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Community Participation Fund (CPF) under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) is to catalyse community participation by supporting the building of community assets and to develop a sense of ownership on community assets.

Swagatam is a multipurpose community centre with auditorium, dining hall, catering service, guest rooms and store under CPF project. Community Development Society (CDS)-3 (Samasthi Unnyan Samithi) is the chief functionary with direct supervision of Chandernagore Municipal Corporation. Swagatam is a model welcome home of CDS fully operational by the urban poor women of Ward no. 16.

Swagatam was conceptualised and developed by civil society organisations as per the MoHUPA guidelines under JnNURM in West Bengal. The fundamental approach of the CPF has been for "Capacity Building" of the community where Municipalities/Municipal Corporations cannot access these funds. However, they can extend administrative help (by providing NOC, land, linkage/convergence with existing schemes etc.) and technical support for successful implementation.

Our Approach

As Project Monitoring Unit (PMU), we reviewed documentation compliance and also assessed the merit of the project. We gave feedback to concerned nodal persons to resubmit the scheme after incorporating suggested changes. Upon receipt of the modified scheme, documentation were forwarded to State Level Appraisal Committee (SLAC) followed by a formal presentation on the scheme for an internal appraisal.

The project was then forwarded to GoI and sanctioned by CSMC, MoHUPA. Fund was released by Govt. of India to Urban Development Department, GoWB. Accordingly, the concerned civil society organisation was informed through the concerned ULB to collect the fund from KMDA (State Level Nodal Agency for JnNURM). We (as PMU) assessed whether the objectives and implementation of CPF project were being achieved vis-à-vis to the toolkit of JnNURM.

Key Achievements

1. The construction of Swagatam, a model welcome house of CDS primarily performed as a service sector of women. 22 members of CDS were directly benefitted while other CDS members as well as 4000 families were also indirectly benefitted from this project. To substantiate people's participation, CDS members with the help of Chandernagore Municipal Corporation are taking the responsibility of advocacy of the project.
2. The house has requisite modern facilities to create demand among the community within budget throughout the year. The prime location and innovative rent structure depending upon the timing and type of programme viz., private occasion, government programme, company's programme, sports programme etc. are its major attraction.
3. The interesting observation during evaluation visit in 2014 stated that there is an indoor stadium TUNU MUKHERJEE ANTA BIVAGIO KRIYA O ANUSTAN KENDRA adjacent to Swagatam. This indoor stadium is mainly used for playing table tennis, other indoor games and special meeting or art competitions. Swagatam provided guest rooms, rest rooms, catered services for food and other necessary arrangements required to conduct the event. Similarly the spacious indoor stadium has its own beauty which in turn utilised by Swagatam during its social functions. The amalgamation of both units highlights the sustainability of Swagatam.