1. "RIDGE TO VALLEY" APPROACH -
A MODEL FOR TRAINING INTERVENTION IN SHORT TERM CREDIT CO-
OPERATIVES
K Sayeed Ali*
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• The Short Term Cooperative Credit Structure (STCCS) has been playing a significant role in purveying
credit to the development of agriculture and other sectors of our rural economy, albeit afflicted with many
maladies posing serious threat to their existence.
• With the advent of financial sector reforms, the STCCS are exposed to a highly competitive financial
environment placing greater responsibility to improve their human resources for meeting the challenges.
• The existing training arrangements are grossly inadequate to meet the requirements of the large contingent of
their personnel including the elected leaders and the borrowing farmer members of the cooperatives for a
sustainable impact.
• The need of the hour is to put in place a decentralized, cost-effective and viable system to address the
training needs of all the personnel in various tiers of the structure on a sustainable basis.
• The ‘Ridge to Valley’ (R2V) Approach was an initiative taken by RTC, NABARD, Mangalore through a
series of training interventions systematically planned and executed in Wayanad district in Kerala with a
view to providing a holistic training solution to STCCS.
• The ‘R2V’ approach envisaged a complete and holistic treatment covering all the tiers and personnel at
various levels in the STCCS from the Board of Directors at the DCCB level to the farmer-members of PACS
at the village level.
• The training needs were assessed through a detailed diagnostic-cum-TNA study conducted at the DCCB as
well as PACS levels.
• The DCCB was vested with a pivotal role in addressing the training needs of the personnel of the lower tiers
through identification of Key Resource Persons (KRPs) whose capacity building was supported by
NABARD’s training establishment.
• The training programmes administered were demand-driven and customized adopting a participatory
methodology and using locally available resources.
• To educate members of PACS, a cost-effective and feasible system by involving Farmers Clubs, KVK,
NGOs and extension agencies/line departments of state govt. were put in place.
• The ‘Ridge to Valley’ Approach experimented in Wayanad DCCB had impacted several changes in the
organizational and individual levels, transforming the DCCB into a learning organization.
• The holistic approach to training covering all tiers and levels from the Board of Management to the farmers’
level had a synergetic effect on the learning process bringing a deep sense of belonging among the staff
members.
• The ‘Ridge to Valley’ Approach to training could be adopted alongwith other measures like Organization
Development Initiative (ODI) as tools to turn around weak DCCBs.
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2. Credit Cooperatives
The Short Term Cooperative Credit Structure (STCCS) in India is generally a three-tier structure with
Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) at the base level, which are federated into District
Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) at district level, which in turn are federated into a State
Cooperative Bank (SCB). However, in smaller states like Goa and North Eastern states and Union
Territories, a two tier structure is existing wherein all or some PACS are federated into SCBs. In Delhi,
the ultimate lending is done directly through the branches of SCB since PACS are not in existence. In
two states viz. Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh a mixed structure of STCCS exists. A Chart
indicating the profile of STCCS in the country is furnished in Annexure 1.
Credit Cooperatives, the oldest Rural Financial Institutions (RFIs) in our country are basically member
driven institutions. Despite the vast network, closeness to members and their significant share in the
credit dispensation to agriculture, they are afflicted with many maladies, which pose a serious threat to
their existence. The health of the Credit Cooperatives, particularly those in the lower tiers has been
deteriorating over the years. However, there appears to be no panacea for the ailment, which has
severely hampered their growth. There is no second opinion that these vital links in the rural financial
sector have to survive to meet the noble cause for which they were established.
Human Resources
The Indian Cooperative Movement consists of over 5 lakh cooperative institutions at different levels
with a total membership of over 210 million. The total number of employees in cooperatives is
estimated to be 10.7 lakh of which around 3.7 lakh persons are employed in cooperative credit sector.
The financial sector reforms induced competitive environment had placed greater responsibility on the
Rural Financial Institutions (RFIs) particularly Cooperative banks to improve their human resources for
meeting the challenges. The Cooperative Credit institutions in their pursuit to serve the grass root level
people cannot remain immune to the rapid changes that take place around them. These institutions will
have to manage and master the change effectively lest they will be left in the lurch. Equipping the
manpower of these institutions to face the new challenges through various training interventions is an
emergent need. Training and development of the large contingent of staff in credit cooperatives, widely
spread over the length and breadth of the country, is a gigantic task. Being member owned enterprises,
the elected leaders also constitute human resources of these institutions, besides managers and
employees. The need of the hour is to develop them constantly through cost effective HRD initiatives.
