The India NGO Awards were instituted in 2006, with an aim toadvance the country's non-profit sector by promoting financial andorganisational sustainability and strengthening community support ofcivil society. The Awards focus on professional management, innovationin and diversity of local resource mobilisation and the effectiveness of theprogrammes in positively impacting the lives of the communities theywork with.

A joint initiative of the Resource Alliance and The Nand & JeetKhemka Foundation, the Awards seek to:

Promote good standards and practices in resource mobilisation,accountability and transparency

Recognise and celebrate excellence in the non-profit sector Identify and strengthen successful resource mobilisation practices Create examples and inspiration for other non-profit organisations and

promote cross-regional learning Promote the overall credibility of the non-profit sector for long term

sustainability

The NGO Awards programme has grown every year — both in outreach and quality . From a total of 115applications in the first year and 131 in the second we received a record 167 applications in 2008. This casebookis to showcase the finalists as examples that can be emulated by the non-profit sector in India. Copyright forthe content rests with The Resource Alliance and The Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation.

Many thanks for sending the results of the winners of India NGO Award 2008-RegionalAwardees. It is really great to know that the organisations from Orissa are on the top. Iextend my sincere gratitude to you for the great task done by you which will really motivate organisations like us to work better for the development of the community.

KC MalickChairman, Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency (BISWA)

Winning NGO of the year award was a very emotional moment for us. AshokaInnovators recognised this as a new and replicable idea, followed by two Changemakersinnovation awards and then Development Marketplace award from the World Bank. Butwe were certainly waiting for our own Karmbhoomi to recognise this and Indian NGOfilled this gap in a very significant way.

Anshu GuptaFounder Director, GOONJ

Participating in the India NGO Award exercise in 2007, we improved our clarity orrefreshed ourselves why we created our foundation and or what should we do in future. Itenhanced our startegic visioning. It was a very rich learning exercise. Therefore we remaingrateful to your group.

Dr. Arup ChakravartyHonorary Secretary, Health Vision & Research, Kolkata

The India NGO Awards 2008

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NATIONAL WINNERS

2006Gram VikasPRADANSpastics Society of India, MumbaiSEWA, Lucknow

2007CRYThe BanyanChildline India FoundationGoonj

We live in times of tumultuous changes in the global economy. In suchtimes, the work of the civil society — staying the course over time, beingfocused on the mission, managing prudently its resources, and servingdiligently its stakeholders — becomes more important than ever. Wesalute and honour several Indian NGOs who exemplify the pursuit ofexcellence in delivering on their mission.

Heather McLeod Grant and Leslie Crutchfield, after surveying hun-dreds of NGOs over four years in their ground-breaking study, ‘Forces forGood’, distilled six practices that high-impact non-profits use. They ‘workwith government and advocate for policy change; harness market forcesand see business as a powerful partner; convert individual supporters toevangelists for their cause; nurture nonprofit networks treating othergroups as allies; master the art of adaptation to the changing environmentand share leadership.’ Through our support of the ‘NGO of the Year’Awards in India, we want to raise the profile of such NGOs who strive tomake a habit of such practices, and work as solutions-oriented responsibleinstitutional citizens of our great nation.

Winner in the small category, Pragati's community forest managementinitiatives have spawned a district federation of forest dependent peopleaddressing their livelihood and advocating for rights over common prop-erty resources. Pragati's interventions are sustained though peoples’organisations demonstrating ownership by communities in project plan-ning, implementation and management imbued with the values of trans-parency and accountability.

The government's recognition of diverse operations initiated by Actionfor Social Advancement (ASA) — winner in the medium category —resulting in various policy changes testify to its resounding success. ASA’s‘livelihoods model’, establishing sustainable livelihoods support systems,end-to-end livelihoods solution and post project services, has proved itsrobustness over various locations.

Co-winner in the large category, Sankara Eye Care Institutions upholdsquality as its sole criterion for activities. A workable and sustainable mod-ule delivers community eye care of quality, free of cost at the doorsteps ofrural India. Quality of service, outreach mechanisms and follow-up inter-ventions have made it replicable and scalable not only in many states butalso in other countries. The other winner in the large category, BAIFDevelopment Research Foundation's tenure of 40 years is proof of its sus-tainability, and steadfastness in maintaining its credibility and spirit ofexcellence. The services of BAIF cover over 30 lakh poor, rural families,enabling them to enjoy sustainable livelihood and better quality of life.

A special recognition was conferred on Centre for Rural DevelopmentCRD for its innovative flagship Rickshaw Bank project, providing holisticand sustainable socio-economic benefits to rickshaw pullers.

It is an honour for us to be associated with the India NGO Awards pro-gramme which merits our whole hearted support. We thank the ResourceAlliance for the opportunity of an enriching partnership and to be able topublicly honour these amazing organisations. May the programme enjoycontinuing success in its efforts to scale the capacity of India's civil societysector in achieving its goals for the healthy development of India and itspeople.

Don MohanlalPresident and CEO, The Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation

Message from President & CEO, The Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation

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As fears about a global recession deepen and international fundingdeclines, the need for civil society organisations to be transparent andaccountable to the communities they serve and to mobilise resources andsupport from the public has never been greater. For the last three years,the India NGO Awards have been rewarding civil society organisationswhich achieve this and celebrating excellence and best practice across thesector.

The civil sector plays a critical role in addressing social needs in India.Being highly dynamic and responsive to the needs of local communitiescivil society organisations are uniquely placed to address the manydevelopment challenges facing India today. We believe that sustainablesocial change can be brought about by bringing the civil sector into mul-tisectoral partnerships which maximise impact and achieve scale. Forsuch partnerships to be successful, civil society organisations need todemonstrate that they are transparent and credible, that they have localsupport and that they deliver effective programmes which have a realimpact on people's lives.

The winners of the India NGO Awards 2008 demonstrate all of thesequalities and are outstanding role models for the sector. Pragati, lastyear's regional finalist and this year's winner in the small category, is anoutstanding example demonstrating good practice in governance andwith excellent monitoring and planning systems in place. In the mediumcategory we have Action for Social Advancement (ASA) as the winner,again a great example to be emulated. ASA is a highly transparent organ-isation led by a team of committed people and supported by a range ofpartners and volunteers. The jury had a difficult task to conclude the win-ner in the large category and thus we have joint winners – Sankara EyeCare and BAIF Development Research Foundation. Both are exemplaryorganisations reaching out to hundreds and thousands of people.

I take great pride in presenting the winners of the India NGO Awards2008. All are addressing causes which are of vital importance to the dis-advantaged people We had a record number of entrants in 2008 and thequality improves with each passing year making the task progressivelymore difficult for our assessors and jury members.

I would like to express my gratitude to The Nand & Jeet KhemkaFoundation for all their support for the India NGO Awards over the pastthree years. I would also like to thank our partners, assessors and jurymembers for giving us their very valuable time and expertise and forhelping us make the most judicious selections of organisations we canshowcase to the larger public.

We know that successful civil society organisations are a motivatingforce for others. Many organisations that applied this year were inspiredby the model developed by PRADAN, our 2006 NGO of the Year —Harsha Trust and Action for Social Advancement to name just two. Andwe hope that the case studies in this book will inspire many others toemulate the winners, to absorb the best practices and aspire for the IndiaNGO Awards in the years to come.

With my best wishes

Jan KrolCo-Chair, The Resource Alliance

Message from Co-Chair, The Resource Alliance

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Kajol Menon Kajol (Devasmita) Menon is theExecutive Director of CHILD-LINE India Foundation, a nation-al non-profit organisation.CHILDLINE 1098 ( ten nineeight) is India's first 24-hour tollfree phone emergency outreachservice for children in need of

care and protection, linking them to long term serv-ices for their care and rehabilitation. Trained as anacademician and communicator, Kajol's decision tomake a life in social activism was prompted by aphilanthropic family and early exposure to povertyin slums in the large metros of India. Starting hercareer as a faculty teaching English Literature inDelhi University, she moved to advertising andmedia research and then to the development sector,committing to social change especially in the area ofchild rights and child protection.

Raj ChengappaRaj Chengappa is managing edi-tor of India Today, India's largestcirculated and most respectedweekly newsmagazine. Anaward winning journalist of 30years standing, he is one ofIndia's foremost writers onnational security affairs apart

from issues concerning science, the environment,health and development. He is also concurrentlyeditor of the Indian edition of Scientific Americanand India Today. His other major interest is theenvironment and he is currently a member of thePrime Minister's Council for Climate Change. He isalso the author of the best-selling book on India'snuclear programme titled: Weapons of Peace: TheSecret Story of India's Quest to be a Nuclear Power.

Rati ForbesRati Forbes, Director at theForbes Marshall Group of com-panies since 1992, has beenresponsible for the group'sHuman Relations and Welfareactivities. She has been keenlyinvolved in the communitydevelopment projects of Forbes

Marshall. From 2003 to 2006, she chaired the SocialDevelopment Cell of the Confederation of Indian

Industry (CII) for the Western region — the mainfocus being on sensitising corporates to their socialresponsibility. During this time, many effectivepartnerships between corporates and non-profitswere forged. Since 2008, she chairs an Industry-NGO co-ordination task force again set up by CII.She is also a Director of Centre for Advancement ofPhilanthropy, Mumbai and helped to set up the out-reach initiatives in Pune. Rati also serves as an advi-sory board member of Mobile Creches (an NGOworking for families on construction sites),Akanksha (an organisation working with educatingchildren) and Charities Aid foundation, India.

Roland AngererRoland Angerer is Austrian andhas been Country Director forPlan International since August2001, first in Colombia and since2006 in India. Before he workedin Southern Africa (Zimbabweand Mocambique) with theAustrian Service for

Development Cooperation and in Central America(El Salvador and Honduras) with the UnitedNations Development Program.

Vijay MahajanVijay Mahajan, is Chairman ofBASIX, which has supported thelivelihoods of over a million ruralpoor households, of which athird have been supporteddirectly with micro-credit worthover Rs 1,000 crore, in addition tosavings and insurance services,

agricultural/business development services andinstitutional development services. He started workin rural economic development in 1981. In 1983, heestablished an NGO, PRADAN which works withover 120,000 poor households, promoting liveli-hoods and community institutions. Thereafter, in1991, Vijay decided to work as an independenttrainer, consultant and researcher and to focusexclusively on the issue of rural livelihoods. In 2002,Vijay was selected as one of the 60 ‘OutstandingSocial Entrepreneurs’ at the World Economic Forum(WEF), Davos. In 2003, Vijay was conferred theDistinguished Alumnus Award by the IIT, Delhi. In2008, he was selected as Ashoka Fellowship'sGlobal Member.

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Members of the Jury

NGO of the YearSMALL

THE NEEDPragati, Koraput was established in 1992 to

work for socio-economic upliftment of the poor,living in remote areas of Koraput District in Orissa.This is a remote and backward region with majori-ty population consisting of tribals living in forestfringe villages and depending on forest and forest-lands for their livelihood. Inaccessibility of theregion reduces livelihood options for the poor andmarginalised families, cutting them off from main-stream society and leaving them susceptible toexploitation by traders and middlemen.Agriculture is the primary means of livelihood butthe small land holdings cannot provide foodthroughout the year. The district has low literacyrate and despite living in forested area the localpeople are unaware of the use of forest resources,prudent use of natural resources and the incomethat can be generated from forests.

INTERVENTIONPragati works in 168 villages in remote and

inaccessible pockets of Nandapur and Koraputblocks of Koraput district impacting approximate-ly 7,000 beneficiary families.

The organisation seeks to "facilitate andstrengthen vibrant people’s organisations at differ-ent levels of society that will protect, utilise, controland manage local resources and through collectiveaction and to ensure dynamic socio-economicchange for sustainable development by advocatingfor pro-poor governance and bringing women,children, tribals and downtrodden to the main-stream of the society”. Programmatic interventionsare planned for, after meticulous analysis of social,economic and political context of the area and thepeople. Pragati has facilitated micro-plans forintervention in the villages through ParticipatoryRural Appraisal in order to help communities iden-tify their problems, their causes, effects and devel-op action plans for their solution of the same.

Pragati focuses on livelihood augmentation andnatural resource management, addressing issueslike climate change and food security for vulnera-ble families. Programmes include:

Facilitation, nurturing and strengthening of civilsociety organisations

Educating and demonstrating conservation andsustainable management of natural resources

Enhancing livelihood security of the poorest of

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Pragati, Koraput

Contact: Prabhakar AdhikariDirector

Address: Near Reeti Printers, PujariputDistrict Koraput - 764020

OrissaTel: (06852) 250 241Mobile: 09437025045

E-mail: pragatikoraput@gmail.comWebsite: www.pragatikoraput.org

poor and women headedfamilies

Promotion of SRI(System of RiceIntensification) andSustainable Agriculturethrough organic farmingpractices.

Establishment of Seedand Grain Banks.

Disaster preparedness,relief and rehabilitation.

The SRI (System ofRice Intensification)Programme works toenhance food and income security of over 2,000small and marginal farmers and sustainableagriculture in seven blocks of Koraput district.A district level network of forest protectingcommunities covering 742 villages of the dis-trict has been promoted by Pragati with a viewto consolidate the initiatives for community for-est protection and conservation. Two-thirds ofthe stakeholders belong to Scheduled Tribesand Scheduled Castes with 80 per cent of thembeing small and marginal farmers.

The community based organisations areinvolved at all levels of project planning, imple-mentation and management including mobili-sation of funds from various Governmentdepartments. Focus is on empowering the com-munities and building their capacities for sus-tainability of the interventions. Transparency isensured in the programmes and all project pro-posals and budgets are published in the locallanguage and circulated to all stakeholders-thepeople’s organisations, panchayat representa-tives and government officials. Gender main-streaming has been integrated in all the pro-gramme components to enable women to have

access to communitydecision-making and toensure their participa-tion.

The ProgrammeCoordinator is responsi-ble for implementationof project activities,preparation of reportsand returns supportedby the team of imple-menting staff who areassigned with differentroles and responsibilitiesprescribed in guidelines.

There are periodic reviews, field visits, interac-tion with People’s Organisations and otherstakeholders for proper monitoring and assess-ment of programmes. Performance indicatorswithin the specified time frame are set up tomeasure the achievements and changes to thetarget groups against the stated objectives andthese are reviewed from time to time using theLogical Framework Analysis for each project.

Pragati emphasises on self-evaluation dur-ing project execution by holding regular reviewmeetings, feedback is sought from stakeholdersand partners to assess the changes broughtabout by their interventions.

The programmes are carried out on the basisof an annual action plan, which is divided intohalf-yearly and monthly action plans. TheDirector monitors the progress of project activi-ties through monthly reviews with the coreteam comprising of Programme Coordinatorand Sector Coordinators, who in turn monitortheir respective field activities. Progress reportsare submitted to supporting agencies as agreedin the MoU along with logical framework andfinancial statements. Audits, reviews and field

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visits are also conducted by the donor agenciesfrom time to time.

Pragati, with active community support, hasbeen able to lobby effectively for implementa-tion of the NREGS through public rallies andmeetings, workshops creating awarenessthrough print posters, leaflets and booklets.Interface meetings of community leaders withPRI representatives and line department offi-cials have been organised, enabling the people’sorganisations to play an active role in sensitis-ing people to demand for job cards, wageemployment and proper wage payment in theaction areas and mobilising government funds.

GOVERNANCEThe 23-member General Body (GB) is the

supreme body of the organisation. It meets atleast twice a year and reviews ongoing pro-grammes, chalks out strategies for new pro-grammes, appoints statutory auditors for auditof accounts of each financial year, frames policyguidelines and constitutes committee(s) as maybe needed to bring in more transparency andaccelerate programme activities.

