Table of Contents

1.INTRODUCTION........................................................................................2

2. OBJECTIVES.............................................................................................6

3.METHODOLOGY.......................................................................................6

4.THE 7-S FRAMEWORK............................................................................7

5.SUPERORDINATE GOALS.......................................................................7

6.STRATEGY .............................................................................................12

7.STRUCTURE............................................................................................14

8.SYSTEMS..................................................................................................15

9.STAFF........................................................................................................24

10. SKILLS...................................................................................................28

11.STYLE.....................................................................................................30

12. CONCLUSION.......................................................................................31

ANNEXURES……………………………………………………………..34
1. INTRODUCTION

Chittoor is the southern most district in Andhra Pradesh bordering Tamilnadu on

the south and Karnataka on the western side. It is divided into 66 mandals with a
population of around thirty-seven lakhs. It is one of the dry districts in the state
facing continuous drought for the past five years. Owing to the severe drought
conditions, the livelihoods of the people here have been changing with increased
propensity towards livestock based livelihoods. Today the livestock population of
the district is around 22.06 lakhs thus making this district one of the important
milk shed districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The government has taken up a number of anti poverty and development

programmes in this district since independence. Still the number of people below
poverty continues to be very high even today. It is estimated that there are more
than 3,000 poor families in every mandal of this district thus making it obvious
that the poverty elevation programmes in the district has only met with limited
success leaving a lot of scope for a more effective and efficient programmes for
rural development.

The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) has traditionally been the
principal organ at the District level to oversee the implementation of different
anti-poverty programmes. Since its inception, the administrative costs of the
DRDAs were met by way of setting apart a share of the allocations for each
programme.

However, of late, the number of the programmes had increased and while some of
the programmes provided for administrative costs of the DRDAs, others did not.
There was no uniformity among the different programmes with reference to
administrative costs. Keeping in view the need for an effective agency at the
district level to coordinate the anti-poverty effort, a new Centrally Sponsored
Scheme for strengthening the DRDAs has been introduced with effect from 1st

2
April 1999. Accordingly, the administrative costs are met by providing a separate
budget provisions. This scheme, which is funded on a 75:25 basis between Centre
and States, aims at strengthening and professionalising the DRDAs.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh keeping with the development commitment

of the state and as envisaged in Swarnandhra Pradesh Vision 2020 policy
document has initiated the ‘District Poverty Initiative Program’ (DPIP), later
renamed as `Rural Poverty Elimination Program' (RPEP) under the project Velugu
(literally `light' in Telugu) with the help of SERP (Society for Elimination of
Rural poverty), an independent, non-government society implementing the project
through out the state. Chittoor is one such district that has been identified in the
first phase of implementation.

Meanwhile, DRDA was already into such rural development from a long time
with its own staff implementing the various other developmental programmes in
the district. The aim of both the DRDA and DPIP being the same, and thus in a
direction to effectively fight against poverty, both DRDA and DPIP were united to
synchronize their efforts in the district in the year 2000.

The present status of Chittoor district is -

• 36,999 Self Help Groups with 5.7 lakh poor strengthened

• 1,913 Village Organisations formed
• 65 Mandal Samakhyas formed
• 6169 Community activists, book keepers, para-professionals to service
the SHGs/VOs identified & trained
• 47006 SHGs linked to banks, amount of 15957.14
• 4065 sub-projects with a total outlay of Rs.37.84 Cr sanctioned benefited
211457poor families and released Rs.34.62 Cr.
• 11432 Child Labour enrolled and mainstreamed

3
• 6976 SHGs accesses rice credit scheme of 10636.472MTs providing food
security to 58029 poor families
• 4 Regular Residential Bridge Schools established for child labour, current
intake is 435 per school.
• Marketing Interventions taken up in 6 commodities ie., Tamarind, Jaggery
etc.,

The structure of the SHG federations and their functions are in the following
manner in Chittoor district –
SHG at the member level:
10-15 members in the village form an SHG (Self-Help Group).
VO (Village Organization) at the village level:
All the SHGs in the village form a VO to regulate the SHG activities.
Hence this VO is at the village level.
MS (Mandal Samakhya) at the Mandal level:
All the VOs in the Mandal federate to form the Mandal Samakhya.
“Samakhya” means “Society” in the regional language, Telugu. This MS
takes the responsibility to carry out various activities and programs to be
implemented by the government. It also carries out businesses with the
help of the Community Coordinators and other field staff available and
with the help of funds from the government. The MS monitors the VO
working. Also the funds granted to the MS from the government will be
revolved through the MS.
ZS (Zilla Samakhya) at the District level:
All the above-mentioned MSs federate at the Mandal level to form the ZS.

Given the above hierarchy, all these organizations carry out businesses convenient
to operate in the respective areas. The functions of the institutions at each level
are given next –

4
 District
Federation

Mandal Mandal 65 Mandal

Federation Federation Federations

VO VO VO 1913 Village
Organisations

SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG SHG 36999 SHGs

Self Help Group

– Thrift and credit activities
– Participatory monitoring of the groups
– Group level poverty reduction plans

Village Organization
– Monitoring function of SHGs
– Strengthening of SHGs
– Accessing credit to SHGs ad VOs
– Social action
– Village development

Mandal Mahila Samakhya

– Monitor functioning of VOs
– Linkages and access with Govt departments

5
 – Auditing of groups
– Micro Finance functions

2. OBJECTIVES

1. To understand the vision, mission and the Objectives for existence of the
Organisation.
2. To understand the various strategies, systems, processes and stakeholders
involved in achieving the stated objectives.
3. To understand where the Organisation is standing now and where it is heading to?

