COMMUNITY INITIATIVE REVIVES IRRIGATION SYSTEM IN THE VILLAGE

Subalgarh (Khampar) farmers in West Tripura District of Tripura were facing difficulties in cultivating their crops due to scarcity of water in the area. The fields being on a higher elevation & water flowing down, it was difficult to pump the water to fields for irrigation. On rare occasions one could see farmers pumping water from the source as it was a costly affair. Carrying water from the stream also cost farmers dearer as they had to pay for the labour. Pumping water or carrying it from the source was only possible during the rainy season; it was however, impossible during lean season. Government of Tripura had provided irrigation facility with water pump house in the village, but once the pumps went out of order, they were lying so since many years. Two water pump machines were out of order and even the pipes were broken. “The government appointed person in charge of the pump house is drawing salary for doing nothing” said Mr. Budhorai Debbarma, adding further that they tried endless ways to find a solution to the problem but failed miserably.

A farmers’ club (FC) was formed under FARM NE during 2013-14 by the name Yaphang FC in Subalgarh village. Jana Unnayan Smaiti Tripura (JUST) did all that was required for the FC viz; awareness & facilitation etc. This helped the farmers to explore & understand their own capabilities & also the courage to take advantage of such opportunities.

It was now for the farmers to take up these burning issues facing them. JUST ensured all support to the farmers and tried to mobilize them. The Subalgarh village farmers were looking confident as a result & it looked like they would be able to handle the issues well. 

Farmers'Club Meeting

On 19^th January 2014 our FC sat for a meeting to discuss the issue and find out a permanent solution to our problems said Suchindra Debbarma, secretary of Yaphang FC. The meeting was attended by all the office bearers & members of the FC & it was resolved that they would approach the Village Chairman to take up the matter. The very next day the FC members went to the Chairman & apprised him of the problems faced with a written petition. The farmers expressed their desire to construct a temporary reservoir by creating a bund on the stream, so that water collected can be pumped out to the fields. Secondly, they also appealed for repairing of water pump shed that went out of order. Another grievance letter to this regard was submitted to the Department of Irrigation, Government of Tripura during the month of February 2014. JUST was instrumental in facilitating the whole process for the farmers.

Water Reservoir Constructed by Farmers' Club

Results started showing when the Department of Irrigation responded soon and provided new water pump machine with additional pipes. “Our prayers were heard by the Department of Irrigation and they provided new water pump machine with additional pipes. The Department also asked us to monitor the function of the irrigation system" said Suchindra. New water pump and pipes installed in October 2014.

Meanwhile, the farmers took advantage of the existing 15 days’ MGNREGA work that was being implemented in the village. They wanted to utilize two MGNREGA days for construction of the temporary reservoir. The Chairman wasted no time in responding the request of the farmers. “We were really happy to see that the Chairman immediately approved our request and granted two days’ work under the MGNREGA scheme" said Mr. Budhorai Debbarma, present of Yaphang FC.  The community wasted no time and took up the work of building reservoir and completed on 19^th Oct. 2014. It just took two days for 90 people to construct the temporary dam.

Today, one can see the farmers irrigating their fields with the help of the water trapped in the temporary reservoir. "We did it"! Suchindra said with smiling face. Mr. Jonas Lakra, Zonal Manager, Caritas India visited the site during March 2015 and witnessed the case while appreciating the efforts of the FC. 

Contributed by: Team JUST, Agartala

Edited by: Jonas Lakra, Caritas India

COMMUNITY ACTION LEADS TO IMPROVEMENT OF LP SCHOOL FUNCTIONING

Around 78 Lower Primary (LP) school students from Digligre village, West Garo Hills District, Meghalaya were at the mercy of only one teacher who was teaching right from Nursery to standard V. It was difficult for only teacher to give away education to the children. The teachers seemed to be rather enjoying the situation and became very irregular. Slowly she started coming to the school for only two hours a day.

Digligre LP School

These days even the poorest of a man wants his child to be educated & so was the case of parents from Digligre village. They were very much concerned with the poor quality of education that their children were receiving. Having been made aware by BAKDIL about how best the community can help themselves, the villagers decided to sit for a meeting during February 2015 with an agenda to discuss the issue. “We decided in the meeting that we would approach the authorities in the Department of Education to find a solution to our problem” said Ledison Sangma.

The villagers now approached the Deputy Inspector (DI) of Schools, Government of Meghalaya & shared their problem with a request to appoint more teachers and also to enhance the school timing from 7 am to 12 pm. The community submitted an application formally to the Officer. "Our written representation to the DI did not work fully as he expressed his inability to appoint any extra teacher, however he agreed to our request of enhancing the school timings" said Apendro Marak.   

Today, one can see the children attending the school from 7 am to 12 pm. Combined efforts of the community have almost brought them close to achieving results & its just the beginning for them. "Although we have achieved results by bringing about changes in the school timings but our endeavour would continue and we would work together towards bringing more teachers to the LP school, thus giving quality education our children" said Ms. Sinje Marak.  

