A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding was signed among Mahbubnagar District Collectorate, Centre for Digital Financial Inclusion (CDFI) and Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad to roll out a digital inclusion pilot project for tracking the delivery of benefits to 45 Anganwadi Centres across Mahbubnagar district.
Called the Benefit Entitlement Tracking Solution (BETS), it is a CDFI-supported pilot project to improve transparency, effectiveness and productivity through streamlined benefit delivery to its intended beneficiaries.
Mahbubnagar is one of the 250 most backward districts in the country with a population of 14,85,567 as per 2011 census data with the highest rural population of 89% in Telangana. It is also one of the nine Telangana districts to currently receive funds from the Backward Region Grant Fund Programme.
Before signing the MoU, a study of 15 Mahbubnagar anganwadis was conducted in early September by the CDFI and Aga Khan Academy at the request of District Collector Ronald Rose for modernising the services delivered to various beneficiaries served by the Anganwadis. Most challenges were related to areas of governance, service delivery and inventory management. No real time monitoring of the Anganwadis had been possible until now.
Either meal shortages or undue wastage was often noticed in the Anganwadis and the Anganwadi workers would spend more time record keeping than effectively managing their centres and helping serve women and children. As many as 14 different registers being maintained at every AWC would lead to duplication of information.
A release said that BETS was a citizen-centric, game-changing digital innovation that was intended to bring out a paradigm shift in service delivery mechanism. The pilot would be rolled out with induction training for AWC workers and helpers.
It would transform the AWCs into proactive service providers for all beneficiaries served by them, enable technology-led service processes, to help centres becoming pre-school learning centres where empowered service providers would engage children for their physical and mental development.
Importantly Anganwadis through the BETS, can become the central hub of each village social network, the release added.