CHSJ focuses on health and gender justice, with the objective of enabling good governance and accountability from the perspective of social justice. It seeks to strengthen accountability of public health systems and health governance through community empowerment, resource support, capacity building for local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), research and advocacy. CHSJ also seeks to develop ways to engage men for gender justice

1. MODEL - NON PROFIT
ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW
CHSJ focuses on health and gender justice, with the objective of enabling good governance and accountability from the
perspective of social justice. It seeks to strengthen accountability of public health systems and health governance through
community empowerment, resource support, capacity building for local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), research and
advocacy. CHSJ also seeks to develop ways to engage men for gender justice.
THE PROBLEM
Marginalized communities, including women, in India
are deprived of their basic health rights, despite
constitutional entitlement under government
schemes. This is due to structural barriers and lack of
accountability in health systems, which deny them their
dignity and rights.
CHSJ’s RESPONSE
CHSJ seeks to facilitate community-based monitoring to
leverage citizen participation in accessing health rights. It
uses community mobilization and community-based
research to advocate for the health rights of marginalized
communities in order to drive effective implementation of
the National Health Mission.
Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ)
Founded: 2006 | Head Office: New Delhi | Coverage: Pan-India | Full-Time Staff: 34
Budget (2013-14): INR 3.2 crore; Governance – INR 1.3 crore
HOW DID IT EVOLVE?
Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ)
WHAT DOES IT DO?
Forming and strengthening of Village Health Sanitation and
Nutrition Committees (VHSNCs), and Planning and Monitoring
Committees (PMCs), and training of their members.
Creating community awareness on NRHM entitlements, and roles
and responsibilities of service providers (such as ANMs).
Community enquiry and community report cards on the functioning
of the health system.
Evidence-based engagement with the public health system.
CHSJ advocates for people-oriented health governance by (1)
building capacity of communities and CSOs to monitor
implementation of public health programs, (2) community enquiry
and research to generate evidence, (3) holding events and
workshops, and using social media and technology to disseminate
research, (4) building partnerships and networks to influence policy
making, and (5) providing feedback to government on functioning of
health systems under NRHM for further improvement. Community-
based monitoring of health services is core to CHSJ’s work and
includes the following elements:
CHSJ has put together an online resource kit and a step-by-step
guide for state governments and partner CSOs that can be trained in
social accountability and community monitoring of public health
services. It has also published international papers and research
products on public health governance, health and human rights, and
accountability around health rights, among others.
Anchored the pilot of community-
based monitoring under National
Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in
nine states covering 2,500
villages; this shaped the
methodology of community
monitoring adopted by the
government under NRHM
Initiated the Rapid Assessment of
Health Program (RAHP), which
entailed building capacity of 11
CSOs to monitor implementation
of various components of NRHM
covering seven states
Conducted Phase II of RAHP,
building capacity of 19 CSOs,
and community monitoring in
reproductive and maternal
health services; launched a
citizen’s report on health
program implementation in India
compiling learnings from CSOs
across eight states
Undertook a capacity building
program for 42 CSOs across
seven states with the objective
of advocating for health rights
of the socially excluded
communities, with a focus on
primary health care
2006-2008 2008-2009 2008-2012 2012-2014
www.chsj.org
KEY INTERVENTIONS
1. Building awareness and mobilizing citizens
2. Training citizens for public engagement
3. Creating knowledge and evidence
4. Advocacy for policy design and
implementation
5. Technology platforms and solutions
6. Facilitating independent and inclusive
journalism
7. Capacity building of government officials
8. Capacity building of local partners
9. Facilitating platforms for multi-stakeholder
engagement

2. WHAT’S NEXT?
CHSJ wants to continue with its work on citizen rights for health and dignity for which accountability-based health
governance is a pre-requisite. With social justice as its driving force, it will focus more on the health rights of communities
socially excluded due to socio-economic and political marginalization and social prejudices. It will continue to engage in
understanding the role of social exclusion as an important social determinant and focus on:
Empowering communities in engaging with the public health system to bring accountability within the system,
particularly for marginalized communities
Raising concerns of social exclusion and health at a larger scale through national and state level advocacy, networking
and community centric policy research.
“Citizen participation is key to the effective implementation of any public policy. The systems and policies do exist. All you have
to do is empower people with knowledge. Knowledge that they can use to negotiate their rights with the State on their own.”
- Abhijit Das, director
citizenvoice policy law servicedelivery thinktank transparency RTI
elections budgets urbangovernance panchayatiraj accesstojustice
technology humanrights independentmedia
Earlier, the doctor was not coming regularly.
A monitoring committee was convened in
the presence of all sections of people
including daughters-in-law and young girls.
It was discussed in the monitoring
committee that the doctor should be
requested to come and inform the people
on the facilities available under NRHM in
our PHC.
- Megharay Hembarn is a Sarpanch (Village
Head) of Kakabandh village, Rasgovidpur
District, Odisha, where CHSJ introduced
community-based monitoring and built the
capacity of the community to exercise its
rights under public health programs
CHSJ’s advocacy efforts have led to formalizing the design of community-based monitoring under the
‘Communitization’ components of the framework of NRHM
CHSJ, as part of the National Coalition against Two Child Norm and Coercive Population Policies, has been able to
successfully advocate with various state governments on the removal of the two-child policy and is currently advocating
at the national level for this change. It has contributed to a study on the two-child norm, its ill effects, and the
opportunities to combat such population policies
WHAT HAS IT ACHIEVED?
VOICES FROM THE GROUND
Abhijit Das (Director), doctor with training in obstetrics,
pediatrics and public health.
Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Public Health and
Community Medicine at the University of Washington,
Seattle.
Funders: AJWS, Ford Foundation, BRAC, Open Society
Institute, MacArthur foundation, DFID-PACS, OXFAM.
Networks: CHSJ serves as the secretariat of the National
Coalition against Two Child Norm and Coercive Population
Policies at the national level, global secretariat of the
Community of Practitioners on Accountability and Social
Action in Health (COPASAH), and Madhya Pradesh state
secretariat of Maternal Health Rights Campaign (MHRC).
CHSJ’s work was recently featured on the nationally aired
TV show, Satyamev Jayate.
QUALITY INDICATORS
Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ)
FCRA12 A 80 G FCRA
Leadership
Partnerships
Endorsements