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Raha, Shomikho

Global Practice on Governance, The World Bank
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Governance, Citizen engagement
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Global Practice on Governance, The World Bank
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Last updated: January 31, 2023
Biography
Shomikho Raha is a Governance and Public Sector Specialist in the Governance Global Practice of the World Bank.  He has previously worked in the South Asia Human Development unit of the Bank and for the demand for good governance & social accountability cluster within its Social Development Department (SDV).  He has been a consultant to the Asia Foundation, the Government of India and Governance Adviser for DFID on its operational projects in India covering reform of public administration and public services in health, education and water-sanitation.  His work relates to the political economy of public policy reform, human resource management for organizational performance and transparency and accountability initiatives and he has published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and policy reports.  He holds a PhD and Masters degrees with a focus on politics and economic history from Trinity College, Cambridge University.

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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Motivating Bureaucrats through Social Recognition: Evidence from Simultaneous Field Experiments
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-06) Gauri, Varun; Jamison, Julian C.; Mazar, Nina; Ozier, Owen; Raha, Shomikho; Saleh, Karima
    Bureaucratic performance is a crucial determinant of economic growth. Little is known about how to improve it in resource-constrained settings. This study describes a field trial of a social recognition intervention to improve record keeping in clinics in two Nigerian states, replicating the intervention -- implemented by a single organization -- on bureaucrats performing identical tasks in both states. Social recognition improved performance in one state but had no effect in the other, highlighting both the potential and the limitations of behavioral interventions. Differences in observables did not explain cross-state differences in impacts, however, illustrating the limitations of observable-based approaches to external validity.
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    Opening the Black Box: The Contextual Drivers of Social Accountability
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015-04-14) Grandvoinnet, Helene; Aslam, Ghazia; Raha, Shomikho
    This publication fills an important knowledge gap by providing guidance on how to assess contextual drivers of social accountability effectiveness. It aims to strategically support citizen engagement at the country level and for a specific issue or problem. The report proposes a novel framing of social accountability as the interplay of constitutive elements: citizen action and state action, supported by three enabling levers: civic mobilization, interface and information. For each of these constitutive elements, the report identifies 'drivers' of contextual effectiveness which take into account a broad range of contextual factors (e.g., social, political and intervention-based, including information and communication technologies). Opening the Black Box offers detailed guidance on how to assess each driver. It also applies the framework at two levels. At the country level, the report looks at 'archetypes' of challenging country contexts, such as regimes with no formal space or full support for citizen-state engagement and fragile and conflict-affected situations. The report also illustrates the use of the framework to analyze specific social accountability interventions through four case studies: Sierra Leone, Pakistan, Yemen, and the Kyrgyz Republic.
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    Parallel Systems and Human Resource Management in India's Public Health Services : A View from the Front Lines
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-06) La Forgia, Gerard; Raha, Shomikho; Shaik, Shabbeer; Maheshwari, Sunil Kumar; Ali, Rabia
    There is building evidence in India that the delivery of health services suffers from an actual shortfall in trained health professionals, but also from unsatisfactory results of existing service providers working in the public and private sectors. This study focusses on the public sector and examines de facto institutional and governance arrangements that may give rise to well-documented provider behaviors such as absenteeism, which can adversely affect service delivery processes and outcomes. The paper considers four human resource management subsystems: postings, transfers, promotions, and disciplinary practices. The four subsystems are analyzed from the perspective of front line workers, that is, physicians working in rural health care facilities operated by two state governments. Physicians were sampled in one post-reform state that has instituted human resource management reforms and one pre-reform state that has not. The findings are based on quantitative and qualitative measurement. The results show that formal rules are undermined by a parallel modus operandi in which desirable posts are often determined by political connections and side payments. The evidence suggests an institutional environment in which formal rules of accountability are trumped by a parallel set of accountabilities. These systems appear so entrenched that reforms have borne no significant effect.
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    Some Priority Challenges of the Nursing Sector in India
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-08-01) Berman, Peter; Raha, Shomikho; Bhatnagar, Aarushi
    This note identifies some key areas for priority action in the current favorable contest for policy in the nursing sector in India. The present policy focus on increasing the number of nurses and nurse training centers is understandable given the countries nurse-to-population ratio is very low. However; based on evidence from Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the findings presented here suggest that such a focus on numbers alone are not the priority concerns of nursing.
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    Political Economy of Health Workforce Policy : The Chhattisgarh Experience with a Three-year Course for Rural Health Care Practitioners
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-03) Bossert, Thomas; Raha, Shomikho; Vujicic, Marko
    This case study analyzes the reasons for adoption and the implementation process of a key policy in Chhattisgarh state, India, to create a rural cadre of trained physicians in order to address the acute shortage of doctors in the state's primary health facilities. It documents the experience specific to Chhattisgarh state, but with its attention to the policy processes and implementation challenges associated, it also highlights the necessity of a political economy perspective currently missing in much of the published literature on human resources for health. A principal lesson of this case concerns why it matters how interests of various stakeholders who had interests in the three-year course are included early in the policy process, namely the anticipated opposition of the medical doctor community represented by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the interests of the students themselves and their desire to be given appropriate status as medical doctors. This case study addresses the legal hurdles faced and the importance of institutional support structures to maintain quality standards and provide for grievance procedures. Through this case study, it also becomes apparent why the role of institutional ownership of policy matters rather than success or failure of policy that is linked entirely to the authority of a few key appointed officials.
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    Challenges in Recruitment of Doctors by Government
    (World Bank, New Delhi, 2009-08-01) Berman, Peter; Raha, Shomikho; Rao, Krishna D.
    This note describes some of the problems found in recruiting new doctors to the government health care system, drawing on the recent experiences in three cases: the Central Health Service (CHS), the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government health care system and Tamil Nadu government health care system. In comparing the different experiences of recruitment in the three cases, the policy note highlights institutional issues and the incentives built into an employment package as important for further consideration in the aim to scale up the numbers of government doctors.
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    Career Preferences of Medical and Nursing Students in Uttar Pradesh
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-08-01) Berman, Peter; Raha, Shomikho; Bhatnagar, Aarushi
    This note describes the career preferences of graduating medical and nursing students in Uttar Pradesh, with special reference to incentives offered for and work attributes of employment opportunities in rural areas. Results indicate that medical students prefer to concentrate on their post-graduate education and are not inclined to work in rural areas while nursing students have a greater predilection to work in public rural settings. The note draws attention to the fact that it is a tougher challenge to increase the supply of physicians in rural areas as compared to nurses and incentives offered to prospective health workers will be more effective ill the form of incentive packages.