PRIA's
programmes combine three key strategies
at every level:
Capacity Building
Knowledge Building
Policy Advocacy
The
underlying theme informing all of
the work isKnowledge
is Power.
What
are the planks of Capacity Building?
It involves direct strengthening
of the capacities of a variety of
actors:
Citizens
Citizen organisations
Voluntary development organisations
Support organisations
Networks and coalitions
of such organisations
PRIA
employs a wide variety of methods
to enhance and strengthen capacity
at individual, institutional and
sectoral levels. Besides structured
training of short and long durations,
there are exposure visits, field
placements, apprenticeships, project
work, library work and a systematic
reflection of experiences. Innovations
in capacity building themes and
methods are a guide to PRIA's efforts
in future. Through spreading information
about its capacity building efforts,
PRIA aims to engage more and more
people in the exercise. The information
is disseminated through means of
the Internet and through media including
print and electronic media, journals,
conferences and academia.
What
is Knowledge Building?Knowledge
Building means involving citizens
to debate and discuss existing processes,
issues and institutions so that
their voices are taken into account
when policies are being formulated.
The idea behind producing new knowledge
is to use it for social change;
in this help is sought of those
who use the results as the starting
point for building new knowledge.
Existing experiences and popular
knowledge are acknowledged as a means
to build new knowledge, and the
sharing of results is done in a
manner that empowers citizens to
act in shaping their lives; organic
linkages and accountability between
research and action, researcher
and practitioner, and learning and
empowerment is assured.
What
does Policy Advocacy comprise of?Policy
Advocacy entails influencing opinion
on empowering the marginalised.
It comprises of systematic and ongoing
monitoring of existing policies,
their implementation and reformulation.
It also involves building networks,
coalitions and alliances of like-minded
individuals and organisations. It
implies convening a fora of different
yet commonly concerned actors. It
requires the structuring of dialogues
across differing perspectives and
players. It entails establishing
linkages and accountability between
micro and macro issues and actors.
It also entails lobbying, campaigning
and public education.
PRIA's
unique contribution is to work with
partners and others interested in
creating an enabling environment
and policies to increase the democratic
participation of those who have
been excluded from policy making
so far. It promotes citizen advocacy,
not just professional advocacy.
The
three broad strategies operate in
an integrated and interlinked manner.
Each programme thrust area utilises
different combination of these three
strategies, which vary over a period
of time.
PRIA
integrates the three strategies
within the framework ofGovernance
Where People Matter.The objective
is bringing into the purview of
governance more and more people
who can collaborate to include issues
that matter to them.
What
are the modes of executing these
strategies?
There
are three such modes and these include:
PRIA
Project Interventions
Through
its interventions, PRIA seeks
"to improve the standard
of living of marginalised
families through their active
participation in the effective
utilisation of developmental
resources." PRIA directly
intervenes to yield two clear
impacts:
Effective
voice of new leadership
Transparent
and accountable self-governing
institutions
How
does PRIA work to achieve the impacts?With its
partners, PRIA undertakes two broad
categories of interventions:
Strengthening
Civil Society is a bottom-up process
for generating pressure from below,
with demands of the marginalised
sections of society being articulated.
The aim is to make heard clearly
and coherently, the collective,
concerted voices of the new leadership
of the marginalised.
Reforming
governance institutions is a process
of sensitisation, orientation and
capacity building of elected representatives
and government officials so that
they can respond to, and supply
resources towards, the priorities
and needs being articulated through
such voices.
The
programmatic themes are local self
governance-rural, local self governance-urban,
civil society building, gender mainstreaming,
practice research engagement, influencing
government and media linkages.
PRIA's
interventions then attempt to build
new linkages between these voices
and governance institutions - creating
and sustaining an interface between
demand and supply, voice and response.
PRIA
Continuing Education
PRIA
Continuing Education (PCE) has been
established by PRIA to transfer
its experience, knowledge and learning
of over 25 years to interested students.
This vast pool of knowledge and
learning has been synthesised and
packaged into distance education
programmes.
There
is an inevitable need for expanding
the knowledge base of people at
workplaces. The purpose of the PCE
initiative is the advancement and
dissemination of knowledge that
has a direct bearing on social development.
Courses
include Certificate in International
Perspectives in Participatory Research
& Evaluation, Certificate in
Occupational Health and Safety,
Certificate in Panchayati Raj Institutions
in India (English/Hindi), Certificate
in Civil Society Building and Certificate
in Understanding Gender in Society
(English/Hindi). Besides these distance
education programmes, there is a
regular course that students have
to attend: Post Graduate Certificate
in Managing Participatory Development
Projects.
PRIA
Consultants has been established
with a view to provide social and
development solutions and advisory
support to the government, civil
society and business. PRIA consultants
aim at strengthening PRIA's mission
of promotion of participation and
democratic governance.
PRIA
Consultants offers its recognised
expertise to clients in the public
and private sectors through its
closely-knit knowledge network built
on a strong local presence. PRIA
Consultants' services include management
consultancy, advice, project management,
capacity building and institutional
development in rural development,
environmental health, education,
policy and strategy research and
development.
The
work of PRIA Consultants is guided
by the principles of total participation
and inclusion of all stakeholders,
transparency and accountability,
equality in gender and social categories,
quality and timeliness of deliverables,
and value for money.
