High-five for progress

Usha Albuquerque

There was a time when rural development work was not considered a serious career - but a voluntary activity undertaken by a few dedicated volunteers who believed they could make a difference. But now with increased awareness and massive government schemes like MNREGA, the large-scale participation of international organisations, and NGOs this important field of work has got a new meaning. Today if development work is your passion, you not only have more opportunities, but also get well paid for this very challenging field. Moreover, with more than 500 million people below the poverty line, and 70 per cent in rural areas with little or no access to safe drinking water, sewage, medical facilities and education, the scope of work in this area is indeed enormous.

As the term rural development encompasses overall development of rural areas with a view to improving the standard of living of rural masses, its field includes the development of agriculture and its allied activities, village and cottage industries, handicrafts, socio-economic infrastructure, community services and facilities, and, above all the human resources in rural areas. In short, rural development is a process leading to sustainable improvement in the quality of life of rural folk.

Rural development work covers several functions as it is a mixture of liaison, mediating, monitoring and practical problem-solving. It is a multidimensional process which involves the reorganisation and reorientation of prevalent economic and social systems. A major part of the work involves field work. Much time is spent visiting people and communities, listening to their problems, offering support and encouragement and ensuring and monitoring the optimum use of resources.

Work profile

The tasks essentially involve:

• Identifying community problems such as lack of drinking water, or housing, unemployment, poor or inadequate medical and health care facilities and so on. This could also cover minority, gender or caste group issues.
• Initiating remedial action by influencing social policy or creating awareness
• Mobilising resources and monitoring its utilisation
• Creating opportunities and infrastructure facilities for agricultural development and employment generation

Much of the work covers responsibilities with community development agencies operated by government or non-government organisations, municipalities, panchayats or international organisations. Time is also spent on paper work, keeping detailed case notes, and writing reports, or press releases. Liaison with other professionals or organisations, organising communities for change, lobbying with local groups, government officials or other specialised groups, organising training programmes, raising ecological awareness, advocacy work for the disadvantaged sections and documentation of development activities are some other aspects of the work involved.

Getting In

As the work is so varied trained development workers can specialise in different areas of work. Often specialists in different fields - agriculture specialists, teachers, doctors, public health specialists, drinking water experts, sociologists, social workers, and others opt to work with rural development agencies. Students and young people from different youth organisations often volunteer for developmental work and being inspired tend to stay on in this career even without formal training.

But to be effective and productive in this field, some specialised training may be necessary. There are bachelor's degree courses in social work which cover rural development, as well as master's degree and diploma courses in Social work, development studies and rural management, or a PG degree in health or literacy, and public administration open to students from any subject stream and selection is mostly on the basis of a written test and interview. The courses are practical and offer students exposure by means of field work, where they can test their skills in actual situations. Subjects like sociology, political science or social work are good disciplines at the bachelor's level for a career in rural management.

Skills required

A career in rural management is all about uplift of rural poor through systematic development plans, hence an aspirant for this field should possess a heart for the issue concerning the rural community, besides having an outgoing personality, ability to handle masses, ability to handle pressure and possess leadership skills.

Job prospects

In most cases, career opportunities depend on the individual's field of specialisation. Rural development specialists can work as counsellors with Central and state government agencies, PSUs and international organisations. Also, there are a wide variety of non-governmental organisations, industry associations, think tanks and academic institutions engaged in rural development projects and research work.

One can work in the following areas

• Government sector/banks
• NGOs
• Voluntary organisations
• Social development and corporate social responsibility (CSR) departments of corporate companies.
• Marketing departments of FMCG companies targeting rural markets.
• Self-employment (freelancing as researcher/project formulations, setting up of one's own units.
• Academics and research

Those with journalistic experience and communication skills can work in areas of documentation and research, as well as publicity and advocacy. Organisations like HelpAge India, UNICEF, Oxfam, CARE are always in need of committed individuals willing to serve the needs of others.

Many professional rural development experts with sufficient experience set up their own NGOs, specialising in their particular area of expertise.

Today as an area of work CSR is gaining ground - as more and more corporate houses have a CSR wing involved in rural development projects, rehabilitation of displaced communities, environment issues and so on. Companies like Infosys, Wipro, Tata Steel, Reliance are leading the fray in a host of activities to improve the quality of life of the employees and the communities in which they live.

Infosys has set up Development Centers (DCs) dedicated to healthcare and education, and for skills development and community welfare. Coca Cola, despite the criticism and to possibly offset its negative publicity, has taken up various initiatives such as rainwater harvesting, restoring groundwater resources, and going in for sustainable packaging and recycling, in the communities where it is operating. TVS, Reliance, Mafatlal and Satyam had teams helping in relief work during the tsunami, and Gujarat earthquake.

In recent years rural development has seen a shine with committed young social entrepreneurs, several from prestigious institutes like the IIMs, setting up innovative enterprises in rural areas for handling some of the country's pressing social problems. They use their entrepreneurial skills in building sustainable enterprises for profit and non-profit to effect social change in India. Several IIT /IIMs graduates have skipped placements to start up their own social entrepreneurship ventures.

But before you take the plunge into what can be a challenging and physically demanding career, join a social service organisation, or volunteer with an NGO and help them in their work. It will give you the necessary experience to enable you to decide if this is the right career for you. Working day in and day out in difficult condition in remote and rural areas, surrounded by misery and deprivation requires great determination and faith. A genuine compassion for the underprivileged and an urge to help others is, therefore, essential to be able to succeed in this field. And success comes not only in terms of money but also in the satisfaction of having made a difference in someone else's life. So if you decide on social development work as a career choice, you could be making the most fulfilling decision of your life.

Institute watch

• National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Hyderabad www.nird.org.in
• Institute of Rural Management, Ahmedabad www.irma.ac.in
• Xavier Institute of Social Service, Ranchi
• www.xiss.ac.in
• Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar
• www.ximb.ac.in
• Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
• Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi
• www.ignou.ac.in
• Career Institute of Rural Development, Bhopal, Barkatullah University
• www.indcareer.com
• Indian Institute of Management , Kolkatta
• www.iimcal.ac.in
• Institute of Rural Management, Jaipur
• Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh