On 13th of September, 2011, Union Minister of Rural Development Mr. Jairam Ramesh announced a scheme of PM’s Rural Development Fellows (PMRDF) for deploying young professionals in each of the IAP districts to assist the District Collector.
PMRDFs will basically function as development facilitators, assisting the Collector and his/her colleagues by actively pursuing a district programming approach that follows three key strategies given below:
- Strengthen the district resource base for programming by finding ways of resourcing all the planned activities and rational budgeting.
- Establish or strengthen systems by exploring alternative ways of delivering services to reach the most deprived communities.
- Trigger processes which would support the changes that have been envisioned in this approach (e.g. village planning).
This would be complemented by a set of supportive actions such as building the capacity of district and block officials; triggering district-wide social mobilization processes particularly among the youth; achieve a ground swell of support and build strong relationships with the Panchayats.
It is envisaged that the training process and intensive development facilitation work at the village, block and district level will provide an exceptional growth potential for the Fellows and will, therefore, help to create a future network of skilled professionals that can work for the development sector as a whole.