Innovations

by UNICEF in South Asia A story about

three case studies

INTRODUCTION

Until recently Madhya Pradesh was one of the most dangerous parts of India in
which to give birth. But things started to improve after UNICEF began working
with the state government to help women deliver their babies under medical
supervision.

UNICEF started by piloting a series of interlinked interventions in two of the
worst affected districts. Some of these involved the use of new technology - GPS
locators were fitted into ambulances so they could be tracked, software was
developed to store and share patient information, and incubators installed in the
district hospitals for underweight or unwell babies. But other interventions were
not high-tech at all - for example UNICEF worked with the state to improve the
recruitment and training of medical staff.

The impact has been dramatic.

"Five years back every second woman was delivering at home but now eight out
of ten women are delivering at hospital, and this region of Madhya Pradesh has
recorded the lowest maternal mortality in the entire state," UNICEF Health
Specialist Gagan Gupta explained.

After proving the effectiveness of these programs, UNICEF then worked with the
authorities to replicate them elsewhere. Other Indian states have been coming
to Madhya Pradesh to see how they too can copy this approach. It's a model
example of what UNICEF is trying to achieve across South Asia: to develop new
and effective solutions to the many challenges facing the region's children and
then working with partners to expand their impact.

"If we want to reach every child, everywhere, then we need to do things
differently, and using innovation as a means to do things differently is very
important,' Karin Hulshof, the UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia,
explained. "I'm not only thinking about the electronic and the digital era, I'm
also talking about simple things we can do differently."

INNOVATION IN INDIA

Thanks to its impressive economic growth over the past two decades, India has
many very well funded social welfare programs aimed at improving the lives of
children, so UNICEF's role need not be to run its own large-scale interventions.
Instead, UNICEF can help India by developing innovative pilot projects - such as
the ones in Madhya Pradesh, that if proven to work can then be taken to scale by
the government itself.

UNICEF is in a great position to do this, according to Joaquin Gonzalez-Aleman,

the head of Policy, Planning and Evaluation at UNICEF's India office, because it is
able to draw on its experience of working at the community level to provide the
government with technical advice.

"UNICEF has its feet on the ground but we also have access to the corridors in the
ministries, so we have that added value" he said. "What we figure is that often
the best way for us to bring them that technical advice is to pilot ideas, and test
interventions, that can demonstrate results, that can then be taken up to scale
with their own funds and their own capacity and resources," he added.
Gonzalez-Aleman's team is currently monitoring innovative projects across
India, with others in the pipeline.



INNOVATION IN BANGLADESH

There's so much water in Bangladesh that it is hard to imagine that for much of
the year a lot of it is undrinkable. When it is not raining the rivers in the coastal
region become full of sea water, and the ground water is also heavily saline.

It's a problem that UNICEF is determined to tackle

"At this time of year we're in the middle of the monsoon, there is water
everywhere," Peter Ravenscroft, of UNICEF Bangladesh, explained. "But if you
come back in six months you'll find that the water around us is saline, it's unfit
for drinking, its unfit for using. During the dry season that follows, people suffer
terribly."

Now UNICEF has teamed up with scientists from Dutch company called Acacia
Water and Bangladesh's Dhaka University to address this problem.

It is a good example of what Stephen Adkisson, the Deputy Regional Director of
UNICEF South Asia, considers to be one of UNICEF's main roles - to work with
partner organizations to spot good, new ideas. "The key is to find new and
effective ways to address identified problems and one of the principal goals of
UNICEF is to keep our eyes open in the field," he said.

Together, UNICEF, Acacia Water and Dhaka University have devised a system
whereby rain water can be collected during the monsoon and then stored for
later use underground.

As it flows there, the drinking water displaces the saline ground water, and can
be pumped out later on, after the monsoon. Not only is the water cleaner and
safer than other sources but because it is held underground it is protected from
the cyclones and floods that often hit the region.

It is the first time this technique has been tried in such an environment. The first
test site was established at Assasuni, in Satkhira, close to the Indian border, in

2010. Since then, 20 test sites have been established and in September 2013
UNICEF agreed with the government to extend the project to 100 locations.


INNOVATION IN NEPAL

On September 16, 2013, the people of Chitpal, Nepal, had a massive party.
The schools were closed, and a huge tent erected on a hill overlooking the
Kathmandu Valley. There were songs, there were speeches and there was
dancing.

But this was not a festival. It was a celebration that Chitpal had become the latest
area of Nepal to be declared ODF or Open Defecation Free. It is all part of a
national campaign to persuade people to use toilets and improve sanitation and
cleanliness.

Community groups and schools are at the forefront of the campaign and
ceremonies have taken place across the country as districts race each other to be
declared ODF.

"It's just something beautiful and its something emotional and social," said
Hanaa Singer, the UNICEF Representative in Nepal. "It is a movement that has
caught the hearts and minds of the people of Nepal and something that I'm so
proud that UNICEF is associated with," she said.

One of UNICEF's main contributions has been to support schools so they can play
a leading role in the campaign. The goal is to improve the student's own
awareness of sanitation issues and encourage children to take key messages out
to the wider community where they can help change people's behavior.
This has been such a success in the districts where UNICEF first tried it, that
schools are now leading the drive to make communities ODF across Nepal.

"They are promoting sanitation and hygiene at school...with their peers and they
are working at the community level. As a group of children they visit the
households and they promote sanitation and hygiene. So they are working as
change agents," Namaste Shrestha of UNICEF Nepal said.