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Interviews |
| HelpYourNGO spoke to some of the leading philanthropists and professionals in the social sector. Here are their inspiring views on contributions to the sector and thoughts on the future of the space. |
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Gururaj and Jaishree Deshpande have encouraged the use of entrepreneurship and innovation as catalysts for sustainable change in the United States, India and Canada since 1996. They set up the Deshpande Foundation, which believes in accelerating the creation of sustainable, scalable enterprises that have significant social and economic impact.
- Please could you describe what inspired you to start The Deshpande Foundation?
I founded Cascade Communications in 1990. We went public in 1994. After the company went public we realized that we had more resources than what we need; this was a new feeling. Instead of increasing our needs, Jaishree & I thought a good way to use the resources was to set up the Foundation. Deshpande Foundation was set up in 1995.
- What drove the idea of the Sandbox – did your vast experience in the technology sector help you kick start the concept? Have you succeeded?
Our first big initiative was to set up the “Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation” at MIT in Boston. I joined the MIT Board in 2000 and the Center was set up in 2002. The idea behind the center was to create more opportunities for entrepreneurs with the ideas coming out of University Research. This Center has become very successful.
After the success we had at the MIT Center, we turned our attention to India and wanted to do something similar in India. However, for India “Social Innovation” looked more promising than “Technological Innovation”. We also realized that to have impact from Technological Innovation the magic is “Innovation + Relevance = Impact”. That is, the big ideas have to be relevant to the world to have an impact. However, we also realized that for impact from Social Innovation the magic is “Relevance + Innovation = Impact”. That is, the relevance and deep understanding of the problem itself is at the core of social innovation. The new ideas that you bring to the solution don’t have to be the ideas that are being introduced for the first time in the world, or are patentable, or have a huge competitive advantage.
We had to come up with an idea that would bring both Relevance and Innovation together for Social Innovation. That is how we came up with the idea of the “SANDBOX”. We picked to restrict our effort to 5 districts. This area is small enough to create a critical mass of innovation; similar to Silicon Valley for Technical Innovation. Also the Sandbox is large enough to have all different types of problems that people can work on. The Hubli Sandbox was set up 8 years ago. After we saw initial success in Hubli we brought the idea back to Massachusetts. We have a Sandbox in Massachusetts, USA called the “Merrimack Valley Sandbox”. Two year ago, we started a Sandbox in Canada. Even though the three sandboxes in India, USA and Canada operate in different contexts, they share a lot of common themes.
- What are some of the challenges that DF faces during its growth phase? What, if anything, would you do differently?
Initially when we started the Sandbox in Hubli, there was not sufficient activity in the Sandbox. Originally we thought we could invite the most successful NGOs from USA and have them populate the Hubli Sandbox. We invited several of them. However, that did not work. We then realized that “Local Leadership” is very important for the Sandbox to be successful.
As we duplicate the Sandboxes in other parts of India we are using the lessons learnt in Hubli and are able to accelerate the development more quickly. A successful entrepreneur from Silicon Valley, Raju Reddy and a successful entrepreneur from Bangalore Phanindra Sama are funding the second Sandbox called Kakatiya Sandbox in Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh. This effort is only a few months old, but we are hoping that this Sandbox will show results a lot faster.
- What kind of performance metrics can best measure progress/impact of the money and time being invested in DF?
The Sandbox works on five different programs:
- LEAD program. This is where 4 college students come together, pick a problem to solve in the society and solve it. We now have 10,000 students solving all kinds of problems. This experiential learning opportunity to learn the power of entrepreneurship has made a big impact.
- EDUCATION TRUST: We have come up with several residential educational programs ranging from four months to seven months that teach young men and women the power of good work ethic, ability to communicate, computer skills and a domain that is of interest to them. The different domains that we cover include social entrepreneurship, agriculture, accounting, electrician, etc. We are training 650 individuals this year. Several of them go on to start their own businesses.
- GRANTS PROGRAM: Several NGOs either start or bring their programs to the Sandbox to further develop and come up with a plan to scale them. Akshaya Patra, Agastya, Sikshana, SRI and several other programs have scaled and are now reaching millions of people all across India.
- Navodyomi: This program teaches MBA 101 to small entrepreneurs whose revenues are in the range of 10,000 to 20,000 rupees a year. We covered 2000 of them over the last year and several of them have been able to scale their business many fold.
