No. 17-2/2014-WBP Ministry of Women & Child Development (Central Project Management Unit)

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3 No. 17-2/2014-WBP Ministry of Women & Child Development (Central Project Management Unit) Guidelines for Design and Assessment of Innovations and Pilots under the ICDS System Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP) 1. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 1.1 The IDA assisted ICDS System Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP), in its first phase aims to achieve a minimum necessary level strengthening of various systems that support the larger ICDS programme and demonstrate the efficacy of different operational/strategic approaches to improve programme outcomes, particularly nutrition outcomes. 1.2 Based on past experience in implementation in ICDS, the project envisages undertaking a few processes to be implemented at project scale (such as certain community level interventions and the incremental learning approach to strengthening supervisory interactions at all levels in the programme hierarchy), specifies certain system reforms whose implementation should be supported by the project (such as the revised MIS and its further development), and provides funding support for the development and implementation of a wide range of system and programme level innovations and pilots The last mentioned are unique in their wide scope and flexibility: in principle, any idea that can be conceptually shown to be likely to significantly transform the ability of the ICDS programme to achieve any of its stated outcomes (with a focus on nutrition outcomes) may be piloted and developed at appropriate scale, generating evidence of effect and feasibility of implementation, so that the innovation may be considered for either further development or wider implementation. The ISSNIP offers an opportunity for flexible funding of such innovations and pilots on the basis of merit of concept. 1.4 The following sections outline some essential steps in development of the innovative proposals by the States. It is expected that using this guidelines, a State or district under the project will be able to come up with a viable idea, develop a proposal for implementing and testing it, and request funding approval from the Govt. of India accordingly. The Technical Assistance Agency hired under the project is expected to assist the States at every step. 1 IDA assisted ISSNIP (Credit No IN) in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh - Administrative Approval and Guidelines MWCD, GoI (10 th January 2013) ( Page 1 of 4

4 2. WHAT KIND OF INNOVATIONS MAY BE CONSIDERED APPROPRIATE? 2.1 The following criteria will be applied when considering a proposed innovation for approval: a. Conceptual clarity and relevance: b. Detailing: Are the proposed innovations likely to lead to significantly better outcomes? Does presently available evidence support this? Are the targeted outcomes relevant to the programme? Does the proposal contain enough technical and operational details to convince that sufficient thought has been given while developing the proposal? c. Contextual specificity: Is the proposal clear about the circumstances or the context in which the proposed innovation is likely to work? Is it meant for a specific cultural or geographic context? How appropriate is the proposed innovation for the proposed context? d. Scalability: If proven effective, is the innovation likely to be scalable across the programme, in terms of budgets, levels of staff competence and required level of effort? Is it simple enough to be scalable while being rigorous enough to be effective? Is testing any of this a part of the proposal? What is the likely cost per unit (per child or per AWC) of the proposed innovation? e. Appropriateness of scale of pilot: Is the proposed scale of implementation of the innovation pilot appropriate for the proposed testing/evaluation parameters? f. Comparison to other solutions: What process/approach does the proposed innovation intend to replace or refine? What other solutions are available or known for achieving the same outcomes? Does the proposal explain why the proposed innovation may be superior to existing or known approaches? Page 2 of 4

5 3. WHAT SHOULD A PROPOSAL CONSIST OF? While a proposal for an innovation can be submitted in detail, it will be preferable to start with a brief concept note, not longer than 3-4 pages. This concept note should include the following details: a. Targeted outcome: What programme outcome will the proposed innovation improve? b. Brief description of the innovation: c. Proposed scale of innovation pilot: d. Brief description of the measurement/ assessment: What process/approach is being proposed as an innovation? Which existing part of the programme will it change or add to? Which ICDS (or other) programme functionaries will it involve? How many AWCs/blocks/districts will the pilot cover? Will there be any control or comparison group? What methods will be used? What will be the sample size? Who will assess? What parameters will be monitored and evaluated? e. Support expected: Does the State have sufficient technical capacity to carry out the pilot? How will the TA Agency of ISSNIP support? Will support be available from other institutions, agencies or development partners? f. Timelines: Details of start and end of implementation and measurements. g. Costs: Additional costs of implementation and costs of evaluation. Page 3 of 4

6 4. SUGGESTED TARGETED OUTCOMES Considering the current priorities of the ICDS programme, any of the following outcomes would be worthwhile targeting, when conceptualizing an innovation: a) Improvements in key complementary feeding and breastfeeding practices at the household level b) Reduction of nutritional anemia levels among adolescents, women and children c) Improved access to good quality nutrients for complementary feeding in poor families d) Identification and home based care of pre-term/very low birth weight newborn babies e) Timely identification and care of children with SAM, including home based care f) Improved management of child feeding during and after illness g) Improvements in food hygiene h) Improvements in general hygiene, use of toilets and access to safe drinking water i) Simultaneous improvements in access to key eligible services from multiple departments; etc. Note: The evaluation of the innovation need not include measurement of outcomes. A demonstrated clear conceptual relationship of the innovation to the targeted outcome (s) should suffice, and the evaluation may be limited to measuring relevant intermediate indicators. Page 4 of 4