The nine-member Executive Board (EB)looks after day-to-day activities and ensurescompliance with laws and regulations. The min-utes of General Body and Executive Boardmeetings are sent to all the members for infor-mation and follow up action. Pragati has well-documented human resource and financialmanagement policies to ensure transparencyand accountability.

The organisation believes in decentralisedadministration with mechanism for effectivecontrol and supervision. Decision-making iscollective with a hierarchical process of moni-toring and supervision. Each hierarchy has itsown prescribed roles and responsibilities andwithin their sphere they have right to decisionmaking to certain extent.

Pragati is a learning organisation and impor-tance is given to capacity building of staff fromtime to time. The training needs of staff areappraised from time to time through internalevaluation and accordingly trainings aredesigned. Nearly 6-7 per cent of budget eachyear is invested for capacity building of staffmembers who are also sent out to differentresource agencies for enhancing their knowl-edge on thematic areas of work.

SUSTAINABILITYAccording to Pragati’s organisational strate-

gy, the General Body has nominated theSecretary responsible for resource mobilisation.Projects are formulated by the senior manage-ment in consultation with staff and federationleaders.

Support has been traditionally received frominternational and national donor agencies such

as Trocaire, Ireland, Centre for World Solidarity,OXFAM India Trust, German Agro Action andSir Dorabji Tata Trust. Government supportsuch as from the agriculture and horticulturedepartments and membership fee received forma small part of the organisations annualreceipts.

Besides financial support, Pragati alsoreceives in-kind support like food items,clothes, blankets, technical support and readingmaterials from different sources.

Pragati prefers to engage in long-term part-nerships with its partners and budgeting isdone for three years at a stretch. Currently, allits projects are long-term projects with commit-ment from donors ranging from 10-15 years.Funds raised by the organisation are supple-mented with in kind contributions from thecommunity up to almost 30 per cent of the totalbudgets.

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We observed real sustainable devel-opment where the community them-selves are taking issues forward, deal-ing with the Government machineryand making them move. The communi-ty is being empowered to use naturalresources sustainably and developthemselves.

Jaishree & Chandrakant, Green Earth, Pune

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NGO of the YearMEDIUM

THE NEEDAction for Social Advancement (ASA)was

formed in 1996 and works in 11 districts ofMadhya Pradesh and 4 districts of Biharimpacting over 120000 rural families across1000 villages. This area is backward,andprone to frequent drought creating a viciouscycle of poverty and debt for the people mostof whom are dependent upon agriculture astheir main source of livelihood.

INTERVENTIONASA’s approach to development is firmly

founded upon participatory action at thecommunity level and this is inbuilt withinthe programme/project implementationprocess. At the heart of the organisation isthe aim of developing livelihood security,which is facilitated by an intensive participa-tory process of natural resources and localinsititution development. Particular empha-sis is placed upon the poor and women. ASAaims at ensuring livelihoods for 3 millionpoor people by 2015 by providing develop-mental services. ASA has a people centricmodel and interventions in three key areas ofland and water resource development, agri-culture technology validation and extension,microfinance and micro enterprise develop-ment implemented through the communitybased organisations.

ASA’s programmes focus on four keyareas:

Land, Water and Agriculture Productivity Enhancement Agribusiness Promotion for Small and Marginal Farmers Micro Finance and Micro Insurance through Self Help Groups Research Training and Consultancy

ASA’s livelihood model strongly under-lines the belief that ‘land is an integral sourceof livelihood’. Land and water developmentintegrated with introduction, validation andpromotion of agricultural technologies alongwith cheaper institutional credit will lead toimprovements in livelihood especially inareas where more than 70 percent depend onagriculture directly or indirectly. ASA was

Contact: Ashis MondalDirector

Address: E-5/A, Girish Kunj Above State Bank of Indore,

Shahpura Branch, Arera Colony, Bhopal - 462 016Madhya Pradesh

Tel: (0755) 2427369Mobile: 094250 10783

E-mail: asa@asabhopal.orgWebsite: www.asaindia.org

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the first organisations in Central India to adoptthe ‘Small River Basin Approach’ in its work onintegrated watershed. The Participatory VarietalSelection and Promotion (PVSP) programmewhich makes available seed varieties to all farm-ers for testing is another key component inincreasing agricultural productivity. Small andmarginal farmers are provided with good quali-ty and certified seeds and related services. ASAhas a robust micro finance programme that isimplemented through the members of its SelfHelp Groups, 50,000 small and marginal farmershave been integrated into 18 producers’ organi-sations for agriculture through the FarmerProducers’ Company (FPC).

Through the Volunteer Action Programmeoffered by ASA, international volunteers get achance to look into rural development issues ina developing country and learn about the con-textualised solution’s and help in implementingthe same.

In order for ASA to work in an area, certainprerequisites have to be met. The communityhas to be involved at all levels of planning,implementation and monitoring. Communitycontribution is a must in cash or in kind. Fundsmeant to be spent at the community level aretransferred to and spent from the communityinstitution bank account. Community capacitybuilding is a must and in general 7-10 per centof the programme/project cost is allocated forthis component. ASA also has adopted commu-nity institutional maturity indicators which areapplied to all the Community Institutions itdevelops.

A three-year vision planning document foreach programme with annual targets, objectives

and achievement indicators for each year isdeveloped and reviewed annually. A strategicreview in the third year is also conducted withexternal help. All projects have a specifiedbudget along with the activities, output andoutcome indicators which are inbuilt in theproject after consultation with the local commu-nity and reviewed under the routine organisa-tional monitoring and evaluation systems.

The progressive gains are measured throughbaseline data developed largely on these indica-tors and are reviewed annually. Middle and endterm reviews are done through external consult-ants identified in association with the donors.The community is involved in acceptance ofthese development indicators and the actionplan is revised in accordance with the progress.The important findings and learnings are

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shared through workshops, where variousstakeholders are invited.

GOVERNANCEASA is governed by an eight-member Board,

from differing backgrounds who are expectedto contribute subject knowledge to ASA’s areasof work or provide strategic guidance in allaspects like fundraising and networking. Boardmembers are appointed by applications whichare approved by the executive body. The mem-ber is selected for a term of three years and isrequired to pay Rs 51 as an annual subscription.The Governing Body is responsible for overallgovernance, policy guidance and programmaticdirections and meets formally twice a year. AFinancial Sub-committee constituted from with-in the Board, looks into the financial aspects ofthe organisation. The Sub-committee meetstwice a year, before the Board meetings, and itsdecisions are ratified by the Board.

The Board meets twice a year formally andreviews the six monthly progress of the last ofthe annual plan and budget. Programmatic andfinancial progress reports are circulated tomembers well in advance. The Board is usuallyinvolved in the decision making at the policyand strategic level and their suggestions aresought on operational issues. The ManagingTrustee is responsible for timely regulatorycompliances.

ASA has an HR policy which lays down theprocedures for recruitment, remuneration pack-age, annual increment and appraisal and staffcapacity building processes. The staff is coveredunder various welfare schemes like contributo-ry provident fund, accident and medi-claimpolicy, gratuity, staff credit union and othersuch schemes. An annual retreat of all staffmembers is a regular feature. The remunerationstructure is revised once in three years. Rolesand responsibilities for all staff are well definedand the same is reflected briefly in the appoint-ment letters issued to the staff.

SUSTAINABILITYASA has a strategy for resource mobilisation

for two to three years, which identifies the pro-grammes, resource requirements in accordanceto the business plan, possible sources and strate-gy. This strategy is constantly revised with newinformation and opportunities. ASA raises fundsfor the physical work mainly from the govern-ment. Funds for building management and com-munity capacities are raised from NGO donorswith ASA as the implementing partner.Typically, the contribution is 4:1, i.e., 80 per centgovernment and 20 per cent donor contribution.This has been extremely successful as by con-tributing 80 per cent of the project cost the gov-ernment is able to achieve 100 per cent qualityreturn without direct involvement in implemen-

tation. The development initiatives directlyimpact the community.

Donor relationships are handled profession-ally. ASA understands the need to work withthe Government for sustainability and scale andseveral projects have been taken up under themechanism of Public-Private-Partnership (PPP).ITC is a corporate partner helping in agricul-ture and water resource development andbuilding community institutions and for com-munity redevelopment. The Departments ofAgriculture and Water Resources, Irrigationand Canal Development of the Madhya PradeshGovernment work closely with ASA providingfinancial and technical resources which are matched by contributionsfrom other agencies, the community and ASAitself.

Heartiest congratulations on thismost well deserved recognition of thecommitment, hard work, persistenceand professional excellence at everytask that you and your colleagues atASA undertake. As you know I havebeen an ASA fan from inception andmy belief in what a group of highlycommitted individuals can do continuesto grow as I see ASA move fromstrength to strength! All the very best.

Shankar Narayanan, Senior SocialDevelopment Specialist

The World Bank, New Delhi

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NGO of the YearLARGE - JOINT

THE NEEDFormerly known as Bhartiya Agro Industries

Foundation, BAIF Development ResearchFoundation (BAIF) was established in 1967 to pro-mote appropriate technologies to conserve preciousnatural resources such as land, livestock, water andforests, while making sustainable use of them toenhance earning potential of the under-employedlocal communities. Over 80 per cent of the ruralfamilies in India are dependent on naturalresources for their livelihood. However, due toscarcity, over-exploitation and mismanagement ofthese resources, the productivity and employmentpotentials of these resources have been decliningsharply, resulting in lower agricultural production,unemployment and increasing rural poverty. TheBAIF programmes are important and most relevantfor promoting sustainable livelihood options for therural poor, particularly those belonging to theweaker sections of the society.

INTERVENTIONBAIF's programmes are focused on Below

Poverty Line families living in rural areas to enablethem to generate gainful self-employment usingtheir degraded natural resources. The goal is touplift the rural poor, while improving the produc-tivity of natural resources and protecting the envi-ronment. All the programmes implemented byBAIF ensure environmental protection, conserva-tion of biodiversity, equitable distribution of bene-fits among members and empowerment of thewomen and weaker sections of the society particu-larly tribals.

The programmes are in line with the vision andmission of the organisation and promote sustain-able development , making best use of naturalresources for generating gainful self-employmentwhile conserving the precious resources. Thisresults in enhanced food security, empowerment ofwomen and weaker sections of the society and pro-motion of eco-system.

The services of BAIF cover over 30 lakh ruralfamilies living below the poverty line in more than47,000 villages across 12 states enabling them toenjoy sustainable livelihood and better quality oflife. The organisation implements a multidiscipli-nary programme covering:

Livestock development through promotion ofdairy husbandry

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Contact: Narayan G Hegde,Executive Director and CEO

Address: Dr. Manibhai Desai Nagar,Warje, Pune 411 058

MaharashtraTel: (020) 2523 1661Mobile: 09890181848E-mail: baif@vsnl.com

Website: www.baif.org.in

Watershed developmentAgroforestryEmpowerment of womenCommunity healthRenewable energy and environment

In 1970, BAIF took up promotion of dairyhusbandry by providing doorstep services tothe livestock farmers and engaging themthrough direct dialogue. BAIF demonstrated thefeasibility of using sophisticated frozen sementechnology for improving the breeding efficien-cy on low productive, non-descript cattle.Blending efficient technology with effectivedelivery services made the programme success-ful and replicable — increasing the income of thefarmers and generating employment, addinganimals for tillage and enhancing the milk sup-ply to meet the demand for milk in the country.The watershed development programme pro-motes soil and water conservation measures.Other components of the programme includepromotion of improved cash crops, fruits andvegetables, application of bio-fertilisers and ver-min-compost and introduction of agro servicesfor backward and forward linkages.

Agroforestry has been promoted to improvethe productivity of degraded lands owned bythe community and small farmers by promotingplantation of multipurpose tree species such asacacia, neem, teak and bamboo. Eco-friendlyfarming practices such as organic farming, ver-micomposting, use of biofertilisers and biopesti-cides are promoted through awareness, trainingand input supply. Cultivation of medicinalherbs, floriculture, sericulture and mushroomproduction have also been promoted to enhancefarm income. BAIF developed a unique pro-

gramme of promoting agri-horti-forestry ondrylands and supported the tribal communitesin the areas to establish orchards on land ownedby them.

Community Health is an integral part of var-ious development programmes of BAIF. Toaddress challenges of child mortality and mal-nourishment, BAIF has promoted foodgrainbanks managed by local SHGs of women whohave made a special loan provision to procurefood and medical treatment during emergenciesfor ensuring health and nutritional security. Thelocal tribal healers are trained in promotinghealth care and nature cure and trained to han-dle complicated cases and to link community

health service with qualified medical prac-titioners in towns, thus paving the way forbetter health care at a reasonable price,without disturbing the traditional systems.BAIF has also been encouraging families toavail various attractive insurance schemes.

BAIF programmes promote use ofsmokeless woodstoves, biogas plants,solar cookers and lamps for conservationof energy, protection of the environmentand improving the quality of life of thecommunities particularly the women.Community biogas plants for electricitygeneration have been installed on a pilotscale in Karnataka and are maintained bywomen groups.Technical services arebeing provided to many industries indeveloping industrial greenbelts and recy-cling of bio-degradable wastes.

BAIF has adopted a ClusterDevelopment Approach to interact withthe target communities through the localorganisations and opinion leaders and tocreate awareness about organisational pro-

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grammes and objectives through entry-levelactivities. Interest groups of men and women areformed and field guides appointed in every vil-lage to maintain relations. They are trained byBAIF to work as a bridge between the local com-munity and BAIF's project staff. Thus, the partic-ipant families are involved from the very begin-ning of the project implementation. CoreTechnical Groups consisiting of senior scientistsand practitioners in the areas are established inareas of livestock husbandry, water resourcesmanagement, agri-horti-forestry, womenempowerment and micro-finance. These groupsindependently monitor various projects in theirareas and ensure that the projects are technicallysound and effective.

GOVERNANCEBAIF's Board of Trustees consists of eminent

persons from various fields with rich experience,who guide the organisation in fulfilling its mis-sion. Board members are appointed subject tothe clauses of the Trust Deed and provide guid-ance and direction on various organisationalaspects. The Board meets at least once a year. Toprovide further guidance and monitor perform-ance, an Executive Committee of Trustees (ECT)consisting of six trustees has been formed whichmeets at least once every quarter and reviewsthe programmatic and financial performance,suggesting external evaluation of programmeswherever necessary.

BAIF has established independent organisa-tions under its umbrella for implementing itswork in other states — 50 per cent of theTrustees/Members of the Board of these societiesare the senior managers/officials of BAIF. TheChairman of the Trust is one of the Trustees ofBAIF and the Executive Vice Chairman is a VicePresident of BAIF.

BAIF has a clear, well-documented HumanResource policy in place. All the programmeshave capacity building of teams factored in.Various management development programmesare also conducted for developing leadershipcapacities of staff who are also deputed to attendtraining programmes conducted by other volun-tary organisations. BAIF also has a promotionalscheme on education, where deserving staff aregiven study leave upto two years with full payand entire cost for completion of post graduateand doctoral degrees.

SUSTAINABILITYOver the 40 years of its existence, BAIF has

developed certain core programmes which havebeen proven successful in the field. Based on thesuccess in these sectors, BAIF teams identify thepotential regions / blocks where such pro-grammes can be replicated.

Partnerships have been established withregional organisations and Panchayati Raj

Institutions to extend BAIF's successful pro-grammes to weaker sections of the society instates which are not directly engaged in projectimplementation. In West Bengal, BAIF has part-nered with two local NGOs namely DeepanYuba Goshti and Socio-Economic DevelopmentProgramme for implementing an eco-friendlygoat development programme and inKarnataka, BAIF is in partnership with the localGram Panchayats for implementing the drinkingwater project.

