Collecting representative data on health, nutrition, and education for government decision-making in Telangana, India

Decision-maker’s challenge

The government of the Indian state of Telangana runs dozens of programs designed to meet the health, nutritional, and educational needs of the population, with particular attention to pregnant and lactating women, and children aged 0-6 and 6-10 years. Although the national government conducts a comprehensive survey to assess the impact of these programs (the National Family Health Survey), the data is insufficient for effective decision-making. The survey is conducted infrequently—only once every five years—and lacks the granularity needed for detailed state-level planning. Telangana state needs high-quality, timely, and reliable data to make optimal decisions on resource allocation, geographical prioritization, scheme design, and implementation. The state also intends to track these key outcomes at a more granular level and regular frequency to reduce the dependency on external surveys and data sources.

Impact opportunity

The Telangana state government runs dozens of programs designed to meet the health, nutritional, and educational needs of the population, with particular attention to pregnant and lactating women, and children ages 6-10. However, sufficient data is needed to fully understand the experiences of these vulnerable groups, evaluate the effectiveness of government programs, and make well-informed decisions about budget allocation, program design, and targeting.

The Planning Department of the State of Telangana has partnered with IDinsight to conduct large-scale surveys to generate vital state, district, and block-level estimates about demographics, access to government programs, pregnancy and post-delivery care, child health and malnutrition rates, and learning outcomes (foundational literacy and numeracy) to inform program implementation. 

About 360,000 pregnant and lactating women, 3 million children under 5 years of age, and 1.5 million children ages 6-10 enrolled in the public institutions can potentially benefit from improvement in program design and implementation.

Our approach

We are conducting large-scale representative surveys of ~50,000 households on maternal health, child nutrition, and student learning outcomes across all 33 districts in Telangana. We are generating estimates on key outcomes and program-related indicators that represent the situation at the state, district, and block levels. 

The key performance indicators (KPI) survey is designed to capture the local state context and meet data needs specific to the state. In line with our user-centric approach to survey design, we consulted with program heads and personnel from the participating departments and solicited their input on the survey questions to ensure that the survey addressed specific policy questions. This approach also ensured that the data collected captured the local context and complemented the existing data systems.