Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

664 items available

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https://hdl.handle.net/10986/9388

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Improving the Public Expenditure Outcomes of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme through Social Accountability Interventions in Sirohi District, Rajasthan, India
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-11) Patel, Darshana; Shah, Parmesh; Chakrabarti, Poulomi; Arya, Om Prakash; Cheriyan, George; Agarwal, Sanjay
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), enacted by the government of India in 2006, recognizes employment as a universal legal right for every rural household. Breaking from earlier employment schemes and development programs, NREGA is significant in that it is 'a regime of rights' for poor rural communities. NREGA provides a comprehensive set of entitlements that not only outline judicially enforceable terms for employment but also give citizens a central role in all stages of implementation. The overall objective of this social accountability intervention was to assess NREGS implementation, identify lacunae in program implementation, and build ownership of the findings of this intervention within all levels of government. NREGS has a system of continuous external monitoring and verification to curb corruption and maintain quality implementation. The Citizen Report Card (CRC) survey found that 56 percent of the project worksites were visited fewer than three times by upper level government authorities.
Impact of Social Accountability Mechanisms on Achieving Service Delivery and Health Development Outcomes in Satara District, Maharashtra, India
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-11) Patel, Darshana; Shah, Parmesh; Islam, Moutushi; Agarwal, Sanjay
Satara District Council has an average budget of roughly US$30 million/1,410 million Indian rupees to provide health, nutrition, drinking water, sanitation, and education infrastructure services to its citizens. While social and economic indexes indicate that Satara is one of the better-developed districts in Maharashtra, it still falls short in attaining expected service delivery outcomes. Irregular health services and suboptimal health outcomes such as malnourishment, unsafe drinking water, and lack of sanitation remained major challenges in the district because of the absence of community participation in planning and poor accountability on the part of public functionaries. The overall objective of this accountability intervention was to improve development outcomes by strengthening the delivery of services by key government departments and programs. The micro-planning (MP) aspect of the process allowed communities to set collective priorities and decide on investments while the community scorecards (CSC) part allowed regular monitoring, feedback, and dialogue between service users and providers.
Improving Student Enrollment and Teacher Absenteeism Outcomes through Social Accountability Interventions in Nalgonda and Adilabad Districts, Andhra Pradesh, India
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-11) Patel, Darshana; Shah, Parmesh; Lakhey, Smriti
Although Andhra Pradesh (AP) has high economic growth, the state's public education system, which most poor children attend, faces several structural issues that hinder its quality. Although the public education system offers a structured space for parent and community input into management of schools, these spaces are not systematically used. AP achieved 10.37 percent economic growth for 2007-08 against the national average of 8.37 percent and has a poverty headcount ratio of 16 percent, compared with 23 percent for India as a whole. Despite such growth, AP's public education system, which serves the children of most poor households, faces several structural issues that impair its quality. The quality of education itself is suboptimal, teacher absenteeism rates are high, and teachers lack accountability to parents and the community. As a result, parents who wish to give their children quality education opt for expensive private schools. The AP Community Participation Act also empowered village level school committees to conduct micro-planning exercises and to develop education plans for schools. These school committees consist of teachers and the parents of the children enrolled in the school. Committee meetings are convened by the school's headmaster but presided over by an elected parent. After one year of implementation, this accountability intervention catalyzed the community and service providers to take an active role in public education. It brought about a series of impacts and outcomes, starting at the micro level with behavior changes on the part of students, parents, and the community, as well as school administrators and teachers. These behavior changes iterated over time, triggered changes at the institutional level in the school committees and government functionaries at higher levels.
Chhattisgarh, India: Performance Rating of Gram Panchayats through Community Score Cards
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-09) Murty, J.V.R.; Agarwal, Sanjay; Shah, Parmesh
The World Bank-supported Chhattisgarh District Rural Poverty Reduction Project (CGDPRP), also called locally as Nawa Anjor (New Light), aims at improving opportunities for poor and vulnerable communities in Chhattisgarh State. To achieve this goal, the project creates infrastructure and income opportunities for the rural poor, empowers disadvantaged groups, and helps local governments1 become more responsive and effective in assisting the poor. CGDPRP sought to develop a performance monitoring and rating system to build local government capacity, especially the Gram Panchayats (GPs). In this context the project experimented with the use of the Community Score Card (CSC) for identifying crucial issues that affect local service delivery, measure user satisfaction, empower village citizens (especially the poor and women), and rate the performance of GPs. This note summarizes the findings, processes, concerns, and lessons learned from the Chhattisgarh pilot.
Maharashtra, India: Improving Panchayat Service Delivery through Community Score Cards
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-08) Murty, J.V.R.; Agarwal, Sanjay; Shah, Parmesh
This note summarizes the experiences from a pilot project undertaken by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, in partnership with the World Bank-sponsored Jalswarajya Project. The current initiative was one of six pilot projects launched by the South Asia Sustainable Development Department (SASAR) of the World Bank aimed at the application of specific social accountability tools in different contexts of service delivery through the trust fund for Capacity Building and Piloting of Social Accountability Initiatives for Community Driven Development in South Asia.
The Gemidiriya Program, Sri Lanka: Piloting the Community Assessment Process
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-08) Agarwal, Sanjay; Shah, Parmesh; Sirker, Karen
The Gemidiriya program's long-term objective is to reduce rural poverty and promote sustainable and equitable rural development. The program aims at creating an environment that enables rural communities to improve their livelihoods and quality of life. It paves the way for rural communities to get together, organize formally, plan village development by themselves with 50 percent women participation, and to mobilize self-help and community contributions. The Gemidiriya focuses on building accountable and self-governing local institutions by: (i) devolving decision-making power and resources to community organizations; (ii) strengthening selected local governments that demonstrate responsiveness and accountability to rural communities; and (iii) working with federations of village organizations (VOs), the private sector, and non governmental organizations (NGOs) on economic empowerment to increase the size and diversity of livelihoods. This note summarizes the findings, processes, concerns, and lessons learned from the Sri Lanka pilot.
Rajasthan, India: An Assessment of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Chittorgarh District
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-08) Cheriyan, George; Sharma, K.C.; Murty, J.V.R.; Agarwal, Sanjay; Shah, Parmesh
The current initiative was one of six pilot projects launched by the South Asia Sustainable Development Department of the World Bank aimed at the application of specific social accountability tools in different contexts of service delivery through the trust fund for Capacity Building and Piloting of Social Accountability Initiatives for Community Driven Development in South Asia. This note summarizes the findings, processes, concerns, and lessons learned from the Rajasthan pilot.
Andhra Pradesh, India: Improving Health Services through Community Score Cards
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-08) Misra, Vivek; Ramasankar, P.; Murty, J.V.R.; Agarwal, Sanjay; Shah, Parmesh
The current initiative was one of six pilot projects launched by the South Asia Sustainable Development Department of the World Bank aimed at the application of specific social accountability tools in different contexts of service delivery through the trust fund for Capacity Building and Piloting of Social Accountability Initiatives for Community Driven Development in South Asia. This note summarizes the findings, processes, concerns, and lessons learned from the Andhra Pradesh pilot.