The Dr. Manibhai Desai ManagementTraining Centre at Warje in Pune aims at transferof technologies and replication of the successfulprogrammes on a wider scale. BAIF publishes aHouse Journal and Newsletter to share its fieldexperiences with other organisations. Apartfrom tailor-made short duration training mod-ules, demonstrations are also organised at thevarious BAIF campuses. Several documentaryfilms and books have been brought out to pro-mote various technologies on natural resourcemanagement and environmental protection.

13

This model project has articulatedinnovative approaches to address theneeds of the rural poor and empowered them with multiple interventions. BAIF was able to addressrural poverty and equity efficiently.Etienne Claeye, Manager, Delegation of

the European Commission in India

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14

NGO of the YearLARGE - JOINT

THE NEEDAs many as 45 million people in India are

visually handicapped and 12 million aretotally blind. This figure constitutes roughlyabout 1/5th of the world's blind populationand around 4 million are added every year.Fortunately, most of these cases are prevent-able and curable.

Realising the need to combat this situa-tion and to make available cost effectivequality eye care to all, the Sri KanchiKamakoti Medical Trust formed the SankaraEye Centre. With its mission of ‘Vision 20/20by the year 2020’, the trust operates in TamilNadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka andAndhra Pradesh and has recently startedoperations in Gujarat. It has also reached outto Bihar, Uttarakhand, Orissa, Maharashtraand Goa through eye screening camps andfree surgeries. As many as 75,000 surgeriesare performed in eyecare centres annually inCoimbatore and Krisnan Kovil in TamilNadu and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. Themedical and paramedical staff also visitother countries like Cambodia, Nigeria andNepal through the community eye care pro-grammes.

INTERVENTIONThe Sankara Eye Centre works to eradi-

cate preventable and curable blindness inIndia through one of the largest outreachprogrammes where cost effective and quali-ty eyecare is delivered free of cost at thedoorsteps of rural India.

The organisation undertakes variousinterventions to address the issues of blind-ness in the country and outside.

Eye banking and corneal transplantation surgeries with donor corneasGift of Vision rural out reach eye care programme Paediatric Eye Care addressing target groups based on age groups.Diabetic RetinopathyRehabilitative eye care programme for theincurably blind helps rehabilitate the blind to reduce their dependence on others.Training

Sankara Eye Care Institutions

Contact: Dr. RV RamaniExecutive Director and CEO

Address: Sivanandapuram, Sathy RoadCoimbatore-641035

Tamil NaduTel: (0422) 266 6450

Mobile: 098422 86645E-mail: sankarai@md3.vsnl.net.inWebsite: www.sankaraeye.com

15

Eye banking andcorneal transplantationsurgeries with donorcorneas are executed forthe treatment of cornealdiseases at the CorneaClinic. The Clinic alsohouses the Sankara EyeBank which has a twofoldmission to promote organand tissue donationthrough a programme ofpublic and professionaleducation and donor reg-istration and to procureand distribute eye tissue for transplant surgery.

Gift of Vision rural outreach eye care pro-gramme reaches out to the rural areas and per-forms free eye surgeries for the poor affectedpeople to help them lead a normal, healthy andactive life. Weekly eye camps are conducted toidentify individuals suffering from eye ailmentsand free medical and surgical treatment is pro-vided. The Gift of Vision is a rural outreach EyeCare Programme supported by DistrictBlindness Control Society, Sankara EyeFoundation USA and Sight Savers (UK). It wasstarted as a joint programme in 1990 with theactive participation of Rotary International andRotary Coimbatore Central, and covers TamilNadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala andKarnataka targeting the economically weakersections.

Paediatric ophthalmology is not yet wellestablished as a separate subspecialty in India inmost eye care programmes, although there arean estimated 200,000 blind children in India.The Trust has several programme reaching outto children in different age groups. The

Rainbow programmescreens schoolchildrenfor undetected visualdefects and providesthem with remedialmeasures, medical andsurgical procedures.TheMaithri programmescreens underprivilegedpre-schoolers betweenthe ages of 3 and 6 yearsand screens those attend-ing the Integrated ChildDevelopment Centres(noon meal centres). All

new born infants at the various corporationmaternity centres are screened by an opthalmol-ogist and paediatrician under the Swagathamprogramme. Premature babies are treated forRetinopathy of prematurity (ROP) a conditionthat developes due to abnormal growth ofblood vessels in the retina.

The Sankara Eye Centre Coimbatore hastaken up the ‘Diabetic Retinopathy Project forRural India’ to identify people with DiabetesMellitus who are vulnerable to retinal problemsand provide them treatment counselling.

The Sankara Tulsi National Institute ofCommunity Ophthalmology is a post graduatetraining centre for eye surgeons, administrators,paramedical and field staff. It is recognised as acentre of excellence and the Government ofIndia deputes surgeons from various parts ofthe country to be trained here in cataract sur-gery with intraocular lens implantation, cornealtransplantation and in the field of paediatricophthalmology. The institute has also beenrecognised as a post graduate training instituteby the Diplomate of the National Board,

16

National Association for Prevention ofBlindness, Government of India and SriChandrashekarendra Saraswathy VishwaMahavidyalaya (Deemed University).

Starting in April 1990, the rural outreach eyecare programmes has benefited a large numberof people in different states (over 3.8 crore) andit continues to enlarge its scale and quality ofservice. Sankara Eye Care Institutions currentlyperform around 400 free surgeries daily with asuccess rate of over 98 per cent.

Three new hospitals have been established atBangalore and Shimoga in Karnataka andAnand in Gujarat for community eye care. A100-bed eye hospital at Silvassa in the UnionTerritory of Dadar and Nagar Haveli has beenbrought into the Sankara fold, providing com-munity eye care to the UT apart from the neigh-bouring districts of Thane, Maharashtra andGujarat.

GOVERNANCEThe Board of Trustees is constituted by both

medical and non medical persons of repute.While the medical personnel help theInstitution by providing technical guidance, thenon medical members use their influence andcontacts to raise the resources for the smoothrunning of community eye care activities whichare the primary goals of the Institution.

There are three founding Charter Membersof the Trust. The other Members of the Boardwere inducted after matching their core compe-tencies and commitment for involvement insocial service. No arbitrary expansion of theBoard ever takes place. The Board makes link-ages with several high net worth individualsand corporate entities and has been successfulin getting substantial support for the construc-tion and running of the hospitals.

Quarterly Board Meetings are conductedbesides extraordinary Board Meetings for dis-cussing specific programmes or projects. Duringthese meetings detailed discussions on the per-formance of the Institution take place. Crisismanagement is also a part of the Board's respon-sibility and they rise up to the occasion whenev-er required. Regular internal and external audit-ing with monthly review meetings are in placeto ensure that proper systems are implemented.

Annual reports, periodic brochures etc. aresent regularly to the stakeholders. They are alsokept up to date with information regardingimplementation of new projects, programmesetc. The Annual Report is published and circu-lated along with audited balance sheet to allstakeholders.

Sankara Eye Care Institutions have a welldefined Human Resource policy. All staff mem-bers have clear roles and responsibilities whichare clearly stated in their appointment letters.Emphasis is laid on regular capacity building of

the staff based on regular performance reviewsconducted. The succession plan is in place and acore Functional Management Team has beenformed, members of which would be lead thefunctioning of their specific areas of operationin all Sankara Eye Care Institutions, India.

SUSTAINABILITYThe organisation has a documented and

defined resource mobilisation strategy formajor donors. Donations are also raised in kindlike equipments, vehicles, etc. are received frominstitutions.

The organisation maintains an excellent rela-tionship with all its donors and has receivedsupport from the Sankara Eye Foundations setup in the USA and in Europe. Both are runalmost entirely by a group of energetic volun-teers to support charity eye care at Sankara EyeHospitals in India. Funds are raised throughevents and individual donations and extensivefeedback is provided to donors on how theirmoney is utilised.

I am extremely impressed by theway the doctors treat the patients inthe Sankara Eye Care hospital! Iadmire the whole team for this kind ofcontribution to the poor humankind inIndia.

Franz Febrenbach, Chairman, RobertBosch, GmbH

Stuttgart, Germany

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THE NEEDThe Alwar region of Eastern Rajasthan is an

extremely backward region – the population beingpredominantly Muslims, Gujjars and communitiesof the Scheduled Castes. Despite its proximity toDelhi, Mewat remains poor and backward withlow literacy and employment levels, communaltensions, trafficking, child marriages and femalefoeticide. Lack of proper public transport facilitiesmake education and health services are inaccesible.to those living in the interior areas. The decrease inagricultural cultivation due to rapid industrialisa-tion is adversely impacting the low economicdemography of the region.

Matsya Mewat Shiksha Evam Vikas Sansthan(MMSVS) is a registered voluntary organisationworking towards empowerment of the local peoplein the eastern part of Rajasthan known as theMewat region. It was founded by Dr Ved Kumari,a prominent Gandhian thinker and social activistof Rajasthan. A group of 922 people are now mem-bers of the ‘Ved Didi Parivar’ to work together forlong-term development in Mewat.

INTERVENTIONMMSVS believes that no change is possible

unless it is desired by the people themselves. Tothis end, MMSVS empowers the local communityto take control of their lives and be the decisionmakers. MMSVS has a multi-pronged approach toensure holistic development of the entire regionand has interventions in education, health, naturalresource management, youth leadership, urbangovernance, communal harmony and child rightsto address the same. Policy advocacy is substantiat-ed through in depth research studies on the same.

The organisation believes that its intrinsicstrength is the people support that will help it repli-cate other interventions in the area using otherNGOs as resources. Similarly, MMSVS will offer alltechnical inputs to help other organisations repli-cate the programmes in their regions. There areseven such organisations that have collaborated inthis manner to support, lobby and exchange expert-ise and covers major part of Rajasthan. Presently,they are working in Bharatpur, Dausa, Jodhpur,Bikaner, Barmer, Jhunjhunu and Bhilwara districts.

Through its non-formal education centres,MMSVS is able to reach out to over 600 children in14 villages. Of this number, 275 are girls from con-

Regional WinnerSMALL - NORTH

Matsya Mewat Shiksha Evam

Vikas Sansthan

17

Contact: Virendra VidrohiExecutive Director and CEOAddress: 2/519 Aravali Vihar,

Alwar - 301 001 Rajasthan

Tel: (0144) 236 0432Mobile: 09414017241

E-mail: mmsvs@rediffmail.com

servative communi-ties who hitherto hadno access to educa-tion. MMSVS alsoworks in 15 villageswith Village Healthand SanitationCommittees impact-ing a total populationof 20,000. Their cam-paign for implemen-tation of the PCP-NDT Act againstfemale foeticide hashad a lot of continu-ing support and thesonography centresare under severe pub-lic scrutiny and pressure. The MMSVS initia-tives in the urban areas have impacted over3,000 rickshaw pullers in Ajmer city alone. Morethan 120 youth that have participated in theCertificate Course on Social Activism are nowworking with leading NGOs and programmesof state government.

An advisory committee is constituted forimplementation and monitoring of each proj-ect. Each Advisory committee constitutes twocore members — one from Board and one fromthe coordinating staff supported by otherexperts. A quarterly meeting of board membersis convened by the Secretary where the coordi-nators present a report on their respective proj-ects. Funding agencies supporting the work ofMMSVS also do regular evaluations.

The key belief underlying the work ofMMSVS is the empowerment of the communi-ties so that they are able to solve the problemson their own. Close coordination with the

Government and theability to engage andinvolve elected lead-ers of different par-ties to address devel-opment issues is akey factor thatensures the successof the organisationalagenda.

Every year on theanniversary of thefounder a single issueis identified fromamong the objectivesof the organisation, bythe community and isthe focus for imple-

mentation for that one year.Alwar district is one of the worse affected by

female foeticide. MMSVS is working towards itsprevention by launching a house to house sur-vey as part of its campaign. This programmehas received a lot of support from the commu-nities.

GOVERNANCEThe organisation has a four-tier system of

governance for better results. The supreme bodyof organisation is the General Assembly, whichmeets twice in a year. The day to day matters arelooked after by Executive Committee throughthe Secretary of the organisation or CEO[appointed by the Board]. At the third level thereis a coordinator with its advisory committee andlast level is community level committees.

The General Assembly is formed every threeyears and is very diverse and representative innature- comprising of 25 members out of whom

18

eight are women, five founder members, twomember of staff and two beneficiaries. Themembers meet every six months and make pol-icy guidelines for the organisation and reviewstatus and annual plans. Selection of a memberfor the General Assembly is the jurisdiction ofthe Executive Committee, which consists of 13members elected from the General Assemblyevery three years and is responsible for allorganisational matters.

In most cases some members of executivecommittee are also members of advisory com-mittee of various project, non formally thisgroup meets once in a month in any pro-gramme. The Executive Committee meets for-mally every three months and reviews the per-sonal commitment and involvement of eachmember and also suggests new members forthe General Assembly. The ExecutiveCommittee also selects members from benefici-aries for General Assembly.

The Board meets every three months andactively participates in every activity of theorganisation – planning, performance, andreview and change/crisis management. TheBoard members are all honorary. Only onemember, who is a staff representative, draws asalary.

MMSVS is an equal opportunities employerand does not disctriminate on basis of caste orgender and all employees are encouraged toabide by these values. The organisation believesin a strict child protection policy.

Each staff member is provided with adetailed job description on joining and worksunder an advisory committee headed by theconcerned coordinator. The organisation has acode of conduct for each member of board andstaff. Annual appraisals for the staff membersare conducted based on his/her defined role andresponsibility.

MMSVS is a learning organisation and theprogrammes are designed based on a learningprocess which is mutual. It involves learning ofthe staff from their own experiences as well asfrom other organisations. The staff is sent forregular trainings.

SUSTAINABILITYThe organisation has a documented three

year resource mobilisation strategy which wasadopted by the Executive Committee in March2005. The board is responsible for implementa-tion of this strategy and plays a major role infund raising.

MMSVS raises funds mainly from institu-tional sources and government and someamount is raised from individuals- largely frommembers of the Ved Didi Parivar and the localcommunities. The organisation also receives in-kind donations such as office space and freespace for the Thekra and Mangal Bass Centers

for education. In these villages the communitiesprovided the space for construction of theschool buildings. Books and educational games,programmatic support and also academic sup-port for research and publications amounting toover Rs 2,00,000 every year is raised in kindfrom the communities.

This has been an innovative way of engagingwith communities and getting their ownershipover a project. The NFE centre started byMMSVS in the village gained a lot of supportfrom the community. Land for the building wasdonated by the father of one of the girl studentsand while MMSVS mobilised funds for the con-struction work, the villagers contributedtowards the material cost. Today, this centre is agovernment recognized school up to class VIII,in which two teachers are provided for by thecommunity and three teachers supported byMMSVS. At present, there are 160 regular stu-dents and MMSVS is planning to develop thisschool as a first state owned community schoolrecognised by government and supported byNGO.

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MMSVS as a support organisation inIndian Social Action Forum (INSAF)state unit is actively involved in mobilising youths for leadership buildingand cultural activities, building capacities of grassroots members.MMSVS has gained credibility amongpeople over the years. The platform ofINSAF state unit has expanded andbroadened in Rajasthan with its support and collaboration.

Ninglun, Co-ordinator INSAF National Secretariat

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Regional WinnerSMALL - SOUTH

THE NEEDVishala is a women’s organisation work-

ing in Bijapur, Karnataka towards sustain-able development and empowerment ofwomen and children. Bijapur area is poorand backward, vulnerable to frequentdroughts. The women and girls are the worstimpacted and are discriminated against evenby their own family members in terms ofincome distribution, consumption andassets. This grim scenario prompted anorganisation working in the area – the YuvakVikas Kendra to form Vishala to addressthese specific issues. Vishala works in threedistricts of Karnataka state — Bijapur,Gadag, Belgaum, covering 11 Talukas andreaching out to more than 20,000 beneficiar-ies.

