Dialy Income

							                                  THE FORD FOUNDATION
                                 Grant Reporting Instructions

                    Watershed Support Services and Activities         Grant Number:       1070-1180-0
Grantee Name:       Network(WASSAN)
                      th                                         th
Reporting Period:   15 August, 2007                       to   14 August, 2008


Narrative Report

   Reflections
   Please reflect on lessons learned, events that have been significant to your work, changes that you
   believe may result within the next year or so as a result of the work conducted under the grant, ways in
   which you believe that the work performed will help the organization achieve its long-term goals, and/or
   challenges or surprises you have encountered during the most recent reporting period.

            Lessons learnt:

            1. The following factors are holding wage seekers back from participating actively in NREGA
             As the program was in its initial years, the provisions and processes did not reach
               adequately to the wage seekers and they are not capacitated enough to demand and seek
               employment
             The Program implementation machinery is not geared up to meet the maximum potential
               demand of the wage seekers in terms of
                   o Not able to commence work as per the demand,
                   o Not able to ensure timely payments
                   o Not able to ensure quality of the works
                   o Inadequate capacities of the program functionaries
             Also the program implementation process is excessively centralized and functionary
               dependant and the involvement of elected panchayat representatives is very low. Though
               at one level this may seem to offset local power structures, on the other hand it is creating
               a kind of hostility and in some places involvement of local body representatives without
               any accountability as they are not formally given any responsibility

            2. It was observed that in most of the villages there is need and demand for employment and
               from the project experience it’s established that by organising, orienting and capacitating
               the wage seekers, their access to the entitlements in the EGS can be improved. In turn,
               this ability of wage seekers to demand also puts pressure on the delivery system and
               pushes it for better preparedness.
               However certain factors like irregular fund flows are to be addressed at State and
               National level to build more confidence among the wage seekers

            3. The rise in the agriculture wages in the last two years in the state by at least 25 % to 50%
               is one indication that NREGA had increased the bargaining capacity of the wage seekers.

            4. Also from the field experiences it showed that small and marginal farmers who also
               double up as agriculture wage labourers are able to improve and invest in their lands and
               hence increasing the quality of the asset base. There is an immense scope for
               occupational shift for the small and marginal farmers from being dependant on agriculture
               labour to their own land and land related livelihood options.

            5. Land development works, horticulture, silt application, water harvesting etc., were useful in
               increasing the quality of land and other natural resources. However, this was to be
               realized to its full potential with proper planning to ensure priority to natural resources of
               poor and quality in execution. Also the diversion of funds to housing on the name of Land
             development adversely effected the actual Land development.

         Significant events:

         1. Mandal level interface meetings conducted in all the Project mandals between the wage
            seekers and the mandal/district level NREGS program officials and functionaries helped
            the wage seekers gain confidence in representing the issues as well as sensitizing the
            mandal and district officials on the problems in the implementation of the program. They
            also helped in holding the functionaries and officials accountable publicly.

         2. Regular updates and interface meetings with the State level officials based on the field
            experiences and reports helped in providing effective feed back to the department and in
            issuance of appropriate orders/circulars to the implementation machinery

         3. In most of the project villagers wage seekers are able to submit formal written applications
            for work and obtain receipts and work for it

         Expected changes:

         1. With the continuous engagement with the wage seekers in the selected villages, it is
            expected that(which already started) wage seekers will be in a position to apply for work,
            obtain receipt and work within 15 days, with proper worksite facilities in place and reduced
            delay in payments

         2. The other important expectation is the existing shelf of works will be modified with the
            appropriate works being identified and proposed with the participation of wage seekers

         3. The improvement in implementation of NREGS in various aspects achieved in the
            selected villages is having an impact on the other villages in the mandal and is expected
            to reach out to more villages in terms of securing wage entitlements

         Through continuous engagement with NREGS, the organization is able to contribute to the
         development of mainstream program approaches for the development of natural resources,
         particularly of poor and in rainfed areas also drawing from its other initiatives. With the inputs
         from WASSAN, Department is in active consideration of initiating Rained Area Development
         as a subproject in the NREGA.

         Major Challenges encountered during the course of implementation is addressing the
         conflicting interest situation between farmers and labourer, NREGA has triggered regarding
         the wage rates as well as decision on timing(seasonality) of implementation of the program.
         WASSAN and its field partners are attempting to address this challenge from the stand point
         of the wage seeker at the same time facilitating a process of dialogue between farmers and
         land less wage labourers.


