Performance of Women and Child Development Sector in India

As India moves forward to realise the goals of minimum government and maximum good governance, there is a need to provide focused government interventions necessitating an integrated sector-level analysis. The present sectoral evaluation aims at recommending rationalisation of schemes to strategically unlock the growth potential of the women and child development (WCD) sector while integrating different programmes and holistically approaching the sector development agenda. The evaluation covering Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) is to capture the broader canvas of effectiveness, efficiency, output, outcome, impact and the scope for skill developments, value additions, opportunities to bring innovation and sustainability across WCD schemes, thereby assessing the overall sectoral impact on the national economy. One of the focus areas of the evaluation is to assess the sector and scheme performance against various cross-sectional themes, such as convergence and implementation bottlenecks, use of information technology (IT), gender mainstreaming, and social inclusion.

The trajectory of the WCD sector and the main trends in the way women’s and children’s issues have been conceptualised in the development context in India highlight that several policy initiatives and plan interventions for the welfare, development and empowerment/protection of women and children within the framework of a democratic policy, laws and development policies (Figure 1). The women’s movement, child rights activists and a widespread network of civil society organisations (CSOs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) having strong grassroots presence and deep insight into women’s and children’s concerns have also contributed in influencing the sector’s agenda.