03 Village Planning Report

KCCI / 2007-03
Village Planning
Empowering people through
self-help
Nchum Ovung
Katherine Randall
Pragya Taneja
Asha Susan Titus
In collaboration with
Social Consultancy Services
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
For every child

Health, Education, Equality, Protection
ADVANCE HUMANITY
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this case study are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily
reflect the policies or the views of UNICEF and / or the Social Consultancy Services.
Design & Printing : Rajdhani Art Press | 98102 45301

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 2
Foreword 3
Acronyms 4
Executive Summary 5
Statement of Problem 6
Methodology 8
Background 10
Intervention 12
Objectives 12
Strategies 12
Activities 13
Actors 15
Outputs 16
Findings 17
Sunaura 17
Sironkhurd 19
Jamalpur 21
Dashrara 22
Impact 23
Analysis and recommendations 25
Service delivery 25
Social inclusion 28
Sustainability 31
Conclusion 35
References 36
Annexure 37
1
Acknowledgements
The research team wishes to thank Mr. Syed Mohammed Baqar of the Social
Consultancy Services for his wisdom, his supervisory support and his good humour in
times of adversity; Mr. Shafqat Hussain, Mr. Sanjay Sharma and Mr. Amit Bajpai of
the Sarathi Development Foundation District Team for their hospitality, their guidance
around the villages and government offices of Lalitpur and for bearing with our
incessant demands; Mr. Akhilesh Tiwari, Chief Executive of the Sarathi Development
Foundation, Lucknow for his thorough and energetic introduction to village planning
and for feeding and housing us in his sparkling new offices; Mr. Rajib Ghosal, Mr.
Prosun Sen and others at UNICEF, Uttar Pradesh for setting our research and film
adventures on the right track; and finally the community members of Sunaura,
Sironkhurd, Jamalpur, Dashrara and Bhadauna for their warmth, openness, enthusiasm
and generosity, and for opening our eyes.
2
Foreword
The Knowledge Community on Children in India is a partnership between UNICEF and

the Government of India which aims to fill knowledge gaps and promote information-
sharing on policies and programmes related to children in India. In 2007, under the aegis
of this initiative, 57 graduate students from India and across the world visited and
documented projects focused on child rights and development. Their fresh perspectives,
commitment and hard work are reflected in this series of case studies, which are published
by UNICEF.
The case studies cover key sectors linked to children and development and address important
policy issues for children in India. These include: primary education, reproductive and
child health, water and sanitation, child development and nutrition, social exclusion and
village planning. Based on desk research and field work, these case studies tell the story of
innovations in service delivery, what works, why and under what conditions and put a
human face to the successes and challenges of development in India.
UNICEF recognises the potential and power of young people as drivers of change and
future leadership across the globe. As such, the KCCI Summer Internship Programme
also aims to develop a cadre of young research and development professionals with
interest, commitment and skills relating to child rights. UNICEF hopes to continue this
collaboration with young researchers, the Government of India, and various research
partners, so as to bring fresh perspectives and energy to development research and our
ongoing efforts towards the fulfilment of rights of women and children in India.
Representative
UNICEF India
3
Acronyms
ABSA Assistant Basic Shiksha Adhikari (Education Officer)

ADO Assistant Development Officer
ANM Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (block and village level)
ASHA Accredited Social Health Activist
AWC Anganwadi Centre
AWW Anganwadi Worker
BCC Behaviour Change Communication
BCG Bacillus Calmette-Guerin
BDO Block Development Officer
BTF Block Task Force
BSA Basic Shiksha Adhikari (Education Officer)
CBO Community Based Organisation
CBT Community Based Trainer
CDO Chief Development Officer (Zila Panchayat level)
CMO Chief Medical Officer (Zila Panchayat level)
DM District Magistrate
DTF District Task Force
FGD Focus Group Discussion
HIV/AIDS Human Immuno-deficiency Virus/Acquired Immuno-deficiency
Syndrome
ICDS Integrated Child Development Services
IFA Iron Folic Acid
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
NREG National Rural Employment Guarantee
OBC Other Backward Castes
PRI Panchyati Raj Institution
PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal
SC Scheduled Castes
SHG Self-Help Group
ST Scheduled Tribes
UP Uttar Pradesh
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
USAID United States Agency for International Development
VP Village Planning
4
Executive Summary
The village planning (VP) intervention is a government of Uttar Pradesh and UNICEF
initiative, implemented by the Sarathi Development Foundation in Lalitpur district of
Uttar Pradesh. It is a five-day participatory exercise which aims to empower the
community with the skills to identify the problems it faces and to build bridges to service
providers in order to solve those problems. With great justification, the VP intervention
is widely seen as a success.
Since the successes of village planning are extensively documented, the research team
set out to explore three questions that remain unanswered. These are:
1) Firstly, whether the success of village planning in generating demand for services is
matched by a similar improvement in service delivery?
2) Secondly, whether the benefits of the village planning intervention extend to socially
excluded groups?
3) Thirdly, whether the benefits of the village planning intervention will be sustainable
once UNICEF and the Sarathi Development Foundation withdraw?
In summary, we found that VP has succeeded in generating an increase in demand for

services. As yet this has not been met by an equal improvement in service delivery. Any
future attempts to replicate this model should address service delivery vigorously from
the outset, seeking to integrate the government at all levels in the VP process.
The benefits of VP are not yet shared equally between all social groups in the villages.
Whilst women and girls have been empowered by the village planning process, members
of Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities have gained significantly less from the intervention.
There is a need for more focused attention and rigorous follow-up with ST communities.
There remain challenges to ensuring the sustainability of village planning benefits.

Integration with the government system at the Panchayat, block and district levels is
crucial to achieving sustainability. Similarly, intense follow-up with the Village volunteers,
Community-based organisations and frontline government workers in the immediate
aftermath of the five-day village planning exercise help to maximise benefits. In sum,
consolidation must be prioritised over coverage.
5
Statement of Problem
The village planning intervention in Lalitpur is widely perceived to have been a success.
There is significant justification for this perception. VP seeks to effect change on 18 key
indicators, and its success in doing so, is impressive. For example, across the three
blocks (Birdha, Talbehat and Jakhaura) it has increased the number of mothers initiating
colostrum and breastfeeding from 39 per cent to 86.2 per cent; it has increased the
number of families consuming iodized salt from 15.4 per cent to 53.7 per cent; it has
increased the number of children (in the age group 14-18) with knowledge of HIV/
AIDS from nil to 41.3 per cent; it has increased the school enrollment of children in the
age group 6-14 years from 91.2 per cent to 98 per cent; and it has ensured that 36.7 per
cent (or 140 of 381) of non-functioning hand-pumps were repaired. From a baseline of
no schools providing hand-washing facilities with soap, it has ensured that 25 schools
have started providing such facilities. In the Birdha block alone, from a baseline of no
children having their births registered, it has ensured that 752 children were registered1.
In terms of qualitative data, the successes of village planning are easily identified through
Most Significant Change Stories. Here are two examples2:
“Earlier everyone in the Harijan Basti in Menwar (Birdha block) used to consume
raw salt. Every household used to bring back one sack which used to last for almost
a year. Now more than 60 households have started consuming iodized salt in the
village. Meera was the first one who decided that her family would use iodized salt
only and as such she herself went up to Birdha block and bought two packets of salt.
. . Then she started the task of motivating other women to start consuming iodized
salt as it is healthier. . . Today Meera says that she doesn’t find too much cost difference
in the salt . . . given that this salt also protects from many health hazards.”
“Shanaz never initiated colostrum feeding to her children as she considered her first
milk to be impure. However, when Taj was born and Afsana [Village volunteer]
reached her house at the time of delivery, she urged Shahnaz to immediately breastfeed
Taj. . . When Afsana insisted, citing reasons and quoting examples, Shahnaz gave up
her resistance.”
1
Source: Reassessment survey and Integrated village planning, Lalitpur district, a presentation by the
Sarathi Development Foundation
2
Sarathi Development Foundation, Annual Progress Report: August 2005 to July 2006 and August 2006
to October 2006 (Extension Phase), p. 25
6
These quantitative and qualitative measures of success are recorded in the Sarathi
Development Foundation’s reassessment analysis and its annual and quarterly reports.
What is not recorded there is the fact that the village planning intervention in Lalitpur
has gained significant attention from outside organisations. For example, the World
Bank is interested in replicating the model as part of its UP Health System Development
Programme. Bank officials have met with UNICEF and Sarathi and visited Lalitpur
district, and are now involving UNICEF and Sarathi in the second phase of the project.
USAID has also shown interest in the model. Its partner organisation, Intra International,
has selected the Lalitpur village planning intervention to be evaluated for effectiveness,
replicability and sustainability under its evidence review process. Similarly, the National
Planning Commission is currently exploring whether this model can be replicated; given
the thrust on decentralised planning in the Government of India’s 11th Five Year Plan.
By almost any measure – quantitative or qualitative, internal or external - the Lalitpur
village planning intervention can be seen as a success story.
However, these successes are well-documented, both by the Sarathi Development

