August 10

Today we headed out to another village, Pratap Nagar, in the Balatora block.  Of all 3 blocks in the original CBM project, Balatora has had the some of the most complete results.  This may be due to the villagers: higher education than other villages in the CBM program, more motivation, less discrimination, more programs in the village, so villagers are more likely to participate, etc.  It may also be due to the facilitators: good rapport with villagers, good support of village collective, better relationship with villagers than other facilitators in other blocks, previous experience working with these villagers, etc. 
After arriving in the village, we spent time with the head of the village while Sayar spent time with some of the women.  The ease of interaction and excellent rapport was an immediate indication that the facilitators had spent lots of time in this village and were welcomed as friends. 

The meeting began with introductions of all of us and who we were and why we were there.  At first the women seemed shy, which was to be expected since we had 3 new male faces in the group (myself, the translator, and Bhima Ram), but they soon warmed as the meeting progressed.  Even though the village women were shy and were looking down, they were not talking amongst themselves, but were paying attention to the introductions.

The meeting then focused on the new item on the agenda: the water testing kit.  Bhima Ram introduced it and asked the VC pointed questions about their water.  It was very evident he was not taking at or to them, rather with them.  He asked for a water testing committee to be formed consisting of one of the respected women and an adolescent girl that could read and write.  He then went through the entire process, explaining each test, what it was for, and why it was needed.  See the video for details.  Once finished, we broke up into 3 groups.  2 groups were CBM, 1 with each facilitator, and the 3^rd was the new water testing committee.  AT this time Bhima Ram went through the entire process twice more with the committee and some of the men as well.  I don’t think the committee would be able to test any incoming water on their own, but if Bhima Ram is given a few more opportunities to work with them, they will be able to do so very soon.

Sayar and Hintharam split the 6 services and their respective social maps.  I sat with Hintharam as we went through the previous month’s social map along with a copy of his notes and a copy of past results that I provided.  It is important to stress here that a successful visit must have an agenda. Included in that agenda must be what the results were from last month, what were the action points that were to be undertaken, were they undertaken, what were the results.  Then, the new information from this month can be filled out on the maps. 

As Hintharam asked a question and received an answer, he showed the women what symbols to draw, where to draw them, and why they were being drawn.  When 1 woman was struggling to draw a triangle, Hintharam never got upset or frustrated.  Rather, he lept showing the woman ho to draw it and eventually she did it on her own.  This is important, because the sense of accomplishment that this woman had of drawing a triangle as the start of a symbol for the map will remain with her and give her confidence. 

As we went through Hintharam’s notes, I pointed out that the same 7 or 8 children still remained unvaccinated.  At this point, we put the maps to the side and had a group discussion about the issue.  In this discussion, we learned that the nurse that was here previously had been transferred and no replacement had come.  Since the sub-center was 7km away, no one had taken the children to be vaccinated.  We kept asking the women what they were going to do about it.  We never told them what to do.  After a few minutes, one of the women volunteered to follow up on the vaccinations.  Rather than leaving it at that, we asked her how she was going to do that.  The woman informed us that Thursdays was vaccination day, so she would call the ANM at the sub-center and ask her to come to the village or if she should bring all the children to the sub-center to get them vaccinated. 

As we sat and finished the survey with the symbols and social maps, the villagers served tea.  This social aspect of the meetings should not be overlooked.  The involvement of all the women (not just 1 being vocal and the rest following along), the social aspect, the men sitting in support, the adolescent males and females being involved promoted a sense of well-being and harmony.  Many smaller discussions on issues began to break out, but when the answers were unknown, the questions were posed to the group for a group discussion.

At this point I asked that we reform into 1 big group and asked a few questions.  I wanted to know how the women being a part of the CBM program; likes; dislikes; what they hoped to gain from this program; were they ready to do it on their own.

A discussion followed, the highlights of which are as follows:

·      The women really enjoy the social aspect of the program

·      The get a chance to interact and talk about issues as well as themselves and catch up

·      They have found a tremendous satisfaction that their voice counts for something

·      Since the kids aren’t at home all the time, rather in school or Anganwadi, they have more time to get things done and are using that time wisely

·      They would like to get more information on other governmental schemes

·      When I asked for examples, they said animal husbandry, seeds, insecticides, agriculture

·      I then asked if they could undertake a scheme on their own, without the facilitators help.  They replied that right now, no they still need help.  But, they will soon be able to do it on their own and are looking forward to doing it on their own.

·      They then said they want a proper building for Anganwadi and a community center or hall.  They also want an ANM or sub-center within the village.

