Bhubaneswar: Poverty & Human Development Monitoring Agency (PHDMA), the apex M&E body of Odisha Government is going to initiate an ambitious project of extending its continuous monitoring processes covering 6794 Gram panchayats of Odisha by October 2, 2023. In the first phase, the mission mode initiative will bring out Panchayat level Governance Atlas of 4056 GPs in the state by March 5, 2023 (Panchayati Raj Dibasa) through PHDMA’s unique methods of on-site Deep Sensing and Immersion.
Governance Atlas of all GPs is a systematic tracking of access, availability and utility of priority schemes, projects, programmes and benefits at household, individual, cohort, sectoral and institutional level as well as capturing of people’s aspirations from all gram panchayats to triggering a robust redressal mechanism. The Governance Atlas will be shared with stakeholders for resolution and necessary policy actions and inputs.
The PHDMA teams will be mobile on field for next one year to see, listen and understand what’s working, what needs to be worked on and what people of Odisha aspire. The project will not only nudge the institutional mechanism to address the existing issues but also keep track of progresses happening on the ground and ensure capturing of positive deviance.
“It’s our way to participate in processes of poverty eradication towards human development through listening. Deep listening will not be about hearing words but to embrace, accept and resolve. Through the tool of trust will emerge a leader- Emergent Convergent leader. The lived experience is about me, and the narratives will tell what numbers don’t. The compilations of governance realities through narratives, immersive observations and pictures on the ground will be the governance atlas of the state,” Roopa Roshan Sahoo, Member Secretary, PHDMA.
PHDMA has a unique way of collecting narratives and visuals from the field which ensures going beyond a structural format and traditional methods of monitoring and evaluation. The agency’s approach is distinctive in its nature of listening to the people’s stories, sensing their lived experiences and making sense of their lived realities.
Throughout the Governance Atlas project, the teams will visit each panchayat and immerse in the process of narrative collection as a form of continuous monitoring, which it calls ‘The Mycelium Way’ and prepare reports on what’s works for people of Odisha, what we need to work on and what people of the state aspire. The Mycelium Way refers to wisdom of the people that’s shared with PHDMA through immersing with them and listening to them.
These observations as reports known as ‘Governance Atlas’ will provide a detailed analysis of the progress of governance in the state and will help the administration track growth of individuals, households and communities.
What’s PHDMA?
Poverty and Human Development Monitoring Agency (PHDMA) was constituted under Government of Odisha’s Planning and Convergence Department in 2005 as an autonomous agency. PHDMA aims at tracking the progress of poverty eradication, improving human development indicators, developing appropriate development programs and accessing & evaluating the outcome and impact of various programs and policies on the poor and vulnerable people of Odisha. PHDMA, in its newest avatar, adopts new-age monitoring, evaluation and documentation practices keeping people on the forefront.
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