- INCUBATOR: We help entrepreneurs start their for-profit and non-profit organizations. We now have over a dozen organizations that are flourishing. We see this program scaling as the Sandbox matures.
Eight years ago people in the Sandbox always looked to us to solve the problems. After eight years, the biggest transformation is that people in the Sandbox realize that they need to solve the problem themselves. They only look to us for help in solving the problem. Our job is done when people start looking at every problem as opportunity to do something. If we are successful in changing the culture, it will be a long term sustainable value to the Sandbox.
- Which are some of the changes which you would like to observe in the philanthropy space? What is your view of CSR?
In the business world, execution excellence is given. In the non-profit world compassion is given.
In the past, people made money in business and gave some of it charity. To bring about transformational change, we have to bring the “Execution Excellence” to non-profits and the “Compassion” to businesses. I am hoping that CSR will accelerate the mixing of businesses and non-profits and accelerate this change. Here are the views of Rohini Nilekani, a philanthropist whose current work focuses on water and sanitation, good governance and environmental sustainability. Until recently she was also Founder Chairperson of Pratham Books, a not-for-profit organization with the mission of putting a book in every child’s hand.
- Name the social area that you focus on. What urged you to get associated with this space?
Currently, my philanthropic work is focused on water and sanitation, good governance, and environmental sustainability, for the most part. In the past, I have also supported education, micro-finance, arts and culture and more.
- Describe an instance within your social work which created a sense of pride for you.
I was the co-founder of Pratham Books, which aims to get "A book in every child's hands". I can cite many, many instances where a young child gets a joyful book to read, or which she can call her own, for the very first time, through our work. When I have seen the expressions on those small children's faces, I have felt deep rooted satisfaction and joy that we were doing the right thing. And there are many such examples also from our work on water.
- Which are the top challenges your NGO faced during its growth phase?
Keeping the core idea of the vision intact, attracting and retaining the right new people, and continuing to grow the impact on the ground despite internal challenges. These are the real problems of growth of an organization in our sector.
- Suggest performance metrics which measure progress/impact in your focus area?
Create a logic model for your work (refer to Prof Marc Epstein). Co-create metrics with partners and stakeholders. Do not forget the stake losers. Map them, and include them in your metric. Also, do not create metrics that will only satisfy superficial engagers, and some donors can be in that category.
As a donor, I understand that sometimes, metrics are hard to create and hard to measure, for some work, and so long as the people in the given organization remain demonstrably committed to the cause that they wanted funding for, I am quite open. We could move towards a metric for such commitment, but I am personally against overdoing such metrics. We have to fund organizations doing the patient, long term work of building samaaj capacity to resist the accumulation of unjust power by the sarkaar or the bazaar. We have to fund the patient building of social capital, and an inclusive vision in a society that has been deeply hierarchical, and struggling to catch up with a puzzling modernity. These are the building blocks of the work that can then have simple outcome metrics such as – how many schools built, how much enrollment, and so on.
I truly believe in the role of trust. We must build trust between players in the non-profit space, at least on direction and agreed long term outcome.
If there is no trust, no metric will work anyway.
- Which are the 2 or 3 changes which you would like to observe in the philanthropy space?
One, I would like to see donors in India go beyond their own boundaries. Beyond the organizations that they set up and control.
There are many organizations in India working at the very heart of the issues, about severe deprivation, discrimination, human rights abuse and more, that require support. Indian philanthropists must articulate their vision for a just society. They must support more work that is outside their comfort zone, but within the space of human rights, access to public services, accountability, transparency, etc . I also think we need more funding from philanthropy on the arts and culture side.
Two, I think leading philanthropists must come out in public more often, and speak out more. They must stand in public for what they do so admirably without fanfare, on their own. This country needs leaders who can articulate an inclusive, pluralistic vision for the country that is also looking at the rationale of wealth creation itself.
Three, I think we need many more platforms that bridge people who have energy and resources and passion to give, and those that have the passion, energy and ability to receive. So Indian philanthropists must fund more of such platforms.
We spoke to Padmini Somani, who leads the Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation and is the Founder Director of Salaam Bombay Foundation. The Salaam Bombay Foundation was founded in 2002 as a tobacco control organization with a special focus on children from the poorest and most vulnerable segments of our society.
