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A Pradan NRCRL and
CInI initiative
3-day inception cum planning meeting of
identified partner NGO / CBOs
Community-based organisations, of
various forms and kinds, have been promoted
and nurtured during the last decade or so,
predominantly by non-profit organisations.
The nature of challenges and the complexity
have led to an increased need to develop
knowledge around the same. A learning engagement
– through conceptualisation and reflection
– has become necessary for taking the
engagement with collectives to a higher
level.
In this context the National Resource Centre
for Livelihoods (NRCRL) set up by PRADAN
under the AKF-EC supported SCALE programme
and Sir Ratan Tata Trust initiated a learning
group on CBOs, consisting of experienced
practitioners as well as expert resource
persons, to understand common issues faced
by CBO promoters and the knowledge gaps
that exist. The learning group had its first
meeting on January 13, 2009.
Objectives:
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To
understand the generic principles and
process steps toward pre-organisation,
organisation, facilitation and institution
building of people's collectives |
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To understand the specific considerations while designing, promoting, nurturing and managing institutions in the specific context and with specific objectives |
To know more about the Pradan and CInI
initiative on knowledge building on CBO's,
click
here
The knowledge on the best ways of facilitating
CBOs exist with a lot of practitioners in
a much-dispersed manner. There is scope
to bring this dispersed knowledge together
and take the practitioners through reflective
learning processes that can lead to building
knowledge as well as strengthen practice.
A learning process primarily based on self
reflection of practitioners, supplemented
by external expert inputs can lead to creation
of a body of knowledge that could be significantly
useful to similarly placed practitioners
and other stakeholders such as researchers,
donors and the State. The State remains
a major stakeholder with every development
programme aimed at promoting one or the
other kind of CBO.
The present workshop is towards presentation of research to be participatory in nature, meaning that it will be carried out by the researching agency, namely the National Resource Centre for Rural Livelihoods (NRCRL) at Pradan and CInI-SRTT, in collaboration with the partner NGO / CBO. Since most literature on the subject of CBOs is scattered and disparate, this effort will translate into a publication(s) that would serve as a ready reference for practitioners and trainers in the field.
A 3-day inception cum planning meeting of the identified partner NGO / CBOs, is scheduled from the 16th to 18th of December, 2009 at the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi that will collectively delve on the details of the research and finalise a future course of action.
The list of partners for the meeting includes:
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Seva
Mandir, Udaipur |
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BAIF, Pune |
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South Indian Federation
of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS), Trivandrum |
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PRADAN, Jharkhand |
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Kutch Mahila Vikas
Sangh (KMVS), Kach |
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Action for Community
Organisation, Rehabilitation and Development
(ACCORD), Gudalur |
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Cooperative Development
Foundation (CDF), Hyderabad |
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URMUL Trust, Bikaner |
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Aga Khan Rural
Support Programme, India (AKRSPI), Ahmedabad |
Plan for the meeting:
The first day and a half of the meeting
will seek to review the rationale of the
research being proposed on community-based
organisations (CBOs). The scope and boundaries
of the study, the research design and methodology,
and conceptual framework shall be deliberated
during this period. The latter half of the
meeting will focus on evolving the research
tools and techniques as suited to our objectives.
The study schedule, time line, and roles
and responsibilities of partner agencies,
researchers and documentation assistants
will be detailed as part of the same.
Expected outcomes
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Development
of individual competencies in managing
/ nurturing CBOs (perspective, research
and analytical skills and being reflective)
through engagement as researchers on
subjects of direct experience |
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Development of
organisational competencies in promoting
CBOs by developing organisational understanding
of principles, mechanisms and processes
in CBO promotion and management |
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To help advocate
the nature of policy support and design
of state programmes aimed at CBO promotion
through development of “CBO development
guidelines” |
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Development of
manuals and internal capacity building
modules within all organisations part
of the research |
The overall objective is that the lessons
as and when they emerge are used to inform
practice in the respective organisations.
The objective is that by the time the research
is over, a good practice document on the
organisation is ready as a supplementary
output.
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