The Hunger Project hosts Ministerial Roundtable on Capacity Building in Panchayati Raj

One of the keys to ending hunger is to strengthen local democratic institutions, so that people can directly participate in meeting their basic needs.

Left of the minister Mani Shankar is the Rural Development Minister Mr. Kalu Lal Gurjar. To the right of Rita is Mr Yugander, member of the Planning Commission.

In recent months, the Government of India has hosted a series of seven high-level roundtable meetings.  The roundtables are presided over by the Minister of Panchayati Raj and attended by over 30 Ministers of State for Rural Development and Secretaries of Rural Development from the states and union territories across India.

Our traveling exhibition on women in panchayati raj.

The Hunger Project was chosen to be the nodal agency to co-ordinate the VIIth and final roundtable that focused on the issue of "Capacity Building and Training of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)." The following key outputs were produced to facilitate discussions at the roundtable:

• Statewise fact sheets on the status of training and capacity building were collected from 22 States and 5 union territories of India. Our state offices and partner NGOs in the states were instrumental in compiling this information.
• A Draft National Approach towards Capacity Building and Training of PRIs. Two rounds of discussions were held with more than 35 NGOs across the country. Representatives from Samavesh (Madhya Pradesh); RSCD (Maharashtra); RLEK (Uttranchal); PRIA (Delhi); ISS (Delhi); URMUL (Rajasthan); Gandhigram University (TamilNadu); UNNATI (Gujarat) contributed and co-produced this draft with The Hunger Project.
• Compiled a small booklet containing experiences and learning from some of the leading state programmes. Some of you contributed with your valuable feedback.

The Hunger Project presented the analysis of the information collected and recommendations based on the above.

The resolutions from the roundtable are posted here and can also be seen at www.panchayat.nic.in a new website inaugurated on the 17th December.

While this meeting is an encouraging first step, the process of translating this into reality will be more difficult. And we look forward to continuing to work together in taking these next steps.