Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions Private Limited (HESPL)

In Bangladesh, the government spends an average of  $4 billion annually (or 2 percent of the gross domestic product) – to implement a large number of social safety net initiatives. These are intended for people living below the poverty line, urban poor, the elderly, widows who are among the most vulnerable sections of the society. Most of these beneficiaries are not aware of the schemes that they are eligible for and do not know the process of applying for them. At Haqdarshak, we have created a technology solution through which we make it easy for citizens to access and apply for these schemes. We train rural entrepreneurs selected from the community to use our technology and help citizens learn about the eligible schemes and provide them last-mile support with the application process. These rural entrepreneurs in turn earn a livelihood in this process. 

As of 2018, there are around 22 million Bangladeshis who live below the poverty line and the country ranks 136 out of 188 countries in the 2017 Human Development Report. To lift people out of poverty, the Bangladeshi government spends a significant amount each year ( $4.3 billion in FY 2019) through social protection programs, allowances and education, and health incentives. However, a World Bank study states that these initiatives are hampered by fragmentation, poor targeting, inefficiency, and leakage. Since scheme resources are handled by numerous ministries, there is often duplication of program objectives and beneficiaries which makes it complex for people to understand and cumbersome to apply. Poor targeting implies that the resources allocated end up in the hands of those who are not even eligible for it. A report from the UN mentioned that out of the 97% adivasis eligible for benefits, only 3% received any kind of benefits. This is partly due to unawareness of social protection programs, its eligibility and partly due to discrimination and corruption. Social safety initiatives are crucial for poverty reduction and improving gender outcomes and therefore it's imperative that the maximum number of eligible beneficiaries receive the benefits 

We will be working directly with people living below the poverty line, the urban poor, vulnerable sections of the society such as the elderly and widow, disabled, Adivasis and children of these groups. Through our intervention, they will be able to access government and non-government schemes that can provide them financial support and improve their overall wellbeing through schemes targeted towards health, food security, education, financial inclusion, livelihoods, etc. 

HESPL is a technology startup that has developed a mobile and web application to bridge the gap between citizens and their eligible welfare schemes and entitlements. The mobile is used to screen citizens i.e collect key citizen information. Based on the data entered, the app shows government and private welfare schemes the citizen is eligible for. This eligibility is determined by our rule-mapping system which is updated by a team of researchers. This is primarily done to plug the information gap between citizens and their entitlements, which in this case are welfare schemes. Since internet connectivity and the use of smartphones has not heavily penetrated rural regions, we train community-level field workers—who we call as Haqdarshaks —to use our app (which is available in local language and works offline). These field workers, go door to door and screen citizens, explain the eligible schemes and help in the application process, charging a small fee. 

This model:

1. Enables citizens to benefit from direct and indirect financial support from the government thus promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

2. Provides livelihood opportunity for Haqdarshaks who were earlier either unemployed or were not earning enough from the work they were doing.

3. The technology ensures that all information is transparent and available for the stakeholder to review and understand the impact.

What differentiates our solution is :

1) The possibility to create a single comprehensive repository of welfare schemes with eligibility rules and information that can serve as a single stop for all. At present, there is no such repository provided either by the Bangladesh government or by any private entity 

2) A mobile app that promotes an entrepreneurship model, ensures scale and sustainability and enhanced reach of information and awareness drastically especially to the rural areas

 3) Creation of a comprehensive repository of citizen data that can be used for various predictions and trends without compromising on privacy 

4) Use of all the collected information towards advisory and advocacy to better determine and define welfare programs that are effective.

Over the last 2.5 years we trained over 4000+ entrepreneurs across 20 Indian states who have collectively reached out to over 210,965 citizens educating them about their eligible welfare schemes. On an average the Haqdarshak entrepreneurs earns Rs3000-4000 ($41-55) a month, which in the rural area is a sizeable additional income. They have helped submit applications for over 60,000 schemes and channelised over Rs200 crore ($29 million+) worth of government funds. Through these schemes citizens have got access to subsidised healthcare, scholarships, free electricity, housing, subsidised loans, financial assistance for business, among thus. The end goal is to uplift these citizens socially and economically

The current number of people we are serving: 210,965

The number we’ll be serving in one year: 1,000,000

The number we’ll be serving in five years: 10,000,000+

There are 22 million people in Bangladesh who live below the poverty line as of 2019. In the next one year, we want to reach 50,000 citizens and help them apply for at least one welfare scheme. The difficulties in operations faced in some parts of  India are quite similar to the ones in Bangladesh. Having gained an in-depth understanding of the Indian landscape, we think that within the next two years we will be able to reach 1 million people in Bangladesh and can reach 10 million people in the next five years.  We are currently working on a citizen facing app in India which we want to develop for citizens in Bangladesh too. We would want to expand into new financial inclusion related products and services that promote inclusive and equitable growth among the economically disadvantaged. 