Contributed by: Rajesh Marak, BAKDIL

Edited by: Prabal Sen, Caritas India

SCHOOL CHILDREN GO ORGANIC

Guwahati Gana Seva Sangh (GGSS), one of the partners under FARM NE came up with a noble idea of developing organic vegetable gardens in rural school campuses. This was after Caritas India suggested to all of its partners to celebrate World Environment Day way back in June 2014. GGSS, under this campaign shared its willingness to motivate children from the project villages to take up organic practices. GGSS also intended to initiate kitchen gardens in schools with an aim to target the mid day meal, where children could be fed with fresh vegetables grown by themselves. The Zonal team gave an immediate go ahead and a classic case of people’s movement started taking shape.

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Initially we approached the village elders that also included members of the school management committee, to share this idea. They immediately gave their consent said Prabin, the Coordinator of the project (FARM NE). One Lower Primary (LP) school was selected in No. 2 Oujari village for the noble programme. The village in question saw use of chemical inputs in agriculture in the past but presently, farmers here have began to practice organic agriculture after interventions made by GGSS & Caritas India. Thanks to the sensitization of the community by GGSS on the negatives of chemical based agricultural practices.

School students involved in kitchen garden activities

The idea of school kitchen garden started showing colours when school authorities in association with GGSS initiated the activity in the school campus. “It may be a small step towards protecting the environment, but visualizing the threat it poses in the future, environmental awarenes among the children is a must” said Mr. Sonakanto Das, President of School management committee, 2 No. Oujari village”. GGSS requested the community of 2 No. Oujari village to donate local seeds for the kitchen garden. It was amazing to see the response when the community not only donated seeds but also cow dung for manure.

It was the turn of the children to take the lead now. Students from standard I to V were all rearing to go for it. “We feel happy to be working in our kitchen garden as this is something new to us” said Ms. Puja Sarkar standard V of the school.  The teachers & the school management supported the movement whole heartedly along with the students. It all started during August 2014 and during December-January 2015, a variety of vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, chilli and gourd etc were grown by the children.

The principal of the school Grinendra Bharali shared during a visit by Caritas India official in March 2015 that they have made this activity as a part of the curriculum and they award marks as per the students’ performance in the kitchen garden activity. The students, as per the teacher are so excited that they are competing each other to take part in the activity. Caritas India official while appreciating the teacher along with management committee & community of the school, requested them to encourage this kind of activity among the children so that they understand the value of organic agriculture.

An act of good deed spreads like fire and this is precisely what happened in this case. The school management committees of other 3 LP schools in Gaondimoria, Khaloibari and Lumsum Gaon villages respectively are so much inspired by the seeing the involvement of the students and the management committee that they have also started similar process in their respective schools.

The children of 2 No. Oujari village are here to & inspire the world with the message of becoming the true custodians of nature & natural resources. 

Contributed By: Prabin Minz, GGSS, Assam

Edited By: Prabal Sen, Caritas India, Guwahati

PERSPECTIVES ON PEOPLE LED DEVELOPMENT

The North East Zonal Team of Caritas India has been meticulously working on promoting people’s development initiatives through a project titled “Facilitating Agriculture Regeneration Measures (FARM) in North East” since 2013 with the application of People Led Development (PLD) approach. The team is doing everything possible to ensure that PLD is given the priority in FARM NE. It is heartening to see that our efforts are now showing results and we have been to document quality information from our partners on PLD in the shape of case studies. These case studies are testimonials to assert to the fact that the target community in the project areas are being empowered & are also given the power to decide what is best for them. People may not know what PLD is but they are now realizing the fact that even they can think, they can decide and they can take action on their own. 

For us as a team it’s been a beautiful journey of 2 years with PLD taking the centre stage. Our job of capacitating the partners is still on and we are here to ensure that the project helps the poor in enhancing livelihood options without being dependent. Thankfully, the project (FARM North East) being armed with the PLD component as powerful approach, makes it count among one of its kind of projects that talks about people's empowerment. We believe in people’s development from within and not from external force.

Here are few views & experiences of Caritas India team members on PLD. These are a few reflections on what the team feels about PLD & how best the concept can be taken forward. 

Jonas Lakra

My memories go back to 40 years down the lane when I was small boy living with my parents in a remote village called Naharani in Golaghat district of Assam. There were no motorable roads, no electricity and no means of communication. Bicycles and bullock carts were the only means of transportation. No shops were there within the village. The nearest market was 5 km away at Sarupathar. The agricultural fields were in and around the forests. My house was surrounded by trees and bushes. Many animals like monkeys, elephants, foxes, deer, rabbits, reptiles etc. often would be seen in the open and we coexisted with them in harmony. Village elders would always forbid us to kill any animal.

