Indiginous peoples Foundation(introduction)

The poverty and extreme impoverishment condition of the state of Orissa is well documented and needs no repetition. There is no doubt Orissa is one of the poorest states in the entire country. Orissa is home to a significant portion of population, especially belonging to SC and ST category who are arguably the most disadvantaged social groups. In the last six decades or many attempts have been made to bring about a change in the overall socio-economic condition of the poor and marginalized. While there have been some progress in this front one tends to think that more could have been done. The functioning of various programmes show that there are a lot of corruption, leakages in the system and one feels that these could have been contained with a little participation of the civil society organisations. To some extent the people and especially Civil Society Organisations are responsible for not doing enough to make the govt. accountable. They argued that there were not enough legal sanction to make them affective.

The recently enacted landmark legislations like National Rural Employment Act and Right to Information Act promises to fill the void. These two acts alone gives an opportunity to not only make the civil society organisations more powerful in making the public representatives accountable but also making the adminstration transparent.
Similarly the constitutional mandate given vide the 73rd Amendment holds enough promise to address poverty issues in the right perspective. But somehow these important legislations have not utilized to the fullest to make theme totally effective.

Probably the present time gives the best possible opportunity to make a difference how our local administration is governed. The elections to the local bodies have been completed only two months back. An overwhelming number of representative including women have been elected as PRI members for the first time. Most of them are totally ignorant about the power and functions of these important institutions. Similarly the NREGA is at its second year of implementation. A lot of work has to be done by the PRIs and the CBOs to come together to realize the goal of a vibrant India.

Against this backdrop OADASS, a network of NGOs working for the poor and the marginalized proposes to Promotion of Good Governance through empowerment of Civil Society Organisations and empowering a Social Watch Group in ten districts of Orissa. The proposed project puts emphasis on the process of empowerment and capacity building.


In order to reach the objective OADASS proposes to adopt a strategy of empowerment of the Civil Society Organisations who will take forward the project even after its withdrawal. An attempt will be made to identify potential civil society organisations who can play the role of a catalyst in their respective areas. They will be trained in the art of social audit, monitoring activities, conducting village micro-plan, seeking information using RTI. Care will be taken to see that these empowered CBOs/CSOs do not function as parallel organisations or make hindrances to the functioning of the PRIs and govt. agencies. They will be trained to make their effort supplementary to make local governance better.

The project will be undertaken in ten districts in association with local based NGOs. A detailed action plan ahs been drawn up for the successful implementation among the prospective partners in the network. The most important input that will be required for the project is the availability of a trained and dedicated band of professional. We have already identified a tentative set of senior professionals who will be part of the project. The project will need one Project Director, two Programme Co-ordinators, twelve District Co-ordinators, one Training Co-ordinator as full-time professionals. Besides, the organisation will recruit experts and consultants as and when necessary. To make the training programmes effective the project will need an LCD which will be quite useful for making the training programme meaningful and enjoyable. To monitor the project a Motor-cycle will be necessary for each of the district. Apart from the above Human Resources and logistics the project will need monetary resources to meet the expenses of various activities proposed in the project proposal.
The successful implementation of the project will herald a new era in local governance in the project area. It will empower the target group who in turn make the local governance more accountable and transparent. And that is exactly the present project aims at.