Strengthening community involvement through Performance Incentive Grants

Keeping in mind the robust practice of “communitisation” of Public Institutions and Services in Nagaland, NECTAR introduced the Performance Incentive Grants (PIG) with the objective of enhancing community-led development by empowering the community through financial support. The financial incentive is available to all Government schools upon their application and clearing of competency-based assessments. Since the activities are selected by the community based on their specific requirements through the School Management Committee (SMC) and School Management and Development Committee (SMDC), it encourages collaboration and helps improve and sustain their schools.The grant amount ranges from ₹3,00,000 to ₹10,00,000 depending on the category the school falls under, i.e. GPS, GMS, GHS and GHSS.

It is disbursed in four instalments over a period of two years, subject to performance and review by the Project Management Unit (PMU) and P3 Agency (Samarthya). To date, an amount of Rs. 72 crores has been disbursed benefiting 1912 schools.

As part of the bi-yearly evaluation process for schools availing of the PIG, the District Project Assistants (DPAs) from all 16 districts, along with the District Leads (DLs) and Community Engagement Field Executives (CEFEs) from P3 Agency were present at the PMU office in Kohima from 21 November to 6 December 2023. A comprehensive assessment of the booklets and proposals for the next instalment was carried out. Grading and release of the next instalment has been completed for all the batches. In this session, a total of 688 schools in Batch 1, 878 schools in Batch 2, and 213 schools in Batch 3 underwent booklet and proposal review.

This was followed by capacity building sessions on 29 to 30 January 2024 for the supplementary batch in 13 districts. The session introduced the SMC/SMDC members to the project, gave an overview of PIG, its objectives, the activities under it, best practices, maintenance of the booklets, etc. The members also got to identify their requirements and prepare mock project proposals. The DLs have also begun their field visit to the schools to capture the impact of the programme along with engaging and providing support to the SMC/SMDC members.

PIG is one of the most well received initiatives, and it is being implemented with much interest and active community participation. This is not merely an effort driven by the schools, but it also enjoys the active involvement of the District Administration at every phase. Acting as external assessors, they meticulously oversee the execution of proposed plans by the SMC and SMDC, ensuring their timely and efficient implementation, certifying them on completion, and recommending them for the next instalment.