West Khasi Hills:

Khawkylla Community Resource Management Society

INTRODUCTION

The Khawkylla Community Resource Management Society, Nongstoin, West Khasi Hills District has been working since 1999 under the project North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project for Upland Area funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development and Ministry of Home Affairs, (now under Ministry of DONER), Govt. of India through North Eastern Council (NEC).

The district society has been implementing the project activities through the Development Support Team, which is led by the Project Manager along with 8 partner NGOs. At present, the KCRMS is working in 162 villages covering approximately 6900 households in 19 clusters falling under 6 Community and Rural Development blocks viz. Nongstoin, Mairang, Mawkyrwat, Mawshynrut, Mawthadraishan and Ranikor.

The overall objective of the project is

“To improve the livelihood of vulnerable groups in a sustainable manner through improved management of their resource base in a way that contributes to protecting and restoring the environment”.

THE DISTRICT SUPPORT TEAM

The different project activities are divided and responsibilities assigned to respective staff as per their field of expertise.  Following are the names and designation of the employees of KCRMS:

Mr. James T. Kharkongor, Project Manager; Mr. M. Iboyaima Meitei, Project Technical Officer; Ms. Saralin Donbar, Business Development Officer; Mr. Borbashemphang Saiborne, Natural Resource Management Officer; Mr. Jovial Mushahary, Institutional Development Officer; Mr. Sbun Tmung, Senior Accountant; Mr. Raju Joshi, Internal Auditor; Mr. Eric C. Kharsyntiew, Finance and Accounts Assistant; Mr. Iophio Pakyntein, Monitoring Assistant; Mr. Allan Hynniewta,  Monitoring Assistant; Ms. Shasha Dkhar, Secretarial Assistant; Mr. Synsharbor Rynshiang, Daily Attendant; Mr. Randiwell Marwien, Driver; Mr.  Barley Nongrem, Driver; Mr. Shanbor Syiem, Night Attendant; Ms. Prusida Nongbri, Cleaner

THE DISTRICT SOCIETY

The Board of Management is entrusted with handling policy matters relating to the District Society. The Deputy Commissioner is the Chairman of the Society and the Project Manager is the Member Secretary. There are altogether 22 members in the Board of Management, including the Chairman and the Member Secretary. The members are chosen in such a way that they represent most of the developmental departments, the partner NGOs and the community representatives. In many of the meetings of the Board of Management, special invitations are sent to departments/individuals whom the Chairman opine that these invitees could proactively contribute to the proceedings of the meetings.

PROJECT DISTRICT PROFILE

In the initial stages of the project, 20 villages are taken for the implementation of the various activities, as time went by the number of villages were expanded in a phased manner taking into account the selection criteria for selection of villages are fulfilled. At present there are 162 villages which are under the project and these villages are selected in such a way that there is representation in all the C&RD Blocks in West Khasi Hills District.

COMMUNITY BASED INSTITUTIONS

Following are the key Community Institutions in the project whose constitution and functions are briefly given below. Projects essentially rely on them to carry out the activities successfully.

(a)     Natural Resource Management Group (NaRM-G)

A NaRM Group is made up of male and a female member drawn from each household. In West Khasi Hills District there are 161 NaRM-Gs. The salient features of NaRM-Gs are that they should be Universal participation, Gender balanced, Complimentary to traditional institutions, Decentralised planning, budgeting & implementation, Devolution of decision making from traditional institutions & Government, Coordinate and guide SHGs whenever required.

(b)    Self Help Groups (SHGs)

The SHGs comprises at the most of 20 (twenty) women members in each SHG. However, in the initial stages there were some exclusively men SHGs and mixed SHGs. There are 454 SHGs which are directly promoted by the project. The salient features of SHGs are that they should be Community ownership & stronger sense of accountability, Higher participation, Forum for addressing micro-credit needs, Effective fund rotation, Fostering women’s participation and empowerment, Higher level of sustainability, Take up Income Generating Activities, Credit and Thrift, Take up social issues and social service activities.