I am sharing this to give you a picture how people lived in peace with happiness and harmony during those days. Same kind of a situation used to prevail in most of the villages in Northeast during those days. People including my parents sustained only with crops cultivated of their own. There was no need of producing excess food because nobody would buy rather exchange goods as per requirement. Thus barter system was prevalent. Every one cultivated enough food. Land was so fertile that whatever was being sown would yield in plenty. We would even go to forests to collect forest products especially food and firewood. People went to the market once in a month only for salt, oil, soap and cloths.

During those days no government schemes reached to our village. But the village people were always united to help each other. The approach road which exists now was built by the community. Wells were dug in each house for drinking water and domestic use. The cost of digging well was only 3 to 5 kg of rice, one or two hen with a pot of rice beer. They would help each other in building houses and even for cultivation. Women would help each other during pregnancy and delivery of the baby. Thus from birth to death people would carry out all the traditional ceremonies without spending much cash or with no cash, because community feeling and culture of collective support was in existence. This is how community was always ready to help each other in every respect.

Now the scenario is very different. Now people have to spend money for everything.  No one has spare time to lend helping hands to the other. They need to spend for birth, for marriage and even for burial. They need to depend on market for food. Land is no longer fertile as before, hence people are discouraged to cultivate. No forest product. Govt. schemes are available only at the cost of spending money. Thus rights are denied.

Last two years of my personal involvement in the FARM (Facilitating Agricultural Regeneration Measures) Northeast project has given me opportunity to learn and unlearn through reflection process with people (small farmers).  Two years back when I heard about People Lead Development (PLD) approach for the first time, I was not very convinced as to how this approach would help the project (FARM Northeast) to benefit people, because I am a practitioner of Result Based Management (RBM) Approach. But as the time passed my perspective on PLD became clearer. In the beginning we approached people as social scientist telling people what they should do and should not do. We reflected ourselves as knowledgeable person and change maker of the society. Thanks to Mr. Saju for taking Northeast Caritas India team on board and making us understand the concept and core value of PLD.

Following are some of my reflections and learning as NGO worker so far:

• We as NGO workers should critically reflect ourselves and redefine our role. The entire development approach should be collective reflection, planning and implementation. From doer to reflection and thought provoking action. NGO’s plan and action should be based on the people’s knowledge, skills and resources.
• We should visit the village with learning mentality. Listen to the people, observe and extend need based facilitating support and understand what they can do on their own. 
• We need to facilitate for joint reflection for building peoples perspective and vision. 
• Promote interested farmers as model farmers and build them as future leaders. 
• Our facilitation process should lead to people’s initiative in decision making, planning and implementation of development activities in the villages.  

I hope and wish all our project team and project partners (11 implementing organizations) feel more or less like me. So far I have observed that farmers with whom we are working are beginning to change their perspective on development process. Some of the behavioural changes are highlighted in this blog in the form of case stories. We have given different agricultural technologies to people as option and could see few have accepted and few have rejected because they know what works and what doesn’t. We have observed that few people started to do multiple cropping in all our 191 villages, women farmers are taking lead role in forming farmers club in the states like Manipur, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh and people are opting for traditional/local variety seeds and have their own indigenous system of preservation of seeds.

We as NGO workers should understand that development though peoples’ perspective change and collective initiative/action is a long term process and does not happen overnight like any other service delivery development project. We need to have patience and work towards peoples’ capacity building on people’s collective initiative and leadership from within the community. We need to value the rich knowledge and experiences of people and promote those for their own sustainable development. Building community to assert their constitutional and human rights is another aspect we need to work on so that they live in dignity. People have the best solution for every problem and are the agent of change for future development for themselves and for the community.

Jonas Lakra

Zonal Manager, North East

Caritas India
Guwahati, Assam

Prabal Sen

Being a man from Environmental Sciences, People Led Development (PLD) approach was a completely new subject to me. Initially I was not convinced with the concept as my question was that how would it benefit the farmers, something that the project is trying to do?

We were specifically then told that PLD being the integral component of Facilitating Agriculture Regeneration Measures (FARM) project has to be taken up on a priority basis. I obliged but still with a little confused state of mind as to how to give it a start?

I went through a few stories on PLD shared by West Zone. The first read, well I could not connect to the North Eastern context. I went through the stories a couple of times more & was trying to figure out how best these stories could help me in understanding PLD.

All that I could understand about PLD was that it’s about community and not individual. The second best thing that drew my interest is PLD talks about revival of traditional knowledge, a domain that I have been working in the past. I wondered that PLD is already omnipresent in my region yet could not be identified. I thought there could be innumerable examples of communities across rural North East (NE) India, where the spirit of oneness is still visible in so many aspects of life and society. Different tribes, different groups are the custodians of a rich culture & heritage that they have inherited from their ancestors. My simple understanding was that elements of PLD are just there & all that is required is identify them.  

I made up my mind to go the partners’ field and the see how PLD can be put into action. I did not make any plan or strategy to discuss PLD with different partners. May be I realised that it had to come of its own as per the situation on the ground.

