States / Odisha

Background

Odisha, located in east coast of the indian sub-continent and is surrounded by the Bay of Bengal to the east. The state shares its borders with four states and is known as the 'land of temples', as it is home to several exotic temples and world heritage sites. It is the 9th largest state by area (155,820 km2, and the 11th largest by population (41,947,358). Out of the total population, 16.69% people live in urban regions and remaining 83.31% live in rural villages. As per census 2011, the state has a literacy rate of 72.9 percent. There are total 30 District Panchayats, 314 Block Panchayats and 6,234 Gram Panchayats in the state. Odisha Livelihoods Mission (OLM) is an autonomous society working under the aegis of Department of Panchayati Raj, Government of Odisha, presently implementing the National Rural Livelihoods Mission and National Rural Livelihoods Project in the state. The state has also been first in the country to launch National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) for addressing rural poverty by promoting diversified and gainful self-employment to the rural poor. The mission aims at mobilizing women for the formation of SHGs and their federation, enhancing their access to financial credit, building their capacities for accessing gainful and sustainable livelihood opportunities and convergence of various schemes for their social and economic empowerment.

 Kudumbashree has been working with Odisha Livelihoods Mission (OLM) for implementing the PRI-CBO convergence model. 

PRI-CBO Convergence 

The MoU between OLM and Kudumbashree NRO was signed on January 2014 for three years pilot project. In the beginning of the project scoping study was made in the pilot Panchayats of Odisha. The major objective of the study was to analyse the situation of the Panchayat and CBOs. The study showed that the participation in the Gram Sabha was very less and their access to even basic entitlements was very less. In the first phase of the project, State Resource Group and Block Resource Group were formed and a workshop was organised on PRI-CBO convergence. In the block level, orientation workshop was organised where the major stakeholders were PRI members, CBO members, block officials and OLM officials. Capacity building was the core objective of the project. The LRGs (Local Resource Group) as community cadre were identified to work in the field to bridge the gap between CBO and PRI. Around 112 LRGs were capacitated on Panchyati Raj system, CBO manual and Government schemes to work in the project. These LRGs provided hand holding support with the guidance of Mentors to SHGs in the grassroots level.

Implementation of participatory planning exercices like PAE (Participatory Assessments Plan), EAP (Entitlement Assessments Plan ) and Gram Panchayat Poverty Reduction Plan were the major activities on field. These tools brought huge impact in building an environment for participatory planning and making the local democratic process function. Within three years of pilot project, the quantitative output improved as women and households were able to access entitlements and mostly achievements were around Swacch Bharat Mission (SBM), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Social Inclusion.

The participation of women in the Gram Sabha increased upto 90%. The service delivery increased since women collectives accessed Panchayats. The generated demand plan for their villages were presented in the Gram Sabha and approved. With the help of Mentors the success inititiatives from the field were carried out like literacy campaign, pension adalats and health camps. At the end the of the project Gram Panchayat Coordination Committee (GPCC) was formed and provided with training programs in all the pilot Panchayats to carry ahead the PRI-CBO convergence project.