INTERVENTIONVishala was established with the purpose

of developing the socio-economic and educa-tional status of the marginalised sections ofBijapur – the Dalits, Lambanis, Kurubas, etc.The interventions therefore are in areas oflivelihood and literacy, which are critical forsuch socio-economic development.

Since land and education are the keysources of livelihood, land related activitiesalong with formal and non formal literacywere focussed upon. Gradually, other pro-grammes like Sustainable Efforts inAgriculture to Strengthen our Nature (SEA-SON), dry land and dry land horticulture,reproductive health, Natural ResourceManagement, water and sanitation, non for-mal education were introduced in the projectarea. The main aim was to introduce basic lit-eracy skills and empower women economi-cally through organic farming, improvedagriculture, proactive promotion and preser-vation of indigenous traditional seeds, etc.

The SEASON programme with assistancefrom HEKS Zurich consists of land appropri-ation, bio-intensive kitchen gardens for land-holders and landless families, organisingfarmers’ groups (committees) and promotingindigenous seeds by developing seed plotsand soil and water conservation.

Vishala ensures community’s participa-

Contact: Saroja KoulapurExecutive Director

Address: Organisation Plot No. - 374,Venkatesh Nagar, Bagewadi Road, Bijapur

- 586101 Karnataka

Tel: (08352) 278 027Mobile: 094483 81560

E-mail: bjp_vishala@yahoo.com

21

tion in its programmes through facilitation ofcommunity organisations which adopt a com-mon goal and objective through group discus-sions. These community organisations also formtheir own rules and regulations while workingunder a common platform - ensuring communi-ty participation in all issues and problems.Proper supervision and monitoring of the pro-grammes helps in increasing capacity of thecommunities to manage, scale up and replicatethe interventions. So far Vishala has promoted138 groups.

Watershed management projects were takenup with support from the Karnataka WatershedDevelopment Project to create sustainability ofassets through appropriate institutional man-agement in Doddhahalla. Vishala has beenrecognised for implementation of ButhnalWatershed Project, comprising both land basedand non-land based activities, with supportfrom NABARD covering 10,000 hectares and 321families. It is also implementing the PrimeMinister’s Rehabilitation WatershedDevelopment Project through participatoryapproaches in Timmapur area covering 4,000hectares in Gokak Taluk and Belgaum district,with support from NABARD Bangalore and theWatershed Development Department.

Apart from this, Vishala has established anorganic farming village covering 100 hectaresand 50 farmers with the help of the ZillaPanchayat and Joint Director of Agriculture ofBijapur. This is in response to a Government ofKarnataka policy on organic farming. The peo-ple’s contribution in Vishala’s organic village hasmatched that of the government’s for most pro-grammes except for activities of capacity build-ing, training, exposure, display and publicity,which have been met with government funds.

Constant monitoring and evaluation of pro-grammes are undertaken through field visits,continuous observation, reporting and interac-tions with all stakeholders. Meetings and discus-sions are held at all levels – with the beneficiar-ies called People Of Our Concern (POOC), withvolunteers and community leaders.

It helps organise women from marginalisedcommunities from a defined geographical area

into legal federations, owning, controlling andmanaging the resources, with a view to counterthe exploiting forces. This encourages collec-tive/individual sustainable local resource-basedincome generation activities through easy avail-ability of credit facilities and domestic loans tothe women. The Federation takes up gender andwomen’s issues in particular and village issuesin general through collective leadership andraises funds through their own resources as wellas through outside support.

Vishala has been identified by the CentralGovernment as Mother NGO in Bijapur districtfor implementation of Reproductive Health pro-gramme through 3-4 partner field NGOs cover-ing an area with population of over 60,000through four primary health centres and eightsub-centres. Field NGOs are trained on base linedata collection and analysis, proposal writing,etc. The key service areas of RCH programmeare maternal and child health, family planning,adolescent reproductive health and prevention

and management of RTI.Vishala has been selected by the nodal

agency Swami Vivekananda YouthMovement, Mysore for implementation of itseducation programme in seven talukas ofBijapur. The programme aims at mainstream-ing 1,000 dropout children to promote enrol-ment and retention of school dropouts and at-risk children by involving parents, SDMC(School Development & MonitoringCommittee) members, Gram Panchayat mem-bers and teachers through conduct of train-ings, Jathas, etc. As many as 1,054 childrenwere mainstreamed within the stipulated tar-

22

get time of 18 months.Vishala’s programmes satisfy the minimum

basic needs of food, health and education of itstarget groups by creating employment opportu-nities and gender sensitization in the communi-ty leading to increased bargaining power of thewomen and positively impacting their standardof living. Women are trained in aspects of own-ership, control and management of localresources for its optimal utilisation. Issues ofwomen’s rights and needs are addressed leadingto increased self reliance and enhanced equity.

By upgrading the skills of the Lambaniwomen and developing entrepreneurial quali-ties like cost effective production, price fixation,raw material purchase, marketing, quality andquantity control, development of ownership,control and management qualities, Vishala hasbeen able to revitalise the rural economy of theregion.

GOVERNANCEVishala has a seven-member all women

board who bring in their expertise to the organ-isation. Every year, a General Body meeting isheld, where Board members are elected/nomi-nated for the year. Board members are selectedbased on experience in the field of development,work experience, skills that they are bringing tothe organisation and their association withVishala. The Core Team consists of all projectcoordinators, three Board members and oneexternal representative.

Governing Body members are involved asconsultants in all aspects of the organisationsuch as planning, administration, financial man-agement, training, field visits and evaluation.The Board Members and Core Team (StaffMembers) monitor the progress and impactthrough field visits, special trainings, teambuilding and PRA exercises where they sharetheir expertise and knowledge.

Vishala conducts an annual review meetingin the month of March to prepare a plan ofaction and budget for the coming financial year.The budget allocation is made on a monthlybasis as per the action plan. The Core Team andkey Board Members monitor the financial situa-tion.

The organisation has a HR policy which laysdown the roles and responsibilities of its staffmembers. Staff members are also involved inannual planning exercise with the stakeholders.As a step to identify and develop second levelleadership, specialised trainings are organisedand donor support has been increasing forcapacity building of staff at various levels.

SUSTAINABILITYVishala has a diverse resource base and

maintains good relationships with all its donorsthrough timely submission of reports and docu-

mentation of field and organisational activities.Vishala has partnerships with international bod-ies, state and central governments, banks andindividuals, as well as the local community thatit works in.

Volunteers act as a bridge between the com-munity and NGO in implementation of womenempowerment programmes, sustainable agri-culture, health, etc. They maintain records andconduct meeting regularly at both the villageand beneficiary levels. Volunteers are trained inall aspects. At present there are more than 30volunteers working in different projects.

Vishala also undertakes innovative resourcemobilisation campaigns from time to time toraise funds. Plans are afoot to raise fundsthrough health camps, running diabetic centersat village level, providing consultancy servicesand trainings. It has an interesting partnershipwith the government agriculture department,where the government grant is matched by peo-ples’ contribution.

We are happy to learn thatResource Alliance and Nanda and JeetKhemka Foundation have identifiedVishala as the Regional Awadree fromthe South region in the small NGOscategory for the India NGO Award2008. We wish Vishala, the recipientof this award, all the best in all its efforts in building sustainable communities.

Dr GC Siluvai, Co-ordinator,HEKS India Programme

“

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Regional WinnerSMALL - WEST

THE NEEDThere are more than 200 adoption agencies

working in the country and yet less than 4,000adoptions happen in a year. Of these, nearly 50 percent are inter-country adoptions. Contrast this withmillions of orphans and destitute children (12 mil-lion by some estimates) and the thousands of cou-ples doing the rounds of fertility clinics and thelacunae in the system become glaringly obvious.The government-spend on the care of a child placedin adoption is far less than that of a child broughtup in an institution (the average period of staybeing from 1 to 12 years ). There is thus a strongcase for a shift in focus from institutionalised care tocare in a home under adoption or foster-care.

Catalysts for Social Action (CSA) is a social wel-fare organisation dedicated to the cause of childwelfare and focuses on adoption, and institution-alised child care. CSA endeavours to work towardsan empowered society that gives every child theright to lead a full and enriched life. Working close-ly with stakeholders, CSA aims to influence changein adoption policies and practices. CSA works withadoption agencies, improving institutional care indestitute homes in Marathwada and Vidarbha inMaharashtra and Kalahandi, Dhenkanal, Puri andKendrapara in Orissa.

Established in September 2002, CSA is support-ed by Kale Consultants Ltd., a reputed softwarehouse in Mumbai, India.

INTERVENTIONAs its name suggests, the objective of CSA is to

become a ‘catalyst for social action’ — by harness-ing the power of the community of stakeholders.CSA works with adoption agencies, CentralAdoption Resource Agency (CARA), governmentauthorities, the judiciary, adoptive parents andprofessionals. Gaps and bottlenecks are identifiedand solutions found for the same.

CSA believes that every child has the right to bebrought up in a family and it is the responsibility ofcitizens of this country to ensure that this is ful-filled. Therefore, adoption is the most complete andpermanent form of re-habilitation of a destitutechild. Once the child is brought up with a family, allhis/her needs (shelter, health, education, career,relationships and inheritance) are taken care of.

CSA’s services are built around the twin objec-tives of enhancing the total number of adoptions in

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Contact: Bharati DasguptaManaging Trustee

Address: Kale Enclace, 685/2B & 2C, 1stFloor, Sharada Arcade,

Satara Road, Pune - 411037 Maharashtra

Tel: (020) 2421 9333Mobile: 09890119732

E-mail: csa@kaleconsultants.comWebsite: www.csa.org.in

the country and improving the quality of insti-tutionalised child care. All initiatives are backedby field research studies. Also, to the extent pos-sible, their service delivery is routed throughand delivered with the assistance of stakehold-ers who are already active players such as estab-lished adoption agencies, adoption coordina-tion agencies, parents’ associations, adopteeforums and government departments.

The organisation, thus, facilitates adoptions,disseminates information, conducts research,creates awareness and promotes capacity build-ing and community building to find a home forevery child in need of one. CSA works with gov-ernment registered agencies across the country. Itidentifies agencies (mostly rural) where childrenare waiting for homes and then, through an elab-orate promotional campaign (mostly in urbanlocations), directs parents to those children.

CSA monitors theagencies with whichit works intensively— the quality offacilities and childcare, their documen-tation and processes,etc. It records thenumber of childrenreferred and facili-tates their finding afamily. It has alsocreated an adoptionhelpline to recordand monitor thequeries received andaddressed. Trainingprogrammes havefeedback question-

naires to measure effectiveness. CSA laws emphasise on documentation of

the entire process and it creates training materi-als that will help in scaling up the model. Forexample, it is working on audio-visual trainingmaterial for a host of training and sensitisationprogrammes.

CSA also assists destitute homes in improv-ing their vocational training facilities, focusingon available career opportunities.

CSA’s model is replicable as it involves a clus-ter approach. A cluster of agencies where chil-dren are likely to be waiting for homes (localadoptions being few) in a particular geographicalarea is identified. A field research validates theneed for intervention. CSA then coordinates withthe agencies and identifies all children who arefree for immediate placement along with thosethat are caught up in procedural bottlenecks.

By simultaneous-ly working onimproving childcarestandards inorphanages and des-titute homes, CSAalso hopes toencourage childrenwho have familylinks and yet lackparental care, tomove into institu-tional care whilekeeping in touchwith their families.

GOVERNANCECSA is governed

by a nine-member

24

board from diverse backgrounds. Board mem-bers bring their own skill sets to the organisa-tion and are involved with management, devel-opment of organisational strategy, resourcemobilisation and ensure that accounting andstatutory compliances are met. They also helpcreate awareness, sensitise the community andmedical fraternity, train and counsel the volun-teers.

Board members are appointed by discussionand consensus of existing Board members. Eachmember is expected to take on complete respon-sibility for an assigned function, say, fund-rais-ing. Board members are nominated and holdoffice for two years which can be furtherextended by a Board resolution.

The Board meets regularly and discusses allmatters. A formal agenda is drawn for eachmeeting and agenda notes are circulated. Theminutes of the meeting are recorded and circu-lated for approval. The Board meets once everyquarter on an average. One of the Board mem-bers is responsible for ensuring statutory andregulatory compliance.

Channels of communication are kept openwith all stakeholders through newsletters, web-site updates, annual reports, white papers, chatgroups and mail. CSA publishes its annualreport in compliance with applicable account-ing standards. The report is publicly availableand also uploaded on CSA’s website.

CSA has a HR policy in which employeedeliverables are identified at the commencementof the year and monitored fortnightly. A shareddatabase enables CSA employees have access toall information. Statistical information, eventupdates, child data, adoption facilitations, mail-ing lists, resource persons, are some of the avail-able database areas.

A separate capacity building budget has notyet been worked out but employees are encour-aged to participate in training programmes. Theexpenses are covered from the general fund.

SUSTAINABILITYCSA recently prepared a resource mobilisa-

tion strategy in order to carry out its pro-grammes.

The organisation is supported by KaleConsultants Ltd., a software company, whichalso provides office space and administrativesupport including support staff. This is anongoing arrangement. In addition, CSAreceived funds from Clover Technologies Ltd.,Mumbai last year. Clover has committed to con-tinue their support. ICICI Lombard pledgedfunds for CSA at the Mumbai marathon.

CSA has been listed by DASRA andGiveIndia. Donor relations are managedthrough monthly reports, half-yearly feedbackreports and annual reports.

CSA also receives donations in kind from

corporates and individuals in way of clothes,toys, electronics and educational materials.CSA launched an innovative campaign throughits volunteers to collect clothes from Retailersfor distribution to the children in agencies inMarathawada. The team of volunteers spreadout in the city of Pune and collected clothes. Theprocess involved a presentation to the group onthe objectives of the drive, CSA’s positioningand the distribution mechanism. Promotionalcollaterals were then developed and distributedin every area by teams.

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At Kale, we take our CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR) seriously and supporting Catalysts for Social Action isour way to make a difference. We arepassionate about the cause of Childrehabilitation and adoption. Only 4000adoptions per year in a country withmillions of homeless and orphaned children is a shocking statistic. Ourvision is “A loving family for every child”and that is what Kale and CSA areworking towards.

Vipul Jain, CEO, Kale Consultants

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Regional WinnerMEDIUM - NORTH

THE NEEDIndia has a wealth of home grown skills

and expertise which if utilised in the rightorganisations will make a significant differ-ence in meeting India’s social and ruraldevelopment needs. MITRA achieves thisvision by enabling volunteers and paid pro-fessionals to work in the social sector. Startedin November 2000 as an entrepreneurial ini-tiative by four alumni from the Institute ofRural Management, Anand, with supportfrom ICICI, MITRA today works with morethan 300 organisations in India and about100 organisations in other countries, includ-ing Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), a UKbased organisation.

INTERVENTIONMITRA has two key areas of operation —

volunteering and recruitment. Both addressthe human resource requirements of thesocial development sector, bringing togetherskills and organisations either through vol-untary support or through recruitment ofprofessionals.

iVolunteer is the flagship programme ofMITRA, focusing on bringing together vol-unteers and organisations to share time,skills and passion to promote India’s socialdevelopment. The two main programmes ofiVolunteer are iVolunteer India Fellow (anexclusive volunteer programme enablingIndians to share their skills in rural areas,providing a much needed resource) andiVolunteer Overseas (a unique opportunityfor professional Indians to share their skillsto fight poverty beyond their own borders,while widening their own understanding ofinternational perspectives on development).

