41507 Note No. 3 · August 2007 OCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY SERIES S O U T H A S I A S U S TA I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T D E PA RT M E N T Social accountability refers to a broad range of actions and mechanisms that citizens, communities, independent media, and civil society organizations use to hold public officials and public servants accountable. Social accountability tools include participatory budgeting, public expenditure tracking, citizen report cards, community score cards, social audits, citizen charters, people's estimates, and so forth. These mechanisms are being increasingly recognized world-wide as a means of enhancing democratic governance, improving service delivery, and empowering the poor. Case Study 3 Rajasthan, India: An Assessment of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Chittorgarh District BACKGROUND of Rajasthan provided mid-day meals to approximately 10.2 million children enrolled in 75,000 primary schools in Food insecurity poses a threat to the health, education, and Rajasthan.3 Initially, students were distributed boiled wheat sup- overall development of children and is of critical concern to plemented with groundnut and jaggery (Gur). Since April 2005, governments in developing countries. Governments have cooked meals according to a menu based on children's prefer- addressed this fundamental problem by implementing school ences and local availability of raw materials, and decided by a meal programs that provide children with at least one nutrition- district level committee, have been given to students. ally adequate meal a day.These programs are known to lead to higher attention spans, better concentration, and improved class Under this scheme the central government provides 100 performance. School meal programs also provide parents with a grams food grain4 (wheat or rice) per child per school day, free strong incentive to send children to school, thereby encouraging enrollment and reducing absenteeism and dropout rates. School meal programs support health, nutrition, and education goals The current initiative was one of six pilot projects launched by the South Asia Sustainable Development Department (SASSD) of the World Bank and consequently have a multi-pronged impact on a nation's aimed at the application of specific social accountability tools in different overall social and economic development. contexts of service delivery through the Trust Fund for "Capacity Building and Piloting of Social Accountability Initiatives for Community Driven Development The Mid-Day Meal Scheme. The National Program of Nutri- in South Asia." This note summarizes the findings, processes, concerns, and lessons learned from the Rajasthan pilot. tional Support to Primary Education, commonly known as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS), was launched in India in 1.A primary school covers Classes I toV. August 1995.The MDMS covers all students in primary 2.All schools run by urban and rural local bodies are also included in the schools1 run or funded by the government2 throughout the MDMS. country.While initially the MDMS provided 3 kilograms of 3. http://pib.nic.in/archieve/others/2006/may2006/upa_gov_20060521/ Rajasthan.pdf. food grain per student per month, on November 28 2001, India's apex court, the Supreme Court, directed all state govern- 4.The MDMS is supposed to provide a minimum of 300 calories and 8­12 grams of protein per child per school day, for a minimum of 200 days ments to provide cooked mid-day meals instead of raw food annually in regions where cooked meals are provided, and 3 kilograms per grains.The State of Rajasthan began implementing the MDMS student per month, for 9-11 months in a year, in regions where food grain throughout the state in July 2002. In 2005-06 the Government is distributed. of charge, and Rs. 1.005 per student per day toward cooking Figure 1: Flow of Money and Food Grains conversion costs.The state government also contributes Rs. 1.00 per student per day toward cooking conversion charges. Flow of Money The infrastructure for the MDMS is supposed to be devel- (Conversion Costs) Flow of Food Grains oped by the state government from funds available under other schemes. Government of India Government of India (Food Corporation of India) The MDMS is also being used to support administration of Government of Rajasthan six monthly doses of de-worming medication andVitamin A supplementation, weekly doses of iron and folic acid supple- State Food Corporation of ments, and other micronutrients depending on common defi- State Nodel Agency India (FCI)Warehouse (Panchayati Raj Department) ciencies found in the local area. Food Grain Supply Chain. The Panchayati Raj Department, Zilla Parishad after collecting information from the districts, sends the state's Government of India requirement of food grains (including an estimate for the anticipated enrollment for the next academic session) to the Panchayat Samiti Food Ministry of the Government of India by January 31 of each year.The Food Ministry then conveys the district wise Panchayat Nodal School allocations of food grains to the Panchayati Raj Department Government of India and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) by February 28.The Panchayati Raj Department further conveys the district wise Primary School allocations to the Zilla Parishads, who in turn sub-allocate food grains to each