3. METHODOLOGY

The sources of data:

Primary sources :
a. Semi-structured Interviews with both Line and staff personnel.
b. Semi structures and unstructured interviews with the beneficiaries, SHG
leaders, VO, MS and ZS members.
c. Discussions with professionals from various organisations working in the
Rural developmental sector.
Secondary sources:
a. The evaluation reports of the organisation.
b. Financial and operational Reports from SERP.
c. The MIS forms available in the office
d. Websites of Velugu, Ministry of Rural Development.

Sample size: The sample size was 8 mandals out of the 65 mandals which is 12.5
percent.

6
 4. THE 7-S FRAMEWORK

Structur
e
Strateg
y System

Super
Ordinate
goals

Skills Style

Staff

The 7-S Framework has been used in order to understand the Organisation in terms of the
following 7-Ss’.

Superordinate Longer-term vision, and all that values stuff, that shapes the destiny
Goals of the organisation
Strategy A set of actions that you start with and must maintain
Structure How people and tasks / work are organised
Systems All the processes and information flows that link the organisation
together
Style How managers behave
Skills Dominant attributes or capabilities that exist in the organisation
Staff How you develop managers (current and future)

5. SUPERORDINATE GOALS

7
‘Superordinate Goals’ is analogous to the organisation’s purpose. It is the set of
values and aspirations going beyond the formal statement of the corporate objectives.
We will start understanding this dimension by analysing the Mission, Vision and
Objectives of both DRDA and DPIP.

5.1 DRDA

The district Rural Development Agency was visualized as specialized and a

professional agency capable of managing the anti-poverty programmes of the
Ministry of Rural Development on the one hand and to effectively relate these to the
overall effort of poverty eradication in the District. Since inception, the administrative
costs of the DRDA were met by setting a part of the allocations for each programmes.
Of late, the number of the programmes has increased and several programmes have
been restructured with a view to making them more effective. While an indicative
staffing structure was provided to the DRDAS, experience showed that there was no
uniformity in the staffing structure. It is in this context that a new Centrally sponsored
scheme - DRDA Administration has been introduced from I st April, 1999 based on
the recommendations of an inter-ministerial committee known as Shankar
Committee. The new scheme replaces the earlier practice of allocating percentage of
progamme funds to the administrative costs.

The stated objectives of DRDA are as follows -

1. Overseeing the implementation by ensuring adherence to guidelines, quality,

equity and efficiency; reporting to the prescribed authorities on the
implementation;
2. Ensuring that necessary linkages are provided for implementation. To watch over
and ensure effective utilization of the funds (Transparency) intended for anti-
poverty programmes,

8
3. It will need to develop a far greater understanding of the processes necessary for
poverty alleviation/eradication. It will also need to develop the capacity to build
synergies among different agencies involved for the most effective results.
4. It should coordinate and bring about a convergence of approach among different
agencies for poverty alleviation.
5. Provide necessary excutive and technical support in respect of poverty reduction
efforts.
6. The DRDAs shall take necessary steps to improve the awareness regarding rural
development and poverty alleviation particularly among the rural poor. This
would involve issues of poverty, the opportunities available to the rural poor and
generally infusing a sense of confidence in their ability to overcome poverty. It
would also involve sensitizing the different functionaries in the district to the
different aspects of poverty and poverty alleviation programmes.
7. The DRDAs shall also carry out / aid in carrying out action research/ or
evaluation studies that are initiated by the Central/State Governments.
8. In addition the DRDAs shall coordinate and oversee the conduct of the BPL
Census and such other surveys that are required from time to time

The DRDA was proscribed from the following –

1. Under no circumstances will they perform functions of PRIs.

2. The DRDAs should deal only with the anti-poverty programmes of the
Ministry of Rural Development. If DRDAs are to be entrusted with
programmes of other ministries or those of the State Governments, it
should be ensured that these have a definite antipoverty focus.

One of the important objectives behind the establishment of DRDA could be

the strong need for an independent and professional monitoring agent in order
to monitor the various Poverty elevation programmes. Such a setup was
expected to ensure proper monitoring and such an external, professional agent
would not hesitate to identify the problems boldly.

9
5.2 DPIP

The Andhra Pradesh District Poverty Initiatives Project for India aims to improve
opportunities for the rural poor to meet priority social and economic needs in the six
poorest districts of Andhra Pradesh. There are three main components. The first is
capacity building for new or existing self-managed community-based organizations.
Specifically, it helps form and develop common interest groups and self-help groups,
and their support organizations; provides information, education, and
communications support including awareness building campaigns and demonstrations
in village communities on issues affecting social and/or economic activities of interest
to the rural poor; aids capacity building of local governing councils to improve micro-
planning, financial management, and sensitization to the needs of the poor; promotes
skill enhancement for participating staff and nongovernmental organizations; and
introduces a pilot program linking local groups to banking institutions.

The second component funds demand-driven sub-projects which will improve access
to public social services; generate income through investments; and build facilities
like community halls, school facilities, connector roads, and water supply and waste
disposal systems. The third component finances a package of inter-related activities
involving both non-formal and formal education which addresses the twin problems
of child labor, especially girl child laborers, and high school drop-out rates.

