INDIA: Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project

Annex 4
Management of Social Safeguards and Social Development
Gujarat
1. Community Based Mangrove Plantation and Socio-Economic Development of villages:
a. Coverage: A total of 163 villages across 14 blocks of five districts will be covered under various
components of the project. All these villages are within a distance of 5 km from the coast. Over
70% of the villages entirely depend on coastal resources and in the remaining 30% villages,
agriculture and animal husbandry is the main occupation. All these villages not only have been
adversely affected by coastal disasters, they also lack basic infrastructure.
b. Baseline information and community mobilization: So far participatory rural appraisal (PRA)
exercises for collection of baseline data have been completed for 48 clusters and gram sabha
meetings have been conducted in 140 clusters. In order to mobilize community for mangrove
plantation and its maintenance, 30 eco-development committees (EDCs), and 70 community
based organizations (CBOs) have been formed. SPMU has also formed 196 self help groups for
livelihood generation activities. So far 42 entry point activities have been identified through
PRA. The implementation is yet to begin. The community mobilization process followed by the
GEC/ SPMU has been very comprehensive and abiding by the rules of inclusiveness of women
and vulnerable groups by the group of dedicated and committed field workers and project
coordinators.
c. Awareness generation: SPMU has carried out several activities in these villages for creating
awareness towards mangroves including street plays, health camps, veterinary camps, special day
celebrations such as ozone day, international women’s day, World earth day, etc. SPMU also
conducted a mangrove yatra covering 158 villages.
d. Capacity Building: Several capacity building initiatives have been taken by SPMU including
orientation / exposure visits for CBOs and EDCs and skill enhancement and administrative
training for SHGs. A day long solar training workshop was held to train around 300 village
youths in maintenance of solar appliances.
2. Monitoring mechanism: Four level of monitoring mechanism has been established. Apart from regular
monitoring by project executing agency (PEA); SPMU and NPMU, participatory monitoring by
community based organization has been introduced as fourth level of monitoring. Each CBO formed
monitors at least two other CBOs.
3. Grievance Redress Mechanism: A toll free dedicated line has been installed at SPMU. A caller can
register the grievance / feedback between 10am to 5pm. The response is provided to the caller by the
competent authority within a fixed time frame. A theme based interactive and informative website has
been designed, which apart from disseminating ICZMP information also serves as one of the channels for
grievance redress. In each village where ever activities have been initiated, two information boards have
been put up displaying the toll free number of SPMU and telephone number of PEA’s contact. In any
case, field workers are the first layer of contact for any grievance that a community member wants to
register. A day long workshop was also organized by SPMU for judiciary officials to orient them about (i)
the ICZM project; (ii) grievance redress mechanism; and (iii) to enlist their participation in the project.
The workshop was attended by 50 legal officers, including District Magistrates and High Court Judges.
The workshop included a trip to Narara to educate legal community towards the sensitive issues related to
natural resources along the coast and the populations that depend on these.
4. Staffing: Apart from hiring a Social Scientist in SPMU, three project coordinators located in Jamnagar,
Gandhigram and Naliya, two field assistants and 31 field level workers have been hired. The field