Hitesh Kukreja
Improving access to welfare benefits for construction workers in Delhi.
I led the designing of service rules of delivery and tech interfaces to simplify the process of registration and scheme application to access welfare entitlements. Using the administrative burden framework, the intervention centered citizens and frontline officials experiences in Delhi BoCW board's strategy. As a result, it contributed to increase in welfare entitlement delivery.
DL BoCW Portal Landing page
Problem: The project aimed to ensure access to welfare benefits and cash transfers for more than a million unregistered workers in Delhi. One of the biggest roadblocks was the challenging user experience for citizens and frontline officials due to limited clarity of rules and complex online filling application forms.
​
Solution: I designed the user research exercise and contributed to the workflow of the new website including the designing of citizen facing features and modules. The digital portal was designed and went live in 2022. It reduced the total application form filling time for construction workers from an average of 40 min to 20 min. Moreover, service delivery SOP and rules changes, and the ease of digital registration work flow reduced workers expenses and time and improved the overall user experience of workers and mediators in Delhi.
Landing page buttons for registration form flows
Problem: The dispersed placement of 4 buttons for 4 different kinds of workflow led to confusion among mediators supporting workers with limited digital literacy. In addition, the purpose of visiting the website is also to track application status or amend details in forms. These two features were not available in the digital interface.
Solution: A succession of registration buttons to reach the form enabled better use of the landing page space. In addition two other buttons: Amendment and Track Application enable form editing and searching for the form status post application. This brings all the key citizen user action buttons close. The vicinity of all key user action buttons is critical for a demography with limited digital literacy and time for navigation of the website.
​​
Challenges: Old interface
Problem: In the old interface of the registration process workflo,w one had to navigate past 5 pages through 5 clicks to reach the registration form. It caused the following issues:
a. The friction caused workers to give up or drop out of the registration process. ​
b. It made form filling more time consuming and thereby allowed touts and mediators to charge more money from daily wage workers. ​
c. It contributed to the low registration rate of construction workers with the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Board (DBOCWWB). As a result, the chances of accessing welfare entitlements such as scholarships and maternity benefits went down.
Solution: The first step to address this issue was to design a landing page with all key citizen focused action buttons in a sequence. The navigation of registration workflow was reduced to two clicks and contributed to a quicker and easier form filling experience.
​
Change in Registration page: Journey of application
Problem: The ease of access to action buttons didn't solve the starting of the registration form. The registration form login (with limited login IDs) is challenging for a demographic with a history of seasonal migration and frequently changing phone numbers.
Solution: ​In the new interface, only 2 clicks are required to reach the registration page to start form filling. The form login process was hinged to three login IDs (Social security card, Phone number OTP, and Government identity number). In addition, the registration process is aided with tutorial video links below the login button. The availability of tutorial videos and multiple login paths on the page reduced the frequency of errors in filling the form. Thereby, improving the rate of successful applications. ​​​
User research: Form changes
Problem: The BoCW scheme entitlements include maternity entitlements for female workers and wives of construction workers. The eligibility rule allows cash benefits for only 1st and 2nd births. These service rules unfortunately didn't specify the workflow for mothers with twins.
Solution: Based on our user research and data from the helpline, th mothers with twins were losing out on the benefits of entitlements. We redesigned the service delivery rules for the government and included twins as a dropdown choice for the child birth sequence field in the Maternity scheme application form.