Being in the field, the simplest of common examples (on PLD) I cited to the partners was that of the community coming together to help someone who lost his house in a fire incident. Prompt came the response from them, “Yes we know about this practice and it’s still in practice”! This reply was perhaps the starting point for understanding for them. I carried on from here and tried my best to explain to the project teams on how PLD works. However, I made it very clear to them that any farmer or community has got nothing to do with PLD and that its exclusively for us to understand & apply.

I put array of questions to them & tried to find out PLD cases with special reference to the project. They understood and responded with a number of such cases that had elements of PLD within the project as well as outside. All this came up on the first day of visit during meetings with the respective project team. Come second day and we were off to the field, in the specific areas where PLD cases were reported by the project teams. I took the initiative in interacting with the community & showed to the team in details on how to go about. I helped them to identify more of such cases throughout my visit. It was then for the team to take the lead in interacting with the community.

The project teams carried over from here & the ray of confidence was clearly visible on their faces. My hard work seemed to have paid back when I heard the project team saying that now they have a clear understanding on PLD & now they take it forward. Results are showing now as I have received quite a few PLD case studies from the different project teams & these stories have been published on the blog.

Being again from a different educational background, I do not have indepth knowledge of RBM but I respect the subject & try to learn as much I can. Likewise PLD, as already stated above, would not have drawn my attention had it not included components like what I was looking for.

PLD has changed in a way changed my thinking as a technical person, who was busy sharing technologies to the farmers & gave me an opportunity to think out of the box. I have learned that as per the concept of PLD prescription would not work but options do.

Finally, it’s been a great journey of two years with PLD and above all, learning has been my biggest of gains.

As they if you enjoy your work you love it and so am I.... 

Prabal Sen

State Officer, North East

Caritas India

Guwahati, Assam

Thangsha Sebastian Anchong

I have learnt that the age old traditional practices among the communities in North East help them to a great extent to find a solution to their issues. I also experienced that of late the same community are somehow losing their rich traditional practices. Therefore, I see a kind of disconnect that the community of present day is faced with. However, whatever little the community has been able to practice till date in different sectors, sets a great example to show that the community never acts individually but as a unit.

In this context I would say that People Led Development (PLD) approach is all about creating empowerment of the community by building their capacities and supporting their initiatives with the aim of giving them greater control over their own development initiatives.  It helps them to reflect and think to identify their needs, issues and concerns to generate community solution. PLD approach would also lead to strengthen the age old traditional practices that hold a high risk of getting extinct. PLD in FARM North East is perhaps a good step towards moving out from the traditional mode of project that we implement. 

Thangsha Sebastian Anchong 

State Officer, North East

 Caritas India

Guwahati, Assam

Albinus Kujur

Peoples’ initiative is observed in day to day life in Adivasi community and also in most of the tribes of North East India.  But People Led Development (PLD) approach in FARM Northeast project talks about the developmental aspect of the community through their own initiatives; and which is looked to be more sustainable.  This developmental aspect is about peoples’ initiatives within the community and also relates to development through government through the peoples own initiatives by means of linkage building, enhancing capacities and explore their own potentials.

Having been exposed to the concept of PLD, I can’t wait to share a unique peoples’ initiative called Hawri, practiced by my community. Hawri is a traditional system prevalent among the Adivasis that promotes the spirit of working together to help each other. People get organized themselves to help their own people. The family that seeks the help from the members of the community would provide food and refreshment to all. This is one of the traditional practices that have been practiced from ancestors.  HAWRI can be seen in many aspects of the society like agricultural activities; construction of houses, collecting firewood, marriages & also during many other activities & rituals.  

PLD as such is visible in most of the ethnic communities across the NE region. I am happy to learn that through PLD a trial is being made to into picture the rich treasure of traditional knowledge & ethics of the ethnic communities of North East India. 

Albinus Kujur

Finance Officer, North East

Caritas India

Guwahati, Assam

Saju M.K.

My first meeting with the eleven organisations working on People Led Development (PLD) in North East India was the quarterly review in July 2014. One of the things that I did during the review meeting was sharing with participants my opinion on PLD. In spite of my best efforts to convey my convictions and the experiences on PLD, I knew the coordinators understood very little of what I spoke. Even more, they looked puzzled. I had expected it since it was natural. For a cadre of workers which was accustomed to Results Based Management (RBM) and the necessity to deliver results more as ‘drivers’ rather than ‘facilitators’, introduction of PLD halfway into the project had to be confusing.

While the review was still rolling on, I was searching for a PLD narrative that is simpler, clearer and more convincing. I must have missed a couple of presentations because I was lost in my world of PLD. Coordinators, without exception, followed the RBM format for presentation not just because they were asked to do that but it was easier as well. Finally when I started paying attention to the presentations, I discovered there is an intriguing pattern in the presentations. To my pleasant surprise, some of them also added a few slides in which they had presented the results which they could not fit into the RBM presentation format! None of these results were planned or written in the proposal and most of these results were achieved by communities on their own! Equally striking was the enthusiasm of coordinators to showcase those creditable achievements which were relevant to the real life contexts of communities.