The overall aim of the DPIP can be stated as:

1. To enable the rural poor in Andhra Pradesh to improve their livelihoods and
quality of life and hence tear the shackles of poverty.
2. To help create self-managed, strong grassroots level institutions of the poor and
enhancing their capacities to manage their resources and also to access public
services.
3. Build capacity of established local institutions, to operate in a more inclusive
manner in addressing the needs of the poor.

10
4. Achieve convergence of all anti-poverty policies, projects, policies and initiatives
at state, district, mandal and village levels.

5.3 The present setup and its direction

The Merger of DRDA with DPIP led to the superimposing of the objectives of DPIP
onto DRDA. There is a deviation in the objectives of the traditional DRDA. It is now
into implementation of developmental activities that was strictly prohibited earlier.
This deviation in the overall objective of DRDA raises a few questions:

1. Is this deviation for good or bad for DRDA?

2. Is this deviation for good or bad for the poor?
3. Is this deviation for good or bad for DPIP?
4. What about the original DRDA objectives?
5. How far is self-monitoring justified?
6. It also has to consider the other objectives that it had aimed at earlier.

And now that DRDA is into implementation,

this is a very strange situation where the same agency is involved in both
implementation and monitoring. The purpose of separating the implementing agency
from the monitoring agency, which was one of the causes of establishing DRDA is
lost. Now, DRDA itself needs an external monitoring mechanism that is being
presently done by independent Non-Government Agencies.

Such self-monitoring is forcing the management to support their decisions even if

they feel otherwise. This problem of defending has very strongly percolated to
employees working at every level.

11
 6. STRATEGY
The strategy of operation of both DRDA and DPIP are understood in order to
understand the working of the present setup.
6.1 DRDA

The DRDA was supposed to watch over and ensure effective utilization of the funds
intended for anti- poverty programmes. It had to develop distinctive capabilities for
poverty eradication. It should perform tasks which are different from Panchayati Raj
Institutions and line departments. The DRDAs would deal only with the anti-poverty
programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development. If DRDAs are to be entrusted
with programmes of other Ministries or those of the State governments, it must be
ensured that these have a definite anti-poverty focus. In respect of such States where
DRDA does not have a separate identity, a separate cell shall be created in the Zilia
Parishad which will maintain a separate identity and the separate accounts.The
funding pattern of the programme will be in the ratio of 75: 25 between the Centre
and the State.

6.2 DPIP
DPIP has been very clear in its approach right from the beginning that the process should
be demand driven and not supply driven. The same process is now followed by the
present setup also. It is a systems approach of implementation which can be depicted as
shown next:
Identification of beneficiaries:
Criteria : All the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families
Basis : MPHS Data
Process : Participatory Poverty Assessment

Steps 1. Short listing of target beneficiaries

2. Discussion in Gram Sabha
3. Approval in Gram Sabha

12
 4. The BPL Households arranged based on Wealth Ranking
5. Printing of the target beneficiaries list
6. Distribution to all line departments

ACTIVITIES
/PROCESSES OUTPUT
INPUTS

• Human • Poorest of the poor • Poor

Resources identified mobilized and
engaged • Community activists organized into
• Project and paraprofessionals SHGs
Management identified • Older SHGs
and • New SHGs formed and strengthened
implementation, enveloped and revived
Capacity Built • Existing SHGs • VOs and MSs
(DPIP Staff) strengthened established
• Capacity of • Growth of Saving and • Capacity of
Line credit programme SHGs/VOs/M
Department facilitated Ss built
Staff Built • SHG capacities built • Saving and
including PRIs credit schemes
• Formation of VOs/MSs
• Good and established
facilitated
Material • Other service
• Access to external
supplied providers/staff
resources facilitated
• Services of LDs and
• Other service
provided PRI sensitized
providers/LDs/GPs
sensitized • Income
• Income generation generation
activities facilitated activities
•OUTCOME
Asset base of implemented
the poor HHs
diversified • IMPACT
Food security
and increased improved
• Skills of Poor • Distress
HHs improved migration GOAL
• Wage and Self reduced
employment • Poor Rural
opportunities communities Poverty
created empowered Reduced
• Sub-projects • Livelihood
implemented opportunities
meet critical enlarged and
needs sustained for the
• Access to poor
13
government
programme
and other
Benefits accruing to the target population:

• Capacity Building
• Skill Development
• Technology Development
• Bank Linkages
All SHGs • Market linkages
• Social Infrastructure
• Social Risk Management
Initiatives

SHGs of BPL families

• Productive Physical
Infrastructure
• Community Investment Fund
• Child Labour Bridge Course
Centers
• Child Labour Residential
Schools

7. STRUCTURE

Formal Organisation: Today, the entire Organisation in this district can be viewed as
an amalgam of the original DRDA(District Rural Development Agency), established
in 1970 and the DPIP(District Poverty Initiatives Program) started in 2000, details of
which have been explained in the background section of the report. With such a
organizational setup in place, the formal organizational systems, processes are also an
amalgamation of the formal organizational setups of DRDA and DPIP. The

14
Organisational chart of the present DRDA/DPIP, chittoor can be represented as
below:

8. SYSTEMS

The various system involved in the Organisation and working for the overall working
of the Organsation are –

8.1 Management Information System

15
 Perhaps the panacea of all the problems lies in having a strong Management
Information System for the Organisation, more so in light of the merger of DRDA
with DPIP. The present MIS cannot be called an MIS at all as it lacks multiple
information systems and domain expertise which a prerequisite for an MIS. It is only
an information system that passes on certain relevant data regarding the bank
linkages, CIF etc., to the Project Director. Such a system shall not be of much use to
the decision maker as the information needed to monitor the subordinates (APO,
APD, DPM) is missing. All the MIS forms are put as Annexure.

