As such documentation of records & happenings is considered to be the last priority item in any development intervention or infrastructure development programme. People are most interested in seeing the results as quickly as possible. The documentation is never considered an output. Which at later stae may prove very costly. The best example is to know how many of us have preserved the electrical drawing/map of your own house where you live or lay out of the pipe lines of the office/ house. Now take the example of a town & country planning of any big town like Bhopal, Indore, Delhi Bombay Ahmedabad Calcutta etc. Ask the Municipal Corporation to prset the map of 60 year old lay out. Chances are there that it is not available. Now you wish to replace the line or renovate the same. You do not know the exact location. You are to dig out & the understand the lay out. This will prove very costly proposition.
The lesson fro this is that the file should not be closed until drawing & lay out are not submitted. The defaulters should be punished.
20 September, 2008
19 September, 2008
Factors Affecting Sustainability of Development
In the development process of a community development there are plethora of factors responsible for development. But most important among them are the following three.
1- Source of resources or ownership of the resources.
2- Time gap between the investment & results of the interventions
3- Focus of Interventions (Target Beneficiary of the development).
These can be treated as three dimensions. Each dimension can further be divided into 5 stages on a five point scale.
Dimension-I: Source of resources or ownership of the resources.
a- Central Government/ State government/ Donors
b- District Level/ MPLAD/ MLALAD/ ZP
c- Village resources
d- Community Resources/ Family
e- Individual/ Personal Resorces
Dimension-II: Time gap between the investment & results of the interventions
a- Immediate or with in days
b- With in a year
c- Long Term/ 1-10 years
d- With in Life
e- Beyond Life ( Moksha)
Dimension-III: Focus of Interventions (Target Beneficiary of the development).
a- Individual
b- Family
c- Community
d- Village
e- District
f- Country
If the development intervention on all the a’s of the three dimension, the intervention will have the least sustainability. Where as if it targets on all f’s of these three dimension, the development intervention will be the most sustainable. The mobilization strategies may be at any combination of these three dimension. Accordingly the sustainability of the interventions will settle.
1- Source of resources or ownership of the resources.
2- Time gap between the investment & results of the interventions
3- Focus of Interventions (Target Beneficiary of the development).
These can be treated as three dimensions. Each dimension can further be divided into 5 stages on a five point scale.
Dimension-I: Source of resources or ownership of the resources.
a- Central Government/ State government/ Donors
b- District Level/ MPLAD/ MLALAD/ ZP
c- Village resources
d- Community Resources/ Family
e- Individual/ Personal Resorces
Dimension-II: Time gap between the investment & results of the interventions
a- Immediate or with in days
b- With in a year
c- Long Term/ 1-10 years
d- With in Life
e- Beyond Life ( Moksha)
Dimension-III: Focus of Interventions (Target Beneficiary of the development).
a- Individual
b- Family
c- Community
d- Village
e- District
f- Country
If the development intervention on all the a’s of the three dimension, the intervention will have the least sustainability. Where as if it targets on all f’s of these three dimension, the development intervention will be the most sustainable. The mobilization strategies may be at any combination of these three dimension. Accordingly the sustainability of the interventions will settle.
18 September, 2008
Games People Play in Development Sector-07
How a development administrator can deprive the most deserved development agency from assigning the consulting job. In a Development Department the three agencies were short listed for the assignment. They were called for presentation before the committee of junior persons who have very poor knowledge of the subject. The Financial Bids for the assignment were already opened. Only two agencies joined the presentation. The Chairman asked which of the two is L1 (Lowest bidder). The coordinator replied (named) IIDM but quipped promptly that other party is ready to carry out the assignment in same price. It was decided that L1 will be given the assignment. But later on the assignment was given to L2 with out even informing the L1. The L1 comes to know from a news item, that the assignment is completed by L2. What games were played by this development department, only God & the coordinator can tell.
Strategies for Sustainable Development Interventions
Development is not a commodity which can be supplied to the community which is in need of the community. It is an abstract item which occupies the space in mind. The interventions are needed to fill this space rather than supply the infrastructure to fill the physical space. What public sector development administrators do for development? They are given money by government exchequer for development of the community, they procure the hardware what they think will develop the target group & pour the same to fill the physical space. To identify the contents for filling the mind space requires systematic thinking, data gathering & analysis. Then only the mind space can be filled properly. But public sector development manager does not have time for that. He is always under pressure to spend the development fund with in 2-3 months only where as the same was planned for the full year. Most of the time the gap between the mind space & physical space of the members of the community remains wider resulting into under utilization or un-utilization of development resources provided to the target group. There is a need to design appropriate communication strategy to fill the mind space first. There after the infrastructure & other resources be supplied to the target group.
