Orissa Civil Society and Poverty Programme (OCSPP)

Objectives:

I) Strengthen the civil society capacity to:

• Produce knowledge relevant to pro- poor policy making
• Articulate the voice of poor and marginalized people in policy arenas.
• Articulate the interests and concerns of different groups among the poor particularly marginalized, women and disabled people.

II) Strengthen local governance institutions, such as PRIs and municipalities.

Geographical Spread:

Key areas / components:

• Being the Project Management Agency (PMA) of OCSPP, PRIA had the primary responsibility of monitoring, review and evaluation of the projects being implemented by partner CSOs.
• PRIA also facilitated documentation of the innovations, good practices, key learning and experiences and organize forums for sharing and dissemination of the knowledge. The team associated with the project made regular visits to the partner organizations to monitor and review the progress of the project including financial aspects, help and guide the project staff in effective implementation of the project and provide hand-holding support as and when required.
• PRIA made a capacity building need assessment of the partner CSOs and on the basis of the common need of the organizations and it conducted several training programmes to build up their capacities. As a part of capacity building, PRIA provided handholding support to the partner organizations for carrying out research on 5 topics i.e. Role of Panchayat in service delivery, role of Panchayat in Natural resource management, status of implementation of RTI in Orissa, Status of implementation of NREGA in Orissa and status of implementation of decentralization of power in Orissa.
• PRIA also conducted Management Audit to review the financial management system of the partner CSOs as well as to help the organizations to strengthen their financial management systems.
• Review meetings were conducted at regular intervals with the partner organizations to review the progress of individual projects in particular and OCSPP in general. These meetings created opportunity for mutual learning among the organizations.
• OCSPP had a nine- member Steering Group consisting of representatives from DFID, PRIA, Civil Society and Government. The group met regularly, atleast once in every quarter and reviewed the progress of the programme. This is an apex body, who took decision on policy issues and approved programme related decisions.

Key outputs:

• The partner CSOs have been able to mobilize communities to raise their concerns on various issues like demand for work under NREGA, payment of proper and equal wages, monitoring of primary school and mid day meal provision, PDS, RTI, demanding claims under Forest Rights Act etc.
• Communities are raising their voice and questioning critically different government schemes and programs.
• People centered participatory plans developed to address the poverty related developmental issues. Effective facilitation of micro planning exercises among community people and potential stakeholders created a collaborative sense of accountability. The micro plan is a dynamic document and should be updated in regular intervals.
• Efforts have been taken up the CSOs to streamline and strengthen the Palli Sabha and Gram Sabha. Increased awareness among the PRI representatives about their roles and responsibilities and obligations for poor people has lead to increased participation in Palli Sabha and Gram Sabha.
• Inclusive approach has been taken up by the CSOs to involve dalits and other marginalized and vulnerable groups in their operational areas.
• Efforts have been taken up by CSOs to collaborate with PRIs for convergence of different development programmes.
• The trainings organized for the partners have helped in enhancing their knowledge and skills on various themes. The research skills of the Partner organizations have been enhanced by undertaking joint research on common theme.
• Partner organisations sensitized on gender issues and efforts taken up for equal opportunities and facilities to women. Formation of CASH in the partner organizations.
• The women are empowered and their participation in the decision making process in the decentralised governance has increased. Participation of youth and women directly in governance and related campaigns / issues initiated a marked change in gender attitude of the community and the women themselves.
• The various interfaces with different stake holders have drawn the attention of various stakeholders including government line department towards initiating a common idea for poverty alleviation from the region.

Year/Period:

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