Project Brief

Human development – Towards bridging inequalities

The project “Human Development: Towards Bridging Inequalities” responds to a strong

endorsement from senior officials of the Planning Commission, State governments and experts for
continued relevance of the Planning Commission-UNDP collaboration on human development.
This was echoed in October 2010 at a workshop “Human Development: Analysis to Action” where
there was a consensus on the need for focusing the next project on preparation of another round
of State level human development reports emphasizing on inclusive growth and supporting action
oriented quality studies on issues of persistent inequality and disparities as well a thrust on
capacity development involving a range of stakeholders. Additionally, three evaluations in 2010
emphasise the need for further strengthening the work on human development.

1. Situational Analysis

The growth story of India

India’s high economic growth performance in recent years has been making news the world
over. For a billion plus economy to experience GDP growth at more than 8% continuously
since 2005-06, except in the last two years when growth slowed down to 6-7%, is an
impressive record. The Human Development Report 2010 highlights that India is among top
ten movers (1970-2010) in the income component of the human development index.

However, India also attracts headlines for other less flattering reasons such as the persistent
hunger, malnutrition and mixed performance on human development indicators. Despite
being one of the top ten movers in the improvement on HDI rank from 1980-2010, the
relative position of India on crucial human development indicators is lower than that of some
neighbouring countries and others in East Asia. Additionally, in absolute terms it reflects
large scale human deprivation. The persistence of widespread hunger, illiteracy and poverty
in a fast growing economy is a conundrum that needs to be unraveled in order to trigger
appropriate policy action. The denial of opportunities to hundreds of millions of people to live
a decent life and realize their full potential is a human development challenge that must be
met urgently both for its own sake and for the sake of enabling the global achievement of the
MDGs Gender inequality remains the biggest roadblock to achieving the MDGs which must
be addressed. .

There are spatial and social disparities that continue to beleaguer policymakers. The MDG
report of the Government of India states that addressing the growing poverty burden in the
heartland is vital. At the current rate of decline, the country is expected to have a burden of
about 279 million of people (22.1%) living below the poverty line in the year 2015. The major
States namely, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar
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Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which are incidentally the more populated States, are among the
slow‐moving States in reducing the poverty. They currently account for 64% of the BPL
population which is expected to rise to 71% of the BPL population by 2015.

The Human Development Report 2010 presents inequality adjusted HDI that takes into
account not only a country’s average human development, as measured by health, education
and income indicators, but also how it is distributed. Measured on this parameter, India looses
approx 30% of its value (highest loss being in the education component – 41%). A
computation based on the global methodology for the inequality adjusted HDI for Indian
States indicates that while the aggregate human development in India suffers a loss of 30%
due to inequalities, the losses at state level are greater in some respects. The loss due to
inequality is the least in Kerala (a high human development state) and the highest in central
and eastern states (Orissa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand in that order)
where human development attainments are low.

The India MDG Report concedes that empowerment of women is still far too slow.
Participation of women in employment and decision making remains far less than that of men
and the disparity is not likely to be eliminated by 2015. Female participation in the labour
market is 25.68 per cent compared to 52 per cent (Census 2001) for men1. As a result, the XI
Five Year Plan (2008 – 2012) document (Planning Commission, 2008) concedes that, ‘Gender
inequality remains a pervasive problem and some of the structural changes taking place have
an adverse effect on women.’

India’s poor performance on women’s empowerment and gender equality is reflected in

many indicators. The most telling indicator is that of the sex ratio which has in some parts of
India dropped to less than 850 females per 1000 males. Declining child sex ratio from 927 in
2001 to 914 in 2011 is reflective of deeply entrenched socio-cultural prejudices against
women. This is also reflected in the low rank on Gender Inequality Index (GII) introduced by
the latest Global HDR 2010 - India ranks 122 out of 138 countries with a value of 0.748. In fact,
among the South Asian countries, India is second from bottom. Only 9 per cent of
parliamentary seats are held by women and only 27 per cent of adult women have secondary
or higher education compared to 50 per cent of their male counterparts. For every 100,000
live births, 256 women die of pregnancy-related causes and the adolescent fertility rate is 68
births/1,000 live births.

Exclusion of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) is reflected in the gap in
achievements between the SCs, STs and the rest of the population. In 2004-2005 about
36.80% of SC persons were below the poverty line in rural areas as compared to only 28.30%
for others (non SC/ST). In urban areas the gap was slightly larger; 39.20% of SC households

1
As per the NSSO, 66th Round data, the Labour Force Participation Rate for females is 23.3% whereas that of males
is 55.7% (usual status).
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were BPL compared to 25.70% of other households. Similarly, the proportion of people
belonging to STs below the poverty line was 47.3% in rural and 33.3% in urban areas, which
was again much higher than the poverty ratio for the population. The linkage between rural
poverty and high distress among people belonging to SCs and STs is very strong. According
to the Indian Confederation of Indigenous and Tribal People (2009), 80% of the Nomadic
Tribes and De-notified Tribes live below the poverty line.

