Using village planning to address community problems

A village planning initiative has been launched by the district administration in Guna, Madhya Pradesh, jointly with the UNICEF and NGOs. Institutional delivery has since improved; now, more girls go to schools; immunization levels have increased.
AT GUNA, Madhya Pradesh, it was meeting of a different kind; more than eighty village facilitators, supporting village planning initiatives in the district of Guna in the State of Madhya Pradesh, were at Guna block headquarters to share their experience in helping the children and women of the district.

Village planning initiative is a process initiated by the district administration and UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) with the support of NGOs (non-government organizations), in Guna. It is based on engaging the community, using the norms of participatory rural appraisal techniques. As part of the process, social maps were prepared to assess the distribution of the available resources in the villages. Household and family surveys were then conducted to collect basic information about the village, the community and the needs of children, primarily in the areas of health, education, nutrition, drinking water and sanitation in addition to information on socio-economic conditions.

Using the said information as the basis, the community groups prepared village plans for presentation and approval in a special Gram Sabha or village meeting. Sunil Raghuvansahi, a facilitator, who works in Aaron block of Guna district with a non-government organization, sees his role as that of one which can help has-ten the pace of social development. Basanti Pant, another village facilitator, who works in Sungahwasa, Piproda village and the hamlet of Chak Dingahwas of Guna block explained the process and how she, along with other members of her community, were able to sort out the issues and concerns of the villagers. ‘This is important, if one has to solve the problem of the community; the community needs to come together; then only we can resolve the concern facing the community at village level’, she adds. She sees the change happening. Institutional delivery is increasing, more girls are going to school and immunization levels have increased. Electricity and water scarcity are still a challenge which needs to be addressed.

Ladbai, a friend of Basanti Pant and another facilitator helping in the ‘process of social change’ for five Gram Panchayats of Raghogarh block in the same district, says that it is not only the community members, but the Sarpanch, members of the service delivery system like auxiliary nurses, midwives and anganwadi workers who are actively involved, so they can respond to the needs and wishes of the people. She proudly says, ‘now we have all the information with us - like how many children need to be immunized; how many women are pregnant, etc. Similarly Hemlata Sharma, who works in Raghograh block, talks about her experience; on how she got many girls into school and on how she got 18 toilets constructed at her village. ‘We are a link between the district administration and the community and help the community monitor services’, adds Mukesh Kumar Chandel, who works in Chachoda block, while explaining his role as facilitator.

These facilitators use tools like community-monitoring chart for the various services provided at the village level. ‘Any change, however small, which benefits children and women is important, as it contributes to saving the lives of children and women, and you are a contributor to that change’ said UNICEF’s Planning Officer Veena Bandyopadhyaya, while interacting with these facilitators.

The intensive process has helped increase the engagement between community members, NGOs and the district delivery system and support the State in strengthening its implementation of the initiative for women and children. Micro-plans for all the villages in Guna are ready and the district response team has worked out an action plan which is responding to the needs of the community. These village facilitators have worked out the following four-point action plan to hasten the pace of work in the district:

(1) To periodically review village plans with the various stakeholders, namely the Sarpanch, Secretary of the Panchayat, Anganwadi worker, school teacher, ANM and others.

(2)To support progressive community-monitoring by using various charts jointly with the members of the community.

(3)Collate accurate village-level statistics in the areas of concern and use the same to advise people at the village level during the block and district task force meetings.

(4)‘Their problem first’: community problems rank first and to help in addressing the said problems, the village facilitators will promote community-level dialogue, listen to the problems and concerns of the community first and help in the redress of the problems.

Anil Gulati