Society for Development Studies (SDS)
Capacity Building Programmes in 2015
Society for Development Studies (SDS) organizes
two annual programmes, for which full fellowships
are available to eligible officials of governments in
Asian region.
It is in this perspective of contributing to improved
level of efficiency and effectiveness of government
intervention on the life of the city and its people, that
SDS programmes have been designed
Context of Programmes 1 & 2
Objectives of Programmes1 & 2
Inducting efficiency in management of development
programmes has become a major challenge,
especially in context of rising cost, falling
availability of development funds and growing
expectations of the people who look for outcomes of
the programmes and services provided. People look
forward to assets created through substantial public
investments to impact their lives. Lack of this
outcome has resulted in the scenario of a tale of two
cities, a city within a city, a common characteristic
of the urban world. Recognising this ground level
reality, the United Nations’ has proposed to shift its
thrust from output deliverables in its MDG
programme to outcomes deliverables in the proposed
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) programme
that will replace the MDGs in 2015.
The major objectives of the 3 SDS Programmes are:

Familiarize policy and decision makers in
national and sub-national governments with
new concepts and practices required to induct
efficiency, improve productivity and attain
outcomes at national and sub- national levels.

Develop capability to install and manage
outcome oriented planning for strengthening
local governance, based on local need-based
and demand-driven assessment.

Adopt innovative financing strategies

Introduce
outcome-oriented
expenditure
planning,
budgeting and management
processes,
including
outcome-oriented
monitoring & evaluation system

Undertake O&M and asset rejuvenation of
critical service delivery assets

Introduce the fundamentals of e-governance
In this perspective, reassessment of approaches to
local planning, financing and programme
management has become critical. Bringing in
outcomes will need major reforms in governance
practices.
Expected Outcomes of All Programmes

As at present, there remains considerable uncertainty
on the basic concept of an ‘outcome’ of government
programme. Is the outcome of the education
programme a high enrolment or high pass out rate or
is it having access to a higher education stream,
employment market or self-employment activity.
Another challenge is to transfer output and outcome
results into local planning, financing, budgeting and
programme management system. An equally
important development towards efficiency in
governance is the adoption of e-governance
approaches, a critical tool to improve efficiency,
induct transparency and accountability, critical to
attaining outcomes.



