Knowledge and research programme on improving efficiency of pro-poor public services: India National Report

The project focused largely on access to information and identifying ways to improve the effectiveness of delivery of public services to the poor and vulnerable, looking at opportuities for ICT to strengthen those mechanisms. OWSA, as implementer of the India chapter of this action research, selected the health sector and within that, zeroed in on maternal and child health care for an ICT based intervention to improve the quality, transparency and effectiveness of services in this area. A major outcome of the project was increased utilisation of hospital facilities to enhance their outreach to the community. The research as also shown how people's participation in the design and develpoment of programmes meant for them, can be more effective than those that follow a top down approach.