Foundation and UNICEF, and by other outside organisations. The Research Team’s task
in this report is not to provide another account of the successes of village planning.
Instead, it addresses three key questions about the village planning intervention, which
appear crucial to its ongoing success, and which remain unanswered.
1) Firstly, whether the success of village planning in generating demand for services is
matched by a similar improvement in service delivery?
2) Secondly, whether the benefits of the village planning intervention extend to socially
excluded groups?
3) Thirdly, whether the benefits of the village planning intervention will be sustainable
beyond the period of UNICEF’s funding and the Sarathi Development Foundation’s
involvement in the villages?
This report seeks to explore the answers to these three key questions through a case
study of four villages (Sunaura, Sironkhurd, Jamalpur and Dashrara) in Lalitpur district.
The team has developed recommendations, which it is hoped may be taken into account
both in the future implementation of the project in Lalitpur and in the replication of the
model by other organisations, further afield.
7
Methodology
In order to answer the three research questions, the team undertook ten days of field
work in Lalitpur, visiting the four villages mentioned above, which were selected on the
basis of the following criteria:
1) One village, where village planning had not taken place (Dashrara, Bar block);
2) One village, where village planning was carried out in the first phase of
implementation, July – October 2005, and Response Planning had not taken place
(Sironkhurd, Jakhaura block);
3) One village, where village planning was carried out in the first phase and Response
Planning had taken place (Sunaura, Talbehat block); and
4) One village, where village planning was carried out in the second phase, November
2005 – January 2006, and where social exclusion was a concern (Jamalpur, Talbehat
block).
The team used quantitative as well as qualitative data to evaluate the three research
questions. For quantitative data, the source was reports provided by Sarathi and UNICEF,
in particular the annual and quarterly reports and the re-assessment rnalysis report3. For
qualitative data, a range of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools, including semi-
structured individual interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and dream-mapping
were used. The table below records all qualitative data collection.
Table 1: Details of qualitative data collection
PRA Tool Used With whom

Semi-structured ! Sarathi staff members (Lalitpur)
individual interview ! Pradhans (Sironkhurd, Jamalpur, Dashrara)
! ASHA workers (Sunaura, Sironkhurd)
! Lady health visitor (Jamalpur)
! Anganwadi workers (Sunaura, Jamalpur, Dashrara)
! Anganwadi helpers (Sironkhurd, Jamalpur, Dashrara)
! Village volunteers (Sunaura, Sironkhurd, Jamalpur)
! Child reporters (Jamalpur, Sunaura)
! Other community members, including parents, adolescent
girls, women, children and representatives of STs
(Sahariyas), SCs (Ahirwar, Banskar, Rajak), OBCs (Yadav,
Kushwaha) and general categories (Thakur, Bundela)
3
See References section for full details, p. 36
8
! District Officials (CMO and BSA – CDO and DM not
available)· Block Officials (BDO, ABSA, ADO of Talbehat
block)
FGDs ! Women’s Self-help groups (Sunaura, Sironkhurd)
! Pregnant and lactating mothers (Sunaura, Sironkhurd,
Jamalpur)
! Adolescent Girls’ Groups (Sunaura, Sironkhurd)
! Men (Sironkhurd)
Dream-mapping ! Children (Sahariya hamlet, Jamalpur)
In addition, the team observed the PRA techniques which Sarathi uses during the five-
day village planning process to understand the village and to encourage behaviour change:
in Sironkhurd, the team witnessed the use of participatory social mapping, chapatti
diagramming and a children’s rally. The second day of a three-day mini-planning exercise
facilitated by Sarathi in Badhauna village, Jakhaura block was observed, and a Talbehat
block task force meeting, chaired by the BDO, attended.
Research constraints
The team faced certain limitations. For example, though it benefited enormously from
having three Hindi speakers, in situations where respondents could only speak the local
dialect, some information and nuance was lost.
Since the team members were outsiders, it was not uncommon for community members
and frontline government workers to exaggerate in order to impress the team and ensure
that the community was perceived in a positive light. This made it challenging for the
team to uncover the facts in certain situations.
Given the fixed duration of the ten-day field trip, the team had limited time in each
village. This restricted opportunities for rapport-building with community members,
which was particularly problematic with adolescent girls’ groups, where the girls took
time to open up and discuss sensitive issues concerning menstrual hygiene, use of
contraceptives and HIV/AIDS awareness.
Being a film group, and needing to capture certain discussions and interviews on camera,
was a constraint on the research. The presence of the camera often intimidated
respondents, and determined the framing of their answers to questions.
Finally, the presence of Sarathi staff during some interviews and discussions may have
influenced the respondents to answer in a way that they believed would be acceptable to
the staff.
9
Background
The Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh was chosen for the village planning intervention
in part because UNICEF had an existing presence in the district, but also because of the
particular challenges that Lalitpur faces. The district is over 300 kilometres from the
state capital, Lucknow. It is an isolated border district (see map on page 38), often
described as a ‘teardrop’ of Uttar Pradesh in Madhya Pradesh. Agriculture forms the
backbone of Lalitpur’s economy, but the district suffers from acute water shortages and
regular droughts, this in spite of its seven irrigation dams. In terms of transport, the
district has a poor road network and poor public transport. Government officials perceive
Lalitpur to be a ‘punishment posting’; there is rapid turnover of government officials at
block and district level and the district suffers from large numbers of vacancies for
frontline workers.
On key social development indicators, Uttar Pradesh performs worse than India as a
whole on almost every measure:
Table 2: Key Development indicators: Uttar Pradesh and India
INDICATORS4 India Uttar Pradesh

Poverty
Percentage living below the poverty line 26.1 31.2
Infant Mortality Rate
Number of babies per 1,000 born alive who die before aged one 63 80
Immunization
Percentage of children fully immunized 44.0 28.7
Malnutrition
Percentage of children aged under 3 who are underweight 47 52
Water
Percentage of rural households using protected water 73.2 85.5
Sanitation
Percentage of rural households using toilets 21.9 19.2
School attendance
Percentage of children aged 6-10 attending school 82.3 80.1
Literacy
Percentage of population over 7 years who are literate 65 56
Birth registration
Percentage of children aged under 5 who are not registered at birth 65.3 93.5
4
Data source: UNICEF, Mapping India’s Children: UNICEF in Action, pp.62-63
10
Similarly, Lalitpur district performs worse than Uttar Pradesh as a whole on almost
every indicator (see Table 3). Most notably, Lalitpur has the dubious distinction of being
the district with the second highest rate of child marriage in the whole of India, behind
Tonk district in Rajasthan.
Table 3: Key development indicators: Uttar Pradesh and Lalitput district
INDICATORS5 Uttar Pradesh Lalitpur

Infant Mortality Rate
Number of babies per 1,000 born alive who die before aged one 83 85
Maternal Mortality Rate
Number of mothers per 100,000 who die during childbirth 707 800
Age at marriage
Average age in years 19 15
Exclusive Breast-feeding (EBF)
Percentage of mothers practicing EBF for first 6 months 56 <30
Immunization
Percentage of children fully immunized 28 20
Safe deliveries
Percentage of pregnant women opting for institutional deliveries 33 25
Total Literacy
Percentage 56 50
Female Literacy
Percentage 43 33
Sanitation
Percentage of rural households with toilets 26 14
5
Data source: Sarathi Development Foundation, Integrated village planning presentation, slide 5
11
Intervention
Objectives
UNICEF believes that some previous interventions have not had the desired impact
principally because of a failure to achieve necessary levels of community ownership. As
a result, the village planning intervention was developed with the aim of bringing the
various sections of the community together, developing a common understanding of the
problems facing the village, and planning the necessary action to be taken by the
community for its own socio-economic development.
The key objectives of the VP process are twofold: to empower the community with the
skills to identify problems facing it on an ongoing basis, and to build the capacity in the
village to bridge the gap between the community and the service providers to solve
those problems.
Fundamentally, the VP intervention represents a ‘demand-creation approach’ to

