The readings this week helped analyze Impact Investment through the lens of benefits, tools, funds and stakeholders. At the end of my blog post two weeks ago, I was left with a question- Why do we still have a significant population who struggle from the very same problems the innovations promise to address?
The simple answer to this is government intervention at a grassroots level. But, this could be tricky. The readings from the report by Mckinsey & Co. “Bringing Social Impact Bonds to the US”- describes the SIB tool which allows a private investor partnership that provide funds for for non-profits to scale up and the government pays if the program succeeds.
In line with the readings from this week, I want to discuss the impact of “Amma Unavagam” - a food subsidization program run by the Government of Tamil Nadu, India- a classic case of government intervention at the grassroots level to solve a social problem.
The Story:
On February 24th,2013 the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Ms.Jayalalithaa started a new scheme called “Amma Unavagam” to provide affordable, clean and healthy food for the low-income communities of Tamil Nadu. Amma Unavagam is a chain of canteens across Tamil Nadu that helps serve this purpose. The canteens offer staple food items such as idlis (rice cakes), sambar rice (rice with lentils),curd rice etc at heavily subsidised prices. Idlis are sold at Re.1 each while sambar rice and curd rice cost Rs.5 and Rs.3 a plate respectively. And these are sold at portions. Each idli weighs 100 gms while the rice plates are of 350 gms each. Through this program, the government has successfully accomplished three goals:
a) No starvation in Tamil Nadu -Amma Unavagam sells its food at highly subsidized prices. b) Cleanliness and Hygiene : It trains its employees to ensure cleanliness and hygiene at the canteens as workers wear aprons, caps and gloves while doing all the work.
c) Employments to Women: Women workers form self-help groups have been engaged to work. Each centre provides employment to twelve ladies to help supplement their family income.
What makes these chain of canteens so successful ?
According to a conservative estimate of a Corporation official, the 200 restaurants serve two lakh peeople every day. If one were to take into account the possibility of one person coming to the restaurants more than once, the net figure is around 1.5 lakh, representing the economically weaker sections. This means the Amma Unavagams are already covering some 20 per cent of the Below Poverty Line population in Chennai – estimated at 6.5 lakh, or 10 per cent of the total city population. The nine other corporations across the State benefit another 50,000 persons.
Amma Unavagam does a great job at feeding lakhs of hungry people below the poverty line who are now better off and pocket their savings as a result of this initiative. A successful government led initiative to solve not one but several social problems through a simple approach with maximum impact on it target population, Amma Unavagam stands tall among several other public sector innovations in the country. Innovations like these help us visualize the impact of unleashing the full potential of social enterprises through government intervention. Imagine the impact!
References:
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/blogs/blog-laissez-faire/article5018479.ece
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