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3. Training Arrangements
The training requirements of staff of STCCS are met through a large network of training establishments
set up at the national, regional, state and sub-state levels under the aegis of National Council of
Cooperative Training (NCCT), NABARD, State level Cooperative Apex Banks and through other
institutions like College of Agricultural Banking (CAB) Pune, National Institute of Bank Management
(NIBM), Pune and National Institute of Rural Banking (NIRB) Bangalore. Though there are many
agencies which cater to the training needs of Credit Cooperatives in our country, most of them look
after the training needs of the officers, that too upto the DCCB level and the training needs of the
personnel of lower tiers, namely, PACS is often inadequately met.
The training in Credit Cooperatives is often treated as a perk rather than a competency building
exercise for the employees. At other times, it is considered as a fire-fighting device at the time of
introduction of new systems and procedures or failure of certain schemes. There is no structured
attempt to analyze the training needs of employees by the Cooperatives themselves. There is an
imperative need to have in place a system of manpower planning and training need assessment in each
of these institutions, particularly in respect of those at the grass root level. The money spent on training
needs to be viewed as an investment in human capital and every rupee spent should bring back
proportionate returns by way of improved productivity.
Besides training personnel of the STCCS, educating the members of PACS is also equally important
and considering the mammoth number, addressing this issue is not an easy task. DCCBs and SCBs,
which stand on the foundation laid by the PACS, will have to play a key role in evolving a suitable
system. The need of the hour is to put in place a decentralized, cost effective and viable system to
address this issue.
Various measures for revitalization of the structure including recapitalisation need to be supported by
HRD interventions. The task force on revival of Rural Cooperative Credit Institutions (Vaidyanathan
Committee) had also commented that the existing training programmes are archaic and outdated and
focused more on issues like the history of cooperation and legal enactments rather than on matters
pertaining to business and operations. The Committee also felt that the training available in the system
had largely ignored the credit cooperatives at the ground level. To overcome this, it recommended
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4. putting in place a training strategy, which would meet the needs of the training and skill development
of a balanced mix of staff, elected representatives and members.
The Wayanad Experiment
The Regional Training College at Mangalore (RTC-M) set up by NABARD has been conducting a
series of training programmes on a variety of topics including priority areas and functional disciplines
in order to upgrade the knowledge and skill of officers in RFIs particularly Cooperative banks in order
to strengthen their human resources and provide the necessary impetus for a strong and vibrant
cooperative credit structure. The College has been adopting new initiatives and pilot experiments for
capacity
building in the cooperative credit structure. As part of such efforts the College successfully pilot tested
a new approach namely "Ridge to Valley" Approach providing holistic training solutions to the STCCS
in Wayanad district of Kerala. The approach adopted under the "Wayanad Experiment", in brief, is
presented in the following paragraphs.
‘Ridge to Valley’ Approach to Training
The "Ridge to Valley" approach is a terminology generally used in watershed projects for development
of rainfed areas by providing different treatments starting from the "Ridge" point to the "Valley" of a
selected watershed area. The treatments to be given at various points in the selected watershed area
vary depending upon the land class and its capability and are decided as part of a holistic and
comprehensive approach for development of the entire watershed as a unit. This approach is adopted as
sporadic and scattered treatments at different points without proper integration and coordination may
not yield the desired results. The treatments under the Watershed Development Plan are decided based
on a scientific survey of land utilisation and capabilities through a participatory approach.
A similar analogy is being used in the context of training the personnel of STCCS at different levels
and hierarchical tiers taking a district as a unit. This approach was experimented by RTCM in Wayanad
District in Kerala State providing "complete and holistic treatment” covering all the tiers and personnel
at various levels in the ST cooperative structure from the Board of Directors at the DCCB level to the
farmer members of PACS at the village level. The required training intervention and training inputs
were identified through a detailed Diagnostic-cum- Training Need Assessment (TNA) study conducted
at the DCCB as well as PACS level. The training programmes administered were demand-driven and
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5. customised adopting a participatory methodology and utilising locally available resources. The higher
tier of the Cooperative Credit structure in the district viz. the DCCB, played a significant role in
addressing the capacity building of the personnel of the lower tiers viz., PACS through identification of
Key Resource Persons (KRPs) whose capacity building was provided by RTCM. Experience sharing,
role plays, guided problem solving, field visits, case studies and exercises were blended with
theoretical inputs for giving thrust to practical orientation to training. Besides, inputs on behavioural
sciences were provided to kindle the feeling of "self worth" and inculcate team spirit & better
interpersonal relations amongst the participants. A cost effective mechanism to educate the
farmers/members of the PACS using the existing extension service providers was also experimented
under this model.