school in their district and inform the FCI.The allocated food grains are then lifted from the FCI warehouses by contracted transport agencies and delivered to delivery. In addition to the committees described above, a schools as per the monthly allocation schedule.The flow of School Management and Development Committee (SMDC) money and food grains is depicted in Figure 1. is responsible for overall management of school activities, including MDMS. Accountability Context. In Rajasthan, the Panchayati Raj Department is responsible for the overall implementation of The CUTS Center for Consumer Action, Research & Train- the MDMS.At the state level, the Mid-Day Meal Commis- ing (CART) undertook a pilot project to evaluate implemen- sioner6 monitors and supervises implementation of the tation of the MDMS in 211 schools in the Chittorgarh scheme.At the district level, the Zilla Parishad7 implements District of Rajasthan.The pilot was also expected to develop the MDMS.At the district level, the MME (Management, and test a methodology that could provide regular user feed- Monitoring and Evaluation) Committee oversees implementa- back to service providers which would be useful in better tion of the MDMS.A village-level MME committee, formed implementation of the MDMS in the State.A total of 2,110 by the Gram Panchayat, comprising of a male and female ward students, 2,110 parents, 422 teachers and 211 cooks were member, a school headmaster, two representatives from par- ents, the local auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM),8 and the secre- tary of the Gram Sabha, is responsible for monitoring and 5.This share was Rs 0.50 earlier but was increased to Rs. 1.00 from the FinancialYear 2006-07. supervising implementation of the MDMS in the village.The meal is supposed to be prepared and served in the presence of 6.The office of the Mid-Day Meal Commissioner was established in November 2005. at least three members of the committee.A monthly target- based approach is predominantly used to measure the impact 7. India has adopted a three-tier model of democratic decentralization, with the Gram Panchayat at the village level, the Panchayat Samiti or Block of the MDMS with quantitative indicators such as quantity of Panchayat at the block level, and the Zilla Parishad at the district level. food grains lifted from the warehouses, quantity delivered to 8.The ANM is a female health worker who is attached to the Primary schools, attendance, increase in enrollment, and so forth.There Health Center or Sub-Center and visits villages in connection with health is an absence of indicators to measure the quality of service outreach programs. 2 The Participatory ExpenditureTracking Survey is a The Citizen Report Card is a commonly used tool for quantitative exercise that traces the flow of resources participatory impact evaluation.The CRC is a survey from the origin to the destination and determines the instrument that taps information on users' awareness, location and magnitude of any leakages in service access to, and satisfaction with publicly provided serv- delivery. PETS not only highlights the use and misuse ices. It contains information about the key constraints of public money, but also gives insight into cost effi- the poor face in assessing public services, their views ciency, decentralization, consumer perceptions, and about the quality of services, and their experiences in accountability issues. interacting with public officials. interviewed during the pilot study. CART also tracked the information. Separate questionnaires specially designed for the release of funds and food grains across four tiers, i.e. state, dis- survey covering all aspects of the MDMS were used to gather trict, block and village levels, to assess timeliness and efficiency both quantitative and qualitative data through detailed semi- of the MDMS. structured interviews. Data Collection & Analysis. After the schools were selected, PROCESS visits to all selected schools were conducted to observe meal preparation and distribution.Two teachers (the headmaster and Methodology. The pilot study broadly contained the following the teacher in charge of MDMS), a cook, ten students (five seven steps: (i) Project scoping through village visits and stake- female and male each,) and ten parents (five female and male holder discussions (including a workshop); (ii) developing, each) from each school were interviewed for collection of pri- field testing, and finalizing survey instruments; (iii) conducting mary data.Two experienced surveyors per block were the actual surveys and participatory expenditure tracking; (iv) appointed for the purposes of data collection. Questions were collecting secondary data on budget allocations, utilizations, asked in a non-suggestive manner.Wherever possible, data and fund flows; (v) analyzing data; (vi) conducting stakeholders were triangulated by repeating the same question to different workshops to discuss and finalize results; and (vii) finalizing stakeholders, to minimize errors in data collection.The pro- the report and disseminating results. gram executing authorities were also taken into confidence. They were explained that the exercise was being conducted to Scoping and School Selection. Field visits to two nearby vil- improve implementation of the MDMS and not to find mis- lages helped define the scope of the pilot and identify the key takes or scapegoats. Government officials and