This year 3 days review meeting has been scheduled in Hotel Maple Wood, Ranchi Jharkhand. The agenda is to discuss the ground issues, achievements, challenges, finance, expected collaboration and sustainability of the 14 projects. The review aimed at sharing updates on the progress of individual partner in terms of results and how services can be strengthen and reach out to the last mile beneficiaries.

First day has been started with a field visit to the intervention areas of Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) and Welthungerhilfe (WHH); Itki block in Ranchi and Khunti district. The next two days includes discussions around collaboration and action points for the 2016-17 and how to make a robust planning to fill up the gaps.
All 14 partners presented to share their valuable ideas and thoughts to improve the services at the ground.

This year a different format of presentation has been followed which is called as ‘Gallery Walk. In the gallery walk, partners were expected to prepare their project outcomes, challenges, way forward in visual form i.e. posters, collages, paintings, and other form of display method that best depicts their work.

• Set up the gallery in a dedicated space allotted to each partner
• Explain about the gallery/work in short time with clarity
• Feedback from the audience

This allowed all the participants to be actively engaged as they walked throughout the presentations. There has been a quick exchange of knowledge, tools, techniques that each partner uses. Participants individually and in a group can rotated around the room and provided feedback to the Partner organization on – Liked about the work, things they wonder about it, things to improve or could do next. Some of the organisations have talked about their work using PPT, while some of them explained their achievements using IEC materials only.

A State consultation on “Strengthening Governance and Citizen Engagement Digitally for Last Mile Access and Delivery of Public Schemes Information and Entitlements” is being organised on 24th April 2017 in Ranchi Jharkhand.

The Consultation is an initiative of 5 implementing partners and European Union as an alliance to identify innovations and best practices regarding access and delivery of information and entitlements keeping in mind the geographical, infrastructural and connectivity challenges in Jharkhand state.

The Delegation of European Union has launched the programme “Improving access to information of public schemes in backward districts in India” in January 2014. In order to implement the programme in 60 BRGF Districts of 20 states across India covering 20 million people, 14 Partner organisations have been selected from India.

Jharkhand is one of the 20 states which is being covered by 5 grassroots organisations in its different districts and blocks; Digital Empowerment Foundation (Ranchi), Action Aid (Latehar), PRADAN (Hazaribagh and Koderma), Welthungerhifle (Sahibganj, Dumka, Pakur & Khunti) and Find Your Feet (Dumka, Pakur, Jamtara and Godda). It’s been three years the programme has impacted the lives of thousands of people and there is more scope to strengthen the efforts of the government and other stakeholders to democratize and decentralize information and entitlement access and delivery to the last mile citizens in Jharkhand.

The Consultation is to identify innovations and best practices regarding access and delivery of information and entitlements keeping in mind the geographical, infrastructural and connectivity challenges in Jharkhand state. The discussion seeks to strengthen the efforts of the government and other stakeholders to democratize and decentralize information and entitlement access and delivery to the last mile citizens in Jharkhand.

It seeks to recognize the best practices taken by organisations towards strengthening the access and delivery of government schemes information and citizen entitlement benefits on the following thematic areas:

1. Strengthening Governance and Citizen Engagement Digitally for Last Mile Access And Delivery of Public Schemes Information and Entitlements

2. Participatory Planning through Yojna Banao Abhiyan and the role of Social Audit for better Transparency and Accountability in Jharkhand”

3. Participatory Learning and Action for improved mother, child care and nutrition

4. Participatory School Development Planning for Right to Education

The consultation shall be coming out with a status note and key ideas with suggestions that can widen and expand the scope to strengthen the efforts of the government and other stakeholders.

To see the agenda please click here

Durkhal is a small revenue village of Chandragiri GP in Kashipur block under Rayagada district, Odisha. Most of the villagers are tribal. They are very poor and illiterate. A total of 110 families live in the village. There is very little agricultural land in the village. The farming on the hills is the only source of subsistence. The illiteracy and malnutrition in the village especially among the mothers and children are clearly visible in their face.

There is one Primary School and an Anganwadi centre in the village. But none of them were functional for years together. In the school 2 teachers had been appointed and a total of 55 children were studying in different classes up to 5^th Standard. The villagers were also silent about both the school and AWC being ignorant of Govt. provisions, rules and regulations, roles and responsibilities of the School and AWC Committee members. There was no school and no scope of MDM for village children. Read More

A workshop has been scheduled for Improving access to information of Public Schemes in BRGF district of India from May 18-20, 2016 in Ahmedabad to discuss the ground issues, achievements, challenges, finance, expected collaboration and sustainability of the project. The workshop aimed at sharing updates on the progress of individual partner in terms of results and how services can be strengthen and reach out to the last mile beneficiaries. The agenda of discussion would be what has been done and the future planning to fill up the gaps.

In the meeting, all 14 partners and their local partners would presented to share their valuable ideas and thoughts to improve the services at the ground.