development. It rests on the sound assumption that members of the community are best
able to identify the problems facing them and to make demands of those whose
responsibility it is to deliver services to the community. This approach follows from a
recognition that the era of the ‘supply approach’ has passed. Now is the time to empower
community members to change their own behaviours and to demand and realise their
rights to access the services to which they are entitled.
In addition, village planning seeks to address issues across sectors in a convergent manner.
In this, it is unique when compared to the vast majority of other interventions, which are
perceived to deal with issues within one sector (for example UNICEF’s Quality Education
Package, the government of India’s Total Sanitation Campaign, etc.).
Strategies
The development of the village planning intervention should not be seen in a vacuum.
The 73rd Amendment (1993) provided constitutional status to Panchayati Raj institutions.
This ensured decentralisation of power to local self government institutions and facilitated
a bottom-up decision-making process in India.
12
Furthermore, recent development theory, championed by Robert Chambers at Sussex
University’s Institute of Development Studies, advocates for a shift from a top-down to
a bottom-up approach to development. In his book Rural Development: Putting the Last
First, Chambers argues that development practice needs to start from the point of view
of poor people’s experiences. This movement finds resonances in the work of Amartya
Sen who, in his book, Development as Freedom said that “the people have to be seen, in
this perspective, as being actively involved – given the opportunity – in shaping their
own destiny, and not just as passive recipients of the fruits of cunning development
programs.” The village planning intervention fits squarely within this thinking by aiming
to empower community members to identify and solve the challenges facing their
communities.
Activities
The village planning process is divided into three phases: the pre-planning phase, the
planning phase itself and the post-planning phase.
Pre-planning phase
In the pre-planning phase, a zero day visit is carried out by a team from Sarathi. During
this day-long visit, a socio-economic overview of the village is conducted, rapport is
built with local service providers and the Panchayat (local self government), a friendly
environment is created in the village and local catalysts are identified. Various tools are
used during this visit including a transect walk, focus group discussions, children’s rally,
hamlet and community meetings and individual contact. A tentative schedule for re-
visit is agreed upon.
Planning phase
The Planning phase is an intensive process carried out in a village for a minimum period
of five days and nights. The Sarathi facilitators use a wide variety of participatory tools
to engage with and understand the community and its needs. Each of the five days has
many specific objectives and expected outcomes. At a high level, these have been
summarised by Mr. Akhilesh Tiwari (Executive Director of Sarathi) as follows:
13
Day 1: Familiarisation with the community (including a village transect, village
rally, school and Anganwadi visits, village meeting, hamlet meetings etc)
Day 2: Collection of qualitative and quantitative data (involving the village youth
in conducting a house-to-house survey)
Day 3: Analysis of data (compiling household survey information and sensitising
the villagers on the key findings)
Day 4: Initiating System Development (establishing a women’s self-help group and
an adolescent girls’ group to carry forward behavioural change work)
Day 5: Developing a Village Action Plan (community members develop a plan on
the basis of the village planning process- identifying the problems facing
them, possible solutions and allocation of responsibility for follow up action)
At the end of Day 5, the Village Action Plan is painted on a wall in a central location in
the village and the responsibility for it is formally handed over from Sarathi facilitators
to the Gram Panchayat in a village meeting. During this meeting, four to five Village
volunteers are identified by the community to drive forward change in the village.
Post-planning
After the five-day village planning intervention, the crucial work of follow up begins.
This takes some specific forms (set out below) and a number of more ad hoc forms:
! Village volunteers undergo a five-day training programme intended to build their

capacity to perform their new roles in the village;
! Sarathi holds Reflection Meetings for groups of volunteers at the cluster level on a
monthly or bimonthly basis;
! A village information centre is established holding a pool of information at the

community level;
! One of Sarathi’s field coordinators visits the village every 2-3 months to meet with
the volunteers and community based organisations, to help follow up the Action
Plan, and to liaise with the frontline government workers in the village;
! Approximately one year after the village planning intervention, a re-assessment

analysis is performed to measure progress against the 14 indicators (See Table 4);
! In some villages, an intensive two-day Mini-Planning exercise is carried out some

time after the village planning intervention to identify new issues that have arisen in
the village;
! At cluster level, Response Planning takes place identifying common needs (p.34).
14
Actors
UNICEF
The UNICEF Office for Uttar Pradesh has funded the village planning intervention,
from January 2005 to December 2007, when the intervention will enter phase-out. The
Lalitpur intervention is part of a broader UNICEF India initiative to implement village
planning in 17 key districts across the country.
Government of Uttar Pradesh

The village planning intervention is a joint initiative of UNICEF and the government of
UP. The UP government is not funding the initiative, but supports its implementation.
Sarathi development foundation

Sarathi is implementing the village planning intervention in Lalitpur. This NGO has a
team of 17 personnel based in the district, who train the volunteers, facilitate the village
planning process, provide follow up in the villages and work with all levels of government
officials.
Village volunteers (or Bal Bandhus – friends of children)

The Village volunteers, selected for their enthusiasm and ability to communicate, form
the backbone of this intervention in the villages. Gender balance and representation of
the various communities within the village is ensured amongst the volunteers. Volunteers
are responsible for driving forward progress in behavioural change and service delivery
after the five-day VP exercise.
Women’s self help groups and adolescent girls’ groups

These two Community based organisations are formed on the 2nd or 3rd day of the village
planning process. They are created to help further behavioural change work at the family
level.
Community based trainers

Certain Village volunteers are selected to become Community based trainers, undertaking
a 12 day training course including 5 days in the field. They are then ready to be volunteers
in their own villages and to facilitate the VP process in other villages.
Field coordinators
Field coordinators are Sarathi employees responsible for facilitating the post-planning
phase. In each block there are 4-5 field coordinators, who visit each village around once
every two to three months. At village level, they are responsible for meetings with village
volunteers and CBOs, following up the action plan and liaising with frontline government
workers in each village. At cluster level, they facilitate reflection meetings for village
volunteers.
15
Outputs
From the re-assessment survey conducted in 151 revenue villages, the following are the
overall outputs against 14 key indicators in all three blocks of Lalitpur district, where
village planning has so far taken place. 6
Table 4: Findings from the reassessment survey7
# Indicators Baseline End line

1. Colostrum and Breastfeeding 39.0% 86.2%
2. Full Immunization 39.9% 49.4%
3. Education (6-14 years) 91.2% 98.0%
4. Use of ORS 24.0% 40.7%
5. Knowledge of HIV/AIDS (14-18 years) N.A. 41.3%
6. Child Marriages 56.0% 55.4%
7. Institutional deliveries 19.1% 28.8%
8. Use of Iodized Salt 15.4% 53.7%
9. Hand washing behaviour (ash/soap) N.A. 66.4%
10. Hand washing behaviour (only soap) N.A. 33.3%
11. Access to sanitation facilities 9.9% 15.1%
12. Use of toilets 39.2% 62.4%
13. Access to safe drinking water source NA 50.9%
14. Birth Registration 0 66.4%
6
Source: Integrated village planning, Lalitpur district, a presentation by the Sarathi Development
Foundation. The above table is based on the results from the Reassessment Exercise conducted in 151
villages covering 12 Nyay Panchayats across three blocks. The data was presented to Government officials
during the Cluster Response Plan meeting.
7
For the Sample, refer to Annexure B. The sample was chosen in order to “understand the status of the
most disadvantaged sections of society” so may underestimate the outputs of VP for all sections of
society.
16
Findings
The tangible outputs of the VP intervention observed in each of the four sample villages
are stated below.
Sunaura
Sunaura appears to be a model village in terms of the progress of the VP intervention. It

has an active Information Centre at the heart of the village, which was used regularly by
the Community based organisations for their meetings. The Information Centre houses
a detailed village file (containing a compilation of household surveys, names of
volunteers, names and backgrounds of school children and all other VP information), an
elaborate social map, a copy of the Action Plan and, crucially, a change map. The change
map was used to monitor progress against ten indicators for every household in the
village. It visually illustrated that the households making the most progress were those
of the girls in the Adolescent Girls’ Group, but it also clearly showed the lack of progress
in the Sahariya hamlet.
There was an active and knowledgeable Adolescent Girls’ Group. The group had divided
village households amongst themselves for the purpose of sharing critical behaviour
change information. The most significant obstacle to the girls’ education was the fact
that the junior school was several kilometres away, and parents were hesitant to send
girls to school alone. But in the group, there were girls who cycled their way to school
and were quite determined to finish their education. Two girls in the group who had
dropped out of school after the 8th grade were encouraged to start alternate education in
sewing and embroidery for which they now travel to another village.
Most significant change

