States / Assam

Background

Assam is a state located in the north-eastern part of India and is renowned for its tea plantations, rich culture, wildlife and biodiversity. The state shares its border with seven states. Its economy is based on agriculture and oil. According to 2011 census of India, Assam has a population of 3.12 crore out of which 2.68 crore (86%) lived in the rural areas and 0.44 crore (14%) lived in the urban areas. The state’s literacy rate has been recorded at 73.18%. As on June 2016, the state has 33 administrative districts, 247 blocks and 2614 gram panchayats. Since independence the Government of Assam has enacted four Panchayat Raj Acts aimed at establishing and strengthening panchayats in Assam for the development of the rural areas. When the 73rd constitutional amendment was passed in the year 1992, the Government of Assam adopted the Assam Panchayat Raj Act 1994 broadly in conformity with its provisions. The Assam State Rural Livelihoods Mission Society (ASRLMS) was set up on November 2011 for enhancing the social and economic empowerment of the rural poor of Assam. 

Kudumbashree NRO has been implementing PRI-CBO convergence model in the state of Assam.

PRI-CBO Convergence 

The Assam State Rural Livelihoods Mission Society (ASRLMS) has partnered with the Kerala State Poverty Eradication Mission, Kudumbashree - NRO for implementing the PRI CBO Convergence Project in Assam. The Memorandum of Understanding for the partnership was signed by the two Missions on 20th January 2014. Kudumbashree National Resource Organization (NRO) provided technical and implementation support to ASRLM for the pilot project. The project was implemented in 36 pilot GPs of two blocks of Laharighat and Bajiagaon in Morigaon and Nagaon districts respectively.

Activities started in field in the month of March, 2014 with the scoping study as first activity. One of the major focus of the project in last three years has been the process based capacity building of various stake holders in field (PRI, CBO and Community cadre).Various activities and tools have been used for the capacity building of the stake holders - namely PAE, EAP and GP2RP. Local Resource Group (LRGs) from the community and Mentor Resource Persons (MRPs) were the main driving force in carrying out the field activities. Institutional Platforms were cerated to develop synergy between Panchayat Raj Institutions and Community Based Organisations. 

The project was further scaled up to 51 GPs in four new blocks of Barhampur, Laokhowa, Borsola and Dhekiajuli in Nagaon and Sonitpur districts respectively. The MoU for the scale up project was signed in June 2017 for a period of one and a half years. The scale up is being carried out with the support of internal mentors from pilot locations of Laharighat and Bajiagaon blocks. 30 LRGs have been selected as internal mentors from these blocks from the phase one panchayats. A second set of selection of Internal mentors was also conducted from the phase II panchayats of the pilot blocks and 30 new Internal mentors were selected. 47 Internal mentors are at present deployed on the field after 2 days of training.