To prevent any dilution of its mission, theorganisation has set clear criteria for thekind of organisations it wishes to serve. Allthose who register are subject to an intensivescreening process. They must be registerednot-for-profits working to address a socio-development issue and should enable vol-unteers towards its declared socio-develop-mental vision. The organisation must beirreligious and apolitical and must be will-ing to operate with complete transparency

Contact: Rahul Nainwal, Shalabh SahaiExecutive Director and CEO

Address: D-134, 1st Floor, East of Kailash,New Delhi 110065

DelhiTel: (011) 6567 2160

Mobile: 098180 03121E-mail: nainwal@mitra.org.in

Website: www.mitra.org.in

27

and provide any infor-mation that iVolunteerneeds, including allfinancial information.

MITRA also helps itsclients to source theright kind of talent fortheir organisationsthrough its recruitmentinitiatives. It has dedi-cated search andrecruitment operationssuch as JobsForGood.coma n dMicroFinanceJobs.com.MITRA employs meansto gauge changes in this community and usesthem towards course correction.

Periodic analysis of the profile of volunteersand volunteering — one-time as opposed toshort-term or long-term volunteer placements;the mix of development issues that volunteersindicate interest in; profile of volunteers — ado-lescents, youth, professionals, families, seniors,education and employment; changing require-ments of non-profit organisations.

Special studies are undertaken to under-stand the value of active services and theupcoming needs and opportunities. A studyconducted with support from the Sir Ratan TataTrust on youth perceptions and interest indevelopment sector led to the launch of theiVolunteer India Fellow youth programme. Asimilar study conducted with rural NGO part-ners that received the India Fellow youth gaverise to the concept and launch of India Fellowprofessional programme. Another internalstudy was undertaken to understand how thealumni of the India Fellow youth programmewere impacted.

Feedback and volunteer planning with the

NGO partners periodi-cally helps to assess thechanging needs of thepartner organisationsand the end beneficiar-ies.

The aim is to ensurethat organisationswhich receive volun-teers are able to workwith them to further thedevelopment cause thatthey are working on.Monitoring the place-ments effectively is rela-tively easy compared to

measuring the outcome of the projects. At pres-ent, 80-90 per cent of the organisation’s effortsare spent on effectively monitoring outputs andthe rest is on measuring outcomes. In the longrun it is hoped that both output and outcomeswould be measured equally.

MITRA has placed close to 6,000 volunteersso far. On an average it places more than 2,000volunteers through its centres every year. It canbe termed as India’s first skill share exchangeand was an innovative concept when launchedin 2001 since its focus was on facilitating skillshare between volunteers and organisations.The founders were nominated for AshokaFellowship for the same. Till date, there is noorganisation in India that works exclusively forthe cause of skill share between volunteers andorganisations.

For MITRA, scalability and replicability has asustainability dimension as well. All the volun-teering programmes can be implemented in var-ious locations and can be scaled up to match theneeds of the sector. A set of processes have beendeveloped to meet the requirement of any organ-isation looking at working with volunteers.

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GOVERNANCEMITRA has a six-member Board with repre-

sentation from both the development and cor-porate sectors. All Board members strategise forresource mobilisation and their involvementcould range from linkages with potentialdonors to suggesting and implementing sus-tainable revenue models for MITRA. Two of thefounder-directors are members of the Boardand are involved in implementing variousstrategies, both for day-to-day working andresource mobilisation.

A profile of desired Board members has beendrawn up and based on these profiles prospec-tive members are shortlisted and invited to jointhe Board. Members are initially taken on for aperiod of 6-12 months after which they are rec-ommended and approached with a formal offerto be a Board member. Once Board members areappointed, their names are filed with theRegistrar of Companies.

The MITRA staff communicates with itsstakeholders i.e., volunteers and partners,through a monthly newsletter. There is a regu-lar feedback process — both formal and infor-mal – in place for the volunteers and receivingorganisations.

MITRA considers its people as its most vitalasset and has accordingly adopted an HR policythat caters to the management and developmentof its human resources. Half yearly performancereviews and annual appraisals are in place. Theannual appraisals enable staff to provideupward feedback on management. The organi-sation also uses opportunities, like team build-ing exercises and training sessions, for upwardfeedback in a congenial and open environment.

In 2006, MITRA conducted an OrganisationDevelopment exercise with the help of externalconsultants. Since then, the organisation hasbeen able to identify and mentor key personnelfor second level of leadership. Each of the strate-gic programmes is headed by a programmemanager. The organisation is now focusing onbuilding support functions like marketing andpersonnel with their own leadership. It envi-sions that within three years, some of the man-agers will be able to undertake roles at theorganisational level.

SUSTAINABILITYMITRA has adopted a well-defined resource

mobilisation strategy which is in sync with itsoperational strategy and core values. MITRAreceived a corpus grant of Rs 30 million and anadvance programme grant of Rs 10 million forthree years from ICICI Bank in 2006-07. Apartfrom financial support, MITRA has receivedskill-based support in the form of long-termvolunteers and deputations from VSO.

MITRA regards its donors as key stakehold-ers of the organisation and commits to reporting

on financials and programme implementationas required by the donors. It also engages thedonors in discussions, on challenges and learn-ings of its programmes and its core strategy.

In 2006 and 2007, MITRA undertook aninternal exercise to develop an integrated strat-egy for resource mobilisation with the objectiveof minimising its risks by reducing dependenceon external funds. As a growing organisation,its resource mobilisation efforts needed to beembedded with its core operations. As a resultof the exercise, it was formulated that it wouldaim to earn 35 per cent of its annual budgetthrough revenue from services. As volunteeringis still at a nascent stage in India, a few of itsfacets require external support. Programmessuch as fellowship/support and workshopsinvest in creating capacity in the civil society toadopt volunteering.

A new programme structure was put inplace and potential sources of funds for the dif-ferent programmes analysed. Since corporatesbesides being potential donors were also poten-tial clients for MITRA’s programmes and servic-es, it led to creation of a single interface for allcorporate relations. MITRA’s resource mobilisa-tion strategy has been selected by IDRC to bepresented as a case study as part of an interna-tional best practices resource book.

Individuals seek to engage with CivilSociety as volunteers, at other times asfull time employees and sometimes asboth. MITRA is a unique platform thatallows CSOs and individuals to engagein all these capacities.

Dr. Nachiket Mor, President, ICICIFoundation for

Inclusive Growth

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Regional WinnerMEDIUM - SOUTH

THE NEEDThere is a wide gap between the need and avail-

ability of rehabilitation services in rural India.Mobility India was set up in Bangalore to reducethis gap and to promote mobility for persons withdisabilities, with a focus on those in rural areas,those who are poor, especially women and childrenthrough awareness raising, training, improvedservices, advocacy, research and development, andall other activities that create an inclusive societywhere persons with disabilities have equal rightsand a good quality of life. The organisation oper-ates in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,Kerala, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura with its part-ners. It also assists 21 grassroots organisations inrural areas of Southern India and North EasternIndia and also in other developing countries todevelop and strengthen their disability programmethrough a holistic approach in rehabilitation.

INTERVENTIONMobility India works on the holistic develop-

ment of people with disabilities and their familymembers focusing on health, education, liveli-hoods, social and economic empowerment. ItsRehabilitation Research and Training Centre - anequal opportunity building — is a three-storiedstructure in the heart of Bangalore city and is amodel for accessibility comparable to internationalstandards.

The organisation runs training programmes todevelop professionals to work at the grassroot lev-els, enabling a positive change in the disabilityfield. Many developing countries require the pro-duction of unusual numbers of some commontypes of prostheses and/or orthoses. The MobilityIndia centre is the first institute in South India toreceive affiliation from the Rajiv Gandhi Universityof Health Sciences (RGUHS) Karnataka and recog-nition from Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) toconduct the Bachelors programme in Prostheticsand Orthotics (BPO). A large number of people withdisabilities are trained and they in turn work in thepartner organisations providing services to peoplewith disabilities. Its single discipline programmesare recognised by the International Society ofProsthetics and Orthotics and is the first school inIndia to be awarded this recognition.

Under its rehabilitation services, the focus is on

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Contact: Albina ShankarExecutive Director and CEOAddress: 1st & 1st A Cross,

JP Nagar, 2nd Phase, Bangalore 560 078Karnataka

Tel: (080) 2649 2222Mobile: 098454 67862

E-mail: e-mail@mobility-india.orgWebsite: www.mobility-india.org

people who are in need of any kind of Orthoses(Calipers), Prostheses (artificial limbs), wheel-chairs, walkers, hearing aids, mobility aids,mobility canes along with therapeutic interven-tion and surgical correction to prevent or correctdeformities. It endeavours to provide a servicethat is of high quality and is accessible to all, spe-cially women and children giving them a widechoice suited to their lifestyle, comfort, afford-ability and local accessibility.

Two unique programmes form part of itsrehabilitation services. First, the AccessibleMobility Service, which is a unique accessiblemobile service for wheelchair users to travelcomfortably and safely and was introduced toavoid physical transfer of a wheelchair user intoa vehicle. The second is a Wheelchair Bankwhere good quality wheelchairs of differentdesigns and mobility aids like walk-ers, crutches are available on hire. Itis targeted at people with temporarydisability.

In addition, design and develop-ment of rehabilitation devices thatsuit the needs of Indian people hasbeen the hallmark of MI right fromits inception. Over the years, R&Dpersonnel have designed and devel-oped many Orthotic and Prostheticcomponents that have won interna-tional acclaim as well as wider useracceptance. The products have beenfield tested and are now being wide-ly used in India and other develop-ing countries and are affordable tothe common man. A major success isthe Pre Fabricated components forknee Ankle Foot Orthoses(PFKAFO) kit and Trans TibialPolyurethane modular Components

(SATHI). This year the focus of theresearch is on Below Knee modularprosthetic components and metalankle joint (orthotic component)

One important factor in develop-ing technology is disseminating theinformation to a large number ofpeople so that they can benefit fromit. The PFKAFO technology hasbeen shared with all partners andother organisations conductingorthopaedic workshops in south-ern, eastern and northeastern partof India and this technology hasalso been transferred to Ethiopia.The Jaipur foot made by the skilledhands of women with disabilities isthe first of its kind in India andcaters to needs of people with dis-abilities in India and other develop-ing countries.

Mobility India's community ini-tiatives create opportunities for people with dis-abilities to have access to health, education andlivelihood opportunities and to ensure holisticdevelopment of the individual and their familieswithin the community. To achieve this outcome,the activities revolve around building multi-sec-toral linkages for a community based and inclu-sive development of people with disabilities.The CBR programme was initiated in 1999 withthe initial thrust on education for children withdisabilities, followed by formation and empow-erment of the self group and facilitating access tohealth and to government welfare schemes.

Another programme is designed to improvethe quality of mainstream primary education forall children while working for the inclusion ofdisabled children. The Education andLivelihood Opportunities Programme (ELO)

30

simultaneously tackles three inter-connectedelements — provision of education, physicalrehabilitation and livelihood for the parents.

Through its mobile workshop, services aremade available over large distances and definitechanges ensured in a person's life. As many as 55organisations in the rural areas have been sup-ported over the years. Mobility India has alsoestablished orthopedic/therapy workshops inEthiopia, Mozambique and Mongolia.

Mobility India’s focus is to enable peoplewith disabilities to access a greater share ofresources that are guaranteed under existinglaws and policies, as well as influencing policychanges for a better quality of life. The organisa-tion works with government agencies, nationalagencies, national and international organisa-tions and disabled people's organisations to for-ward the rights of persons with disabilities.

GOVERNANCEMobility India is governed by a board of

seven members comprising of educationists,social workers, doctors, civil servants, engineersand accountants. There are three members whohave personal experience with disabilities andthey guide the organisation in implementationof the programmes in the areas of health, educa-tion, livelihood, social and empowerment forpeople with disabilities. Board members alsoplay a major role in raising funds for the organ-isations and promoting the activities of theorganisations in various platforms like func-tions, conferences, workshops and meetings. Allboard members are honorary.

The Governing Body meets every quarterwhere the Director submits the quarterlyreports, budget and expenses for the quarter andthe plan for the next quarter. Every event in theorganisation is known to the members.

Mobility India has a well-defined HR policywith clear roles and responsibilities of all staffmembers. It is a learning organisation and 2 percent of the annual budget is allocated for capac-ity building of the staff. The second line of lead-ership is promoted and provided training on thejob. Based on areas they are identified for capac-ity building and are sent for training pro-grammes. Performance reviews are conductedin the beginning of the year by the line managerwho plans the work for their respective subordi-nates jointly and is reviewed after six months.

SUSTAINABILITYThe organisation has a strategic plan for five

years and a yearly action plan. The action plan isreviewed every quarter based on which the planis amended if necessary to ensure that their serv-ice reaches out to all the target communities.Bilateral agencies and organisations with inter-est and focus on disability and social develop-ment have continued to support Mobility India

for more than 10 to 12 years.Mobility India has consistently received sup-

port of volunteers from various fields of expert-ise like therapists and prosthetists, documenta-tion, software professionals, language teachers,research and development, social workers toname a few.

Individual donors too have reaffirmed theirsupport and continue to contribute every year.The main reason for repeated donations hasbeen the expanding reach of the organisationand the ability to reach out to more people eachyear through its various programmes; holisticapproach to disability and development; adher-ance to national and international norms in itstraining curriculum; accountability of the organ-isation and style of functioning which is facilita-tive, collaborative, flexible, innovative and effi-cient.

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Our enduring partnership withMobility India over the last 10 yearshas seen Mobility India make remarkable strides in their achievements both nationally and internationally, to bring quality and professionalism in enhancing the qualityof life of persons with disability andtheir families. We compliment the zeal,hard work and professionalism of leadership, staff members, and supporters, which brought many laurelsto the organisation.

Gunawathy Fernandez, Regional Director

CBM SARO(S), Bangalore

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32

Regional WinnerMEDIUM - EAST

THE NEEDThe tribal and remote belt of Orissa com-

prising districts in the south-western part ofthe state is inhabited by people who are con-ventionally backward and vulnerable due toinconsistent livelihoods. Harsha Trust start-ed with identifying areas where it coulddirectly impact poverty alleviation. As aresult, it focuses on grassroots developmentprojects for sustainable livelihood generationin the tribal dominated pockets of RayagadaKoraput, Kalahandi and Ganjam districts ofOrissa, covering 154 villages and reachingout to 3,904 households.

INTERVENTIONSince its inception, Harsha Trust has

focused mainly on piloting different naturalresource based livelihood interventionsmostly through capacity building of womenself-help groups (SHGs) and other commu-nity based people's organisations. HarshaTrust has achieved a fair degree of success inimpacting livelihood of poor tribals andother marginalised people by intervening inland, water and livestock.

The organisation lays special emphasison access to credit as a key to optimum util-isation of the resource base of the family.Therefore, promoting savings and creditthrough women SHGs is a route adopted bythe organisation to help people access time-ly and appropriate amounts of credit for dif-ferent livelihood interventions.

SHG members as well as the leaders areperiodically trained with exposure visits inSHG management, livelihood activities,awareness, PRIs and other issues related tovillage development. SHGs are being organ-ised at the cluster level to enable exchange ofideas and concerns and provide a forum forcombined action. An automated MIS hasbeen installed for effective monitoring oftheir performance.

These SHGs have formed a secondarylevel cluster federation involving 10 to 15SHGs to address larger issues of linkageswith bank, government and the develop-ment programme in the village. The effec-tiveness of the SHGs can be measured by the

Contact: Jitendra Kumar NayakExecutive Director and CEO

Address: 217/B, Bayababa Matha Lane,Unit-9F, Sahid Nagar, Bhubaneshwar OrissaTel: (0674) 254 0683

Mobile: 094376 82002E-mail: harshaho@harshatrust.org

Website: www.harshtrust.org

33

fact that in areas like Jeypore, the SHGs promot-ed by Harsha have influenced the women ofgovernment-promoted groups to learn to adopttheir system of operation.

