Applied Rural Planning

and Development
Course details

Development Management
Elective Course
Sandeep Tambe, Professor IIFM
stambe@gmail.com

2015
2016

APPLIED RURAL PLANNING

AND DEVELOPMENT
Course details

Development Management,
Elective Course

2015-16

Sandeep Tambe, Professor IIFM

stambe@iifm.ac.inAPPLIED RURAL PLANNING

AND DEVELOPMENT

Course details
Coordinator: Sandeep Tambe
Teaching Faculty - Sandeep Tambe

PGDFM Term VI
Batch: 2014-16

Credits 1.0

Background
Poverty and rural development continue to dominate the agenda of governments and aid
agencies. More programmes and more funds are being targeted in this direction and accelerating
poverty reduction is at the heart of development effectiveness. In this scenario, young
professionals with multi-disciplinary skills and experience in planning and development are in
high demand. The theoretical concepts and principles have already been studied by the students,
and hence the focus of this course will be on applied aspects. The course will help to instill
confidence amongst the students on the usage of the various tools and techniques. It also
endeavors to bridge the gap between theory and practice in the rural development sector and
enable the students to add value to the institutions they join right away.
Objectives
This course provides the students with the necessary knowledge, skills and exposure to be able to
plan, design and assess poverty and rural development programmes professionally. The course
will cover application of various tools and also new emerging aspects in rural development so as
to enable them to better engage with real world situations. The course will cover three modules
namely poverty, sustainable livelihoods and rural development programmes. The sessions
covered in the course will include multi-dimensional poverty, poverty pathways, convergent
planning, national poverty alleviation programmes, convergence for sustainable livelihoods, anticorruption tools, effective social audits, record keeping and use of IEC tools supplemented with
field visits and guest lectures. Assignments will be related to project proposal writing, drafting
research papers and preparing monitoring and evaluation reports. The learnings will include the
applied use of participatory approaches, project management and monitoring and evaluation.
Teaching and learning approach
It would have a mix of interactive lectures, group discussions, case studies, student presentations,
invited speakers and field visits. The students will be working in groups for the field work and
will be applying the learnings to prepare and present the assignments. Study material in the form
of relevant self-study resources, web resources and case studies will be provided. Students are
expected to study the compulsory readings, discuss and share learnings and contribute equally in
group work.
3

Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course the students will be able to:
Have knowledge of the concepts, principles and contemporary debates on poverty and
rural development
Understand and acquire the attitude, mindsets and skills needed for taking up PRA/PLA
exercises in a rural setting
Gain experience on planning, designing and assessing poverty and rural development
status in real life situations
Develop skills related to drafting research papers, writing project proposals and preparing
monitoring and evaluation reports.
Assessment:
Quiz
:
Assignments & Presentations :
Term Exam
:

15%
20%
65%

APPLIED RURAL PLANNING AND

DEVELOPMENT
ARPD TERM VI (DM), 2015-16

COURSE CONTENTS
Sess
1

2-3

4-5

Topic

Compulsory Readings

Introduction
Baseline knowledge assessment test
Sharing the course outline, teaching
methodology and evaluation mechanism
Why is the course important- students
perceptions?
What are the student's expectations from the
course?
What are the expectations from the students ?
Rural development and poverty
Concepts and Principles

Setting the ball rolling

Conscience keeper
Attendance keeper
Course representative
Egroup of students
Ten mix subgroups
Ten subgroup reps (mobile nos and emails)

Poverty pathways
Stages-of-progress approach,
Case study of Andhra Pradesh

Krishna, A. (2006) Examining Pathways out

of and into Poverty in 36 Villages of Andhra
Pradesh, World Development 34 (2): 271-88

Robert Chambers : Poverty Research Methodologies Mindsets and

Multidimensionality
Robert Chambers : Poverty Unperceived Traps biases and agenda
Reference 1, 2
Quiz 1: Poverty research and poverty unperceived

Quiz 2: Poverty pathways

6-7

Planning for the research study

Designing, presenting, finalizing

Robert Chambers - From PRA to PLA and

Plurarism - Practice and Theory

Quiz 3: PRA, PLA and Plurarism

Field visit 01: Research study on stages of
progress approach, PIP and household
livelihood plans
8-9

Convergent planning to prepare village

development plans (IPPE-II, G5P, GP
Development Plan)

