Promoting access to public services cuts across all program interventions that help achieve results of other areas, such as on-farm and non-farm livelihood, health and nutrition, WASH, women empowerment, resilience, and youth interventions. The main intention of the activities is to ensure the sustainable impact of the program outcomes and have service providers support the poor and extreme poor even without program facilitation
To strengthen the delivery of public services from Local Government and Nation Building Departments (NBDs), the program initially organized orientations for frontline Union Parishads and staff members of different government departments such as agriculture, livestock, health, and family planning. This initiative accelerated government extension services to the poor and extreme poor individuals such as vaccination for poultry and livestock, provision of training support to farmers, and increased access to essential services.
The program trained the UP members on their roles and responsibilities as well as on good governance especially for inclusive approaches that cater to the often-excluded poor and extreme poor communities. The program provided technical support to UPs in organizing Union Development Coordination Committee meetings to discuss community concerns and demands for services from the UP and NBDs for the poor and extreme poor. As a result, poor and extreme poor communities are now receiving GoB safety net allowances such as Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), Widow Allowances, and old-age allowances from the UPs.
The Program Advisory and Coordination Committees (PACC) consisting of representatives of other NGOs, and local elected officials play a crucial role through extending collaboration and guidance to adhere to SHOUHARDO’s commitment to the community. The Community Score Cards (CSC) is a process that brings the public, the service demand side, and the government service providers together to identify the gaps for further improvement. The Program Advisory and Coordination Committees (PACC), Community Score Cards(CSC) process were found effective in leveraging services from different government departments.