Improving Public Expenditure Outcomes of MDMS and NREGS through Social Accountability Approaches: Fi

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Improving Public Expenditure Outcomes of MDMS and
NREGS through Social Accountability Approaches
Field Experiences from Rajasthan, India

• George Cheriyan
• CUTS International
• The World Bank, Washington DC
• June 4, 2008

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About CUTS

• Established in 1983, pursuing social justice and
  economic equity within and across borders.
• CUTS has five programme centre and five resource
  centres six in India, two in Africa (Lusaka
  Nairobi), one in London and one in Hanoi. One
  resource centre in Geneva will be opening shortly
  
• Good Governance is one of the key programmatic
  area. Working in the area of promoting
  transparency and accountability at all levels of
  governance through increased peoples
  participation from its inception

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Introduction

• Traditionally focus has been on supply side of
  institutions and systems with less attention to
  demand side
• Today the situation is fast changing
• This includes actions to enable citizens to exert
  accountability over public institutions and
  services

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Framework for Accountability Relationships
Making Services Workable for the Poor (WDR 2004)
Demand Side Approaches
Supply Side Approaches
Voice
Service Compact
Client Power
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Enabling Environment

• Democracy works when citizens ask questions, seek
  accountability and participate in the process of
  governance
• Information enters the debate on governance at
  this point
• Access to Government held information is a
  pre-condition for good governance
• Enactment of the RTI Act (2005) in India had
  triggered the genuine demand for SAc mechanisms

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SAc Pilots in Rajasthan, India (in partnership
with the World Bank and as part of SASANet)

• Child Nutrition Improving Outcomes of
  Nutrition based Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) in
  Rajasthan (Oct. 2005 to Sept. 2006)
• Wage Employment Assessing the Outputs of the
  National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
  (NREGS) Rajasthan (June 2007 to August 2008 -
  ongoing)

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Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS)
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Context

• 1995 - National Programme of Nutritional Support
  to Primary Education, commonly known as the
  Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) started
• Largest school meal programme in the world
• (Budget Allocation, 2008-09 is INR 73 billion
  1.8 billion)
• Covers all primary school (Class I to V) students
  in Government schools
• (10.2 million children in 75,000 primary schools
  in Rajasthan)
• 2001 - Indias apex court, the Supreme Court,
  directed all State Governments to provide cooked
  mid day meal

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Why a Mid-Day Meal Scheme?

• School meal programs support health, nutrition
  and education goals
• A strong incentive to parents to send children to
  school, thereby encouraging enrolment, reducing
  absenteeism and dropout rates
• A special focus on girl child, mainly to enhance
  enrollment of girl child

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Nutrition Based Entitlements

• Primary school children provided daily with one
  nutritionally adequate cooked meal
• 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein per child
  per day
• For a minimum of 200 days per year
• GoI provides 100 grams of food grain (wheat or
  rice) per child per school day
• Conversion cost is shared by the GoI GoR

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Flow of Cash Food Grains Line of Accountability
Government of India
Government of India (FCI)
       
Government of Rajasthan
State Food Corporation (FCI Warehouse)
State Nodal Agency (Panchayati Raj Department)  
Zilla Parishad
  District FCI Warehouse
Panchayat Samiti
Primary School
Gram Panchayat Village level MME  
Primary School
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Pilot Methodology

• Combination of two social accountability tools
  Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) and
  Citizen Report Cards (CRC) used
• PETS for gathering information regarding budget
  allocations, budget transfers and expenditure
• CRC for assessing citizens perceptions and
  satisfaction levels on MDMS management/delivery
• Survey restricted to one district, Chittorgarh,
  of Rajasthan (population 1.8 million)
• Sample size - 211 primary government/aided
  schools from 14 blocks a total of 2,110
  students, 2,110 parents, 422 teachers and 211
  cooks were interviewed
• Scientific sampling techniques - school selection
  on the basis of parameters such as size, access
  by road, remoteness, etc.

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Key Survey Findings

• High Overall Satisfaction Level 90 parents and
  students satisfied
• Acceptable Quality of Food Grains 97 of the
  teachers reported receiving acceptable to good
  quality of food grains
• Indeterminable Quantity of Food Grains Only 23
  of the schools received food grains after getting
  them weighed before delivery
• Lack of Basic Infrastructure 95 of the schools
  do not have a kitchen shed, while only 36 have a
  separate store room.
• Trade-off between Education Quality and MDMS
  Management 68 teachers spend more than 1 hour
  (17) of allotted teaching time, in MDMS
  activities
• Delayed Receipt of Funds for Conversion 79
  schools receive funds with delays ranging from
  2-6 months (against the mandatory 15 days)
  affecting meal quality adversely

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Key Survey Findings Impact of MDMS
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Key Findings Quality of Education
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Improving Outcomes through Feedback
State Government
Redesign Programs
District Administration/ Government
Reallocate Resources
Accountability
Improved Quality of Service Delivery
Feedback
Education Service Provider
Feedback
Services
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Pilot Impacts Policy Changes

