The Future of DFID’s Programme in India

2.5 In spite of tremendous economic growth in India, gender disparities continue to be a major concern. Alongside social patterns of poverty, high levels of disparities in income, literacy, opportunities and discrimination continue to marginalise women. Women from socially excluded communities such as Dalit women face the worst forms of discrimination and exploitation due to their gender and social identity.

2.6 The data available on poverty among various social groups shows that social exclusion reinforces vulnerability and the vicious cycle of poverty. The high concentration of poverty among marginalised and socially excluded communities indicates that poverty in India cannot be eradicated without addressing the structural inequalities of social exclusion. For example, Dalit women, forced to work as manual scavengers [7] because of their caste, cannot come out of poverty without dignified livelihood alternatives.

2.7 The growing influence of the Maoist movement in India reflects growing concern on the failure of governance and the increasing disparity amongst social groups. This growing insecurity is a national security threat and further highlights the need for the Government of India to prioritise strong policy on social exclusion.

2.8 Keeping in view the magnitude and deeper social and structural dimensions of poverty in India, DFID has a strong role to play in working alongside the Government of India and civil society to tackle poverty. Christian Aid sees a very strong argument for continued, targeted UK aid to India, focused on the poorest states and communities, and for robust UK Government engagement with India’s Government about the inequalities that cause and characterise poverty there. DFID should work closely with the Government of India to strengthen the effective delivery of rights and entitlements through continued funding, technical support, skills and knowledge.

3. DFID India’s role in reducing poverty and meeting the MDGs through addressing social exclusion

3.1 Christian Aid strongly commends the ongoing commitment to social exclusion within the DFID India programme. This focus has been made possible by changes within India’s national policy context as well as strong internal commitment within DFID India. The Government of India’s Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) provides the framework within which DFID and other donors work. Concepts of social exclusion are at the core of the plan which includes a chapter on social justice and vulnerable groups [8] .

3.2 A 2006 evaluation of DFID’s programme in India highlighted that DFID India has consistently been ambitious in its efforts to target aid to the poorest. It states "the degree of commitment to poverty reduction, and the emphasis on bringing to bear the themes of gender, inequality and social exclusion in the design of all projects, sets DFID India apart from other donors" [9] . Similarly, an evaluation of DFID’s work on social exclusion highlighted that there is good practice consideration of social exclusion at a programme level in the DFID India programme [10] . This very much echoes Christian Aid’s experience of working with DFID and socially excluded communities in India. DFID should:

· Build upon current good practice to develop more in-depth and nuanced understanding of the structural causes and processes which lead to exclusion.

· Integrate social exclusion into all DFID India programmes, beyond just those of civil society.

· Conduct internal capacity building to build consensus and understanding throughout the DFID India office on social exclusion.

· Ensure the DFID team in India is socially diverse and fully inclusive and representative.

3.3 Gender equality is a cross cutting objective for the DFID India programme and a core part of its social exclusion agenda. DFID should develop greater understanding of the way in which gender discrimination intersects with other forms of discrimination, such as ethnicity and caste to further compound the inequality of access, opportunity and empowerment which leads to multiple discrimination. DFID should further assess the way in which gender and other social exclusion issues such as caste, ethnicity and disability intersect and the impact of this on programme delivery and impact.

3.4 Global trends saw DFID’s spotlight on the MDGs narrow the focus of their gender equality policy to social sectors such as girls’ education and maternal health in the past, with less attention given to gender in areas such as economic opportunities and decision-making [11] . A large majority of current DFID funded projects in India remain focused on social sectors with significant funding given to maternal, neonatal and urban primary health, education and sustainable livelihoods programmes amongst others. DFID should do more to promote women’s involvement in decision-making processes nationally and support all efforts to strengthen the position of locally elected women. In addition, DFID should support new approaches such as sponsoring women in management roles in NGOs, in the private sector and in government.

3.5 DFID’s Social Exclusion Policy Paper ‘Tackling Poverty through Social Exclusion’ (2005) guides its global policy on social exclusion and gives an extremely useful and nuanced understanding of issues around social exclusion. This was developed in response to the growing recognition of the role of social exclusion in undermining poverty initiatives and a growing body of evidence from South Asia. We understand that the policy is currently due to be reviewed and it is important that DFID take forward the key findings of the 2010 Social Exclusion Stock Take Report [12] . This suggests that DFID translate the rhetoric of the policy into reality and continue to mainstream social exclusion into all of its programmes throughout South Asia. Building on this, DFID should develop targeted programmes which address the specific and often differing needs of excluded groups separately, for instance, programmes on caste, or on ethnicity.

3.6 DFID’s programmes such as the International Partnership Agreement Programme (IPAP) and the Poorest Areas Civil Society Programme (PACS) have demonstrated its ability to reach out to millions of poor and socially excluded communities through support to civil society. Although the programmes represent only a small percentage of DFID’s total aid spending in India, they are central to DFID’s work on social exclusion and must continue to be supported.

3.7 PACS was started in 2001 by DFID to support and strengthen civil society to help the poorest and most vulnerable in deprived districts. The first phase that ended in 2008 focused on tackling the general causes of poverty. It reached more than 19,500 villages in 94 remote rural districts and 143 urban settlements, and demonstrated considerable impact on the lives of the poor. Emphasis was placed on increasing awareness of rights and entitlements and helping poor people realise them, for instance, through greater access to government schemes on subsidised food grain for poor households, maternity benefits and support for construction of homes [13] .

3.8 The current phase of PACS covers 120 of the poorest districts across the seven Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jkarkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal with a high proportion of excluded people. It is aimed at reducing the welfare gap between socially excluded groups and the rest of the population and achieving gender equality. The programme is accountable to communities and enables socially excluded groups to identify and assess their own needs, be empowered to take decisions and realise their rights. Christian Aid’s partners alone have monitored more than 500 cases of human rights abuses and caste based discrimination in the first year of the programme and helped thousands of households to realise their rights and entitlements.