Rural Development Convergent Planning

Guidelines 2015 (forms, ready reckoner)
Gram Panchayat Development Plan,
5

10-11 Planning to prepare the village plan

Designing, presenting, finalizing

12

Field visit 02: Preparing a plan to make a

village poverty free
National Programmes of Ministry of Rural
Development and Ministry of Panchayati Raj

Ministry of Panchayati Raj 2015

FFC Operational Guidelines 2015
Youtube video

Government of India websites namely:

www.rural.nic.in, www.nrega.nic.in,
www.aajeevika.gov.in, www.iay.nic.in,
www.saanjhi.gov.in, www.secc.gov.in,
www.panchayat.gov.in
www.nrega.nic.in,
MGNREGA Operational Guidelines 2013
NRLM - Framework for Implementation
2010

13

MGNREGA
Entitlements, planning, permissible works,
use of technology, convergence, performance
indicators, transparency safeguards

14

IAY / SAGY
Planning, beneficiary selection, use of
technology, performance indicators,
transparency safeguards

www.iay.gov.in, www.saanjhi.gov.in
IAY Operational Guidelines 2013
SAGY Operational Guidelines 2014

15

Social security schemes

PM social security schemes, NSAP, NFSA
etc
Datasets in development
(SECC, Population Census, Web data etc)

16

Convergence for sustainable livelihoods

Case study of MGNREGA Sikkim
Case study of Madhya Pradesh
Case studies on planning, monitoring and
evaluation
Study of performance indicators of various
rural development programmes
(MGNREGA, IAY, CAMPA, NSAP, SBM,
PMGSY, NRDWP, SHG, FI etc.)
Case Study on beneficiary selection process
in rural housing programmes (REDRH,
CMRHM, IAY projects)

http://pmjdy.gov.in/
http://www.nsap.nic.in/
http://www.secc.gov.in/
http://censusindia.gov.in/
http://mospi.nic.in
Web data
http://glcf.umd.edu/ (satellite images)
http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/ (elevation)
http://worldclim.org/ (climate)
http://www.mgnregasikkim.org/convergenc
e

1718

Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and

Evaluating for Development Results.
United Nations Development Programme.
2009
A Guide for Project Monitoring and
Evaluation, Managing for Impact in Rural
Development. IFAD 2002
Evaluation Manual: Methodology and
Processes. IFAD 2009
6

Preparation for field visit

1920

2122

23

24

2526
2730

Record keeping in programmes

Work files, accounts, forms, registers,
records maintained at various state, district,
block, GP, and worksite
Examples from IAY, MGNREGA, GSM
Field visit 03: Evaluation of select rural
development programmes
Anti corruption tools: Typology of
corruption practices, framework for
detecting and preventing corruption, anti
corruption strategy, some anti-corruption
tools, Case study of MGNREGA Sikkim
Measuring the effectiveness of social
audits
Case study of Andhra Pradesh and
Case study of Sikkim
IEC tools in rural development
Types of IEC tools, simplifying technical
elements, process standardization, change
mindsets and attitudes, publicizing
entitlements
Examples of IEC in development
programmes
Guest lectures on applied aspects of NRLM,
Social Audits, MGNREGA etc

Livelihood Improvement Programme for

the Himalayas. Project Performance
Assessment. IFAD 2015
Jharkhand
Chattisgarh
Tribal
Development
Programme.
Impact
Evaluation. IFAD 2015
Reading material

Reading material

MGNREGA Social Audit Manual

Mason Training Handbook

Handbook for Reviving Mountain Springs

Guest Faculty

Presentation of assignments by students

End Term Exam

Group Assignments
a) Drafting research papers
Selecting contemporary themes on poverty and rural development, literature review,
hypothesis, research questions, objectives, methodology, data collection, data
validation, data analysis, findings, conclusions
b) Preparing project proposal for funding agencies
Selecting contemporary themes on poverty and rural development, situation analysis,
web search, need/justification, baseline information, ongoing initiatives, gap areas,
strategy, action plan, logframe, alternate scenario
c) Preparing project evaluation report
Accessing hardcopy records, downloading data from MIS, assessing status and
progress, methodology, activity calendar, technical tools, social tools, field
verification, data collection, data analysis, findings, conclusions and
recommendations

References
1. Robert Chambers (1983). Rural development - Putting the last first, Harlow: Longman,
now Pearson Education
2. Robert Chambers (1997). Whose Reality Counts, ITDG Publishing; 2nd edition