Regarding the Institutional Development Component in the DPR, three activities are proposed namely (1) Strengthening of DOA, (2) Strengthening of Extension Service Function, (3) Baseline Survey and Impact Assessment, and (4)Gender Mainstreaming. As mentioned above, the contents of Institutional Development Component should be decided after considering the lessons learned in Phase-1, keeping in mind to build a system and mechanism that can sustain the project results even after the project completion.
Strengthening of DOA is an activity mainly for efficient and smooth project management, including establishment of PMU and capacity building of staff. The Strengthening of Extension Service Function is not specific to the project. However, aims to raise the level of the technology extension system of the entire DOA. Since this project is implemented in Society Mode, it will be implemented independently of the usual government extension activities. Therefore, the necessary measures are required to smoothly transfer the project results from PMU to DOA during and after project implementation. Those are establishment of mechanism for timely sharing of information and knowledge, training for DOA staff similar to the training for PMU and so on.
PMU will hire qualified and experienced personnel from external agency on contractual basis. The selection of the external agency is done through open local competitive bidding.
As for the content of the training, first, sensitization training will be conducted, and the achievement of Phase-1 and the outline of the purpose and components of Phase-2 will be explained. Especially in Phase-2, since it is difficult to understand the connection and purpose of each activity due to the wide range of activities, the project will strive to have a common understanding among the PMU staff and other stakeholders through this sensitization training. After that, the PMU staff will be provided with knowledge of project cycle management and basic knowledge of managing the project in the PDCA cycle and necessary technical knowledge to carry out the project. The contents of the capacity development training are as follows.
It is proposed to manage the various activities of the three layers with three plans namely (1) overall implementation plan, (2) supply chain and marketing plan, and (3) crop diversification plan. Three plans will be owned by (1) PMU, (2)FPOs and (3)KVAs during the project implementation period and will be formulated and updated as necessary, after the project is completed, DOA will take over the overall plan, FPO will own the supply chain and marketing plan, and crop diversification plan will be owned and implemented by KVA. In order to sustain the project outcomes after completion of the projects, it is necessary to incorporate the activities necessary for smooth transition into the Institutional Development Component.
As mentioned in Chapter 4, Phase-1 was inflexible in its activities, despite employing an implementation system of Society Mode and giving quick and independent decision-making. Therefore, in Phase-2 it will be considered to operate the activity and budget flexibly based on these three plans. The progress shall be monitored and evaluated as appropriate by the parties concerned, and the revisions shall be made at least every six months, taking into account the needs of the farmers and the surrounding conditions.
The following figure shows transition of three plans and concept of Institutional Development Component. The FPO plans to develop strategic crops, production targets and cultivation plans, and KVA plans to develop production plans accordingly. The two plans should be consistent.
Figure 4.1.1 Plan to Control Various Activities and Concept of Institutional Development Components
This project covers 306 sub-projects scattered throughout HP state with many components progress in the certain procedure. In the project, it is necessary to correctly grasp the progress of activities in those subprojects, and to carry out work preparation and work follow-up at an appropriate time. In addition, it is necessary to grasp the issues that have occurred in the subproject at an early stage and take necessary measures.
From these points of view, Phase-2 will introduce the MIS system and manage the Project efficiently. The management functions required for the project are as shown in the following figure. At least (1) Show progress of overall project implementation functions (Dashboard facility), (2) Sub-project search function, (3) Sub-project photo and document display function, (4) GIS display of project position and progress, (5) Function of sub-project management functions are required, and systems with these functions will be developed or existing systems will be improved.
The followings are number of training to be carried out in the Project. In Phase-1, an external conference room was rented as a place for discussions and training, but it took time to secure the conference room, and it was difficult to secure the conference room itself during the busy season. Therefore, it was necessary to adjust the training schedule. Based on such lessons, Phase-2 will build a conference facility in DOA as a place to conduct about half of the 2,500 trainings or consultations scheduled outside the villages.
This activity is mainly aimed at strengthening the capacity and dissemination function of DOA staff. Activities include preparation of information, education and communication (IEC) material for dissemination, capacity development of agriculture extension staff, capacity development of engineering staff, strengthening of research- extension-farmer linkages and joint visits, overseas training, exposure / study includes visits of project staff and other stakeholders, upgrade of infrastructure of state agriculture management and extension training institute (SAMETI). These are activities that contribute to the sustainability of project results.
In order to disseminate the experience of the project to DoA, village and other stakeholders, the IEC material sill be prepared. The contents of the IEC are posters, wall writings, street plays, handouts and manuals, video programs and farmers’ fair. The number activities are shown in the following table.
The Project conduct workshop and seminar for strengthening of researchers, extension officers and farmer linkage and conduct field trial to establish FPO based extension system. The under this category of the work, establishment of FPO based extension system as an experiment will be carried out.
The work load of DOA extension workers is heavy, and there is concern about the sustainability of the project outcomes. Therefore, during the implementation of this project, a trial and verification program will be conducted to reduce the workload of DOA extension workers. Specifically, it is a trial of a new dissemination system using the FPO organization, and aims to establish the new system in the DOA after the project is completed.
