CHALLENGES 1.At this moment the political situation is not conducive for this exercise in WB 2.Bidhansabha election is going to be held within 5/6 months. BDO & officials are badly engaged in various Election works and over burdened with law and order problems 3.Hence they would not be able to take part fully in the exercise till June, The dates of meetings, selection of VRP, trainings etc are to spaced very carefully ; it would take long time to proceed from one step to the next. 5.Prior to election political parties would be reluctant to help or even allow the process of making people aware ; because now a days, awareness ultimately means or political parties think it means, fault finding of the party in power. 6.Huge fund is needed for not only IEC & Training but also for vehicle, video graphing etc.

1.Block has been selected : Shantipur Block, Nadia District, the district where SIPRD itself is located. 2. Meeting held with BDO, Panchayat Samiti Chairperson and concerned SDO 3. DM has been talked with. 4.Formal letter has been written to him. 5.BDO has been asked to fill up the data of real value of the key areas in the prescribed format.

Selection Criteria : 1. Political situation peaceful 2.Comperatively good relation between the ruling party and the party in opposition 3. Nearer to SIPRD for regular visit. 4.BDO & Savapati have a very good relation and both of them are young, energetic and enthusiastic regarding the initiative 5. SDO is also very serious and intersted in the work 6. BPL % is 49 ; As it is a poorer Block this intervention is more needed there for more awareness and better implementation of Govt. Programmes 7. 5 out of 10 GPs are flood prone as they are located along the Ganga River and hence Disaster management plan and proper implementation needed.

BLOCK PROFILE : Name : Shantipur Block. No of PS members : ( ZP ) Population : 2, SC : Almost 1 lakh ST : Muslim : No of GP : 10. No of GP Members : 150 No of Gram Samsad : 114 Distance from SIPRD : BLOCK HQ one & half hour by small vehicle Farthest GP HQ : Two hours.

WORK STRATEGY 1. One of the SIPRD officials and faculty members would be in charge of one GP. Selection of VLPs, holding meetings with clubs, trainings would be done by him at GP level. He would lead the survey, samsad & GP plan and its implementation. 2. The whole field process would be led by Joint Director SIPRD and he would be in charge of one GP himself. 3. Monthly review meeting on the progress and problems would be held by Director & Additionl Director SIPRD.

Immediate Future Actions 1.A meeting with all political party would be held to explain them the initiative in the month of October. 2.Flex board would be given at all important places to make the people know about it and for their mental preparation 3.Meeting with all PS members, GP members and Block & GP officials would be held to explain the issues to them in October. 4.Workshop would be arranged with teachers, clubs, co-operative members, self help groups at each GP in November. 5.Village Level Resource Person would be selected thereafter objectively inviting applications fixing some criteria like educational qualification, experience of social service and training etc. 6.Selection would be done by SIPRD official team through interview. 7.VLFs would be trained first. 8.SIPRD officials would attend Samsad meeting to be held in November to get an idea what happens In the field and how much aware and empowered the people are at this moment.