ITANAGAR, 11 Sep: A four-day Zone 1 workshop on the National Supportive Supervision Strategy Framework (NSSF) concluded on Friday at the State Banquet Hall here with a collective commitment to strengthen women-led community institutions and develop strong, sustainable, self-reliant and scalable cluster level federations (CLFs).

The workshop brought together around 80 participants, including representatives of the National Mission Management Unit (NMMU), national resource persons and State Mission Management Units (SMMUs) from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, and the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The concluding day featured a special plenary, followed by state presentations and discussions on the way forward, providing an opportunity to consolidate field observations and translate the workshop learning into state action plans.

Addressing the valedictory session, RD&PR Minister Ojing Tasing highlighted the transformative role of women-led institutions, and stressed that CLFs must have capable leadership, transparent systems, stable finances and the ability to address local challenges. He described supportive supervision as "a process of walking alongside community institutions and gradually enabling them to lead independently."

Highlighting Aruna-chal's progress, the minister noted that nearly 1 lakh women have been mobilised into 15,999 SHGs, with 1,488 primary level federations and 91 CLFs formed. Around 36,000 potential lakhpati didis have been identified, while 16,092 women have achieved lakhpati didi status, he said.

Tasing urged the participating states to place CLF leaders at the centre of decision-making, convert field observations into measurable action, and develop a strong chain of mentors and resource persons. He also called for the state action plans to "become living commitments through regular follow-up and implementation, with strong CLFs serving as learning sites for others."

ArSRLM CEO Sangeeta Yirang in her address emphasised the need to move beyond assessing whether a CLF is functioning and focus on whether it is becoming strong enough to govern itself, sustain itself and improve the lives of its members.

RD&PR Secretary Dr Sonal Swaroop emphasised that strong community institutions require trust, capable leadership, regular engagement and responsive systems. She highlighted the NSSF's shift from compliance monitoring towards capability building and community ownership, particularly important in Arunachal's geographically challenging context.

Union Rural Development Ministry's Rural Livelihoods-I Joint Secretary Amit Shukla outlined the vision of developing scalable and self-reliant CLFs, "with a self-agreed vision for scalability and a target of 30 CLFs in Zone 1 by March 2027."

He outlined a four-stage institutional pathway -Establish, Deepen, Sustain and Leadership - to ensure that CLFs progressively develop the capacity, systems and leadership required to function independently. He also called upon the participating states to translate the workshop's learning into concrete state action plans, with clear responsibilities and measurable outcomes, towards building "Viksit CLFs."

MLA Taniya Soki stressed the importance of developing capable women leaders who can guide SHGs, maintain transparent systems and resolve local challenges. He emphasised that "supportive supervision should listen to communities, build solutions with them and gradually enable institutions to take independent decisions."

The workshop concluded with state presentations and formulation of state action plans, providing a roadmap to take the learning and field-level observations forward.