The livelihood programme, mostly smalland micro irrigation based agriculture and hor-ticulture, has been also successfully implement-ed. The small dug well initiatives in the mediumland with individual farmers’ ownership, thehomestead vegetable cultivation and horticul-tural plantation are innovative and have a scopeof replication and scalability. The system of irri-gation with the help of manual lifting devicelowers the implementation and managementcost, making it affordable for the small farmerand reducing his dependence upon electricity.

The promotion of livestock based livelihood,mostly broiler farming through producers'cooperative, has also been a market led innova-tive approach. Prior to this intervention poultrysupply in Koraput district was mainly fromAndhra Pradesh. Assessing the market poten-tial, Harsha Trust initiated poultry farming withthree families in a village on an experimentalbasis. Despite initial resistance from the localfarmers, the women members of the SHGs tookthis activity in a collective approach throughSwarna Jayanti Gram Swarojagar Yojana (SGSY)of the government and later formed a coopera-tive under Orissa Self-Help Cooperative Act.Monthly production now is at approx 24,000 kgof birds with over 120 women involved (25 arein the process of shed construction) with a pro-duction capacity of 300 birds each. The cooper-

ative has now been integrated with a poultryfeed producing unit — the reduced costs of pro-duction making it competitive with larger play-ers in the market. This has also influenced thelocal administration to explore poultry farmingas part of the SGSY programme.

The JLG (Joint Liability Groups) based farmforestry on waste or marginal lands has alsoproved its potential for wide-scale replicationand scalability. Harsha Trust piloted it with 25farmers two years ago and this has now beenadopted by farmers in larger scale covering 250families over 800 acres of land. The innovative-ness in this programme lies in joint manage-ment of the plantation and also inter-croppingof horticultural crops with eucalyptus to getsome interim return.

As part of its organisational strategy, theTrust works with the government for effectiveimplementation of their programme to impactthe poorest of the poor and community can sus-tainably access services from different institu-tions.

The mechanism of monitoring and evalua-tion at the Harsha Trust is mainly at the projectand the organisational levels. The first is meantfor individual projects and could be internal orexternal. At the project level, a quarterlyprogress report is submitted to donor and theevaluation is generally made annually by thedonor agency. The organisational level M&Eassesses if the organisation is on the right trackof achieving the stated vision and mission. Thisis again done internally twice a year and exter-nally every five years.

The programmes taken up by the organisa-tion have evolved gradually over a period oftime addressing the needs of the communitywith their active participation and along withlocal financial institutions, industry and thegovernment. Each programme is unique, needbased and owned by the people with multi-stakeholder ownership involving the communi-ty, bank and the local administration. Income-

34

generating activities have been taken up by peo-ple by accessing credit from the bank or SHGsor cooperatives.

GOVERNANCEThe Trust's governance philosophy is to

strive continuously to achieve its mission for‘building capabilities of people to addresspoverty in a sustained manner’. The Trust main-tains a high degree of accountability and trans-parency.

The executive director and team leaderscomprise the core team of the organisation thatlooks after the programmatic and the adminis-trative parts of the organisation. Potential Boardmembers are identified by the existing membersand then formally invited to join the HarshaTrust Board. As per policy, there is rotation ofleadership at the level of Executive Directorevery five years. The second level leadership isencouraged from within the core team. TheBoard meets twice a year and the Trustees andother members visit various project locationsannually.

Harsha Trust is a learning organisation andhas budgeted for capacity building of its staffmembers built within the individual projectcost. The organisation encourages growth ofprofessionals by providing opportunities ofindependent decision-making experimentationwith, and implementation of innovative ideas.

SUSTAINABILITYHarsha Trust aims at replicating its success-

es in other location mostly through an area sat-uration approach It works in partnership withthe government, industry, non-governmentdomestic and international development organ-isations. It builds the capacity of the communi-ties to leverage funds directly from the main-stream institutes like, commercial banks, blocks,DRDAs and line departments. Harsha Trust isthe first NGO in Orissa to mobilise fundingunder BKVY (Biju Krishak Vikas Yojana) for amicro-lift irrigation project at Golamuda Blockof Kalahandi District. While Harsha Trust hasbeen successful in mobilising governmentresources in a short span of time under differentprogrammes like SGSY, BKVY, NHM, etc, it hasalso demonstrated unique approach of collabo-rating with industry.

The organisation started its developmentinterventions in partnership with industry inthe periphery of SEWA paper mill in Jeyporeblock, with support from Ballarpur IndustriesLtd. (BILT). This project, initiated in 2002, hasgrown into an integrative programme aimed atoverall development through interventions inhealth and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), inaddition to the core activities for livelihood pro-motion through SHGs. The project by March2008 had covered 57 villages of the block with

1,585 families. Harsha Trust used the fund fromindustry to initially demonstrate different liveli-hood models and subsequently mobilisedresources from government for its wide scalereplication.

The partnership with industry has helpedHarsha Trust to design interventions like farmforestry where it provides a win-win situationboth for the industry and the communityaround it. The small and marginal farmers areprovided loans to take up pulpwood plantationin their degraded upland with buy-backarrangements from the SEWA unit of BallapurIndustries. The success of this initial collabora-tion has led to other industries also approachingthe Trust for collaboration and J&K Paper Milland Harsha Trust is working together for com-munity development at their Rayagada factory.

It is very heartening that a dynamicbody like HARSHA Trust team with anaverage employee age of 28 worksprofessionally at the grassroots level inone of the most difficult and poorestparts of India.

M Biswanath SinhaSenior Programme Officer

Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Allied Trusts

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Regional WinnerMEDIUM - EAST

THE NEEDRural masses are increasingly migrating to

urban areas in search of better livelihood opportu-nities but the lack of skill and infrastructure addsrather than detracts from their problems. They usu-ally find employment in the unorganised sectorsand many become rickshaw pullers. Hiring rick-shaws on a daily basis, the puller is left with littlesavings at the end of the day. As a consequence,even in their lifetime most of them can’t own a rick-shaw. Currently, there are an estimated 8 millionrickshaw pullers in India. This population is a keyfocus area for the Guwahati-based Centre for RuralDevelopment (CRD).

The Centre was established in 1994-95 with ateam of like-minded people working on ruraldevelopment and marginalised populations. CRDstarted with awareness generation pertaining tomanagement of eco-friendly environment and ani-mal husbandry through camps set up for vaccina-tion and treatment.

INTERVENTIONCRD has been engaged with several rural devel-

opmental projects since inception. The flagship pro-gramme, however, is the Rickshaw Bank. AlthoughCRD has its core operations at Guwahati, it hasexpanded the Rickshaw Bank project beyond thefive cities of Assam to other cities as well —Agartala (Tripura), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Surat(Gujarat), Lucknow, Varanasi, Allahabad andNOIDA (Uttar Pradesh). A new battery operatedSOLECKSHAW, or solar charged rickshaw, is beinglaunched as a pilot in Delhi.

In March 2007, CRD piloted a micro-credit pro-gramme to support small, marginal and pettytradesmen of urban areas as well as members of itsRickshaw Bank project. It was observed that thistarget group faced lot of difficulties due to lack ofworking capital. CRD, therefore decided to providethe micro-credit facilities to those in need of a smallworking capital.

The Rickshaw Bank has three core social-busi-ness principles:

To remove the constraints preventing the rick-shaw puller community from accessing capital andinsurance. Identity proofs and licenses would pro-tect them from harassment and associated socialstigmas and help them invest in and own their rick-shaws. The Rickshaw Bank has negotiated low cost

35

Contact: Pradip Kumar SarmahExecutive Director and CEO

Address: Dewan House, Zoo NarengiRoad, Guwahati - 781021

AssamTel: (0361) 222 8281

Mobile: 098188 63727E-mail: pradipsarmah@hotmail.com

Website: www.crdev.org

insurance, covering damage to the rickshaw, aswell as injury to the puller and his passengers.The Rickshaw Bank also provides cash loans todrivers with an established credit history.

To increase the community’s earning capacity:After a puller gains ownership of his rickshaw,all future income goes into his own pocket, to hisfamily and eventually back into the local econo-my. The Rickshaw Bank’s unique rickshawdesign, created by IIT Guwahati, is more com-fortable for passengers and less taxing on driv-ers, thereby increasing passenger use. Further,after ownership, a rickshaw driver may gainaccess to a stream of advertising revenues nego-tiated by the Rickshaw Bank. By collaboratingwith local institutions, the Rickshaw Bank hasarranged free healthcare, affordable clothing,and procurement of cooking gas licenses, reduc-ing critical expenditures for the household.

To ensure sustainability and scalability of theprogramme: At current rents, a large differentialexists between the cost of the rickshaw and theprice pullers pay to hire a rickshaw. TheRickshaw Bank passes on the cost of its opera-tions, along with the bank’s interest charge, tothe pullers and provides an attractive financialproposition of ownership in approximately 1.5to 2 years.

CRD has active participation of its stakehold-ers in the whole process from monitoring toimplementation. It invites stakeholders to all itsmeetings, functions, etc. In the Rickshaw Bankproject, the members work as a peer group tobring in new members as well as in repaymentmonitoring.

In addition, the organisation is working onseveral rural development projects.

CRD has implemented the innovative projectVet-Aid Centre (VAC) in three places — Mirza

and Sonapur of Kamrup District and Jagiroad ofMorigaon District. The delivery of services to thefarmers on payment is the unique feature of theproject. The doctors have been recruited, trainedand posted in the respective places and the sup-ply of semen of exotic breed has been chan-nelised from BAIF, Pune. The para-vets trainedunder this programme are still sustaining it withsupport from the state government.

CRD was also selected as the district agencyfor implementation of the Assam RuralInfrastructure and Agricultural Services Project(ARIASP) and Assam AgriculturalCompetitiveness Project (AACP). The AACP is asecond phase of ARIASP with greater emphasison effective agricultural services delivery andmarket linkages to increase the impact of invest-ments from both the projects on rural householdincomes.

Under SHG promotion activities, SHGs aretargeted to specific work groups, like dairy, fish-ery and joint forest management. CRD hasmobilised about 839 SHGs of 10-20 members inits operational area.

In order to strengthen the rural economy,CRD is also promoting the products of rural arti-sans and craftsmen from time to time. In a driveto bring the rural artisans to the urban peopleand to understand their taste, preference, CRDarranges a Gram Shree Mela at Guwahati.

Samadhan is a recent programme added tothe CRD portfolio. It is a platform for linkingdemand for day-to-day services like electrician,carpenters, nurses, beautician with the serviceproviders. In Assam, there are 28 ITI institutesand hundreds of trained youth pass out skilledin different trades seek employment asplumbers, electricians, beauticians, mechanics,etc. Such skilled people in different trades who

36

fulfill the standard criteria fixed by Samadhanare registered with the organisation and areprovided with uniform and photo ID cards.Insurance is provided for their increased socialsecurity. Clients who need the services of theSamadhan skilled people get in touch with theCentre with their request and the concernedperson reaches the client at the prescribed timeand date. All these skilled people are paidmonthly salary along with a percentage in theearned revenue. In the initial stage, Samadhanis concentrating on creating a cadre ofplumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders,beauticians, mason workers, TV mechanics andrefrigerator mechanics.

The Centre has evolved a unique approach toengage with communities to ensure theirinvolvement in its various welfare programmes.Awareness meetings and workshops with thelocal/ targeted communities are held to keepthem updated on the progress of the project.Regular surveys are carried out to understandthe the involvement of the community/ stake-holders and their satisfaction levels.

GOVERNANCECRD has a nine-member Board and the

Executive Director is the ex officio member tothe Governing Board. Members are invited tojoin the Board in due consultation with foundingteam. The Board is revamped every three yearsas per the guidance of the Governing Board.Usually the Board members with the consentfrom the General Body are chosen from eminentpersonalities of the region. Though CRD is cur-rently operating in different parts of the country,their Board is yet not representative of the otherregions.

CRD has an HR policy which is being imple-mented in a phased manner. The organisation isalso working on the modalities for implementa-tion of provident fund for the staff. A perform-ance review system is being worked out as partof the HR policy. CRD is a learning organisationand capacity building of the staff is well thoughtout during project planning and funds raised forthe same.

SUSTAINABILITYThe RB project has been replicated in several

cities across India. As more drivers see theirpeers’ satisfaction with Rickshaw Bank projects,additional demand is generated. A business planfor five years was prepared for the RickshawBank project and a plan for the next five years isbeing drawn out as well.

The fund raising strategy of the RickshawBank was designed to attract corporates andCRD has been successful in getting startupfunds for starting the rickshaw bank. The sus-tainability of the programme has evinced inter-est from various banks and donor agencies for

scaling up the activity at the national level. Sofar, business relationships have been establishedwith banks like SBI, ICICI, HDFC and PNB. Thesupport received from the AIF in terms of theFirst Lost Deposit Guarantee (FLDG) has giventhe liberty to leverage the fund from the Banks.The rickshaw bank financing model has nowbecome a banks’ model.

CRD has been working with the support ofdevelopment and funding agencies and differ-ent government departments. CRD receives reg-ular technical and managerial support fromorganisations like IIT, Ashoka Innovators for thePublic, McKinsey, CMERI, Durgapur, CromptonGreaves, CEL, CRRI ]and AMPRI. It receivesonly financial donations. It has received somesupport from Goonj, a NGO in the form of oldclothes which are priced at Re 0.50 to Rs 10 perpiece and sold to the rickshaw pullers. The rev-enue generated from this sale has been used tostart a health support cell to provide the health-care services to the rickshaw drivers.

37

AIF experience of partnering withCRD has been unique in terms oftransforming rickshaw pulling from anexploited and looked down occupationto dignified profession with immensescope of replication and livelihood creation.

Hanumant Rawat, Director, Livelihood,

American India Foundation

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38

Regional WinnerLARGE - NORTH

THE NEEDA quarter of a million of Delhi’s children

living in slums or on the streets, do not go toschool. Just an hour’s drive from Delhi, inrural Mewat, literacy is only 33 per cent, andeven lower for girls. Deepalaya was estab-lished to identify with and work along theeconomically and socially deprived and thephysically and mentally challenged — start-ing with the children, so that they becomeeducated, skilled and aware; to enable themto be self-reliant and enjoy a healthy, digni-fied and sustainable quality of life and to thatend, act as a resource to and collaborate withother agencies — governmental or non-gov-ernmental, as well as suitably intervene inpolicy formulation.

INTERVENTIONDeepalaya works on issues affecting the

urban and rural poor in India, with a specialfocus on children. Deepalaya has grownfrom just interacting with families of chil-dren in slums and the communities, toaddress the root cause of lack of educationfor these children. Deepalaya has expandedits mandate from ‘enabling the child lookbeyond slums’ to ‘enabling self reliance’,over the years. It seeks to create a societybased on legitimate rights, equity, justice,honesty, social sensitivity and a culture ofservice, creating a society in which all areself-reliant. Focusing on the slums of South,West, North West and Eastern Delhi, theorganisation has expanded to include areasin Haryana such as Tauru, Sohna, Rewari,Gusbethi and Pataudi.