The XI Five Year Plan document (Planning Commission, 2008, para 1.3) highlights that , ‘ a
major weakness in the economy is that the growth is not perceived as being sufficiently
inclusive for many groups, especially Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities.
Gender inequality also remains a pervasive problem and some of the structural changes
taking place have an adverse effect on women.’ Caste based discrimination in India occurs in
economic, civil, cultural and political spheres. Some of the dimensions of such discrimination
for specific groups are outlined briefly below.

The fact that growth need not necessarily lead to poverty reduction is exemplified by the fact
that while India is among the top ten movers in income from 1970-2010, in terms of
multidimensional poverty2, only 30 countries fare worse than India on the MPI among 103
countries for which MPI has been calculated. Eight Indian states, with poverty as acute as the
26 poorest African countries, are home to 421 million multidimensionally poor people, more
than 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million).

That economic growth does not automatically translate into human development outcomes
is a message that has been conveyed time and again by successive Human Development
Reports since 1990. In recognition of the weak linkages between economic growth and
human development, the XI Five Year Plan accorded top priority to ‘inclusive growth’. A
presentation from the Planning Commission on the Approach Paper to the XII Plan reiterates
that the progress on inclusiveness has been less than expected and that the country is likely
to miss the MDG targets, except perhaps on poverty. The XII Plan approach paper indicates
that the thrust on ‘more inclusive growth’ will continue.

Lack of data on an annual basis and the reliability of some of the basic statistics needed to
formulate real time policies continue to baffle policy makers. The quality of HDRs and of the
resulting policy recommendations is compromised by the lack of adequate data collected
against a consistent set of statistical indicators on an annual basis. As the Governor, the
Reserve Bank of India recently stated, “if the provisional data that these (policies) are based on
are inaccurate, the resultant policies can turn out to be sub-optimal choices,”

2 The 2010 HDR introduces a new measure – the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which identifies deprivations

across health, education and living standards.

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Against this backdrop, it is imperative that policy dialogue in India continue to focus on
human development informed by annual data.

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2. Rationale

Human Development: From Analysis to Action

In October 2010, a strong affirmation and validation to the continued relevance of UNDP-
Planning Commission decadal collaboration on human development came from participants
of a Planning Commission and UNDP organized workshop “Human Development: From
Analysis to Action” (Delhi, 28-29 October 2010) attended by senior officials from the Planning
Commission, eleven State governments, partner Ministries such as Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation, national training institutions such as LBSNAA, national resource
institutions and experts. The objective of the workshop was to review the past experience
and to identify strategic priorities for future partnership.

In the keynote speech, Member Planning Commission stated that integrating Human
Development imperatives into the planning process that has been a key objective pursued by
the Planning Commission–UNDP India partnership has had both deep and wide impact
country-wide. The Human Development initiative was clearly able to bring about
accountability among the officials at the lowest levels and consequently empower the masses
to protect their rights.

Chairing the session Human Development, Gender, and Planning–A Journey from Analysis to
Action, Senior Advisor Planning Commission validated the need for continued focus on
human development and advocated that there should be stronger linkages between policy
actions emerging from human development analysis and programmatic interventions.

Delivering the valedictory address, Member-Secretary, Planning Commission stated that the
government has made effort to pursue inclusive growth that does not just chase a GDP magic
number but keep people at the centre of the planning process. However, business as usual
approach will not work and there is a need to operationalise the human development agenda
to focus on issues of equity.

Participants highlighted the contribution of the human development initiative of focusing on

issues of regional disparities and social sector development. State governments cited
examples of how the initiative assisted in planning specific interventions for human
development. There was a strong validation for continuing the collaboration with added
emphasis on issues of inclusion and second generation development problems such as
sustainability.

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The mid-term review of the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) acknowledges
that engagement on HDRs is one of the most acclaimed contributions of the UN in India and
that this collaboration should continue.

The same view has been echoed by the mid-term review of the UNDP Country Programme
Action Plan and validated by a recent evaluation of the UNDP – Planning Commission
programmes on human development.

The evaluation strongly recommends a continued engagement of the UNDP with the ‘human
development’ approach in India as it continues to offer valuable guidance to planning
processes and policy debates. It reiterates the need for the approach to be seen as a ‘chapeau’
for all of UNDP’s work. There was demand from States for UNDP’s support in: new and
emerging areas, increasing access to new techniques of index construction and a wider
knowledge pool, and keeping up the momentum built around human development through
activities and forums for continued advocacy and dissemination of human development
outputs. The evaluation further states that UNDP needs to continue to champion the
approach, through networking, creating forums for debate and discussion, and bringing in
new approaches and concepts into these debates and seeking to build a collaborative
relationship between academics, departments and planning authorities to share and debate
data for human development planning.

The project “Human Development: Towards Bridging Inequalities” responds to the need to
continued Planning Commission-UNDP collaboration on human development.

3. Lessons from past collaboration

Human development approach has been cornerstone the of Indian planning since the 8th Five
Year Plan. India has set global benchmarks in terms of preparation of HDRs at the State and
district levels.