Anoop, a child reporter for the Balvani magazine generated as part of this project,
narrated how prompt action was taken after his drawing was published showing the
local school teacher asleep at his desk. The volunteers and community members
marched to the block level offices to agitate and a new teacher was soon appointed.
The Women’s self-help group held bi-monthly meetings to which the ASHA and the
Anganwadi workers were invited. The members vocally expressed how VP has infused
in them the courage to work with and speak with men, even though initially, they had
been silent spectators at VP meetings. They were keen to become a thrift and trade
17
group and a couple of them had received training in Chennai on sanitary napkin
production.
Most members of the CBOs felt that the important changes brought about by VP include
hand washing with soap; before VP, ash or mud was used (see Table 5 – a leap from 0
per cent at the time of the baseline household survey to 32 per cent in the re-assessment
of September 2006); the increased demand for iodized salt leading to greater availability
in the village (8.7% to 57.1%); and the spread of awareness of HIV/AIDS (nil to 90%).
Improvements in service delivery include the increase in birth registration (the efforts of
the village volunteers have led to the two-year backlog being cleared, taking birth
registration from nil to 100%) and the repairing of hand pumps enabling more families
to access safe drinking water.
Table 5: Sunaura-change indicators
# Indicators Sunaura8
Baseline % Endline %
1 Total households 150 100 70 46.7
2 Children in age group 0-6 months 46 - 5 -
3 Colostrum and breastfeeding 27 58.7 4 80
4 Children in the age group 0-1 year NA - 14 -
5 Birth registration 0 0 14 100
6 Children in the age group 0-3 years 55 - 24 -
7 Full immunization 43 78.2 15 62.5
9 Enrolled in school 117 89.3 69 98.6
10 Children in the age group 14-18 years NA - 30 -
11 Knowledge of HIV/AIDS NA - 27 90
12 Total marriages in the last 2 years 21 - 0 -
13 Child marriage 11 52.4 0 0
14 Families having access to
safe drinking water source NA - 70 100
15 Deliveries occurring last year 46 - 9 -
16 Institutional deliveries 6 13 6 66.7
17 Use of iodized salt 13 8.7 40 57.1
18 Toilets 1 0.7 1 1.4
19 Use of toilets 1 100 1 100
20 Hand-washing (only soap) NA - 23 32.9
8
Source, Sarathi Development Foundation, A Brief Report on re-assessment analysis
18
While the success stories are enthralling, a visit to the village’s Sahariya hamlet shows
a stark contrast. Knowledge of critical information among pregnant women (like
frequency of check-ups and vaccinations during pregnancy, necessity of exclusive
breast feeding) was negligible and most did not use the services of the Anganwadi
Centre. Of the seven Sahariya households, most could not remember the VP exercise
which took place eight months earlier and none could identify the issues on the action
plan. For several months each year, the Sahariya families migrate to construction
sites outside the village for wage labour, which exacerbated their isolation from the
rest of the village. Despite being entitled to them, they did not have ration cards and
were just beginning to receive Employment Guarantee cards that ensured access to
the government’s NREG Scheme.9
Table 6: Sironkhurd-change indicators
# Indicators Sironkhurd
1 Total households 235 100 98 41.7
3 Colostrum and breastfeeding 5 26.3 7 100
4 Children in the age group 0-1 year NA - 21 -
9 Enrolled in school 184 71.6 103 100
10 Children in the age group 14-18 years NA - 31 -
11 Knowledge of HIV/AIDS NA 0 28 90.3
13 Child marriage 9 39.1 0 0
safe drinking water source NA 0 97 99
16 Institutional deliveries 8 11 5 23.8
17 Use of iodized salt 78 33.2 96 98
18 Toilets 95 40.4 77 78.6
19 Use of toilets 39 41.1 70 90.9
20 Hand-washing (only soap) NA 0 34 34.7
9
National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme ensures 100 days of work at Rs. 80 per day for each
family.
19
Sironkhurd exhibited several benefits of VP, but overall, the planning exercise did not
appear as dynamic as in Sunaura and the ongoing success of VP seemed to rest largely
on the shoulders of a single volunteer.
Members of the women’s group identified several benefits of VP, in particular, that they
had become more outgoing and aware of behaviour change issues such as exclusive
breast feeding, sanitation and hand washing. Despite this, there was an acute lack of
critical information among pregnant and lactating mothers. The level of involvement of
women in the VP process was unclear. This was evidenced by the fact that, in spite of
the severity of the problem of lack of institutional delivery services for women (with the
nearest hospital being 10 kms. away), this major issue did not appear on the village
action plan.

In the wake of the awareness generated by village planning, the Adolescent Girls’
Group in Sironkhurd had succeeded in mobilising the village to prevent a 16-year
old girl, Shivani, from getting married.
The women and girls together sang songs and performed skits relating to behaviour
change communication. However, compared to Sunaura, the group lacked role clarity:
the girls did not visit households to disseminate information and were unable to answer
critical questions.
As in other villages, the discussion with men about the benefits of VP suggested a lower
level of involvement. They spoke about changes in women and children’s behaviour
without mentioning any change in themselves.
Direct benefits of VP could be seen in the ST hamlet of the Sahariyas. They described
how the issue of improper drainage around their hand pump was taken up and fixed
during VP with the involvement of the Pradhan and the Village Water Committee. This
contributed to the overall improvement in access to safe drinking water in the village
from nil to 100 per cent. Use of iodized salt and hand washing were the other behaviour
change practices adopted by the ST community.
One of the reasons for optimism for the future of VP is the fact that the village boasts an
extremely active and committed volunteer. Malkan enjoys immense popularity among
the villagers and gets enormous support from them. Added to this, he has family
connections to the Pradhan. Although the Pradhan, her husband (the Pradhanpati) and
the Panchayat Secretary appeared to have participated very little in the VP process and
20
to have very low levels of interest or knowledge about the issues on the action plan, the
volunteer’s links to the Pradhan raise the hope for greater integration in the future between
demand generation and service delivery at the village level.
Jamalpur
The five day VP exercise in Jamalpur was conducted in November 2005 in the first
phase of the district wide intervention. Jamalpur suffers from acute water shortages and
consequently, poor harvests. Poverty is rampant in the village and is not limited to the
Sahariya (ST) population, who migrate in search of work, often taking their families
with them.
Jamalpur has a sizeable Sahariya population and was chosen in order to study the
difference that VP makes to socially excluded groups. The village is split in two by the
main Jhansi road leaving the Sahariya hamlet on one side isolated from the services of
the ‘main’ village on the other. The Sahariya women travel 1 kilometre for water as the
authorities lack the will to extend the water pipes to the other side of the road. Sahariya
parents are hesitant to send children across the road to the primary school: two children
died last year in road accidents and several were beaten up on their way to school.
Shivakuwar Sahariya, one of the more educated girls of the village (currently in the 10th
grade), who is now a village volunteer, has been running an open school for the Sahariya
community children. The VP initiative bolstered her efforts by providing slates, mats
and charts for the children.
Sarathi’s reassessment data suggest that changes in behaviour have been the most
significant impact of VP. Exclusive breastfeeding has increased from 33.33 per cent to
84.62 per cent, use of iodized salt from 6.90 per cent to 77.93 per cent, use of toilets
from nil to 42.86 per cent and hand-washing with soap from nil to 44.83 per cent.
Improving service delivery remains a challenge, as evidenced by the dismal 14.48 per
cent of households with toilets and only 29.63 per cent of deliveries take place in hospitals
because of the difficulties of finding transport to travel the necessary 14 kilometres.
21
Table 7: Jamalpur-change indicators
Indicators Jamalpur
1 Total households 145 100 145 100
3 Colostrum and breastfeeding 1 33.3 11 84.6
4 Children in the age group 0-1 year 8 - 68 -
9 Enrolled in school 88 96.7 134 98.5
11 Knowledge of HIV/AIDS 10 25.6 21 29.6
13 Child marriage 3 100 6 85.7
safe drinking water source 64 44.1 113 77.9
16 Institutional deliveries 1 33.3 8 29.6
17 Use of iodized salt 10 6.9 113 77.9
18 Toilets 5 3.5 21 14.5
19 Use of toilets 0 0 9 42.9
20 Hand-washing (only soap) NA 0 65 44.8

