Diocesan partners and church institutions have always shown their compassion and solidarity when it comes to serving the poor in need. They have always set powerful examples of new ways of expressing Christian Love in Action.

With the 2020 FCRA changes, a major strategy shift occurred, and the collaborative model of implementation was replaced with direct implementation. As a result, Caritas India has begun direct implementation of Gram Nirman Phase II in 165 villages across Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, as well as 18 slums in East Delhi. Even though Gram Nirman is a direct initiative, DSSS partners have been providing support to the Gram Nirman team as needed. Even though the diocesan partners are aiding the Caritas India team in meeting every major milestone while implementing Gram Nirman Phase II, a lack of resources has badly harmed their enthusiasm and love to serve the poor. Internal capacity issues in terms of quality documentation and proposal writing have aggravated their problems. This was expressed by the partners at the Regional Assembly in November 2021 in Jharkhand.

Caritas India’s Gram Nirman team hosted a two-day capacity-building workshop for diocesan partners from Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh on the 1st and 2nd of June in Ranchi with the support of Caritas Australia and the facilitation of the Caritas Institute of Development Action and Learning (CIDAL) to address this capacity issue. The workshop was attended by the Jharkhand Regional Forum Director, 9 Diocesan Directors, and their key programme persons from both states.

Regional Forum Director, Jharkhand Fr. Bipin Pani articulated the regional aspirations and concerns in his welcome address to all attendees, emphasizing the relevance of the workshop.

In an online interaction with the participants, Fr. Jolly Puthenpura, Assistant Executive Director, Caritas India, explained the workshop’s backdrop to all participants. On behalf of Caritas India’s chairman and executive director, he warmly greeted the diocesan partners and emphasized the long-standing partnership between diocesan partners and Caritas India, which he said will continue with any future engagements. Caritas India has always maintained contact with Diocesan Partners to coordinate and collaborate on various projects. Capacity building of partner organizations is one of them. He also discussed the importance of proposal writing, log frame creation, and other prerequisites for obtaining projects that meet the needs of communities.

The first day’s session was led by resource person Dr. Haridas V R (CIDAL). In an interactive and easy-to-understand manner, he walked the participants through essential concepts such as project cycle management, results-based management, and problem tree analysis. Group discussions and real-life examples were used to illustrate concepts such as project goal, impact, outcomes, objectives, and activities, making the entire session exciting and interactive.

Mr. Pradipta Kishore Chand (Thematic Lead for Climate Adaptive Agriculture and Food Sovereignty – Caritas India) took the second-day session key topic of “Food and Nutrition Security and Livelihood,” which the workshop participants unanimously agreed should be pursued further as a theme for the new proposal. The participants gradually created the Goal, Outcomes, Objectives, and Activities for the chosen issue, and gave it the shape of logical framework analysis.

Mr. Ghanshyam Jethwa (Head of Programs – Caritas India), interacted with the diocesan partners over the internet. The attendees expressed their appreciation for the workshop’s role in their organization’s development. Participants discussed their experiences at the session in terms of learning new things that they could apply in their different dioceses in the future.

Mr. Ghanshyam praised the diocesan partners’ dedication to working with Caritas India and learning new things for the diocesan partners’ development.

The participants produced a timeline of activities as a primary takeaway from the two-day workshop, and they determined to prepare a joint proposal for both states by mid of July 2022, involving 14 diocesan partners, to address the major challenge of “Food and Nutrition Security and Livelihoods.”