Social Protection Strategy Unit

Health and Nutrition Conditional Cash Transfer Program For Social Protection Strategy Unit (SPSU)

Health and Nutrition Conditional Cash Transfer (HNCCT), a program for Mother and child, sponsored initiative by World Bank was awarded to Sapphire Consulting Services (SCS) for development of a comprehensive MIS and a mobile application

Business Objective

Government, with financing of World Bank, initiated a HNCCT program for mother and child. Under this program, pregnant mothers would get registered in government health centers where free treatment facilities would be provided in accordance with WHO standards. Regular stipend was to be provided to cover the expenses of traveling, before and after birth of child, along with child expenses up to 2-years. 

Challenges

Service was to be provided in very remote areas where data connectivity was patchy and hence difficult to update the central database. Also, unavailability of IT infrastructure and well-trained staff in those areas restricted the smooth operation of the system. Awareness amongst the locals about this program was also needed to be worked upon. Due to unavailability of bank accounts for each pregnant woman, cash disbursement in a transparent manner was also very difficult to ascertain.

Solution

A web-based Management Information System (MIS) along with a Mobile application was developed to run the program. The enrollment was the initial starting process of the business flow. Biometric verification was performed at the time of enrollment and National Identity Number entered against it for proper verification. 

Mobile application was used by healthcare workers in both offline and online modes depending on availability of network. The APP was used in the field for registration or to capture the details of the visit by the expecting mother or new born. Payment was conditional upon verification of the subject at the time of visit to healthcare professional. This payment was sent to a branchless digital banking provider, which after verification based on National Identity Cards (NIC), dispersed the amount to beneficiaries. The mobile app had the capability of syncing up with the MIS database whenever it found connectivity.

The web-based MIS consisted of customized dashboards. Reports were used to facilitate evidence-based decision making related to cash and grants management. There was also a “Grievance Redressal Module” that facilitated the authorized user to enter and track the different sort of issues or complaints faced by beneficiaries. These issues were then resolved by following the documented guidelines.

Business Outcomes/Results

• Cash transfer via branchless banking in a transparent manner enhanced the credibility and success of the program.
• Cash incentives and SMS based reminders ensured timely visits of expecting mothers to healthcare professionals.
• MIS dashboard ensured informed decision making by the management

Technology

PHP Laravel with micro-service architecture and MySQL Database