Deepalaya works in six major areas:EducationHealthVocational TrainingInstitutional CarePlanning cum Micro RealisationWomen Empowerment

Education for the underprivileged con-tinues to be the main thrust area forDeepalaya. However, its programmes havenow expanded to healthcare, mainstreamingof persons with disabilities, promoting gen-

Contact: TK MathewExecutive Director and CEO

Address: 46, Institutional Area, D-Block, Janakpuri

New Delhi 110 058Tel: (011) 2852 5326Mobile: 98681 44844

E-mail: tkmathew@deepalaya.orgWebsite: www.deepalaya.org

39

der equity, institutional care and research, advo-cacy and networking. Deepalaya works to pro-mote and provide qualitative education ataffordable costs to children and communities,which are socially and economically deprived.Over time, 337 educational centres have benestablished where 50,000 beneficiaries are edu-cated through formal and non-formal educa-tion. Four formal schools — three of Deepalayaand the fourth in collaboration with the NarangGroup of Industries — were established. Twoschools were founded as satellites. Deepalaya isaccredited to the National Open School for bothacademic and vocational streams.The Educationon Wheels programme seeks to provide educa-tion at the doorstep to out-of school street andworking children. They are then mainstreamedinto formal schools through the Open BasicExamination. In 2007-08, Deepalaya was able tomainstream 240 out of 340 children under thisprogramme.

The DRIP (Deepalaya Reach IndiaProgramme) was started in 2004 with the aim ofmainstreaming 3,000 out-of-school children by2007. Deepalaya was able to mainstream 4,932children besides building the capacity of small-er partner NGOs of West Delhi to run such aprogramme independently. Deepalaya encour-ages positive discrimination towards the girlchild and has been able to secure and maintainmore than 60 per cent enrolment of girls in alltheir formal schools.

The Deepalaya Gram has been established atthe Gusbethi village in the state of Haryana andis home to over 100 children from difficult cir-cumstances — runaway and street children andthose of convicts, sex workers and other vulner-able categories. The centre provides regularcounselling, formal and vocational education toidentify and develop latent talent in the chil-dren. A similar home has also been set up inKhirki Village (Chaya) in New Delhi, supportedby a French volunteer and is home to 15-20 chil-dren from the ages of 4-18 who need specialattention and care.

The Vocational Training Centre provides

training in Computer hardware/ Software, AirConditioning & Refrigeration, Beauty culture,Tailoring & Fashion designing, Photography &Videography, Electricals and Electronics andhelps equip the youth to become more employ-able.

Deepalaya’s Community Health programmefocuses on preventive and promotive health in40 villages of Mewat in Haryana and 20 slumsof Delhi with a focus on services in the fields ofreproductive and child health, AIDS awareness,environment and population control. Vital link-ages have been created with Government, semi-government and private institutions such as theAll India Institute of Medical Sciences, IndianCancer Society, Delhi TB Association and theDelhi State AIDS Control Society and throughits health interventions alone Deepalaya hasbeen able to reach out to 64,436 beneficiaries in76 locations of Delhi’s slums .Children with spe-cial needs are mainstreamed into the generaleducation and healthcare system. Deepalayaprovides special education, physiotherapy andvocational training to facilitate this process.

Deepalaya strongly believes that womenshould have equal socio-economic, cultural andpolitical opportunities as men to enable them totake crucial decisions. To address the issue ofgender discrimination in the Mewat region,Deepalaya started a comprehensive programme

40

on Self Help Groups in 1999. The programmebegan with five villages and three groups con-sisting of 48 members and was extended toDelhi slums. Till date, 707 SHGs have beenformed covering 213 villages and of a totalnumber of 11,269 members of which 10,689 arewomen.

Deepalaya has also acted as a resource andtraining institute to other NGOs to help themcarry forward the mission. There are 17 NGOsin Delhi collaborating with Deepalaya, toimplement a programme to mainstream over10,000 children.

Deepalaya implemented the Planning cumMicro Realisation Programme (PCMR) in 7 vil-lages of Uttarakhand — Beena, Amkholi,Thapla, Paner Gaon, Kande, Lohana andIsulana with initiatives ranging from vermi-composting, creation of new fodder base byplanting of fodder plants and skill developmentof the youth. Through this, the specific needs ofthe community are prioritised after an assess-ment of the available resources in the village.An NGO plays the role of a catalyst and gener-ates funds from the Government and otheragencies like NABARD.

Following a concentric expansion model, theorganisation has expanded to Uttarakhand andHaryana and now planning to enter states likeJharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

GOVERNANCEDeepalaya has two types of board members

— Executive Committee comprising of eightmembers and Annual General Body of 13 mem-bers. The senior management team (SMT) takesall key decisions, which are ratified by the ChiefExecutive Officer. The Board Members on anindividual capacity solicit support from indi-viduals within their professional spheres fromboth within and outside the country.

Deepalaya has a well defined HR policy.Succession planning is a process that ensuresthat employees are recruited and developed tofill key positions in an organisation. It recognis-es and builds the potential of the existingemployees and plans for them to reach higherlevels within the organisation. Deepalayaworked with an international consulting groupto highlight skill areas among its staff membersto help chart the new leadership. Internal men-toring support within the teams helps enhancethe capacities of the teams. The organisation hasa systematic performance review process.Staffmembers are always encouraged to grow intheir field of work through various need basedtraining programmes. The budget for staff train-ing is approximately 10 per cent of the totalbudget.

SUSTAINABILITYDeepalaya has traditionally been supported

by funding agencies and individual contribu-tions. Direct marketing methods are used forincreasing unrestricted fund status. Events areorganised to reach out to individuals and corpo-rates. Committed donors form part of ‘Friendsof Deepalaya’ and help the organisation withskills, time and suggestions besides helpingraise funds from the diaspora in UK, USA andGermany.

Donations are also received in the form offurniture, clothes, office furniture, computers,electrical appliances, provisions, confectionariesand books and stationary.

Deepalaya has undertaken ‘SchoolFundraising’ for the first time in 2008. This notonly helps create awareness amongst schoolchildren about the cause and communities thatDeepalaya works for but also helps raise unre-stricted funds. Corporates have come forwardto partner with Deepalaya by offering trainingand internship opportunities, placement andmentoring to Deepalaya students.

Wonderful work being done here.A truly inspirational experience to seehow Deepalaya is working against theodds and providing children with achance for a better life. An incredibleexperience to meet the children. Bestof luck with all the efforts.

Anuja Sheth, Washington DC, USA

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Regional WinnerLARGE - NORTH

THE NEEDWhile literacy rates in India have shown a

remarkable improvement according to a reportreleased by the UNDP, there are still nearly 300 mil-lion illiterate children in the age group of 7 yearsand above and 42 million children in the age groupof 6-14 years do not attend schools. One key factorresponsible for this is the lack of access to qualityeducation. Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic armof Bharti Enterprises was established in 2000 with anaim to make quality education accessible to theunderprivileged children in rural India. With a viewto improve accessibility and quality of education atschool level and provide education and trainingopportunities to youth, the Bharti Foundation iscommitted to creating and supporting programmesthat bring about sustainable changes through edu-cation and the use of technology.

INTERVENTIONBharti Foundation’s initiatives seek to positively

impact India’s growth by bridging the gap in edu-cation through innovative solutions. Hoping to cre-ate a sustainable positive impact, the projectensures that children develop into well-roundedemployable citizens who will become forerunnersof social and economic development of their com-munities.

The key programmes of the foundation are:Satya Bharti School ProgrammeBharti computer centresBharti library and activity centresMid day meal programmeBharti School of IIT Delhi, and Bharti Centre for Telecommunication Technology and Management, IIT Bombay, Bharti Scholarship and Mentorship ProgrammeBharti Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiatives

Launched in 2006, the Satya Bharti SchoolProgramme spans primary and senior secondarylevel education along with vocational training forthe most disadvantaged communities in villages. Itaims to deliver free education to underprivilegedchildren, especially the girl child in rural pockets.Bharti Foundation aims to set up 500 Satya BhartiPrimary Schools and 50 Satya Bharti SeniorSecondary Schools in public-private partnership,reaching out to over 200,000 children. Currently,161 schools are operational across Punjab, Haryana,

41

Contact: Mamta SaikiaVice-President, Operations

Address: Plot No. 47, Udyog Vihar, PhaseIV, Gurgaon- 122015

HaryanaTel: (0124) 466 000Mobile: 9818717948

E-mail: bharti.foundation@bhartifoundation.org

Website: www.bhartifoundation.org

Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh,reaching out to over 18,000 chil-dren.

Working closely with grampanchayats and village commu-nities, the Foundation seeks touphold high standards of quali-ty. Panchayats have providedsupport to the programme andas a result of the pressure fromthem approximately 214 landpieces have been allocated toBharti Foundation byGovernments of Punjab,Haryana, Rajasthan, UttarPradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Bharti Computer Centreswere initiated in 2004 to makecomputers accessible to under-privileged children and to usethem as an aid to supplementthe teaching-learning process in schools in orderto enhance children’s interest in education.Bharti Foundation has joined hands withPratham Infotech, Kalakar Trust and Adharshilato initiate Bharti Computer Centres in 26 schoolsacross the states of Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan,Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

26 Bharti Computer Centres (BCC) and 104Bharti Library and Activity Centres (BLAC)have been set up in schools across 11 statesreaching out to 23,500 underprivileged childrenin two years to help inculcate reading habitsamong underprivileged children in rural andsemi-urban areas leading to a gradual increasein their learning levels. Bharti Foundation haspartnered with the Akshaya Patra Foundation inVrindavan to provide mid-day meals to under-

privileged children studying ingovernment schools. In 2007, theprogramme reached out toaround 70,000 children in 385schools and another 4,080 chil-dren in 100 anganwadis.

Bharti Foundation has part-nered with the Indian Instituteof Technology, Delhi in 2000 toset up the Bharti School ofTelecommunication Technologyand Management and with IITMumbai to set up the BhartiCentre for Communication bothaimed at producing ‘YoungTelecom Leaders’ of tomorrow.The Bharti Centre forEntrepreneurial Initiatives, setup in a joint initiative with theEntrepreneurship DevelopmentInstitute of India (EDI) pro-

motes, develops and facilitates entrepreneurshipamong young individuals.

The Bharti Scholarship and MentorshipProgramme was instituted in 2006 to supportacademically brilliant students from financiallyweak backgrounds with family incomes of lessthan Rs 100,000 per annum. Preference is givento girl scholars and children from an SC/STbackground. Currently 184 scholars are beingsupported under the Bharti Scholarship andMentorship Programme.

The programmes initiated and implementedby Bharti Foundation are meant to act as cata-lysts for educational reforms in the country.Thus while the programmes reach out to only afraction of the millions of underprivileged chil-dren in the country, the aim is to create pro-

42

grammes that are both replicable and scalable innature thus allowing the Foundation to reachout to a larger number of children.

GOVERNANCEBharti Foundation has a 14-member

Governing Board which includes leaders fromvarious segments of society. Being at positions ofauthority, the board members help in network-ing with the key decision-makers in order toensure smooth implementation of the pro-grammes, facilitating partnerships and alliances.Technical expertise from educationists on theBoard helps ensure that the education model isof benchmark quality and standard. Members ofthe Governing Board also play an important rolein resource mobilisation for the organisation.

Meeting once every quarter, the Board is pre-sented with a quarterly update of theFoundation’s work and reviews the perform-ance, addressing any crisis or contingency that itmight have faced in the last quarter. At BhartiFoundation non-compliance of laws is a zero-intolerance process. All the reviews and infor-mation systems always look at an update oncompliance with laws and regulations. AnnualReports are published every year and are alsoavailable on the Foundations website.

Bharti Foundation encourages learningamong its people and promotes a culture wherepeople continually expand their capability todeliver the results. The training needs ofemployees are identified during the perform-ance review process and the training calendarand budget are prepared based on the finalisedtraining needs.

Bharti Foundation has a well defined andobjective performance management system inplace. The appraisal system fosters a two waycommunication and the performance reviewdiscussion is done jointly between appraiser andappraisee. Recommendation for promotion, ifany, is also recorded in the appraisal form. Theperformance is judged on a four point ratingscale and annual increment decided accordingly.The Foundation recognises and rewards indi-viduals and teams for their contribution.

In order to build an open, transparent and avibrant organisation open house session areorganised wherein all employees are encour-aged to raise questions/queries concerning theorganisation and its functioning directly to thePresident.

SUSTAINABILITYThe projects of Bharti Foundation are cur-

rently being supported by the promoters andgroup companies of the Bharti Group and in theyear 2008-09, this contribution amounted to Rs676 million. Bharti Foundation did not activelyembark on a structured resource generationprocess until 08-09. Support was from the com-

pany and the other Board members. While theMittal family has contributed the corpus, addi-tional resources are raised through partnershipswith various corporates. The Max Group ofCompanies has donated medical kits for allSatya Bharti Schools. The Hero Group ofCompanies has also donated cycles for all care-takers, Luxor has donated the writing instru-ments and Metro Ortem has donated fans for theschool. IBM has donated 150 KidsmartComputers (each worth $ 2100) and also provid-ed monetary support as has the VodaphoneFoundation and Nokia Siemens Network.Partnerships for resourcing material requiredfor running the school programmes.

Bharti Foundation aims to set up 550 SatyaBharti Schools by 2010 through partnership withthe State Governments and local communitiesand is looking at raising support from a diversedonor base — funding agencies, corporates,diaspora, local communities and employees.

43

Our association with BhartiFoundation has been quite inspirationaland a guiding force for us to do theneedful for the society. In this challenging environment, it is imperative that our younger generationgets quality education, guidance andinspiration. We congratulate theFoundation on its unprecedented trackrecord in imparting education to thechildren and opening young minds tothe benefits of education.

Rummy Chhabra, Group Managing Director,

Metro Ortem Ltd.

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44

Regional WinnerLARGE - EAST

THE NEEDThe Centre for Youth and Social

Development (CYSD) is a 26 year-old non-government, non-profit organisation, estab-lished in 1982, working for the developmentof deprived and marginalised people inOrissa. CYSD's vision is facilitating a societywhere communities are able to make theirown choices, meet their survival needs andlead a self-reliant and sustainable life withdignity. To this end, CYSD uses issue basedresearch to influence policies from a pro-poor and rights based their rights andresponsibilities and lead their life with digni-ty and self-respect perspective. It also worksto ensure transparent, gender sensitive,accountable and democratic governance bybuilding the capacities of people and organi-sations in participatory planning.

INTERVENTIONCYSD has been working in partnership

with communities since 1985, creating workcentres on women's self-help saving groups;introducing sustainable agricultural prac-tices; increasing people's participation inlocal self-governance; improving enrolment,retention and the quality of teaching in pri-mary schools. With a uniquely holisticapproach of working directly with commu-nities to improve quality of life, CYSD hasconducted extensive research studies into avariety of issues concerning poor and tribalpeople in Orissa, and published the same toinfluence the public and policy makers toinitiate changes.CYSD works in 7 districts ofOrissa — Koraput, Sundargarh, Kendujhar,Cuttack, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur and Khurda.

CYSD's programmes are aimed at theholistic development of the communities inOrissa and are planned in close consultationwith the same to give them ownership andensure replication. CYSD works on severalissues such as disaster management, childrights, health, sanitation and HIV/AIDS butthe main focus areas are three:

Primary educationSustainable livelihoods Participatory governance

Contact: PK SahooChair of the Board

Address: E-1, Institutional Area,Gangadhar Meher Marg,

Bhubaneswar -751013Orissa

Tel: (0674) 230 1725Mobile: 094370 89103

E-mail: cysdbbsr@sancharnet.inWebsite: www.cysd.org

45

CYSD works towardsensuring free and compul-sory elementary educationto all children within theage group of 6-14 years. Itseffort is to get all childreninto schools including thenon-starters and dropouts.CYSD works towardsenhancing the quality ofprimary education in theformal and non formal sec-tors. Research and advoca-cy initiatives at district andstate levels have helped identify loopholes andshortcomings and a set of measures have beenrecommended to achieve the goal of UniversalElementary Education (UEE) by the stipulatedtime period of 2010. CYSD works to enhance thecapacities of the grass root level intermediaryorganisations, facilitators, village educationcommittee and other civic groups on universal-isation of elementary education and to ensurequality education through monitoring forums.