- Name the social area that you focus on. What urged you to get associated with this space?
The Salaam Bombay Foundation was founded in 2002 as a tobacco control organisation with a special focus on children from the poorest and most vulnerable segments of our society. The mission was to reduce the availability and use of tobacco among children across the state of Maharashtra and to build a scalable model for school based health education and advocacy leadership training. Over the years our work has broadened and today our programmes focus on empowering children with life skills that lead them to take the right decisions for their health, education and livelihood.
In India, tobacco use is second highest in the world; one in every three tobacco users has started using tobacco before the age of 10. As a result, we are seeing cancer manifesting in people in their 20s. It is India’s number one preventive cause of death, more than HIV Aids, Tuberculosis, malaria, homicide and road accidents all put together! India is facing a tobacco related death and disease epidemic. It is a serious issue for us. This has been our greatest motivator to work in this space.
- Describe an instance within your social work which created a sense of pride for you.
We have received several awards and recognitions from Indian and International agencies including, World Health Organization (WHO) and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But our crowning moment was when the Harvard School of Public Health, in an independent study, declared the Salaam Bombay Foundation program as one of the only effective models of school-based tobacco use prevention in the world that is suitable for schools in India and replicable in other low- and middle-income countries across the world.
- Which are the top challenges your NGO faced during its growth phase?
Matching remunerations in the NGO sector with other sectors is a challenge in itself. Further, tobacco control for children is not viewed as a priority in the development space. This has made attracting skilled people one of our biggest challenges.
Secondly, getting tobacco control into the child development agenda for India by educating the public and potential donors has also been a daunting task. Most people relate to hunger, poverty, natural calamities, physical disablilites, etc., as social causes. Tobacco in children is very low on their priority list. Breaking this myth, showing the problem to be as epidemic as it is – India is the oral cancer capital of the world because of tobacco – has been a real challenge.
- Suggest performance metrics which measure progress/impact in your focus area.
There have been several measures of impact. For example there has been impact at the individual level, children have received full fledged scholarships to colleges or even gotten employment opportunities that have boosted their confidence and helped them contribute to their family incomes, all based on the technical skills they have developed and honed through Salaam Bombay’s programmes.
The Salaam Bombay modules is aimed at preventing and reducing tobacco consumption among youth and therefore lower consumption rates in our children is also a key metric. The Harvard School of Public Health tested tobacco use rates at schools and showed that the Salaam Bombay intervention schools had less than 50 percent tobacco use compared to non-intervention schools. And it showed that our students were not only less likely to smoke, but also more likely to prevent others from smoking. Another recent qualitative study has shown Salaam Bombay children to be more confident, motivated and aware of the value of good health habits than children not in the programme.
Also, our programmes have decreased the school dropout rates; while the average dropout rate of students from government schools is over 50%, the dropout rate in our programme is less than 15%.
There has also been impact at the systemic level with better implementation of existing tobacco control laws: banning of surrogate tobacco advertising on state-owned public transport buses, higher visibility of statutory warnings on tobacco packs and better implementation of laws regarding statutory warnings in tobacco selling outlets, banning of tobacco retail outlets within 100 yards of educational institutions, banning of gutkha and paan masala in the state, are some examples of ongoing advocacy based impact.
- Which are the 2 or 3 changes which you would like to observe in the philanthropy space?
India has had a long tradition of charity. We give at every instance in our life. At births, deaths, weddings etc. ‘daan’ and charity are central to the rituals. But we often want to give to religious causes and temples, or at best to hospitals and schools. They are all important in their own way, but now we need to question what India truly needs and as educated people, we need to focus our giving accordingly. In India there are several credible causes and one can easily find one that is appealing to one’s own interests, beliefs and value system. But often each person wants to create their own NGO to make that difference. That has led to many small charities existing. They perform specific objectives but are often unable to scale. I would encourage donors to think about supporting existing organizations and helping them to scale to create large impact rather than creating newer small charities.
Donors also hesitate to give to large problems as people seek immediate gratification for their charity. But the larger issues of India need patient support and that change will only come when we are willing to give with the thought of long term change. Hence, it is better to support fewer causes but for the long term and watch your support yield results.