Here we take the bottom to top approach of MIS in order to understand the issues in
the present Information system while suggesting changes. The problems can be
enlisted as follows:

I. At the staff level: The field staff includes all the DPIP, DRDA staff from the
Project director to the Community Coordinators at the V.O level.

1. C.C Stage: The present MIS form that is supposed to be filled up by the
CCS is too long with 7 pages. A lot of irrelevant information, which may not
be helpful in evaluating the CC’s performance, is being asked. Nowhere in
the whole sheet is the actual working of the CC is getting reflected. The
daily schedule of the CCs, the villages they visited, the purpose of visit, the
outcome etc., are nowhere found in the sheet and unless such information is
solicited form them, it is very difficult to clearly understand the role they are
playing in the whole project. And when tomorrow a problem crop up against
the CC, one cannot even get a clue of the past performance of the CC and
one will be forced to get perception based information from people.
2. APM Stage: These people neither have any document of what the CCs are
doing, what are their achievements, nor process substantial information to
report it to the higher officer. No information regarding his working is
furnished in the MIS form. The present form is not being filled up now due

16
 to both its irrelevance and negligence. It is very difficult to thus understand
clearly the role played by these people in the project.
3. APO Stage: These people do not have any MIS at all. So, their working
cannot be traced appropriately.
4. DPM Stage: They have a form to be filled up, which is not being cared these
days. Each DPM has his own Specialization, so appropriate forms have to
be given to them unlike the present form which is quite general and do not
help soliciting enough information.
5. Project Director: Owing to the above problems, he does not receive the right
information in the right form in the right time, thus forcing him to take
decisions based on whatever data is available.

II. At the Institution Building Level: At all the three levels namely, VO, MS and
ZS, no Information is available in a proper format. The leaders at every level
have to base their decision based on their memory, information provided by the
CCs and others. It is very difficult to digest the fact that these federations are
supposed to sustain themselves with no proper information system being
available.

Suggestions

In order to bridge this information asymmetry the channel of communication has to

be changed. Technical information like that of Azolla gets distorted by the time it
reaches the women. Hence, the flow of information should be through technical
persons in the system like the village Botanists. Their understanding of the process of
growing algae at home would be far better than a non-technical person who would
distort the information unknowingly. Thus information of this kind has to be through
a technically knowledgeable person. And the monitoring of the process
implementation should be done through the APO.

17
1. The most important count on which the project is lacking is the measurement
of the actual impact on appropriate parameters which are not being measured
properly. The following have to be measured to asses the project –

• The difference in the income generated

• The value of this income as a percentage of the total income
• The disposable income,
• How is this income being used?
• Will it be sustainable?
• How many such families exist?
• These are also the parameters on which the success of the project
depends and not only on the bank linkage figures and the repayment
figures.

2. The irrelevant questions have to be deleted from the MIS forms. Relevant
details like a.) Date b.) Place of visit c.) Purpose of visit d.) Problems
faced e.) Outcome of the visit etc., have to be asked. Such information gives
an idea of what is the type of work he does, what are the typical problems
encountered etc.
3. The information thus recorded has to be processed by the APM, append his
own MIS form to it, and finally should send the processed report to the
concerned cluster Incharge.
4. The Cluster Incharge has to process this data, add this MIS form and send it
over to the PD.
5. But, all this might take a lot of time to reach the PD, so it is suggested to
computerize the MIS completely.
6. The VO, MS and the ZS should also start looking for MIS. In every MS, ZS
meeting, the leaders should review the details and base their decisions on the
information provided by MIS.

18
 As per the above system, the reports might reach the project Director very late.
So, computerization is very much necessary. Instead of providing 29-inch color
TV and a VCD player worth Rs.25, 000, which is only adding a cost of Rs.120
every month for Cable network (for the convenience of the MS office boy, MBK),
a computer can be provided so as to enable computerized MIS.

8.2 Communication

1. The present communication system in the project is not thoroughly standardized.

The flow of information in the organization is not in a proper channel thus
creating Information Asymmetry amongst the employees.
One example is about the Azolla algae that are being circulated around the
institutions of VO and MS. The information is being passed on by the CCs who
have no technical knowledge about plants and cattle. Not only the CC but also the
APM and the APOs pass on the information but with an understanding of their
own. They understand that the algae is a substitute for the regular fodder to the
cattle, it helps in increase of milk yield by around two liters a day and also there
would be a substantial increase in the fat content. Every CC who passes on the
information to the community members understands the process of growing the
Azolla algae in his/her own way and projects the same. This information again
undergoes changes by the time it reaches the VO from the MS EC members.
Information about the dimensions of the pit changes, the quantity of increased
milk yield expected changes and also the expected change in the fat content
changes while the facts are something else. But the fact as informed by a
Veterinarian is that the Azolla algae are not a substitute to every day fodder. It
would increase the milk yield and fat content but the quantum of increase is very
meager. And one fact that is not known to most of the women is that the increase
in milk yield would lead to decrease in fat content. But the advantage with Azolla
is that the fat content would increase along with the increase in quantity of milk.
The basic reason why this is being popularized is the fact that it can be grown
domestically instead of buying. Also it needs no huge investments. Only a few

19
 people know this information in the system. The gap between what the truth is
and what is being passed on to the beneficiaries is huge. As there is no proper
communication channel everybody and anybody acts as a part of the channel.

