Society for Social Audit, Accountability and Transparency (SSAAT) Department of Rural Development Government of Andhra Pradesh, India
Provides each rural household who registers 100 days of work in a year; All the households who register are entitled to a Job card; Work has to be provided within 15 days of an application for work being filed by the labourers; Failing to provide work within 15 days will lead to payment of Unemployment Allowance; Work is to be provided within a 5 km radius if the labourer has to travel further than 5 km a travel allowance is to be paid; Worksite facilities such as drinking water, shade and crèche is to be provided; Medical compensation and ex-gratia is to be paid in case of an accident or the labourer expiring on the work site;
Tardy Implementation of the MGNREGA Disempowerment of labourers Dilution / Corruption / Leakages Dilutions of rights and entitlements of the labourers Lack of grievance redressal mechanism / social audit
Leakages plugged / corruption reduced Improved service delivery by implementing agency Rights & Entitlements of the labourers protected Strong grievance redressal mechanisms with Social Audits Labourers empowered
Began as a project of the Strategies Performance Innovations Unit (Rural Development) now the Society for Social Audit Accountability & Transparency (SSAAT) AP had no previous Social Audit experience In Feb,2006 -around the time that NREGS-AP was being formulated- a pilot social audit conducted on the NFFW in 3 villages with help of MKSS under reform action plan Pilot social audits demonstrated the effectiveness of social audit process.
DIRECTOR, SSAAT SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST (1) DEPUTY DIRECTORS (2 Members Administration / M&E) STATE TEAM MONITORS (7 Members) NGOs(450) STATE RESOURCE PERSONS (70) DISTRICT RESOURCE PERSONS ( 700) VILLAGE SOCIAL AUDITORS (4-5 Per Gram Panchayat)
Role is to coordinate and facilitate the social audit process in the allotted district Identification and training of Village Social Auditors Providing support to the VSA s during the Social Audit process Ensure that the Social Audit is done in a transparent and accountable manner State Resource Persons 57 => 70 District Resource Persons - 497 => 700 Village Social Auditors (VSA) 80,000
An Annual calendar for Social Audits has been fixed through a GO (#67) Mandal is the administrative unit (Average 21 Gram Panchayats) in which SA is done SA is done in all the Gram Panchayats over a 10 day period Application filed under RTI for relevant records of EGS
SRPs &DRPS go into the villages and identify literate Wage seekers or youth (@2-4 per habitation ) from labourer s families They work as volunteers and are trained as VSAs 40 to 70 people (approximately) are formed into 9-10 teams
Each team does Social Audit in 2-3 gram panchayats Verification of figures on records with facts on ground Musters, Consolidated Musters, Payments Works: Measurements, quantity, quality Awareness building on rights and entitlements of the wage seekers Corrective measures are taken immediately by redistributing Job Cards / Passbooks, facilitating applications for work etc.
Independent and autonomous society (SSAAT) with 0.5% of the MGNREGA budget allocated to it Separation from Implementation Machinery Free of Supervisory and Vigilance Roles Follow up Action also separated - CVO Objective process: evidence based Strict Code of Conduct for SA
Misappropriation identified: Rs. 102,40,31,156 /- Total Amount Recovered : Rs. 22,20,96,323 /- Total # of Staff committed irregularity: 14,850 Total # of Staff dismissed : 3631 Total # of staff suspended : 402 Total # of FIR s filed : 223 Departmental Enquiries ordered: 1455
Government can lead from the front and create space for Community and Civil Society; Social Audit has gained universal acceptance and trust of People, Stake holders, Political Parties, MLAs, PRIs and CBOs because of Government Initiative; Potential for positive action is enormous when Government BELIEVES in it; How ever, Participation of the primary stakeholders is always the key to success of the scheme, for realization of the rights and entitlements of the people;