The PLD discussion resumed from there and it was more contextual, meaningful and enjoyable.

I will leave RBM to its exponents to defend it. In a context where agencies seek to ‘work with’ communities in true sense, RBM helps neither the communities nor the agencies. Or at best, it helps only a little. There are several perspectives on the possible interactivity of RBM and PLD. However, I would pick up the practice of result presentation in the context of RBM and PLD, as expressed in the review experience referenced above.

In an RBM scenario, the mission of a field worker is rather simple because s/he normally does not think or act beyond what is written in the project document. S/he just does not need to. If we inquire anytime during the project period about what they do they will invariably give answers that are consistent with what is written in the proposal.  They will always prefer to do, or at least prioritise to do, the activities that are written in the proposal and not always the activities that the communities would expect them to do. This applies to the representation of results as well. We, more often than not, tend to report the results in a framework that is manufactured away from the community. And, in those very few occasions when coordinators deviate a little to include the vital and meaningful gains of communities, they are ‘disciplined’ to follow the format of presentation.

It was, hence, very satisfying for me to observe that some enterprising coordinators resisted the tendency to ‘conform’ and gathered enough courage and motivation to ‘improvise’ their formats for capturing the results that communities had achieved with a little assistance from the field workers. The happiness of coordinators when they said “we have some more results to present” was so pronounced.

As a person who has seen both RBM and PLD sides, I have become increasingly doubtful of the ability of RBM to satisfactorily capture the successes of communities in responding to their evolving and continuously changing needs. In a normal rural scenario, how many issues remain in constant degree of severity, in constant extent and in constant length of time? I wish RBM will suit those few. But there are far more pressing and urgent needs of the community which an organisation needs to respond to as a companion of people in need. The coordinators who had presented additional slides of successes in their presentation were trying to do just that!

PLD is all about responding to the everyday needs of the community without the precondition of having a proposal. It is all about responding in a more meaningful way – encouraging and enabling communities to lead themselves.

Saju M.K.

Zonal Manager, West Zone

Caritas India

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

COMMUNITY CONSTRUCTS DAMAGED DRAINAGE SYSTEM

Come rains & villagers of Boasimla-I in Upper Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh would struggle hard to cope up with water from the over flowing dilapidated drains. The overflowing water had all the ingredients fit for spreading water borne diseases in that area. The location of this almost nonexistent drain was in the middle of the village just by the main road. People of the village were looking nothing less than being helpless to the situation. Our children are worst affected of this dirty water as they are prone to catching different diseases and our hard earned money is gone in giving them medical attention said; Mr. Tap Tapuk ZPM, Kamporijo Anchal Block - II.  Several kinds of diseases like Tuberculosis, Malaria, Typhoid and Jaundice etc were showing in among the people, especially children. The 216 strong households of this village depend on wage labour and on small pretty shops for their livelihood other than agricultural activities.

FARM North East project has Boasimla-I as one of its project villages. Itanagar Diocesan Empowerment Association (IDEA), the implementing partner is responsibly carrying out the project activities in the area. While carrying out activities, IDEA got to know about the issue of drains in Boasimla-I. We told our friends from IDEA how badly we are suffering because of the drains and requested them if they could suggest us some solutions said: Tap Taning. IDEA wasted no time thereafter in working towards mobilizing the community on how best they can solve the issue they are faced with. IDEA organized a community level orientation on the poor infrastructure and civic amenities of the village during training session 2014/15. The project team went around the village and brought the villagers together for community reflections. The community was also informed about the successes of communities when they had collectively launched development actions. We were highly motivated with the presentations made by them (IDEA) on collective actions and it gave us the confidence that if others can achieve success, so can we said Godak Mathew.  

Here on the community that once hesitated to take such moves started mobilizing themselves now. The community convened a meeting on 17 December 2013 and discussed how they could address the issue of poor state of the Drainage. It was resolved that the community themselves would go for the construction of the drain of their own. An appeal was made for donations required for the construction The community responded immediately to the appeal by donating as per their individual capabilities. A stunning Rs 65,00/- was collected as local contribution.  Men & women of Boasimla-I coming together to contribute labour in constructing the drain. All of them put in hard labour for a month. Their hard work bore results when a 1 Km drain took shape during October 2014 thus giving a respite to the people. We would have may be never felt the beauty of togetherness if we had not come out as a unit for this noble cause said; Mr. Taw Sala adding further that they would keep alive the spirit of togetherness alive forever.

Drain Constructed by the Community

The local administration in the area when informed was taken for a big surprise. The administration couldn’t believe that the drain was being built by the community without taking a penny from the Government. The Government then immediately took due cognizance of the matter while applauding the people for their generosity. We saw our hard work bearing sweet fruits when the Government not only recognized us but also sanctioned an amount of Rs 2,50,000.00 for further maintenance & cleanliness of the drain constructed by us said a jubilantly smiling Ms. Guchi Attick.

