The core methodology of Gram Vikas is to harness, through full community mobilization, all physical and human capital in a village. Every family in the village must agree to be part of the programme before inception.

Narrative

Selection of beneficiaries for MANTRA:
74 villages, covering a total of 5450 households, were identified to be covered under MANTRA in 2006-07. These villages have been chosen after the entire village (without even a single exception) agreed to be a part of the programme. The villages also had to make a clear financial commitment of raising a corpus fund, with an average of Rs. 1000 being raised from every household. Christian Aid funds were to be used to provide part support to 40 villages, covering 2590 families. Among the households covered, 59% belong to the BPL category. Further, 17% of the families are dalits and 30% are adivasis. What is significant is that only 15 among the 40 villages are homogenous villages. The remaining 25 villages are mixed caste villages, where social mobilization is a tougher task. Gram Vikas staff has spent a significant amount of time securing the 100% consensus of all families in the village.

Formation of general body of all adult men and women:
This involved a series of interactions and discussions with village leaders, groups and the entire village community in all villages. The general body of each village constitutes the Palli Sabha, which is also the basic unit of the Panchayati Raj system in Orissa. The general body of every village elected a representative committee, with equal number of men and women, headed by the President, Secretary and Treasurer. Over the last one-year, the general bodies in these villages have met 293 times. The prominent issues for discussion in these meetings were rich and varied – ranging from basic aspects of construction, timeframes for project execution, village cleanliness, participation of women in meetings, implementation of NREGA in the villages, construction of smokeless cook stoves, SHG-bank linkages etc.

The Village Executive Committees have met 222 times – very frequently in the initial stages of the project – in leading the implementation of the programme.
Over 60 community level trainings were also organized in various issues like Health, skill development, Panchayati Raj, leadership development, school sanitation and construction of smokeless chullas.

Formation of women’s general body and savings groups:
To elicit greater participation from women, a separate general body for women is constituted in all villages. Groups of women are also encouraged to start small savings. These fora are used to discuss issues of common concern, and gradually draw women to participate actively in community level decision-making. SHGs have been conducting monthly meetings, discussing most importantly, among other things, immunization of children and primary education in the village.

These villages have 105 functional SHGs, with a membership of 1349 women. Total savings accumulated by these groups is over Rs. 1.25 million.

Status of construction:

Sanitation
29 villages, covering 1712 households were supported over the last year in constructing toilets and bathing rooms. Construction of toilet blocks was slated to be completed by March 31, 2007. However, due to Gram Panchayat elections in February, the progress of work suffered and people could not stick to their planned schedules. All work was practically brought to a standstill in these villages for nearly two months. It was unfortunate that this time, elections coincided with a time period, which is the most suitable for any construction activity. According to the revised schedule, all work will be completed by the end of May 2007.

During this period 502 households have completed the construction of toilet and bathing rooms in all respect, 768 households have completed construction beyond the roof level. Further, 314 households have completed all construction upto the roof level.

Water supply
In establishing water supply systems and reviving some defunct systems, borewells were drilled in 11 villages, with 888 families. 9 of these have been successes and has helped to establish water supply systems.

Over the last year, Gram Vikas has worked with 74 villages. In these villages, water supply is established through leveraging government funds from schemes like Swajaldhara, RSVY etc. Accessing funds through the Swajaldhara scheme has always been difficult, with paucity of funds in most districts. The RSVY on the other hand, has helped districts like Gajapati, Keonjhar and recently, Ganjam, access substantial quantum of funds. In 2007-08, the Backward Region Grant Fund presents a distinct possibility in financing these forms of community infrastructure. Since sanction of water supply projects is contingent on clearance from the concerned government departments at the district level, the bureaucratic hurdles often slow down the progress.