17 September, 2008
Selective Approaches of Development for Effectiveness of Interventions
The development approaches for all persons in a particular locality/ community should not be the same for effectiveness. Based on their willingness scale in joining the development they should be categoried in four main groups in any village. Separate category of interventions should be designed for each group. Then only one can see the results of development interventions. This approach is named as Selective Approaches of Development Interventions of IIDM Bhopal.
In this approach the Community is categorized into four major groups for the sake of development intervention design.
1- Laggards in Development who are at low level of development need & development demand.
2- Development Snatchers who are at low level of development need & but very high level of development demand.
3- Sleeping Stars of Development who are at very high level of development need & but low level of development demand.
4- Stars of Development who are at very high level of both development need & development demand.
If you want to do development interventions first identify the stars of development by assessing their positioning on the development need & development demand. These are the persons who are at higher side of both these scales. They need the least amount of mobilization & they start participating in development interventions.
The second priority is for sleeping stars who are at very high level of development need & but low level of development demand. These persons require interventions to make them realize the availability of interventions with respect to their needs. Once they convince they participate in development interventions. Here role of a change facilitator is just to make them realize their potential with regard to interventions.
The third category are those persons who are at low level of development need but very high level of development demand. They are already developed but they snatch the share of the needy persons by their crooked design. The development facilitators should be careful in handling them otherwise they will create the problems in development interventions. They will instigate or terrorize both the stars & sleeping stars not to participate in the development process. The change facilitator should shield these two categories from these snatchers of development by polished behaviour with out giving the share of development meant for others.
The laggards in development are those persons who are at low level of development need as well as low in development demand. They require very strong mobilization interventions with slow result. Therefore this group should be given the least priority. It will be mobilized very slow by induction effect of other two groups or by trickle down approach.
In this approach the Community is categorized into four major groups for the sake of development intervention design.
1- Laggards in Development who are at low level of development need & development demand.
2- Development Snatchers who are at low level of development need & but very high level of development demand.
3- Sleeping Stars of Development who are at very high level of development need & but low level of development demand.
4- Stars of Development who are at very high level of both development need & development demand.
If you want to do development interventions first identify the stars of development by assessing their positioning on the development need & development demand. These are the persons who are at higher side of both these scales. They need the least amount of mobilization & they start participating in development interventions.
The second priority is for sleeping stars who are at very high level of development need & but low level of development demand. These persons require interventions to make them realize the availability of interventions with respect to their needs. Once they convince they participate in development interventions. Here role of a change facilitator is just to make them realize their potential with regard to interventions.
The third category are those persons who are at low level of development need but very high level of development demand. They are already developed but they snatch the share of the needy persons by their crooked design. The development facilitators should be careful in handling them otherwise they will create the problems in development interventions. They will instigate or terrorize both the stars & sleeping stars not to participate in the development process. The change facilitator should shield these two categories from these snatchers of development by polished behaviour with out giving the share of development meant for others.
The laggards in development are those persons who are at low level of development need as well as low in development demand. They require very strong mobilization interventions with slow result. Therefore this group should be given the least priority. It will be mobilized very slow by induction effect of other two groups or by trickle down approach.
Games People Play in Development Sector-06
How a development administrator can delay the decision & camouflage the scene if he decided to harass you. This happened in a state department of health & family welfare. The series of training programmes were conducted by IIDM & bills were raised to the department. The Joint Director In-charge of the programme sent the file to his subordinate who was never involved with the activity. Now you keep on contacting him & his bosses answer is clear that the file is in process. You keep on waiting. Once a response is given by this subordinate another query is raised by this person. He will never raise all his queries in one go. The file will always remain in movement you can never catch the fish. By the time you are already finished. If you want your bill to be paid yield to this gentle man. Even the departmental secretary has written to expedite the decision, he simply ignored that the file is in process. You keep on crying, no body is there to listen to you. The seniors will dance to his tunes. Reasons are very clear. This is Development Scenario & Organizational climate of the department.
