Chhattisgarh Social Audit Unit (CGSAU) organised an “Experience Sharing” Seminar recently at SIRD, Nimora, on outskirts of Raipur, involving women members of SHGs who have started conducting social audit in various districts of Chhattisgarh.
Approximately 70 women members of SHGs who are conducting social audit in various districts of Chhattisgarh participated in this event.
The Seminar was presided over by M K Raut, Chief Information Commissioner, Chhattisgarh and R P Mandal, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS). The program began with lighting the lamp, followed by a Saraswati Vandana, sung by a group of women members of SHGs. This was followed by an Introductory Address by Meher Gadekar, who gave an overview of the SHG-VRP Training Program.
To summarize, in the course of 14 Rounds of Training Programs, during which 441 training programs were conducted at the Cluster-level, 14,435 women members of SHGs were trained as Social Auditors and have now become Village Resource Persons (VRPs).
Chhattisgarh is the first state in India to complete the quota allotted to it by Government of India. So far, more than 1000 women VRPs have started conducting Social audit in various districts of the state.
This was followed by a brief film which depicted various aspects of the social audit process conducted by these VRPs. Thereafter two VRPs came on stage and shared their experience while conducting social audit.
Raut said that CGSAU should develop a plan for deployment of the remaining approx. 13,000 VRPs within the next few months. Raut mentioned that expertise is developed with experience and with the passage of time, the women VRPs would get better at conducting social audits. He exhorted the women to increase their educational qualifications and also stressed the need for each woman to have at least passed 12th standard.
Raut commended the CGSAU for achieving the target set by the Central Government.