The Fellowship to Improve National Schemes (FINS) is an effort designed to support activists and organisations working to improve NREGA and other public services. We have developed this programme in partnership with the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) and are collaborating with them in 26 blocks across Rajasthan, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. We are also collaborating with PRADAN in a few blocks of Jharkhand. Fellows will be nominated by the partners and supported by LibTech.
Through comprehensive lessons, fellows can learn about bottlenecks that arise at each stage of NREGA. We have also designed a data dashboard, that can help fellows easily understand the scale of the issue where they work. We also provide tools that fellows can use to conduct surveys, analyses, and appeal to the government to resolve issues.
We want to ensure that through the fellow’s work, a culture of using technology and data mindfully can be inculcated at the panchayat level and beyond. We hope that as a result of our work, more projects get taken up which are more in line with the panchayat’s civil and ecological needs. The larger goal is for this to strengthen local governance, and improve the economic, social, and political condition of the community, especially the most vulnerable sections.
Here is the NREGA Data Dashboard that provides easy-to-understand data about the blocks the Fellows are working in. The Dashboard is constantly under construction, and more data and content will continue to be added.
This is a short prospectus prepared for the Fellowship.
As part of the FINS content, LibTech is producing videos on different aspects and problems of the NREGA process. These videos will be uploaded to our YouTube channel, in English, Hindi, and other regional languages.