Prepare Women Leaders in Financial Management

Kharakdi Gram Panchayat: A model for other villages to effectively access mandate resources for village development

Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs) have been mandated by Gram Panchayats for economic development and social justice. The scheme facilitates comprehensive and participatory planning and provides the accessibility of Union Ministries/Line Departments' schemes. Via efforts in last three years, the community in Kharakdi village, Bhavnagar district, was motivated and empowered to create an Integrated Village Development Plan, and institutional representatives and diverse village leaders, both women and men, from all hamlets were involved in the in-depth need identification process in each sector using a participatory approach. The plan value increased from 6.5 lakhs in FY 2018-19 to 1 crore in FY 2019-20. This plan was submitted for resources from the Finance Commission Award and various Departmental Funds. Participatory planning thus helped to build knowledge base of village leadership, provide the right strategies and finally substantially improved the resources mobilised by the local body. For example, funds were raised to expand the primary school by six rooms to serve the village's growing child population and work is underway. The infrastructural upgrade of the school will increase the enrollment of students. On the other hand, ensuring the education and continuity of girl children by assuring safety, convenience of transportation, parental awareness, and monitoring of teacher quality are inevitable for the overall human development of the village. The example of Kharakdi is now set to support the integrated village development efforts in 43  villages of Utthan's work areas. Women of the village were capacitated to take active role in planning and played a ket role along with men to build good quality plans.