2. Also, a communication channel is not complete without a feedback. There should

be a backward flow of information too. The organization is hardly concentrating
on feedback from the beneficiaries. Implementing future programmes without
feedback about the past interventions is never commendable.

3. In order to make effective the communication channel, a magazine called

“Navodayam” was started. Recognizing the importance of flow of information to
grass root levels and in order to bring about empowerment and awareness among
the women about the various programmes implemented and improvements
brought about in other areas of the district, a magazine called “Navodayam” was
started. This is a monthly magazine and is supposed to bring to light all the
activities that are being taken up or are in the process of implementation and also
highlight the various problems and issues and improvements in the current
system. But the readership figures being quoted by the editors of the magazine is
to be questioned. Because, though the magazines undoubtedly reach the groups, it
only reaches them physically. The information contained in the magazine does not
reach the members. After attending the meetings at the Village and Mandal level,
we found that there is no mention of the magazine at all in the meeting. Set aside
reading the magazine, some members at the VO level do not even know about this
magazine. They do not know why is this given to them and what does it contain.
How far is the objective of publishing a magazine attained, when the members do
not read it, is a matter of concern here.

It has to be noted that many women of the SHGs do not know to read and write.
Given this, it is very unrealistic to expect them to read a magazine every month.
In such situations, the leader of the VO can talk about the importance of the
magazine to the members in the monthly meeting held. It has to be insisted that

20
 the leader or the CC or the APM has to ensure that all the members of the MS/VO
are reading the magazine. A constant effort has to be put n to ensure good ‘actual’
readership.

4. As said earlier, information is power and if the women are expected to manage a
federation level institution that deals with crores of money, basic education is a
dire necessity. It has to be noted that a mere signature is not an indicator of
education and the women should be able to read and write. Verification of
documents, monitoring the work of the employees at the Samakhyas, cross-
checking documents for sanctioning of funds and other works – while these are all
the major issues to be dealt with at the MS level and the ZS level, these women
are not ready and empowered enough to do the same. Education is essential for
these women to manage the funds and other issues of the federation. Today, if it
said that there are problems with the CCs and the MBKs it is because the Office
Bearers are dependent on them completely to maintain everything. Any
information if asked for, the women cannot answer and they turn to the MBKs or
the CCs. Even if they find faults with the working of these employees they
hesitate to question them sternly as these employees act as links to them and the
banks. The MS has a long-term relationship with them and they are afraid they
would not work properly in future. Saying this does not mean that only the
women should manage all the issues, but they should be able to question the
MBKs and the CCs regarding their working and verification of the accounts
should be done by them instead of waiting for someone to come and audit the
accounts and then point out the mistakes. These women if educated would move
with greater confidence and would be able to command respect from the
employees of the Samakhya thus being able to extract work from the employees
of the VO/MS in a better fashion. The institutions would then be more sustainable
and reliable and would stand strong even if the project ends. If this continues it
would pose a serious threat to the sustainability of the institutions.

Suggestions

21
In order to bridge this information asymmetry the channel of communication has to
be changed. Technical information like that of Azolla gets distorted by the time it
reaches the women. Hence, the flow of information should be through technical
persons in the system like the village Botanists. Their understanding of the process of
growing algae at home would be far better than a non-technical person who would
distort the information unknowingly. Thus information of this kind has to be through
a technically knowledgeable person. And the monitoring of the process
implementation should be done through the APO.

Also the Navodayam magazine can be used to advertise and popularize the different
schemes of the project. New issues like Azolla algae and others that are to be
communicated to the members can be done through the magazine. Though this cannot
be the core channel, this can act as a support medium.

8.3 Monitoring, Evaluation and Appraisal

1. There is no proper mechanism to measure the performance of any employee at

almost every level.
2. Hence the monitoring mechanism of the project will not be able to evaluate the
performance of the employees.
3. Nobody has authentic information regarding any employees’ performance. So,
decisions have to be either taken on perception-based evidence or through an
enquiry, which will eat away a lot of time.
4. The management is taking interest only in passing on orders but not on
monitoring the completion of the work.
The solution to the above problems lies in having a strong MIS as explained in the
next section.

22
8.4 Financials

Expenditure Statement:

Component-wise Targets & achievements (Rs. In lakhs)

2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 Jan,05
Slno Component Total
Target Achi. Target Achi. Target Achi. Target Achi. Target Achi. Target Achi.
Institutional
1 3.92 31.54 449.69 106.51 330.67 164.62 1055.22 656.65 807.27 275.08 2646.76 1234.41
Capacity Building

Community
2 0.00 0.02 1424.25 106.49 1475.80 1094.52 6367.50 2103.78 2923.48 216.42 12191.03 3521.23
Investment Fund

Project
3 56.92 26.78 41.60 45.34 53.60 49.40 114.80 82.75 113.25 36.71 380.17 240.98
Management