Since 1999, UNDP and Planning Commission have been supporting State governments in
preparation of State level Human Development Reports and mainstreaming human
development agenda in State and district planning. Initiated in 1999 with the project
Capacity Development for State Human Development Reports (HDRs), this collaboration was
followed by the second project on Strengthening State Plans for Human Development (SSPHD)
in 2004. The partnership has been highly successful in advocating and supporting the
adoption of the human development approach to planning at the national, state and district
levels. In the first phase, the focus was on developing capacities for preparation of State HDRs.
Twenty one Indian States have prepared their HDRs till date. The second project focused on
mainstreaming human development in State planning with activities spread across 15 States
focusing on preparation of district level HDRs, engendering planning, strengthening
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statistical systems, capacity development for human development and providing options for
financing human development.

An evaluation of UNDP’s ten years of human development programme support in India has
highlighted the following –

 The human development approach has a high level of relevance to the Indian context,
where development since Independence has been concerned with advancing the
bases for economic growth. The relevance of focusing on State and district level lies in
the fact that the primary responsibility for education, health and poverty eradication
lies with state governments, rather than with the central government.

 Over the ten years of the programme, a strengthening of political commitment

towards human development can be seen. The Annual Plans and Economic Surveys of
State governments have begun focussing on human development. Greater attention
to health and education in planning processes, and efforts to increase social sector
allocations are seen in all states that have engaged with the process of SHDR and
DHDR preparation.

 The process of preparation of SHDRs and DHDRs has contributed to building capacity
on human development and statistical analysis as well as in identifying areas for
programme and policy focus, including women-focused programmes.

 Capacities have been built within and outside the government, and training modules
on human development and gender developed as part of the programme have mostly
been incorporated into regular training schedules. Capacity development for human
development has been a key thrust area with curriculum for human development
training modules being designed and integrated into the curriculum of 15
Administrative Training Institutes at the State level. Training of Trainers has been
conducted and suitable Manuals developed to enable capacity development. Three
Universities have introduced human development curriculum into their courses at the
post-graduate level.

 The thrust on planning for human development has had to deal with the first-order
problem of the ‘poverty of information’ on the human condition. Many available
estimates on human development progress are national or at best state-specific, but
are difficult to come by at the level of district, block or village levels. The human
development programmes have greatly assisted collation of data at the State and
district levels.

 A unique feature of the UNDP’s human development programme in India is that the
reports are prepared by independent experts to ensure independence of analysis and
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 are ‘owned’ by the government. ‘Government ownership, editorial autonomy’ has not
always been easy to implement, and appears to have worked in states with stronger
established research institutions that have a history of working closely with the
government.

 The participatory process of preparation of HDRs has been widely acclaimed. The
Chhattisgarh State HDR won the global award for participatory process of preparation
of HDRs.

 Monitoring tools such as PAHELI (People’s Access to Health, Education and

Livelihoods) are important for quick assessment of human development status. They
use a participatory approach, and simplified processes for collecting primary data.
At the core of designing such a tool is the development of local capacities to analyze
local situations, to assess and understand human development gaps and needs, and
to link them to available opportunities and resources.

 The process of preparation of HDRs has led to the emergence of multi-stakeholder

partnerships and people’s participation enabling policy dialogue within the
democratic tradition on crucial human development issues. Strong partnerships have
been forged with the participating State governments, Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation, the Reserve Bank of India, National Institute of Public
Finance and Policy, University Grants Commission, and numerous other independent
research institutions, academics and civil society organizations.

 While the project has been successful in raising awareness on human development,
advocacy on human development needs to be further strengthened.

The Planning Commission - UNDP partnership has thus established benchmarks of scale,
government ownership and performance that is unparalleled globally and is cited as a global
and regional ‘Best Practice’.

4. Scope and Strategy

The project will focus on providing innovative policy options for tackling issues of persistent
exclusion, particularly at the State level. Issues of inequality, with particular attention to
gender and social inequalities will be focused upon. This would be done through preparation
of next round of State HDRs, State specific studies on growth which is inclusive and
sustainable and by focusing on advocacy and capacity development. The project will address
the systemic gaps in statistical systems resulting in lack of timely, reliable and comparable
data which continues to be a handicap for policy formulation and planning. Initiatives at the
national level will provide an enabling framework for translating human development
agenda into action at the State level.
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Accordingly, the scope of the project will include the following –

A. State level initiatives –

 The project will support preparation of next round of State level Human
Development Reports as well Regional Human Development Reports focusing on
issues on persistent inequality and providing strategic solutions for reaching the
unreached. Research based policy advocacy emphasizing the determinants of
human development and inclusion would also be supported under the project.

 Advocacy aimed at influencing policy to respond to issues of inequality and persistent

deprivation will be undertaken. Platforms bringing together civil society and
government to engage on issues of inclusion will be fostered.

 Capacity development through State training institutions and through dedicated

programmes for various stakeholders will be supported.

 Having a sound statistical system that generates disaggregated data (by group,
gender, geographical location) at regular intervals is essential for monitoring human
development outcomes. While the Indian statistical system is robust for generating
data at the national and sub-national levels, it needs to be augmented for responding
to the needs of local level planning. Strengthening statistical systems to generate
data on HD/MDG indicators on an annual basis will be undertaken as a key component
of the project.

