Box 3.1 (Continued) diversification. ATMA has full discretion over its budget and can thus respond to changing technological and environmental requirements. ATMA seeks to bring together district administration, line departments, NGOs, and local farmer representatives in order to facilitate decentralization in planning and implementation and promote interdepartmental coordination and demand-driven service provision at the district, block, and village level (box figure). Stakeholder representatives are directed by a governing board, which identifies the programs and procedures for district-level research and extension activities, reviews the progress and the functioning of ATMA, and approves the strategic research and extension plan. A management committee implements the district-level research and extension program and conducts participatory rural appraisals to identify problem areas in the implementation of the strategic research and extension plan. At the block level, programs are implemented through a farm information and advisory center. This institution, which constitutes the operational arm of ATMA, is operated by a block team of technical advisors and a farmer advisory committee. The farmer advisory committee serves as a platform for encouraging interaction among all key stakeholders (for example, farmers and line department staff), partly by stimulating the formation of commodity-oriented farmer’s and women’s interest groups at the block and village level.
Organizational Structure of ATMA Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) District Governing Board (GB)
F u n d Block
Village
f l o w
W o r k
ATMA Management Committee (AMC)
p l a n
Farm Information & Advisory Centres (FIAC) Block Technology Farmers’ Advisory Team (BTT) Committee (FAC) Pubilc
Private
NGO
Para
Input
Farmer Interest Groups (FIGs) Source: Singh, Swanson, and Singh 2006. (continued )
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GENDER AND GOVERNANCE IN RURAL SERVICES