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How to overcome the governance challenges of implementing NREGA

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  • Raabe, Katharina
  • Birner, Regina
  • Sekher, Madhushree
  • Gayathridevi, K.G.
  • Shilpi, Amrita
  • Schiffer, Eva

Abstract

Large-scale social safety net programs such as Indias National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) are difficult to implement due to governance challenges related to elite capture, leakages, and corruption. The ability to identify how the governance challenges of program implementation can be met requires detailed insights into the actual process of program implementation, with clear views on the source of leakage and mismanagement, the sensitivity of program implementation to the influence of different actors, local power structures and informal bureaucratic processes. This paper uses a new participatory research method, referred to as Process-Influence Mapping, to shed light on these issues and related governance challenges, using the implementation of NREGA as an example. The Process-Influence Mapping tool helps identify the specific features of the NREGA implementation process that limit the programs effectiveness (for example, elite capture in the definition of work and capacity limitations due to staff shortages and lack of training) and create scope for the misappropriation of funds. The insights gained can be used to identify policy options for reforming the administrative process of NREGA implementation so as to create an effective social safety net.

Suggested Citation

  • Raabe, Katharina & Birner, Regina & Sekher, Madhushree & Gayathridevi, K.G. & Shilpi, Amrita & Schiffer, Eva, 2010. "How to overcome the governance challenges of implementing NREGA," IFPRI discussion papers 963, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:963
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    2. Latynskiy, Evgeny & Berger, Thomas, 2016. "Networks of Rural Producer Organizations in Uganda: What Can be Done to Make Them Work Better?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 572-586.
    3. Chapoto, Antony & Zulu-Mbata, Olipa & Hoffman, Barak D. & Kabaghe, Chance & Sitko, Nicholas & Kuteya, Auckland & Zulu, Ballard, 2015. "The Politics of Maize in Zambia: Who holds the Keys to Change the Status Quo?," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 212905, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    4. Das Tushar Kanti, 2016. "Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as Social Safety Net: Analysis of Public Works in Odisha, India," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 16(4), pages 337-360, December.
    5. Kartik Misra, 2022. "No employment without participation: An evaluation of India's employment programme in eastern Uttar Pradesh," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(6), November.
    6. A. Amarender Reddy & Namrata Singha Roy & Divya Pradeep, 2021. "Has India’s Employment Guarantee Program Achieved Intended Targets?," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, October.
    7. Kumeh, Eric Mensah & Kyereh, Boateng & Birkenberg, Athena & Birner, Regina, 2021. "Customary power, farmer strategies and the dynamics of access to protected forestlands for farming: Implications for Ghana's forest bioeconomy," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
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    9. Armando Barrientos & Sony Pellissery, 2012. "Delivering effective social assistance: does politics matter?," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-009-12, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    10. William Ascher, 2023. "Coping with the ambiguities of poverty-alleviation programs and policies: a policy sciences approach," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(2), pages 325-354, June.
    11. Ronit Mukherji, 2019. "Local Leadership and Public Good: Evidence from The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in India," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 17(2), pages 311-329, June.
    12. Birner, Regina & Okumo, Austen, 2011. "Challenges of Land Governance in Nigeria: Insights from a Case Study in Ondo State: Insights from a case study in Ondo state," NSSP working papers 22, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. Sanjiv Kumar & S Madheswaran, 2019. "Social audit of MGNREGA - A panacea or a placebo? Issues and ways forward in Karnataka," Working Papers 457, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.
    14. Thomas Daum & Regina Birner, 2017. "The neglected governance challenges of agricultural mechanisation in Africa – insights from Ghana," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(5), pages 959-979, October.
    15. Kartik Misra, 2019. "No Employment without Participation : An Evaluation of India's Employment Program in Eastern Uttar Pradesh," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2019-13, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    16. Latynskiy, Evgeny & Berger, Thomas, 2012. "An Agent-Based Network Approach For Understanding, Analyzing And Supporting Rural Producer Organizations In Agriculture," 52nd Annual Conference, Stuttgart, Germany, September 26-28, 2012 137383, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    17. Aberman, Noora-Lisa & Edelman, Brent, 2014. "Challenges to Soya Export Promotion in Malawi: an Application of Net-Map in International Trade and Policy Reform," Conference papers 332472, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    18. Latynskiy, E. & Berger, T., 2013. "An agent-based network approach for understanding, analyzing and supporting rural producer organizations in agriculture," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 48, March.
    19. Girish Kumar Agrawal, 2019. "Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: Design Failure, Implementation Failure or Both?," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 44(4), pages 349-368, November.

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