community issues faced by primary schools and stakeholders.Two hundred stakeholders were involved during the survey exercise to get eleven primary government-run or -aided schools were their cooperation, suggestions, and guidance. For the PETS, selected from all 14 blocks (15 schools each from 13 blocks, data were collected at four different tiers - the state, district, and 16 schools from 1 block) of Chittorgarh district.The block, and school levels. In the PETS the release of funds and schools were selected on the basis of parameters such as size, food grains across various tiers was tracked along with the access by road, remoteness and urban/rural settings to ensure timeliness and quality of such releases. Secondary data for the that the sample was representative. pilot such as information on allotment, receipt, and utilization of funds and food grains were gathered at all four levels.After Survey Instruments. A combination of two social accountabil- data collection, the primary and secondary data were cleaned, ity tools, namely the Participatory Expenditure Tracking Sur- corroborated, and analyzed. vey (PETS) and the Citizen Report Card (CRC) were used in this study.The PETS was used to gather information Finalizing and Disseminating Results. Recommendations that regarding budget allocations, budget transfers, and expenditure, emerged from the analysis and discussions were documented while the CRC was used to generate citizen satisfaction scores and presented to the Zilla Parishad, the state government, and on the management and delivery of the MDMS in schools. other interested parties through district- and state-level dis- Schoolchildren and their parents were surveyed for this pur- semination meetings.The state government is currently delib- pose. Other stakeholders like teachers, cooks, and local gov- erating over the findings from the pilot and is considering ernment officials were also engaged to collect relevant scaling up the exercise to cover all schools in the state. 3 RESULTS Figure 2: Mid-Day Meal Delivery-- Response of Parents The surveys resulted in a massive amount of data that yielded numerous interesting insights and observations.The key obser- 100% 1% 10% 5% 5% 10% vations have been broadly grouped into three categories, 80% 90% 95% 27% 90% 28% namely, MDMS Implementation, Education, and Health & 60% 72% Nutrition, and are discussed below. 67% 40% 20% 0% MDMS Implementation Does child Are Is MDM Is quality Does receive different sufficient? of meal equality in MDM meals above MDM Mid-Day Meal Delivery. Most parents and students appeared daily? served as average? distribution to be satisfied with the implementation of the MDMS and per menu? exist? appreciated the government's efforts in running the scheme. Questions to Parents Some illustrative responses are: (i) 9 percent of the interviewed Don't Know No Yes parents accepted that their children received the mid-day meal every day (Figure 2); (ii) 95 percent of the parents, 91 percent Figure 3: Food Grains, Sanctioned, of the students, and 99 percent of the teachers reported that Lifted and Utilized in MDMS the children were indeed getting different menus on different days as mandated; and (iii) 90-95 percent of interviewees 250 accepted that the children consumed the mid-day meal at school and did not take it home.Another question to students sniar 200 on the quality of the mid-day meal revealed that 97 percent G rated the meal to be average or above average.Twenty seven dooF senno 150 T percent of the parents and 11 percent of the students said that fo oli K 100 the mid-day meal was insufficient for a growing child; the ni remaining opined that the meal was sufficient for one person. tnuo m 50 A Unutilized/Unspent Balances. The PETS revealed that the 0 2003­04 2004­05 2005­06 unutilized quantity of food grains is increasing over the years, Financial Year while the quantity being lifted and utilized by the state is declining (Figure 3). One possible reason for this could be an Total Quantity Sanctioned by GOI overestimation of student enrollment and attendance.Addi- Total Quantity Lifted by GOR tional reasons need to be ascertained. In the Chittorgarh Dis- Total Utilized Quantity Unutilized Quantity trict, the percentage of quantity of wheat and rice lifted to the quantity allotted between the years 2003-04 and 2005-06 ranged from 23-34 percent and 34-60 percent, respectively. Only 21 percent of the schools received the funds every The quantity of food grains lifted by all Panchayat Samitis was month in time.The remaining schools received funds with 74 percent of the total amount sanctioned in 2004-05 and delays ranging from 2 to 6 months (12 percent once in 6 approximately 62 percent in 2005-06, implying that student months, 47 percent once in 3 months, 18 percent once in 2 attendance was much lower than enrollment. months). In contrast, 67-80 percent of the funds transferred to the Zilla Parishad for meeting conversion costs remained Untimely Receipt of Conversion Costs.9 Each school is unutilized at the district level in the last two years.This required to send a monthly report along with a monthly dichotomy needs to be resolved. expenditure statement and vouchers for the cook's wages to the Panchayat Samiti, which is supposed to reimburse the 9.The conversion cost is the amount required to convert raw material such amount within 15 days of submission.The study revealed that as rice, wheat, pulses, and so forth into meals.This covers the cost of fuel, there was an irregularity in the reimbursement of conversion cooking, and ingredients such as cooking oil and salt that are used to make costs, which in turn affected implementation of the MDMS. the meals nutritious and tasty. 