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B0x 5 The Importance of Good Transparency Mechanisms
In one of the villages studied, the community organizer helped a women’ self-help group to establish linkages with a local commercial bank. After the financial assistance was approved for the group, the community organizer stated that each member would have to pay Rs 200 toward the expenses incurred by the bankers. However ,she showed no proof of this requirement. The group members paid up and the bank loans were disbursed. But the president of the group became suspicious and sent her husband to check this with the manager of the bank branch, who stated that no such amount was requested or obtained from the members. The group members asked for an explanation from the community organize and made her return their money. They also pressed for the removal of the community organizer. The NGO transferred her to another area, and appointed a fresh graduate to the position, after a delay of about three months. The NGO confirmed this incident, and stated that action was taken against the staff member concerned.
There were also three instances of stree-shakthi staff using the members’ savings for their personal gain. Because banks were not located in these villages, it was the practice for the anganawadi worker to deposit members’ savings in the banks. This resulted losing trust, and their gradual withdrawal from the group.
Attention both to the establishment of transparency measures and to monitoring their use.
Decision-making procedures
Participation in collective decision making is argued to be a necessary condition for equitable and sustainable development outcomes. Such participation is seen as ensuring that the interests of marginalized groups are voiced and considered, that all participants accept responsibility for the decisions made, and that the subsequent activities undertaken are collectively owned. Collective decision making is expected to lead to better distribution of benefits ( greater equity ) and to increase people’ s motivation to engage in local governance and development. Some of the factors come into play when trying to achieve these objectives are highlighted in box 6.
The mode of decision-making processes varies widely by sector. Table 15 shows how key decisions are reached in organizations in the women’s
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Box 6 Elite Capture
In Jigjeevani in Bijapur district in Karnataka, the NGO staff preferred to have the local landlord as a representative, because his support was considered useful to the NGO for carrying out watershed works in the village. Similarly, influence of the local elite in the election of officeholders was evident in Inderpur, a village in nainital district with many well-off farmers. The president of the gram Resources Management Associations (GAREMA), in view of his dominant position in the locality , became the leader of the organization and has continued to hold the position since inception.
In many other villages as well-such as Gajpur , Bhalon , and Dharamgarh in Uttaranchal , to name just a few – the officeholders of the GAREMA came from the local elite. They ware local landlords , retired army personnel , and the like , who become officeholders because of their status in their village. Village-level project staff went along with this as it ensured that they could carry out their activities with the blessings of, or at least without much opposition from, powerful local citizens.
Source : Focus group discussion.