Social Audit Standard (SAS) 1400
Facilitating Access to Land and Property Assets for disadvantaged Communities
(SAS 1400 should be read in conjunction with “Preface to the Social Audit Standards” and “Framework for
the Social Audit Standards”, issued by the ICAI)
SECTION I – INTRODUCTION
Objective and Scope
1.10 This Social Audit Standard relates to the thematic area of ‘’Facilitating Access to Land and Property Assets for Disadvantaged Communities”. The Standard aims to provide the Social Auditor with the necessary guidance about independent impact assessment engagement of Social Enterprises engaged in facilitating access to land and property assets for disadvantaged communities and the audit steps and procedures that should be applied while conducting the social impact assessment. The Standard sets out the minimum requirements to be followed while conducting impact assessment. Laws or Regulations may establish additional requirements which should be followed as applicable.
SECTION II – PROCESS OF SOCIAL AUDIT
Data Collection
1.20 The stakeholders that may be approached for obtaining data include:
- Direct beneficiaries e.g., Trainees, Participants, Attendees
- Guardians of the direct beneficiaries
- Trainers imparting training
- Management personnel of Training Partners (such as banks, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) /Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), etc.)
- Monitoring Agency
- Employers
- Key program officials of the reporting entity
- The overall activity of conducting a survey and collecting sample data should be reviewed in terms of the following factors to assess relevance and reliability:
> designed by an in-house team or external specialized agency
> conducted by an in-house team or external specialized agency
> coverage: number of villages/districts/ total distance (kms) covered
- The sample chosen for conducting the survey by way of Questionnaires, In-depth Interviews (IDIs), Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) shall be fairly representative of the diverse target communities and geographies, in order to cover a wide range of the stakeholders involved and give due representation to each category. Each such category should be analysed to assess the percentage composition represented by it, for e.g., disadvantaged communities/sections including but not limited to SCs, STs, OBCs, special needs/ disabled, women, elderly, children, and at-risk adolescents.
- The assessment rate or the response rate is the number of actual responses received against the targeted number of respondents in the survey. A high assessment rate shall provide reasonable assurance that most of the targeted respondents have been largely covered under the survey and that the sample responses considered for the study are fairly representative. Identify the reasons for the gap between respondents contacted and responses received. Such gaps may be due to the candidates not being reachable, or the respondents having migrated to another place or due to incorrect contact details in the database.
- The Social Auditor should review the procedure for identifying the participants considered for the sample study. The respondents targeted for the survey should be selected on a random basis so that the incidence of biased responses, which may unfairly influence the impact assessment, is mitigated.
Desk Review
1.30 The Social Auditor should conduct a desk review of existing documents to gain further insight into the evaluation procedure and impact assessment. Such documents, about facilitating access to land and property assets for disadvantaged communities, may include the following:
- Enrolment form of trainees
- Course books for trainees
- Feedback form by trainees
- Advertisement – leaflets/newspaper
- Attendance registers of trainees
- Video/Audio recordings of IDIs/FGDs
- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the reporting entity and the training partners
- Attendance registers of trainers
- Photographs of passed-out trained batches
- Current status of trainees
- Curriculum Vitae of existing trainers (such as Banking Associates, Lokhpals, Tahsildar, Naib Tahsildar, Patwari, Talati ) to assess their qualification and expertise
Inspection & Personal Interviews
1.40 Besides desk review, the Social Auditor should also consider conducting physical inspection and personal interviews to get firsthand assessment of impact.
Evaluation Questions
1.50 The Social Auditor should review the evaluation questions addressed through Questionnaires, IDIs, and FGDs to assess the responses received from various stakeholders and to understand what has changed. This would help the Social Auditor in forming the views on the following aspects:
- Did the target people attend the awareness Campaigns/ programmes/ workshops?
- Do they think differently after the awareness Campaigns/ programmes/ workshops?
- Did they learn something they did not know?
- Did they use/apply the knowledge and gain from it?
