Multiplication in the impact of Rural Habitat Initiatives

Mona Chhabra Anand   mccabra@devalt.org 

Recent years have provided enough experiences, lessons and building blocks for realizing the potential of the habitat sector in rural areas. People’s own initiatives, organized community action and facilitative government schemes provide interesting reasons for optimism. All the more interesting are those experiences wherein two or more of these approaches, catalyzed by external enablers (such as finance, technology options and institutional support mechanisms) deliver benefits that are greater than the sum of individual components. A logical next step would be to understand, develop and nurture the synergy between varied enabling factors so that the benefits of habitat development initiatives are not linear but exponential. With this realization, basin-South Asia, supported by British Social Housing Foundation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Development Alternatives organized a national level workshop on 5^th May 2005 to receive inputs from different stakeholders on how current habitat policies could be strengthened for a more facilitative environment in favour of people-based habitat development. This workshop was a part of the ongoing study on rural habitat processes and policies, undertaken by DA with support from BSHF.

Role of basin-SA in India’s current habitat scenario

The consultation was structured in four broad sessions: Sessions II and III were devoted to discussions on present habitat policy and a structure for a new Rural Habitat Policy. A panel discussion in Session IV brought to the fore the views of the government agencies and the NGO sector. Session I shared the vision of basin–SA and the outcomes of part I of the study.  

Development Alternatives shared the following key lessons of the first part of the ongoing study: 

• 1.Habitat development serves as an effective entry point for asset creation for the rural poor.
• 2.Availability of affordable and flexible finance mechanisms is instrumental in access to housing by a large section of the rural poor.
• 3.Access to information and skills by local communities in appropriate building technologies and best practices fosters improvement in the overall habitat quality.
• 4.A viable, profitable local supply system for appropriate building materials and skills via an enterprise route enables better habitat for the rural poor.

A Separate Rural Habitat Policy

The group discussed the pressing need for a habitat policy for rural areas, distinct from the current policy that is generally applicable to both rural and urban areas. The present policy does not address the specific characteristic of rural living and working environment and undermines the fact that most rural families build incrementally and by themselves and many rural homes are work places and storage areas. Much remains to be guided and achieved in rural areas considering their peculiar conditions, such as the close link between the habitat and livelihoods of the people. The participants discussed that while a separate rural habitat policy would look at the concerns of rural areas, it would not be divorced from interlinked concerns of urban and peri-urban areas. The group discussed that there was a clear need for the government and people to act together i.e. develop a bhagidari^* at the local level with Gram Sabhas  (or village assemblies). It was felt that the policy must respond to the segmented nature of rural market, but be biased towards the poor.

Components of a Rural Habitat Policy 

The group agreed that the policy must be based on certain principles, which are non-negotiable and that would lay the foundation of the policy document. These include strengthening people’s participation in the habitat development process; encouraging involvement of all the other stakeholders; enabling access to entitlements by the people - especially the poor; building upon the links with other sectors; and promoting sustainable development through environment-friendly methods and practices.     

Objectives

It was discussed that the aim of the policy should be to create an enabling environment for promoting people’s control over habitat development. The intention would be to create conditions where the people build for themselves, using their own methods and processes. It is thus imperative to involve various stakeholders with their different resources in the habitat development processes. It is also critical that the rural poor are provided with conditions that facilitate full realization of the potential of the rural poor and their resources with regard to their habitat aspirations. 

Strategies

The group discussed the following key points with regard to the strategies for achieving the objectives: 

• 1.Identification and targeting of the poorest who normally get left out of the policy process.
• 2.Development of diverse delivery mechanisms to encompass the various needs and conditions of the poor. These would include state and local government initiatives, private sector initiatives as well as people’s own initiatives for habitat development.
• 3.Localizing planning, implementation and monitoring of habitat initiatives: It was discussed that planning of habitat initiatives and their implementation should be localized as far as possible. This would enable the role of Panchayati Raj Institutions to make these initiatives more responsive and people-centric.
• 4.A market driven approach would be useful in making habitat delivery smoother, while contributing to the local economy at the same time. This would also add to the sustainability of the habitat initiatives.

Implementation

The participants discussed that the nature of implementation mechanisms is a key determining factor for the effectiveness of the Rural Habitat Policy. There is a need to ensure that critical resources, land, labour, finance, etc. required for habitat development at the local level are made available to the people, especially the poor. Efforts should be channelised to make such that resources are available to promote self-build processes by the people. Entrepreneurship and its link with local livelihoods was discussed as one of the ways of realising this objective.

The need to set up information systems about schemes, their implications, grassroots initiatives, etc. was highlighted. This information system could be linked with a monitoring system at the village level, which could have an empowering effect on the local people.

It was also discussed that specific legal and regulatory reforms needed to be operationalised for the smooth implementation of the policy. For instance, a reform process to further access to land by the poorest in the village is critical to make the policy more meaningful.

The participants highlighted the need to localize the planning and implementation of rural habitat initiatives by involving the Panchayati Raj Institutions(PRIs), being closest to the people. Strengthening the role of ( and interconnections between) agencies with complimentary capacities such as the National Housing Bank, NABARD, HUDCO, Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council is also desired for setting up a strong base for effective implementation of the rural habitat policy.

The policy should provide directions and the schemes, its implementing instrument, should be flexible enough for its interpretation and integration at the village level so that each situation is addressed as per its specific needs and not in a generic manner across the country.

Panel Discussion

Chairing the Panel Discussion at the end of the workshop, Wajahat Habibullah, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, reiterated the crucial role of PRIs in habitat development in rural areas. Avni Malhotra, from SDC, also stressed upon the need to strengthen the process for decentralization and empowerment of local governance institutions to ensure effective implementation of habitat programmes, given the strong social perspective of the habitat sector. Talking about the “Planned Urbanization of Rural Areas (PURA)” scheme, Dr. P.S. Rana, CMD HUDCO, touched upon the need for creation of a critical mass of opportunities for the villagers to sell their skills in the village itself.  Neeraj Akhoury, Vice President of Lafarge India, reiterated the potential that the housing sector offered for development of rural enterprises and local economy. He emphasised that a market approach was critical to ensure the sustainability of rural habitat initiatives. 

basin-SA and DA informed all the participants that the recommendations of the workshop would be incorporated in the second part of DA’s study on rural habitat processes and policy. basin-SA and DA thanked the participants for their valuable inputs and insightful sharing.  q

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