• Redesign of program
• Advance transfer of funds for cooking meals
  Release of sufficient amount for three months in
  advance (from 3 months to 3 months)
• Reallocation of resources
• Improvements in basic infracture School Grant
  Facility extended to construct kitchens, food
  grain storage rooms
• Revision of Unit Conversion Costs Conversion
  cost rates increased from INR 0.5 to INR 1.00

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Pilot Impacts Institutional Changes

• Improvement in quality of food grains
• Food grains supplied after thorough checking and
  proper weighing
• Increase in number of inspections
• Faster redressal of complaints
• Increased involvement of parent-teacher
  associations and PRIs
• PTAs and PRI members have started to take active
  part in monitoring MDMS implementation
• Increased awareness about entitlements
• Increased parent oversight over MDM preparation
• Reduced burden on teachers leading to
  availability of more time for teaching

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Assessing the Outputs of NREGS
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Context

• India's ruling Government enacted the NREGA on
  August 25, 2005.
• The scheme started since February 02, 2006 in 200
  districts (out of a total of 593 districts in the
  country) and has been scaled up to all districts
  of the country from April 2008.
• Budget allocation for 2008-09 INR 160 billion
  USD 400 million INR 14.4 billion for Rajasthan)
• The commitment to transparency and accountability
  runs through the Act
• There is a provision of compulsory social audit
  built-in the scheme, first time in the history of
  independent India

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Employment Based Entitlements

• Legal guarantee for 100 days of employment in
  every financial year to adult members of any
  rural household willing to do unskilled manual
  work at the statutory minimum wage within a 5-km
  radius.
• Minimum NREGS Wage Rs 73 (USD 1.70) per day
  this has been increased to Rs. 100/- from April
  1, 2008) per day to one member of every rural
  unemployed family
• A failure to provide work within 15 days or
  within 5 km radius gives the applicant the right
  to draw an unemployment/ transport allowance

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Methodology Social Accountability Tools Used

• Combination of CRC, PETS CSC was used to assess
  the scheme
• CRC CSC for qualitative feedback and to assess
  beneficiary perceptions and satisfaction levels
• PETS for the quantitative assessment of fund
  flow, fund utilization, etc.

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Survey Findings Satisfaction Levels

• Majority of the surveyed people endorsed the
  NREGS stating that it
• Provides employment during lean season in own
  villages itself (97)
• Has improved facilities in the villages (94)
• Has ultimately helped in reducing migration
  (93).
• Has helped in increasing the monthly income (87)
• Has helped in creating assets, which will result
  in sustainable
• livelihoods (85) and
• Has increased bargaining power of laborers

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Survey Findings Gender Empowerment

• 71 of the women surveyed felt that the increase
  in incomes had increased their importance in the
  family leading to increased say in decision
  making
• 51 of the women felt that NREGS had improved
  their living standards

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Survey Findings Accountability Issues

• Lack of awareness about entitlements (63)
• Lack of participation in the decision making
  process (42) as people were not informed about
  Gram Sabha meetings
• Opaqueness in wage payment Measurement of work
  done in a mystified manner and not done to the
  satisfaction of beneficiaries (50) space for
  misappropriation in wage payment
• No effective grievance redress mechanism
  available (39)
• Absence of social audit as per the provisions of
  NREGA
• Low wages paid to the NREGS Supervisors (INR
  1,800 45 USD/per month) which force them to
  look for other means income

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Pilot Impacts (Till Now)

• Operational Changes
• Facilities at work sites District level
  authorities have issued orders to ensure
  amenities at work sites are made available
• Appointment of women supervisors Initiatives
  taken for the appointment of more female
  supervisors
• Availability of forms for demanding work Forms
  are now available in all important places in the
  village
• Daily measurement of work Work done is measured
  on a daily basis in the presence of the
  beneficiaries all beneficiaries have been
  provided with a measuring tape
• Use of more broad-based communication strategies
  Dissemination of information about entitlements
  and Gram Sabha meetings is more widespread

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Pilot Impacts (Till Now)

• Changes in Development Outcomes
• Citizen Awareness Empowerment
• Increase in awareness about NREGA entitlements
• Beneficiaries are realizing that they have the
  power and opportunity to evaluate/assess the
  actions of the service providers
• Women Empowerment
• Women supervisors are being appointed under
  NREGS
• Increased participation of women in household
  decision making processes as they earn
• Policy Changes To Be Determined

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Remaining Challenges

• Institutionalization
• Building constituencies in the supply side
• Resource re-allocation
• Creating civil society coalitions

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In Conclusion
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Improving Outcomes through Feedback
State Government
Redesign Programs
District Administration/ Government
Reallocate Resources
Accountability
Improved Quality of Service Delivery
Feedback
Education Service Provider
Feedback
Services
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SAc Approaches Outcomes

• Development Outcomes
• Improved Quality of Service Delivery
• Program Redesign and Resource Reallocation to
  Improve Program Effectiveness and Public
  Expenditure Efficiency
• Improved Governance through Demand Side
  Approaches in Governance

Citizen Report Cards Community Score Cards
Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys Right to
Information (RTI) Compliance

• Institutional Outcomes
• Institutionalization of continuous user feedback
  mechanisms
• Formation of community-public-private
  partnerships for implementation of development
  programs
• Stronger linkages between local governments and
  civil society

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THANKS