Informed group of officials, capable of designing
and managing programmes on principles of
decentralized local resources, participatory
process and full utilization of service delivery
assets for attaining outcomes of the
development agenda.
Professional
capacity
for
efficient
mobilization and management of resources to
address local level demand challenges
Capacity to develop cost-effective information
system in a deficient set-up for policy
interventions
Create familiarity of e-governance techniques
and practices
Programme
1:
Need
Assessment,
Monitoring, Evaluation and Information
Generation Techniques for Decentralized
Governance –Seventeenth Advanced
Annual Programme Dates: July 5 to
August 15, 2015
Society for Development Studies (SDS) has
developed an outcome model for development
planning, budgeting and programme management.
This model is among the first of its kind and has
received recognition of international organizations
like World Bank and IMF. The SDS approach will
be an important component of the programme.
The 6 weeks Programme has six modules
Module 1: Week 1
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Informatics Centre and recent initiatives of
Government of India in the area of e-governance.
Principles and Practices of Outcome-oriented
Decentralized Governance. This Module deals with
the concepts and practices in participating countries,
with special emphasis on Indian experiences. A
major focus area is assessment of scope for
decentralized
governance
in
participating
countries/sectors in a thread bare manner and assess
the perceptions of participants regarding the
problems, prospects and human capacity in
introducing decentralized governance. A new
dimension is of seeking to induct outcome
orientation. Through presentation of country
experiences, the actual decentralized spirit in policy
and administrative system is discovered and
compared within the participating countries Module
2 Week 2
NAME Techniques: Selected Social Sector
Programmes
The prevalent and SDS developed techniques of
Need Assessment, Monitoring, and Evaluation are
discussed, along with application of country specific
techniques at the sub-national level, both urban and
rural. The difference between the output-oriented &
outcome-oriented Need Assessment and M&E is
introduced and the significance in the present context
of budgetary restrictions are brought out with
hypothetical case studies.
Module 4: Week 4
Local Leadership and Participatory Planning.
The techniques and practices of Community
Participation in Local level assessment of
development needs, planning, mobilization of
resources, decision making and programme
management, including monitoring and evaluation of
the programme, are included in this module. In
addition, development of local leadership through
capacity building in presentation, negotiation and
conflict resolution, are integral components.
Module 5: Week 5
Field Visits and On-Job Experiences
The basic objective is to provide exposure to real
time situation. Consultations will be held with
different stakeholders within governments and
outside.
Module 6: Week 6
Transferring Learning to Practice
Through the programme, time is allocated to
continuously relate the training components to the
home country issues and challenges. The participants
are constituted in Working Groups and priority
issues of their concern are selected by them during
the programme. The methods, techniques and
experiences disseminated through the modules are
examined with reference to the priority concerns of
the participants. The outputs are reflected in their
reports.
The roadblocks in the process of application are
discussed in the context of different social sectors in
different countries and their suitability in terms of
ground level situation forms the core of the Module.
The methods of participatory planning and
participatory implementation and management of the
programmes, the latter aspect often ignored in the
literature, is given special emphasis. These are learnt
through interactive sessions and case studies,
especially in the context of the participating
countries and India
The techniques to transfer learning to practice are
taught to facilitate the transfer of Indian knowledge
and skills to the country of the participants.
Programme 2: Municipal Finance,
Expenditure Management &
Performance Outcomes-Ninth Advanced
Annual Programme
Dates: September 6 to October 3, 2015
Module 3: Week 3
Information System, Output and Outcome
Indicators and Applications of Indicator Products
in Planning and Policy Decisions, along with Egovernance initiatives
The principal weakness of lack of appropriate data
for application of NAME techniques is aimed to be
removed through local level data generation. In this
context, the major tools of policy planning through
developing the information system, indicators and
knowledge
infrastructure,
the
institutional
mechanism and the nature of capacity building at
different strata are discussed and demonstrated.
The 4 weeks Programme has four modules
Module1 Week 1: Municipal Finance and
Expenditure Management
Concepts and practices of assessing requirements of
municipal finances, methods to access funds, and
expenditure management practices. The constraints
to mobilize municipal resources and causative
factors of inefficiencies in expenditure management
will be brought out to identify areas for reforms in
municipal finances and expenditure management
Exposure is provided to Indian experiences,
including the innovative work of the National
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specific
development
inputs.
Programme
methodology includes a mix of classroom lectures,
interactive sessions, simulation exercises, group
learning, and case studies of selected programmes to
be identified by participants.
Module 2 Week 2:Principles & Practices of
Outcome-oriented Planning, Budgeting &
Programme Management
The concepts and reform areas, identified in module
1 will be examined. The concepts include outputs,
outcomes, performance measurement, roadblocks,
outcome planning, budgeting and programme
management. The operational issues of preparing
outcome-oriented approaches will be presented and
illustrated with the Mumbai outcome-oriented city
model developed by SDS. This model seeks to build
partnerships within departments first to enable better
coordination and convergence of activities within the
government.
Application Procedure
The Programme is managed by Ministry of External
