Registration
No : Registered
in :
1982
Registered as :
Founder : Ms.
Sheela Patel
Present Leader :
Tax Exemptions :
FCRA :
Vision
PRIA’s
vision is of a world where informed, empowered citizens participate
in deepening democracy with tolerance to its larger numbers
and diversity. These include the marginalised, especially
women. Citizens' rights and responsibilities are nurtured
through a balance between authority and accountability. A
balance between economic and social development is sought
in an eco-friendly manner where local priorities are not sacrificed
to global demands. Individual freedom and autonomy is sustained
with collective solidarity.
PRIA's vision of a desirable world is based on values of equity,
justice, freedom, peace and solidarity with a philosophy taken
forward in all its actions – Knowledge is power.
Mission
To
work towards the promotion of policies, institutions and capacities
that strengthen voices and participation against the marginalisation
of communities. The idea is to improve their socio-economic
status through democratic governance. PRIA’s mission is
to reach out, through such governance, to everyone in society
and to ease their participation in the governance process.
Board
Ms.
Sheela Patel - Chairperson
Mr. K Shivakumar - Treasurer
Ms. Lalita Ramdas - Member
Ms. Rita Sarin - Member
Dr. Joe Madiath - Member
Mr. Satinder Singh Sahni - Member
Mr. Ravi Seth - Member
Dr. Rajesh Tandon - President, co-founder of PRIA, New Delhi
Mr. Thankappan D
Dr. Bibek Debroy
Shri Prem Chadha
Strategy
PRIA's
programmes combine three key strategies at every level:
Capacity Building, Knowledge Building, Policy Advocacy
The underlying theme informing all of the work is Knowledge
is Power. Read
More
Focus
Issue
Civil
Society Building, Panchayat Raj, Gender Mainstreaming, Urban
Governance
Programes
Gender
Mainstreaming
PRIA
attempts to reform governance institutions in the context
of a gender sensitised approach. That is why it emphasises
women’s empowerment. For example, PRIA encourages more
women to play leadership roles as elected representatives
in the Panchayati Raj and municipalities. Believing in inspiring
others by its own example, PRIA has introduced a gender mainstreaming
policy for itself. Read
More Committee
for Gender Mainstreaming and Awareness PRIA(CGAMP )
Activities in Gender Mainstreaming
In the year 2006-2007, PRIA's main focus was to extend internal
Gender Mainstreaming within CSOs, strengthen the mainstreaming
process of partners and complete the gender audit of Panchayat
study in four states. Its activities were divided into two
categories:
Gender Mainstreaming within Organisations
Gender Mainstreaming in Programmes Read
More
Rajesh
Tandon, President of PRIA, Awarded Social Justice Medal
for his contribution towards empowering citizens, communities
and government bodies, through providing voluntary support,
sharing expertise on rights and reforms related to social
justice, and developing social action as a core subject within
the gender justice realm.
Panchayat
Raj Institutions
PRIA
pioneered 'Strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)'
programme in 7 states of the country in early 1995, just after
first ever democratic elections to constitutional Panchayats
were held in most of the states. Read
More Activities : PRIA
organised a slew of activities to empower people and spread
awareness of Panchayati Raj. Activities were categorised under
three heads: the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA);
Girl Child Education; and Devolution. National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA):
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), 2005
guarantees 100 days of wage employment in a financial year
to any rural household whose adult members are willing to
do unskilled manual work. The Panchayats at each level have
been made the principal authorities for planning and implementation
of the schemes under the Act (Section 13(1)). Since this Act
came into force on February 2, 2006, employment opportunities
have been generated for thousands of villagers. Girl
Child Education:
PRIA's interventions were focused district downwards with
the following indicators for assessing achievements.
- Universal primary education: net enrolment ratio
- Quality of education: survival rate up to Grade V of primary
education
- Gender parity: reducing the gender gap in primary schooling
PRIA devised a three- pronged strategy, namely 1) Monitoring
and Research, 2) Advocacy and lobbying, and 3) Model building. Read
More
Civil
Society Building
PRIA
has been one of the pioneering organisations to promote practices,
innovations and discourse on civil society strengthening for
the last 25 years at the local, provincial, national and international
arena. Its interventions to mobilise and strengthen civil
society in India date back to the early 80s. Read
More Activities
: PRIA designed five interventions to track the Act's progress
and make people aware of its existence and functioning.
1. Orientation of Civil Society Organisations, Community Based
Organisations and Voluntary Development Organisations on Right
to Information;
2. Mass awareness generation drives
* Among citizens at Gram Sabha and Ward Sabha level;
* Among Citizen Leaders, Citizen Collectives and elected representatives
of Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies
* Publication of IEC materials on Right to Information
* Among university students
3. Building linkages and Advocacy for effective implementation
of RTI through State level workshops, District level workshops,
Signature campaigns, media linkage and Jan Sunwais
4. Enhancing knowledge on Right to Information
5. Model building of Suo Motu disclosure of information under
RTI in Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies.
Read
More
Urban
Governance
PRIA
has intervened in 1269 wards of 116 municipalities, focusing
on small and medium towns to enable citizens access better services
including water, sanitation, birth and death registration. Towards
this end it has provided orientation to 3385 newly elected municipal
councillors on their roles and responsibilities in urban governance;
prompted use of citizen-centric birth registration procedures
for the urban poor in 17 municipalities, and carried out 353
campaigns on sanitation and solid waste management. Read
More Activities : PRIA turned to its vast experience in Panchayati
Raj Institutions in rural areas for insights when it ventured
into urban governance through pilot programmes across five states
in the country for a period of three years. The initial pilot
phase (June 2000 to June 2003) clearly pointed out that future
interventions of PRIA should focus on improving municipal governance
of small and medium towns through enabling and strengthening
citizen participation. The next phase (April 2004 to March 2007)
of the programme focused on two broad objectives in tune with
PRIA's strategic plan "Governance Where People Matter".
They were (1) making urban local self-governing institutions
transparent and accountable, and (2) enabling citizen leaders
to have an effective voice in urban governance. A range of interventions
have since been undertaken to pursue these objectives in 54
municipalities across 12 states. Read
More
PRIA
Continuing Education
PRIA
Continuing Education (PCE), the academic wing of PRIA, believes
in learning as a lifelong process and promotes the concept of
education as a major instrument of development. It supports
the premise that education is a human right, which improves
the quality of life. Read
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PRIA
Consultants
PRIA
Consultants has been established with a view to provide social
and development solutions and advisory support to the government,
civil society and business. PRIA consultants aim at strengthening
PRIA's mission of promotion of participation and democratic
governance. PRIA Consultants offers its recognized expertise
to clients in the public and private sectors through its closely-knit
knowledge network built on a strong local presence. PRIA Consultants'
services include management consultancy, advice, project management,
capacity building and institutional development in rural development,
environmental health, education, policy and strategy research
and development. Read
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