Baseline, Midline and Endline Survey and Study of the DFID funded Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS)

Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme is the flagship initiative of the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), partnering with civil society in India to improve the uptake of rights and entitlements by women and socially excluded communities. The PACS Programme aimed in correcting exclusion by advocating for a more socially inclusive environment. The objectives of the evaluation entail fine-tuning of the log frame indicators and developing estimates for the finalized log frame indicators.
To achieve the objectives of the study following activities were undertaken by Sambodhi:
• Demographic profile of the respondents across states was observed
• Status of uptake of entitlements in the project areas was observed
• Perception of socially excluded communities towards responsiveness of government service delivery was assessed
• Access to FRA/land reforms, MDM in schools, supplementary nutrition etc was ascertained.
• Role and status of civil society organisations in awareness generation and knowledge building was reviewed.
• Representation of socially excluded communities at different platforms was assessed.

Baseline Assessment: The state level sample has been aggregated to form the programme-level sample size of 12,276 respondents. The study required a multi-stage sampling design. So, for every state being covered, 6 districts were identified. Ensuring that at least 200-300 sample respondents are covered in every district, 42 districts were selected across all the program states. Using the PPS method, a maximum of 3 sub-district level units was selected in each of the districts. Hence a maximum of 120 sub-district level units were selected across the programme areas.
Midline Assessment: Sambodhi was engaged for midline assessment of the PACS-II Log frame. Data collection through means of Household questionnaire for 7500 respondents has been done across the seven states of operations. Subjective feedbacks and responses from all stakeholders were captured through qualitative tools like Focussed Group Discussions, In Depth Interviews and Vignettes. Sambodhi was also responsible for the data analysis and submission of the findings.
Endline Assessment: Sambodhi was engaged for Endline assessment of the PACS-II Log frame. Data collection through means of Household questionnaire for 13,075 respondents was done across the seven states of operations. Subjective feedbacks and responses from all stakeholders were captured through qualitative tools like Focussed Group Discussions, In Depth Interviews and Vignettes. Sambodhi was also responsible for the data analysis and submission of the findings.