Social Audit Training for Women Leaders: Training of Trainers (ToT) under Project ASAP

Access to government welfare schemes often remains uneven for women from cross-regional marriages and other marginalized groups, despite the existence of multiple social protection programs. Barriers such as lack of proper documentation, limited awareness of eligibility requirements, administrative delays, and weak grievance redressal mechanisms result in systematic exclusion. These challenges highlight not only issues in accessing benefits but also weaknesses in local-level accountability, monitoring, and enforcement of scheme implementation.

In this context, social audits function as a participatory governance mechanism that enables communities to review public service delivery, verify records, and engage with state institutions in an informed and collective manner. Recognizing the need to strengthen women’s role in such accountability processes, EMPOWER PEOPLE, under Project ASAP, implemented a series of social audit trainings in December, including a Training of Trainers (ToT), aimed at building community-led capacity for monitoring welfare schemes and replicating knowledge locally.

Social Audits as a Participatory Accountability Mechanism

Social audits provide a structured, participatory approach for communities to monitor public service delivery. They allow community members to review official records, verify the accuracy of beneficiary lists, identify gaps, and engage directly with local authorities. Recognizing that women’s participation in such accountability processes is often limited, EMPOWER PEOPLE, under Project ASAP, conducted targeted social audit training interventions focused on building women-led, community-based capacity to monitor welfare schemes and train others in their communities.

Design and Scope of the Social Audit Trainings

The trainings were designed as intensive, skill-based interventions rather than mere awareness sessions. Their goal was to equip women leaders with analytical, technical, and facilitation skills to conduct social audits themselves and train others.

The sessions were held across four districts of Haryana—Yamuna Nagar, Jind, Panipat, and Karnal—bringing together women leaders actively engaged with communities facing exclusion from welfare programs.

A total of nine women leaders (Sakhi Neta) were trained as part of the Social Audit Training of Trainers (ToT). These leaders are: Alia, Ranthi, Ajanti, Ruby, Sugandha, Ombati, Menna, Chanda, and Maya.

Through this ToT, the Sakhi Neta acquired the knowledge and skills to train additional women and community members in conducting social audits, creating a sustainable, replicable model of community-led monitoring across villages.

Participants were selected based on:

• Demonstrated engagement with local communities

• Experience working with women from cross-regional marriages

• Ability to facilitate collective processes and resolve local issues

  
  

Thematic Focus of the Social Audit Training

The curriculum focused on welfare schemes critical to the social and economic security of women and low-income households, including:

• Lado Lakshmi / Ladli Behna Yojana

• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)

• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)

• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan)

• Plot Yojana

• National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)

For each scheme, participants were trained to:

• Critically examine eligibility criteria and documentation requirements

• Identify common administrative bottlenecks and errors in beneficiary lists

• Compare official records with actual ground realities

• Address challenges related to Aadhaar and Family ID linkages, incomplete applications, and delayed benefit delivery, particularly for women from cross-regional marriages

  
  

The training also oriented participants to institutional grievance redressal mechanisms at the village, block, and district levels. Emphasis was placed on collective grievance submission, accurate documentation, and systematic follow-up, ensuring social audit findings could be used as credible evidence when engaging authorities.

Role of Trained Community Facilitators

After the ToT, the nine Sakhi Neta are equipped to:

• Conduct orientation sessions on welfare schemes and eligibility criteria

• Assist in verifying documentation and identifying gaps

• Facilitate review of beneficiary lists to detect exclusion or delays

• Guide collective engagement with local governance institutions

• Serve as ongoing community resources for social audit processes

By anchoring social audits within communities, these facilitators enable sustained monitoring, localized accountability, and women-led governance, reducing reliance on external actors and strengthening community ownership.

Way Forward under Project ASAP

Building on the training outcomes, Project ASAP will transition to an implementation-focused phase:

• The trained Sakhi Neta and other community leaders will conduct hands-on social audits across villages in Yamuna Nagar, Jind, Panipat, and Karnal.

• Activities will include reviewing beneficiary lists, verifying documentation, identifying delays or exclusions, and engaging collectively with local authorities.

• Ongoing mentoring, refresher sessions, and accompaniment will ensure consistency and quality in social audit practices.

• Structured linkages will be established with Panchayats, block offices, and frontline service providers to facilitate evidence-based grievance resolution.

• Additional social audit trainings will be extended to more villages and districts, prioritizing areas where women from cross-regional marriages and other vulnerable groups face persistent exclusion.

Conclusion

The social audit trainings under Project ASAP highlight the transformative potential of women-led, community-based accountability mechanisms. By strengthening women’s technical knowledge, facilitation abilities, and capacity to train others, these interventions shift communities from passive awareness to active, sustainable monitoring of welfare schemes.

These efforts promote transparency, accountability, and social inclusion at the grassroots level, ensuring that women, particularly from marginalized groups, are able to organize collectively, engage with governance structures, and advocate for equitable access to public entitlements—making sure that no woman remains invisible, excluded, or unheard.