 Continued guidance to preparation of district HDRs as an input to district planning

exercise will be extended in identified districts. The preparation of district HDRs will
not be a standalone exercise but will be closely linked with the planning process.

 Community monitoring tools will be pilot tested, fine tuned, and institutionalized in
planning processes of the government. Towards this a stronger engagement will be
forged with CSOs on human development in terms of advocating and monitoring
human development outcomes, including support to participatory plans and people’s
monitoring (PAHELI) and people’s Mid-Term Review of the XI Plan (such as the one
that has just been concluded on the 11th Plan).

The activities at the State level will be complemented by national level initiatives which will
provide an enabling framework as well as opportunities for sharing of experience among
States. The importance of a national component that provides an overarching thrust on
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issues of equity, facilitates sharing of knowledge and ensures overall coordination among
various stakeholders was emphasized in the evaluation. Accordingly, the following national
level activities will augment work at the State/regional level -

B. National level initiatives –

National leave activities will focus on three mail components – policy advocacy for human
development, strengthening statistical systems to generate HD data on an annual basis, and
capacity development.

Policy advocacy through cutting edge analytical studies unraveling the

conundrum of consistent high growth with persistent or even widening inequalities,
providing innovative strategic options to policy makers will be conducted. State,
regional and district level HDRs as a tool for highlighting human development
challenges and providing pathways for human development will be supported.
While the country as a whole has made tremendous progress on reducing poverty and
achieving some of its human development goals, as the India MDG report states, the
country is far from achieving the specific MDG targets, particularly relating to hunger,
maternal mortality rates and infant mortality rates. This is indicative of gender
inequalities. The rate of progress on these indicators has plateued causing serious
concerns to policy makers. There are acute disparities in access and in outcomes
across regions, gender and social groups.

Policy advocacy on issues that affect inclusion such as implementation of Panchayat

Extension to Scheduled Area Act, Forest Right Act and Land Rights will be undertaken.

The flagship schemes of the government are trying to address development

challenges but weak governance of service delivery systems dilutes the intended
benefits to the most vulnerable. Research studies analyzing bottlenecks in service
delivery will be supported.

 Promoting policy dialogue for human development – It is important to provide a

platform that brings together different stakeholders to debate and discuss
contemporary development challenges. Such a platform would be useful for
disseminating key findings of research studies. The project would support such key
policy dialogue with participation from government, academia and the civil society at
the national and state levels. In addition it would foster the discussion of ‘good
practices’ and experiences from across various countries to enable the spread of
innovative ideas which can be adapted to local contexts within the framework of
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 south-south collaboration. The project will partner with the proposed International
Centre for Human Development of UNDP in New Delhi in this respect.

 Ensuring availability of data on key HD indicators on an annual basis – The lack

of timely, reliable and comparable data continues to be a major bottleneck for policy
formulation and planning. There is a need for preparing a strategy towards ensuring
that data on a set of key human development indicators disaggregated by sex and
social groups is made available to policy planners every year. This would require
collaborating with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation as well as
the key line ministries. The strategy would focus on (a) identifying a standard set of
key HD indicators that would be made available on an annual basis, (b) designing a
business plan for annual surveys for collection of data with statistically sound
sampling techniques, (c) developing a strategy for identifying surveyors who can
canvass the questionnaires, (d) preparing a plan for data analysis and dissemination,
and (e) costing. Services of University students and other partners would be explored
for data collection and analysis. Capacity development interventions and Training of
Trainers and roll out of the plans would be undertaken in accordance with the agreed
strategy.

In the light of current debates on measurement of human development, there is a

need to review the existing definitions and methodologies adopted for measuring HDI,
HPI, GDI and GEM at the national level and suggest alternative formulations suited to
the Indian reality which could be supported under the project.

 Capacity development - In order to mainstream the human development approach

and to sustain focus on human development challenges, it is essential to develop and
nurture “champions” of human development from the academia and civil society.
Capacity development initiatives would cater to five categories of stakeholders –
o Experts and civil society partners to act as champions or human development
ambassadors
o Young scholars and researchers
o Officials and elected representatives at the State/district/panchayat level
o Private sector partners
o Media

Different capacity development strategies would be prepared for different

constituencies on the basis of stakeholder consultation and capacity assessments.

 District Human Development Reports Awards - Given the large number of DHDRs
being prepared and the need to encourage excellence in content and its relevance for
district planning and also the participatory process that is a core principle to ensure
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 people-centred district planning, District HDR Awards will be instituted under the
project.

 Strengthening monitoring and evaluation – The Government of India has shifted

emphasis from monitoring outlays to outcomes. This requires developing a
monitoring and evaluation system that focuses on tracking outcome level indicators
which goes beyond traditional scheme based monitoring. A parallel thrust is that of
involving communities in participatory monitoring of development outcomes.

The project will focus on developing the official’s capacity for outcome monitoring as
well as strengthening community monitoring systems.

 Budget analysis for improving human development will be undertaken at the

national and State levels to highlight adequacy of budgets and expenditures to
achieve human development outcomes.

Fostering partnership across a range of stakeholders will be a key strategy. The national and
State government will continue to be key stakeholders in this partnership.