Diagnostic cum TNA study
Diagnostic cum TNA studies were conducted for the Wayanad DCCB and for the PACS in the district
separately. The diagnosis of the credit portfolio, detailed analysis of the systems and procedures in
vogue and analysis of the key performance indicators of the bank brought to light many areas of
concern that needed a training solution. The study could pin point factors, which were inhibiting the
performance of the bank and identify possible training solutions to bridge the identified skill and
knowledge gaps of the personnel of the bank. The organisational level benchmarking was attempted by
analysing the key performance indicators of the bank through the diagnostic study while the
occupational level training need benchmarking was mapped by understanding the individual job
description and through job analysis. The training needs of officers at different levels were assessed by
involving the individual officers through a semi-structured questionnaire and individual level/group
level interactions coupled with the perceptions of the line officers. The bench marking of the training
needs of the clerical staff and substaff was also attempted in a similar fashion.
The diagnostic study brought to light many weaknesses in the functioning of the bank and concluded
that the fairly good performance of the bank as reflected in the financial statements was only
superficial. Large scale book adjustments resorted to by the bank to show better recovery position, poor
quality of appraisal, excessive credit exposure to unproductive purposes were the main areas of concern
identified by the study. The findings of the study together with the possible solutions and suggested
training modules were presented before the CEO and other senior officers of the bank and based on the
same, the College designed three customised programmes targeting three different levels in the
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6. hierarchy viz., (i) Board of Directors, (ii) CEO & Senior Executives and (iii) Branch Managers/Middle
& Junior Level Officers of the bank which were administered by RTC during the second half of 2004-
05. As proposed by RTC, the Bank identified a few Key Resource Persons (KRPs) from amongst its
officers for training the clerical and sub staff of the bank for which training modules were developed by
the RTC. The KRPs were given the necessary capacity building training to shoulder the responsibility
as trainers by RTC.
Training Solutions and Strategies
The detailed diagnosis of the performance of PACS in Wayanad district revealed that more than fifty
per cent of the PACS affiliated to the DCCB had huge accumulated losses, which almost fully eroded
their aggregate own funds position. The very fact that around sixty percent of the business of the
DCCB was from PACS affiliated to it called for corrective action. The Training Needs Assessment
done in respect of PACS at all levels from top to bottom, i.e. from Board of Directors to substaff,
identified many gaps that needed to be addressed through training. Based on the two studies, training
modules for different levels in hierarchy in respect of both the DCCB as well as PACS in the district
were developed. The suggested modules were subjected to discussion before the top management of
DCCB and later on with the CEOs of all DCCBs & SCB and the Agricultural Co-operative Staff
Training Institute (ACSTI) in Kerala State. Their views were also taken before refining and adopting
the modules for pilot testing in Wayanad district.
Though ACSTI set up by the Kerala SCB and the Institute of Cooperative Management (ICM) working
under the aegis of NCCT were addressing the training needs of PACS personnel, the outreach of these
institutions was quite negligible compared to the large number of trainables. Further, sending the
personnel to far-flung places for training was considered as a financial drain on the PACS, which were
already in bad shape. Since the DCCB derives its strength from the lower tier viz. PACS, the study
recommended that it would be appropriate if the training needs of the personnel of PACS were taken
care of by the DCCB through its identified Key Resource Persons. The study also recommended
putting in place a cost effective and viable mechanism to educate the members of PACS by involving
Farmers Clubs, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), Extension
Agencies of State Govt., etc.
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7. Adopting the modules developed, RTCM conducted a Sensitisation Programme for the benefit of
Board of Directors and administered different training programmes for the benefit of Senior
Executives, Branch Managers and Middle/Junior Level Officers of the DCCB. Besides, sensitisation
programmes for the Presidents and Board of Directors of PACS in the district were also conducted by
RTCM in association with KRPs. RTCM provided capacity building training to the selected KRPs of
the DCCB to enable them to shoulder the responsibility of training the workmen staff of the DCCB and
the personnel of PACS. The KRPs organised separate training programmes for the clerical staff and
substaff using the modules developed by RTCM. Besides, separate training programmes for the
Secretaries and Asst. Secretaries of PACS in the district and for the clerical and substaff of PACS were
organised by the KRPs. A cost effective model for educating the members of PACS was also pilot
tested under the auspices of Farmers Clubs promoted by DCCBs/ PACS in the district by involving
KVKs, extension wings of agriculture department, progressive farmers etc. A flow chart indicating the
whole process of the ‘Wayanad experiment’ is given in Annexure 2.
Training Induced Changes
The feedback on the interventions made by RTC covering the Board of Directors of DCCB and various
levels in the cadre had been quite encouraging. The significant aspect of this model was that the inputs
were need based and a participant friendly training delivery mode was adopted. Further, training was
provided at their doorstep in local language and case studies sourced from the bank were administered
for better assimilation.
The "Ridge to Valley" (R2V) training approach had impacted several changes at the organisational and
individual levels in the ST Cooperative Credit Structure in Wayanad District. Transforming the
WDCCB into a learning organisation has been the hallmark of such changes. The management as well
as the employees displayed their eagerness to learn new things to face new challenges in the banking
sector and adapt to the changes in the environment. There have been perceptible changes in the attitude
of staff towards work, experimenting with new ideas, etc. The training interventions at Farmers' level
are also expected to facilitate positive results in the long run.
