Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
MDG parameters of ac- % HH living in the PPs with access to 58.0 84 68.49 54
cess to improved sanitation improved sanitation (average)
and sustainable access to % HH living in the PPs defecating in open 42 16 31.50 45.7
PAGE - 2 June 2006
Table: FEEDBACK FROM USERS OF SERVICES public services. Report Card studies are not
merely a means of collecting feedback on
Agency General Households Slum Households existing situations from citizens. They are also
Usage Satisfied Dissatisfied Usage Satisfied Dissatisfied means for testing out different options that
citizens wish to exercise, individually or col-
BWSSB 84 42 18 87 62 38
lectively, to tackle current problems. For ex-
KPTCL 99 47 14 86 73 27 ample, the Bangalore study enquired into
BMP 48 41 16 63 65 35 whether citizens were willing to pay more or
Telephones 41 67 7 -- -- -- be part of citizens’ bodies made responsible
for managing garbage clearance.
Ration Shops 78 52 10 87 70 30
An important aspect of Report Cards is the
Police 7 34 26 9 25 75
credibility they have earned. The conclusions
Public Buses 82 32 18 95 83 17 in a Report Card are not based on the opin-
Hospitals 25 36 14 32 74 26
lar manner, nor based on the complaints of a
few aggrieved citizens. The methodology
BMC Schools -- -- -- 32 74 26
involves systematic sampling across all sub-
BDA 5 16 38 -- -- -- sections or strata of citizens including those
who are satisfied as well as the aggrieved
The Report Card on Public Services for the and presents a picture that includes all opinions.
Urban Poor in Mumbai This is possible because the methodology makes use of advanced
Public services are the lifeline for low-income households, espe- techniques of market research, for selecting samples, designing
cially those living in urban slums. The city of Mumbai is estimated questionnaires, conducting interviews and interpreting results. As
to have a population of 12.5 million of which 5.5 million are be- a result, the report cards are able to provide reliable and compre-
lieved to be living in slums. Slum dwellers occupy nearly 12% of hensive representation of citizens’ feedback. The Report Card
the total housing area in the city. The population density in the studies benchmark the quality of public services as experienced
slums is a phenomenal 24,300 people per square kilometre on an by citizens.
average five persons share a dwelling space of an average size of Impact of Report Cards
15 square metres. The Report Card study addressed four dominant
Civic engagement of public services has been the major outcome
themes: To what extent have urban services reached the slum
of these Report Cards. From these experiences, one could per-
population? How do slum dwellers rate these services? How did
ceive the impact at five levels:
the agencies respond to complaints and please for better services?
To what extent have initiatives of urban NGOs reached slum 1. Creating Public Awareness: The Report Card findings are
dwellers? generally publicised prominently by major newspaper.
The study was built around the initiative from the Rationing Kruti 2. Strengthening Civil Society Initiatives: The findings and
Samiti (RKS), a group of 38 NGOs and local groups in Mumbai. information provided by Report Cards have largely succeeded in
The database that emerged from the study made possible an in- catalyzing citizens to take proactive and creative steps.
depth assessment of the stress experienced by slum dwellers while 3. Mobilisation of Stakeholders: Seminars and meetings
using public services, the result of their problem-solving initiatives, are also organized in connection with the release of Report Card
hidden costs and options for citizens participation, and also pro- findings, involving local activists in civic affairs, representatives of
vided insights for follow-up action by the local NGOs. residents; associations and NGOs interested in the problems of
Building Blocks of Report Cards the urban poor.
Report Cards capture citizens’ feedback in simple and unambigu- 4. Public Accountability: Report Card studies clearly brought
ous terms by indicating their level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. to light a wide panoply of issues, both quantitative and qualitative
For example, the most basic but clear feedback that a citizen may that send strong signals to public-service providers.
give about power supply in Bangalore is total dissatisfaction. To 5. Activating Stakeholder Responsiveness: Many agen-
appreciate this feedback, we must relate it to the ratings given to cies used the Report Card findings as a diagnostic tool to trigger
other public services by the same person. For instance, water sup- off further studies and internal reforms.
ply ma be rated worse than power supply. When we look at these
There is wide international recognition for this tool the UNDP, the
two pieces of information, we can conclude that power supply
World Bank, the DFID, and Transparency International have
may be a cause of dissatisfaction, but the priority for corrective
systematically shared this tool across good governance projects
action may be on water supply. Hence measures of citizens satis-
they work with in countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, Philip-
faction across different public services constitute the core of Report
pines and Ukraine.
Card studies.
Report Card studies go into different aspects of performance in Source: Good Urban Governance Campaign—
interfacing with citizens, to provide indicators of problem areas in Article 36 by Dr. Suresh Balakrishnan and Dr. Gopakumar K.
PAGE - 4
Editorial Board
UN-HABITAT
Water for Asian Cities Programme Malay Shrivastava, Secretary, UADD, State Govt. of M.P
EP-16/17, Chandragupta Marg, Chanakyapuri Hazari Lal, Director, Govt. of India
New Delhi - 110021 (India), Tel: +91-11-42225019 / 22 Gulshan Bamra, Project Director, UWSEIP, Bhopal
Fax: +91-11-24104961, Web: www.unwac.org
Debashish Bhattacharjee, ADB, India Resident Mission
WAC Programme Project Office Aniruddhe Mukerjee, CTA, UN-HABITAT, Bhopal
E-1/191, Arera Colony, Bhopal - 462016
Madhya Pradesh, India, Tel: +91-755-2460835-36
Editor
Fax: +91-755-2460837, Email: Wac.India@unhabitat.org
Kulwant Singh, CTA, UN-HABITAT, New Delhi