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PROJECT REPORT
SUBMITTED TO KILA
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1. BACKGROUND
kind in the third world, KILA aims to address the emerging issues of
KILA is the only Institution in India that functions with the sole mandate of
local governance
As the nodal institution for training, research and consultancy for the Local
capacity building activities of the local governments, both rural and urban.
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around one lakh trained manpower in Kerala. The institute also conducts
research studies and has brought out a number of reports and working papers
has been engaged in the capacity building activities for local governments in
KILA actively collaborates with many national and international agencies like
alleviation.
The primary stakeholders, i.e., the local governments, were among the
council. Growth in its institutional profile has happened in tandem, and also in
the country. As a result, KILA has been a key participant and also a
emerged as a major training centre for the people’s representatives and local
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The capacity building strategy adopted for decentralization in Kerala with the
support of SDC has attained wide currency and its learning can be adopted in
other States and other countries in the South Asian region. There is a
massive demand from other States of India and the countries in the South
Asian region for organizing study visits and training programmes at KILA on
process of taking stock of its past and looking ahead towards its future. One
of the future agenda is congregate the activities of KILA and SIRD and to
In April 2008 KILA organised a vision workshop to build the perspectives for
future and also to build a road map towards 2020. The workshop focused on
the present context in which KILA was placed as well as looked at the future
critically in the newly emerging context. It identified six thematic areas and
activities relating to the specific themes. KILA has invited the Institute of Rural
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(OD) Study for KILA and SIRD. Based on a day’s consultations at KILA the
as part of OD Study for KILA and SIRD. This exercise would have a
desired vision.
1
IRMA shares several similarities with KILA. A product of the Operation Flood movement, IRMA was
founded by its most significant stakeholders, i.e., Dairy Cooperatives, who continue to constitute the
most significant proportion of the membership of its General Body.
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iii. The OD Report would give recommendations for developing KILA and
SIRD as lead learning institutions in the country and in the South Asian
KILA and SIRD and give clear insights to strengthen these institutions
2. METHODOLOGY
The study team visited KILA and SIRD to understand the background, origin,
structure and process the study team consulted various published documents.
During the first visit, the faculty team interacted with the Director and other
members to firm up the Terms of Reference of the study. During this period it
was agreed that IRMA would examine the present structure and functioning of
KILA as well as the State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) and examine
The IRMA faculty team, in its second visit has carried out intensive structured
and free flowing interviews with all the faculty members (except one on
deputation), the Director of KILA, the two Deputy Directors, the Finance
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Officer, and other staff members of KILA. Besides, the team members also
consulting
g) The way through which KILA ensures quality in its three focal activities;
Apart from this, the faculty and staff members responded to a structured
During the third visit, the IRMA team conducted a one-day workshop with the
dialogical mode and all the participants actively participated. The focus of the
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focus areas of research, its relationship with other Institutions within and
Apart from this the Chairman of the KILA executive Council, Mr. Vijayand was
workshop was conducted where all faculty members, the few key staff
members were present. The focus of the workshop was to gain an insight into
the workings of SIRD, its different programmes, the internal structure of the
organization. The issue of the possible merger with KILA was discussed. The
focus was on the consequences for the institution as well as the individuals
was created by the Department of Local Self Government. However, its origin
lied in the People’s Planning Process that was carried out throughout the
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a state organization.
KILA is primarily funded by the Government and hence has the presence of
government all over its administrative and academic set up. However, it has
strong ties with international agencies like Swiss Agency for Development and
collaborates with the Sri Lanka Institute of Local Governance and All India
play a much bigger role than at present. It has several achievements to its
planning are the key aspirations of KILA. Much like ‘democracy’ which is
developmental process to keep active’. In walking this talk KILA has engaged
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27th April 2008 KILA had organised a ‘Vision Workshop’ which was attended
by a cross section of the major partners, associates and friends. The resultant
has been a ‘2020 Vision’ document, which clearly spells out the ‘guiding
and methods which have their origins in the feudal as well as colonial
past of the country. Absorbing and inculcating the aspired new ethos is
itself with the absorption of the new vision before attempting to promote
preparing the masses and their leaders for a new democratic culture.
KILA recognizes that political devolution will benefit only the powerful,
sections of the polity which have been traditionally excluded from the
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initiatives will be rooted in the local culture, while aiming at national and
identity.
data, for which a data base will be created and updated continually.
learning.
restructured and redeployed. For instance, the library will be kept open
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The summary sheet of ‘Action Blueprint for 2020’ annexed to the KILA vision
South-Asian region;
• To equip KILA with all the necessary facilities, resources and ambience
governments;
The goals have been broken into specific objectives and further elaborated in
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KILA Vision Document 2020
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specialised resource centres such as; (a) Centre for governance; (b) Centre
for sustainable development; (c) Centre for gender development; (d) Centre
related sector with the objective of socio-economic well being of the rural
people.
It is clear from the foregoing that there is a strong overlap between the goals
and mandates of the KILA and the SIRD. The overlap becomes even more
apparent when seen in the context of huge strides made by the State in
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Perspective Plan for Comprehensive Development, Vision Document, SIRD, Kottarkara.
