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Social Audit Campaign in Bihar Towards Transparency and Accountability Subhendra Nath Sanyal

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General Practice Officials conducted Social Audits by making a day long visit to a GP and verified documents in front of the villagers Part of regular monitoring process CSO(other party) involvement absent Limited discussions on gaps or issues Limited community (Gram Sabha) involvement Findings uploaded in MIS

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Initiation of Pilots Government of Bihar identified leading CSOs who were facilitating social audit in the state. Government of Bihar in joint collaboration with PACS initiated pilots in 40 GPs in 2014 Facilitators were assigned from local CSOs Social Audit conducted were as per Audit of Scheme Rules 2011 which proved to be participative and effective Action were taken on major findings of the report However, more systems response was required in providing documents on time and taking action on gaps /issues found in the reports

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Initiation of Social Audit Campaign With the concerted effort of MoRD,GoI ; RDD, GoB and NIRD Social Audit in 200 GPs of all 38 districts of Bihar was planned Support of CSOs having experience and zeal of working in the state was taken Five GPs from each districts were selected The criteria of GP selection being- Two highest spending, two lowest spending and one random

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Steps followed Meeting with CSOs to finalise the approach and calendar Formation of State Resource Group to take the process forward Identification of District Resource Persons (DRP), one DRP per district from CSOs Orientation at state level for DDCs, BDOs, POs Training of DRPs by NIRD Formation of Social Audit committee at district level CSO and Administration side representation ensured

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Social Audit Team Gram Sabha held at every GP to select local Social Audit Team to help Village Resource Persons Each team had 1 DRP + 2 VRPs + 2 Sahyogi (identified by VRPs locally from CSOs) to support. From each GP 5-7 local youths were identified by Gram Sabha In Each phase two GPs were audited simultaneously

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Training and Preparation 200 Village Resource Persons were identified by DRPs and validated by district committee VRPs trained at four centers by NIRD which included two days field exposure District level workshops held for PRIs, MGNREGA functionaries to discuss their role and calendar All documents of 2013-14 and 2014-15 of MGNREGA scheme were ensured Observers notified by district for each GP hearing Observers assigned were of SDC or above rank officer

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Social Audit Process First day: Settling down in GP Second day: Gram Sabha to orient villagers and select social audit team and Nazri Naksha prepared for identifying MNREGA Assets Third to Sixth day : Door to Door oral verification, Physical verification and document verification Seventh day :Report preparation Eighth Day: Gram Sabha cum GP level hearing in presence of observers

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Social Audit Process.. contd Compilation of reports by Social Audit Team DRPs handed over the report to DPC within 48 hrs of Gram Sabha District level Hearings organised to take actions on the reported gaps and issues

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Trends in Social Audit Report Possession of Job cards/passbook not with workers Gram Sabha not held for selection of works Delayed payment (most of it due to lack of funds ) Fake name in muster roll Payment to fake workers (dead workers) Poor quality of works No work in ground Lack of worksite facilities Schemes not provided to weaker sections MGNREGA has not delivered to its potentials

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Significant Achievements Government partnered with CSOs to conduct social audit 225 Resource persons identified and trained Process, protocols and formats field tested Enhanced support from District administration and took ownership of processes Participative and effective Gram Sabhas Issues identified and actions taken Environment for social audit created Political and bureaucratic will established Recording of each step done to create a documentary film for knowledge repository

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Challenges faced Availability of complete documents to teams by District Admin(The process had to be stopped in E. Champaran district due to non availability of documents) Absence of notified observers and panelists in GP & district levels Non- notification of panel members by the District Administration Security of SA teams ( Threats and attack on SA teams in Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj & Bhagalpur Effective and timely use of IEC for awareness generation Timely payment to DRPs/VRPs/Sahyogi Monitoring by officials

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Way Ahead Scaling up of this process to 1000 GPs to strength the process further Setting up of an independent Social audit unit Complete recruitments Ensure Participation of CSOs even after SAU set up Coordinating with CAG for collaborative efforts

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Our Sincere Thanks to MORD for guiding and supporting NIRD for training and handholding through consultants SSAT for sending volunteers to support CSOs for taking leads in spite of all the hurdles DRPs and VRPs for their dedicated work Panchayats and MNREGA functionaries for their support Department of RD for taking up initiative

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The Launch

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Trainings

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Planning at District level

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The Field Processes

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Field validation and Report Preparation

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Social Audit Gram Sabha

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Media Coverage

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Thanking You