Institutional Research Partners of Ministries

Ministries frequently rely on empanelled or specialised research institutions to conduct evaluation studies, including:

CSES — Centre for Socio-economic and Environmental Studies

A recognised National Level Monitor of the Ministry of Rural Development, conducting healthcare, sanitation and livelihood impact studies.

Founded in 1996, CSES is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation promoting policy- and action-oriented research, consultancy and training programmes. The Centre seeks to fill a critical gap between the academic world on one side and policy makers, opinion shapers and the general public on the other. It positions itself as a non-partisan think tank, disseminating its research through working papers, issue briefs, fact sheets, workshops, conferences and the media, with a multi-disciplinary team and experienced field teams across South India and the Lakshadweep Islands.

Policy-oriented research

CSES has produced policy-oriented studies in public finance, education, decentralisation, governance, health, disability and marginalisation. Their impacts include a new admission policy for professional education, the introduction of ‘patanaveedu’ (study homes) for children in tribal and other educationally backward households, the inclusion of forest cover as a criterion for devolution of funds through the Finance Commission, and changes in programmes related to public service delivery at state and local levels.

Evaluation & monitoring

CSES has extensive experience in impact assessments, programme evaluations and monitoring studies across livelihoods, governance and service delivery, healthcare, education, sanitation, drinking water supply and rural development. It has served as a National Level Monitor for the Ministry of Rural Development, was empanelled by the erstwhile Planning Commission, is empanelled by the Kerala State Planning Board, and is accredited by the Revenue Department, Government of Kerala, for Social Impact Assessment (SIA) studies.

Livelihoods: economic impact assessment of two disability-inclusive livelihood programmes of Leonard Cheshire, South Asia — Access to Livelihoods for Persons with Disabilities (Accenture Foundation) and Increasing Equitable Access to Livelihoods and Employment for Persons with Disabilities in India (Delegation of the European Union) — and an assessment of the Government of Kerala’s initiatives for persons with disabilities.
Governance and service delivery: baseline and endline evaluations of the World Bank funded Kerala Local Government Service Delivery Project (KLGSDP), and of the ADB-supported Service Delivery Project under Kerala’s Modernising Government Programme, covering 21 categories of public institutions.
Water and sanitation: Sustainability Evaluation of about 900 Small Water Supply Projects under the World Bank-supported Jalanidhi Phase II (household surveys of nearly 5,000 households, beneficiary group surveys, transect walks and FGDs), and Social and Technical Audits for the Impact Evaluation of the Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (Phase I) for the World Bank.
National Level Monitoring: monitoring flagship programmes of the Ministries of Rural Development and Drinking Water & Sanitation since 2012–13 across 18 districts in Tamil Nadu, 20 in Karnataka, four in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana and two in Maharashtra.
International research: represented the Indian team in the Comparative Study of the Impact of Donor-Initiated Programmes on Research Capacity in the South, sponsored by the Directorate General for International Cooperation, Netherlands.

Other notable studies by CSES include the endline evaluation of the UKAID-supported Buniyaad project in Bihar for the Aga Khan Foundation; concurrent evaluation of the National Rural Health Mission in Lakshadweep; evaluation of the Alternative Schooling System under DPEP in Kerala; evaluation of Capability Building of the Research Community under KRPLLD; impact assessment of the Thelima Health and Sanitation Programme in Schools for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan; and evaluation of the Total Sanitation Campaign in Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts.

NIEPA — National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration

A prominent institute that undertakes educational policy and programmatic research utilising Ministry-provided grant-in-aid. Research proposals are considered by a committee comprising:

Joint Secretary (Planning) — Chairman
Representative of the concerned Bureau at the level of Director / Deputy Secretary (based on the subject matter of the proposal, viz. elementary, secondary or technical education)
FA (HRD) or his nominee
Representative of the Planning Commission
Representative of NIEPA