This type of interaction and involvement stems from several different factors: the men’s support, results that can be seen, the allowing of the women to voice their opinions, etc.  but in my opinion, the number 1 reason there has been success in Pratap Nagar has been the facilitators.  They were prepared when they arrived in the village.  They were always smiling and supportive.  They had built a rapport with the villagers.  They were consistent in coming on the same day every month.  They did not try to shout down the women, rather encouraged them to speak up and make their needs known.

The essence of community based monitoring is the community.  That fact has not been lost on IDEA and its staff.  They have empowered the villagers in Pratap Nagar to monitor 6 basic services that directly affect their lives.  This monitoring leads to action points that can be tracked and the outcomes can be seen.  The involvement of the entire community has made the CBM project here a success and by December, I have no doubt that the community will be able to continue this monitoring on their own.

IDEA: Institute of Development Education & Awareness- Unnati's partner NGO in the Balatora block.

A water harvesting tank that the government built after 4 farmers donated adjoining corners of their land for this purpose.  A huge apple orchard has already been planted and is fed by this tank.

A covered well in the village of Pratap Nagar.

Myself, Mr. Divedi, and a village elder behind the well.

The village elder showing us his masonry work.  The pile of rocks below are hand chiseled into bricks.  The bricks will then be used to build additional rooms on his house.  Where the  bucket is on the left, is a doorway that will be 1 room.  And where Mr. Divedi is standing is another doorway on the right.

The interior of a villagers sleeping quarters.  Most villagers have a compound that contains 2-4 structures.  1 for sleeping, 1 for eating, 1 for the goats to keep them out of the harsh sun, 1 for cooking, 1 for gathering, etc.

Village children and two village leaders.

Sayar, from IDEA, holding a homemade pitch fork.

Pratap Nagar's social map.

The collective learning about water testing.

A sub-committee of the collective filling out the social map by drawing symbols.

Close up of the map and symbol drawing.

A Public Distribution System (PDS) coupon, also known as a Ration Card.  It entitles the holder to a certain rate for rice, wheat, sugar, and kerosene.

An open well.  These are very dangerous for the kids.

Here you can see the open well in relation to part of the village.  Not much protection, especially when you consider that children as young as 6 have to pull water form this well for their homes.

August 9

Today I headed out tot he field to spend some time in a local village and participate in the CBM program as the facilitators took the data for our surveys.  We visited the village of Jaloda in the Phalodi block.  Of all 3 blocks in the original CBM project, Phalodi has had the least complete results.  This may be due to village issues such as: lack of awareness, lack of motivation, internalized discrimination to the point where villagers don’t want to make any changes, etc.  It may also be due to facilitator issues such as: lack of training, lack of time; lack of support for villagers to form a village collective, lack of manpower, personality issues between facilitators and villagers, etc.

This is the small temple in the village.  The meeting took place on it's patio.

Jaloda's social map of their village.

The CBM meeting taking place.

Same meeting, another angle.

The beginning of the meeting when not many people were present.  As you can see in the above 2 pictures more people showed up, 22 in total.

Mr. Divedi, my translator, standing with a few of the village boys.

Mr. Divedi giving the boys a little lecture on the importance of education.

July 25-30

This week we spent preparing for the Facilitator Training that was to be conducted on the 30th.  The CBM (Community Based Monitoring) program is currently conducted in 3 blocks made up of 48 villages.  There are actually 49 CBM sites since 1 village had enough of a population split in 2 distinct areas that it was decided to do 2 monitoring areas.

I spent most of this week working with Dilip and Mayank.  Dilip is a Jodhpur local and works for Unnati.  Dilip is the point person for the CBM program as well as other Unnati projects and knows the facilitators and villagers very well.  Mayank is from Gujarat and is a consultant attached to the Gujarat office of Unnati.  When the CBM program was first conceptualized, he conducted the first training session with the facilitators in February.  

My work with them consisted of going through the 200 or so questions that were split into monthly and bi-annual surveys.  Each consisted of about 100 questions that we would need totals on for the entire block and to be able to track changes as well as percentages.  A simple, although very time consuming, Excel spreadsheet was set up in order to do this.  

On the 30th, I gave what I thought was to be a brief Power Point.  It ended up being about 2 hours of questions and discussions.  My main pints were for the facilitators to concentrate on first being facilitators and not implementors.  Second, we went through some samples of incomplete answers and how we were changing the answers to be yes or no, which would be marked as 1 or 0.  This way we could look at the totals for the block and see how many issues we had in a particular block.  There were also questions that required actual numbers instead of yes/no answers, so these were further explained.  

A quote I used to introduce CBM was: "Community based monitoring is not formal monitoring and evaluation.  It does not aim to make a statement about the impact of a community development project.  It is, instead, a tool for building communities' capacity to direct their development."

