Revamping SNP- Delhi Experience

1. Revamping SNP- Delhi Experience Dr. G. Narendra Kumar Secretary ,Social Welfare, Govt of NCT Delhi

2. Context Contractors mobilized by former departmental employees monopolized SNP supply for a considerably long period of time. Complaints about poor quality ,short supply , and irregular supply. Reports of connections between field functionaries and contractors. Internal clique to support the contractors. Contractor�s lobby extending to high political levels.

3. Departmental Setting Department mired in corruption with almost half of the officials caught up in vigilance cases. Hardly any PCS officer or well-meaning official willing to join the department. Unfounded press reports fueled by departmental power centers and factions fighting each other. Interference of courts based on unfounded press reports and quite often to take actions for pinning the blame for past irregularities. No initiative for new work while there are a lot of demands for innovative new work.

4. Implementing Supreme Court Directions Supreme court passes directions on eliminating contractors. Affidavit about alternative arrangements not filed. While those contractors with knowledge of departmental functioning survive and do better in terms of quality supply new contractors supply irregularly on account of blockages in payments.

5. Reconfiguring the SNP System- Objectives Provide freshly prepared supplementary nutrition for ICDS beneficiaries. Involve community ownership in nutrition supply through local SHGs. Create economic opportunities for women. Expand the SHG movement along with the expansion of the ICDS scheme. Using the modern methods of PPPs to strengthen SNP .

6. Reconfiguring the SNP System Committee for revamping the SNP system constituted with external members , including members from FD and NGOs. Arrangement to create/ enhance the capacity of SHGs for supplying cooked food. Each SHG needs to supply food to 12 anganwari centers to be viable. Decreasing the number of anganwari centers to 5 per SHG in order to allow other SHGs to develop and bring about greater bonding with the community. Group cohesiveness, a matter of concern in an urban setting.

7. Reconfiguring the SNP System(2) SHGs members to be local area women. Capacity building of SHGs needed for them to remain cohesive and successful. Quality of SNP supplies a major issue- external monitoring agency. Need to give sufficient time for SHGs to stabilize and to be able to systematically supply SNP.

8. Reconfiguring the SNP System(3) Different menus for children below 2 years and for other beneficiaries. External performance evaluation on an annual basis. One third of the SHGs to be capacitated to supply SNP in 9-months . Arrangement to continue iteratively.

9. Supply Chain Management and Financial Issues Capacity building on SCM to be integral part of capacity building efforts. NPOs allowed to submit proposals for one or more projects. Bank gaurantee to safeguard advance to NPOs. Indicators developed for assessing the success of self-help groups.

10. Keeping the Contractors out NPOs with 3 years experience in women and child development and nutrition . Weightage to those who can provide additional services for the well-being of women and children(womens empowerment, immunization, etc.) Clear mandate to hand over to SHGs in a time-bound manner. No conflict of interest clause.

11. Process 3- Stage Transparent Process Preliminary screening process through advertisement in papers. Detailed proposal submitted by short listed NPOs based on scheme. Further round of inspections and presentations. Selection based on transparent criteria including strength in forming SHGs and experience in providing nutrition.

12. Process Experience 114 organizations applied. 60 short listed in first round. 41 responded with detailed proposal Panel of NPOs drawn up. Contractors in the garb of NPOs also found to have applied. Mix of large and small organizations have proposed to supply SNP through SHGs.

13. Bottomline A workable system for: Achieving supplementary nutrition supply through SHGs using NPOs to: condense time , to do it accountably and bring together modern management practices to SNP supply.

14. Thank You Gnk@asci.org.in

15. The MCD Experience MCD started mid-day meals with 300 odd suppliers. The number of suppliers reduced initially to 72 and then to 11 based on quality considerations. 11 suppliers with automated kitchens to supply mid-day meals to schools. Court cases wrt selection , pointing to the stickiness of NGOs. Can we expect such large suppliers to be SHGs of mothers, in conformity with the Supreme Court Directions?

16. Other Differences with the MCD Supply Attendance at MCD schools taken consistently while the attendance at anganwari centers fluctuating. Both contractors and large NGOs supplying mid-day meals. Even large NGOs to be distinguished from SHGs. Overlap in cooking timings for supply of mid-day meals and supply of supplementary nutrition, necessitating additional infrastructure.