Strengthening and Empowering Tribal communities to access public service deliveries and claim their entitlements and forest rights by strengthening Local self-governance.
2023-2026
Location
Chiniya & Ramkanda Blocks of Gharwa district, Jharkhand.
Supported By:
Azim Premji Foundation
About the Project:
Despite indefatigable efforts by few state governments and civil society organizations (CSOs) in the past, the practice of local democracy has not improved. The Union government and the State governments, despite the promise of the Constitution, have more often than not treated the Panchayati Raj Institutions as their agencies rather than as local self-governments. Much remains to be done before the promise of the Constitution is fulfilled.
In India, according to the Census 2011, the tribal population makes up 8.6% of the total population making it a total of 75 PVTGs (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups) out of 705 Scheduled Tribes.
Tribes are mostly concentrated in remote and inaccessible areas, usually in hills and forests. These indigenous people are not homogenous in groups and differ from each other not just in terms of their ecology, cultural identity, economic organization, and social & religious practices but also in the nature of their relationship to national, political, and economic systems.
With this backdrop and as part of APPI’s theme on governance, a local democracy program has been introduced in selected states of India. The program empowers grassroots democratic institutions by capacitating them to facilitate the effective delivery of services and become truly representative of the population. This project targets predominantly tribal blocks of Garhwa, District in the Jharkhand state with the implementing partner Sahbhagi Shikshan Kendra.
By strengthening village-level democracy in rural areas, communities will be empowered to plan and manage their own resources according to local needs and customs.
Through this initiative, all fourteen Gram Panchayats in Chiniya & Ramkanda blocks will be ushered to strengthen local governance and improve participation. PVTGs are a major focus of the program connecting them to government social welfare schemes.