The Society for Training & Research on Panchayats& Rural Development (STARPARD), an agency of the Panchayats & Rural Development Department, Government of West Bengal was set up in 1997-98. It is a registered society under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961 (Act No.XXVI of 1961), having its registered office at the ICMARD Building, Kolkata.

  The Department of Panchayats & Rural Development has restructured the Society envisaging it as an overarching organization at the State level with the following objectives –

  To undertake initiatives for capacity building of the elected members and other functionaries of PRIs, mainly of the Gram Panchayat level (in respect of Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad functionaries, the task is being addressed by the State Institute of Panchayats & Rural Development, the SIPRD);

  To meet the emerging needs of coordination of research related activities of the Department across the State and cater to the requirement;

  To provide resource support to the institutions concerned to meet the need of capacity building of PRI functionaries;

  To manage the temporary and permanent District Panchayats Training& Resource Centres (DPTRCs) set up at the District level for training related activities in the Districts.

  The Minister-in-Charge, Panchayats & Rural Development is the President of the Society as well as the Chairman of the Governing Body; one MLA nominated by the State Government is the Vice-President and the Vice-Chairman of the Governing Body. The Principal Secretary of the Department acts as the Executive Vice-President of the Society, who is also the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Governing Body. One Special Secretary of the Department is the Member-Secretary of the Society.

  Management of activities related to capacity building and training of elected representatives and employees of Gram Panchayat across the State have been entrusted with the STARPARD. All the temporary and permanent District Panchayats Training& Resource Centres (DPTRCs) in each District have been brought under the management of STARPARD. District Level Advisory Committee (DLAC), formed under STARPARD for each District with the Sabhadhipati of the Zilla Parishad as Chairperson, the District Magistrate as Vice-Chairperson, the leader in opposition as member, the Additional Executive Officer (AEO) of the Zilla Parishad as member, the Project Director of the DRDC as member, the District Nodal Officer of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA as member, and the District Panchayats & Rural Development Officer as Member-Secretary is assigned the responsibility to monitor and to provide support for activities related to capacity building of the functionaries of PRIs in the respective Districts. The District Panchayats & Rural Development Officer (DPRDO) is functioning as District Training Coordinator in the Districts.

  The DPRDO & Member-Secretary, DLAC of STARPARD of the District is in charge of the District Panchayats Training& Resource Centres (DPTRCs) including discharge of financial responsibilities and maintenance of accounts under guidance and supervision of the Additional Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad.

  Along with training of the Elected Members and other functionaries of PRIs in the DPTRCs, STARPARD has taken the innovative approach of organizing demand-driven training programmes at the Gram Panchayat Office with ERs and Functionaries together, popularly known as Mobile Training. In the Mobile trainings there are opportunities to ask questions on issues which are generally debated between ERs and functionaries, and to get the issues resolved at the GP office itself, leading to healthier organizational dynamics.

  In addition to capacity building of the Elected Members and other functionaries of PRIs, STARPARD has also been entrusted with the task of capacity building on GPDP issues. Starting from training of State level Master Trainer, Facilitator cum Charge Officers to training of GPFT Members, STARPARD has been working rigorously in the field of capacity building of all stakeholders of the GPDP process. Along with training on GPDP issues, STARPARD has been formulating necessary guidelines, in cohesion with the Central guideline on GPDP, for effective implementation of the process for preparation of GPDP.