Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

2008 Category 3: India
The active involvement of the political leadership, bureaucracy, civil society and the
church in implementing this innovative and novel approach was a distinguishing feature
of this initiative. The Village Councils and the Development Boards played a
supportive role in the new provision of services. The villagers too started making
voluntary contributions in cash, kind and/or labour (social work) for developmental
activities as well as for the creation of productive and long-lasting physical assets.
Members of the village communities were so enthused by the initiative and its success
that they voluntarily participated in:
• Enhancing awareness about the benefits of the communitisation programme;
• Cleaning the school premises and fencing the compound in their free time
and on holidays;
• Conducting tuition classes in the evenings for the poorly performing children;
• Cooking mid-day meals by taking turns;
• Contributing to vocational activities like carpentry, basket making, etc;
• Preparing educational kits and teaching aids;
• Growing fruits and vegetables in the kitchen gardens attached to the
health centres;
• Conducting competitions for the students of all nearby schools; and
• Building awareness about important issues of common concern like HIV/
AIDS, environmental protection, etc.
As a result of the communitisation scheme, covering the areas of health, education
and utilities (electricity), there was a marked improvement in the attendance of teachers
and students (greater than 90%), in enrolment of students (by 50%-500%), in
dropout rates (falling to near 0%) and in performance in examination results (with
near 100% pass rate). There was also better availability of textbooks, of the required
type and in the required quantity. With the growing popularity of the communitised
schools, many private schools closed down, with a significant percentage of their
students shifting to the former.
In Health Centres, the attendance and availability of doctors and health staff improved
significantly (in the range of 90%-100%), unauthorized absence came down
drastically (to near 0%) and medicines of the required type and in the required quantity
became available. The number of patients willing to visit, and be treated at the
communitised village dispensaries, increased by 50%-100%.
As far as the electric power supply was concerned, the Village Electricity Management
Boards (VEMB) undertook repairs and replacement of faulty electricity meters
and took care of the small-time requirements of infrastructure through the 20% rebate
that the Electricity Department was providing them, on billed amounts. This
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