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the local government institutions and work in tandem with the elected
strategic roles within the relevant policy frameworks of the state government.
What is more, such collaboration could create synergies which would allow
governments.
and (rural) development. KILA also additionally has the urban development
space within its institutional mandate and scope. Both have similar and unique
most limiting factor as the two institutions move forward in realising their
4
The vision documents of KILA and SIRD contain analysis of respective Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunties and Threats.
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respective visions. Presently KILA has 4 full time faculty positions while the
same for the SIRD is only 3. It would therefore appear that the best way to
collaborate would be to merge the two institutions; the merged entity would
have, to begin with, 7 full-time core faculty members. The jump in number
additions in future, the new entity would be far better placed to address the
KILA has a Director who is both the administrative and academic head of the
the other, is the Deputy Director, training. Apart from this the key functionaries
one section officer, one finance officer who are assisted by about 50 support
staff.
Keeping with the spirits of good academic institutions KILA has made efforts
of the faculty members and staff by constituting different committees; such as,
for Public Works, etc. However, when faculty members were asked about the
within the Institute; they were of the opinion that the decentralization is only in
letter not in spirit. Few committees have convenors who are not core faculty
and most of the times the committees never meet. For most administrative
purposes and facilities the faculty members are wholly dependent on the
Deputy Director (administration) for the same. Similarly, the faculty members
have very little say in the library matters. The Librarian is the convenor of the
library committee and the faculty members who are in the committee say that
the librarian has not called a meeting of the committee. In fact, when the team
visited KILA library and was talking to the Library Assistant about the function
of the library, it was made clear that books are ordered and procured only on
the basis of the indents given by the Director and the Chairman of the
Executive Council. When the team members asked what happens when a
faculty member sends a requisition? Her only answer was that it has to come
publications. The Institute over the years has acquired expertise beyond its
immediate focus and has imparted training in several related areas. The
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Development
However, the study team, after analyzing the contents of different training
programs offered by KILA has broadly classified it into five major domains;
urban governance. As a nodal training institute, KILA has trained more than
apart from delegates from other SAARC countries. To make its reach national
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KILA has embarked upon developing expertise in other states and has
The minimum number of trainings in each core area is 2 and 15 trainings have
been provided in Urban Governance area. The 272 days were involved
duration from 1 day to 30 days (1 month). The KILA training calendar shows
that during the 2009-2010 financial year 310 trainings were conducted
successfully and the duration was ranged from 1 day training program to 6
days training schedule. As per the KILA training calendar around almost 962
days were invested to train people from different sectors and in different
areas.
The core faculty of the KILA has been actively involved in conducting various
HIV/AIDS. Dr. J.B.Rajan and Dr. Abey George have been actively involved in
successful trainings on urban governance. So far the KILA faculty and their
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To conduct such a large number of programmes not only on campus, but also
throughout the state, KILA has, over the years created a large pool of trained
more than 150 master trainers who conduct training of trainers programmes
900 district level trainers who organize and conduct district level training
programmes. The resource persons comprise a vast array of talent pool for
assess whether the basic objectives of the training programme have been
expected learning that was determined before the training programme was
conducted has taken place after the conclusion of the training programme or
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trainees at the end of the programme. This is a good practice but for
follow-ups with the local level institutions. The training evaluation component
changes that they have brought about at the ground level should be
involved in designing and training of the master trainers. The ultimate delivery
It was suggested that for at least training conducted within KILA campus, the
the external key persons for the delivery of the programme may raise certain
quality issues. It was also found that that the subjective evaluation of the
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9. RESEARCH
development, etc. There are only five core faculty members (two members
listed under faculty are library staff) whose core functions involve
and organize workshops for dissemination. Thus, the core faculty is extremely
tied up and consequently research has fallen behind. It is true that most
This becomes important when KILA aspires to play a significant role in the
SAARC region. For example, we have very little knowledge about the impact
countries will form the backbone of KILA’s training efforts. Few participants
from other states, attending KILA’s programmes, observed that KILA has
good infrastructure but the programme is Kerala centred and the trainers are
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10. INFRASTRUCTURE
different groups. The training halls are spacious and can be used for multiple
purposes. There are two hostels for participants and it has a capacity to board
does not have consistency in quality. The Institute has to focus on the
Secondly, participants coming from other states face problems in dealing with
the staff because of the language barrier. The study team had interacted with
one such group coming from outside the state and it was shared by the group
arrangements were made for them keeping in view the language problem as
well as food related issues. If KILA wants to serve the national audience then
it has to become sensitive towards the needs of the participants from the state
other than Kerala. The mess is run effectively, efficiently and the food is
appealing.
KILA is equipped with the necessary training equipments like LCD projector,
overhead projector, film projector, slide projector, TV, VCR, etc. KILA has a
computer centre which is networked with the computers of the Faculty and
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on e-governance.