1) Since we are working in a low income country, and our model is based on pay per service, there could be initial resistance from citizens to pay: We are working on models where the screening (first step of scheme information, eligibility-wise) is free.

2) Building trust will be an issue in Bangladesh because citizens are providing personal and critical information and documentation to a company coming from another country: We are partnering with large organisations and CSR firms which have worked in those communities and have a trusted presence and will be able to provide us with their network and support.

Answers written in the above question

Bangladesh has a strong presence of local NGO network which will be leveraged by us to reach out to citizens. In order to expand, we will focus on:

1. Creating a platform where all welfare schemes pertinent to Bangladesh will be digitised

2. Developing eligibility mapping so that based on the questions answered, the citizens will be able to see the schemes they are eligible for 

3. Post that, we will start operations starting from regions where our partners have a trusted presence and will be able to provide us with their network and support.

125 full-time employees.

Our core management team is a mix of talented and passionate professionals. Aniket Doegar, our CEO and co-founder has been a Teach for India fellow and has over 10 years of experience in the development sector. Asha Krishnan, co-founder and chief program officer, has over 25 years of experience in the IT sector and has worked for 4 years on the ambitious Aadhaar project - the world's largest biometrics program. Our CTO, Ashwin Gayatri is an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and has more than 25 years of tech experience. Madhura Karnik, our Chief Growth Officer who leads partnership is a graduate of the City University of New York and has worked with S&P, Bloomberg, Reuters and Atlantic Media in the past. All of them bring to the table a common passion and vision of creating impact in a sustainable and scalable manner. 

Our major non-government partners include TATA Trusts, Save the Children, PRADAN, Swades Foundation, Crisil Foundation, DHFL Foundation, JSW Foundation, Tata Power, Ambuja Cements Foundation, ITC, Godrej Properties, Mann Deshi Foundation, UNDP, Aga Khan Foundation,  and J-PAL among others.

In addition to the formal agreements stated above, HESPL has also received support from a number of key officials in the Government commending us for our work. Some of these include the Secretary to the Chief Minister, Rajasthan, and the Secretary to the Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh.

Livelihood Model: Haqdarshak partners with organisations or CSR departments who want to see an impact in communities in specific geographies. We work with local communities to identify Haqdarshaks (village level entrepreneurs) who we train, and pay a fixed stipend per month. In this model, the partners will be charged a cost per family and training cost, which will cover HESPL’s outgoing costs

Direct Implementation Model: In this model, HESPL partners with corporates in the manufacturing or construction sector, as these have a large captive labour force. The intent is to work directly with this workforce and help them apply for schemes or documents. HESPL charges the partner (company in this case) a fixed amount per worker. This amount typically covers the screening cost, and the cost to apply for any two schemes/documents pre-decided by both the parties 

The Haqdarshak Public Platform :  HESPL has launched a micro-pilot in 4 cities of India through our website: www.haqdarshak.com. Urban citizens can screen themselves using this website and then request for Haqdarshak support and pay a fee for the service (passport applications, or renewals; driving license renewals, Aadhaar updates, higher education scholarships, insurance and investment schemes)

Key ways : 

1. Service fee from NGOs and Foundations for training their community members as Haqdarshaks.

2. Service fee from corporates for screening their labour force and getting them benefits  

3. Service fee from citizens in the urban areas for using the website and requesting Haqdarshak support 

4. Grants and support from external organizations

5. Raising capital for expansion

The Tiger IT Foundation could help us strengthen the tech platform where we digitise schemes and map the eligibility. Their tech mentoring can be a huge help. Additionally the foundation's connects with local authorities and other stakeholders in the ecosystem will be helpful.

1. Government departments

2. Research foundations

3. Corporates