IDEA ensured that the story was carried over further. The news of this unique happening was published on local dailies immediately.

It feels good to see how partners of Caritas India are trying to involve community ownership by motivating them in every possible way. Caritas India’s initiative on peoples’ empowerment bore yet another flower & the fragrance is spreading around. 

Contributed By: Sanjit Basumatary, IDEA, Arunachal Pradesh

Edited By: Prabal Sen, Caritas India, Guwahati

COMMUNITY REVIVES TRADITIONAL PRACTICE AGAINST CATTLE GRAZING

Subalgarh Para farmers in West Tripura District, Tripura were finding it difficult to cope up with the issue of frequent cattle grazing into their vegetable gardens. We depend on vegetable gardens as one of the major sources of income but cattle grazing have made our lives miserable said Ms. Donswari Debbarma. Persistent cattle grazing posed a serious threat to the entire village where people mostly grow vegetables round the year for their sustenance. The problem doubled each year since last 23 years as the numbers of cows were increasing with the passing years. In our village almost everyone owns cattle & other livestocks and nobody have a right to restrict anyone from rearing cattle said Mr. Sachin Debbarma.

The problem almost ran out of hands & community was somewhat in a compromising mode with the situation. We once approached the local Police station to come to our rescue but that didn't go well said Sachin Debbarma. 

As per the project activities under FARM North East, Jana Unnayan Samaiti Tripura (JUST) & Caritas India facilitated the formation a farmers’ club in Sulabhgarh village. We did not have any idea of how a farmer’s club works but now we are happy to know that we do not have to depend on anyone and that we can decide on our own said Mr. Rajendra Debbarma. Regular meetings were held under the aegis the farmers' club where people came together to discuss issues.

Being the facilitators, JUST also attended a few meetings of the club & it was here where the people shared their problem of cattle grazing. The problem was also shared by the community with Caritas India during their visit in May 2014. Caritas India gave them a patient hearing & suggested that they should have a common grazing land made available for the cows. All the cows could be released into the common grazing land thus saving the crops. The community however expressed their inability to implement the proposal due to shortage of land in their village.

Straying Cow Kept in Khowa

We sat together again & I shared my childhood memories, when my grandfather and others used to practice 'Musuk khowa'(shelter for cows) against straying cows said Mr. Sachin Debbarma. Sachin further stressed that perhaps this is the only way we could save our crops. 'Musuk khowa' is a traditional system that was practiced by the community in the good old days. Under this practice, all households are supposed to tie their cows away from the vegetable gardens to prevent grazing. In case an individual’s cow is not tied and found grazing in someone’s vegetable garden, that cow would be immediately caught & put into Musuk khowa. The owner of that particular cow would be fined @ `300 per day. The farmers’ club members would make a public announcement in the market area by beating drums to inform the supposed owner that his cow has been caught & put in the Musuk khowa & that he must come & pay the fines to take back his cow.

The members in the meeting spent no time in agreeing to his proposal. We decided to enact a strict rule in the village from now onwards where all households would have to keep their cows properly tied and away from the vegetable gardens said Mr. Budharai Debbarma. We were all more than happy to accept the decision taken by the farmers' club as it would serve as a permanent solution to our persisting problem said. Ms. Sandhyalaxmi Debbarama.

The Sulabgarh Para then initiated the system strictly from 19th January 2015 & until today the farmers’ club has been able to earn revenue of `5490.00 through fines imposed on owners of straying cattles. We are a happy people now as we don’t have to spend any extra time to protect our crops from grazing says a happily smiling Ms. Hiranmala Debbarma.

It is clearly a classic example of how community has revived a traditional practice (Khowa) towards working against the menace of grazing. Caritas India is working on more such initiatives by the community where they are trying to upkeep their rich traditional practices. The journey is on....

Contributed by: Vincent Debbarma, JUST, Tripura

Edited By: Prabal Sen & Jonas Lakra, Caritas India, Guwahati

VOICES FROM THE FIELD

People Led Development (PLD) has been the most important component in FARM North East, a project supported by Caritas India. PLD has been an integral part of the project since its inception & sincere efforts are on by the project teams of respective partners to document PLD in their project areas. Here are a few snippets on what the Project Coordinators have to say on PLD. 

Martha Dukru

"As a community development worker and having associated with community for the past several years, I often ask this question to myself, why our people still remain poor and pathetic in spite of all the resources like NGOs and Government Departments with various policies & programmes for Peoples’ development?

Community bond and spirit of oneness has been traditionally practiced since time immemorial. It existed & exists till date in our community, but development agencies have failed to include this approach in developmental process.  I believe that had People Led Development (PLD) approach been a part of all our programmes & activities, situation would have been all different.

It is heartening to see how PLD has a made a difference in our project (FARM North East). The concept once shared to us made us realize how better we make use of PLD is achieving our goals. It also made us realize that its not always the results that matters, the process is equally important.