Seeking your comments & similar experiences
Dr S K Trivedi
Seeking your comments & similar experiences
Dr S K Trivedi
Games People Play in Development Sector-05
The public servants in development sector sometimes use the research activity as a very junior partner in development interventions. They form the opinion based on general talk or observation of the situation. Based on their opinion they define the causative factors for any problem. They think doing systematic research to assess the causes is a waste of money & resources. Even if they fail in their approaches who is to gauge the losses. More than that they believe very strongly that there is no other person more intelligent than them on the development issues. That is why they were appointed as development administrator. If the systematic research is the requirement of funding agency, they will give this job to local teachers ( who are master of all subjects) who can produce the same findings what the big boss has already predicted. Once they fail them blame the research. Who is at loss? The subject of research meets the casualty.
Seeking your comments & similar experiences
Dr S K Trivedi
Seeking your comments & similar experiences
Dr S K Trivedi
Games People Play in Development-02
The public servants in development sector sometimes use the development professionals as a unpaid worker for doing their job. A fleet of development workers are found roaming around them in any capital towns with heavy loaded degrees. A senior officer of one of the development department of a state government was asked by his bosses to prepare a proposal for establishing a state level training institution in the state. To prepare such a proposal requires time to justify the course of action & capacity to document which this officer was lacking. He played this game. He contacted the development consultants of the town & told them that there is an assignment for them. They should submit the proposal for the same. Now consultants worked on that issue & submitted the proposal. This gentleman picked up the best proposal & submitted to his bosses in his name. For such a quick response & good quality work this officer was highly appreciated. But at what cost? At the cost of unethical approach in consulting field.
Seeking your comments.
Dr S K Trivedi
Seeking your comments.
Dr S K Trivedi
Games People Play in Development-01
The public servants in development sector sometimes use the development professionals as a tool to settle scores with their subordinates or collaborating offices. The lottery department of a state government issued a advertisement in a national news paper seeking communication agencies for media management & communication development for promoting savings among the service class & other members of community. IIDM submitted its proposal in collaboration with ASIA’s No. 1 Advertisement agency. Months had passed but no response. IIDM approached to the Department & came to know that the advertisement was released to create fear in the media department of the state government who were handling this task (lest the job should be given to external agency). The Media Department of the Government started functioning well. But at what cost?
The communication agencies who submitted their proposals would have spent in thousands/ lakhs in preparing the approach papers. There were a huge number of applicants. This is what is India’s development sector using development professionals.
Seeking comments.
DR S K Trivedi
The communication agencies who submitted their proposals would have spent in thousands/ lakhs in preparing the approach papers. There were a huge number of applicants. This is what is India’s development sector using development professionals.
Seeking comments.
DR S K Trivedi
Learning Motive- A New Motivational Theory in Development Sector
The solutions in development sector require high level of creativity & innovations. No two solutions to development issues will be same. ( Total Cycle of solutions). The motivational approach among development workers/ professionals need to be different than other sectors. What Maslow gave the hierarchy of needs for motivation requires to be redefined. The hierarchy defined by him was 1- Physiological Needs 2- Security Need, 3- Social Needs (Status etc.), 4- Ego Needs & 5- Self actualization.. In the development sector or creative sectors or in project management in between 4th & 5th there is another need. Learning Need. Thus 5th will be Learning Need & 7th will be Self Actualization.
I had been using this motive in motivating our research professionals for a long time. It has been very successful. I ask the person what is the cheapest method of learning & what is the costliest mode of learning. After a bit of head scratching by them it is concluded that reading from a book about the subject might be the cheapest & fast method of learning & actually working on actual problem (i.e. Practical ) is the costliest & time consuming mode of learning. Total budget in a development project runs into crores of rupees. No individual can spend money in billions on its own to attain the same level of learning. This would mean if a person does not work whole heartedly on the problem he will be loosing the learning opportunity in equal or higher proportion. Therefore they should honestly work on the problem for increasing the level of learning from the project. This motive has proved itself very effective.
Kindly comment on this motive.
Dr S K Trivedi
16 September, 2008
Games People Play in Development Sector
When Dr Eric Berney wrote about his book on Games People Play he gave examples from industrial & social scenario. He never thought how the development professionals will use this subject.
In development sector the public servant are interested in expenditure rather than impact. Imagine the funds being made available for expenditure are just for 3 months to get the job done planned for full financial year. The funds for development for the period of April to March reach by September at the state exchequer. The state takes its own time in virtally selling the budget to district level. It reaches in many a cases by January or Deember end. In the month of February the moatorium on expenditure is clamped. Thus money for the year is to be spent in 2-3 months. Who can do magic. It is the public servant who is capable of this magic. Had Dr Eric Berne ever thought of this Game which Indian Development Sector is playing.
