1. A Scheme for the Empowerment of Adolescent Girls in West Bengal, India
Kanyashree Prakalpa
A Scheme for the Empowerment of Adolescent Girls in West Bengal, India
Kazi Nafisa Islam
Purba Barasat Adarsha Bidyapith, Barasat, North 24 Parganas West Bengal
Smt. Roshni Sen, IAS
Secretary to the Government of West Bengal
Dept. of Child Development, Woman Development & Social Welfare

2. Child Marriage In West Bengal
(DLHS-3, 07-08)
5th highest prevalence
54.7% (women aged years are married before the completion of 18)
Gendered practice – significantly more girls than boys affected
Also prevalent in urban areas
Negative Impact of child marriage
Poor retention of girls in education
Early pregnancies, maternal and child ill-health and mortality, life-long health implications
Child marriages are a conduit for trafficking
Girls are susceptible to poverty, exploitation and trafficking because of low education
Affects not only young girls, but families, community and society
Perpetuates generational cycles of disempowerment
Contributes to feminization of poverty
NFHS III ( ), 7% pregnant by 15 years
15 % are pregnant by the age of 16
almost 49.3% of teenagers are pregnant by 19 years of age.
DLHS 4 ( )
32.1% (of girls aged 18 years currently getting married before 18 years)

3. The State of West Bengal seeks to change this disabling context through Kanyashree Prakalpa, a conditional cash transfer scheme Announced by Chief Minister on 8th March, 2013 And launched on 1st October 2013
Priya Karmakar,
Purba Barasat Adarsha Bidyapith, Barasat, North 24 Parganas
West Bengal

4. Analytical study takes into account
Little perceptible outcome of legal enforcement and anti-child marriage campaigns
Effectiveness of CCT schemes in creating social safety net and in negotiating behavior change
Rationale for promoting education as a strategy:
Reduces probability of child marriage (UNFPA) and increases employability (World Bank)
Analysis of shortcomings in existing CCT schemes for children in India
Multiplicity of milestones, eligibility criteria and benefits over a protracted period of time
Operational challenges, e.g.
Difficulties in identifying beneficiaries,
Poor management and communication between implementing departments,
An unclear understanding of the scheme’s purposes at field levels,
Delayed transfer of payments to beneficiaries, and an
Absence of grievance mechanisms and feedback loops to inform the process.
No evaluative processes

5. Design Components & Strategy
Conditional Cash Transfer
Component 1 : Annual scholarship of INR 500 to unmarried girls aged years enrolled in Grades VIII-XII or equivalent
Component 2 : One-time grant of INR 25,000 to unmarried girls aged 18 years pursuing education, vocational / technical training / sports
Banking: Zero-balance bank accounts in girls names, simplified opening procedures, direct transfer of funds
Discourages child marriage
Incentivizes education
Ensures Financial inclusion
Promotes social power and self esteem of girls
Innovative Communication strategy
Applicable for girls whose family income of not more than INR. 120,000 per annum.)
No family income bar for girls with special needs / who have lost both parents / residing in J.J. homes
Certification by local authorities

6. Efficient Service Delivery Mechanisms
Designed for accessibility & speed
One-window service delivery
Application forms available in schools, enrollment and bank account opening facilitated by schools
Application, scrutiny and sanctioning through e-portal
reduces paperwork and increases the response time at each node of the process
Scrutiny of eligibility criteria
Monthly random-sample scrutiny
Unique ID for each beneficiary
Renewals annual scholarships and for the one-time grant at age 18 will be facilitated through the beneficiary’s data already available on the portal.

7. Targeted communication strategy
Documented communication strategy with components of public advocacy and behavior change methods
Awareness through
Schools & other institutions
Mass media & celebrity endorsement, and traditional formats such as melas, street theatre
Kanyashree Day at state, district and block levels, with girls achievers being felicitated
Kanyashree movement through
events, poetry writing competitions etc
Kanayshree clubs
methods that attract young girls such as specially designed bangles, ID cards,
a pledge
Publicized by various government departments
ASHA newsletters (Dept of Health & Family Welfare)
At libraries of Dept of Mass Education
Advertisements of Consumer Affairs Dept -

8. Celebrity endorsement

9. Convergent Development & Implementation
Government,
banking sector & social sector
Department of Woman Development and Social Welfare
Nodal department
Department of Finance, Departments of School Education, Higher Education and Technical Education and Training, Minority Affairs & Madrasah Education
Key partner departments
Department of Mass Education Extension and Library Services, Panchayat and Rural Development, Municipal Affairs, , Department of Health and Family Welfare, Information and Cultural Affairs, Sports & Youth Services
Promoting and supporting the scheme in their own domains
Banking sector
Opening of zero-balance accounts and disbursement of funds
NIC West Bengal
E-governance
UNICEF Office for West Bengal
Technical support
Private sectors
JWT India, Nielson India P. Ltd, distribution of bicycles to beneficiaries
NGOs at the grassroots
Encouraging enrollments, developing Kanyashree clubs etc