In the field of rural livelihood, CYSD workstowards enhancing the status of agriculturefrom subsistence to a profitable and sustainableventure by strengthening the knowledge sys-tem at the grassroots and initiating a multi-agency process in livelihoods, The organisationemphasises on improved agricultural and natu-ral resource practices; developing entrepreneur-ial skills; facilitating access to credit by develop-ing self-help groups, promoting micro enter-prises; and improving access to markets.

It also undertakes research and advocacy ini-tiatives at various levels to bring about pro-poorpolicy changes to positively affect the livelihoodsituation of tribal people. CYSD undertakes vig-orous training and capacity building pro-grammes and consultations with the farmers inthe community.

Believing that community empowermentand social development are best achieved

through greater citizen par-ticipation in the grassrootdemocratic process, CYSDhas been supporting andstrengthening decentralisedgovernance and increasingthe accountability of theinstitutions of governancetowards people in generaland the marginalised sec-tion in particular. CYSDthrough its participatorygovernance initiatives andcommunity organisations,

works towards strengthening citizens' partici-pation in local self-governance to enhance localdevelopment issues, place their legitimatedemands before the mainstream agencies, andcreate pressure to promote and strengthen pro-poor initiatives.

CYSD works at both the grassroots level,directly with communities, and through NGOpartners, which makes the development modelunique. Planning and implementation process-es in CYSD are bottom-up and participatory innature. Plans for periods of 5-10 years, pro-gramme cycle plan for three years, annualplans, quarterly plans and monthly plans aremade.

CYSD also works with the partner organisa-tions to share learnings from the ground andbuild capacities to replicate and implement pro-grammes through community groups in the vil-lage. It reaches out to over one lakh families in12 districts in Orissa through various partnerorganisations. Directly, CYSD reaches out toover 2.7 lakh poor families in its seven projectdistricts. It has also oriented more than 9,300panchayat functionaries (including 4,722women) and developed 292 micro level plans in12 districts and influenced district perspectiveplan in three districts.

Most of CYSD's programme interventionsare innovative, replicable and scalable. CYSD's

46

Social Watch research methodology was innov-atively taken up at the state level in eight states(Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal,Karnataka, and Kerala). Every state had its ownuniqueness of focus, but CYSD maintained theunity of perspective at the national level aroundissues of social development and governance.

GOVERNANCEThe CYSD Board is diverse in terms of back-

ground, occupation and gender — all membershaving had a long association with the develop-ment sector. Board members offer a tangible setof skills, both functional and programmatic andensure that the organisation demonstrates highstandards of transparency and accountability.Collectively, the Board members bring a numberof competencies that support the development ofProgrammes as well as organisational sustain-ability.

Board members meet three times a year (oneof these meeting is a General Body meeting) andperiodically review the Strategic Plan of theorganisation as well as associated programmat-ic and development shifts. Based on thesereviews new competencies are identified andnew Board members suggested. Potential Boardmembers are interviewed and apprised of theroles and responsibilities and an induction pro-gramme is organised to welcome new Boardmembers.

Communication with stakeholders arethrough regular meetings, dissemination ofinformation, using annual reports, newslettersand the media. CYSD publishes an annualreport in compliance with accounting standardsand is available publicly to visitors. The annualreport is posted on the CYSD website.

CYSD is currently managed by a five mem-ber senior management team looking after vari-ous functions such as programme, finance,coordination, learning and accountability andorganisation development. The organisationhas a HR policy which has been recentlyreviewed, updated and approved by the Board.All new employees receive appointment lettersdetailing the terms and conditions, obligations,and detailed benefit package.

SUSTAINABILITYCYSD has an action plan and a broad strate-

gy for resource mobilisation. CYSD focuses onlocal resource mobilisation campaigns to sus-tain community process. In all communitieswhere CYSD works, local staff members facili-tate the formation of community funds throughindividual membership contribution, sharing ofprofits of members and other income generat-ing programmes. These funds are managed bycommunity groups such as SHGs and help incommunity development processes after CYSD

withdraws. CYSD has generated Rs 13,570,600through its SHGs till March 2008. Guidelineshave been developed by CYSD for proper man-agement of the funds.

A large part of CYSDs core programmes aresupported by institutional donors like OxfamNovib, Plan International, Concern Worldwide.The State Government has supported severalprogrammes of community health and tribaldevelopment This enables the CYSD to workcollaboratively on developing best strategies,budgets and deciding on key performance indi-cators. Many budget processes are participato-ry. CYSD also generates funds through its inhouse training and exposure programmes,rentals, consultancies, and sales of publications.The organisation has now started raising fundsfrom the public through strategically placeddonation boxes at airports, corporate offices andshopping malls.

Visiting CYSD for the evaluationassignment was a learning experiencefor us as evaluators. We came backwith the clear feeling that here was anorganisation that was making a discernible impact at the ground. At atime when the validity and integrity ofNGO interventions is being questionedall around, it was heartening to comeacross an organisation that though ithas grown in size has yet retained itsrelevance and commitment to work forthe poor and marginalised.

Dirk Van EsbroeckTeam Leader, European Union

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Regional WinnerLARGE - WEST

THE NEEDThe Aga Khan Rural Support Programme

(India), the rural development partner of the AgaKhan Foundation (AKF), is an internationallyrecognised, community-based, non-denomination-al, non-government development organisation,based in Gujarat. Since the early 1980s, it hasfocused on enhancing rural livelihoods throughsustainable management and use of naturalresources in degraded and resource poor regions ofwestern and central India, often characterised bylimited economic opportunities as well. The foun-dation works in the states of Andhra Pradesh,Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and isfirmly committed to reducing rural poverty in theenvironmentally degraded, semi-arid areas of Indiacharacterised by erratic rainfall, undulating terrain,depleting or contaminated groundwater, and poorsoil conditions adversely affecting incomes of fami-lies depending upon agriculture and animal hus-bandry for a livelihood.

INTERVENTIONAKRSP(I) has adopted a participatory approach

to development which goes beyond addressingproblems of food self sufficiency and looks at thewider issue of poverty alleviation and improve-ment in the quality of life, while following an areadevelopment and bottoms up approach. To ensurecommunity empowerment, it works to establishand strengthen appropriate, effective and account-able village level institutions and federations. Thefocus is on mainstreaming women and margin-alised sections of the community. The organisation'sphilosophy is that rural economic development isbest catalysed through transparent village levelinstitutions, contributing to the growth of civil soci-ety.

AKRSP (I) rural development programme canbe broadly divided into four categories.

Economic development of the rural communitiesthrough its agricultural and non-agricultural interventions. Social development by addressing issues of gender, caste, tribal inequities by practicing an all inclusive approach in all activities. Addressing the need for services like drinking water, fuel and fodder for the rural people. Improved governance: Planned interventions are undertaken by AKRSP (I) to improve

47

Contact: Apoorva OzaExecutive Director and CEO

Address: 9-10th Floors, CorporateHouse, Opposite Dinesh Hall, Off

Ashram Road, Ahmedabad 380 009Gujarat

Tel: (079) 66312451Mobile: 09825789571

E-mail: mail@akrspi.orgWebsite: www.akdn.org

internal governance of the villages. Village-level committees set up to encourage people topractice self governance. AKRSP (I) also worksat State-level to influence non pro-communitygovernment policies.

Striving to improve the lives of the rural com-munities through agricultural and non-agricul-tural interventions, AKRSP(I)’s approach toincreasing incomes and reducing farmer's riskshas been largely through intervention si\uch asimproving the irrigation facilities, providinginformation on markets and access to agri-inputs and credit and linking them with thestakeholders. Addressing the issues of gender,caste, tribal inequities by practising an all-inclu-sive approach, the foundation has ensured thatwomen are the decision makers in village insti-tutions and people are represented equally inthe meetings.

Being the first NGO to implementParticipatory Irrigation Movement in Gujarat,AKRSP(I) follows an area developmentapproach to bring about an all-round develop-ment in the region. An evolving organisation,AKRSP(I) tries to adapt its programmes accord-ing to the changing needs of the rural communi-ties. It has now introduced computer trainingcentres for the rural youth and is using the inter-net to make the markets more accessible for thefarmers.

Pioneering the concept of Joint ForestManagement in Gujarat, tribal communities in75 villages protect their forests. Two villages,Pingot and Babda, have won the Indira

Priyadarshini award for environmental protec-tion. It has set up over 12,000 biogas plants.

The organisation has covered 856 villagesreaching out to over 84,000 families living belowthe poverty line. The total numbers of beneficiar-ies are 78, 652 in Gujarat and 6,552 in MadhyaPradesh. The organisation has also preventedover 40,000 families from falling below thepoverty line. As many as 2,240 village institu-tions have been formed out of which 55 per centhave women as primary members. In partner-ship with WASMO, an autonomous organisa-tion, AKRSP(I) has benefited and provided34,000 households with cleaner drinking water.While 24,000 households benefit throughAKRSP(I) intervention, 12,000 households haveaccess to hand pumps.

In the year 2000, AKRSP(I) envisaged achange in the key focus areas for the nextdecade. After extensive consultations with thecommunities and stakeholders, it prepared aproposal which envisaged a shift from a classicalnatural resource management role to a liveli-hood approach and a pro-active approach ofsharing its learning’s with other NGO's and gov-ernment. This proposal called SustainedCommunity based Approach to LivelihoodEnhancement (SCALE) was approved by theEuropean Commission for a 10 year period(2002-2011) and has other outreach partners likeDevelopment Support Centre in Gujarat,ARAVALLI in Rajasthan, APMAS in AndhraPradesh and PRADAN. SCALE aims to con-tribute to poverty reduction in rural India bydeveloping community based approaches to

48

natural resource management at the local, stateand national level.

In 2003, AKRSP(I) promoted a local NGO inUmarpada block of Tapi Dstrict with tribalyouth, some of whom who had worked withAKRSP(I) as para-workers and were keen toserve their community. Four of them startedworking under the guidance of an experiencedAKRSP(I) community organiser and over timeregistered themselves as an independent trustcalled SAVI.

GOVERNANCEAKRSP(I) is governed by a Board of

Directors comprising of development practition-ers, finance professionals, and members withgovernment, legal and academic backgrounds.Meeting at least thrice a year, the Board helpsdevelop the organisational vision for the comingten years and has discretionary powers onissues like approval of the annual budget, seniorlevel appointments, salary revisions and anydeviations and exceptions For appointment tothe Board, three probable candidates are pro-posed against each seat and the directors arefinalised internally in consultation with theChairman of the Foundation. However, greatcare is taken to ensure that all the six identifieddisciplines are represented by nominees. Withinthe Board, there are also two committees withspecific objectives — namely the Finance,Investment and Audit Committee and thePersonnel Committee.

AKRSP (I) employs approximately 250 peo-ple stationed at the central office at Ahmedabadand 24 field offices in Netrang, Gadu, Sayla andMadhya Pradesh. They are mainly developmentprofessionals with a small team of support staff.

AKRSP (I) has Spear Head Teams led by AreaManagers, who are responsible for a few clustersand play an integral role in evolving regionalstrategies. Outreach activities have a separatestaffing structure. Development work from thecentral office at Ahmedabad is carried out byDevelopment Associates (DAs), who work as'thematic leaders' responsible for sectoral andsub-sectoral activities. The central office alsohosts a Research and Monitoring Unit led by amanager. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO),appointed for a fixed tenure, heads the organisa-tion.

The second level leadership at the organisa-tional level is decided by the Board of Directors.However, within the organisation, various keypositions like District Coordinators are createdso that future leaders can be given more respon-sibilities.

SUSTAINABILITYAKRSP (I) has major funding from the Aga

Khan Foundation. It also receives support fromthe Sir Ratan Tata Trust. It has also recently start-

ed collaborating with corporates for fundingsupport and partnerships. The organisation hasa corpus of about Rs 10 crore and office premis-es, and campuses in three field areas.

Donations are usually financial in nature butof late it has also started accepting donations inkind from the general public and corporates. Agrant from Microsoft had provision only forbuying computers for the centres so AKRSP(I)undertook an innovative campaign to procurecomputers for sub-centres from corporates andindividuals. It received 175 computers fromMotorola, Development Credit Bank (DCB) andSabarmati Riverfront project of the AhmedabadMunicipal Corporation (AMC). Some from indi-viduals too supported the programme. It hasproved to be a successful model to teach ruralyouth computers in a simple yet innovativemanner. The operational costs of running thesesub-centres are met through the revenues gener-ated.

AKRSP has a well-documented financialmanagement policy. The annual budget is bro-ken down into quarterly budgets. Since, thebudgeting process practiced by AKRSP is a bot-tom-up process, the community is a key decisionmaker.

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Our partnership with AKRSP(I) hasreaffirmed our belief that it not onlyhas a good presence at the grassrootsbut is also willing to listen to what therural communities have to say. Thiscommitment has helped in taking ourpartnership with them further into interior areas of the country.

Vikas Goswami, Lead CSR Microsoft Corporation (India)

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Assessors and Partners

Assessors Partners

NORTHMr. Vinod IyengarAdvisor, Satyam FoundationMs Jo ChopraExecutive Director, LatikaRoy FoundationMs Madhu KrishnaIndependent Consultant

SOUTHDr. Mazher HussainDirector, COVAMs. Asha RameshGender Specialist andDevelopment ConsultantMr. SriramanJournalist

EASTProf. Madhukar ShuklaProfessor, XLRIDr. Manas SatpathyState Program Director,PradanMr. Raktim MukhopadhyayDirector, Bangiya UnnayanParishad

WESTDr. Nirja MattooChairperson, Centre forDOCC, SPJIMRMr. Maheysha TamhaneySenior Group Head,AdFactorsMr. Sudhakar MalpeVice President, Global Centrefor Prevention of Diseases

Grant Thornton International is one of the sixlargest global accountancy organisations with over500 offices in 80 countries and revenues exceedingUS$ 3.5 billion. Estabilished in 1935, GrantThornton India is one of the oldest and mostreputed accountancy firms in India. For moreinformation, visit www.wcgt.in

Credibility Alliance is a consortium of voluntaryorganisations committed towards enhancingaccountability and transparency in the voluntarysector through good governance. It is an initiativethat emerged from within the sector and wasregistered in May 2004 as an independent, not-for-profit organisation. For more information, visitwww.credall.org

SP Jain Institute of Management and Research(SPJIMR) is rated amongst the top ten B-Schools inthe country with the learning process focused oninculcating in participants sensitivity to the realworld issues and an ability to become the leadersin their chosen fields. For more information, visitwww.spjimr.org

Confederation of Voluntary Association (COVA),is a national network dedicated to communalharmony, peace and social justice, usingdevelopment as a strategy to bridge differencesbetween communities and to bring them together.Headquartered in Hyderabad, COVA works inAndhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, UttarPradesh and West Bengal. For more information,visit www.covanetwork.org

XLRI Jamshedpur - School of Business andHuman Resources is the oldest business-school inIndia, and has been consistently rated among thetop in the country. Its mission is to developbusiness leaders with a social concern, who canmake a difference to society. Correspondingly,XLRI’s coursework and academic activities focus asmuch on business issues, as they do on socio-environmental concerns and ethics. For moreinformation, visit www.xlri.ac.in

TiE is a global not-for-profit organisation focusedon promoting and fostering entrepreneurshipglobally through mentoring, networking andeducation. TiE has more than 12,000 members andover 1,800 charter members in 53 chapters across12 countries. TiE helps budding entrepreneursleverage opportunities in the global market place.For more information, visit www.tie.org