The Anganwadi Worker described the enormous difference that village volunteers
made to her work. They help to mobilise the community and persuade those in the
SC and ST communities of the importance of using her services. Crucially, they
continue to help weigh all the children, enabling her to give tailored advice for
children of different malnourishment grades.
Dashrara
This village, where VP did not take place was chosen for comparison purposes to
understand better the impact of VP. Women in this village had a weaker understanding
of issues related to health and pregnancy, sanitation, exclusive breast-feeding and other
behaviour change issues. They admitted that no daughter or daughter-in-law in the village
had passed high school, except the Anganwadi Worker (AWW) and that the Kushwara
22
community marries off their girls between the ages of 7-11 years. However, the women
seemed unable to reflect on traditional practices or to see any need to change them.
The adolescent girls of Dashrara are shy and those registered to assist the Anganwadi
Worker do not visit the Centre. The mobilisation and tapping of human resources that
has occurred in villages where VP has taken place, through the creation of Community
based organisations, was clearly lacking in Dashrara.
The major problems in the village were similar to those in the other villages: water
shortages, long distance between the village and the nearest hospital; migration of SC
communities to neighbouring states in search of work and a consequent neglect of
children’s education and immunizations. Although the AWC was in the process of being
constructed, the village AWW was an impressive and credible post graduate, possessing
critical information. The ANM also had a very good reputation and the government
infrastructure was well used by the village. This evidence of functional systems in
Dashrara, make it an ideal site for VP intervention in the next phase.
Impact
Ideally, it would be expected that the impact of village planning is that community
members are equipped with the skills to identify the challenges facing their community,
and empowered with connections to the service delivery arm in order to solve them. Yet,
in fact, the impact of VP is much broader and often much less tangible than this.
Undoubtedly, VP has had a huge impact on generating demand for services. Various success
stories such as the appointment of new teachers, installation and repairing of hand-pumps,
scaling up registration of births and increasing the enrollment in primary schools- all
highlight the success of VP in grassroots demand generation. But the more significant
impact lying behind demand-generation is the ability of the community to identify, analyse
and own challenges facing the village. It is this ability, fostered by the five-day stay of the
VP facilitators in the village, which is one of the lasting impacts of the intervention.
Changes in behaviour are another lasting impact of the VP intervention in these villages.
Critical information was far more widely understood by community members where VP
had taken place, and access to this information had clearly brought about impressive
changes in behavioural patterns. In particular, the significance of the use of iodized salt
was very well known among all community members. Similarly, awareness of the causes
of HIV and its transmission was pervasive, save for members of the ST communities.
Both the communities’ awareness of HIV and their willingness to discuss it without
significant inhibitions are testament to the powerful impact of VP on this significant
23
area of behaviour change. Unfortunately, understanding of the importance of exclusive
breast feeding and critical information pertaining to the health of pregnant and lactating
mothers was more tenuous. It varied significantly between the villages and also between
the different communities of each village: perhaps testament to the strength of traditional
beliefs about mother’s first milk.
The impact of village planning in empowering women and adolescent girls within their
communities was impossible to miss. The women of Sunaura talked explicitly of their
new-found courage to speak to and work with men in the village; the women of Sironkhurd
spoke of being more outgoing as a result of the intervention. Comparing the adolescent
girls of Dashrara with those of the villages where VP had taken place, a clear contrast
emerges. This is a significant impact of VP, and its effects should not be underestimated.
VP has also bolstered the cohesiveness of the different groups within the community.
By establishing accountable actors in the village volunteers, by involving the children in
the process of knowledge dissemination, by using the youth to conduct the household
survey, and most importantly, by establishing Community based organisations to shoulder
the responsibility of carrying forward behaviour change, VP has been extremely successful
in fostering a sense of togetherness within each of these groups. Ultimately, it is not just
togetherness within these groups that is important, but also convergence between them
in working towards common goals. However, sights like children’s rallies, monthly
meetings of adolescent girls’ groups, discussions of women’s self help groups, speak of
the impact of VP in instilling unity and purpose in each of these groups. This is clearly
an important step towards convergence between the groups.
As well as convergence of actors, village planning achieves convergence of sectors: health,

education, nutrition, development and child protection. By their very nature, behavioural
change issues connect different sectors which are usually dealt with in a compartmentalised
manner both by development agencies and by the government. For example, exclusive breast-
feeding engages questions of child nutrition and child health (traditionally mother’s first
milk is considered unclean, so the child is fed with goat’s milk or water, risking infection).
Similarly, prevention of child marriage engages concerns of child protection, girls’ education,
household work, maternal and child health (increased risk of complications in early pregnancies).
Within the five-day village planning intervention, the villagers are educated about issues
from all sectors, given an opportunity to evaluate the services of all sectors and devise
solutions to all problems faced. The platform of village planning enables issues from all
sectors to be dealt with holistically making clear the links between them. Besides that, by
devising forums such as Block Task Force (BTF) and District Task Force (DTF), where
different departments such as ICDS, Health, Development and Education meet, village
planning also attempts to fight the challenge of silo-working in the government.
24
Analysis and Recommendations
We turn now to analyse the findings from the field in relation to the three key research
questions.
Service delivery
Village level
For the villages as a whole, it is evident that village planning has undeniably encouraged
significant behavioural change among the villagers. This is true not just for the four
‘behavioural change indicators’ (exclusive breast-feeding, use of iodized salt, HIV/AIDS
awareness and hand-washing with soap), but also in relation to various services. For
example, usage of toilets has increased in each village as a result of the intervention and
demand for the construction of new toilets has increased. Similarly, demand for
institutional delivery has increased, as has demand for birth registration.
However, important though these changes are, generating demand for services is only
half the battle. Ensuring an equal and opposite improvement in supply of services is
also essential, if village planning is not to be just a recipe for raised and disappointed
expectations. For example, despite the hype of the government’s Total Sanitation
Campaign, toilet construction came across as one of the most intractable government
services. A combination of cost of construction and long-winded procedural formalities
for construction meant that the coverage of toilets had barely increased from 0.7 per
cent to 1.4 per cent in Sunaura and from 3.5 per cent to 14.5 per cent in Jamalpur. The
success in Sironkhurd, unfortunately, seemed like something of an outlier with coverage
increasing by nearly 38 per cent to 78 per cent10. Similarly, despite the demand for
safe institutional deliveries, the distant location of hospitals and the difficulty of
procuring transport at night made meeting this demand unlikely. Finally, while the
demand for birth registration has increased, there were a few cases where the issuing
of birth certificates was obstructed at the village level. For instance, despite being
provided with a list of children to be registered four months ago, the Panchayat
Secretary of Sironkhurd, who resided in the Lalitpur district, had still failed to take
any action to register the children.
10
See output tables, p. 18, 19 and 21
25
Given the challenges of official-turnover at block and district level, the village level is the
most crucial in ensuring effective service delivery and achieving integration between village
planning and the government system. It appears the most important factors determining
service delivery at the village level are the active involvement of the Pradhan and his
committee members in village planning and the functioning of the six committees: Water,
Health, Education, Construction, Development and Planning. In all three villages, all but the
Construction Committee (which deals with considerable amounts of money) were defunct
and the Pradhans openly admitted that most committee members do not even know which
committee they are members of. Also, the Pradhans’ knowledge of village planning was
superficial and did not extend to any knowledge of the issues on the action plan.
Recommendations
! The Pradhan and the members of all six committees should be explicitly and
publicly involved in the village planning process.
- Warm-up meetings should be held between Sarathi and the Pradhan and
members of the six committees during the zero day exercise to explain their
role in village planning.
- During the five-day process, groups of villagers should meet the Pradhan
and committee members as they meet other government service providers.
! The Pradhan and committee members need to be educated about the government
welfare schemes to which the villagers are entitled. They must be clear about
who is entitled to the schemes and how to achieve access, so that they can join
with Sarathi and the volunteers in sharing this information with the community
during village planning and while working to achieve access afterwards.
If the Pradhan is to take a more prominent role during village planning and in its follow
up, certain capacity-building steps need to be taken. The Pradhans met by the team had
painfully low levels of knowledge about the villages they represented, yet this would be
easy to rectify, as the volunteers and frontline government workers often had access to
all crucial information.
Recommendations
! The Pradhan must be provided with the village statistical data compiled by the
village volunteers during the village planning exercise. On an ongoing basis,
volunteers along with frontline government workers (AWW, ANM, headmaster,
etc.) should update the Pradhan on the progress made in their areas, so he is
equipped with an updated picture of the village.
! Sarathi’s initiative to begin training for Pradhans in the next phase of village
planning is to be commended and, again, should be started at the beginning of
any replication of the model. In addition, a forum for Pradhans to share
experiences and best practice in relation to village planning would be an important
innovation.
26
Block level
The Block Task Force (BTF)11 is the block-level body charged with overseeing the village
planning intervention. There are various concerns associated with the overseeing body
being a time-limited task force, rather than the permanent structure of the Block
Development Council, but in the short term, this should succeed in ensuring focus on VP.
However, the BTF which is supposed to meet each quarter has only met twice in the two
years that village planning has been existing. The agenda of the third meeting of the BTF
held on 5th July 2007 (and attended by the research team) was to review existing challenges
and set targets for the next six months. Although many challenges were noted by officials
from the relevant sectors, little was achieved in terms of target-setting. Unfortunately,
government officials seemed to view village planning as an NGO initiative, without
seeing the burden on themselves to partner with that NGO in ensuring effective delivery
of services and integration of village planning into the government system.
Recommendations
! BTF meetings must be held regularly and frequently in order that effective working
relationships between Sarathi and block officials can be developed and built
upon.
! Visits of block level officials both to see village planning in action and to watch
the training of village volunteers should be actively encouraged. Sarathi’s
initiative to hold volunteer training at block offices to facilitate this, is much to
be commended.
! In addition to the volunteers, village Pradhans should be encouraged to participate
in BTF meetings. This will help in building relationships between the village
and the block; it will also make the Pradhan upwardly accountable for the progress
of VP in his/her village.
District level
Recommendations
! Visits of district level officials both to see village planning in action and to watch
the training of village volunteers should be actively encouraged.
! The active engagement of Sarathi staff with the constantly changing district
officials is to be commended. Timely orientation of new district officials,
combined with visits to see VP should help to engage the individuals as well as
the system at district level with VP.
! The process of elevating service delivery concerns to the district level through
the Response Plans must be made robust.
11
Membership includes the BDO, ADO, ABSA, MOIC, Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) –
ICDS, Junior Engineer – Water Works Dept.
27
The prime challenge at the district level is the frequent transfer of district officials. The
District Magistrate has changed four times and the Chief Development Officer thrice
since September 2006. Also, between the start of village planning in Lalitpur in August
2005 and July 2007, the district has had three BSAs and five CMOs. Such high transfer
rates account for low levels of awareness of VP among district officials and necessitate
a cumbersome and recurring task for Sarathi of orientating new officials. However,
more important than engaging the individuals is the challenge of engaging the system at
the district level. As yet, there have been only two meetings of the DTF in two years12.
The process of elevating service delivery concerns from the village and block level to
the district level should be institutionalised, so that it is not disrupted by changes in
district level personnel.
Social inclusion
Villages in Lalitpur are ridden with old social hierarchies and caste equations that can
tip any development process, if not carefully negotiated. The dominant castes are Bundelas
and Brahmins; Lodhis, Yadavs and Kushwahas constitute the intermediate or Other
Backward Castes (OBCs); Ahirwars, Banskars Dhanuks, Basrohs, Khatiks, Bednis,
Balmiks and Koris belong to the Scheduled Castes (SC); while Kabutraras and Sahariyas
are classified as Scheduled Tribes (ST).
This section will address the impact of VP amongst the Sahariya13 community, in
particular. Along with the Kabutraras (who were not represented in our sample villages),
Sahariyas are usually landless, always live on the fringes of their villages and are
considered to be indifferent to immunization, nutritional advice and standard education.
Through this focus on Sahariyas, we seek to make recommendations about larger
questions of inclusiveness and participation.
12
DTF membership includes the DM, BSA, CMO, District Project Officer - ICDS, and the Exec Engineer
– Water Dept.
13
The population of Sahariyas has been estimated to be around one hundred thousand in Lalitpur and
they also form a sizeable social group in some districts of MP and Rajasthan. They do not possess
sufficient agricultural land to earn a livelihood from, so they augment their income by collecting minor
forest produce. Sahariya women with loads of fire wood on their heads on their way to sell them are a
common sight on roads. The depletion of forest cover had driven this historically exploited community
into wage employment, particularly in stone mining. When stone mining activity ceased, it resulted in
the collapse of their economic opportunities in Lalitpur, causing them to migrate to nearby districts for
several months in a year.
28
Volunteers
! More concentrated capacity-building efforts need to be focused on ST
volunteers. The separate training for ST volunteers proposed by Sarathi for
the next phase of the intervention is crucial and should be included from the
outset when replicating the model
village planning makes it a top priority to address social exclusion by selecting volunteers
from each of the different social groups in the village. Identification of an ST volunteer
is a hugely important symbolic step and is crucial to ensuring that the community has a
link to VP. However, the success of a volunteer is largely dependent on the amount of
support they receive from their community, and ST volunteers often receive little
encouragement from their community. Sarathi pointed out the huge disparity in
Sironkhurd between the amount of support the community-based trainer enjoys (also
because he is related to the Pradhan and some co-volunteers), and the volunteers from
the Sahariya hamlet who struggle even to be recognised.
Involvement and ownership