I also hope to see a change in the mindset of young professionals to consider the NGO space as a viable career. With many more international and government funding agencies participating in India’s development story, careers in the socio-development space are paying better than ever before.
Lastly, we need to build effective collaboration. Can we, as philanthropists, donors and NGOs build a neutral platform for the best thinking and action? Too often NGOs do not think of sharing their resources or insights. At Salaam Bombay, we are training master trainers to execute the program, so we’ve built capacity that can help other NGOs. No one organization can scale across the whole of India. So we must try to build these civil society collaboratives, including funders working in collaboration and generate a multiplier effect in the way we use our resources.
The philanthropy space is truly evolving in India and a great positive has come from some individual business leaders who have take a leadership role on creating large philanthropies to support long term systemic problems for India. I am certain that this will pave the way for more constructive philanthropy.
Mirai Chatterjee is the Director, Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). SEWA follows Gandhian values and organises women workers of the informal economy into their own self-reliant organisations in their quest for justice and equality. SEWA is a national union of over 19 lakh women in 13 states.
- Please could you describe what inspired you to join SEWA, and what was the inspiration behind the name and the logo?
I was active in the social work club in my school, and as a result, by the age of 14 felt that poverty and inequality was unacceptable. This inclination continued through college in America, where I was active in the college's social action organisations---Phillips Brooks House and Education for Action (E4A).I saw how inequality and injustice were widespread--even prevalent in rich countries. While at university in the late '70's, I heard about SEWA and Elaben Bhatt. I was drawn to SEWA's organising of women into their own self-reliant organisations, and to the SEWA movement's quest for justice and equality, based on Gandhian values. Elaben herself was inspirational. She advised me: "Finish your education and join our movement. We need young women who are ready to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with their sisters." And so I joined in 1984 and never left!
Elaben began organising women workers of the informal economy in the early '70's. Till then she had been Head of the Women's Wing of the Textile Labour Association (TLA), a union of mill workers. One day, a group of women head-loaders from the main cloth market approached her for some help. They were self-employed, carrying loads of cloth on their heads for a pittance. They were paid per round by the cloth merchants. They could not earn enough to feed their children. Elaben was moved by their plight and her eyes were opened to the world of such self-employed, informal workers. Then she learned that there were millions of others like the head-loaders who were poor, vulnerable, unprotected by labour laws and ekeing out a living, hand-to-mouth. It was then that she resolved to form a union of self-employed women workers---the Self-Employed Women's Association--in 1972.That itself was a struggle. The labour authorities had never seen such a union! They registered SEWA with much reluctance. The logo is of a woman carrying a load on her head---basket with goods, reminding us of our earliest members, the head-loaders and soon after, street vendors.
Today SEWA is a national union of over 19 lakh women in 13 states.
- Describe an event which created a sense of pride for you and made you feel you were on the right track.
The Young President's Organisation (YPO) invited Chanchiben Chauhan, from Vichhiya village, Ahmedabad district, to attend their international conference in Mumbai. I accompanied her. Chanchiben is one of our oldest health workers, former board member of our health cooperative and a small farmer. She had never been on an aeroplane nor attended a conference with CEOs from all over the world. She was a picture of dignity and grace. The most moving moment and one that made me proud, and that assured me that we at SEWA were on the right track, was when she spoke of her hard life, her struggles and how she had no hope from life till she joined SEWA. And then, as a health worker, she was transformed, served her village and was asked to be the village sarpanch! And that too, even as she is disabled and from the Dalit community. Earlier, the upper castes in her village refused to accept medicines from her, and did not allow her to cross their threshold. Now she not only provides them medicines, but also blesses their newborns and drinks tea with them! When the CEOs from around the world heard her story, she got a standing ovation. Not an eye was dry, with rapt attention to her inspiring and moving journey.
- What are some of the challenges SEWA has faced during its growth phase?
We are in a phase of rapid growth. As Elaben says, in 40 plus years, we have grown way beyond her dreams---from the first 200 members to a national union of almost 20 lakhs, across 13 states and growing. The biggest challenge is capacity-building and education of our grassroots leaders to manage this growing and large organisation. It takes time to build up their confidence and skills---and then there is no stopping them! Also, we need women and men to run the quite large organisations promoted by SEWA like SEWA Bank, VimoSEWA (SEWA Insurance), SEWA Cooperative Federation and others.