- Did they share it with others?
Such questions, in relation to facilitating access to land and property assets for disadvantaged communities, may cover the following aspects:
(a) Composition of the participants
-
- Whether the program objectives were found to be consistent with the composition of the trainees?
(b) Quality of awareness Campaigns/ programmes/ workshops
-
- How was the quality of awareness Campaigns/ programmes/ workshops that was imparted?
- Were the participants satisfied with the awareness Campaigns that they received?
- Has the training been useful to their present engagements?
- Are the participants satisfied with the assessment procedure?
- What was the frequency of awareness Campaigns once a target group was identified? Was there a follow – up session / engagement activity to assess implementation of the awareness Campaigns?
- Were the concerns / issues of the target group adequately addressed in future awareness Campaigns sessions?
- Were suitable solutions provided during future awareness Campaigns sessions?
(c) Socio-economic factors
-
- What impact did the program have on a person’s life after receiving awareness Campaigns?
- Has the training improved the well-being of the participants?
(d) Suggestions / Feedback
-
- What were the constraints or challenges faced in imparting the awareness Campaigns?
Key Metrics for Evaluation of Project/ Program
1.60 The Social Auditor should review the project/ program documents to frame the evaluation criteria for assessing impact. Such key metrics may be collated from base-line, mid-line (monthly/quarterly) and end-line assessment (if available), respectively at the beginning, middle and end of the reporting period/project/program to effectively understand and evaluate the impact.
The evaluation of the program/ project information would facilitate the Social Auditor to assess:
- What would have happened in the absence of the intervention?
- How much has the project contributed to the changes that are evidenced?
- Is there any unintended negative impact that happened due to the intervention?
Such information, about facilitating access to land and property assets for disadvantaged communities, may include the following points in respect of the beneficiaries covered under the survey:
(a) Composition
-
- Demography, Social Background of the beneficiaries- e.g., Age wise distribution, Marital status, qualification, social category wise distribution, representation/participation by women
- Ancestral background of the trainees/participants
- Selection process of the trainees/participants and identification of training needs
(b) Training aspects
-
- Relevance and usefulness of skill training
- Nature of training imparted
- Duration of training and its sufficiency
- Area of operation i.e., village, block, district level
- Sectors of training such as financial inclusion, land and property rights, government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), for remunerative price for their produce, program like Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA), MSP etc.
- Courses of training
- Certification/assessment test
- Trainer’s competencies
- Quality of the delivery mechanism
- Training infrastructure & equipment
- Apart from training, a Social Enterprise may be engaged in creating or improving access to finance/credit facilities like-
- Arranging for / Improving access to microfinance / farm loans, etc. – Increase in annual production
- Arranging for / Improving access to Agri Insurance – Improvement in insurance coverage
- Arranging for / improving access to Government Benefit schemes. – Reduction in cost of production
- Arranging for / Improving access to judicial services in land related transactions and reducing conflicts
- Arranging for / Improving access to legal assistance to marginalized groups -Reducing unlawful burden on family income/ property
- Improvement in the title ownership of women
- Arranging for / Improving access to formalization of lease/agreement, and tenants’ rights, and reducing informal type of lease/agreement
- Arranging for / improving active access to as members in residents’ welfare associations
- Designing training programs specifically for members of the disadvantaged communities to facilitate access to credit to acquire and protect land and property assets
- Awareness programs for empowering women regarding legal rights to ownership of productive assets
- Awareness programs for the rights of the disabled and the facilities needed by them to improve their property access / ownership
- Awareness programs for the members of the disadvantaged communities to create awareness on owing the land and property assets and how these assets help to ensure their families mitigate some of life’s most difficult challenges
(c) Socio-economic factors
- Status of beneficiaries before receiving training
- Socio-economic improvement
- Livelihood creation
- Increase in income
- Improved facilities at home
- Improved ownership of assets
- Changes in socio-economic factors – acceptance / respect in the village/society, economic condition, health condition, confidence level, purchasing power, earning avenues
- Changing societal perceptions among communities that women are incapable of managing productive assets, such as land and property independently to facilitate inclusive growth and equal access to opportunities and resources for all segments of society.