The private sector is an important constituency that has hitherto not been paid much
attention. The Tata group earlier had partnered UNDP and adopted an index similar to the
HDI for monitoring progress of their community level initiatives. With increasing emphasis on
socially sensitive development policies being adopted by corporate houses, it is essential to
sensitize and involve the private sector as partners in the widespread adoption of
programmes and policies within a human development oriented approach.

Key decisions are made by parliamentarians including on budget allocation. While

sensitization of the parliamentarians has been undertaken by the UN through the
Parliamentarians forums, a systematic involvement to inform and raise awareness of the
parliamentarians at the national and state levels is essential for ensuring a move from outlays
to outcomes. Initiatives to share information and knowledge on recent trends in human
development at the national, regional and global level will play a key role in mainstreaming
the human development approach in policies and programmes.

The role of civil society is central to promoting human development. A vibrant civil society
engaging constructively with the government provides an ideal pathway to human
development. Civil society organizations will be important stakeholders in advocating and
monitoring human development outcomes, particularly at local levels.

The media in a democratic set-up plays an important role not only in disseminating
knowledge but also in shaping perceptions and opinions. It is necessary to involve the media
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on a continuous basis to provide adequate knowledge and tools to analyze developmental
issues from a human development perspective. Training modules in media courses, face to
face interactions and a web based sharing platform would go a long way in ensuring sensitive
and unbiased coverage of human development issues.

Universities are the crucibles for generation of knowledge and new ideas. The curriculum in
most Indian universities pays more attention to the conventional development paradigm
with the new developments in terms of alternative approaches such as the human
development approach not being sufficiently explained or analysed. It is necessary to
undertake capacity development initiatives to enhance the knowledge and understanding of
teaching faculty on human development analysis and also to develop relevant curriculum
that goes beyond concept and measurement issues. Issues such as climate change from a
human development perspective, poverty and governance are important aspects of
development studies in contemporary India. Support to curriculum development, training of
teachers and research will go a long way in spreading the reach of the human development
approach to successive batches of students who will be the future policy makers, researchers
and government bureaucrats in the country. Collaboration with universities will be promoted
in other project activities such as strengthening of statistical systems. Human Development
Centres may be established in universities which may act as think-tanks for governments.
Accordingly, these Centres will not only have substantive skills but also skills for developing
sound business proposals for working on specific requirements of the government with
respect to human development issues. The proposal writing skills will enable students and
trainees seek financial support of their proposals and help ensure longer-term sustainability
and matching of supply and demand for new areas of research.

5. Proposed Output and Deliverables

CPAP Output: Institutions and mechanisms strengthened to enhance capacities of elected

representatives and functionaries for human development oriented inclusive planning,
implementation, and improved accountability in local governance.

The expected outputs of this project will be: -

a) National and State policies influenced to improve human development outcomes
through research and advocacy.

Deliverables:
 State, regional and district level Human Development Reports focusing on social and
spatial inequalities prepared in select States.
 Strengthening statistical systems for better monitoring of human development
outcomes
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  Human development advocacy
 Research based policy advocacy to influence national and State planning through
analytical research studies identifying constraints in achieving inclusive growth
focusing on social and geographical disparities.
 Strengthening programme implementation through four to six high quality research
studies focusing on select flagship schemes ascertaining bottlenecks in
implementation and recommending improvements in service delivery mechanisms
 Capacity development of
o State officials and elected representatives for undertaking human
development oriented analysis
o Researchers through introduction of a curriculum on human development
o Civil society
o Private sector
o Media
 Institutionalising community monitoring tools
 Analysis of fiscal policy including budget analysis, including from a gender lens, of
partner State governments to achieve HD outcomes
 Facilitating knowledge sharing including within south-south collaboration framework

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 6. Results & Resources Framework

Intended Outcome as stated in the Country Programme Results and Resource Framework:

UNDP Country Programme Outcome 2.1: Capacities of elected representatives and State and district officials in the
UNDAF focus states/districts enhanced to perform their roles effectively in local governance

Outcome indicators as stated in the Country Programme Results and Resources Framework, including baseline
and targets.

Applicable Strategic Plan Key Result Area:

Project title and ID (ATLAS Award ID):

Intended CPAP Project Output and Targets Indicative Activities Responsible Inputs
Output or (deliverables) parties
Project
Outcome
(as outlined in
CPD/CPAP)
CPAP Output Project component 1 – State  Resource institutions/experts State
2.1.2: Institutions level/regional/district HDRs contracted for writing the governments,
and mechanisms focusing on inclusion prepared. papers/ HDRs resource
strengthened to  Agreements with States  Stakeholders consultation institutions and
enhance on preparation of HDRs organized experts
capacities of and identification of  Desk review/field work and
elected themes Drafting of papers initiated
representatives  Preparation of Draft  Draft report peer reviewed
and functionaries Report  Finalisation of State HDR
for human  Finalisation of State  Communication and
development HDR and dissemination advocacy around key
oriented inclusive  Continued advocacy on messages of State HDRs
planning, human development
implementation, issues
and improved
accountability in
local governance.