Activities/Issues Addressed
For project support grants, please comment on the work done in regard to the proposed activities in the
grant proposal. For general support grants, please comment on developments on the issues addressed
in the grant proposal.

       Activities/Issues Addressed in Proposal
         a. Ensuring the entitlements
         b. Building participatory and transparent planning process and implementation systems
            at panchayat level
         c. Demonstrating Innovations and Pilots
         d. Evolving as Resource organisations
         e. Policy advocacy


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Activities/Issues Addressed
 a. Ensuring entitlements:

    The process of application for work and obtaining receipts by the wage seekers was put
     into operation successfully in all most all the villages
    384 group applications for work are facilitated and for 207 applications receipts are
     received in the selected villages. This process is almost negligible in the non-project
     villages(where there is no specific civil society interventions)
    Initiated a process of identification of suitable works by the wage seekers and enabling
     them approach panchayat and mandal officials for their approval
    Identified around 4500 acres of assigned land and 6000 acres of Private patta land, of
     Small and marginal farmers mainly of S.C and S.Ts for inclusion in the NREGS for
     development
    Identified around 700 acres of common land for development in EGS

 b. Building participatory and transparent planning process and implementation
    systems at panchayat level:

 Relatively less progress because of initial focus on orientation and securing wage
 entitlements. However, till August,
  Enhanced interaction of the wage seekers with panchayat representatives in terms of
      demanding work, selection of works and in delayed payments
  Organised 129 wage labour groups covering around 4000 wage labourers, who are able to
      effectively demand, secure and execute the work under EGS. Regular wage labour group
      meetings also are acting as review and capacity building platforms.
  Tools(checklist of questions at village and mandal level) for review are prepared and put
      into operationalisation

 c. Demonstrating Innovations and Pilots

    REDS, Anantapur has tried out innovations in terms of providing shade at the work place.
     APMSS and REDS demonstrated pilots of linkage with regular Anganwadi centres for
     child care of wage seekers children. The process documentation of the pilots in the project
     villages was shared with the District and State administration for up scaling. Department
     had agreed and is in process.
    The process adopted to enable vulnerable groups like Single women, disabled, absolute
     land less etc., to access NREGS in the project villages was documented and shared with
     the department to evolve procedures for application throughout the state
    Also shared the outcomes and limitations of seasonality calendar for opening up of works
     with the Department based on the pilot exercises in three project villages

 Evolving as Resource organizations
  It is expected that the experience of working intensively with NREGA this year will
    help the partner organizations to become resource organizations in their respective
    districts. The work and achievements in the year one are in the expected lines and
    this role will be operationalised this year. Two organizations ARTS and REDS have
    already started playing this role in collaboration with District administration.

 d. Policy advocacy:
  The consortium was engaging constantly with the department, other alliances and
    groups working on NREGA, media by sharing the learnings and experiences from
    the field level engagement. The contribution particularly is in
        o representing to the Central government on diversion of NREGS funds to
             housing,
        o representing the issue of stoppage of works during agriculture season to the
             Rural Development minister along with other alliances and writing article in

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                     the Telugu News dialy”Andhra Jyothi”. Later the Government retracted from
                     its statement and said that works can be continued.
                 o   Members of the consortium participated in several media talk shows on
                     NREGA to share their experiences and viewpoints
                 o   Providing regular feedback to the Rural Development department on the field
                     level issues and problems and suggestions. Also shared analytical status
                     paper on NREGS in A.P widely for reflection and corrective action
                 o   Also contributed the experiences in the National workshop on NREGA
                     organized by ‘Wada Na Todo Abhiyan’


Indicators of Success
Please compare the original proposed indicators of success with the results achieved to date. Comment
on any variances you feel require explanation.