TOTAL 60.83 58.34 1915.54 258.34 1860.07 1308.54 7537.52 2843.18 3844.00 528.21 15217.95 4996.62

5%
25%
1
2
3
70%

Institutional Capacity Building - 1234.41

Community Investment Fund - 3521.23
Project Management - 240.98
4996.62

23
The following problems were identified with the financial and accounting department
of DRDA:
• Monthly Expenditure Statements (MES) were not tallying with the books of
accounts
• List of Vouchers where the Monthly Expenditure Statement is not in agreement
with books of account maintained by DPMU
• The DPMU has not maintained Fixed Asset Register with particulars of location,
inventory Number, acquisition particulars, last date of physical verification etc.
• Advances in Fund Flow statement is not supported by statement showing total
individual advances
• In most of the cases beneficiaries' contribution is not supported with the copies of
Bank Pass books and / or self-declaration by CIG for material / labour
contribution.
• In most of the cases the MOU's were not signed by the parties, either PD or
Authorised persons of CIG / SPIA.
• There are no acknowledgements on the record for the Drafts received by SPIA /
VO / CIG for the amounts granted by DPIP, Chittoor.

9. STAFF

Technical support to VOs and MSs is provided by a team of 3 trained postgraduates –

Community Coordinators paid by MS and accountable to MS. A team of specialists
headed by Project Director Velugu, to facilitate the VOs and MSs to implement the
project is present at the district level. At state level, there is a State Project
Management Unit with Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty of Dept. of RD with
CM as Chairperson.

24
The staff particulars of the present DRDA:

1. PROJECT DIRECTOR - 1

2. ADDL.PROJECT DIRECTORS - 3

3. DPMU - 1. TRAINING COORDINATOR

2. GENDER SPECIALIST
3. INSTITUTION BUILDING
4. MICRO ENTERPRISES
5. NTFP CONSULTANT
6. IT CONSULTANT
7. COMMODITY SPECIALIST
8. MARKETING CONSULTANT
9. MICRO FINANCE
10. DOCUMENTATION
11. CIF COORDINATOR
12. MONITORING & EVALUATION

4. MANDAL LEVEL 1. SOCIAL ORGANIZER

2. COMMUNITY COORDINATOR
3. LIVELIHOOD ASSOCIATE
4. MASTER BOOK KEEPER

5. VILLAGE LEVEL 1.COMMUNITY ACTIVIST

2. SOCIAL ACTIVIST
3. COMMUNITY FACILITATOR
4. BOOK KEEPER
5. SHGs

25
The working of the staff can be analysed under the following heads –

9.1 Goal Setting

No targets are formally set for the employees in the institutions. Even if set, they are
unrealistic and the employees under perform and justify themselves by giving
excuses. It should be ensured by the monitoring authority (APO/DPM), that deadlines
should be reached no matter what. If there are excuses, then lower targets should be
set. The reason for unrealistic targets is – lack of an initial analysis or improper
analysis of the situation and the environment. If there is no proper and clear
understanding of the environment and the situation in which the employee has to
work, targets would no doubt be unrealizable. Also, the goals are set keeping in view
only the amount of Bank linkages to be achieved and not on the impact of these bank
linkages. There is neither an analysis done before giving the linkages nor after the
linkages. The employees’ objective ultimately is to achieve the organization’s
objectives but this is nowhere seen. It is not enough if linkages are given and left. The
goals of the employees should be set in a way that the impact of the work they do is
measured appropriately.

Suggestions

The project might be visualizing a process-oriented approach than a target-oriented

approach, but it has to be noted that both are not completely desirable. Targets have to
be set if work has to go in a track. Targets would help set a path to work on. While the
path is formed, processes can be concentrated upon so as to achieve the desired
results. This would be an objective way of getting the work done in an organization
while concentrating both on targets and processes too.

The Community Coordinators are currently sending their MIS forms to the DPIP
office. The CCs and other staff at the institutions are answerable to the Mandal
Samakhya but how far are they being questioned as regards their performance by the

26
MS-OB is a matter of concern. In reality, their performance is being reviewed by the
APOs in the mandals. Hence it is necessary for the APO and the MS to have a copy of
the MIS so that monitoring can be better. The APO should ensure that an analysis is
done before setting of goals to CCs or APMs. The process should be participative in
nature and he should monitor commitment towards their work, if any. The targets and
goals of the CCs, APMs and the MBKs should be reviewed by the APO, as a
monitoring in charge. They should hence be also answerable to the APO till such time
that the MS is educated and able to question the employees without fear.

9.2 Role Clarity

Lack of role clarity is a major issue in the organization. This is clearly seen in the
field staff working at the institution level. The employees do not know what is
expected of them by the organization. Carrying forward of the objectives of the
organization by the employees is not seen. There is no formal job description for an
employee in the project. There are no clears job responsibilities assigned and it is
difficult to hold somebody responsible for any mistake. The Dos’ and Don’ts’ are not
clear for the employees.

One example is that of the Livelihood Associates (LAs). The LAs working in the
institutions are not known in all the mandals. They visit only some mandals. They
were allotted 8 mandals each and asked to concentrate on 3 mandals. It has to be
noted here that concentration does not mean to ignore the remaining mandals
completely. But this is exactly how it is interpreted. The LAs do not visit Five of the
Eight mandals allotted to them because they were asked to “concentrate” on three
mandals. If the employees interpret their responsibilities in a wrong way, at least the
monitoring authority has to point out. But this is seen nowhere done in the mandals.
This is only one of the many cases observed by us. If the basic understanding of roles
and responsibilities is incorrect, then neither can the employees carry out the
activities of the system properly nor can the organization walk towards its goals.
Hence a proper Monitoring Mechanism is very essential to be put in place. If there is

27
a system already in place, it has to be more stringent and implementing punitive
measures.