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 Project component 2 –  In principle agreement with
Statistical systems MOSPI on initiatives
strengthened to provide HD  Collaborating with
data on an annual basis appropriate government
 Preparing an action stakeholders to review
plan for strengthening availability of existing data
statistical system to sets
monitor HD progress  Identifying gaps and
 Piloting the roll-out in proposing a strategy to get
select States/districts annual HD statistics
 Capturing lessons learnt  Pilot/roll-out of the strategy
 Revising and rolling out
the improvised plan of
action

Project component 3 – Human  Announce DHDR Awards and

development advocacy call for proposals
 Institutionalise DHDR  Constitute relevant screening
awards committees/selection and
 Documentation and award selected DHDRs
dissemination of  Organise Stakeholders
knowledge products consultation on HD themes
 Prepare high quality
knowledge products and
disseminate

Project component 4 –  Identification of research

National and State planning themes in consultation with
influenced through analytical the government
research studies identifying  National resource
constraints in achieving institution(s)/experts
inclusive growth focusing on contracted for the research
social and geographical  Institutions/experts conduct
disparities desk review/field work as per
the ToR and draft analytical
 State specific studies on research papers
inclusive growth to feed  Peer review of papers
into State level plans.  Finalisation papers
 Two national level  Dissemination through policy
policy researches to be dialogues
conducted per year.
And policy dialogues to
be conducted based on
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 findings of studies.
 Specific inputs to be
provided for the MTR of
the XII Plan in the year
2013/2014 and the next
Five Year Plan in 2015
under this component.

 Identification of research
Project component 5 - themes in consultation with
Implementation of select the government
flagship schemes strengthened  National resource
through four to six high quality institution(s)/experts
research ascertaining contracted for the research
bottlenecks in implementation  Institutions/experts conduct
and recommending desk review/field work as per
improvements in service the ToR and draft analytical
delivery mechanisms research papers
 Peer review of papers
 Finalisation papers
 Dissemination through policy
dialogues

 Identifying partners and

entering into agreement with
Project component 6- them
Capacities of partners enhanced  Designing a basket of CD
for undertaking human interventions suitable to each
development oriented analysis category of partner
 Forging partnerships  Implementation of CD
with various strategy/intervention,
stakeholders (CSOs, monitoring and improvising
Universities, private on interventions
sector)
 Designing appropriate
CD programmes
 Implementation of CD
interventions
 Identification of partner
institutions
Project component 7– Use of  Mobilising stakeholders for
community monitoring tools using the tool
institutionalised  Canvassing the tool in
 Community monitoring identified regions
tools pilot testing and  Compiling results
roll out in select districts
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  Documenting lessons  Dissemination of results
learnt and  Documenting lessons learnt
improvisation of tools  Improvisation of tool
 Advocacy with  Presentation to government
government for and training of trainers on the
institutionalising the use of the tool
tool as part of
government monitoring
mechanism

 Identifying appropriate
Project component 8 - Budget resource institution
analysis of partner State  Completion of budget
governments to achieve HD analysis
outcomes focusing on SC/ST  Dissemination of results
and women (recurring activity
every year for select States)

Project component 9 –
Facilitating knowledge sharing
within south-south
collaboration framework

The proposed project envisages the following risks which need to be considered once it
becomes operational.

 Influencing policies in favour of human development outcomes in a democratic and

federal governance structure is a function of political exigencies requiring commitments
from the national as well as partner State governments.

7. Management Arrangement

Implementation Arrangements

The Country Programme Management Board (CPMB) convened by DEA has the oversight of
the GoI-UNDP Country Programme. A Programme Management Board (PMB) for the
Democratic Governance Programme Outcome (Outcome 2 in CPD/CPAP) will be set up and
co-chaired by DEA and UNDP. The PMB will oversee the delivery and achievement of results
for all the initiatives under the Democratic Governance Programme Outcome and provide

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strategic direction for future programmes in this Outcome area. The PMB will also appraise
the new programme initiatives prior to sign off with the Implementing Partners (IPs).

The project will be implemented by the Planning Commission in collaboration with UNDP.
The National Project Director (NPD), designated by the Planning Commission, will be
responsible for overall management, including achievement of planned results, and for the
use of UNDP funds through effective management and well established project review and
oversight mechanisms.

The Planning Commission will sign a budgeted Annual Work Plan with UNDP on an annual
basis, as per UNDP rules and regulations, and submit signed financial report as per UNDP
rules. As a co-implementer, UNDP will undertake certain number of activities in the annual
work plans.

Responsible Parties: To achieve project results, the Planning Commission and UNDP will
identify partners for carrying out specific project activities. These will be designated as
Responsible Parties and could be state departments, universities, civil society organizations
(CSOs), financial institutions, private sector development agencies or UN agencies.

