UNDP head lauds India's job scheme for nurturing rural livelihoods

When asked by OneWorld South Asia about objectives for the visit to India, Clark responded:

“The idea was to build a relationship with the Rajasthan state government and to focus on the intersection of namely two sets of policies: the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the mandated one-third women’s local representation.”

From left to right: C.P. Joshi, Helen Clark and Manju Rajpal/ Photo credit: Nicole Anand/ OWSA

To observe the grassroots manifestation of these economic and political policies, Clark traveled to where much effort by government and civil society has been made towards effective translation of policy into practice-the district of Bhilwara.

Accompanied by Indian Minister of Rural Development, C.P. Joshi, and Bhilwara collector (district head), Manju Rajpal, Clark first visited a MGNREGS worksite in Suwana village, where she was greeted with a traditional mala (flower garland) and tikka (forehead mark).  Clark observed the villagers digging a pond for collecting rain water during the upcoming monsoon season-a very important initiative in a desert region that suffers annually from water shortages.

Clark’s next stop was the Suwana Block Panchayat Samiti (subdistrict government) office, where she observed an audio-enabled and touch screen computer with biometric access to MGNREGS job card information.  Designed, implemented and maintained by OneWorld International Foundation, with the support of the UNDP and the Government of Rajasthan, the programme allows illiterate villagers to access wage and job information as well as file grievances through a one-stop Info Kiosk (Soochna Seva Kendra).  To be used at the worksite and in conjunction with the kiosk is a portable biometric and GPS attendance system.

From left to right: Shakeel Ahmad-Head of Innovation OneWorld, Kanda village MGNREGS worker

OneWorld additionally manages a national community radio programme aired monthly during which local MGNREGS workers express their thoughts and concerns about a variety of development issues.

The final stop in Bhilwara for Clark was the village of Kanda.  There she toured a villager’s home, listened to local female Pradans (elected village leaders) share their experiences, and congratulated the women leaders and supportive audience on their courage and determination.

MGNREGS worker carrying dug up soil on head/ Photo credit: Nicole Anand/ OWSA

Following her trip, Clark told members of the Indian media that in spite of the frequent criticism that development interventions receive, the efforts in Rajasthan are reason enough to stay optimistic. She further spoke about a particular excitement in the joint potential of the Rajasthan programmes to cultivate women as agents of change.

In congruence with her optimism, Clark has begun to lay the groundwork for future relationships between the UNDP and India.  The first potential partnership was revealed in the strategic objective of her visit:

“While we remain strong in working on development challenges in this country, we are also aware that India is a significant contributor to South-South Corporation.  As such, we are hoping to find synergies between India’s work elsewhere in the Global South and what UNDP does as a global development knowledge partner.”

Clark also announced a desire to continue the relationship between the UNDP and the MGNREGS governing body. The hope, she said, is to begin talks of upscaling while critically looking at second generation issues like the expansion of MGNREGS to nurture and promote opportunities for skilled work.