This is the story of an Indian tribal man and the onset of a thirst for learning in him as a result of the nudge given by the Soochna Seva team. The story revolves around 40-year-old Bharat Singh Bheel (son of Gyan Singh Bheel) who could only study till Grade VIII but had passed with middle class division. Bheel has four children and owns 40 to 50 acres of land. Though his wife is an anganwadi worker, it’s actually him who carries out all the anganwadi duties.

One day, the local Soochna Seva team was hosting a combined meeting of the School Management Council/the Health Council and the Prasphutan Council in Meriyakhedi Khurd, an administrative subdivision of the Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan. Bharat Singh Bheel, who was present at the meeting, commented, “All these councils are just for the namesake. None of the councils are actually working, and whatever monetary funds are granted to them cannot ever be tracked. None of them have any sense of responsibility!”

Adding to Bharat Singh Bheel’s comment, a Soochan Sevak threw a question at the council members, “Are you people aware of your responsibilities? Do you know what power you are vested with?”

Bharat Singh Bheel replied, “Sir, our responsibilities are to monitor the school and to verify — twice or thrice a week — whether the teachers are delivering their responsibilities well or not. We also have the responsibility to ensure that the students are attending classes, whether or not the mid-day meal is being served and to check if there is proper supply of water, among other responsibilities.”

The day after, Bharat Singh Bheel, while monitoring the middle and primary sections, went to the headmaster Beeram Bheel’s office and greeted him in the local dialect, “Ram Ram Shyam Shyam!”

“Sir, I just learnt that I am a member of a council. I was not even aware of that. May I know who the other members of the school management council are?” he asked

The question touched the heart of the headmaster as he himself was a member of this council and was saddened by the fact that other members were not even aware that they belonged to a council. Immediately after, educator Niranjan Meena called Naval Kushwaha, a Soochna Seva team member, and accused him of “instigating the villagers against us” despite the respect they were receiving from the teachers.

The Soochna Sevak politely responded, “We do not wish to instigate anyone, we just aim to create awareness and accelerate the growth of the councils in a positive manner. Is that a crime, sir? Definitely not!” The reply seemed to calm the educator down, and he then revealed that at the time of the constitution of the councils, no one turned up. So, reluctantly, people’s names had to be put in the council without their consent.
On another occasion, the same Soochna Sevak was working on the issue of a ration dealer who had refused to distribute ration to villagers in the absence of relevant documents as the administration had amended the rules (but the villagers were unaware of the same). While Kushwa was busy working on his laptop, Bheel turned up and asked the sevak what he was doing.

“Why don’t you see for yourself and learn? It will prove useful in the long run,” the sevak suggested Bheel who was fascinated by the laptop, giving rise to his newfound thirst for knowledge.

To keep alive Bheel’ fascination and inquisitiveness, the sevak guided him dramatically, “Press this bright shining silver button, and see the magic. Get ready to immerse yourself in the reservoir of knowledge, which is waiting to be discovered by you and for you.”

This is the story of a positive impact, among hundreds of others, that the Soochna Seva Project is making. It has been dedicated towards sowing the ‘seeds of hunger for knowledge’ and, thus, changing the dynamics of our remote Indian villages.

March 10, 2016, marked the last day of the 100-day Jawaabdehi Yatra. Thousands of people participated in the concluding march in Jaipur from the Albert Hall to the Vidhan Sabha, demanding a strong Accountability Law. DEF Founder-Director Osama Manzar, who participated in the Yatra on multiple occasions, was also in the rally. He said, “The Yatra has generated almost 9,000 grievances from people across all strata of lives in the villages, putting tremendous pressure on the government and emphasizing that without an Accountability Law, optimum delivery of entitlements and services to citizens may never be possible.”

Leaders across political parties came to support the rally. General Secretary of the Community Party of India-backed National Federation of Indian Women Annie Raja demanded greater amount of accountability and transparency from the government, and spoke about the crackdown on dissent and freedom of speech and expression in the country. She said people face oppositional attack when they raise uncomfortable but pertinent questions related to farmers, poverty, education, health and youth.

The discussion on the restriction to freedom of expression and speech has been widespread across the nation in the last one month on account of the events that happened in JNU. However, the restriction to freedom of speech was also witnessed by the members of the Yatra as well when they were attacked by goons in Aklera on January 16, 2016. Rajasthan Congress Chief Sachin Pilot condemned the attack on the Yatra and said, “We will work together wherever you need us, not just with the Congress party but with all other parties, and give you full support inside and outside Parliament.” The Jawabdehi Kanoon is a strong mechanism to help the poor who do not get benefits of ration, pension and other welfare schemes despite schemes and polices for the same being in place. Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) Founder Aruna Roy said, that a strong Accountability Law would be a mean to achieve good governance, and the government must pass it.

In the last 100 days, the Yatra collected about 8,500 complaints out of which 2,551 have been uploaded on the Rajasthan Sampark portal, and the rest are in process or disposed (1,554). The achievement of the Yatra can be seen in the fact that the government has already resolved more than 250 registered complaints. Out of the total complaints received, more than 1,500 were addressed to the department of food and civil supplies.

