Community Based Monitoring System for Access to Basic Minimum Services, Kerala D Narayana Slim Haddad Smitha Aravind Katia Mohindra Paper to be presented at the PEP-CBMS conference in Dakar, June 16-20, 2004. Community Based Monitoring System for Access to Basic Minimum Services, Kerala 1. Introduction The paper presents a brief outline of the approach and results arrived so far of the CBMS in Kerala, India. The organization of the paper is as follows. It begins by presenting the attempt at democratic decentralization in India over the last ten years- the constitutional amendment, the structure of governance, and the mandate of the local governments. The problems faced by the local governments in fulfilling the mandate of data based planning and monitoring is explained followed by the presentation of the salient aspects of the project, Community Based Monitoring System for Access to Basic Minimum Services, Kerala. The attempt at building a database at the local level and the three track approach of the CBMS in Kerala is, then discussed in some detail. 2. The 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution of India, which became law in April 1993, provided the foundation for a comparable democratic decentralization in the rural and urban areas respectively across the states of India. The Amendments made it mandatory for each state to constitute Local Self-Government Institutions (called Panchayats in rural areas) at the village, intermediate and district levels (except for states with less than two million population). The three-tier structure of governance in India following the formation of Panchayats and Municipalities is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. Implications of Panchayati Raj/ Municipalities as the Third Tier of Governance in India's Federal Structure UNION | ' |--------------------------------------- STATE ------------------------------------| | |------------- ------|------ --------------| | | PANCHAYATI RAJ MUNICIPALITY | | | | | | 3. Zilla Panchayat Municipal Corporation | | | | | | 2. Block Panchayat Municipal Council | | | | | | 1. Gram Panchayat Nagar Panchayat | | | | | | GRAM SABHA WARD MEETINGS | | | | | '|-----------------------Autonomous Councils for Tribal Areas-------------------| Source: Figure 2, Mathew, G and Mathew, A (2003) The Amendments mark a transformation in the system of governance in India being a shift from a two-tier to a three-tier system of governance. The 73rd Amendment defined Gram Sabha or village assembly as a body of community of persons registered in the electoral rolls within a village or group of villages marking a clear shift from representative democracy to participatory democracy. The Gram Sabha has been mandated to approve all plans and programs for social and economic development, audit the Panchayat accounts, and to select beneficiaries for all types of programs. 3. The Amendments made a number of things mandatory. Persons chosen by direct election shall fill all the seats in a Panchayat. Seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). Not less than one-third of the total number of seats to be filled in by direct election in every Panchayat shall be reserved for women. The offices of chairperson in the Panchayat shall be reserved for SC, ST and women. The duration of every Panchayat shall be five years. The legislature of a State shall endow Panchayats with such powers, as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government, with respect to The preparation of plans for economic development and social justice; and The implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice. Naturally, the question arises as to who have to prepare plans and who have to monitor implementation of the plans. In Kerala, this question was answered by forming what are called Working Groups (earlier they were called Task Forces). The Working Groups play an important role in decentralized planning. They develop the ideas discussed in the Gram Sabha into projects/ schemes, monitor their implementation, and see to their proper completion. 4. India has one of the most elaborate statistical systems in the world. Production, trade and population data are collected regularly and are made available in usable form. The country also has a system of regular surveys on a number of aspects of social and economic development, for example, employment, health, consumption etc. But most of these are available at the national, or state level of aggregation. Arriving at district level estimates of some of these indicators is problematic. Hardly any of these estimates are available at levels below the district (districts are large in Kerala- 30 million population distributed in 14 districts). Decentralized governance and planning for local development calls for an exhaustive database at the local level. Unfortunately, the Gram Panchayats in Kerala even now have only a building register, which was their staple, as building tax was the main source of Panchayat revenue in the erstwhile system (before 73rd amendment) and the line departments continue to collect information on a number of aspects of socio-economic life of the population. There is considerable duplication and compartmentalization in the activities of the departments and the information, though often collected with the active cooperation of the Panchayat, is not collated and made available to the Panchayats. 4. Community Based Monitoring System for Access to Basic Minimum Services (CBMS) The CBMS being implemented in Kottathara Panchayat, in Wayanad district in Kerala, seeks to provide the Gram Panchayat and local communities with a participative and evidence-based information system on access to Basic Minimum Services for needs- based policy formulation and monitoring. It will help contribute to the reduction of inequalities in health and access to basic minimum services by providing disaggregated information on levels and distributions of health and access to health care and other services for different sections of the population. The CBMS will involve systematic and regular gathering of baseline information at the community level, with a particular emphasis on vulnerable households. The expected outcomes of the project are: General - A disaggregated community based monitoring system for access to Basic Minimum Services. - Carefully validated indicators, tools, and methodologies for planning and monitoring differential access to Basic Minimum Services. Gram Panchayat - Set of relevant information and available longitudinal measures through population- based information systems. - Increased knowledge of characteristics of vulnerable populations with special emphasis on the poor, women and tribes. - Improved evidence-based planning and skills. - Feedback on implemented programs. Community - Less exclusion from Basic Minimum Services, better access to quality care, and lower inequalities in access to services. - Increased participation and empowerment of deprived groups, and community based organisations. 5.What distinguishes our CBMS? i.Partnership Development The first step in partnership development was to constitute a steering committee for the project. It was constituted with representatives from the state government, district government, local government, local NGO, director of CDS and selected members of the research team. The idea was to get broad based suggestions and also present results for wider dissemination. As the steering committee would meet only twice a year, it was thought necessary to have a local coordination committee (LCC). The initial consultation involved in constituting the LCC was fairly long drawn and laborious. While the Steering Committee recommended the constitution of the LCC in its meeting of October 2002, the LCC could only be set up by March 2003. But the broad based consultations resulted in the constitution of a balanced committee representing the various active groups and institutions in the Panchayat. It was gender balanced with five women and three men; it represented the two networks of women’s groups proportional to their strength; the elected Panchayat President and the Secretary represented the local government; the Medical Officer represented the PHC. It took a few meetings for the committee to come to grips with its mandate. By July 2003, the LCC had evolved certain healthy conventions for its effective functioning: it was meeting every month; it was taking up both external and internal issues affecting the project; it was discussing in detail the activities- completed and proposed- of the project and coming up with valuable suggestions. The LCC has very quickly evolved into a forum where the project team places all issues and the stakeholders convey their considered views. The LCC discusses all the issues in detail and makes suggestions and offers advice. A better model of local participation could not, probably, be found. ii. Approach The functions of Panchayats in the Indian context are intended to go much beyond the conventional civic functions. They could be grouped under three heads as follows: Group I: Conventional Civic Functions Maintenance of roads, buildings etc. Sanitation, maintenance of public wells, and sources of water. Lighting of village streets. Prevention of contagious diseases. General administration and public assistance. Group II: Provision of Public Services Provision of public services such as health, education, and Support services related to agriculture and industry. Group III: Planning and Implementation Preparation