages and have resulted for significant impact in the lives of the People with better sustainability and quality of life.                         

ü  The strategies, Practices, Interventions, and models of the study are simple, flexible, scalable, replicable and sustainable matching to the dynamics of the Villages and People with better sustainability and quality.                                                                     

 

Recommendations

Village Development is well linked up with the vision of Modern India and recommendations made for its continuation include:

ü  Create Awareness on Advocacy mode on the needs, challenges and opportunities for Village Development with better visibility.

ü  Encourage Students & Researchers at Educational Institutes to take up studies on various aspects of Village Development with priority on Community Based Initiatives.

ü  Support to form Youth Groups, Elders Groups and Women Groups with better participation and accountability for taking active participation in Village Development.

ü  Create opportunities for Youth, Women, and Farmers for Product Making & its Marketing as Income Generation Programme / Livelihoods with better quality and sustainability.  

ü  Support for the development of Information cum Facilitation Centre at Village Level with better visibility for effective and efficient utilization of Schemes, Benefits and Resources with better connectivity and relationship.

Support to develop one NGO in each Village to work with the units of PRI on the model of Design, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation on the mode of partnership.

PEOPLE – DEVELOPMENT – GOVERNANCE - GOVERNMENT: OPPORTUNITIES FOR INCLUSIVE & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

 

ABSTRACT

Nation is having resources to work for its growth and development. The wellness of its people gains top priority and further aims to move towards developed Nation with better inclusion and sustainability. Over decades, Government is putting its best efforts through several missions to reach its people in general and particularly targeted groups who are poor and marginalized due to various causes and consequences. Government have got several limitations with Governance, Service Delivery Systems, Accountability, Transparency and working frame which is dominant with top down approaches. Anther key challenge is shift of development from people centric to business centric which affected the health and wealth of the people and Nation. Seeing challenges on one side of the development, there exist several opportunities to transform them into strengths for developing effective and efficient systems for better reach to the people both quantitatively and qualitatively. It further supports the people to be the managers of their own development with better sustainability and quality of life. The study made by way of opportunities and models developed were tested and implemented through selected CSOs and have resulted for better outputs. outcomes with significant impact among the groups and working environments. The Government-Private-CSO Partnership will minimize the limitations of Government and further enhances its strengths to move along with its missions for better inclusion and sustainability. The initiatives and approaches developed are simple, flexible, scalable, replicable and sustainable matching to the dynamics of the given environment.                     

Statement of the Problem

In spite of having resources, the limitations of systems and it service delivery limits its reach to the people reflecting the mismatch between the Government and Governance which further affects growth and development of the People and Nation.

Community Initiatives

The Author is associated with Government, Private and CSOs for four decades and widely covered major parts of the Nation with several need based initiatives majorly with participatory approaches. Some of the key initiates include: 

ü Awareness cum Advocacy on the needs of the people, process of development and various provisions made under Acts & Policies.

ü Counselling cum Guidance for knowing realities and need to shift from negative to positive thinking or environment.

ü Access auditing for mapping the barriers in both internal as well as external environments and ways to minimize them matching with Universal Design (UD) and Accessible India Campaign (AIC) which move towards Accessible Environments (AEs).

ü Training and Worshops for skill development and to improve employability.

ü Research on various aspects of the People, Communities & Nation, designing the service model, selection of suitable CSO, implementation, monitoring & evaluation, impact study, social auditing, documentation, and project completion report.

ü Sharing and dissemination to various stakeholders by using traditional ways and e-forums & technologies. 

ü Motivation and guidance to students for doing project works, research study and social auditing.

ü Mentoring CSOs for better sustainability in respect of Legality, Administratively, Technically, Financially, Mobilization of Resources, Service Delivery Systems, Impact Studies, Evidence based Documents, Connectivity & Networking, Sharing & Dissemination, Presentation & Publication, Recognition,  

ü Presentation of the study results at Workshops, Seminars and Publication for wider reach.      

ü The limitations or challenges of the development in general and particularly BOD and its consequences widens the gap between the rich & poor, rural & urban bias, depression, marginalization, isolation, migration and other such unhealthy aspects affect the people’s sustainability, inclusion and quality of life (QOL) as well as communities & Nation at large. 

All such initiatives carried out during the last for decades have resulted for: change in assessment; change in attitude & behaviour; change in working environment; change in systems & delivery; change in networking & connectivity; change in skills & abilities; change in economical & social domain; change in living; change in participation, accountability, responsibility & transparency; and its consequences supported for the health & wealth of the People & Nation with improved wellness or quality of life.         

Recommendations

The processes of People’ Development in connection with Government and its Governance is a continuous process and recommendations made for its continuation include:

ü  To conduct Awareness cum Advocacy to various stakeholders on the vision and mission of Government and its Governance for effective & efficient utilization. 

ü  To encourage students to be part of such processes starting from home to community as volunteers or change makers.

ü  To support students for doing research with better participation of the stakeholders with community based initiatives.

ü  To encourage People for developing livelihoods or IGP including microentrepreneurship with better supports for inputs and marketing so as to shift from employee to employer.   

ü  To organize Workshops, Trainings and Seminars on the models of Development and Governance and its outputs & impact for better accountability and transparency.

To support CSOs to work with Government and Private on Partnership basis on the model of CDIME.     

