Krsihi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) are district level Farm Science Extension centers, formed and managed by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and its affiliated institutions, to provide last mile extension support to farmers in India. The first KVK was established in 1974, and now there are more than 600 across the country. Despite their widespread presence, efforts to evaluate their performance in a consistent and reliable manner have been thwarted by the lack of good set of indicators to measure their performance. To fill this gap, a ‘Brainstorming session on developing transparent performance indicators for functioning of KVKs’ was organized by International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI) New Delhi Office in collaboration with ICAR. The meeting initiated a fruitful discussion and was attended by 21 representatives from ICAR and its institutes, and other institutions. The aim of the workshop was to develop a framework, which provides guidance on how KVK performance can be tracked through a standardized set of indicators.
Participants reviewed the existing literature on developing performance indicators and measurement approaches, and discussed various extension evaluation methods used by organizations such as, FAO, GFRAS, and USAID. In order to guide the thinking of participants, IFPRI presented a unique performance indicator framework for KVKs. The framework combined the theory of change and GFRAS approach to extension evaluation. The theory of change framework was used to show the transition of inputs (physical and financial) to outputs, outcomes and impact through a clearly laid down process (organizational and institutional) of extension delivery. This was combined with the GFRAS framework, to check for relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the performance of KVKs. The presentation concluded that optimal indicators should be, relevant focusing on strategic values; realistic and representative; specific, measurable, and comparable; timely; formed in consultation with all stakeholders; and used continuously.
This presentation started a lively discussion among the participants and helped to disentangle several issues faced in evaluating performance of KVKs. It also helped in bringing out key action points for various stakeholders. Some follow-up actions included, incorporating gender issues in evaluating KVKs; evaluating convergence between KVKs and other extension programs such as ATMA in the country; incorporating 360 degree evaluations for performance review of the professionals; and using a score card approach to measure KVK performance. Follow up studies are planned to implement the performance reviews using selected indicators among selected KVKs. For more information on this event please contact, Suresh Babu (S.Babu@cgiar.org) or Arsheen Kaur (A.Kaur@cgiar.org).