SSAAT

SSAAT 

The Society for Social Audit, Accountability and Transparency (SSAAT) - Andhra Pradesh, has been set-up with a vision to uphold the concept of eternal vigilance by the people, facilitated by social activists and Government acting in conjunction.

SSAAT's mission is to promote the empowerment of rural communities directly benefiting from welfare schemes such as the MGNREGS and minimisation of leakage and wastage of public funds.

The improvement of the quality of the programme or scheme in terms of its efficacy, local appropriateness, and achievement of social objectives by developing among the beneficiaries a sense of ownership towards the programme or scheme.

What is Social Audit? 

Social audit is a process by which an attempt is made to find out whether the benefits of the project/activities reach the people for whom it is meant. It is a democratic process in which all stakeholders involved in a particular project takes part. Social audit is not only an audit of expenses or decisions but also covers the issues of equity and quality in programme implementation. It is a verification of Government records with people and the works/projects executed at the field level in great detail.

In a Social Audit, the people and the government jointly monitor the project. It brings on board the perceptions and knowledge of the people, involves people in the task of verification and also brings about much greater acceptability of the government. 

Background of Social Audits in AP 

While successive Governments till date have spent crores of rupees on poverty alleviation yet, stark poverty and inequalities remain due to the fact that intended benefits of the programs do not reach the targeted clientele i.e. the poor. There is dilution and deviation in the implementation of the programs. More often than not the targeted poor are not aware of either the objectives or elements of the program.

While streamlining of service delivery systems and ensuring that transparency and accountability are made an intrinsic part of governance, it is equally important that the poor for whom the programs are implemented are made aware of their rights and entitlements and participate in the program design, decision making processes and monitoring and evaluation of the program.It is in this context that the concept of Social Audit has become important, where in the community audits the program and its implementation. Coupled with the Right to Information Act, Social Audits have tremendous potential in bringing out and ultimately reducing corruption, malpractices and deviations and in the process cleaning up the implementation of the program.

Social Audit of the MGNREGS-AP 

An integral part of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act pertains to the role of 'Social Audits' as a means of continuous public vigilance (MGNREGA, Section 17) for ensuring public accountability and transparency in the implementation of projects, laws and policies.

The social audit process as it is being implemented in AP, includes public vigilance and verification of the various stages of implementation following which 'Social Audit Forums - Public Hearings' are organized where information is read out publicly, and people are given an opportunity to question officials, seek and obtain information, verify financial expenditure, examine the provision of entitlements, discuss the priorities reflected in choices made, and critically evaluate the quality of works as well as the functioning of the programme staff.

Thus, the Social Audit Public Hearing not only gives people an opportunity to review compliance with the requirements of transparency and accountability, but also serves as an institutional forum where people can conduct a detailed public audit of all NREGA works that have been carried out in their area since the inception of the Scheme. 

The Social Audit Process 

Social Audits are conducted for most part by literate youth (men and women) from the laborers families. The process begins with -

Drawing up the SA Schedule - The SSAAT prepares a quarterly schedule of the Social Audits that will be conducted District wise - with the names of the Mandals (Blocks) and dates.

Intimation letters - The concerned District Head and the Mandal Parishad Development Officer (MPDO / BDO) receives an Intimation letter with the details of Social Audit schedule and the records that are to be handed over to the teams.

Team Selection - Each Social Audit team that facilitates the audit of a Block / Mandal is headed by a State Resource Person (SRP) who doesn't belong to the same district. He/She has a team of 10 District Resource Persons (DRP) who don't belong to the same mandal/block, to help facilitate the Social Audit process. These teams are selected and sent in a randomized manner by the SSAAT State Office.

Identification and training the Village Social Auditors - The SRP and DRPs go into the villages of the mandal and identify active literate youth (3-4 per village) from the laborers families who are called Village Social Auditors (VSA)

Training and consolidation of records - These VSAs are trained in the Social audit processes over a three day period. Training includes main features of the MGNREGA, RTI and SA processes. They also verify and consolidate the MGNREGS records pertaining to that mandal.

Formation of Teams to do the audit - The VSAs are organized into teams with a DRP who heads the team. The DRP's role is to help facilitate the SA verification process at the village level through the VSAs. The teams are then allotted 2 Gram Panchayats to be audited.

The social audit process - At the village level the DRP and the VSAs conduct door to door verification of the muster rolls, focused group discussions and worksite verifications.

Awareness building of the rights and entitlements of the wage seekers is an important part of the SA process.

Social Audit Gram Sabha - The Social Audit verification process ends with a Social Audit Gram Sabha, which is scheduled by the MPDO through written instructions to the Sarpanch. The Social Audit Gram Sabha has an independent observer not less than the rank of a Tahsildar in front of whom the report as well as the evidence is to be finalized.

SA Public Hearing - The Social audit process culminates in a Public Hearing at the mandal level where social audit reports are read out in the presence of the labourers, people's representatives, the concerned MGNREGS functionaries and senior officers of the government. The media covers the event. All Social Audit Public Hearings are video graphed.

Presiding Officer and Decisions Taken - The Project Director, DWMA who is the Head of the Implementing Agency at the District level is the Presiding Officer at the Public Hearing. For every issue that is read out by the Social Audit Team the Presiding Officer records his or her decision/recommendation of action to Government in the Decision Taken Report.

Decision Taken Report - The Social Audit Decision taken report becomes the official Government Report and is handed over to the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) through the office of SSAAT for further action to be initiated based on the evidence in each case produced by the Social Audit teams.

7 day Follow Up and appraisals - The CVO's Office ensures that action is initiated within 7 days from the time that the report is handed over by the SSAAT through the District Vigilance Office (DVO).

Social Audit Reports Public Disclosure - All Social Audit reports are hosted on the SSAAT website and can be accessed through the link SOCIAL AUDIT REPORTS

Action Taken Reports Public Disclosure - All Social Audit Action Taken reports are hosted on the SSAAT website and can be accessed through the link ACTION TAKEN R.