Community-Based Monitoring and Evaluation Team, “Sleeping on our Own Mats: An Introductory Guide to Community-Based Monitoring and Evaluation, October 2002, p.2.  The World Bank Rural Development II Africa region.

Below is also a chart I created to describe how the communication and feedback process works and how eventually the Citizen's Collective would take charge of their own governance.  

Mayank (in green), Dilip (in stripes), and me working on the survey questions.

Facilitators, during the meeting, completing a feedback assignment for Unnati.

July 23

This weekend we headed to Mt. Abu for some R&R and cooler weather!  The hiking was a lot of fun as well as the temples we visited.  Driving on the very narrow roads was definitely an adventure, but we all survived!  On the way home we stopped to feed the monkeys camped out on the side of the road.  

Me on the temple stairs.

Another ladder.  Not sure why I think that they're cool, but something about using just simple things to make the basics intrigues me.

Me pumping water for an Indian tourist near the temple.

On of the guy above's friends.  He started dancing around and Sophie had my camera and just kept clicking away.  It was hilarious!

C2 FSD group.

View form the 2nd highest point on Mt. Abu.

Place some money in the box, say a prayer, ring the bell.  This is at the highest point on Mt. Abu.

Peace Park is similar to the Hanging Gardens in Mumbai.  A place to come and relax in the quiet.

Peace park has all these signs in English and Hindi all over.  Though they were good reminders!

Monkeys hanging out on the road!

Feeding the monkeys.  Notice how little we could open the window.  As soon as we opened the window, the monkeys knew we had food and swarmed the car!

July 21

July 21:

Today we’re headed out to the dessert museum of rajistan. There are 2 things going, the first is that we get a chance to see the museum. And the sedcond is that Sarah, one of the Duke interns is putting on a performance as her internship project. She will be combining classical ballet with traditional Rajasthani dances; hip hop with tribal dances.

The museum was founded by Kothari is maintained by his son and foundation. At the museum there are over 150 different brooms that are used in different areas of Rajasthan and in different manners. Why so many, well they are made from local plants and bushes, so whatever is local is what is used. Of course, there are also the modern plastic versions on display as well.

After the tour and the performances, we all sat down to a traditional Rajastahni meal and then headed for home.

The cacti here are huge!

Sunset from the hilltop the museum sits on.

Sarah garbed in traditional Rajasthani wear.

Dead cactus.  Not sure how long these cactus live, but when dead they can be used as kindling.

View from the top of the hill into the canyon below.  The water reservoir is man made.

The founder and a description of the museum.  

Brooms for all occasions!

Look mom, I'm sweeping!

Sarah and all of the Rajasthani performers.  The show was incredible!  

August 2

Hello folks.  I know it's been a while.  Time has really been flying by.  I have a ton of pictures and stuff to upload, I'll get to it eventually.  But, I did want to give an update on my project so far.  

As many of you know, this trip was to be a twofold experience.  The first was to see if I had the gumption to do international work.  The second was to work with an organization and look at some of their disaster preparedness work within a community.

I think I have answered the first question.  I do have what it takes, but we'll see if there are any opportunities after graduation.  As to the second, it has changed and definitely for the better.  

My first few weeks were spent doing a lot of research into different government schemes (programs) (they call them schemes here).  I then moved into some data entry and analysis on a Community Based Monitoring (CBM) program that Unnati is working on.  It started from monitoring of disaster services, here that means drought.  But, Unnati quickly realized that in order to be effective in a disaster, the people needed services all year round and there was no one doing any sort of monitoring, especially community based monitoring of the different governmental schemes.  Many of the local villagers had no idea they were due any sort of services.  Many were taken advantage of through usury or discrimination or straight up theft by those that were supposed ot be looking out for them.

So, the CBM project was born.  It spans 3 Blocks and 50 villages.  Below is a flow chart of information that I created in a presentation I recently made.  Unnati works through facilitators who work through citizen's collectives to monitor and educate the village.  

Sound easy enough right?  Well, I forgot to mention, most of these villagers are illiterate and uneducated.  So, first a language had to be created.  In the screen shot below you will see the pictures that the village collectives came up with to mark down different things on a social map of the village.  They created this social map, by the way.  

 So, the end result is the data below, which is what I have been working with to finalize the surveys, collate data, create totals sheets, analyze the data, create action plans for the facilitators to take back to the collectives, etc.

The plan for this week is to finish up the monthly and 6monthly surveys and get those finalized.  Next week, I'll begin translating some of the feedback we've gotten from the facilitators and start working up questions for my in-depth field interviews of the collectives and villagers.  That's in the following week.

Okey dokey, time to get back to crunching numbers!  Till next time...