Planning Commission and UNDP as implementing partners will enter into agreements/sub-
contract institutions/organizations or procure the services of consultants to ensure proper
implementation of project activities. Procurement of services from Responsible Party (ies) will
be through capacity assessment and a process of competitive bidding to undertake specific
tasks linked to project outputs carried out under the overall guidance of the Project Steering
Committee

Project and State Steering Committees: Project Steering Committee and State Steering
Committees will be set up at national and state levels respectively. They will be co-chaired by
the NPD, Planning Commission and UNDP and comprise designated representatives from
NPC, UNDP and representatives from Responsible Parties. The PSC will:
 Ensure that project goals and objectives are achieved in the defined timeframe;
 Review project progress and suggest implementation strategies periodically;
 Review project expenditures against activities and outcomes; and
 Approve Annual and Quarterly Work Plans.

The PSC will be the group responsible for making, by consensus, management decisions for
the project and holding periodic reviews. In order to ensure UNDP’s ultimate accountability,
the final decision making rests with UNDP in accordance with its applicable regulations, rules,
policies and procedures. Project reviews by the SSC will be carried out on a quarterly basis
during the running of the project, or as necessary when raised by the Project Manager.

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Project Management Team: Project management arrangements will be agreed upon with the
Implementing Partners.
A Programme Management Team headed by a Project Manager will be established under the
project for national level activities being implemented by NPC as well as oversight of state
partnerships. A full-time Project Manager will be designated by the NPC or recruited on
project funds by the NPC for the day-to-day management; monitoring and review of project
activities; coordination with Responsible Party (ies) and different stakeholders at national and
state level. The Project Manager will be accountable to the NPD and PSC and will prepare the
Annual Work plans (AWP) to deliver on project objectives and submit it to the PSC for
approval. The Project Manager will ensure that the project produces the results specified in
the project document, to the required standards of quality and within the specified
constraints of time and cost.

The Project Manager will prepare and submit to the NPC and UNDP the following
reports/documents: Annual and Quarterly Work Plans, Quarterly and Annual Progress
Reports (substantive and financial), Issue Log, Risk Log, Quality Log, Lessons Learnt Log,
Communications and Monitoring Plan using standard reporting format to be provided by
UNDP. S/he will ensure that responsible parties are capable of delivering outputs. S/he will
utilise her/his domain knowledge relevant to the project to establish quality standards for
delivery of outputs. S/he will provide technical guidance to the responsible parties as and
when necessary in consultation with UNDP.

The Project Manager will be assisted by other members of the Project Management team at
the national level in the day-to-day management of the project.

Above project management arrangements at national and state level will be further detailed
out in the Annual Work Plans with the implementing partners.

The recruitment and staffing process will give due attention to considerations of gender
equality, promoting diversity at workplace and will not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS
status.

Project Assurance: Project Assurance will be the responsibility of UNDP. The Project
Assurance role will support the PSC and SSC by carrying out objective and independent
project oversight and monitoring functions. During the implementation of the project, this
role ensures (through periodic monitoring, assessment and evaluations) that appropriate
project management milestones are managed and completed.

Project Assurance, in collaboration with the Project Manager, will convene an annual review
meeting involving the Implementing Partners and Responsible Parties to review the progress
in the previous year and approve the work plan for the coming year. The NPC will conduct
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review meetings involving the Implementing Partners and Responsible Parties to review the
progress in the previous year and discuss the work plan for the coming years. An
independent external review may be conducted through resource persons/groups to feed
into this process. Project Assurance and Project Manager will meet quarterly (or whenever
guidance/decision is required by an implementing agency).

Funds Flow Arrangements and Financial Management:

The Implementing Partner will account for funds received from UNDP as per the respective
signed AWPs. The UNDP country office may provide, at the request of the Planning
Commission, specific support activities to the project, towards which UNDP will charge
implementation support services (ISS) as per UNDP rules and regulations. The Implementing
Partner(s) may enter into an agreement with UNDP for the provision of implementation
support services (ISS) by UNDP in the form of procurement of goods and services. Cost
recovery for ISS will be charged as per UNDP rules and regulations and the details will be
outlined in the budgeted AWPs for each year.
Planning Commission may request UNDP to proceed directly with payments to
vendors/Responsible Parties on certification of completion of activities. Combined Delivery
Reports reflecting expenditure under the project will be signed quarterly and annually by
UNDP and Planning Commission. Unspent funds from the approved AWPs will be reviewed
in the early part of the last quarter of the calendar year and funds reallocated accordingly. The
detailed UNDP financial guidelines will be provided on signature of the project.

Up to 1% of the total project budget will be allocated for communication and advocacy
activities undertaken by UNDP.

Interest Clause: A separate Savings Bank Account will be opened in the name of the project
and any interest accrued on the project money during the project cycle will be ploughed back
into the project in consultation with the NPC, state governments and UNDP and project
budgets will stand revised to this extent. In case there is no scope for ploughing back, the
interest will be refunded to UNDP.

Audit: The project shall be subject to audit in accordance with UNDP procedures and as per
the annual audit plan drawn up in consultation with the Planning Commission. The project
shall be informed of the audit requirements by January of the following year. The audit will
cover annual calendar year expenditure. In line with the UN Audit Board requirements for
submitting the final audit reports by 30 April, the auditors will carry out field visits during
February/March. Detailed instructions on audit will be circulated by UNDP separately and on
signature.