Despite having a volunteer from their own community and despite village planning
being by its very nature a participatory process, a sense of involvement in or ownership
of the VP process by the ST community was acutely lacking. Certain ST community
members were not sure that they had been present in the village at the time of the five-
day VP intervention. The ST community members’ memories of the five-day process
were, if anything, of people coming from the main village to explain things to them
(behaviour change communication). There was no sense that the Sahariyas had
themselves gone to the main village to participate in village-wide activities and, with
one exception, no ST community members could identify any issues they had raised for
the village action plan.
Recommendations
! Ensure that the five-day VP process takes place when the Sahariya community
is present in the village and not migrating in search of work. This is the most
basic barrier to their identification with the process.
! Strongly encourage ST community members to participate fully in village-wide
activities. Whilst recognising that they are unlikely to feel able to speak up, at
least ensure that they are present as a step to engaging the less powerful and the
more powerful in the same socio-political space.
! In this way, balance prescriptive and participatory elements of VP with respect
to the Sahariya population, so that VP is not solely associated in their minds
with exhortations to change behaviour.
! During the five-day VP exercise, more time needs to be devoted to identifying
issues with the Sahariya community. If ‘real’ needs are identified, the chances
of the community identifying with and taking ownership of the Action Plan will
be significantly increased.
29
Behaviour change
In the Sahariya hamlets of Sunaura, Sironkhurd and Jamalpur, the levels of knowledge
about HIV/AIDS, use of iodized salt, exclusive breast-feeding and other behaviour change
issues were painfully low. This would not have been helped by the manner in which
critical information was communicated, or by the lack of ST involvement in the
Community Based Organisations (CBO)that drive forward behaviour change.
Recommendation
! At the risk of heightening traditional social fissures, the merits of establishing
separate CBOs in the Sahariya hamlet should be considered on a village-by-
village basis and particularly, where there is a sizeable Sahariya population.
This may help to address the inadequate behaviour change trends and engender
a sense of participation.
Service delivery
In all three villages, ST community members were less likely to access key services. In
Jamalpur, the Anganwadi worker suggested that it was their ignorance and lack of
education, which meant that they did not understand the significance of the AWC services
and failed to send their children to the AWC. Similar arguments were made in Sironkhurd:
it seems that service providers blame the STs for their lack of service access. Equally,
ST community members were unlikely to have access to the numerous government
schemes whose benefits they are entitled to. The government of India has an elaborate
array of social welfare schemes, which prioritise socially excluded groups, yet these
groups very rarely realise their rights to access these schemes.
Recommendations
! More efforts need to be focused on breaking down the barriers to ST community
members accessing key services; more efforts need to be focused on frontline
service workers reminding them of their duty to provide services for all.
! village planning must place more emphasis on educating the Pradhan, volunteers
and community members on the government schemes whose benefits they are
entitled to.
! To prove what VP can accomplish for ST community members, Field
Coordinators should press for speedy sanctioning of ration cards and employment
guarantee (NREG) cards and encourage the community to advocate for access
to other schemes as a step towards addressing livelihood issues.
Follow up
Since it appears to take longer to generate in the ST community a sense of involvement
in the VP process by way of the ability to identify issues affecting them and an
30
understanding of how to solve them, the post-planning phase becomes more crucial for
this community. Follow-up must not be limited to further advocating the need for
behaviour change.
Recommendations
! The post-planning stage needs to be vigorous in the ST hamlets. Field
coordinators and volunteers should engage the community on a regular basis in
identifying new issues and proposing solutions. In this way, this crucial skill will
be instilled in the community members and the ST volunteer, so that ultimately
they can run the process on their own.
Sustainability
Discussions of sustainability must take into account the different perspectives of the
funders, the implementing NGO and the community. Given that village planning has to
continue to be successful, once UNICEF concludes its funding and Sarathi withdraws
from Lalitpur, it must be the community’s perspective on sustainability that takes
precedence. The sustainability of the village planning intervention rests on the shoulders
of the Community based organisations and the Pradhan and village committees,
encouraged by the volunteers.
Community based organisations