3.9 The ongoing IPAP programme between DFID and seven UK INGOs is a five year programme working to improve development outcomes for socially excluded poor people. This programme has helped UK INGOs and local NGOs to successfully scale up proven, effective programmes targeting socially excluded communities. It has created greater cooperation amongst civil society to work on issues of poverty, exclusion and their linkages with gender and disability. It has also helped to strengthen civil society organisations and leadership amongst socially excluded communities.

3.10 Despite the enactment of several government Acts and welfare programmes in recognition of poor communities, such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Forest Rights Act, Right to Education Act, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, many of these are poorly or patchily implemented, resulting in the denial of rights and entitlements for poor and excluded communities. Challenges in delivery are often due to lack of awareness, lack of bargaining power and lack of knowledge and skills at community level to demand services and tackle corruption and the apathy of the administration.

3.11 Civil society is a key stakeholder in reaching out to poor and socially excluded communities. Christian Aid partners such as Ekta Parishad, Astha, the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights and Safai Karamchari Andolan have successfully demonstrated programmes which have significantly impacted upon poverty reduction amongst socially excluded communities. During the 2004 tsunami, DFID India worked with civil society groups to respond to the needs of socially excluded groups through their disaster relief programmes. This led to the development of tools such as the ‘Social Equity Audit’ to track social exclusion in times of disasters. Experience has continued to show that local NGOs, due to their rootedness in or close proximity to communities, are able to deliver aid more quickly and to address exclusion, ensuring that aid reaches those most vulnerable during disasters. DFID should provide funding during emergency response for local NGOs with a strong track record of tackling exclusion. DFID should significantly increase investment in civil society initiatives in India more broadly.

4. DFID’s role in addressing the impacts of climate change on the poorest in India to meet the MDGs

4.1 Climate change is an important part of the UK government’s aid programme in India [14] and is managed by a DFID-FCO climate change and energy unit. Despite the existence of this cross-governmental unit, there is little public information on both the FCO and DFID websites outlining the full extent of its work. DFID should promote greater transparency on this work.

4.2 Climate change is changing the nature of disasters in India. India is said to be the world’s second most disaster-prone country with the majority of its districts vulnerable to natural disasters such as floods, droughts, cyclones, landslides, avalanches, hail or dust-storms. According to Planning Commission statistics, more than two thirds, or about 68% of the country is vulnerable to drought, 8% to cyclones and 12% to floods [15] . Moreover, close to 52% of the Indian population, almost 608 million people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods the majority of them are based in rural areas [16] . Rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns, increased water scarcity [17] , and increased frequency of heavy rains, floods and droughts will therefore have very serious impacts on agricultural yields, some of which are already visible.

4.3 For poor people, the impact of climate change exacerbates existing social and environmental problems. Socially excluded groups are particularly vulnerable and will continue to feel the greatest impact of climate change. Climate change can hamper India from achieving its national development goals and the MDGs, including those on poverty eradication, education, child mortality, diseases like malaria and environmental sustainability. DFID should ensure all climate change and DRR programmes focus on vulnerable and socially excluded groups.

4.4 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and climate change strategies in India need to be a far more integral part of the Government’s broader development framework, with adequate budgeting for initiatives which address socio-economic inequalities. The government of India has responded to this imperative by including, for the first time, a section on climate change in its national development plan [18] and articulating the adverse impacts of climate change on India’s poorest people, especially women, in its National Action Plan on Climate Change. DFID and other donors have an important role to play in supporting the operation of national plans and policies in India. DFID should assist in developing detailed vulnerability assessment mapping to advise policy decisions and planning. DFID should ensure that climate change adaptation perspectives are consistently integrated into existing programmes.

4.5 The ongoing ‘Strengthening Climate Resilience’ (SCR) project is a DFID funded programme that aims to enhance the ability of governments and civil-society organisations to tackle changing disaster risks, enhance adaptive capacity, address poverty, vulnerability and their structural causes and promote environmentally sustainable development across South Asia, South East Asia and East Africa. DFID should ensure that learning from this project informs all programme work in India and should ensure the provision of ongoing funding for the project.

4.6 Many states in India are in the process of drawing up state level climate action plans. It is important that these plans are ambitious, inclusive and just. However, evidence from some state plan highlights a strong perception that GDP and low carbon development are not compatible. DFID has an important role to play in showcasing that programmes with people’s participation which link energy and energy access to growth and development are feasible and can lead to sustainable development.

4.7 While there is a general acknowledgement that energy infrastructure and access is one of the key drivers for economic growth and poverty alleviation, there is much to be done in a country like India where over 45% of the population does not have access to modern energy needs. UK support is needed to meet the initial investment costs for decentralised renewable energy systems in rural areas , including incremental costs of clean energy systems . DFID should support interventions which link clean energy access with poverty alleviation and other MDGs and help funnel funding to holistic and inclusive sustainable development, particularly in rural areas.

5. DFID's ability to act as a catalyst for other donors, to demonstrate best practice and influence wider development outcomes in India

5.1 Evaluations of DFID’s programme in India have highlighted the key role that DFID has played in influencing other donors. For instance, by providing grant funds to partners such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, DFID has worked to influence their programme design and implementation; with a view to securing better targeting of beneficiaries [19] . DFID should take this further by sharing their knowledge and experience of social exclusion to help to mainstream the social exclusion agenda across multilateral programmes. DFID should promote greater diversity and inclusive responses in all development programmes, a key example could be to encourage other donors to use the Social Equity Audit framework to ensure programmes are socially inclusive.