Comments awaited.
Dr S K Trivedi
end to the service provider.
In development sector the public servant are interested in expenditure rather than impact. Imagine the funds being made available for expenditure are just for 3 months to get the job done planned for full financial year. The funds for development for the period of April to March reach by September at the state exchequer. The state takes its own time in virtally selling the budget to district level. It reaches in many a cases by January or Deember end. In the month of February the moatorium on expenditure is clamped. Thus money for the year is to be spent in 2-3 months. Who can do magic. It is the public servant who is capable of this magic. Had Dr Eric Berne ever thought of this Game which Indian Development Sector is playing.
Comments awaited.
Dr S K Trivedi
end to the service provider.
Development Initiatives are road to innovations & creativity
The development intiatives always have new set of parameters to work with which requires creativity. Those who think development activities can be predefined are standing at wrong platform where they are to miss the train. No two development interventions will be exactly the same. Therefore a moron / clown can never succeed in development. The same tool will be applied in different setting. Therefore the strategies to implement the interventions will have to assess the environment & accordingly decide the course of action. The earlier mode can not be directly implemented.
Think 100 times before opting for development profession.
DR S K Trivedi
Waiting for comments.
Think 100 times before opting for development profession.
DR S K Trivedi
Waiting for comments.
Accepting Development Problem Changes Paradigm
How Paradigms Shift in Development Issues?
The other day was reading in news paper that death toll among the children due to malnutrition in District Khandwa has risen to 39 infants. The Government officials visited the site & a few of them accepted that yes these deaths were due to malnutrition as one of the main causes. The acceptance of the problem changes the paradigm of development workers. I congratulated the Principal Secretary for this courageous step of the public servants. Now the service providers will innovate the ways & means to reduce malnutrition. For development acceptance of the problem is first step & a necessary step.
On the other hand the public servant most of the time fighs for not accepting the problems. In that case all his subordinates down the line remain busy in hiding the problem & covering up the causes. Thus they never allow the real caues to surface out. Thus the solution to the problem can be achieved.
Who is to be blamed?
Media? Yes they encourage or force the service providers to hide. If media present the efforts by the service more than the outcome, it will encorage the service providers to analyse the causes openly.
The Senior Bosses?
Yes they put the blame on the subordinates for the problem & keeping them absolved from the problem. The sbordinates fear for any action to be taken where their bosses will not support them.
Who looses?
It is the community.
Who wins?
It is the problem which survives a longer life.
All these responsible persons should think& decide who should win?
Dr S K Trivedi
Seeking comments.
The other day was reading in news paper that death toll among the children due to malnutrition in District Khandwa has risen to 39 infants. The Government officials visited the site & a few of them accepted that yes these deaths were due to malnutrition as one of the main causes. The acceptance of the problem changes the paradigm of development workers. I congratulated the Principal Secretary for this courageous step of the public servants. Now the service providers will innovate the ways & means to reduce malnutrition. For development acceptance of the problem is first step & a necessary step.
On the other hand the public servant most of the time fighs for not accepting the problems. In that case all his subordinates down the line remain busy in hiding the problem & covering up the causes. Thus they never allow the real caues to surface out. Thus the solution to the problem can be achieved.
Who is to be blamed?
Media? Yes they encourage or force the service providers to hide. If media present the efforts by the service more than the outcome, it will encorage the service providers to analyse the causes openly.
The Senior Bosses?
Yes they put the blame on the subordinates for the problem & keeping them absolved from the problem. The sbordinates fear for any action to be taken where their bosses will not support them.
Who looses?
It is the community.
Who wins?
It is the problem which survives a longer life.
All these responsible persons should think& decide who should win?
Dr S K Trivedi
Seeking comments.
Surplus Theory of Development
Surplus Theory of Development
The development of nation or an individual or the family is possible only when if the surplus is generated. If spend every thing you earned you can not develop. This surplus is applicable in all the forms of resources.
Time Resource:
If all the time ou keep on working on the current assignement. You will not have time to think a fresh for new ideas or new products. Therefore one should always keep 10% of its resources as surplus for development issues.
Finance:
Similarly 10% of the financial resources are to be kept asside for R&D of the product or services or innovations.
Human Resources:
The human resources of any organization should keep asside their time for innovations & problem solving & creativity, then only they will grow professionaly resulting into the development of the organization.
This 10: 90 Formula is valid for all the resources.
The organizations who play with this proportion, they put their survival at stake,
Your comments are needed.