Community based organisations should be at the heart of the VP process. These are
grassroots institutions with potential for collective action and huge responsibility rests
on their shoulders for pushing for follow up to the actions on the Village Action Plan
and driving forward behaviour change in the village. The Women’s self-help groups and
the Adolescent Girls’ Groups can point to some considerable successes, but we came
across several groups that lacked clarity of role and purpose.
Recommendations
! More focus is needed on the CBOs, both in the five-day VP exercise, and in the
work of the field coordinators in the post-planning stage. Specific tasks (be they
household visits to communicate behaviour change information, monitoring
progress and charting it on a change map, following up actions on the village
action plan, etc.) need to be assigned to the CBOs early, on so they fully understand
their purpose, and they need to be trained to carry out these tasks. Functionality
of CBOs needs to be regularised across villages.
! Women’s self-help groups should be encouraged to take on new roles, for example
as thrift and trade groups supported by NABARD, or as Mother’s Support Groups
supported by ICDS. Such new roles will bolster their sense of identity and purpose
and ensure that the group continues to function.
31
Monitoring progress
Monitoring progress should be an important component of the work of the CBOs. The
change map used by adolescent girls in Sunaura was an impressive example of the role
the CBOs could take in the monitoring progress. It had many benefits, among them
engendering competition between the girls to ensure their own household was seen to
be a success and creating incentives to communicate critical information to the households
for which they were responsible. Change maps have been used on and off by Sarathi
during the course of the VP intervention.
Recommendations
! Change mapping is critical to monitoring progress and celebrating the successes
of VP. It is a useful tool to generate enthusiasm for the benefits of VP.
! Sarathi should design a suitably complex change map (along the lines of that
used in Sunaura) that measures progress in each household against a number of
indicators. The CBOs in each village should be made responsible for regularly
monitoring and recording change on the map.
Dynamism
With the exception of the village volunteers and some CBO members, most community
members, including the Pradhan, could not recall the issues on the Action Plan. Usually,
VP is equated with encouragement of behaviour change and only when prompted, did
some of our respondents remember that the Action Plan was painted on the village
walls. What seemed to us a very visible call to action may have been seen by the
villagers as no more than another IEC (Information Education Communication) notice
painted on the walls.
The greatest risk of the Action Plan is that it becomes a static document when it needs to
be part of a dynamic process. For example, the first issue on the Sironkhurd Action Plan
concerned the AWW coming late to the village every day. The proposed solution was for
someone to explain to her the importance of coming on time. When the AWH was asked
whether this had worked, she hesitantly said that it has not changed a thing. The nature
of some of the solutions is such that though they are accomplished, the root cause of the
problem may not have been solved. In the same Action Plan, it was noted that the children
in the village are weak in their studies. The solution was to hold a joint parent-teacher
meeting in the presence of the Pradhan. Though the community members said that this
had taken place, they found it difficult to say with any certainty whether it had improved
the situation.
32
Recommendations
! When the Action Plan is painted on the wall, blank rows and columns should be
added. The community can use these rows to record the new issues they identify
and the columns can be used to record progress against actions. In this way the
Action Plan becomes not just a relic of a five-day intervention, but the focus of
a dynamic and ongoing process of issue identification and solution.
Consolidation
It is critical to the success of the VP initiative to have time for thorough follow-up in
each village. Simply drafting an Action Plan and setting up CBOs in a five-day
intervention is not sufficient to ensure that the long-term aims of VP are met. The priority
should be for consolidation over coverage, to ensure that full benefits are gained from
the resources invested in VP. Those villages which had experienced thorough follow-up
in the first phase clearly show the benefits of this approach.
Recommendations
! It is crucial to slow down the implementation of village planning in Lalitpur.
Rushing to complete 365 villages in the remaining 3 Blocks (which are more
backward than the district hub) in the next four months seems counter-productive.
! More time and resources should be invested in timely follow-up with each village
after the five-day VP intervention. More focus should be put on the important
role of field coordinators in encouraging volunteers, working to embed CBOs,
liaising with frontline government workers and driving progress against the Action
Plan.
Integration
Critical to the sustainability of this project is the degree to which it is successful in
integrating with existing government systems. Most issues raised by the VP process are
capable of being tackled at the village level: integration at the village level should
therefore, be the top priority.
Recommendations
! The six Panchayat committees need to be strengthened and used as the appropriate
forum to follow up sectoral issues from the Action Plan and any further issues
that arise in the post-planning phase.
! Village volunteers and CBO members should be encouraged to be active in the
local Panchayat meetings, which are the best forum for discussion of the issues
raised in VP and beyond. This will engender a culture of participation in the
local governance system and strengthen grassroots democracy, as well as effecting
integration of VP into the government systems and thereby, preventing parallelism.
33
As noted in the previous section, in all the villages visited, most of the local Panchayat
committees were defunct as a result of which important local issues like health and
education do not get discussed, although the resources for the solution of most problems
are well within reach. However, it is far from impossible to revitalize these committees.
In Sironkhurd, the village volunteer has succeeded in arranging a special meeting of the
education committee on 9 July 2007. This is the season of school re-opening and
admissions and the meeting agenda was to discuss the denial of school admission to
children without birth certificates. The Panchayat secretary is also invited so that he can
facilitate the issuing of the certificates from the block level on the spot.
Response planning
Response planning is an exercise undertaken to consolidate village action plans at the
cluster level and identify common and specific issues across the cluster. The issues that
need funds and responses from beyond the village are then tabulated and presented to
the block level officials for further action. Response Plans are crucial in facilitating
communication with the block and district levels, by translating the mass of village-
level information into neat cluster-level tables that block and district officials can easily
digest. It is a key tool in opening dialogue with the service delivery wing. So far, Response
Planning has been completed for 12 clusters covering 151 revenue villages.
Recommendations
! Response Planning needs to take place much sooner after the village planning
intervention. In this way, it can form the regularised mechanism to feed back to
the block and district level officials the service needs at the grassroots and facilitate
more rapid response on behalf of the government.
34
Conclusion
Having considered the three key questions, the conclusions arrived at by the research
team are as below.
Social inclusion remains one of the key challenges to the success of village planning.
Traditional hierarchies in the villages are slow to change. Despite inclusion of all
groups being an inherent feature of the design of village planning, lack of ownership
of the village planning process by socially excluded groups (especially, STs) remains
a significant impediment. Focused attention and more rigorous follow-up with these
social groups are required to ensure that the benefits of village planning are shared
equally by all.
Village planning has been very successful in generating demand for services on the part
of the community. But this increased demand still needs to be met by an equal and
opposite improvement in supply. Sarathi is now making considerable strides to address
the challenge of inadequate service delivery (for example, cluster level response planning,
meetings of the block and district task force), sensitive to the dynamics of the relationship
between an NGO and government, but there is still a long way to go. Any future attempts
to replicate this model should address this vigorously from the start, making every attempt
to integrate the government at all levels in the work of the intervention.
Integration with the government system is ultimately what will determine the
sustainability of the intervention. Success in this will ensure that village planning moves
beyond being a project to being an empowering and sustainable approach. Intensity of
follow-up with each village in the immediate aftermath of village planning is crucial to
making this approach self-sustaining. Given this, attempting to cover over 300 villages
in the most backward blocks of the Lalitpur district in four months (as required by the
December 2007 deadline for all seventeen village planning districts) risks not realising
the full benefits of the investment in the intervention. Consolidation must be prioritised
over coverage.
35
References
Integrated Child Development Services, Department of Women and Child Development,

Uttar Pradesh, (2006): Changing Behaviour: Nutrition and Health (Best Practices
and Success Stories).
Sainath, P., (1996): Everybody Loves a Good Drought: stories from India’s poorest
districts, Penguin Books India.
Sarathi Development Foundation, Annual Report, 2006.
Sarathi Development Foundation, Annual Report, 2005.
Sarathi Development Foundation, Quarterly Report, 2006.
Sarathi Development Foundation, (2006) A Brief Report on Reassessment Analysis.
Sarathi Development Foundation, (February 2007) Integrated Village Planning: Birdha,

Jakhaura and Talbehat Blocks, Lalitput District, Uttar Pradesh, Sarathi
presentation.
Sen, Amartya, (2000): Development as Freedom, Anchor Books.
UNICEF, (2005): Concept Note: Village Planning Intervention and its follow up.
UNICEF, (2007): The State of the World’s Children 2007: Women and Children: The
Double Dividend of Gender Equality.
UNICEF, (2004): Mapping India’s Children: UNICEF in Action.
WIZMIN, (2006) Situational Analysis Report..
36
Annexure I
A: Map of Lalitpur district,UP
37
B: Nyaya Panchayats - At a glance
S No Name of Nyaya Number of Number of Total HHs HHs %age

Panchayat Gram Revenue Covered
Panchayats Villages
Birdha Block
1 Birdha 8 14 3377 1226 36.3
2 Jeeron 4 10 1337 484 36.2
3 Dongrakala 7 19 2370 872 36.8
4 Simardha 6 17 2180 377 17.2
Jakhaura Block
5 Nanaura 7 13 2761 1236 44.8
6 Lagaun 7 12 2451 976 39.8
7 Sirsi 5 8 1948 755 38.7
8 Thanvara 5 9 1896 678 35.7
Talbehat Block
9 Sunaura 5 13 2033 885 43.5
10 Banguankala 7 12 3698 824 22.3
11 Pooravirdha 6 11 3154 1118 35.4
12 Servaskala 6 13 2784 1113 39.9
TOTAL 73 151 29989 10544 35.1
Sample of Reassessment Survey - A Brief Report on Reassessment Analysis, Sarathi

Development Foundation, 2006
38
C: Excerpt from an action plan – Jamalpur
S No: Issue Problem Reason Solution Progress For whom Deadline Responsibility Monitoring Authorities
Concerned
1 Drinking No drinking Pipeline is Pipeline to The Panchayat Community 19.11.05 Prakash Pappu Government,
water water. not laid down cover the has passed the Pradhanpati (Prem Panchayat,
completely. entire village.
resolution. Narayan) UNICEF
Water from Old tanks to Problem
the handpump be repaired brought to the
dries out from or new ones notice of the
January to be built. waterworks
onwards. department.
Only 3 of 24 Funds have
handpumps been
work. sanctioned.
2 Secondary One Shortage of Teachers to Panchayat and Children 30.11.05 Education Raja Bhaiya ABSA
school headmaster teachers be appointed. the Education committee,
teacher and one para committee Pradhan
39
teacher for would advocate.
443
students.
The There is a New school

children from highway to be opened.
the Sahariya between the
hamlet don’t village and
go to school. theschool
Drinking water No drinking Boring has Drinking Application to 29.11.05 Sonia, Uma Devi Jitendra ABSA
in Junior and water for been done water to be be submitted to
secondary schools. children thrice in the made the ABSA.
children have secondary available to Education
to go back home schools, but the children. committee to
or to a well there is still no Handpump consider the
situated 50 m from drinking water. to be matter.
the school. repaired.
S No: Issue Problem Reason Solution Progress For whom Deadline Responsibility Monitoring Authorities
Concerned
3 Anganwadi Children are Children are Children Parents and Children 25.11.05 Jai pal Singh, Manoj Panchayat
not being malnourished. should go to AWW to hold Panchayat
weighed five out of 28 the a meeting.
children are Anganwadi
under third centre on
grade of time and the
malnutrition. AWW to
40
weigh them
on time.
4 Toilets Problems No toilets. The Construct Those Community Panchayat Pradhan Panchayat Block,
experienced existing toilets proper toilets interested to get to propose (Uma Devi) members UNICEF
during nights are not usable. with water toilets after Block
supply constructed gives
should give directions.
their names to
the Pradhan
5 Birth certificate Children There are no Birth Panchayat has Children Indefinite Pradhan, Community Block
don’t birth certificates asked the secretary and members
have identity certificates to be issued secretary to community
issue them
C: Excerpt from a Cluster Response Plan – Sunaura
Thematic Area Common issues Specific issues Proposed Solutions

