This was the second session conducted as part of the social accountability module. It was facilitated by Mr. Binoy Acharya, Founder and Director of UNNATI – Organisation for Development Education. Mr. Acharya has been working as a researcher and public educator to promote social inclusion and democratic local governance. Over the last three decades, he has been associated with movements, networks, and government forums relating to Dalit rights, gender issues, and decentralized governance.
Mr. Acharya used a slightly different approach to facilitate this session which is the story-telling method. During the session, he shared narratives from his experience in the development sector of engaging with communities and other stakeholders on development programs and schemes.
We are a democracy of 75 years, and we have developed public schemes. ‘Womb to womb’ i.e., the public program is formed to provide services from the time a child is in the womb and even during death, he shared. Public programs are not generated by the government on their own. They are conceptualized, and policies or rules/acts are made when there is a demand. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) share that if programs are delivered effectively with quality and quantity, every poor household can fulfill 50-70% of everyday requirements. Additionally, if development programs are delivered to their full capacity and efficiency, poverty can easily be removed.
After a brief overview of how public programs are formulated, fellows were taken through several public programs and how they can be better implemented. A mechanism needs to be created that can efficiently deal with grievances and redressal, e.g., Jan Suchna Portal by Rajasthan, which covers 140 schemes. Portals like this create space for accountability.
All public programs should follow the practice of disclosure to ensure accountability. In this world of digitization, people should be made aware of how these schemes can be used. The government or CSOs must invest in building the capacities of the citizens and enable them to participate in these schemes and learn ways to make these institutions accountable, he shared. As researchers, we need to learn from communities about how they are availing these schemes, and what kind of experiences they have had. Towards the end, fellows asked several questions from their personal experiences of availing public schemes, evaluation of schemes, and how can the community be approached. Mr. Acharya asked fellows to study the case, scheme, and situation in detail before guiding local communities about anything. He concluded the session by encouraging the fellows to visit the community to learn, not tech, and play their role as active citizens. Every scheme requires oversight, and citizens should play an active role in doing so.