Dungerpur and Udaipur districts, meanwhile, were centres of most complaints with both the locations registering 1,359 and 1,200 complaints, respectively.

In Jaipur, on the last day of the Yatra, MKSS Founder Nikhil Dey said that the demand for a strong accountability law is a demand made by the people of the state. And if their grievances are not addressed or the government does not fulfill their demands, they will return to Jaipur after two months and sit on an indefinite protest. Sawaal Hai! Jawaab Do! Zindabad

Block Development Committees have been formed at each block in order to perform the functions of planning, implementing and monitoring rural development schemes and projects under the Community Development Programmes. The committee constitutes a chairperson, vice chairperson, BDO, CDO including other members of various other departments.

Soochna Seva team chamba block (Tehri Gharwal) regularly attends the BDC meeting every three months and responsible for taking part enthusiastically by bringing up issues/concerns of villagers. This time too, Praveen Uniyal and Sushil Saklani have successfully engaged themselves in the discussion. The meeting witnessed the presence of Gram Pradhan of all the villages, Jila Panchayat Members along with Jyoti Neeraj Kherwal (District Officer, Tehri), Muhhammed Iqbal (Chief Development Officer) and Avinash Bhaduria (Social Welfare Officer). Variety of issues has been conversed in the meeting in turn of which makes it mandatory to the team to have its presence there. Highlights of the discussion were; distribution of nutritious food with health checkups at Aaganwadi Kendras in every month, 3 new pension schemes have been introduced such as pension for folk singers & traditional weavers, new toll free number is going to start by 1st February to disseminate information about schemes/programmes related to department of social welfare, the name of ‘Indira Awas Yojana’ has been changed to ‘Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana’

The Soochna Seva team conducted a community meeting at ‘Surte Ki Dhani’ in Dhanau block of Barmer district on 18th January 2016. Around 70 people participated in the meeting including men and women from nearby villages. The team comprised of Soochna Sevaks Shakti Singh, Ramesh and Hazi Khan; they briefly explained about the schemes to the villagers such as Sukanya Subhalaxmi Yojana, Vidhwa Yojana, Pootri Yojana, BPL cards, etc. They also informed the participants about Palanhar Yojana, Vridha Pension Yojana, Vidhwa Pension Yojana and Viklang Pension Yojana. During discussions the team came across cases in which people did not receive pension under Vidhwa Pension Yojana and also those who have worked under NREGA did not receive money in their account; it was transferred into someone else’s account.

Subsequently, the team found out the lapses and spoke with the bank officials to rectify the mistakes. Also, inauguration of a mobile centre of Soochna Seva was done at Aanganwadi Kendra of ‘Surte ki Dhani’

Based on the stands social organizations often takes they are labeled as anti-govt. However these days this perception has changed and a mutual understanding between the two has developed, though it swings between positivity to negativity as per the situation and conditions. Since the nature of Soochna Seva’s work is in line with Government’s social arm, cooperation between the two is natural and will strengthen each other.

Bearing this in mind, Soochna Seva was looking for mutual grounds where both could complement each other. Mr. Nagendra Chaturvedi of Soochna Seva Guna team had a fruitful meeting with an officer of Social Justice Department who showed interest in teaming up with Soochna Seva. A follow up meeting with HO team further cemented the bounding.

Soochna Seva got its first assignment from the department in the last week of May where in the team was to procure the list of pensioners from the Social Justice department and give insurance cover to these pensioners under PMBSY.

In this regard SSK Chanchoura team went to the Block office to procure the list so that it could start the work. The meeting was quite interesting. As the Soochna Sevak Naval Kushwaha approached the officers at the department, the officers listened and advised – are aap kyun tension lete hain, hum ne sare Rozgar Sahayak ko suchi de rakhi hain vo isi kaam me lage hain.

Often it has come to light that the upper echelons of officialdom are more willing than the lower rings. At village level it is this ring which act as bottle neck be it be Jeetam Singh the rozgar sahayak from Khatkiya or BLO Beeram Singh from Umarthana or be it be Sunita Ahirwar or Mangilal Bhilla.

Kundan Singh Silawat is a resident of Garkheda Panchayat’s Bachi village. Shiri. Kundan Singh’s daughter, Kaushalya was about to get married. But Kundan Singh did not had enough money to undertake the endeavour so he thought of getting assistance from Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan Yojna for this he also discussed it with his relatives and brought them overboard. He approached the concern officials at Budhana Village and noted down the required documents.

Though he had all the information he was still confused as he did not know how to go about. He realized that he should make call to Soochna Sevak Mukesh Yadav. After listening to his problems Soochna Sevak assisted Kundan Singh to make all the documents and submit them to the concern official. Shiri. Kundan Singh feels that Soochna Sevak was crucial in materializing his daughter’s wedding.