10. Management & Monitoring Structures
State
District
Block &
grass-roots
State Project Management Unit
Steering and Monitoring Committee chaired by Hon’ble Finance Minister
District Level Project Management Units
Steering and Monitoring Committees chaired by DMs
Block level units
Schools & other educational institutions
Steering and Monitoring Committees chaired by BDOs
Schools & other educational institutions
Continual communication through video conferences, feedback based on analysis of MIS data
Responsive action on grievances in application form distribution, enrollment and remittances through interaction of ground level field implementers and beneficiaries.
State, district and block and district level officials monitor the performance of schemes, and continually refine processes to work around area-specific challenges

11. One Window online Management Portal
The entire scheme is enabled through a dedicated online portal
Enrollment
Scrutiny
Sanctioning of applications
Serves as a real-time reporting system
Ensures transparency, efficiency and zero leakage
Has a feedback mechanism

12. Capacity building
All significant stakeholders – district and block level officials and school personnel provided training
Teachers
BDOs, BIOs, DIOs
Elected reps
SI / DI of schools
Data managers, etc
Pool of 89 master trainers created
Refresher trainings will continue as the scheme’s implementation is being streamlined.
All implementing stakeholders follow the Scheme’s Implementation Guidelines Version 1.0, with a second version being currently drafted.

13. Sustainability Low administrative cost – high impact
Administrative and publicity budget : Rs. 67 crores, approx. 10% of the estimated Rs. 600 crores disbursement to beneficiaries.
GoWB views expenditure incurred as an investment in the education of adolescent girls.
Flagship scheme of the government, and is entirely state-government funded
Rs. 700 crores earmarked by West Bengal government despite financial crunch
Political ownership, leadership and commitment from the top, and huge response from the bottom-up has made the scheme vibrant and sustainable

14. Replicable in its entirety
Single point of service-delivery: schools & other educational institutions – where target recipient is enrolled
Implemented & monitored through existing government machinery
End-to-end IT enabled
Has a comprehensive implementation guidelines and a documented communication strategy which can be periodically updated

15. No. of Beneficiaries ( 2013-2014)
Over 19.8 lakh applications received
Over lakh applications sanctioned
118% of target applications received
92.4 % applications sanctioned

16. Impact Assessment
A baseline survey is being undertaken with the support of UNICEF
Key result areas being monitored are Education indicators
Marriage indicators
Implementation indicators
Report due in December, 2014
Midline study to be held 3 years after baseline study
Acknowledged as a ‘good practice’
Girl Summit 2014
(Department for International Development, UK and UNICEF in London. )
Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ Scheme
Ministry of Women and Child Development, India

17. Rapid Assessment (UNICEF, Sept 2014)
School attendance rate has improved from 72% in to 75% in
Child marriage numbers have declined from 73 identified cases in to 54 cases in
Financial inclusion
Approximately 10,286 new bank accounts were opened for the beneficiaries of the scheme by the school authorities.

18. Rapid Assessment (UNICEF, Sept 2014)
Some receipients of the one-time grant:
North 24 Parganas (Nabapally Jogendranath Balika Bidyamandir (Barasat- I)
Monami Chakraborty - Class XII
Champa Gayen Class XI
Sonali Das, ex-student, now in college
Daughter of truck driver, was looking for a loan so that she could study medicine.
Works as a domestic help while educating herself. Used some of the money to buy a bag, and pay her tuition fees
Family was pressurizing her to give up studying after Class XII. Now in college in Bengali Honours, wants to do her B. Ed

19. Way Forward
Key strength: Dynamism
Current areas of development
E-Portal being integrated with CPFMS for better financial management & effective fund-flow
Digital Certificates, USB e-Tokens and SSL Certificates for greater quality assurance and accountability
Strengthening grievance mechanisms
Reservation of seats for vocational training, priority in polytechnic girls’ hostels & reduction of fees for admissions and counselling
Linkages with stakeholders such as CSR
Core design simple - lends itself to vertical and horizontal growth
Focus on continuous improvement for efficiency and accountability

20. Rimpi Debnath
Purba Barasat Adarsha Bidyapith, Barasat, North 24 Parganas
West Bengal
“Our child now has a foundation – we have hope that she can stand on her own feet”
Voices of parents
Rapid Assessment, (UNICEF 2014)
Several years of sustained implementation are expected to bring about a discernable change in the status of the state’s girls and women.