Here’s what we should learn from the Aspirational District Program- An article by Bharatcares

Does development solely refer to economic progress, or does it also include more than that?

Nonprofits have always asked themselves the question of what development actually entails. The concept of development, including financial development and economic growth, has been and continues to be a very essential aspect in assessing the development of a country. Nonetheless, the Government of India has made several efforts to put the focus back on development and one of the flagship programs which brought a positive impact is the Aspirational District Program (ADP).

This programme, which started in January 2018 in 27 states and one union territory of India, aims to assess and enhance the quality of life for citizens in 112 districts throughout the nation. Hence, it addresses five major areas: basic infrastructure, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development, health and nutrition, and education.

The 3 C's of Aspirational Districts.

The Aspirational Districts Plan (ADP) seeks to foster a culture of change via competition, cooperation, and convergence. It is crucial to gain a thorough awareness of the present trends for the various sectors and indicators in these districts in order to evaluate the programme.

Role played by social Development Organisations in ADP

The government had concentrated specifically on the collaboration component of the scheme to harness the power of hyperlocal collaboration between local players and government, leveraging the massive power of communities and social organisations to catalyse behaviour change at scale and speed while ensuring sustainability. NITI Ayog initiated, ‘Aspirational DIstrict Collaboratives (ADC)’ in order to bring together the voices of community leaders, the energy of volunteers, the grit of committed citizens, Not for profit organisations and the ownership of local governments.

ADC builds on the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ (TAD) program launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister and led by NITI Aayog to quickly and effectively transform districts through Convergence, Collaboration and Competition. Under this program, several districts were identified based on a composite index of unique challenges faced i.e poverty, poor health and nutritional outcomes, educational status, and deficient infrastructure.

Enabling Quality Education in aspirational districts by Bharatcares

In order to encompass your contribution towards the TAD program, it was important to map out one’s strengths, expertise and capabilities to align with the objectives of NITI Ayog’s initiative. BharatCares team, for instance, carefully knitted its programs and has contributed towards the development of the aspirational district by enhancing the education status. We had established a Digital Learning Centre (DLC) in Dubalu, Nuh district, in an effort to provide quality education to marginalised students.?

Bharatcares already has 9+ active DLCs across the country and is eager to expand its existence in more locations, especially in the marginalised communities. Apart from this, we are also mapping out the opportunities for intervention and collaboration in the domain of strengthening health infrastructure and adolescents' health & nutrition in such areas, because our mission of empowering the underprivileged communities will never stops, it may change its locations or strategy but the motive to boring positive impact will remain the same.

A Better Future- Best Practices by ADP

In the course of the implementation of ADP, three best practices emerged from the programme.

1. First is the use of awareness campaigns. Many districts were able to reach out to people who were left out of the development journey through awareness campaigns. It helped create a common platform for engagement and thus helped with the integration of actors and beneficiaries.?
2. Second is the collaboration between different actors. The implementation of ADP was a teamwork of different actors who leveraged assets and networks in a collective effort. By incentivising collaboration between tiers and agencies of the government and with the private and civil society sectors, the programme facilitated the outreach capacity of the district administration in integrating the population.?
3. Thirdly, the ADP adopted a data-driven approach to drive change. The programme used data to measure impact, locate nodes for improvement and identify interventions required.?

Thus, the ADP program has intervened holistically, The achievements of ADP are not only limited to social impact, but its positive externalities have extended to economic benefits as well. The link between economic growth and development thus comes to a full circle. If economic growth can aid development, then development can also contribute towards economic growth in the long run.