(c)     Cluster Associations (of NaRM-Gs)

To ensure that there is a more concerted effort from the communities, the Project had initiated cluster level community based institution for the NaRM-Gs of a cluster, such that they have a common platform to address on diverse issues, e.g. economic, social, political, development etc. They could also be influential in the sense that it could be a powerful pressure/lobby group. These are also a part of the sustainable strategy of the Project as they can ensure that the hard work of the project is continued for years to come. At present almost all the clusters have a functional Cluster Association except for a few clusters as most of the villages in that particular cluster are very scattered. Depending upon the number of villages under the cluster, the number of NaRM-Gs per cluster may range from 4 to 12 NaRM-Gs. Some of the Cluster Associations have taken over the role of the partner NGOs in supervising and facilitating the Cluster in various capacities. There are 17 Cluster Associations of which all are registered under the Societies’ Act.

(d)    Cluster Federations (of SHGs)

This is another of the cluster based institutions specifically for the wellbeing of the SHGs. It is envisaged that after the withdrawal of the of the IFAD project the SHG Federations would be supervising, guiding and supporting the individuals SHGs of that particular cluster. It is worth mentioning here that since the SHGs are basically women’s based organisations, hence, logically, the SHG Federations is also women based. In some of the clusters, where the Cluster Association is non-existing, the SHG Federation takes on the onus for the facilitating the cluster wherever the partner NGO has been phased out. There are 19 SHG Federation which all are registered under the Societies’ Act.

(e)     Partner NGOs

NGO are crucial project partners for mobilising communities; negotiating the establishment of appropriately structured NaRM-Gs and SHGs; assisting the community to address equity issues and ensuring an orientation towards the poor in planning project activities; preparing the community to participate in the interactive process of drawing up the Community Resource Management Plan (CRMP) for the village; guiding the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercises and assisting Project and Government staff in interactions with the community; building the management capacity of the NaRM-Gs and SHGs; supporting community institutions in the implementation process; helping with management of conflicts and promoting the formation of SHGs. Some of the partner NGOs, in some of the clusters has been phased out after the successful completion of their services as per the MoU entered with the partner NGOs. There were 8 partner NGOs supervising the clusters.

Grading of Institutions

It is very critical for the project to monitor the various institutions formed under the project, namely, SHG Federations, NaRM-G Associations, NaRM-Gs and SHGs and also for the partner NGOs in delivering their services to the communities. The NaRM-Gs and SHGs are graded by staff of the partner NGOs, other than their own NGO supervising that particular cluster. Similarly, this process is also followed for the SHG Federations and NaRM-Gs Association. For the partner NGOs, the grading is done jointly by the communities and staff of the DST.

Main Activities/Achievements

Some of the main achievements of the project in West Khasi Hills can be highlighted as follows:

*         Creating of Apex Bodies at the Block Level had already started and in one Sub-Division, namely, Mawkyrwat Sub-Division, JFA has been created to cater to the needs of the communities. In other Blocks such as Mairang and Mawshynrud C & RD Blocks process is on the way to constitute an Apex Body.

*         Bulk production of focus products such as pine apple, ginger, bay leaves, are canut, oranges, betel leaves, broom grass, pepper, banana, etc.

*         Sale of agricultural produce such as ginger, broom grass, bay leaves, oranges, pepper, etc are now being mostly marketed through the Cluster level Institutions.

*         Processing & packaging have already been started and one batch has completely sold off and the production of the next batch is currently on the way.  This honey has already got the prevention against food adulteration (PFA) license from the Director of Health Services (DHS).

*         Various training programmes, workshops, seminars, awareness programmes, exposure tours, etc have been conducted for all sessions of the society (within project villages).

*         Various activities under Natural Resource Management has been implemented in many of the clusters ranging from bench terracing to forestry related activities.

*         Cold Storages also have been procured and will be fully functional once the Collection Centers have been completed to house these Cold Storages.

*         Promotion of handloom and handicraft activities by way of improving the quality of these products while at the same time inculcating the age old traditional systems of producing/creation of handloom and handicraft items.

*         Linking up with various line departments for implementing their schemes for the benefit of the communities such as the Integrated Child Development Schemes (ICDS), Swarnajaya Gram Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY), etc.