4 Quality, Quantity and Receipt of Food Grains. Ninety-seven kerosene for cooking meals. Both wood and kanda produce percent of the teachers reported receiving acceptable to good huge quantities of smoke and ash, which are hazardous for quality of food grains. Only 23 percent of the schools were able health. Surprisingly, 8 percent of the cooks claimed that there to receive food grains after getting them weighed before deliv- were not provided fuel and made their own arrangements. ery.The absence of a weighing mechanism in most schools makes it difficult to measure the quantity of food grains deliv- Alternate Service Providers. In order to improve the efficiency ered, implying that the problem of underweight bags may be a and effectiveness of the MDMS delivery, the state government serious problem. Eighty-nine percent of the selected schools has tried to rope in well established NGOs and charities, such received food grains on time, while there was a delay of more as the Nandi Foundation,Akshay Patra, ISKCON, and San- than 15 days in 4 percent and a delay of 6-15 days in 7 percent walia Trust.The government provides grants to these organiza- of the schools. It was also observed that 5 schools (out of the tions to set up modern kitchens to cook, pack, and deliver 211 schools surveyed) did not have food grain stocks, as a result hygienic and nutritious meals.A comparison of the two serv- of which the mid-day meal was not being cooked. ice providers provides some interesting observations,12 which are given in Table 1. Basic Cooking and Storage Infrastructure. Most schools lack adequate cooking and storage facilities; 95 percent of the schools do not have a kitchen shed, and only 36 percent have Education a separate store room. Many teachers reported that they stored food in classrooms, further reducing the already limited space Enrollment and Retention. One of the key objectives of the available for classroom activities. Of the cooks interviewed, 62 MDMS is to increase student enrollment and retention in percent said that the mid-day meal was cooked in the open, primary schools. Seventy-two percent of the parents were of which is unhygienic, while others cooked meals in verandahs, the opinion that both student attendance and the quality of classrooms, or their own houses. Only 83 percent of the cooks education had improved as a result of the MDMS (Figure 4). confirmed that they have sufficient utensils for mid-day meal Enrollment and retention figures of surveyed schools over preparation. the last three years reveal that enrollment and retention had increased in 64 percent of the schools but had not shown Fuel Supply. As per the MDMS guidelines fuel (kerosene/fire- any significant improvement in 25 percent of the schools wood/charcoal/LPG) should be stored safely to avoid mishaps. (the remaining 11 percent could not submit data). However, The use of smokeless chulhas10 should be encouraged, while the use of firewood should be discouraged to reduce environmental pollution.The survey revealed that 76 percent of the cooks used 10.An open fireplace used for cooking. firewood or kanda,11 14 percent used gas, and 10 percent used 11. Dried cow dung cakes. Table 1: Comparison of Mid-Day Meal Service Providers Alternate service providers (NGOs) Regular service providers (teachers) · Accountable only for single activity · Accountable for multiple activities · Benefit from economies of scale in operations · No such benefit and no support and professional support · Have access to timely resources (government · Do not have access to timely resources; have to grants or own funds) manage somehow · Incentives from government exist · No performance incentives exist · Currently operating in pockets usually close · Spread across all areas of the state to urban/industrial areas 5 enrollment of girls has increased in only 58 percent of the Figure 4: Positive Impact of MDMS-- surveyed schools. Some interviewees, however, opined that Response of Parents the increase in enrollment was below their expectations. Interestingly enough, while many parents agreed that enroll- 90% ment improved because of the MDMS, 98 percent of parents 77% 80% 72% 72% opined that they would regularly send their children to the 70% schools even if there were no MDMS. 60% 50% Time Spent on Management of MDMS. The MDMS guide- 40% lines state that the teaching process should not be affected 28% 28% 30% 23% by the MDMS. Out of a total of 6 hours for which schools 20% are open, 30 minutes are allotted for a lunch break.This is 10% highly insufficient for distributing the mid-day meal to all 0% 0% 1% 0% students. In reality, mid-day meal distribution takes up to Attendance Education Health & Nutrition two hours. Moreover, teachers assist in the preparation and distribution of meals. Some of the teachers exclaimed that Yes No Don't Know "preparing and distributing the mid-day meal to about 60- 100 children is like managing a wedding lunch every day." The study reveals that 68 percent of the total teachers spend claimed that there was no PTA in the village, while 6 percent more than one hour, or more than 17 percent of their allot- claimed to have no knowledge