I think PLD make the community realize that they should be the 'doers and not just mere recipients. It is inspiring to see that with our interventions, people have started in believing in their capabilities. Now our interventions through awareness is enabling the community to approach different offices & building linkages for themselves. United Farmers Federation is planning to take actions on social issues like irregularities of government officials on working days. Farmers’ grievances have been put forward to the village councils for actions. And the story goes on….."

-Coordinator, Development Association of Nagaland

Dimapur, Nagaland

Roselin Mary L.Marshillong 

FARM Northeast project uses the People Led Development (PLD) approach, one of the effective approaches in the developmental sector. The project has been initiated since June, 2013 in 20 villages of Nongstoin C&RD Block, West Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya, with the support of Caritas India.The planned activities of the project are implemented with the use of PLD approach and to my experience it’s been one of the best approaches of late.

For me a newly recruited social worker, PLD is a new learning and especially for implementing interventions using PLD approaching the field “I believe PLD makes the community realize that they are the Doer and not just mere Recipient”. It is also inspiring to see that with our interventions, people have started believing in their capabilities to take decision and initiative for their development.

The awareness/workshop conducted, empowers the community with knowledge and information and to specify a few it had enabled the Farmers to approach different departments to access seeds, saplings and other supports to enhance their agricultural activities.

PLD also empowers the communities to plan, implement and evaluate the activities in an effective an efficient manner concerning their plans. This approach enables people to identify their needs, problems and plan out probable solutions to address the same. Nongdiwah village is one of the practical example of the effectiveness of PLD approach, where the communities members of Nongdiwah initiated a demand from the concerned authority to construct a footpath to reach Nongrangoi village (shortcut way) through MGNREGS. The demand was accepted and the footpath was constructed in 2015 for the greater benefit of not only the farmers but overall benefit of both the people of the two villages.

PLD is perhaps a good step towards moving out from top down approach to bottom up approachwhich promotes ownership and sustainability of any developmental initiative. Many visible changes have been seen in the project areas raging from increased agricultural production to increased participation in planning and decision making through the initiative of Farm project.

-Animator, Nongstoi Social Service Society
 Nongstoin, Meghalaya

Thangsha Rocky Kansowa

"People Led Development (PLD) approach helps me in planning, implementing and evaluation of the programmes. It is part of exploring the needs of the people with whom we work. People feel good when their views are being sought & that builds confidence in them. PLD is not a rigid technique in working with the people but is very flexible for all round growth of the people. Through PLD I can understand the people much better and in depth. The best part of PLD is the people’s initiatives, participation and ownership of the program".

-Coordinator, Diocesan Social Service Society

Imphal, Manipur

Prabin Minz

"It’s been almost 24 months of our involvement in the project of FARM North East, dealing with challenges of the farmers belonging to 16 villages of Dimoria block under Kamrup District, Assam. A wide range of activities have been done by the community in the villages to bring about the possible changes for securing sustainable livelihood.

One of the uniqueness of the project is People Led Development (PLD) approach. Here, the project is for the community to implement. Once the community comes together, it help them in collaborating with the local government/public institutions for deriving benefits.

It is important to understand that the implementation of the project would be through community that have been organised in the project in the form of farmers' club, youth groups and womens' groups respectively. The entire mode of operation and implementation of the project would be through community for the community & the role of the project team would be to facilitate the process and build the capacity .

The experience so far has been very good with lot of new learning in the form of identification of the traditional knowledge and practices on the day to day basis".

- Coordinator, Guwahati Gana Seva Society

 Guwahati, Assam

Brolius Marbaniang

We, at this corner of the country experienced that people for quite sometimes appeared to be dependent on others to decide and carry out activities for their own development. In the process people almost forgot the fact that they can also decide themselves, for their own development. People appeared to be infected with a very peculiar syndrome called “waiting sickness”. They were practically reluctant to take a step ahead for abetter future.

FARM Northeast project with a main component of People Led Development (PLD) approach was being initiated since June, 2013 in 20 villages of Nongstoin, West Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya. A wide variety of activities had been carried out in the project by us villages keeping in mind the PLD concept. Now it seems that it’s working. People have began to realize that they need to carry forward the agenda of sustainable development is themselves. Presently people began to think and discuss before taking any step whether such thing is relevant or not for them. Now they are also more aware of their rights and entitlements.

One good example from our fields is the road connectivity to Diengsyiang village as a result of persistence effort made by the people of the village to make the district administration to pursue the matter with the concerned department to speed up the work.

PLD among the community in our project area is just a beginning & we need to work a lot  morein order to empower our people in the best possible manner. 

-Coordinator, Nongstoin, Social Service Society

Nongstoin, Meghalaya  

Mintu Mushahary

"People Led Development (PLD) approach is very new learning for me. It has brought the clear concept of what we are doing and what we should do at the grass-root level. Though I have been working since last 8 years in the social sector with the communities for the empowerment of women, disabled people etc., yet the concept of PLD has never been in the mindset of any of us till date.

Yes, it is true that PLD has made us to understand the real empowerment and Development of the communities at grass-root level. 