Affairs, Government of India. The application form
has to be obtained from the Indian Embassy/High
Commission in respective countries (or from the
website
of
Government
of
India
www.itecapps.nic.in/tcscolombo/html)
and
submitted to the Indian mission through proper
channels of applicant’s country. As seats are limited,
a copy of application form may be sent to the
Institute also, but only Government of India would
communicate decision on selection.
The participants will be encouraged to apply the
approach to their respective cities/countries.
Module 3 Week 3: Outcome oriented O&M and
Asset Rejuvenation of Service Delivery Assets in
an Outcome-Oriented Monitoring & Evaluation
System
Two critical issues to develop an outcome approach
and improve expenditure management form the core
of this module. Operation and Maintenance (O&M)
and Asset Rejuvenation are largely overlooked in
municipal governments, resulting in poor capacity
utilization of service delivery assets. This raises
operational cost and inducts high level of
inefficiency. Outcome-oriented M&E system is the
critical building pillar of the outcome approach.
For participants not covered by Government of
India’s Scheme, application has to be made directly
to the Institute and Fees paid to the Institute in
advance. The form will be sent to interested
participants.
Training Fellowship
Training fellowships are awarded by Government of
India under Technical Co-operation Scheme (TCS)
of Colombo Plan to participants from eligible
countries. The participants have to be officials in the
government (national, State and Local) between the
ages of 25 and 45 years. Training Fellowship will
cover tuition fees, airfare, hotel accommodation,
daily living allowance, book allowance and medical
allowance, as per rules.
Module 4 Week 4:Transferring Learning to
Practice
Through the programme, time is allocated to
continuously relate training components and lessons
learnt to the participating country/city issues and
challenges. Participants are constituted into Working
Groups and work on their priority issues and
concerns. The Working Groups take up some
Flagship programmes in respective countries/cities to
transfer the knowledge and skills with specific
objectives of bringing out the change process in
activities required to be undertaken to attain
outcomes and these are reflected in their Reports.
The eligible countries for the training fellowship are:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Fiji, Indonesia,
Iran, Korea, Philippines, Lao PDR, Malaysia,
Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New
Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Fees payable by participants who do not receive
the Training Award are US $ 10,000 for the 6 weeks
programme and US $ 7,000 for the 4 weeks
programme. This will not cover the return airfare.
Possible sources of funds are CITYNET, UNDP,
UN-HABITAT, Commonwealth Secretariat, Country
projects of UN, World Bank, ADB, UNESCAP, and
national and local governments.
The techniques to transfer learning to practice are
taught to facilitate the transfer of Indian knowledge
and skills to the country of the participants.
Training Methodology
The Programme is designed with specific focus on
developing practical skills for planning and
implementation of programmes to attain definite
outcomes on the people rather than only creation of
assets and/or extension of delivery system for
On working days, lunch will be available at
reasonable cost within the campus. Breakfast will be
provided by the Hotel but dinner and lunch on all
days are to be met from living allowances.
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Facility (UGIF) by TUGI of UNDP in November,
2003.
About SDS
SDS is an internationally recognized autonomous
research and training institution, established in
1984.Its primary objectives are to undertake research
and advisory work; evaluate public policies and
programmes; participate in the process of policy
making at all levels of governance; impart training to
officials in the government, NGOs and the private
sector; undertake action-research projects; develop
data base and management information system; and
provide technical assistance. SDS also receives
students and professionals from India and abroad for
collaborative research on a regular basis.
SDS main work areas are human settlements policies
and strategies, urbanization and regional planning,
rural, water and sanitation development, data and
information management system, knowledge
infrastructure,
urban finance and innovative
financing strategies, resource mobilization, fiscal and
financial sector reforms, mainstreaming informal
sector,
poverty
reduction,
micro-enterprise,
participatory planning, action based community
development
programmes
and
women
empowerment. Outcome-oriented monitoring and
evaluation and processes towards good governance
are special thrusts of SDS work. SDS is presently
developing the operational aspects of outcomeoriented city planning, project feasibility approaches,
and budgetary process.
During the last 30 years of professional work, SDS
has emerged as a research and policy center of
excellence in all its work areas. It is globally
recognized as a leading institution in the area of
Knowledge
Infrastructure-led
Planning
and
Decision-making.
SDS conducts national and international HRD
programmes on behalf of Government of India, State
Governments, Development Authorities and Local
Governments, as also other national governments
and UN Agencies. It organizes high-level policy
seminars for government officials and others in India
and several countries in Asia-pacific, Arab and
African regions.
SDS received United Nations Best Performance
Award in 1996 for Monitoring and Evaluation
Indicators for Housing and Urban Sector from
among 110 countries in the UN Habitat II
Conference held in Istanbul. SDS was awarded Best
Practice Award on Urban Governance Innovative

Contact Persons:
Dr. Kaushalesh Lal, Professor & Director of the Programmes


Dr. (Ms.) Shampa Paul Programme Coordinator
Bachan Prasad, Senior Executive Administration (Training)

Society for Development Studies
India Habitat Centre, Core 6A, 2nd Floor, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110 003, India
Tel:(91-11) 24699368, 24656164 Fax: (91-11)- 24699368, 24699369
Emails: sds@nda.vsnl.net.in, klal_ieg@yahoo.com,
shampa.paul147@gmail.com
bachanp@yahoo.com
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