about the PTA.The survey ted teaching time, in MDMS activities. Besides, teachers are revealed that the PTA was only formed in 30 of the selected also made to spend time on other activities like conducting 211 villages. surveys and maintaining records and accounts, which further limit the time available for teaching. Both these factors impact overall teaching quality. Health and Hygiene Quality of Education. In order to assess the quality of educa- Health. The students were asked about doctor/nurse visits for tion, the students were asked to read simple sentences and health checkups in the last six months; 88 percent of respon- write simple words and sentences. It was observed that 53 dents stated that the doctor or nurse has visited their school, percent of the students were able to write and 48 percent and 90 percent said that they were given supplementary vita- were able to read correctly, while 15 percent were not able to min/iron pills regularly (interestingly, 0.5 percent of the write and 18 percent were not able to read at all (Figure 5). respondents confessed to throwing away the pills!). Seventy- The remaining students were able to read and write but not seven percent of parents and thirty-eight percent of teachers satisfactorily.While the study did not have access to data confirmed improvements in health and nutrition of children as regarding the quality of education before the mid-day meal a result of the MDMS.13 was initiated, it is important to note that slightly more than half the children were not able to read and write properly. Hygiene. It was found that 5.5 percent of students do not This was a serious cause of concern. wash hands before having the mid-day meal at all, and 86 per- cent wash their hands with only water. It was also found that Institutional Responsibilities. The Gram Panchayats, through 95 percent of students do not cut their nails often enough. its committees, are responsible for implementation of the mid- day meal.The survey revealed that a 85 percent of the Gram Panchayats were not involved in the management of the mid- day meal. In fact, the teachers emerged as the de facto man- agers of the mid-day meal.The role of other institutions such asVillage Education Committees and Parent Teacher Associa- 12. It should be noted that this study did not get users' perceptions on the service delivery by NGOs. tions (PTA) was also minimal.The survey revealed that 84 13.These statements are based on user perceptions and not any scientific percent of the parents were not involved in the activities of basis, since the study was confined to user perceptions. the MDMS in any way. In fact, 72 percent of the parents 6 Figure 5: Quality of Education · Huge unspent conversion cost and unutilized food grain bal- ances are a major cause of concern.While the unspent con- 100% version cost balances at the district level are increasing year after year, at the block level funds have been over utilized, 80% leading to negative balances. Steps to ensure timely financial disbursements need to be taken. 70% 60% · Schools lack basic infrastructure to implement the MDMS effectively.Almost all schools lack kitchens and food grain 40% storerooms. Drinking water supply facilities in schools are more the exception than the rule. Funds need to be allo- 20% cated to provide these facilities. 0% Yes No Not Property · Teachers appear to spend considerable time and energy on implementation of the MDMS.This affects the quality of Able to read sentences teaching.The conversion costs are inadequate. There is a Able to write senteces need for the state government to not only increase the cost per meal but also allocate grants for hiring local youth and self-help groups at the village level to decrease the burden of the MDMS on teachers.This will further enhance the KEY FINDINGS AND quality of the MDMS. POLICY IMPLICATIONS14 · Even though Gram Panchayats have been entrusted with The study revealed that cooked mid-day meals have now the responsibility of monitoring the implementation of the become integral to the daily school routine in the Chittorgarh MDMS, in reality, GPs are playing a marginal role.The District.The MDMS has had an impact on student enroll- same is true for ParentTeacher Associations. Performance- ment, retention and attendance. Most of the parents and stu- based incentives and award competitions need to be insti- dents interviewed approved of the taste and quality of the tuted to encourage and build capacities of these institutions mid-day meal.They also felt that education quality, health, and so that they can play a vital role in the education and over- nutrition of children had improved because of the MDMS, all development of their children. though it was difficult to measure this scientifically in the cur- rent study. On the whole, parents and students were satisfied · Even though many NGOs and private trusts have come with implementation of the MDMS. From the study it also forward to implement the MDMS in a few districts, their appears that the state government is interested in increasing participation is limited in terms of area and coverage.They funding and food quality standards for the MDMS. Despite together cover an insignificant number of schools.The pos- these positive signs, there were certain shortcomings that need sibility of engaging more NGOs and civil society organiza- to be addressed. Some of the key concerns that have policy tions as alternative