Reporting period: January - December, 2014 Locations Gujarat, Sabarkantha District Rajasthan, Barmer District EUROPEAN UNION

24 Major Schemes/Programs are being targeted in 3 Key Sectors : Social security and protection – Pension for(1) old-age (2) widows and destitute (3) persons with disabilities (4) Child Protection (5) Aam Admi Bima Yojana (6) Swabalamban / Hitadhikari Yojana (7) PDS (8) Social Housing (9) MGNREGA (10) Compensation for Crop Failure (11) Compensation to victims of VAW and SC and ST. Health and Nutrition – (1) JSSY – Chiranjeevi (2) Immunisation (3) ICDS (4) Subhlaxmi – Kasturba Poshan Sahaya (5) RBSK - Early identification of disability (6) SABLA (7) PHC level Public Health (8) RSBY (9) Free medical support for terminal ailments (10) Sanitation. Primary Education – (1) Implmnt. of RTE (2) MDM (3) Scholarships. Target Groups Planned – 18,000 households, 300 citizen leaders in 60 panchayats. Coverage in Yr. 1 – 179 citizen leaders from 30 GPs are engaging in local action and information is disseminated to 7,932 households.

Indicators: Households informed, 2000 info. disclosure and accountability action by Citizen leaders…. Activities and Outcome 1.Participatory assessment of public services 2.1 st round of Citizen Engagement/longitudinal participatory monitg. of public services in 70 villages of 23 GPs covering 18 schemes. 3.Committees strengthened - 49 SMC meetings + 5 new SMCs formed, 37 VHSNC meetings + 10 new Committees formed cases taken up under grievance redressal and 359 redressed. 5.IRCs have supported 2121 HHs to access different schemes. 6. Gramsabhas demanded about 50 cases on demand for work, new water points or facilities, opening of anganwadi, BPL inclusion Citizen Leaders (51 women, 128 men) undertook 357 information disclosure and accountability actions. It benefitted 1349 families in accessing benefits from public programs

Indicators: 60 GPs practice Gram sabha level planning and accountability, PRIs Practice Pro-active Disclosure Activities and Outcome GPs supported to practice participatory planning in gram sabha GPs facilitated to display 7 types of information through wall painting at 68 locations on: i. Toll free and helpline numbers, ii. Class wise enrolment and presence of boy and girl students, iii. Names and contact of SMC members, iv. Mid day meal menu, v. Status of use of funds in school, vi. Stock of material in PDS shop, vii. Explanation on use of bar code coupon for PDS,

Indicators: At least 30 types of government disclosures are improved. Government willingness created at the block and district level for improved pro-active disclosure. Activities and Outcome 1.Information Booklet on Public Schemes published and shared. 2.Voice SMS on PDS and RSBY developed with the district admin. 3.Two volumes of quarterly bulletin ‘VICHAR’ on social accountability actions printed and disseminated. 4. A study on proactive disclosure is conducted in association with the Information Commission in Gujarat and shared with district authorities for improvement. Rajasthan study under progress.

Indicators: 60 Social Accountability Practitioners Engaged, 10 Issue notes posed on improving public delivery and social accountability. Activities and Outcome 1.Prepared a revised draft policy on Rights of Persons with Disability for DoSJ&E, Govt. of Gujarat. 2.A note on protocol for conducting disability certification camp was submitted to the Secy, DoSJ&E, Govt. of Gujarat. 3.Process of pro-active disclosure for PDS and PHCs submitted to the Dist. Collector, Sabarkantha, Gujarat. 4. Note on improving effective outreach of RSBY and PDS submitted to the Dist. Collector, Sabarkantha, Gujarat. 5. Note of effective disbursement of financial support under Pension schemes and JSY submitted to the District Collector, Badmer, Raj. 6. Comments provided to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rights of Persons with Disability Bill 2014.

On the issue of pro-active disclosure a lot can be done and there is official acceptance at the higher level for improvement. However, at the lower level low interest and resistance. Program delivery process is complex, common citizen find it difficult to access the benefits as there is wide gap between dejure and defacto process. In addition to information dissemination, a series of agency process has to be negotiated to enable access of services. Government has IT based grievance redressal portals and help lines. At the ground level there are officially recognised ‘e-mitras’ to provide services. These service providers are not accountable and charge fees of any amount. The officials are also not appreciative when citizen use grievance redressal systems. This is a disincentive. In the last one month government has not been responsive to the CSOs which can stand in the way of partnership. (see visibility secn.)

Project Information boards are placed at the field centres with logo of EU. The Information packs and quarterly bulletin Vichar that have been widely disseminated to different stakeholders in the two states acknowledge EU support. Village level information uses a colourful stall with prominent display of EU support. Pro-active information disclosure boards in Gujarat have logo of EU and the Office of the District Collector. Recently after the remark of PM on ‘Five Star NGOs’ and advisory of MHA to keep watch on the international funding, the administration disallows holding any visibility banner in public meetings.

Finance and Contract Total cost of the project:EUR8,00, EC contribution:7,20, %EU share (%) Start date Duration End date months Costs Contract BudgetActual expendituresBalance All yearsend of Year 1 1. Human Resources 4,69,30057,6974,11, Travel 1,03,4004,86998, Equipment and supplies 17,2008,2508, Local office /Action costs 77,5647,92669, Other costs, services 34,2003,10131, Other 46,0002,11343, Subtotal direct costs of the Action (1-6) 7,47,66483,9566,63, Contengency reserve Total direct eligible costs7,47,66483,9566,63, Administrative costs (max 7%)52,3365,87746, Total eligible costs8,00,00089,8337,10,168

Expenditure is less than budgeted for yr. 1 in all heads. The budget has no provision of contingency reserve. Question on Budget Utilization Can the staff composition be changed from the proposed without changing total allocation under human resources. For example if there is a provision of 4 POs, 4PAs and 8CFs, can it be changed to 2POs, 6PAs and 10CFs. (change in units) What process need to be followed to incorporate the changes. Similarly, is it allowed to book under the field office rent, the actual rent and the person working as guard cum caretaker.

Unnati has the strength of developing educational materials like booklets, leaflets, write-ups, films, etc. Under this project we have been developing materials on service delivery process. Partners in Gujarat and Rajasthan can use them. We will appreciate if partners give their requirements in terms of issues and number of additional copies. These materials can be produced jointly with full visibility. On the orientation of field staff on governance, RTI and other public program delivery, joint state specific trainings can be organized in which the senior staff of our respective institutions can be resource persons. We can also invite external resource persons. This will be an effective sharing of resources and promote learning from diverse experiences. It would be more useful if we meet more regularly and visit each others field area for mutual learning.