Communitisation of health sector: a review of Nagaland state

Communitisation is a joint venture between the government and the community involving shift of ownership of public resources and assets, control over service delivery, empowerment, decentralization, delegation and building capacity all with the aim of improving the delivery of public utility systems. Communitisation therefore involves transfer of government assets to the community, empowerment of community through delegation of governmental powers of management and supervision of day-to-day functioning of employees to village committees. It demands ensuring accountability of government employees posted at the service delivery level to local communities and control of government assets by village committees including the responsibility for maintenance, amelioration and augmentation of assets. As such communitisation is based on triple approach, trust the user community, train them to discharge their newfound responsibilities and transfer governmental powers and resources in respect of management.