- Changes / improvement in Human capabilities
- Changes / improvement in Physical capabilities
- Changes / improvement in financial capabilities
(d) Other Factors
-
- Holistic development
- Entrepreneurial skill development
- Extra-curricular programs offered
- Amenities/resources provided
- Impact on indirect beneficiaries
- Improved access to financial resources
- Reach of Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) /Regional Rural Banks/Cooperative Credit Institutions/Commercial Banks/Financial institutions.
- Informed decisions over asset creation
- Improved credit distribution
- Improvement in the technical support for the access of these services
- Improvement in share of collateral free loans
- On time repayment of credit
Assessment of Evaluation Criteria (Illustrative Key Performance Indicators)
1.70 The Social Auditor should identify the quantitative and qualitative evaluation criteria against which the impact has to be assessed.
Such criteria for facilitating access to land and property assets for disadvantaged communities may broadly include any of the following aspects:
|
S. No |
Evaluation Criteria |
| (A) | Quantitative Criteria |
| 1 | No. of beneficiaries from deprived / disadvantaged sections of society, rural or backward areas to total beneficiaries enrolled |
| 2 | No. of female/women participants to total beneficiaries enrolled |
| 3 | No. of beneficiaries successfully certified in their program of choice to total beneficiaries enrolled |
| 4 | No. of training hours i.e., training hours offered per week |
| 5 | No. of days of training offered by the institute for the year as well as for the course duration |
| 6 | Enrolment fees charged from participants on subsidized basis and comparison with average fee in general |
| 7 | No. of participants who are provided partial/total scholarship to total beneficiaries enrolled |
| 8 | Trainer attendance rate during the reporting period to assess the average number of absentee days |
| 9 | Participant attendance from disadvantaged communities’ rate to assess the average number of absentee days |
| 10 | Participant–Trainer ratio: No. of participants from disadvantaged communities per trainer |
| 11 | Number of participants from disadvantaged communities receiving vocational or technical training to total participants enrolled |
| 12 | Participants drop-out rate i.e., percentage of participants who had enrolled for the program but dropped out before its completion and no. of dropped participants enrolled back |
| 13 | No. of caregivers trained who are responsive to needs in early childhood care in preschools, day-care etc. |
| 14 | Increase in the number of assets owned by the target group in the period of assessment, be it land, house, property, equipment, vehicles, etc. |
| 15 | Number of loans granted by microfinance institutions to facilitate access to land /property |
| 16 | Number of judicial cases pursued to establish rights of disadvantaged individuals over property |
| 17 | Number of property records made accessible to the target group |
| 18 | Number of beneficiaries of Government benefit schemes facilitated by the Social Enterprise |
| 19 | Number of asset/ agri insurance policies facilitated |
| 20 | Increase in financial inclusion – number of bank accounts opened, Jan Dhan Yojana, direct credit transactions by Government |
| 21 | Number of legal advisory transactions facilitated |
| 22 | Increase in rent transactions of land or property within target group during the period of assessment |
| 23 | Number of individuals provided with accommodation after natural disasters / accidents |
| 24 | Number of individuals relocated after redevelopment / community building projects / Number of such projects initiated / completed |
| 25 | Number of change vectors and their man hours applied in pursuing social reforms |
| 26 | Number of disabled persons benefitting from the program as compared to the total number of beneficiaries of the program |
| (B) | Qualitative Criteria |
| 1. | Demographic Profile
|
| 2. | Factors affecting access to financial services
|
| 3. | Improvement in Economic conditions – Beneficiaries becoming financially self-sufficient and having better access to facilities through improved purchasing power, post completion of training.
