A Study on Convergent Action at the Grassroots during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic brought certain circumstances which were never witnessed at such a scale. The response to this Pandemic was with strategically choreographed convergent action across different levels of both the government sector and non-government sector. This paper examines and documents the experiences of field functionaries like Anganwadi Workers, ASHA workers and Field Functionaries of State Rural Livelihood Mission during this Pandemic. This paper is based on Qualitative Research conducted with the tool of Narrative Analysis where the experiences of respondents from Fatehabad District, Birbhum, and Uttar Dinajpur Districts in West Bengal were documented. The sampling process done to select specific respondents was done purposively (purposive sampling). Anganwadi Workers and ASHA Workers under usual circumstances do practice convergent action among themselves but during the process of institutional quarantine in rural settings, the inter-departmental convergence was evident because field functionaries of various in-line departments have proven to be a significant success. Moreover, the service-delivery component under different schemes has been modified relatively. SHG Groups which has been primarily viewed concerning micro-finance or credit has played a role in multiple domains with service delivery, market production. Convergence has been a contemporary highlighted concern in social work and development practice.