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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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