Good governance and agriculture, top agenda for Saksham review

The annual review meeting of the Saksham III program on good governance and sustainable agriculture was held between 29th June 2023 – 01st July 2023, showcasing the significant progress and new achievements made in the program. The meeting brought together all eighteen partner organisations from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Uttarakhand to discuss the program’s impact and identify areas for further improvement.

The program, implemented by Caritas India and partners aims to promote good governance practices and sustainable agricultural techniques in rural communities. It focuses on empowering farmers with knowledge and skills to enhance their productivity while ensuring sustainable agriculture practices.

In his address, Fr. (Dr.) Paul Moonjely, the Executive Director of Caritas India shared his observations on the program implementation and offered suggestions for further improvement. He underscored the importance of community action, based on community intelligence, in the sectors of good governance and sustainable agriculture. He commended the efforts of all stakeholders involved in the program and emphasized the need for accountabilities to further improve the quality of the program.

Fr. (Dr.) Jolly Puthenpura, the Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India stressed the need for an Inclusive approach to make our intervention relevant to the life of the marginalized communities. Additionally, he emphasized the significance of NGO and GO coordination, SDGs, Institution building, and synodality.

During the meeting, partners highlighted the positive outcomes of the program, including impact stories that emerged out of community mobilization in the field of good governance and sustainable agriculture. The salient features of the annual review were the Special Gram Sabha/Ward Sabha, increase of community participation in local governance, community market, nutrients garden, etc.

Saksham has succeeded in bringing large-scale change in the community. The empowerment can be visualized from the fact that the community has raised and solved 1237 grassroots-level issues, and around 10324 people benefitted from the Government schemes. The community have submitted 4830 applications in Gram Sabha/Ward Sabha, 982 CBOs have been formed in 280 villages, 1080 times women have visited the government offices to demand their rights, 151 special Gram Sabha have been conducted and 89 transparency and accountability measures for improving the functionality of public systems have been done on the good governance.

Similarly, the results of sustainable agriculture are manifold.5916 households increased their food availability through sustainable farming practices including traditional organic farming systems, 3225 farmers are doing mixed farming, 1043 households increase farm-based livelihoods with the help of collectivized produce selling, agro-processing, 07 community local markets have been started, 65 seeds banks, 5429 households have started nutrition gardens for increased vegetable availability to households.

The review meeting served as a platform to showcase different types of medicinal plants, seeds, and value-added products in the exhibition. The exhibition highlighted the culturally sensitive food variety of the community. It focused on changing agriculture practices/orientation so that the community can have food availability and food security. With ongoing collaboration and a commitment to inclusive practices, the program has the potential to create lasting change in rural communities, fostering a more sustainable and equitable future.