Education In spite of well In village Sunauri 336 ! Primary school
intentioned efforts only children, in the absence building has been
93.1% children in the of primary school constructed but has not
age group 6-14 years building, are left with no yet cleared quality check
could be enrolled in option but to sit in inspection. BDO would
school Panchayat Bhawan write to the education
building having a department to quickly
capacity of 3 small complete the
rooms where an proceedings.
Anganwadi centre is
also functioning
In primary schools 1837 Children in village ! Construction of upper
children are enrolled in Piprai are required to primary school has
the academic year 2006- travel a distance of 5-6 already been proposed
07. For all these children kms. to reach the upper and the work would only
the opportunities for primary school be initiated in the next
higher learning is academic year.
restricted to only 04 ! The Gram
upper primary schools at Panchayat would pass
the cluster level another resolution
towards the same.
Although at the cluster ! There is one Necessary changes
level teacher: student headmaster and 2 para would be made at the
ratio is 1:45 yet there are teachers for 336 children NPRC level
number of schools in Sunauri (112:1)
where quality of ! In Hasguan there is
education is suffering only 1 para teacher for
due to absence of 92 children
teachers
After a gap of two BDO would write to the
academic years the education department in
children in upper this regard
primary school
Radhapur have finally
got a teacher posted in
their school but the
classes are still being
organized in primary
school building
41
Health and Only 45.6% children in In village Hasguan as The BDO would write to
nutrition the age group 0-3 years per the reassessment the health department to
are fully immunized survey (32% HH instruct the ANM posted
coverage) the full in the Bhuchera sub
immunization rate is 0% centre in this regard
The services of The post of the ! The position is open
Anganwadi centre is not Anganwadi worker in only for a candidate
accessible for everyone Kadesarabansi is vacant belonging to scheduled
caste and since such a
candidate is not
available therefore it is
still vacant. The issue
has been brought to the
notice of the department
and necessary action
will be taken as per their
directions
! Proposal for mini-
centres has been
submitted and once
sanctioned one mini
centre would be setup in
all remote hamlets
Weighing is not regular Anganwadi workers
with the support of
village volunteers would
weigh all children and
supervisors would
monitor the process
The Anganwadi centre in The decision in this
piprai village is regard has been taken at
functioning in the school the policy level and
premises which is located therefore no solution
at a distance from the could be proposed at
village block level.
Water, 76.6% hand pumps are in In Mota hamlet in The water level in these
environment working condition Hasguan village only one three hand pumps is not
and sanitation out of four hand pumps up to the expected
are in working condition levels therefore based
on the resolution of
Gram Panchayat
process of re-bore
would be carried out
42
Surroundings of the hand A list of all hand pumps
pumps is not clean without pitching should
be submitted based on
which all pitching’s
would be done
Water, Based on the HH survey HH interested in
environment (43.5% HH coverage) constructing toilets
and sanitation only 12.9% HH have a (minimum 10 HH)
toilet constructed should get a resolution
passed in this regard and
get the toilets
constructed on their own
and receive support
from the block office
Due attention is not being No toilets have been Funds received for toilet
paid to hygiene behaviour constructed in the primary construction for all such
in primary schools schools in Khera and schools where toilets
Khadri have already been
constructed would be
transferred for toilet
construction in Khera
and Khadri
43
Background Note on the Internship Programme
UNICEF India’s Knowledge Community on Children in India (KCCI) initiative aims to

enhance knowledge management and sharing on policies and programmes related to
children in India. Conceived as part of the Knowledge Community on Children in India,
the objectives of the 2007 Summer Internship Programme were to give young graduate
students from across the world the opportunity to gain field level experience and exposure
to the challenges and issues facing development work in India today.
UNICEF India hosted over 57 interns from India, Germany, Denmark, Bolivia, Japan,
U.S., U.K., Australia, Ireland, Norway , Finland, Bangladesh, Canada, Italy to
participate in the 2007 Summer Internship Programme. Interns were grouped into
teams of 3-4 and placed in thirteen different research institutions across eleven states
(Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil
Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) studying field level interventions for children
from 4 June to 8 August 2007.
Under the supervision of partner research institutes, the interns contributed a combination
of desk research and fieldwork, the end result of which were 15 case studies of UNICEF
assisted Government programmes and other interventions aimed at promoting the rights
of the children and their development. Six of these are supplemented by short films
capturing the reality of children and their families. The case studies cover key sectors
linked to children and development in India, and address important policy issues for
children in India. These include: primary education, child survival, health, nutrition,
water and sanitation, child protection and village planning.
Another unique feature of this programme was the composition of the research teams
comprising interns with multi-disciplinary academic skills and multi-culutural
backgrounds. Teams were encouraged to pool their skills and knowledge prior to the
fieldwork period and to devise a work plan that allowed each team member an equal
role in developing the case study. Group work and cooperation were key elements in the
production of outputs, and all this evident in the interesting and multi-faceted narratives
that these case studies are on development in India.
The 2007 Summer Internship Programme culminated in a final workshop at which all
teams of interns presented their case studies and films to discuss the broader issues
relating to improvements in service delivery, elimination of child labour, promoting
child rights and decentralization and village planning. The KCCI Internship case studies
series aims to disseminate this research to a wider audience and provide valuable
contributions to KCCI’s overall knowledge base.

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For every child

Design & Printing : Rajdhani Art Press | 98102 45301

The Knowledge Community on Children in India is a partnership between UNICEF and

ABSA Assistant Basic Shiksha Adhikari (Education Officer)

In summary, we found that VP has succeeded in generating an increase in demand for

There remain challenges to ensuring the sustainability of village planning benefits.

However, these successes are well-documented, both by the Sarathi Development

Table 1: Details of qualitative data collection

PRA Tool Used With whom

Table 2: Key Development indicators: Uttar Pradesh and India

INDICATORS4 India Uttar Pradesh

Table 3: Key development indicators: Uttar Pradesh and Lalitput district

INDICATORS5 Uttar Pradesh Lalitpur

Fundamentally, the VP intervention represents a ‘demand-creation approach’ to

! Village volunteers undergo a five-day training programme intended to build their

! A village information centre is established holding a pool of information at the

! Approximately one year after the village planning intervention, a re-assessment

! In some villages, an intensive two-day Mini-Planning exercise is carried out some

Government of Uttar Pradesh

Sarathi development foundation

Village volunteers (or Bal Bandhus – friends of children)

Women’s self help groups and adolescent girls’ groups

Community based trainers

Table 4: Findings from the reassessment survey7

# Indicators Baseline End line

Sunaura appears to be a model village in terms of the progress of the VP intervention. It

Most significant change

Table 5: Sunaura-change indicators

Table 6: Sironkhurd-change indicators

Most significant change

Most significant change

As well as convergence of actors, village planning achieves convergence of sectors: health,

Involvement and ownership

Community based organisations

Integrated Child Development Services, Department of Women and Child Development,

Sarathi Development Foundation, Annual Report, 2006.

Sarathi Development Foundation, Annual Report, 2005.

Sarathi Development Foundation, Quarterly Report, 2006.

Sarathi Development Foundation, (2006) A Brief Report on Reassessment Analysis.

Sarathi Development Foundation, (February 2007) Integrated Village Planning: Birdha,

Sen, Amartya, (2000): Development as Freedom, Anchor Books.

UNICEF, (2004): Mapping India’s Children: UNICEF in Action.

WIZMIN, (2006) Situational Analysis Report..

A: Map of Lalitpur district,UP

S No Name of Nyaya Number of Number of Total HHs HHs %age

Sample of Reassessment Survey - A Brief Report on Reassessment Analysis, Sarathi

The There is a New school

Thematic Area Common issues Specific issues Proposed Solutions

UNICEF India’s Knowledge Community on Children in India (KCCI) initiative aims to

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