Team Greenhorns

Place : Agapally

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Understanding the context: Fieldwork Checklist

A) About the village

1) Socio-geographic location of the village.
2) Map of the village and the way to it
3) Major events in village history (or time line of the village) including changes over a
period of time.
4) No. of households / Population, by sex, by caste, by religion, by age group
5) Occupations found, and number of households taking up each occupation.
6) Social, Resource and Livelihoods mapping.
7) Education level of adulta and children; persons taking up (or having taken up)
vocational education; educational facilities used / accessed by the villagers (even if
they are outside the village) – no. of children accessing; any children not going to the
school and reasons thereof.
8) Health condition of the villagers ( Any person with chronic diseases, nutritional status
of children, any infant or maternal mortality in recent past, details of disabled in the
village, nearby health facilities present, preference of persons to access these
facilities).
9) Status of housing in the village.
10) Community infrastructure like meeting halls, play grounds, library, etc.
11) Roads and sanitation in the village.
12) Environment and Ecological Setting, Ownership, Access and Distribution of
resources in the village and risks of the village.
13) Farming / Livelihoods System of the Village.
14) Inter –caste and inter-class relationships. (Inter –caste and inter-caste relationships)
B) Poor in the Village
1) Non-Poor, Not-so-Poor, Poor, Poorest of the Poor – Percentages, description.
2) Whom do the people consider poor? Why?
3) How many poor exists in the village?
4) How is poverty experienced by these groups? Poverty Cycles and Poverty Web?
5) What efforts have been made in the past by these groups to come out of poverty.

C) Vulnerable groups in the Village

1) Who are they?
2) What kind of vulnerabilities are they facing?
3) What kind of support are they getting?
4) Status of old people, Marginalised people, etc.
D) Migrants in the Village
1) Who migrates?
2) Places to which migrated?
3) Work at the place of migration
E) Development Organisations and Programs in the Village
1) Organisation / Institutions working for development in the village.
2) Government Programs.
3) NGO’s present and their activities.
4) Role of the Panchayat in the development.
5) Role of youth groups (if present) in development.
6) Women groups and their role in development.
7) Services of Technical agencies accessed by the villagers.
8) Any development program that has failed in the village, along with reasons
attributed for its failure.
F) Stakeholders
1) Identify stakeholders for the development process in the village and their
respective stakes.
2) What development programs are catering to the interests of these stakeholders?
3) How are the development programs trying to manage the negative stakes of these
stakeholders?
G) Natural Resources in the Village
1) No. of acres of land present in the village, by use of the land present.
2) Water sources in the village, and their maintenance.
3) Common lands or properties, and their management.
4) Forest Lands, products obtained from forests.
5) Animal wealth in the village and nearby lands.
6) How are these resources distributed?
7) Rules governing the use of these resources?
8) Efforts made to improve the stock of resources in the village.
9) Factors hindering proper use of the resources.
H) Conflict and Mutual Support in the Village
1) Major groups present in the village.
2) Conflicts in the recent past and conflict resolution mechanisms present.
3) Example activities where mutual support was exhibited in the recent past.
4) Whom does the community approach for help and advice? How many such
persons exist in the village and nearby vicinity?
5) Who take up the causes of the community? Who lead the community in
discussions with outsiders?
I) Public, Formal and Informal Institutions; their services, accessibility and usage.
J) Financial Services and Institutions
1) Where do people save?
2) From where do people obtain loans? What are the terms of these loans?
3) What do people do at times of financial emergencies?
4) What happens when they are unable to repay?
5) Insurance Services?
6) Remittance Services?
K) Items being traded into the village and those being traded out of the village,
Quantities, Amount, Frequency, Seasonality, Arrangements and Terms.
L) Market
M) What were the major crises faced by people in the village in the past?
1) How did they overcome these crises?
N) Development aspirations of the people
1) In their view, what is development? What do they want for development to
happen?
2) What efforts have they made to make development happen?
O) Gaps and Opportunities existing in the village that can be exploited by entrepreneurs.
P) Social Entrepreneurs
Q) Formal / Informal Leaders, including Panchayat Representatives, in the village
1) To which community they belong to?
2) Why were they chosen as leaders?
3) What did you like about these leaders?
R) Functioning People’s Organisations
1) List organisations like SHG’s, Youth Groups, Associations, Cooperatives, Caste
Groups, Political Parties, Unions, etc.
2) Details about organizations like formation, membership (number, gender, break-
up), savings, funds, etc., development and economic activities undertaken by
them.
3) Major perceived benefits in economic as well as social front.
S) Details about Gram Panchayat (and other PRI’s)
T) Functioning of Public Services in the village
U) Status of women – health and nutrition, vulnerability, rights, participation in decision
making and work and other gender issues.
V) Household analysis / Individual Profiling (from 10 different households)
1) Income and Expenditure analysis
 2) Sources of income (cash and kind) and how do they relate to one another.
3) How are the 24 hours in a day spent by various members of the family.
4) How do they spend 365 days? How do the seasons affect their life? What changes
with each season?
5) Household which moved out of poverty
6) Household that still remain in poverty
7) Woman with triple burden
8) Leader (poor / Dalit / tribal woman)
9) Labourer and their food security
10) Recent school drop-out.
W) Top problems, Gaps and Opportunities in the village
X) Timeline of the entire field visit
Y) Photographs

Each participant has to maintain a diary during the entire visit – 02 Aug’10 to 08 Aug’10;

Come prepared to give a report and a presentation on 08 Aug’10 meeting.

Reports to be Submitted:-

1) Daily – Diary
2) Group Report
3) Individual Report
4) PPT
“Learn to Learn” – Anonymous