MDMS providers may also be explored. implications are addressed below: · The increase in rate of enrollment of girls in primary schools · Delays in some schools in receiving budget and food grain is much lower than the increase in rate of enrollment of boys. allocations indicate that the budgeting, accounting, and This is so despite the fact that enrollment of girls is much monitoring system is poor and needs to be improved. Less lower than that of boys. Efforts to address this gender than a quarter of the surveyed schools receive financial inequality need to be made. reimbursements on time. During the survey many teachers informally stated that they either take credit from the local vendors or spend from their own pockets to ensure that meals are delivered on time.The quantity of food grain 14.The concerns and recommendations made are based on the pilot study of the Chittorgarh District.This analysis does not reflect the situation across delivered to each school needs to be weighed to ensure that the entire state.A statewide study is recommended to get a more accurate there are no leakages. picture of the implementation of the MDMS throughout the state. 7 · Finally and most important, a large part of the child (espe- utensils, and so forth in schools. Zilla Parishads have been cially girl child) population in the state is still deprived of provided additional funds under the School Facility Grant. primary education. These children are deprived of the ben- The state government has agreed to build hi-tech kitchens efits of the MDMS. Concentrated efforts to achieve 100 through public-private partnerships. Plans for a hi-tech percent enrollment through the active involvement of the kitchen for seven schools in the district have been made. government, non-government, and private sectors need to be made to bring all out-of-school children into the fold of · Increased Involvement ofTeachers and Parents. Teachers are the MDMS. paying more attention to teaching, and children are not being engaged in cooking. Parents/guardians of children It is evident from the above that teachers work under major have started visiting schools to observe meal preparation. systemic shortcomings and are trying their best to ensure timely delivery of mid-day meals in most schools.This was The pilot study was initiated to design and test CRC and echoed by parents and teachers in the survey results as well. PETS as tools of social accountability. It succeeded in estab- lishing that not only do these tools used in tandem provide a deep understanding of a range of issues, but also can success- IMPACT OF SOCIAL fully engage the community and provide policy implications ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS that, if implemented, can go a long way in improving service ON PERFORMANCE delivery. The dissemination of the pilot findings has resulted in a num- ber of changes in the implementation of the MDMS. Some of REFERENCES the more prominent ones are described below.15 CUTS Center for Consumer Action, Research & Training (2006). · TimelyTransfer of Funds. Arrangements to release funds to Measuring Effectiveness of Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Rajasthan schools three months in advance have been made.The (Participatory Expenditure Tracking Survey)--Final Project Report. funds are transferred in to the account of School Develop- Jaipur, India. ment Management Committee.This has reduced the num- Malena, Carmen, Reiner Forster, and Janmejay Singh (2004). Social ber of complaints regarding poor implementation of the Accountability:An Introduction to the Concept and Emerging Prac- scheme because of lack of funds. tice. Social Development Papers 76.Washington, DC;World Bank, Participation and Civic Engagement Group. · Improvement in Quality of Food Grains. The quality of food grains supplied to schools is thoroughly checked to Paul, Samuel (2002). Holding the State to Account: Citizen Moni- ensure good quality mid-day meals. Schools are being sup- toring in Action. Public Affairs Center. Bangalore, India. plied with adequate food grains on time after proper weighing.All kinds of complaints regarding the MDMS are attended to immediately. 15.These actions are based on the discussions that the CART team had with · Improvement in Basic Infrastructure. Attempts are being officers responsible for implementing the MDMS at the district level and are made to address the problem of kitchens, storage rooms, not validated by any field survey. This note was prepared by George Cheriyan and K.C. Sharma of the CUTS Center for Consumer Action, Research & Training (CART), J.V.R. Murty of the Water and Sanitation Program, and Sanjay Agarwal and Parmesh Shah of the South Asia Sustainable Development Department at the World Bank as a case study for the workshop on "Application of Social Accountability Mechanisms in CDD and Decentralization Programs in South Asia: Experiences from Pilot Projects" in Hyderabad, India, in March 2007.The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Governments of Norway and Finland for supporting this initiative through the Trust Fund for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Develop- ment (TFESSD).The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this note are entirely those of the authors and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, its affiliated organizations, or members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent. 8