        Indicators of Success Identified in Proposal

                the number of households accessing the wage entitlements gets doubled
                the average number of wage days in the selected villages gets doubled
                the average income of the households in the selected villages from the wage
                 entitlemnts gets doubled
                there is at least 50% reduction in the distress migration over the baseline
                 established and
                at least 75% of the activities idnetified through the plans integarted into the shelf
                 of works and at least 50% of the works executed over the project period

        Actual Results to Date

            In the selected 19 panchayats ensured maximum enrolment of HHs. The total job cards
             are 8935, which is more than 90% of the total households.
            60% of Job card holding Households worked up to March, 08 in the selected panchayats
             as against state average of 53%
            Average working days per household generated in the selected 19 panchayats are 47.3 as
             against 42 of state average, upto March,08
            Till the reporting period from April, 08, 12 panchayats were in absolutely better position in
             both the parameters of number of households worked and average number of days per
             household than the respective districts and overall state performance. Only two
             panchayats are low in both the parameters than the mandal averages. Other four
             panchayats fared better in terms of either number of Households participated or number
             of days per Household
            in 31 villages around 400 works were identified and submitted through Gram panchayat
             resolution for inclusion in the shelf, out of which around 130 works were included. More
             than 50% of the works sanctioned were already grounded. These are all submitted
             through panchayat resolution
            Though there are significant incidents of reduction in migration reported, particularly in
             Anantapur, Prakasam and Nalgonda, exact percentages of the baseline to be compiled




Goals



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Please help us understand what you achieved with this grant in relationship to the larger goals you hoped
to achieve.

        Expected Goals to be Achieved
            enhancement of income and food security of the selected households in the selected
             villages
            increase in productivity of their resources, particularly land
            reduction of distress migration
            improve in the quality of the overall implementation of the program in the state and at
             national level

        Goals Achieved to Date
          Through increase in the number of days of participation in NREGA of more number of
            households in the selected villages there is an enhancement of income of the households
            in selected villages. Directly through NREGA and indirectly through increase in agriculture
            wages because of enhanced bargaining capacity.
          Increase in Productivity of land achieved only to a limited extent in the first year. However
            there is a scope for increase of productivity of around 10000 acres, which was already
            identified, in the next two years
          Two pilots demonstrated in the selected villages regarding shades at work place and
            Linkage with ICDS for child care are being actively considered for upscaling by the State
            government. This contributes to the improvement in the overall quality of implementation.
          Regular feedback from the field experience as well through participation in various forums
            is being acknowledged by the Rural Development department for taking corrective steps.
          Though there are significant instances of reduction in migration, return of migrated
            families to the villages, the exact figures will be consolidated and presented this year.



Organizational/Environmental Changes
Please describe any significant organizational or environmental changes that have had an impact on your
work during the most recent reporting period. Include a description of how you have responded to those
changes and how your plans may change as a result.


         No significant organizational or environmental changes took place that can impact on the work



Organizational or Management Challenges
Please review any significant organizational or management issues you have experienced during the
most recent reporting period (such as significant changes in your staff or board composition or other
factors that could hinder the organization’s ability to gather and interpret financial or program-related
data). Please also highlight any outstanding needs for organizational strengthening.


         No significant organizational or management issues experienced.




Diversity
Please describe any changes in the forms of diversity (e.g., gender, racial, cultural, religious,
immigrant/refugee background, linguistic, etc.) to the Board or staff composition over the reporting
period. If your organization has had any recent diversity challenges, please comment on these as well.



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             There is no change in the previous composition of Board. However, there is a more inclusive
             change in the staff composition increasing the forms of diversity.

                                                     Under
                                   total             represented
                                   M        F        M       F
              Professional
              staff                    31       14        5     4
              Support staff             5        6        1     1
              Total                    36       20        6     5

             There is an increase in the number of Female staff (3) as well as in the under-represented
             (more particularly in Professional staff) over last one year.


Financial Report
In the proposal and approved budget, total funds including the amounts to be transferred to the field partners
are categorized under four major heads (Salaries, Travel, Program Costs and Office costs). But Finance
officer suggested that these are to be reported as Project costs in the books of WASSAN as they are being
transferred for field action to the partners. Accordingly in the finance reporting the changes were made. Need
advice and approval.

Certification
Please type your initials in the box next to the following certification if it is accurate. If you are unable to do
so, please contact your Grants Administrator before submitting this report.

                                 By submission of this report we hereby certify that the individual submitting
                                 this report is authorized to submit it on behalf of the organization and that we
                                 are in compliance with the requirements of the grant letter and that any funds
                                 expended have been expended in accordance with the purposes of the grant.




Name and title:        A RAVINDRA BABU, SECRETARY

Email address:         raviwn@gmail.com , wassan@eth.net

Phone number:          040-27015295, 09440621861




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