9.3 Work Motivation and Job Enrichment

Problems
1. Certain jobs like MBKs and CCs have very limited or practically no job
enrichment.
2. They have had the same salaries since the year 2000. The salaries have not grown
even at the rate of inflation.
3. There is no incentive related pay system and the best and the worst employees
receive the same fixed salaries and allowances.
4. There is no Disincentive system where an employee can be penalised for his
mistakes in order to avoid negligence and laggardness.

Suggestions
1. Incentive based wage system can be implemented by measuring the performance
of the employees through the MIS.
2. Increments or perks have to be planned for the jobs of line personnel (who are
presently not entitled).
3. Disincentives also have to be planned in order to penalize negligence and
laggardness.

10. SKILLS

The crucial attributes or capabilities of the organization are found in its human
resource spread throughout the district. There are large numbers of professionals
recruited to facilitate various activities being implemented by the project. They are at
every level of the management from the Project Director to the grass root level

28
workers at the hamlet level. The competence of the organization lies in its large
number of professionals working in every corner of the district.

At the District level, there are cluster in charges who are Group – I officials and have
adequate experience in implementing government programmes. Also, there are
consultants working at that level to provide the necessary managerial and technical
support from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, NDDB, etc.

Rural / Village Development Professionals

To implement the mandate at the grass roots level, SERP / DPIPs have recruited
young committed Social Work and Development professionals as Community
Coordinators/ Social Organizers who are stationed in villages and work as the chief
Change Agents. The CCs are the key functionaries who facilitate social
transformation in direct participation with the people. A CC is responsible for 1000
families and would help prepare action plans for individual families. He/She would
also generate community profiles and village database.

Para professionals

The people in turn also select community leaders which ups the community stakes
through a process of informed choice. The Community Activists actively collaborate
with the CCs and the groups in the project implementation. They are trained variously
as Social / Community / Health / Veterinary Activists and function as para
professionals within the communities. About 500 activists have been identified in the
project so far. Detailed training modules have been prepared for capacity building of
the activists. CCs have been trained in ToT and have in turn imparted training to
activists. The community activists are vigorously trained and are envisaged to become
change agents in their habitations.

29
11.STYLE

The management style in the organization can be analysed at three levels. First is
the higher-level management consisting of the Project Director, second is the middle
level managers constituting of APDs, APOs and DPMs and finally lower level
managers consisting of APMs.

At the higher-level management, the management style looks to be mixture of

bureaucracy and adhocracy. DRDA being a government organization, it is very
natural that it has to follow the standard procedures laid down by the government. So,
it is in this sense that the management style has to be guided by the administrative
regulations. The project Director usually plays the role of a good facilitator during the
APD, APO, DPM review meetings. The officers are made to participate in the
discussions while the PD tries steering the discussion to the right direction. He would
clearly explain his expectations from them and at the same time waiting to receive
their responses. Unless the issues are very clearly discussed, the PD would not like to
be happy to go any further. It seems to be that he believes in appreciative enquiry
where he would like to probe into every detail and would not be happy until he is
satisfied with the authenticity of the data that is provided to him.

The only problem arises with the next level of mangers. Though, the Autonomy given
to them in terms of taking their decisions regarding their clusters is a good sign, same
time it is advised to very closely monitor the working of those officers. Every activity
of those officers has to be checked if it is in alignment with the overall objective of
the organization. Often the PD has to check for any information asymmetry that can
be created both involuntarily and sometimes purposefully. So, sufficient probing has
to be done in order to make sure that the information passed on to the PD is authentic.

At the Middle level management, there is a strong need to learn accepting mistakes
rather than supporting them. Few of the DPMs and APOs have shown strong
resentment in accepting their mistakes (both conceptual and practical). For example, a

30
 DPM who is supposed to head ‘monitoring and learning’ behaved as if he were very
closed to new ideas and failed to appreciate certain simple logics. In one of the MS
meetings attended, it was announced by the same DPM that every VO should start
saving a particular amount in the MS. He said that each VO should pay equal amount
to the MS every month. But, it was pointed out by us that each VO has different
number of SHGs (ranging from 14 to 28 per VO) and that it was unfair to fix equal
amounts both the VOs having 14 and 28 SHGs. The members belonging to the VO
with fewer (14) groups will have to save double the amount in MS and would receive
double the returns on those savings when compared to the members belonging to the
VO with 28 SHGs. This was a just a simple example explaining the difference
between equity and equality. The DPM could neither understand this logic, nor could
he justify his stand. He strongly argued that it was not possible.

At the lower level management, most of the people lack management skills. They
having to look at three mandals, spend most of the time traveling and hardly have any
time to look deep into the details of any the mandals. They are not able to act as
suitable monitoring agents in most of the areas. They should first learn to prioritize
their work and also there is a strong need to make their role clearly defined and goals
clearly set.

