LOKSATTA: GUJARAT CHAPTER

The Gujarat chapter of Lok Satta is currently working on two important projects:

1. Improvement in governance of Urban Health Centers (UHC) in Ahmedabad City

Under the Phase l of the Project, they have completed a survey of about 700 households, most of them from slum/low income group areas, located in four wards of the city. From service supply perspective, they would be surveying UHC’s located in 8 out of the total 43 wards of the city. This exercise has been undertaken in collaboration with volunteers of SAATH, a prominent NGO of Gujarat, who conducted the demand side survey of households, students of Nirma Management Institute who conducted supply side survey and Lok Satta Gujarat volunteers.

The analysis of the data from both the surveys along with proper understanding of the entire chain of the Central Government scheme of UHC will result in an unbiased report on ‘Gaps in Governance of the UHC’s’. The Report will also cover recommendations to bridge the Gaps. Phase 1 is scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2006. Phase ll & lll of the Project (subject to approval from the Core-Team) will comprise sharing of the Report with concerned Stakeholders, facilitation of formation of local community groups to work out a ‘Road Map’ to bridge the Gaps, and monitoring & implementation of the Road Map. Sharing experiences of the work accomplished with other wards, NGO’s, Ahmedabad Municipal Corp., State Government etc. will also be an integral part of the Phase lll.

2. Right to Information Act-2005 - Building Awareness & Capacity to use amongst the Common Citizens

A team at Gujarat is currently working on a strategic plan and allied activities to achieve the project objectives. Some of the activities that have already been completed are

- An interactive Panel Discussion on RTI was organized last November at AMA.

- Discussions with the concerned State officials, NGO’s such as SEWA & SAATH, and media have been held to explore ways to work together.

- Gujarat Volunteers attended a seminar on RTI organised by Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPIPA) and obtained training material in English/Gujarati.

- One volunteer attended the ‘Trainers’ Training Program’ conducted by YASHADA & Centre for Good Governance at Pune. He is now qualified to train State Government officials and others.

- SEWA has agreed to work with Lok Satta Gujarat to achieve RTI objectives across their members in the state. To start with, a training session was organised by SEWA for their key members of Mehsana district. Lok Satta volunteers conducted this. The trained members will now train SEWA members in other districts.