International and national seminar and workshop will be conducted to share the experience and lesson learnt of the Project with stakeholders in and out of the state. Through such seminars, it is expected that similar operations will stimulate with each other and discussions will contribute to efficient project management.
The oversea training will also be organized to see the advanced extension system and technologies. Since JICA has some of training course on SHEP and nutrition improvement, the training will be tie-up with those and implemented.
SAMETI has a role as an institution responsible for strengthening the extension capacity of HP State, and is conducting capacity building training for extension workers of the Department of Agriculture. Training for extension workers may take several days, but at present there is no accommodation, so participants from other district may use private accommodation or have limited government accommodation. Under Phase-2 project as well, nearly 2,500 training sessions, seminars, and discussions are planned and participants coming from other districts must stay at least two days (before and after) in the area where training and seminar is taken place. It is therefore that the lodging facilities will be built in the premises of SAMETI to improve the convenience of training participants.
The contents of upgrading of infrastructure of SAMETI are summarized below.
The Baseline Survey and Impact Assessment is part of the PDCA activities that are normally required to carry out a project. It is expected to capacitate DOA staff in the project cycle management .skills though implementation of baseline survey and evaluation activities.
Following activities are suggested to promote gender mainstreaming in the HPCDPPII. It is expected through the six activities outlined under, the project will address the gender related issues associated with agriculture and will serve the purpose of it being a gender friendly agriculture project.
ACTIVITY 1 is the preparation of a Gender Policy meant for the PMU staff to adopt and apply in the implementation of the project. This will be a concise 3-4-page document and will include a gender action plan. Such a policy in addition to serving the current HPCDPP II will also be useful to guide future agriculture projects. The Gender Policy will guide ideas such as: Appropriate gender balance in staff recruitment, gender-desegregation of all data collected, and the setting up of the Internal complaints committee in compliance with the Sexual Harassment at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal Act 2013, in the PMMU.
ACTIVITY 2 focuses on Gender awareness training for empowerment of SHGs, where certain SHGs will be targeted, in accordance with the selection criteria specified by DoA. This training is aimed at strengthening and firming up women’s identity, building their self-confidence and personhood, that facilitates their decision making and enhances and improves their negotiation and bargaining skills.
The training content will underline Gender Sensitisation (for SHGs/Men and Youth); Gender Division of Labour (for Women, Men and Youth) so that women’s unpaid workload is recognised and men begin sharing household chores; and VAW with specific focus on Domestic Violence (for SHGs – as DV has increased since the pandemic broke out) is highlighted. The awareness and sensitisation is expected to enable men understand the underlying causes of gender-based violence and help in the reduction of domestic violence. As a result of the trainings, it is expected that the unequal gender relations between men and women, will be improved towards achieving equal relations.
ACTIVITY 3 for Livelihood Improvement Program under Farmers’ Support Program Nearly 300 SHGs, covering 3,000 farmers will be the target of this activity. They are the direct beneficiaries, and will include female-headed households and single women (widowed/separated/deserted/unmarried)). The beneficiaries will be selected based on the criteria such as; women/ men under the BPL category; Women / men with disability, but capable of doing in-house non-farm production, marginalised and vulnerable women / men (SC/STs and women in difficult circumstances) and landless women / men. In addition, the target SHGs will be selected based on needs, vulnerability and their present status of activities like, their savings and credit worthiness, meetings attended and conducted. Through this activity, women will be encouraged to take up Mushroom Cultivation, Honeybee-rearing, Dairying, Backyard poultry farming, Kitchen Gardening, Shitake mushroom cultivation, Service sector training and Pisciculture (rearing fish). This will lead to increased income of targeted beneficiaries and their families, provide them with sustainable livelihoods, increase their self-confidence/self-esteem and enable them, particularly female-headed households and single women to become financially viable, independent and self-reliant.
ACTIVITY 4 will aim at the Capacity Development of Agriculture Extension Staff, which are the PMU staff and Extension officers in DoA. They will be imparted Gender training and training in Gender and Agriculture so that the importance for a gender perspective in agriculture is clearly understood. This training will be conducted annually and will be followed by a refresher. So, an annual training cycle is suggested. The trainings will aim at deepening the understanding of gender concepts/ gender discrimination; Gender-division of labour; Life-cycle of violence (begins from the womb to the tomb); Role of women in agriculture; Disparities between men and women in agriculture; Importance of Gender-friendly agriculture implements to ease women’s burden and drudgery; and Role of the extension officers and the extension department in supporting women farmers and poor farmers.
It is expected that the trainings imparted will lead to greater understanding of gender concepts, gender sensitivity the PMU staff, who will then be proactive in their response to women and poor farmers. It will facilitate in ensuring greater gender justice in the project and contribute to improving the socio- economic sphere in rural Himachal Pradesh.
ACTIVITY 5 deals with Monitoring of gender perspective in the project implementation. This is targeted at the PMUs and will require nominating a gender officer to assess/evaluate the gender perspective that has been developed during the project implementation. The key objective being to assess, to what extent has the project been gender sensitive in its implementation and facilitated the process among the beneficiaries? It will help to ensure that the project’s objective of gender mainstreaming is being realised through gender perspective in implementation and the specific criteria laid out being adhered to as articulated in the proposed gender policy.