The increasing disparities in economic and social development continue to be a challenge for India . While there is a growing discourse on social exclusion , this discourse has in large part remained limited to an articulation of who the excluded are i.e groups experiencing marginalization and deprivation based on identities of caste , ethnicity , religion , gender , occupation , and migrants , and the forms of exclusion - access to health and nutrition services and resources , discrimination within services , lack of participation and voice. There is limited articulation however , on how development interventions can ensure that marginalized groups participate in and benefit from development interventions.
 
Unicef , in its current Country Program , has mandated to place an explicit focus on reducing social exclusion. As part of this focus , Unicef aims to understand and address the underlying processes that give rise to economic and social deprivations , so that the service delivery system reaches and benefits the most marginalized and these community groups have the voice and capacity required to influence their own development. Unicef , in collaboration with the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) , Centre for Social Equity and Inclusion (CSEI) , Association for Stimulating Knowhow (ASK) , Housing and Land Rights Network and Praxis Institute for Participatory Practices , therefore seeks to identify tools or instruments that have been used by planners and practitioners to better understand and address the barriers to social inclusion.
 
There is a need to identify specific instruments , methodologies or strategies that can support development practitioners to understand and address the issue of social exclusion. The barriers to inclusion could be income poverty , lack of knowledge/information , lack of access to various health and nutrition services , active and default discriminatory attitudes that prevent participation in resource access and control , absence of agency or empowerment and absence of voice.
 
In the context of social exclusion in provision of maternal and child health and nutrition services to the marginalized , we request members to respond to the following:
 
•          What tools and instruments have helped in assessing who is excluded , how they are excluded and the cause and impact of exclusion?
(These tools could include specific instruments such as social equity audit , institutional enquiry , utilization patterns of health services , budget analysis , participatory assessments , tools for training on inclusion etc or be in the form of checklists or guidelines enabling inclusion)
 
•          What strategies have enabled the participation and inclusion of these marginalized groups towards better access to , and utilization of , these services?
 
I would request that , to the extent feasible , please send details of the tool in a format which describes it in terms of type of tool , context/applicability of use (under which conditions and with which groups) , the purpose and description of use.
 
The tools/methodologies gathered through this process will inform the development of Unicef’s next country program strategy and facilitate a strong focus on inclusion , as also facilitate planners and practitioners to use these tools to develop stronger programmes that promote the rights of the most marginalized.

Sandhya Venkateswaran, UNICEF, New Delhi