Nazdeek is a non-profit organization committed to bringing access to justice closer to marginalized communities in India. Their model focuses on grassroots legal education, community monitoring of service delivery, and use of judicial and non-judicial remedies. Through the ISIF-2 grants program supported by IDRC, they integrated strategic research and advocacy to advance social and economic rights. In Assam state, they collaborated with other organizations – Promotion and Advancement of Justice, Harmony and Rights of Adivasis (PAJHRA, Tezpur, India) and the International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD, New York) – in an action-research project aiming to end maternal mortality (Assam has the worst indicators in India). They produced a mobile App to allow volunteers working with Adivasi women tea pickers to report cases where health services were refused. The data was meant to provide evidence of the magnitude of the problem and trigger changes in health services. The DECI-2 team worked with the project staff to introduce UFE and ResCom to their project. The evaluation and communication design process revealed unexpected barriers faced by the volunteers, as well as a number of challenges about how the evidence would be shared with local health authorities. The combination of UFE and ResCom aided the project in refining its strategy both on the ground and in creating relationships with local authorities as a foundation to sharing the evidence. The team achieved broad media coverage of this process and the findings. This led to a concrete outcome: a commitment by local officials to improve and monitor the health care services for the Adivasi women.