The other challenge is of sustainability---both financial and also in terms of women running their own organisations and making their own decisions. As a movement inspired by Gandhiji, we believe deeply in self-reliance. Hence, all projects and programmes must work for sustainability from day one. Of course, this is not easy. It is hard for our cooperatives to remain competitive in the market, to adapt to changing situations, to obtain raw materials and at affordable prices, to obtain working capital and to continue to find markets. Middlemen and others who exploit and under-pay women are often formidable barriers.
A further challenge is the rapidly changing world outside---both full of opportunities but also of threats, including work loss due to mechanisation, policies and thinking that do not value women's work and that of informal workers in general.
Finally, ensuring that all sisters of the SEWA movement remain connected and feel part of a large family is a challenge.
- What kind of performance metrics can best measure progress/impact in your focus area?
Over the years we have developed the 11 points of SEWA as a measure of our progress. These are:
- Have we increased our members' employment?
- Have we increased our members' income?
- Do our members now have enough to eat?
- Do our members have access to health care?
- Do our members have access to child care?
- Has there been any increase in housing and basic amenities for our members?
- Has there been any increase in the members' ownership (property, work tools etc)?
- Has there been any increase in women's leadership?
- Has there been any increase in members' self-reliance?
- Has there been any increase in our organised strength?
- Do our members have access to education (in the broad sense: capacity-building etc, in addition to literacy)?
In addition, each of the main teams of SEWA have more detailed performance indicators for their projects and programmes.
- Which are some of the changes which you would like to observe in the philanthropy space?
I think we need to have more dialogue on the Indian way of giving or philanthropy. Personally, I feel drawn to Gandhiji's idea of trusteeship. He was of the view that wealth should not be seen as an entitlement by the wealthy. Rather it should be seen as something to be held in trust for the well-being of society. Further, he suggested that wealthy people exercise restraint in their needs, and after using what they need, they should give the rest of their wealth away or else a big chunk of it, to others or for use for the well-being of all. This view of giving and sharing is more than just giving money. It involves being in solidarity with the poor and the dispossessed, supporting and helping through ideas, though skills like management and other ways. I think it would be good to discuss the trusteeship idea in the current context and engage with wealthy Indians so as to begin closing the gap.
- What is your view of CSR?
I think the idea of sharing profits with those in need in our country is a good one, in principle. But just legislating for this without the change of heart that Gandhiji suggested will not be enough. All of us need to ensure that no Indian is without "roti, kapda, makaan", basic education and health, and financial services. CSR can contribute to this vision of a more just and equal India. However, CSR should be part of a larger attempt to close gaps, as per the trusteeship idea that Gandhiji outlined decades ago, and that remains a challenge to all of us, as mentioned above.
Deep Joshi is the co-founder of PRADAN [Professional Assistance for Development Action]. PRADAN was formed out of the belief that if professionals worked in villages with a sense of affinity towards poor people, treating them as responsible adults and as fellow human beings, the scourge of poverty, illiteracy and ill health could be banished.
- Please could you describe what inspired you to found Pradan, and what was the inspiration behind the name and the logo?
I would rather talk about how the ‘idea of PRADAN’ came as that is where I think inspiration plays a role; rest is all mechanics and circumstance.
I grew up in a remote village in Uttarakhand where I spent the first 17 years of my life, went to government vernacular schools and had not seen even a town besides the small local market until I went to college. The rural world was all I knew and felt at home in. I had no idea what career to choose and ended up studying mechanical engineering as I was good at Math and Science and manage to crack the engineering admissions test. Going home during holidays on bumpy and winding hill roads I would often wonder how I might use my knowledge of engineering to change things there. There was no satisfactory answer. It seemed engineers—and now I can say, professionals in general—had no role in villages.