COURSE ON GLOBAL SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP - PHILANTHROPY UNIVERSITY

 SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE COURSE OF "GLOBAL SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP" FROM PHILANTHROPY UNIVERSITY, CERTIFICATE ISSUED BY "HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY" 

WELLBEING OF CARERS IN DISABILITY REHABILITATION: OPPORTUNITIES FOR CSOs

 Paper published in Intentional Multidisciplinary Journal during August 2020 Online ISSN : 2277 - 4262

ABSTRACT

Carers wellbeing in training and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities gains priority as poverty, disability and development works as a cause and consequence of each other resulting for deepening of poverty with vulnerabilities for disability.  Having a child with special needs or disabilities needs special environment at family with training and care. The need and care cum training of such children vary depending upon their category and severity of disability. The parents in general and particularly mothers do bear such care cum training in addition to their regular house work. The Rights and Provisions made under these Acts and Policies, Persons with Disabilities needs care and training as part of rehabilitation to get them empowered for improved abilities and thus to be part of mainstream community and to get better solution to the concern of parents that “what will happen to the child after us?”.  Carers can play a key role in the whole processes of care cum training of Persons with Disabilities. The needs of the targeted groups are specific and Careers have to be equipped to do the needful and on the other side, wellbeing of Carers gains priority. The model of disability rehabilitation works with wide service spectrum stating from early identification to empowerment for better living in an inclusive and accessible community. The challenges of Carers and opportunities opened for their development and growth are specific and need based. The initiatives taken up have resulted for significant impact in the lives of Carers and are simple, flexible, scalable, replicable and sustainable.    

 Statement of the Problem

The wellbeing of the careers in training and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities (PWDs) gains priority as poverty, disability and development works as a cause and consequence of each other resulting for deepening of poverty with vulnerabilities for disability.   

Development and Disability

Poverty, Disability and Development are the cause and consequences of each other and further deepens poverty with vulnerabilities for disability. Water has been added as fourth dimension which control every activity or development on this globe. Water security is the priority area and present situation is alarming to the stakeholders to look for better alternatives with sustainability. In view of such complex and dynamic situation, Disability Rehabilitation (DR) gains priority as the Nation is looking for Disability Free Society (DFS). In short, Disability should be seen as two sides of the same coin as on one side it is concentrating on Rehabilitation (of PWDs) and Prevention (causes of disabilities) on the second side where both have to move side by side with innovative and creative strategies and interventions. The role of Carers with multisectoral and multidisciplinary approaches at all levels gains priority for better coordination with improved effectiveness and efficiency with planned outputs and impact.              

Conclusions

The study made on the role of Carers in Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities and their wellbeing has resulted for several conclusions and some of them include:  

ü  The wellbeing of the careers in training and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities (PWDs) gains priority as poverty, disability and development works as a cause and consequence of each other resulting for deepening of poverty with vulnerabilities for disability.    

ü  Having a child with special needs or disabilities needs special environment at family. The parents and other family members are unaware of such children’s needs and ways to cater them.

ü  The parents in general and particularly mothers do bear such care cum training in addition to their regular house work and livelihoods or income generation (daily wage or agricultural work) activity in some cases.

ü  In view of the Rights and Provisions made under Acts and Policies, Children with Special needs (CWSNs) or Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) needs care and training as part of rehabilitation.

ü  Parents are more concerned about “what will happen to the child after us?” and expect a better solution when they get aged or no more.   

ü  In the whole processes of care cum training of Persons with Disabilities needs Carers who can provide care and training facilities at Home, Community and Training Centers.

ü  Carer’s wellbeing gains priority as they play a key role in working for their empowerment and to mainstem them with needs based services and supports on life cycle basis.

ü  Disability Acts and Policies works for the empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (both Socially and Economically) for better living in an accessible and inclusive environment & community with improved quality of life (QOL).

ü  The needs of Persons with Disabilities include Health Care, Screening, Assessment, Early Identification, Certification, Early Intervention, Training and Rehabilitation, Education (Formal or Non Formal including Special Education), Skill Development, Employment or Livelihoods or Income Generation (IGP) Programme, Environment as Barrier Free BEE), Protection, and Security in an inclusive community.

ü   The model of training and rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities on life cycle basis will work for their empowerment for better living either independently or with limited supports.

ü  The care provided by Carers can be paid or unpaid depending upon their nature of and their purpose and thus gains priority.

ü  The services provided to PWDs by Carers include: Personal Care, Domestic Care, Physical Care, Health care, Communication Care, Environmental Care, and Financial Care. 

ü  The wellbeing of Carers includes: Emotional, Spiritual, Intellectual, Occupational, Environmental, Financial, Physical, and Social so that they will be protected well for better living with improved quality of life.

ü  The Carers do face several challenges while providing caring services to the persons with disabilities and do get affected with: shortage of manpower, low recognition, poor economic security, and social security with poor quality of life.

ü  The cumulative effect of opportunities for Carers will work for their empowerment with better openings, employment, income generation, system of serving others with effectiveness and efficiency, recognition, image, awards, security, satisfaction, and wellbeing or improved quality of life.

ü  The initiatives taken up for the Carers working for the disability rehabilitation have supported for their development, growth, security both social and economic, recognition, and wellbeing.  

ü  The strategies and initiatives used in the study are simple, flexible, scalable, replicable and sustainable matching to the dynamics of the given environment.                    

 

Recommendations

The wellbeing of the Cares gains priority as they play a key role in the whole processes of empowering Persons with Disabilities and recommendations made include:  

1. To give priority for the Parents, Siblings and other Family Members to be the Carers of Disability Rehabilitation.
2. To enhance the capacities and skills of the Carers for delivering services and supports with better effectiveness and efficiency.
3. To support for the Educational growth of the Carers with need based Courses of Disability Sector.
4. To support Carers for better participation, presentation and organization of trainings, workshops, and seminars on aspects of Disability.
5. To support for the income generation of the Carers with participation of the Persons with Disabilities.
6. To support for the development and growth of the Carers both Socially and Economically with improved wellbeing.  
7. To support the Carers to transform themselves as a Service Providers with wide service spectrum matching to the needs of the targeted group on life cycle basis.