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Governance Program (Urban Local Bodies)
SSK started intervening in the area of 74th Constitutional
(Amendment) Act, viz. the Urban Local Bodies from 2003. As a pilot
project, the activities mainly dealt with understanding of the
Act and taking up two Block Panchayats to gain hands-on experience
of its functioning, and also interventions in the election process.
This brought home to SSK the importance of working with the urban
local bodies too, owing to its continuum with the local areas
and also the District Planning Committees responsibility, viz.
developing plans for both, the rural and urban areas, as well
as the difficulty, viz large area, and, heterogeneity of the community.
There fore, during the
first phase which started from 2003, 10 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)
in 6 Districts were taken up viz, Sitapur, Bahraich, Pratapgarh,
Mirzapur and Banda, with the over-arching Goal of Civil Society
Building, SSK focused on capacity building of CSOs and the general
public, and interface between the elected representations and
the electorate. The main tools were Capacity Building, and dissemination
of information, and this was performed with the help of CBOs formed,
ward information with the help of Ward Information leaders (WIL)
selected and the identified Citizen Leaders This intensive interventions
resulted in
- The
Community gaining in depth understanding of the Act.
- Role
of different stakeholders.
- Better
understanding about the functioning of ULBs and other related
aspects.
The second phase, which started from 2006 comprised
4 districts and 5 ULBs( Banda and Ghazipur districts were excluded).
The main objective was to learn about the status of Urban Basic
Services i.e. access of the community to urban basic services,
in which 
- Status
of sanitation,
- Status
of health services,
- Status
of education,
- Status
of socio-economic situation, and general level of awareness
of the community.
The survey has identified 15,000 families who are
the target groups. The profiles of 100 elected representatives
have been completed and their training needs have been identified.
A City Advisory Group (CAG) drawn from the CBOs and CBOs is in
the process of being formed. Micro planning, after training imparted,
is being carried out, which is issue based. The CAG and the CBOs
are the custodians of the micro plans.
Strengthening Urban Governance Programme Phase II
Deepening of Impacts:
July to September 07 was the last
quarter of Strengthening Urban Governance Programme Phase II. During
this quarter efforts have been made to build the capacities of local
citizenry to engage in the process of local level planning. Micro
level plans were prepared in all the intensive ULBs through active
participation of key stakeholders along with media and government.
Most of these plans are focused on basic services required by urban
poor. In order to sustain this effort Members of City Advisory
Group, citizen leaders and other community members were made
custodian of these plans and in near future they will be doing
follow up at local level and necessary support will be extended to
them through Urban Resource Centers.
Capacity Building:
On the
handholding front, support and guidance was provided to partner
organization in order to facilitate Urban Resource Center team
members to undertake their urban endeavors in near future through
active engagement of stakeholders. One-day field visit was made to
Indian Rural Technology Development Institute, Pratap Garh, Sahas
Sewa Sanhthan, Bahraich, Participatory Action for Community
Empowerment, Sidhauli (Sitapur) and Sahbhagi Shikshan Kendra,
Khairabad. Based on the strengths and weaknesses of their
interventions future action plan was prepared through a consultative
process. These action plans would guide partners to carry forward
these urban interventions in near future with or without much
financial support.
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