Rural Decentralization and Participatory Planning

The project “Rural Decentralization and Participatory Planning for Poverty Reduction” is a joint initiative of Planning Commission and UNDP. The Government of Chhattisgarh and Samarthan implementing the project in the sampled locale i.e. Dongargaon block of Rajnandgaon district and Bastar Block of Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. Decentralization is a vital means to achieve greater impact in combating poverty, as decentralized Governments are likely to be closer and responsive to the needs of the poor and to implement policies and programs in a pro-poor manner. The overall objective of the GOI-UNDP project is to provide catalyst support in the backward districts and create an enabling environment to decentralize at the State level and strengthen endowment of the local Government with sufficient autonomy and resources to respond to local needs.

There are four broad objectives of the project, which are- Strengthening decentralization of the decision making and pro-poor development planning, Improving the fiscal domain of PRIs for local level development through resource convergence and local resource mobilization, Enhancing the oversight function of the PRIs especially Gram Sabha to strengthen transparency and accountability in local governance, Supporting enhanced devolution and autonomy of PRIs through facilitating policy making for decentralization. Activities carried on these four broad strategies in the second year of the project and their outcome towards the fulfilment of stated objectives are discussed in the following text.