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8. Monitoring & Evaluation

A monitoring and evaluation system will be established to track the project’s progress at
national and state levels. It will also help identify lessons and good practices with potential
for policy advocacy and replication/scaling up in other states/regions. The monitoring tools
used will promote learning (including identification of factors that impede the achievement
of outputs). Such learning will be used to adapt strategies accordingly and avoid repeating
mistakes from the past.

The NPC and state governments will have the overall responsibility of monitoring the AWPs,
in line with the roles and responsibilities described above and through regular monitoring
visits and quarterly review meetings by the PSC. The Project Manager assisted by a team will
be responsible for overall coordination and management of project activities through
periodic field visits, interactions with state level project teams/partners and desk reviews.
S/he will also prepare and submit periodic progress reports to the PSCs. Monitoring will be an
on-going process and mid-course corrections will be made if required.

An annual project review will be conducted during the 4th quarter of each year to assess the
performance of the project and the extent to which progress is being made towards outputs,
and ensure that these remain aligned to relevant outcomes. Based on the status of project
progress, the Project Manager will prepare an Annual Work Plan for the subsequent year
which will be discussed and approved at the annual review meeting. In addition, UNDP will
commission a mid-term project review and annual management and financial audit during
the project period. In the last year, the annual review will be the final evaluation of the
project and this will involve all key project stakeholders.

A variety of formal and informal monitoring tools and mechanisms should be used by the
Project Management Team and IPs. This would include field visits as well as reports in
standard UNDP formats and as per UNDP’s web-based project management system (ATLAS).
Within the annual cycle, the Project Manager in consultation with the NPD, and UNDP will
ensure quarterly review and reporting.

9. Exit Strategy

A comprehensive exit strategy will be formulated for the gradual withdrawal of UNDP support.
This strategy will be formulated after a mid-term review of the project in discussion with
project stakeholders to decide the form of continuation of the project. Adequate mechanisms
and systems will be established for a steady and smooth transition to institutionalize key
functions in the state/national governments, platforms/networks and identified institutions
(e.g. new institutions created under the project). This may include additional capacity
development of stakeholders to undertake these functions. Further plans may also be
developed by national and state governments to move onto next steps, including
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establishing post-project monitoring/handholding mechanisms. Dissemination workshops
will be organised to share project lessons and to identify elements to be taken up on a
sustained basis by national and state governments.

The exit strategy will also allow UNDP and the Implementing Partner to withdraw from the
project in the case of risks (anticipated or unanticipated) that prevent the achievement of
project deliverables.

The Project Manager will define the process for the formal handover of project
assets/equipment, documents and files to the Implementing Partners and/or responsible
parties as per UNDP guidelines and PSC/SSC decision. A mechanism for post-project
maintenance of assets will also be established.

10. Legal Context

This document together with the CPAP signed by the Government and UNDP which is
incorporated by reference constitute together the instrument envisaged in the Supplemental
Provisions to the Project Document. Consistent with Supplemental Provisions, the
responsibility for safety and security of the IP and its personnel and property, and of UNDP’s
property in the implementing partner’s custody, rests with the implementing partner. The
implementing partner shall:

 put in place an appropriate security plan and maintain the security plan, taking into
account the security situation in the country where the project is being carried;
 Assume all risks and liabilities related to the implementing partner’s security, and the full
implementation of the security plan.

UNDP reserves the right to verify whether such a plan is in place, and to suggest
modifications to the plan when necessary. Failure to maintain and implement an appropriate
security plan as required hereunder shall be deemed a breach of this agreement.

The implementing partner agrees to undertake all reasonable efforts to ensure that none of
the UNDP funds received pursuant to the Project Document are used to provide support to
individuals or entities associated with terrorism and that the recipients of any amounts
provided by UNDP hereunder do not appear on the list maintained by the Security Council
Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999). This provision must be included in
all sub-contracts or sub-agreements entered into under this Project Brief.

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11. Budget

Project Budget
Key Activities and Deliverables
Output Amount (USD)

 Activity 1: State level Human Development 1,200,000

Reports focusing on inequalities prepared in select
States.
 Activity 2: Statistical systems strengthened to 500,000
provide HD data on an annual basis3
National and 
State policies  Activity 3: Human Development Advocacy 200,000
influenced to
improve
human  Activity 4: Research based policy advocacy 800,000
development through analytical research studies identifying
outcomes constraints in achieving inclusive growth focusing
through on social and geographical disparities.
research and
advocacy.  Activity 5: Strengthening programme 600,000
implementation through four to six high quality
research focusing on select flagship schemes
ascertaining bottlenecks in implementation and
recommending improvements in service delivery
mechanisms

 Activity 6: Capacity development for undertaking 500,000

human development oriented analysis

 Activity 7: Use of community monitoring tools 400,000
institutionalized

 Activity 8: Budget analysis of partner State 500,000

governments to achieve HD outcomes
 Activity 9: Facilitating knowledge sharing within 300,000
south-south collaboration framework
 Activity 10: Project Management, Monitoring, 500,000

3
Planning Commission and the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation may wish to consider cost
sharing for up scaling activities across the country.
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 Evaluation & Capacity Development
5,500,000

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