The following indicators may be used to assess the same:
|
| 4. | Improvement in Social conditions – Improvement in social status and social acceptance, social prestige among peers and neighbours, gaining respect in society post completion of training |
| 5. | Improvement in access to services and utilities
The following indicators may be used to assess the same:
|
| 6. | Improvement in prospects
The following indicators may be used to assess whether:
|
| 7. | Access to financial services
|
| 8. | Assets ownership distribution
|
| 9. | Access to Government scheme and programs
|
| 10. | Holistic Development–In contrast to a purely academic program, whether the need for the overall development of the participants is also addressed through:
|
| 11. | Property and Land Rights
|
| 12. | Loss of land and property assets
|
| 13. | Assessment of loss/affected asset
|
| 14. | Measurement of the extent of financial exclusion
|
| 15. | Transportation
Transportation facility provided to participants who requested or needed it. Details on the service provided, such as no. of participants from disadvantaged communities who were provided transportation, eligibility criteria, bus capacity, ridership, safety etc. |
| 16. | Quality of training imparted
Qualification and experience of the trainers to assess their competence, skill, expertise and the quality of delivery |
| 17. | Basic facilities at the training centers
Basic amenities such as the provision of chairs, desks, toilets, safe drinking water, etc. should be assessed |
| 18. | Training Resources provided
Availability of textbooks, note-books, study material, digital training resources, library books for participants from disadvantaged communities should be assessed |
| 19. | Spirit of Entrepreneurship
Whether the focus on entrepreneurship is covered in the course curriculum to enable the trainees to develop a broad outlook and become self-reliant |
| 20. | Creating lifelong learners
Provision of developing a lifelong learning mindset to equip the beneficiaries to enhance their capabilities to be future ready, from a livelihood perspective |
| 21. | Creating Physical Capabilities
Improvements in assets can create physical access to markets, access to basic services, provide shelter and safety, and promote nutrition |
| 22. | Developing Human Capabilities
Improvement in assets can provide access to information and knowledge, connecting disadvantaged poor households with their social networks, promotes education and training, promotes psychological and emotional wellbeing of poor people |
| 23. | Access to financial resources
Improvement in access to productive assets can increase incomes for poor people, can diversify income streams of poor people, encourage the adoption of risk mitigation practices, and households can liquidate non-productive assets to cope with shocks |
SECTION III – ASSESSMENT OF CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS
Challenges/Areas for improvement
1.80 The Social Auditor should identify the challenges faced by the stakeholders and the areas for improvement based on the suggestions and feedback received from them, which might influence the impact assessment. Some of the examples of commonly faced issues about facilitating access to land and property assets for disadvantaged communities may include the following:
- Insufficient number of training equipment available for training programmes
- Training on obsolete equipment
- Residential accommodation not being made available
- Candidates not being able to finish the training due to family problems
Any significant issues during the assessment, that may influence the user of the Impact Assessment in decision making, should be highlighted by the Social Auditor in the Social Audit report.
Limitations of the assessment
1.90 The Social Auditor should identify the inherent limitations of the evaluation process which might influence the impact assessment. Some of the examples of facilitating access to land and property assets for disadvantaged communities may include the following:
- Cases of no-response in case the questionnaire is not administered in person
- Some of the questions being skipped by the respondents and remaining unanswered
- Non-availability of respondents due to relocation to other places after completion of the course
- Change in contact details of respondents due to which they could not be contacted
Any significant limitations observed during the assessment, that may influence the user of the Impact Assessment in decision making, should be highlighted by the Social Auditor in the Social Audit Report.
SECTION IV – APPENDIX
Taxonomic classification of areas and sub-areas for social objectives
(relating to Facilitating access to land and property assets for disadvantaged communities)
|
Sr. No. |
Areas | Sub-areas |
| 14 | Facilitating access to land and property assets for disadvantaged communities | Undertake reforms to ensure access and timely availability of financial services, and affordable and adequate credit facilities to disadvantaged communities/ sections (including but not limited to SCs, STs, OBCs, special needs, women, elderly, children, and at-risk adolescents) |
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