Read the interviews to Anil & Pratigya, working on the Endogenous Tourism Project

R.K. Anil

- How you became a UNV? 
I started in December 2003. I was doing my PHD in Rural Economics and Natural Resources Management at the time and I got to know about the project from the website.
- How was it at the beginning?
It was not too clear. The project was at the very beginning and we had problems in understanding how to implement it. With time a common understanding between workers was developed and thing emproved. Still there are some coordination and understanding problems between the Government of India and UNDP, but the project is advancing in a effective way.
Results are not the same in each project location because of many factors. One is that NGOs working with the project in different locations have different performances.
But the major determinant factor is the district administration.
District collectors have a different understanding of the project, depending also on the coordination with the NGOs.
What could be the possible solution for these difficulties?
We are now trying to develop a committee in each location to solve these coordination problems.
Regional meetings will also help sharing good practices and experiences among NGO partners.
we also regularly make on-field visits in order to meet NGOs and try to develop new strategies implementable on the field.
There is an inbuil flexibility in the project allowing to redesign workplans according to local needs of hte people.

- How would you describe on a human side this experience?
You get to interact with different types of people, working in different ways in bringing about development in the country.
You also get the satisfaction of contributing to a new project, working to emprove living conditions of rural communities in the country.
- How significant would you define UNV participation to this project?
Our work is crucial in these four aspects: 1)selecting locations, 2) selecting partner NGOs, 3) defining broad aspects of the project, 4) capaciy building with NGOs
We are the important connection between staff designing the project and the partnes implementing it.

Pratigya Kalra

- Tell me about your experience.
I joined on the 2nd of May 2005 and I enjoyed it right from the beginning, because I got to travei in places I hadn't been to before and do work that I hadn't done before. I've been living in urbn India most of my life, and so it was good to get exposure to another side of my country.
The best part of the work is that there is a lot of freedon and flexibility to take initiative and it's up to you to decide wich direction to take the eproject in.
The interaction with the people living in the implementation areas is always gratifying a they are quite open to ideas, very hospitable and trusting.
- What kind of emprowement did you get on a professional aspect?
I'm beginning to get an understanding of grass roots development trough interaction with project partners in the field.
The advantage of working with a large organization like UNDP is that they provide abundant resources, both financial and human, and it's up to you to make the most out of it.

back to > "Voices from the Field" page