NIRDPR NERC event on rural development leadership ends in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, North Eastern Regional Centre (NIRDPR NERC), Guwahati, organized a five-day Management Development Programme on Rural Development Leadership from February 21 to February 25, stated a press release.

This was the second programme in series of management development programmes on rural development leadership during COVID-19.

The functionaries of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj play crucial role in addressing the poverty, sanitation, unemployment, women empowerment etc., in addition to their normal routine work particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic situation. It is also believed that posting in the district is very crucial for the officers of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and his/her effective functioning to realize the full potential. The overall objective of the proposed programme is to sharpen the fundamental competencies of officers such as knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and other characteristics that are needed to drive superior performance in rural development sector during uncertain times of pandemic. The main aim of the programme was to make participants recognize the potentials by addressing various social sector issues prevailing in the districts, and to equip the participants to collaborate with various supportive institutions like NIRDPR and other similar agencies to get quick solutions for their district specific development problems and also in management of mental well-being during pandemic situation.

The programme was inaugurated by Prof Vishnukant S Chatpally, Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayati Raj University, in presence of D Chakrapani, former Director General, Human Resource Development Institute of Andhra Pradesh, NIRDPR NERC Director Dr R Murugesan and Dr TVijaya Kumar, Associate Professor and Course Director.

Dr Vijaya Kumar, while welcoming the delegates and guests, emphasized the importance of leadership in Rural Development during the COVID-19 situation.The main aim of rural development is to improve the sustainable livelihoods and for this, particular traits of leadership are required. Therefore, this training programme is focusing on sharpening the fundamental competencies of officers working in Rural Development sector with requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes that are needed to drive the performance in Rural Development in pandemic situation. Managing mental well-being is one of the essential requirements for the functionaries to excel in their leadership during COVID-19.

Dr Murugesan delivered the opening remarks of the training programme and said that NIRDPR is organizing the Leadership Development Programmes for capacity building of the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj functionaries for effective implementation of the development programmes particularly in Northeastern States of the country.

Prof Chatplli, while delivering the inaugural address, highlighted that leadership in rural area requires different qualities to handle the high degree of interactions in the village situation. Leaders should be trust worthy, unbiased and to discharge the functions in the interest of the larger community. Through proper team-building, the functionaries of rural development should work in relationship with Government, non-government and community The functionaries are to be equipped with personal traits to lead the programmes such as passion to work with the people, involvement, honesty and positive leadership along with specific skills like social skills, Analytical skills and effective communicative skills through this type of Rural Development leadership training programmes and appreciated the efforts of NIRDPR.

D Chakrapani, while deliberating on the dynamics of rural development leadership, emphasized that people-centric development through inclusive efforts is needed. The functionaries, particularly working in rural areas, should establish linkage with local institutions for effective delivery of the development programmes. He highlighted that the Assam Government's innovative efforts of Induction of Rural Medical Practitioners at the sub-centres has made a lot of impact on footfall of patients and increased institutional deliveries in the rural areas of Assam. This is because of introducing a three-and-half years' course on Rural Medical Practitioners through Jorhat Medical College, The same model was replicated by the Government of Chhattisgarh. He further highlighted the Tripura model of online eye care services with the support of ILFS. These kind of innovative practices are to be incorporated into the training module of Rural Development Leadership trainings for addressing the development issues in rural areas and acknowledged the efforts of NERC NIRDPR Guwahati in organizing such novel training programmes for Rural Development functionaries.

The training programme had 16 sessions on Self-Help Mission: Empowerment of women, Educational Development, Agricultural Development, Holistic Nutrition, e-Governance for Rural Development, Management of Mental Well-being, Effective Communication and Leadership skills, and Leadership for Sustainable Development, Team-building with focus on Volunteerism in Rural Development and offered with blended digital training methodology.

A total 55 officers of different levels working in Rural Development and Panchayati Raj department across the country attended this Second MDP on Rural Development Leadership.

The programme was coordinated by Dr Vijaya Kumar, Dr MK Srivastava and SK Ghosh of NIRDPR NERC.

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