KILA has a library which is well-stocked with books not only in the area of
local governance but also in other related social science areas. The library
has a collection of more than 10,000 volumes and over 200 journals. The
development of the library, it will be better if the library gets into the network of
the faculty access to the latest knowledge bases in these areas. Presumably
11.1 The distinction between the Faculty and the administrative/support staff
If the Institute has to play a crucial role in both the national and international
academia, it has to closely look into the structure that has emerged in KILA
and align it with the practices of leading academic institutions. For example,
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the KILA Service bye-laws does not specifies faculty; however, it mentions
Interestingly, the study team found mention of faculty in the Annual Report of
KILA (2008-09). The team noted that apart from the Assistant Professors,
research. Other members may contribute but if their core function is not
related functions; and the other, is the Deputy Director (Administration), who
The role of Deputy Director (Training) many times overlaps that of the faculty
and often creates conflict. The Deputy Director (training) also coordinates
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members that the in the programmes conducted by the Deputy Directors extra
care of participants comfort and other logistics are given and this is not in the
this is done to receive good feedback for the programmes coordinated by the
deputy directors. It should be noted that whether this is done or not there is a
conflict of interest arising when the support service provider themselves the
direct service provider. Secondly, the Deputy Directors who are deputed to
the Institute are usually at the end of their career and often they come to
serve the institute for a year and less. Their long-term stake with the Institute
Directors. Thirdly, the Deputy Director in-charge of training does not report the
the privilege of going back to the parent department if something goes wrong
with the Institute. But the faculty members have full stake in the health and
growth of the Institute as they are directly recruited for the position and cannot
matters the faculty feel that it is the most neglected group within the Institute
and they have very little say in the running of the Institute. They also felt that
there are no growth opportunities for them; the promotion policies do not take
the faculty interest in consideration. Similarly, the faculty pay structure is not
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the Deputy Directors who control most of the resources which should have
been primarily under the control of the faculty. The faculty members also
observed that they most often fell stifled by the system and very little time and
Across staff categories, it clearly emerged that the lower level of motivational
of conflict which may be detrimental to the long term interest of the Institute.
The faculty would like KILA to expand its ambit of activities and emerge as a
leading institution in the SAARC region. They also felt that there is a need for
over staff members. They were ready for a stringent academic performance
system for all other staff. The administrative and support staff felt that KILA is
only a training Institute for the members of local self-government and should
focus only on this activity. Most staff members envisioned keen interest to
reference to the core activities of the Institute the faculty will be responsible in
discharging its duties, such as design and directing the training programmes.
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faculty is needed, as the contribution is made over the years. The major
challenge is to find the right kind of faculty. Any academic Institution needs to
excellence are not built by brick and mortar alone to be effective it needs good
quality faculty. The present faculty at KILA have been selected from reputed
kola has so far built for itself can be attributed to the faculty contributions.
However, the small size of the faculty has been accused of concern. Though
KILA has built a reputation in the field of training, but the research side has
and many training programmes are not designed by the faculty members. In
order to have good quality output it is important that the faculty members are
be elaborated).
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The climate survey suggested that there is low morale among the faculty of
seemingly at best to be apathetic as they were waiting for retirement with the
next couple of months. The overall motivational climate of KILA was at the
lower ebb. Except that faculty members expressed their desire to continue
with their academic work and not get disturbed by the external environment.
develop their skills and contribute to research and think creatively on new
both academics and administration has to be faculty driven and at the centre
13. RECOMMENDATIONS
13.1 However, as SIRD staff members are under a different service rules it
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council of the Institute and they may be rotated every two years.
13.2. The faculty member appointment and pay and other allowances may
13.4 Recruitment
Advancement Scheme for faculty members. All faculty members who have
and at least two experts in the field should be empowered to review the
performance of the concerned faculty over the last 8 years and if the
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recommend so.
For the purpose of Career and Advancement Scheme there will be no need to
create new positions as the sanctioned positions are the positions in which
the faculty was appointed. Similarly, for promotion under career advancement
served at least six years in the position of Associate Professor with at least
number s. Similar procedure should be adopted for faculty members who had
post and possess the requisite qualifications may be considered for promotion
government to the institute should not be less than 3 years that means
officers who have less than 3 years to the retirement age cannot come on the
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reporting to the Director, KILA. The Chief Administrative officer will be the
head of Administration for all staff members excluding the faculty who will
Similarly two deputed directors in KILA are deputed from the department of
panchayati raj. These officers will also play a crucial role in training and other
All Officers on deputation to get it into the faculty cadre should at least hold a
grade.
faculty. There are less promotional avenues for staff members in this support
the staff member will have at least two promotion in her career at KILA. It
should be understood that all promotion to the officer cadre should be either
members other than the people in officer categories will be eligible for
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be nominated by the Director for every two years. One of the two
and feedback meetings with all the non-faculty staff members. These
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g. For fast track promotion, the committee will review the performance
appraisal report of the last five years of the eligible employees in each
employees.
an interview panel for promotion of all the eligible candidates i.e., both
under regular promotions and fast track promotions. All the candidates
years of service as per the seniority list in each grade) will be called for
promotion interview.
The short listed candidates under fast track category will appear for
final interview before the Director. After a decision is taken, the Head
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consultancies will get due weight age. As KILA’s main area focus has been
by the faculty should be in the area of training. The other 50% may be divided
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