The communities have been practicing PLD since ages but it has not been identified. Now I can clearly understand the concept of PLD with identification of PLD practices in the targeted villages & thanks to Mr. Prabal Sen, Caritas India to have helped me in  understanding the concept practically. PLD may help communities towards bringing empowerment & development in the society".

- Coordinator, Seva Kendra Arunachal, Miao

Miao, Arunachal Pradesh

Vincent Xalxo

"As per my understanding, the concept People Led Development (PLD) approach is about people coming together and working for a common good. It is the utilization of capacity and resources available within. PLD also means. My personal observation from field suggests that people themselves are the leaders taking initiative for their own development. I can see the community identifying the resources & mobilizing the same. Interesting to note was how people from my own community mobilized themselves to construct a small approach road & community hall in their village. This is perhaps just the beginning & I am hopeful to come across many more such experiences of PLD".

Animator, Seva Kendra Dibrugarh

Dibrugarh, Assam

Vincent Debbarma

"People Led Development (PLD) is a concept of developmental approach led by the people themselves. People find out their problems and find out solution by taking necessary steps & action for bringing change. It is the people who take decisions for their developmental progress. They are free to think, share & bring out solutions. They first need to be empowered & this may lead to developmental work by the people as people will have necessary information to approach various developmental institutions. Our job as a project team is only about facilitating the process.

The concept of PLD is very good through which we can create opportunities for the people to work. It is the people who know, what are their essential needs for the growth of the society. It is good that people have started doing things of their own for their own development".

-Coordinator, Jana Unnayan Samiti Tripura

Agartala

Sanjit Basumatary

"Since last 2 years I have been involved in the FARM North EAST project working in 20 twenty villages belonging under Kamporijo Circle – I & II of Lower Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh.

People Led Development (PLD) approach the concept is very new learning for me and team. Today, I have understood the concept and realized that so many activities have been carried out by the communities in the field. Today I personally could identify PLD at the grass root level.

The practice of PLD exists among the communities and & I can proudly say that we have been able to identify these. Community members are taking initiative to furnish the activities in their respective villages by themselves. From the point of view of the project we can see the community mobilizing themselves for better opportunities after we facilitated them. The most important thing we realized about the concept is that PLD is for us to understand & the communities have nothing to do with it. We are now continuing the process & looking forward to many more good things coming up". 

Coordinator, Itanagar Diocesan Empowerment Association

Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh

Danny Shadap

"FARM North East is another good approach that we stress upon and that is People Led Development (PLD). In the last two years while working with this concept, there are two important aspects that I feel which has to be addressed to the people in a proper manner so as to give more substance or even more depth to the concept and these are “Empowerment” and “Sustainable Development”.

In my 10 years experience as a social worker in Jaintia Hills, I have seen that in most of the villages of Jaintia hills, people are still dependent on the help which they can get from the Government, and as per their mindset, if development is to happen then it must be in the form of Schemes and Grants from the Government. I remember during 2004, there was one village called Mowkaiaw in Jaintia Hills which was considered at that time as the model village in the whole of Meghalaya for road connectivity within and outside the village & also cleanliness. In 2009, I happened to visit it again. To my utter surprise the roads were full of pot holes as if even fishes could be reared there. Even the village was itself was dirty. I could clearly see how people did not bother the sense of ownership for their own development; how they left development entirely at the mercy of Government or NGOs.

Sustainable Development and “Empowerment” are the pillars of PLD approach. Through FARM project, interestingly we found out that in most of the villages people practice the spirit of being together for different reasons. The entire community would come to help one individual in the time of distress.

We are gearing up our efforts to change the attitude of people towards development and we will always guide them ‘How to fish’ rather than ‘Give fish’. Our mission is tough but not impossible and it is very clear that until people have the sense of Ownership, collective responsibility and lead the developmental work by themselves, there will not be any sustainable development".

Coordinator, Jaintia Hills Development Society

Jowai, Meghalaya

The concept of PLD in FARM Northeast has given a new dimension towards understanding the fact that this project encourages the people to take the initiatives & decide on their own. PLD in the context of North East India is a new concept but it existed among the communities since ages. They would come together not only at times of distress but also in good times. Our efforts & role under this project was to identify such systems, revive the same & document. Besides we also take care of facilitating the communities in reaching out to the ones they want to in order to achieve their goals.  

Under our job as a support agency we helped the respective project teams to identify in the best possible manner. We have come across encouraging stories of communities taking lead in achieving a certain goal. We have observed how certain traditional systems in agriculture & other social sectors are still prevalent in the project areas. 
We consider ourselves as learners & not someone who tries to impose upon expertise on the community as we strongly believe that community has lot to be learned from in the first place. Caritas India's prime role in this project is to identify traditional development initiatives, facilitate peoples' new initiative in the current scenario of development perspective, study & learn from the people & give back to the people those good learnings as options. 

Our endeavour continues in PLD & we are here to ensure that the concept remains to be the heart & soul of the project.