Background:

The Project has became operative in 10 districts of Himachal Pradesh w.e.f. 1st October, 2005 with the financial assistance of the World Bank. The Project builds on the successful experience of the Integrated Watershed Development Project (IWDP) (KANDI PROJECT) which culminated on 30th September, 2005. MHWDP Project would aim at scaling up the successes of IWDP with two main differences. First, it would expand upwards from the Shivaliks to the Mid-Hills, a region which covers about one-third of the State and over half of the cultivated land. Second, it would entrust responsibility for most Project implementation with the local governments (Gram Panchayats) rather than with village development committees, which were created for the purpose of IWDP implementation.

Project Goal and Objectives:
The overall goal of the project is to reverse the process of degradation of the natural resource base and improve the productive potential of natural resources and incomes of the rural households in the project area in Himachal Pradesh (using the Community-driven Development (CDD) approach). A secondary objective is to support policy and institutional development in the state to harmonize watershed development projects and programs across the state in accordance with best practices.

Project Scope:
The project will cover around 272 Micro-watersheds spread over 602 GPs, 42 blocks and 10 districts (viz., Bilaspur, Chamba, Hamirpur, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur, Solan, and Una). The project benefits are expected to reach to around 25000 target poor families in the project area.

Project Area:
The project covers the Mid Hill and High Hill zone of the State within the altitude range of 600-1800 metres. Shiwalik Hills area up to an altitude of 600 metres has not been considered as it has been covered in IWDP (Hills-1 and II). Accordingly, 11 sub-watershed divisions (falling in 10 districts except Tribal Districts) have been selected while covering 602 Gram Panchayats for implementation.

Project cost and duration:

World Bank Share : Rs. 270.00 Cr. (80%)   State Share : Rs. 67.50 Cr. (20%)    Total Cost : Rs. 337.50 Cr.
App. Beneficiarie’s Contribution :Rs 27.50 Cr.
Total Project outlay : Rs. 365.00 Cr.s

( Beneficiary ’s contribution will not contribute toward the capital costs of the project but it will be maintained in a separate account of the respective Gram Panchayat and utilized as Village Maintenance and Development Fund .)
The project is of 7 years duration. The project became operational in October, 2005 and will culminate in March 2013.A key feature of the Project is the proactive involvement of village level institutions of self - governance i. e. the Gram Panchayats (GP). It is envisaged that substantial Project activities, and the Project funds, would be canalized directly through the GPs.

M & E System for the HP Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project has been framed on results based systems in accordance with the World Bank’s M & E requirements. The focus of M & E in the project has shifted from monitoring implementation to tracking results. Results-based systems build upon and add to traditional implementation-focused system emphasizing project outcomes.

Baseline- for assessing the pre-project conditions.

Progress monitoring, for tracking progress against planned activities.
Performance monitoring-for periodic measurement of progress on quantitative and qualitative outputs, particularly key performance indicators, using project MIS.

Institutional Performance monitoring-for tracking processes by incorporating primary stakeholders in a participatory monitoring system, aimed at enhancing accountability and efficacy of project institutions.

Internal Learning-for purpose of Internal management review and learning (monthly, Annual) reporting by the project staff at various levels,particularly at district,block,cluster and village level.

Impact evaluation- evaluation of impact at mid-term review and project closing by an independent external agency. In order to further enhance the project objectives, a participatory monitoring and evaluation process will be developed shortly by the project. This process will strengthen community engagement in project implementation and effectively contribute to the result based monitoring system in the project. The project objective is to achieve effective PME in at least 50% of the Gram Panchayats in the next three years.

The objective of MIS is to fulfill the needs of information flow and communication right from Gram Panchayats, WDC, DWDO, RPD, CPD, State Govt. Govt. of India and World Bank. It will generate various reports for internal and external stakeholders. The following reports will be generated from the Management Information System :