In Simaria Village, Chhattisgarh, Reena Ramteke's grassroots journalism initiative brought to light significant malpractice within the Mid Day Meal Scheme. Through comprehensive community engagement and documentation, Reena's efforts led to the exposure and suspension of a corrupt teacher embezzling funds designated for children's nutrition. This intervention reinstated the scheme's integrity, directly benefiting the local primary school's students and empowering a women's collective responsible for meal preparations.
Assumptions:
- Women's collective earns $1500 per year from their work
- Nutrition benefits and increased attendance for free lunch is $25 per student
- 100 students in the primary school
- value of corrupt teachers suspension is $1500
- Awareness benefits estimated at $20 per person involved
Benefits
- Restoration of Employment for Women's Collective: Based on media reports, the women's collective earns $1,500 per year
- Increased nutrition and school attendance: the improved quality of mid-day meals leads to one additional day of school attendance per month, whose value we take at $25 per student per year for 100 students. Benefit = $25 * 100 = $2500
- Increased Accountability : The teacher who was embezzling money from the mouths of children serves as a deterrent to others and strengthens rule of law. We take its value at $1500 based on the estimated salary of the suspended teacher.
- Awareness of how to challenge injustice and make authorities responsive estimated at $20 per affected individual. Benefit = 100 * 20 = $2000
Total Benefit: $1500 + $2500 + $1500 + $2000 = $7500 per year
Counterfactual
The women's group had already filed a complaint with officials before Video Volunteers came in with their assistance. Accordingly, we believe their intervention speeded up the resolution of the issue by 6 months.
Benefit is 50% of $7500 = $3,750
Cost of Story is $1,470 , obtained by dividing the annual budget for video volunteers in 2014 ($306,281) with the total number of impact reports they produced in that year (209).
Benefit Cost Ratio is $3,750 divided by $1,470 = 2.55
Conclusion
The reform of the Mid Day Meal Scheme in Simaria Village by Reena Ramteke exemplifies the power of community journalism in combating corruption and ensuring the welfare of vulnerable populations. With a positive benefit-to-cost ratio of 2.55, this intervention showcases the profound impact grassroots advocacy can have on accountability in rural areas. The project secured the nutritional and educational welfare of children, suspended a corrupt official stealing funds earmarked for feeding children, and empowered a local women's collective, marking a commendable stride toward transparency and accountability in public welfare schemes.