Indegenous participation of people inTraining for operation and maintenance of cookstoves and energy plantation.

The Panchayat and VEC with communities? contribution and support will manage the operation of the Gasifier as well as the Bio-gas plant. 5 persons will be employed directly for operating the equipments and bio-gas plant annually. In addition, accountant of the VEC will keep the records of the cash and maintain the balance-sheet.

The VESP project of IRADe being supported by Ministry of Non ? conventional Energy Sources is one of the first few test projects that the Ministry had sanctioned. The Ministry aims to sanction 100 more such projects in this year. Thus this project of IRADe can serve as an example for the others to follow. There will be also linkage with the State Government, district level government and village level Panchayat.

The project envisions sustainable model for community participation in planning, implementation and management through its VES programme. Village Energy Committee (VEC) is set up as a decision making body that includes IRADe, SEWA, Panchayats, SHG?s, Local NGO?s and the village population. It is vested with responsibility of planning, implementing, tariff setting and overall management to operate and maintain the VES programme.

The project will form Self Help Groups of the women in the target villages and initiate savings credit activities for the members. The groups will be trained in income generation skills and then linked to the banks for enterprise establishment.

o To encourage participatory management of the energy systems installed under the Remote Village Electrification Programme (MNES); so as to ensure the long-term interests of the development project. o Inculcate the practices of user charges by analyzing various options such as flat change, change based on appliances etc. o Determine the pre project status of socio-economic indicators such as education, health, and so on. IRADe in partnership with SEWA intends to monitor the progress of such key indicators over a span of three years. o Define baseline status of the society through multiple indicators. o Involve the villagers in all the steps of planning, implementation and management of village energy security programme. o Capacity building programs to generate awareness among the communities, especially women. o Training programs for successful operation, maintenance procedures and log books and their follow up. o Ensure delivery of essential services through participation models. o Develop appropriate service management models to ensure sharing of costs and benefits of the services such as that of bio ? gas plant. o Post installation technical assistance when required. o Post implementation comparison of key indicators with pre project values. o Work out implications of each option and discuss potential and shortcomings in this context. o Diffusion of best practices among 60 more villages comprising about 6000 households. The purpose of the project is to ensure access and assimilation of sustainable energy systems through the Remote Village Electrification Programme (MNES), with the aim that it could be replicated in other such communities. b. Expected Outputs: (Use as much space as required) o The present project will demonstrate the techno-economic parameters for village energy security provide operational experience and mobilize local communities to operate and maintain the project themselves. o Project will identify socio ? techno ? economic barriers and ways to overcome them. o Identification of barriers and best practices will help in scaling up. o Provide inputs to MNES which is doing this on a large scale.