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Rural
In Gujarat, the third round of gram (village)
panchayat elections were held on December 10, 2006
Prior to this the pre-election voters awareness
campaign was organized in collaboration with other
CSOs in six talukas of four districts (Ahmedabad,
Sabarkantha, Kutchch and Jamnagar districts).
Various strategies were used to inform the citizens
about their voting rights: the regional level
networks of citizen leaders were oriented on how to
conduct meetings at the community level, rallies
were conducted, posters were pasted in the villages
on the need and importance of electing the right
candidate, information centers were set up to
facilitate the nomination process and the regular
newsletter on rural governance issues (Panchayat
Jagat) also carried information on rules and
procedure for conducting gram panchayat elections.
150 Citizen leaders from 40 panchayats in
Himmatnagar, Vijaynagar, Idar and Modasa talukas of
Sabarkantha district were oriented on the provisions
of the Right to Information Act, National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme, and the role of
citizens in its implementation A special orientation
was also organized for 30 women citizen leaders on
the above themes, including the newly enacted
Domestic Violence Act. In collaboration with the
State Institute of Rural Development a two days
orientation on panchayat finance and good governance
was conducted through SATCOM for 8,000 panchayts in
the State.
In Rajasthan, eight panchayat resource centers are
operational in eight blocks of Jodhpur district.
Block level meetings of PRI representatives was
organized for Shergarh and Balesar blocks in which
all the stakeholders like the members of the
resource group, the ward panchs, members of the
panchayat samiti and the President (Zilla Pramukh)
of the district participated. A series of
communication material have also been developed for
the capacity building of staff as well as PRI
representatives besides the on-going broadcasting of
the weekly radio program and news bulletin Swaraj;
i.e. two films on gram sabha, a manual containing
the operational aspects of Panchayati Raj Act for
PRI representatives and a report on the Status of
Panchayti Raj in western Rajasthan.
Urban
In Gujarat, for improving the services given by
municipalities, monitoring of sanitation services
was carried out for Dholka and Khedbhrama
municipalities. Information on the service delivery
mechanism was collected from the respective
municipalities and these were shared with the
community to devise ways to improve them. In Dholka
and Khedbhrama municipalities efforts are being made
to encourage the citizens register the births and
deaths in their families specially those belonging
to the nomadic community and those engaged as daily
wage laborers. An issue paper of Veraval town was
prepared as part of the development plan being
prepared by GUDC to suggest mechanism for including
the vulnerable sections in the Development Plan of
the town.
In Jodhpur, the processes of setting up an urban
resource center have been initiated and the
preliminary data collection regarding the vulnerable
groups and the existing level of basic services
available has been completed. In a daylong seminar
40 stakeholders discussed about the centrally
sponsored National Urban Renewal Mission at Jodhpur.
Subsequently, these discussions were shared in the
state level seminar organized in collaboration with
PRIA.
An action research on ‘Strengthening Women’s
Participation in the Public Sphere’ has been
initiated in four districts (Jodhpur, Tonk, Banswara
and Junjhunu) located in 4 regions of Rajasthan. The
aim is to create an enabling environment for the
participation of women in the public sphere through
consultations, capacity building and advocacy with
stakeholders. In a daylong workshop the methodology
of the study was shared with stakeholders like donor
agencies, academic institutions, government
officials and CSOs for their suggestions.
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