Bhattarai, M and Mohan Rao, Y and Varalakshmi, B L and Duche, V D and Bantilan, M C S (2015) Process Documentation Research and Impact of Community-Driven Development Grants Research in Rural India, Socioeconomics Discussion Paper Series 34. [Socioeconomics Discussion Paper Series]
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Abstract
In 2011 ICRISAT gave experimental grants to six dryland villages targeted by the “Village Dynamics Studies in South Asia” (VDSA) project. Two villages were located in Telangana state (undivided Andhra Pradesh) and four in Maharashtra state. A grant of USD 7,000 (Rs. 315,000) was given to each villages to assess the role of local governance and institutions on agricultural performance, and to evaluate development pathways. The community was free to decide where and how to use the grant. Using the Process Documentation Research (PDR) framework, this report documents the activities of the ICRISAT-VDSA project team and the community implementation committee in using the grant, and lessons learned in the process. We also estimated the number of beneficiaries and the economic benefits from the grant. In two villages, the annual economic benefits from the grant were almost equal to the total grant expenditure. In five villages, the cumulative benefits over the last four years exceeded the total value of the grant. Unlike other publically-funded projects, large numbers of households from minority and socially weaker sections also benefited. The results suggest that, given the opportunity, local communities can effectively execute local infrastructure development projects through need-based collective action, while lowering the transaction costs of community action. By involving local community members in planning and implementing projects, the village grant provided benefits to a large number of households and generated substantial economic benefits. The experiment provides useful lessons for scaling-out village grants to other project villages, and for rural development agencies in India and elsewhere.
| Item Type: | Socioeconomics Discussion Paper Series |
|---|---|
| Divisions: | RP-Market Institutions and Policies |
| CRP: | CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) |
| Series Name: | Socioeconomics Discussion Paper Series |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Community Driven Development, Village Grant, Process Documentation Research, community governance, innovation, village studies, ICRISAT, India |
| Subjects: | Others > Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics |
| Depositing User: | Mr Ramesh K |
| Date Deposited: | 21 May 2015 07:01 |
| Last Modified: | 21 May 2015 07:38 |
| URI: | http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/8743 |
| Acknowledgement: | The authors would like to thank the executive members of Community Driven Development (CDD) committee, several key informants and the informal leaders of the six villages who have provided vital information in relation to implementing the grant in each of the villages, including the process adopted in providing the grant. We acknowledge valuable support from the ICRISAT–Village Dynamics Studies in South Asia (VDSA), and its project field investigators residing in the six villages studied in facilitating group meetings, namely L. S. Likhitkar, Anand Dhumale, and P. R. Bangar from Maharashtra, and Ramana Reddy and N Rama Krishna from Andhra Pradesh. We also acknowledge valuable inputs and support from the VDSA field supervisors Mr. V. K. Chopde and A. Sidhu in organizing the focus group discussions at each site. Likewise, valuable support and input from senior scientists of ICRISAT, Uttam K. Deb, V. R. Kiresur, R. Padmaja, and Sujoya Dutta, are gratefully acknowledged. We have benefitted from the intellectual guidance of Hans P. Binswanger and Tuu-Van Nguyen. The report was formatted by Kai Mausch and edited by Alastair Orr. The authors are responsible for all remaining errors and omissions. |
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