Evaluation Study MSE Cluster Development - Ministry of Micro ...

Chapter No: 7 – Conclusions nd Recommendationsprovided an opportunity to carry out these challenging tasks. A campus recruitmentprogramme can also be launched for the purpose.In the present situation the CDEs are not adequately trained and familiarized with clusterdevelopment. There is a need to provide a comprehensive long-term foundation courseto freshly appointed CDEs. There is also the need to strengthen their skills and abilitiesthrough regular refresher courses specially designed on subjects such as financialmanagement, project management, organizational behaviour, team work, andcooperation.At present the facilities and allowances provided to the CDEs are extremely deficient.Matters are made worse by assigning them with additional responsibilities not directlyrelated to the CDP, and also the responsibility of managing more than one cluster at atime. The tenure conditions of the CDEs are very unstable and they are frequentlytransferred from one place to another. It is also important to mention here that thesuccess of a CDE largely depends on the goodwill and rapport that he develops over asufficiently long tenure. His frequent transfer from one cluster to another does not reallyallow him to settle down to serious work de-motivating him, as well as the cluster actors.The appointment of a “Mentor” for a set of contiguous clusters would also go a long wayin guiding and assisting the work of the CDE. This Mentor could either be a retiredofficer/executive with the necessary competence and experience or could also be aninstitution, which assists and guides the CDE in his day-to-day functions. It is also veryessential to appoint a Network Development Agent (NDA) or Local Organizer to assist theCDE in his work. This Local Organizer should be appointed from within each cluster,knowing the local language, and acting as a constant link between the CDE andindividual units.Additional funding and support is urgently required for the purposes highlighted aboveduring the 11th FYP.7.5 Soft Interventions, their Content, Scheduling, Evaluation,and Validation:Soft interventions are important measures designed to spread the necessary awarenessregarding the benefits of the cluster development programme. These interventions arenormally targeted at individual cluster actors. These interventions are meant to bringthe individual constituents of the cluster on a common platform and provide anopportunity for the democratic firming up of common objectives and to collectively meetthe common challenges faced by the cluster. Soft interventions also provideopportunities for visiting and learning from the experiences of other successful clustersthereby effectively bringing about a conducive mindset for cooperation. Based on ourstudy the following issues have emerged and require attention:The funds presently allocated for soft interventions needs review and revision. Theyshould be increased from the present level of Rs 10 lacs to Rs 50 lacs of which Rs 10 lacsshould be specifically earmarked to meet the cost of monitoring these interventions.118