Manual for Integrated District Planning - National Institute of Rural ...

Manual for Integrated District Planning
proceeded quite far, the envisioning process would touch every Village Panchayat
and sub Panchayat body. However in others, for practical reasons, envisioning might
have to be confined to the intermediate level, because Village Panchayats have not
been empowered enough. This may also be true in respect of Urban Local Bodies that
have not been devolved with the functions listed out in the Twelfth Schedule.
However, the ideal would be to increase rather than to decrease participation in envisioning.
Box 9
Who is a Stakeholder?
Stakeholders are individuals, families, user groups, institutions, organisations and other pressure groups
that potentially affect or are affected by any particular issue in question. The participation of stakeholders
is necessary to understand exactly how each one influences or is affected by any activity or proposal,
because ultimately most development emerges from a confluence of such mutual effects.
Potential Stakeholders in a participative district planning process:
• Local governments, who lead the process and are central to it
• Citizens groupings, such as gram and area sabhas, ward committees, residents welfare organisations
etc.
• Sectoral interest groups, such as ex servicemen, weavers’ cooperatives etc.
• Commercial entities such as cooperative societies, banks and companies
• Voluntary agencies such as clubs, NGOs, activist groups
• Experts (both individual or institutional) in the field concerned, whether from within or outside the
district, who can add value through advice and direct support
• Experts from academic institutions
• Women and marginalised groups of people, including associations of SCs and STs and minorities,
who might get ignored in the planning process unless specifically brought in
• Line departments, working in the district, whether attached to the State, Central or local governments
• Large industries and undertakings, both public and private, with a presence and investment in the
district; this would include railway, airport and highway authorities, heavy industries in the power
and mining sector, industrial estates and townships, whether in the public or private sector.
Ensuring participation of women in envisioning and planning:
• Seek womens’ views in surveys, including through focus group discussions.
• Identify women community leadership and include in all committees formed under various sectors,
• Encourage elected women member networks to exert pressure and throw up leadership for plans
with womens’ views embedded in them.
• Organise capacity building programmes on womens’ empowerment as a cross cutting theme so that
development priorities identified by women are respected.
• Organise special capacity building for women belonging to traditionally muted and excluded
groups.
• Organise separate meetings for women to identify issues that they might find uncomfortable to raise
before a predominantly male audience.
Ensuring full involvement and participation of disadvantaged groups
• Organise fora for special and separate consultation with disadvantaged groups such as SCs and STs,
persons released from bonded labour, representatives of primitive and nomadic tribes, etc.
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