Training launched on social audit of rural development schemes in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, North Eastern Regional Centre (NIRD&PR - NERC), Guwahati under the Union Ministry of Rural Development, launched a two-day training of trainers on Social Audit of Rural Development Schemes for all the eight States of the Northeastern region from Monday.

According to a press release, the main objective of the training is to create a pool of skilled trainers expected by the department of Rural Development (RD) to carry out Social Audit process of the development sector effectively in the Northeastern region.

The programme had been inaugurated by Dr R Murugesan, Director of NIRDPR - NERC, in presence of Dr Ratna Bhuyan and Dr T Vijaya Kumar, Course Directors, on July 4.

Dr Ratna Bhuyan, Assistant Professor and Programme Coordinator, NIRDPR-NERC, while welcoming the participants to the training, said that this is the programme mandated by the Union Ministry of Rural Development to NIRDPR to build the capacities of the Northeastern States' Rural Development Departments with a pool of trainers trained on the process of Social Audit across the different rural development programmes. She further emphasized that Social Audit is based on principle of local governance and carried out with the consent and understanding of all stakeholders.

Dr R Murugesan said in his opening remarks that the Social Audit training is very important for effective delivery of rural development programmes. Training of trainers in eight States of the North-East will have impact on governance and will create access to marginalized poor sections of the society in local planning, collective decision making and accountability.

While setting the context for the programme, Dr T Vijaya Kumar emphasized that Social Audit is a tool measures, evaluate and identify the gaps in service delivery. Social audit is being adopted organically by all States of India for promotion of participative governance in the rural development sector. Citizens can use this as a monitoring tool and gauge effectiveness of the development schemes. The social audit training strengthens Jan Sunwai (hearing of public grievances) and allows the organization to evaluate the sustainable rollout of a scheme. The training of trainers programme will create a pool of resource persons to carry out the process of Social Audit and empower the citizens of the region to participate effectively in development process Meghalaya is the first State from Northeastern region to legislate the process of Social Audit.

NIRDPR has designed the training module of this training with a special focus on the RD schemes such as MGNREGA, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Grameen, National Social Assistance Programmes and Fifteenth Finance Commission grants from the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. A total of 34 participants from the eight Northeastern States are attending the training.

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