Background

Indicorps is piloting an initiative to establish centers of excellence for grassroots development in two districts of India. Each “Grassroots Development Laboratory” (GDL) is a collaboration between Indicorps, a few large foundations, and local community-based organizations.

The GDLs are an opportunity for Indicorps to make a commitment to sustainable development and to invest in small-scale local interventions that address pressing development challenges in underserved communities. The GDL initiative aims to develop best practices based on these and other experiences that can be replicated.

The GDL idea is premised on a firm belief that long-term change is possible and can be scaled. The GDLs are an opportunity for Indicorps fellows to participate in developing holistic strategies for community progress. The GDL team will take an interactive approach to understanding processes of equitable and sustainable community change; in turn, Indicorps hopes that the team’s learnings and relationships with local stakeholders will lead to creative interventions in participatory development.

There will be two GDL sites. This one is focused on direct development interventions and will be based in the village of Bagar, in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan. The Jhunjhunu region is famous for being the ancestral home of many well known Marwari business families – including L.N. Mittal and the Birla lineage. Many of these families have invested in the region through educational endeavors; however, Jhunjhunu still struggles in the provision of basic services, access to water, healthcare, and the availability of meaningful employment. Indicorps will partner with the Mumbai-based Piramal Foundation to define and implement innovative initiatives in Jhunjhunu communities. The GDL intends to work towards solutions that will have relevance to national development challenges.

Each Indicorps fellow at the GDL will be assigned a particular issue, which will be his/her focus for the first year. During the first few months, each fellow will be expected to take an open-minded and broadly inquisitive approach to finding catalytic process solutions for this issue that may also be relevant to other development challenges. Each fellow will thoroughly research best practices related to addressing this issue, work with the team to brainstorm potential interventions, and develop an implementation strategy with local leaders/experts.

Year two of the fellowship will focus on effective implementation and sharing best practices. Fellow(s) will also work with GDL management and partner organizations to develop measurable benchmarks, document, and track progress in order to build a database of replicable solutions for similar challenges in other communities. Documentation will be integral to the success of the GDL fellowship.

Since the GDL is designed to be “laboratory,” Indicorps encourages creative ideas and intends to absorb lessons from both failures and successes. The GDL will learn from its attempts to develop innovative solutions to work towards permanent and sustainable interventions. The GDL will be an incubator for new ideas and will challenge fellows and the communities to be effective in developing their district. The GDL will also take steps to mitigate poor development strategies through meticulous planning, community involvement, and close supervision.

Fellows will be required to work with local organizations and ensure a community-based approach in the implementation of all projects. Where possible, the GDL will also work to encourage partnerships with local government organizations to help improve existing government programs and infrastructure. During the first year, fellows will work closely with Indicorps staff, the GDL team, partner organizations, and other development experts; the second year will encourage fellow(s) to apply themselves with more independence and intensity to evolving permanent community-based solutions.

The GDL requires a 2-year commitment, an open mind, and the ability to adapt quickly to an unpredictable work culture. GDL fellows should be willing to work both as a team and as independent catalysts for effective development.

The Jhunjhunu GDL will have several potential focus areas during the 2006-2008 fellowship program (GDL activities will start with these projects, but are not limited to the following):

(a) Rural Diagnostic Services – Across India, villagers must often travel long distances at great expense for simple blood and urine tests. Because testing is not easily available, rural doctors are limited in their ability to diagnose ailments. The GDL will partner with Wellspring Laboratories to develop a sustainable, low-cost rural diagnostic/pathology laboratory that serves the villages of Jhunjhunu.

(b) Maternal and Child Health – In an effort to reduce maternal and child mortality rates, the GDL will focus on health services for expecting mothers, nursing mothers, infants, and young children. This project may involve launching a comprehensive health awareness campaign, developing a network of community health workers, and interfacing with public health service systems.

(c) Technology Utilization (This is what I'll be focusing on)–The technology utilization project strives to adapt computer technology for rural India. Simply placing computers in a village does not ensure their productive use. The GDL seeks to develop relevant content, inspire local creative technology solutions, pilot entrepreneurial community information centers, and create community training programs.

(d) Learning and Livelihoods – The GDL will implement a series of programs to develop the human resource capacities of young people in Jhunjhunu. Livelihoods projects may link learning with employable skills development for teenagers, marketable skills for working-age youth, and dynamic vocational training / continuing education programs for adults.

(e) Self-Help Groups (SHG) – The SHG project will assist local women to develop marketable skills and local crafts/products through locally organized self-help groups. This project will entail mobilizing the women and implementing training programs to Self-help groups lead to economic empowerment, and are often catalysts for larger village change.

(f) Youth Engagement –The Youth Engagment project is designed to recruit young people from the region (across Rajasthan) to engage in the GDL and other community-based initiatives. Currently, the plan is to pilot a program to improve the quality of teaching in rural schools by recruiting and training talented young graduates to teach in rural elementary schools.

This GDL project will challenge each fellow to fully grasp current challenges to development in the district, and the quality and scope of interventions to-date through other agencies. Fellow(s) will combine their experiential observations with research on best practices in sustainable development to evolve processes and ideas that build capacity in the local community-based organizations.

The GDL project will continue to evolve throughout the next few years. Prospective fellows should recognize the start-up nature of this effort and be adaptive to potential challenges in creating an efficient operational process for the GDL. Joining this effort requires perseverance, an ability to manage expectations, willingness to participate in developing the GDL concept, and the determination to tackle new challenges.

Fellows will be provided collective room and board in one of the Piramal Havelis in the village of Bagar. Internet access is available, but the connection is slow. The GDL will also house at least one Indicorps staff member.

Language skills in Hindi will be important. Fellows will be expected to begin learning Hindi prior to arrival if not already proficient. Prior language skills preferred.

Two-year commitment required.