The DCCB had launched new loan schemes viz., Jilla Bank Mahila Loan and Jilla Bank Head Load
Workers' Loan catering to the needs of specific target groups. Branding of the loan was with the
inspiration acquired from the training programme. Proper appraisal and system of assessing repaying
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8. capacity had been introduced as a result of the training. Branch managers have got the required
knowledge and awareness regarding appraisal techniques and quality lending. In the post-training
scenario, they themselves restricted acceptance of loan applications if there was no adequate repaying
capacity. Steps were also taken for credit diversification. A booklet containing model schemes prepared
by Agricultural Officer were circulated among PACS and farmers. The bank had reported that `R2V'
Training had given an impetus for clearer thinking about important performance parameters including
the importance of reducing NPA. Systematic follow up efforts were made with the involvement of
Board of Directors for reducing NPAs.
The holistic approach to training covering all tiers and levels from the Board of Management to the
Farmers level had a synergetic effect on the learning process. This has helped in bringing about a deep
sense of belonging among the staff members who are now more united as a team for development of
the organisation rather than working only for their individual interests. The entire work force was made
fully aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their organisation and responsive to the changes in the
environment.
The training interventions, however, could not have the desired impact on financials of the Bank, due
to the special problems of the district (Fall in price of agricultural commodities, farmers suicides,
embargo on loan recovery, etc.). It was opined that the situation could have been worse, if there were
no training interventions. To sustain the training induced changes, it is essential to lay stress on
strengthening Human and Institutional Development (HID) Cell set up in the Bank, development of
KRPs with trainers training, exposure programmes and other support, conduct of refresher programmes
and more programmes for borrower education and farmers' training.
Lessons Learnt and Future Outlook
'The Wayanad Experiment' provided a wonderful opportunity to capture the key moments of the
training intervention process and facilitated gaining insight into the learnings from the experience and
efficacy of the model experimented. The Wayanad DCCB had been receptive to the suggestions
mooted by RTCM and had initiated concrete steps for taking the experiment to its logical conclusion.
The bank was in midst of an adverse environment contributed by many external factors. Though
training interventions made in this backdrop was not conducive for showing perceptible impact
immediately, this experiment is expected to facilitate evolving a viable and cost effective training
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9. model which could be adopted along with other measures like Organisation Development Initiative
(ODI), etc. as tools to turn around weak DCCBs.
With more and more DCCBs falling into Sec 11 non compliant category, and many PACS slipping into
non viable category, training and capacity building of the personnel at all levels through a holistic
approach could act as an adjunct to recapitalisation process as recommended by The Task Force on
Revitalisation of Cooperatives. The "Ridge to Valley" approach to training, which focussed on a
complete treatment, based on identification of the areas of concern of each entity and systematic
planning and execution of tailor-made training interventions is expected to open a new chapter in the
training philosophy of ST Cooperative Credit Structure.
______________________________________________________________________
* General Manager, NABARD, MPRO, Bhopal.
{This article was written based on the experience and learnings from the ‘Wayanad Experiment’, an initiative of Regional
Training College, NABARD, Mangalore. The Contribution by Shri P A Premakumar, AGM (DD), NABARD, Kannur and
guidance from Shri S G Rathod and Shri S T Raghuraman, CGMs are gratefully acknowledged.}
*****
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10. Annexure -1
Short Term Rural Cooperative Credit Structure in India
Three tier Two tier Mixed
SCBs– 16 SCBs– 13 SCBs– 2
(347 branches) (391 brs.) (172 branches)
DCCBs– 361
DCCBs– 5
(12309
(304 branches)
branches)
PACS
(106384)
12 crore
members
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11. Annexure 2
‘Ridge to Valley’ Approach to Training –
‘Wayanad Experiment’ - The Process
Diagnostic-cum-TNA study
Identification of Training Areas
Designing of Customised Trg.
programmes for various levels
and categories of personnel.
Identification of KRPs and their
capacity building
Training Interventions at DCCB Level
Level 1 : Sensitisation Programme for Board of Directors (by RTCM)
Level 2 : Programme for Senior Executives (by RTCM)
Level 3 : Branch Managers/Officers (by RTCM)
Level 4 : Clerical staff of DCCB (by KRPs)
Level 5 : Sub staff of DCCB (by KRPs)
Training Interventions at PACS Level
Level 1 : Sensitisation Prog. for Presidents &
Board of Directors (by RTCM & KRPs)
Level 2 : Secretaries/Asst.Secretaries (by KRPs)
Level 3 : Clerical Staff (by KRPs)
Level 4 : Sub staff (by KRPs)
Training of members of PACS/Farmers
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