NIRDPR builds the capacities of MGNREGS implementing agencies for inclusive growth of women
Hyderabad: The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) is focusing on enhancing sustainable livelihoods by Effective planning and implementation of MGNREGA and National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) Convergence for Women Empowerment’ and training Government officials for efficient implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The training program on ‘Effective planning and implementation of MGNREGA and National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) Convergence for Women Empowerment’ targets senior and middle level officials from State Rural Development, Panchayat Raj and other line departments dealing with MGNREGS. The program is also open for Academics and Scholars pursuing research on MGNREGS. The training program will be carried out over a period of five days from 30th July 2018 to 3rd August 2018.
Speaking about the importance of this training programme in empowering rural women, Dr. P. Anuradha, Assistant Professor, Centre for Wage Employment (CWE), NIRDPR, said, “Inclusion of women and differently abled will facilitate in betterment of living standards of downtrodden families. Hence, NIRDPR has planned to build the capacities of the MGNREGS implementing officials at different levels, CFTs and other GP officials.”
The MGNREGA scheme seeks to enhance the social and economic decision-making power of women in rural society. It ensures improved standard of living for the underprivileged poor, and particularly so for women. States such as Andhra Pradesh and Odisha were the first to pay wages through a bank account under this scheme to ensure that leakages are minimized. Even though the government is making efforts towards the scaling up and better implementation of the MGNREGA programme, women’s participation in MGNREGA continuous to be minimal, as evident in the persisting gender wage gap in the unskilled agriculture sector.
The objectives of the training program being implemented by NIRDPR are:
Ø To familiarize the participants with the MGNREGA Operational Guidelines 2013 and the latest amendments to enhance women’s participation in the same
Ø To expose the participants to factors responsible for the low and high participation of women in different States
Ø To build the capacities of the participants in mobilizing women to participate in Rozgar Diwas and Integrated Participatory Planning Exercise (IPPE) processes; and in the preparation of labour budget and Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP)
Ø To familiarize the participants with stories of success and best practices resulting from the convergence between MGNREGS and National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)
There are several barriers and challenges to women’s participation in MGNREGA, including inter alia social, economic, civil societal, institutional, and structural factors. These issues can be addressed through building the capacities of rural functionaries who will play a critical role in bridging the gap.
There is a felt need for the village federations, known as Village Organizations (VOs) to be federated at the mandal level. These are called Mandal Samakyas (MSs). The MSs in a district are federated at the district level, which are called the Zilla Sarnakya (ZS). There is a need to involve the VOs at the time of preparing the labour budget under MGNREGS and GPDP for strengthening decentralised planning, for the effective implementation of MGNREGS programme and for women’s empowerment and their involvement in decision making processes for creating durable asserts.
The Venue of this training program is the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj campus at Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. The duration of the training programme is for five days.