Score-Card for August and September, 2013

Work so far
Since its inception in May 2013, Seva Setu has fast grown its field work, both in terms of geographic coverage and the depth of service. In a short span of four months, we now cover five villages, viz. Ismailpur, Alipur, Nadima, Ganj and Mushahari (falling under Dhibra and Kurkuri panchayats) in the Phulwarisharif block of Patna district in Bihar. So far, our field work and other related efforts have been primarily focused on Janani Sishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSKK), Janani evam Bal Suraksha Yojana and Saamekit Bal Vikas Yojana. We did our first Aam Sabha on 4th of August, 2013 in Ismailpur village in the Phulwarisharif block of Patna district. Over 130 people 90% women, some with their husbands and children, attended the campaign in which our volunteers and karyakartas educated them on JSSK. Over the last two months, we have made over 40 field visits to Ismailpur and four villages nearby. In over 120 individual interviews and many group interactions with women, (especially pregnant women and nursing mothers) in the area, we have given detailed information on ante-natal/post-natal care and JSSK, JBSY and SBVY schemes to almost 400 women and have collected their grievances and feedback as well. We have developed a tracker which helps us provide reminder services (named Citizen Care) to all these women. This is helping us partially address the issue of lack of adequate and timely information; one of the key issues identified our field level interactions. Parallely, we have been meeting concerned govt. officials and other related NGOs highlighting people's grievances and trying to explore possible solutions in collaboration. On behalf of the affected villagers, we have already submitted 4 grievance letters dealing with four different issues at different level of the district administration. We are following up regularly to ensure timely action. However, we believe that long-lasting solutions can be found only when the community itself starts taking ownership for all these activities. With this belief, we have formed 4 groups, each having 10-15 women, in the area and are helping each group select a leader who can take forward all these activities on their own. Amidst all this work full of complaints and grievances, we occasionally come across success stories where a poor woman from the community has asserted herself and has finally got her rightful due. It is these stories and these potential leaders from the community who give us hope, who give us the will and the energy to continue our endeavor. In our constant endeavor to work as a setu bridging the gap that persists between the haves and have nots in our society, we have already brought 2 such true stories under our programme Meri Kahani Meri Zubaani to public at large by publishing them on social media and by sharing them with the mainstream media as well.

Outcome of our Work

We are happy to share that in these five villages that we are working, the awareness level about JSKK and other schemes has increased significantly. Earlier, almost nobody knew the difference between the two schemes: JBSY and JSSK. Most of the women only knew that about the financial incentive of Rs 1400 for every institutional delivery under JBSY but almost none of them knew about all the free benefits available under JSSK. None of the women were aware of the fact that under JSSK there are free

benefits available for even newborn children till 30 days after delivery. Now, many women of the area are aware of the various benefits being provided under these schemes.

Also, while earlier most of these women used to get checked up only once before delivery (against the
recommended 4 ANC check-ups), now many have started going for their second or third check-up as well. There are many challenges still, especially pertaining to the issue of bribery at the PHC, to be addressed on this front. We are working closely with the concerned PHC on this. Women who used to avoid taking IFA tablets because of certain irrational beliefs have started taking them now. Apart from educating these women about the importance of these tablets, we have also been working in collaboration with the concerned department on finding a systemic solution to the issue of availability of these tablets. Further, with more and more women now participating in our meetings, openly raising their grievances, and demanding things as basic as their MCP (Mother and Child Protection Cards) cards, our efforts seem to be paying off.