12. CONCLUSION

It is estimated that there are more than 3,000 poor families in every mandal of Chittoor
district. The government has taken up a number of anti poverty and development
programmes in this district since independence, but has only met with limited success
leaving a lot of scope for a more effective and efficient programmes for rural
development. The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) has traditionally been the
principal organ at the District level to oversee the implementation of different anti-
poverty programmes. The stated objectives of DRDA are - Ensuring that necessary
linkages are provided for implementation, to watch over and ensure effective utilization
of the funds (Transparency) intended for anti-poverty programmes, overseeing the

31
implementation by ensuring adherence to guidelines, quality, equity and efficiency;
reporting to the prescribed authorities on the implementation;

Meanwhile, the Government of Andhra Pradesh keeping with the development

commitment of the state and as envisaged in Swarnandhra Pradesh Vision 2020 policy
document has initiated the ‘District Poverty Initiative Program’ (DPIP with the help of
SERP (Society for Elimination of Rural poverty), an independent, non-government
society implementing the project through out the state. Chittoor is one such district that
has been identified in the first phase of implementation. The aim of both the DRDA and
DPIP being the same, and thus in a direction to effectively fight against poverty, both
DRDA and DPIP were united to synchronize their efforts in the district in the year 2000.

Problems:
The Merger of DRDA with DPIP led to the superimposing of the objectives of DPIP onto
DRDA. There is a deviation in the objectives of the traditional DRDA. It is now into
implementation of developmental activities that was strictly prohibited earlier. And now
that DRDA is into implementation, this is a very strange situation where the same agency
is involved in both implementation and monitoring. The purpose of separating the
implementing agency from the monitoring agency, which was one of the causes of
establishing DRDA, is lost.

The present information system in DRDA only passes on certain relevant data regarding
the bank linkages, CIF etc., to the Project Director. Such a system shall not be of much
use to the decision maker as the information needed to monitor the subordinates (APO,
APD, DPM) is missing. At all the three levels namely, VO, MS and ZS, no Information is
available in a proper format. The leaders at every level have to base their decision based
on their memory, information provided by the CCs and others. The present
communication system in the project is not thoroughly standardized. The flow of
information in the organization is not in a proper channel thus creating Information
Asymmetry amongst the employees. One example is about the Azolla algae. Also, a
communication channel is not complete without a feedback. Information is power and if

32
the women are expected to manage a federation level institution that deals with crores of
money, basic education is a dire necessity. It has to be noted that a mere signature is not
an indicator of education and the women should be able to read and write.There is no
proper mechanism to measure the performance of any employee at almost every
levelThere is no incentive related pay system and the best and the worst employees
receive the same fixed salaries and allowances. Nobody has authentic information
regarding any employees’ performance. So, decisions have to be either taken on
perception-based evidence or through an enquiry, which will eat away a lot of time.There
were some problems identified with the financial and accounting department of DRDA
like - Monthly Expenditure Statements (MES) were not tallying with the books of
accounts, Advances in Fund Flow statement is not supported by statement showing total
individual advances, In most of the cases beneficiaries' contribution is not supported with
the copies of Bank Pass books and / or self-declaration by CIG for material / labour
contribution.

Technical support to VOs and MSs is provided by a team of 3 trained postgraduates –

Community Coordinators paid by MS and accountable to MS. A team of specialists
headed by Project Director Velugu, to facilitate the VOs and MSs to implement the
project is present at the district level. No targets are formally set for the employees in the
institutions. Even if set, they are unrealistic and the employees under perform and justify
themselves by giving excuses. Lack of role clarity is a major issue in the organization.
This is clearly seen in the field staff working at the institution level. The employees do
not know what is expected of them by the organization. It has to be noted here that
concentration does not mean to ignore the remaining mandals completely. One example
is that of the Livelihood Associates (LAs). The LAs working in the institutions are not
known in all the mandals. They visit only some mandals. They were allotted 8 mandals
each and asked to concentrate on 3 mandals. Certain jobs like MBKs and CCs have very
limited or practically no job enrichment.

33
Sugessions:
In order to bridge this information asymmetry the channel of communication has to be
changed. Technical information like that of Azolla gets distorted by the time it reaches the
women. Hence, the flow of information should be through technical persons in the
system like the village Botanists. Their understanding of the process of growing algae at
home would be far better than a non-technical person who would distort the information
unknowingly. Thus information of this kind has to be through a technically
knowledgeable person. Also the Navodayam magazine can be used to advertise and
popularize the different schemes of the project. The project might be visualizing a
process-oriented approach than a target-oriented approach, but it has to be noted that both
are not completely desirable. Targets have to be set if work has to go in a track. Targets
would help set a path to work on. While the path is formed, processes can be
concentrated upon so as to achieve the desired results. This would be an objective way of
getting the work done in an organization while concentrating both on targets and
processes too.

It is necessary for the APO and the MS to have a copy of the MIS so that monitoring can
be better. The APO should ensure that an analysis is done before setting of goals to CCs
or APMs. The process should be participative in nature and he should monitor
commitment towards their work, if any. The targets and goals of the CCs, APMs and the
MBKs should be reviewed by the APO, as a monitoring in charge. They should hence be
also answerable to the APO till such time that the MS is educated and able to question the
employees without fear. Incentive based wage system can be implemented by measuring
the performance of the employees through the MIS. Increments or perks have to be
planned for the jobs of line personnel (who are presently not entitled). Disincentives also
have to be planned in order to penalize negligence and laggardness

This report was an attempt to look at certain loopholes and understand the problems
behind the loop holes in the organization, its constraints and capacities, integrate the
classroom learning with the practical reality of the organization and suggest measures for
better functioning of the organization.

34