Strategy

"Where the mind is without fear" - a process for social power:

The Federation of grassroots level NGOs (we are now 70) in Eastern India under the Society for International Development (SID) Belur-Calcutta Chapter, accepted People's Participatory Planning (PPP) process as an alternative approach to move with the people towards sustainable village based development. The Federation together with people developed a consensus to accept 'participation' as a value and process of development. This was a struggle particularly in the context of existing reality where both people and our federation member organisations were conditioned by the dominant pattern of development as well as the dolling out strategy in the society.

Courage and conviction were needed to face the challenges emerging from the action and reflection of the PPP process. Ultimately ,our federation of NGOs found an alternative development perspective aspires for a just, participatory and sustainable society where life of people and their dignity are restored. Sustainable village based development is seen as a process of holistic transformation of the rural society for self-reliance and well being of all. The process covers all aspects of human existence to ensure social, cultural, economic, political, ecological and environmental sustainability. Sustainable development is a process that is not planned by the experts of our federation of NGOs but by the people themselves drawing upon their local environment and their diverse and almost infinite possibilities.

People oriented development in our federation means that not only questions, but the answers from the people. These answers based on their cultural, social, economic and political reality meaning there is no single path to progress. To make them sustainable ,the process has recreated the systems of life. This is a constant search of our federation to identify an appropriate strategy to enable people to be the main actors in development. The federation envisages that people is the primary subject and actor. Our role is to facilitate, strengthen ,and enhance the process. On the basis of this outlook and understanding we the federation of NGOs undertook People's Participatory Planning (PPP) process with the thematic design of recollecting the past, focusing on the present, and visualizing the future for sustainable development.

The most significant achievement of our federation may be marked by its success in raising people's awareness, building the sense of possession, increasing the rate of literacy and creating urge, among reference people, for development. The emergence of the People's plan is a social process. Also, the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the actions following the people's plan are social processes, beyond the conventional models of pre-determination, planning and budgeting.

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