Dr S K Trivedi
The development of nation or an individual or the family is possible only when if the surplus is generated. If spend every thing you earned you can not develop. This surplus is applicable in all the forms of resources.
Time Resource:
If all the time ou keep on working on the current assignement. You will not have time to think a fresh for new ideas or new products. Therefore one should always keep 10% of its resources as surplus for development issues.
Finance:
Similarly 10% of the financial resources are to be kept asside for R&D of the product or services or innovations.
Human Resources:
The human resources of any organization should keep asside their time for innovations & problem solving & creativity, then only they will grow professionaly resulting into the development of the organization.
This 10: 90 Formula is valid for all the resources.
The organizations who play with this proportion, they put their survival at stake,
Your comments are needed.
Dr S K Trivedi
Role of Communication in Development
A assignment of Development Communication was put on hold by one of the Project Director saying that the money being spent on development communication will be more useful if it is spent on infrastructure. He is not the only person in development sector, a large military of development managers in the development sector believes so. To understand the need of development communication one must understand the difference between need & demand for certain product or services. In the community there is the need for various services or products but the community do not demand the same. Unless the community demands the same the product or services if provided to them will not be utilised to its fullest strength. The role of communication is to convert the need inrto demand.
Those persons who thin if the infrastructure or service if provided based on the needs of the communit, it will be used by the needy community is totally wrong. The planners in the development sector did so in India for last 50-60 years failed. Of late they realised that pushing the services or infrastructure to community is not enough. The community is to be mobilised to start demanding the services. Then only they will use the services to its fullest strength. The country is not poor because of lack of infrastructure, it is poor because of under utilization of its available infrastructure. This needs development communication.
The project directors in development sector should understand the basic concept of demand & supply. If the supply exceeds the demand, the price of the product will reduce to its rock bottom. Rather at free of cost, even then not used. This has happened in many health delivery systems. The IFA Tablets are thrown away by pregnent women in almost 80-85% cases. Thouh there is a need of Iron tablets for pregnant women but we failed to convert this need into demand because of apathy to the techniques of development communication. We have failed in reducing the anaemia.
One may conclude that there is a need to devise ways & means of communicationg with the stakeholder in the community for converting the need into demand. Simply supply will reduce the price to such a level that it is thrown out.
Need coments to ponder.
Dr S K Trivedi
Who is interested in Development?
A learner can be said to be interested in development. Therefore the desire to learn will motivate a person to carry out development interventions. Unfortunately in India the development is assigned to a bureacrat who think that he knows all about development. Particularly those who acquired IAS by promotion from revnue services or other state services. The learning is not there requirement. Even the persons surrounding him all along try to remind him that he knows every thing about development issues because of being / remaining in their good books for personal gains. But at what cost? At the cost of development of the nation. At the cost of the poor? At the cost of new learning. The other day I was thinking why our country is slow in development pace when we have best brains in the world?
If the country could not develop for last sixty years, one can not solely blame the bureacrats. There are intellegent learners of development in the IAS Cadre. I would blame more the persons surrounding the development collectors. These are the persons who always try to shut the doors of new learning to these development collectors. Let us rise togather & take a pledge that I will not shut the doors of larning of the development collectors for the sake of national development. Rather I will devote my enrgy to identify the problems of development make the development professionals use their brains. That will be more permanent ingratiation rather than flattery.
I need comments on this issue to ponder.
Dr S K Trivedi
A learner can be said to be interested in development. Therefore the desire to learn will motivate a person to carry out development interventions. Unfortunately in India the development is assigned to a bureacrat who think that he knows all about development. Particularly those who acquired IAS by promotion from revnue services or other state services. The learning is not there requirement. Even the persons surrounding him all along try to remind him that he knows every thing about development issues because of being / remaining in their good books for personal gains. But at what cost? At the cost of development of the nation. At the cost of the poor? At the cost of new learning. The other day I was thinking why our country is slow in development pace when we have best brains in the world?
If the country could not develop for last sixty years, one can not solely blame the bureacrats. There are intellegent learners of development in the IAS Cadre. I would blame more the persons surrounding the development collectors. These are the persons who always try to shut the doors of new learning to these development collectors. Let us rise togather & take a pledge that I will not shut the doors of larning of the development collectors for the sake of national development. Rather I will devote my enrgy to identify the problems of development make the development professionals use their brains. That will be more permanent ingratiation rather than flattery.
I need comments on this issue to ponder.
Dr S K Trivedi
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