THE PROBLEM
55% of Udaipur’s population remains impoverished, unable to meet their daily food and living needs. Poverty is most prevalent among rural communities and 80% of Udaipur’s population lives in rural areas. Local governments have struggled to organize to tackle these pressing issues
JJVS has empowered community leadership through the following Federations, Committees and Groups. To escape the cycle of poverty, our village institutions have accumulated 3.5 million rupees for family health, education, agriculture and social interloans – the equivalent of providing almost 13,000 community members their needs for a day. These are the first steps in breaking the cycle of poverty.
GHATOD MAHASANGH – THE VILLAGE FEDERATION
Ghatod Mahasangh is a pan-village federation of self-help groups (SHGs). JJVS introduced this concept in 1998 as the primary functional institution at the village level. The major goal of the Ghatod Mahasangh is to unite grassroots-level village institutions so that they can form a larger voice in development initiatives. Other objectives are to stop the exploitation of people by local moneylenders, to help the groups during drought periods, to encourage active leadership among communities, to provide financial aid when needed, to encourage extra income generation (especially for women), and to stop urban migration.
Through the Ghatod Mahasangh, we have organized training programs and initiated new development schemes and income-generating projects for community members. Some examples include a loan for the establishment of a seed and grain bank, the creating of a fodder depot, the encouragement of cloth business and traditional medicine outlets, and various SHG trainings for spinning and weaving activities. We felt it prudent to structure the federation as an institution that achieves objectives in a sustainable and self-reliant way.
Presently, the Ghatod Mahasangh is overseeing our newest development project: microfinance lending, that has spread to villages all around the Jaisamand lake area. We strongly feel the microfinance program is proof of the Ghatod Mahasangh’s continued functionality, stability, and sustainability in village-level grassroots development.
VILLAGE COMMITTEES
JJVS established the village development committee (VDC) to help communities allocate funds for community management and development projects more effectively. The VDCs are community funded and through daily contributions of millets from 49 different villages have established a communal fund (called the Gram Kosh) consisting of 2.3 million rupees.
PANCHAYAT – THE VILLAGE COUNCIL
The Panchayat is the fundamental unit of local government in India. Article 40 of the Constitution of India states that the State will organize Panchayats and provide them the authority to function as units of local self government. However, many Panchayats in the Udaipur area lack financial autonomy, representation of marginalized communities, and timely government grants. This has lead to frequent suspension, supersession and dissolution of these bodies. In practice, Panchayats struggle to function as successful institutions of local self-government.
Gaon Ganrajya – Village Republic is a JJVS initiative to strengthen local democratic bodies like the Panchayat. JJVS organizes Gram Sabhas, under the Panchayats, to extend their influence to schedule areas (Pesa) Act. This has helped 2,500 households from 10 villages. These initiatives have helped promote community advocacy around land, water and forest rights, as well as environmental pollution and displacement.
EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION AND STRENGTHENING OF MHANREGA
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MhaNREGA) guarantees 100 days of employment for any rural household whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work. This act states that all people have a right to work and is expected to sustain people’s livelihoods by developing the economic and social infrastructure in rural areas. It also seeks to address the causes of chronic poverty such as drought, deforestation and soil erosion. However, due to lack of awareness and the struggles of implementation through local government, many in rural areas fail to benefit from this act.
JJVS acts as a facilitator and educator around MhaNREGA and has carried out successful implementations of MhaNREGA programs, guaranteeing 100 days of employment to all adult family members of the Vali Panchayat. JJVS helps the Gram Panchayat (GP) in work applications, job registration and verifying job cards. The list of selected family members who are willing to do manual work is put up on a Panchayat notice board for transparency