COMMONWEALTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT FORUM – GOOD PRACTICE SCHEME – TWIN CITY PROJECT WITH THIRUVANANTHAPURAM CORPORATION AND LONDON BOROUGH OF NEWHAM

Funding Agency: Commonwealth Local Government Forum

Kerala is among the three Indian States selected for the Commonwealth Local Government- Good Practice Scheme to be implemented in the country by the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) in collaboration with the City Corporations. The basic objective of this ‘Twin City Project’ is to identify the present status of various aspects of local governance and to share the good practices in the partnering cities, so that, it can be replicated with suitable modifications. CED acted as the partner organization for the Thiruvananthapuram City – London Borough of Newham Project, to coordinate the activities in Thiruvananthapuram. The basic objective of the project is to assist the Corporation to prioritize resources, based on objective measures of needs. This project has been proposed because currently the Corporation makes major policy and operational decisions without any data or information and little officer analysis. As an output, the project is intended to deliver a GIS system that provides a detailed population needs profile and officer skills to interpret and analyse the information to informed decision making and resource allocations.

Under the project, detailed socio-economic survey and mapping was conducted in Kanjirampara, the ward selected by the Corporation for sample study. Individual household data from almost 95% houses were collected. Cadastral map of the ward of 1:5000 scales was first digitized and each and every object was measured and marked on the map. The socio-economic data collected has also brought to the GIS platform and attached to the respective buildings by using the house numbers. The socioeconomic data were analyzed and interpreted using GIS for various components and needs of the population in sectors like i) Roads ii) Electricity iii) Water supply iv) Revenue v) Health and Sanitation vi) Agriculture and Animal Husbandry vii) Employment viii) Women Empowerment ix) Poverty eradication and Identification of Urban Poor x) Planning and xi) Cultural activities were determined.