Bhubaneswar: Community Partnership is the key to infusing sustainability into any intervention to empower the poor and vulnerable. Keeping this in mind, the State Government has provided Rs 100 crore to 26,691 Mission Shakti Groups as supervision charges (Incentives) to strengthen Community Partnership under various sectors such as: MUKTA, AAHAR, JALSATHIs, Solid Waste Management, Shelter for Urban Homeless, Pickle Making Units etc.
As part of Community empowerment and institution building, nearly 50,000 Mission Shakti Groups have been formed and given priority to get involved in a number of activities and Odisha has emerged as a pioneering State in this regard. To strengthen the initiative further, emphasis has been laid on involving Community at every stage of planning and coordination as it holds the key to ensuring the success of any initiative.
Further community participation has been accorded the highest priority as it builds an atmosphere of accountability and transparency as part of grassroots governance at the ULB level.
To broaden the platform of MSG engagement, the State Government has already engaged MSGs in looking after the operation & maintenance of Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant, Community Toilet, and Rental Housing Complex, Parks etc as decisive steps forward on enhancing livelihood of poor and vulnerable women in Urban Areas.
The Community Participation initiative has indeed set a new bench mark in setting trends on how to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty. The Community Partnership model pioneered by Odisha has been appreciated by National and International agencies across the globe.
Further, the Odisha Model of Community Driven Empowerment initiatives with focus on gender sensitization by involving Mission Shakti members in the flagship programmes has emerged as a powerful example across the country for other States to initiate similar steps and reap the benefit of involving women at each and every stage of planning and implementation.
“We are pleased to share that Rs 100 crore incentive has been paid to community partners so far who are engaged in various techno-managerial roles in diverse urban development programmes across all the 115 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). The community partners comprising Mission Shakti Groups are among our most trusted and valuable partners and we are proud of our partnership with them,” the Housing and Urban Development Department stated.