Many years later, by sheer chance I spent a few days reviewing the work of a NGO set up by a doctor couple to work in the field of rural community health. I found the doctors working passionately with illiterate village people, interacting with them as caring and concerned equals, treating them as capable adults and expecting them to take responsibility of their own health and hygiene. Their behaviour was quite the opposite of how I was socialized to believe doctors—actually, all people who acquire ‘authority’ by virtue of education—are expected to engage with lay people, especially with poor and rural people. And in a very short period of by then about five years, the public health scene in an entire rural and very poor taluka had changed dramatically as the outcome of their work. As a professional both curious and concerned about the ways to remove poverty, I realised, ‘this was the way’—that if professionals worked in villages with a sense of affinity towards poor people, treating them as responsible adults, as fellow human beings, the scourge of poverty, illiteracy, ill health … could be banished. And that is how the idea of PRADAN was born.
The purpose of education must be to serve society and the educated must give back to society what they receive by way of education. That was the motto of PRADAAN—to give back, to share what one has gained.
The PRADAN logo conveys two strands of the organisation’s philosophy—first, that every one in PRADAN is self-motivated, expressing his or her sense of calling; therefore, at that level, all are equal; and the second, that every one draws strength from all others in the organisation and that is how it grows outwards with those on board inducting and investing in others.
- Describe an event which created a sense of pride for you and made you feel you were on the right track.
It is difficult to pick one instance as there is so much to feel good about—lakhs of poor, illiterate women in villages not only have got out of poverty with PRADAN’s facilitation but are tackling complex issues like violence against women, alcohol abuse and corruption and indifference among public functionaries; so many educated young women and men are going out to work among the less advantaged out of a sense of affinity and solidarity; and high brow universities have agreed to teach ‘development practice’ as a profession ... Let me therefore describe an event that predates PRADAN and sort of validated the idea itself to me. I was part of a small team working in the Shivalik hills in a dalit village and one day a middle aged man we began to talk with told us angrily to get out of the village saying, ‘even God cannot help me’! We persisted and learnt that he had no education or skills besides digging earth, no land or any other assets, was living in a hut on encroached government land, his wife had deserted him due to dire poverty, leaving behind a toddler, his other 14 year old boy would frequently get fever and he himself would fall ill if he worked in road projects to earn a living for a few days. We got him and his older son checked medically and discovered that the son had a rheumatic heart and he himself was too malnourished to do hard work for any length of time. We arranged medicines for his son, persuaded him to learn making ropes on a foot operated contraption bought with a small loan and arranged for his son to work to protect a plantation the project had promoted. Whenever we went to the village, someone would offer us tea, but never this gentleman. A few months passed and one day on one of our visits to the village he ran out and with a big grin said to us, “Sahab, aaz chai mere ghar mein peejiye (Sir, have tea in my home today)”. We did not want to burden him with the expense but he would have none of our excuses. And as his wife, who had come back, made tea, brimming with confidence he showed us the ropes he and his wife had made, a new khatia (cot) and new aluminum pots he had bought and the nitty-gritty of making and selling rope. Never have I enjoyed a cup of tea sweetened with gur so much!
- What are some of the challenges Pradan faced during its growth phase?
Funding has always been a challenge (though it never stopped any thing), especially to build human resources, to invest in human processes where a degree of certainty is needed—you cannot switch on and off, and where outcomes are not immediate or tangible. Another, may be even a greater challenge has been to ensure generativity, in other words to have an ever expanding supply of people on board who not only internalise the basic idea but can also translate it into practice and adapt to emerging contexts. It is not easy given our education system and our deeply entrenched belief in hierarchy.
- What kind of performance metrics can best measure progress/impact in your focus area?
At the end of the day, the purpose of it all is to get the people we work with started on an upward spiral, materially as well as in their belief systems—to take charge of their world and practice a bit of the belief that in the first place inspired you. So what I look for is stimulating communities that can move forward on their own with a bit of stimulation initially. I use the word ‘communities’ deliberately to signify collectives of individuals who believe in inter-dependence and practice that belief. I draw a great deal of satisfaction from the fact that much of PRADAN’s work does stimulate such communities.
- Which are some of the changes which you would like to observe in the philanthropy space?
One change I would like to see is investing in ideas and the future—that to me is the differentiator between charity and philanthropy. While charity is ameliorative, philanthropy ought to aspire to create a world where charity would become unnecessary. As Martin Luther King, Jr. put it (and I imagine he was referring to giving in general and mostly charity), “Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstance of economic injustice that makes philanthropy necessary”. So, to my way of thinking philanthropy ought to invest in ideas that remove the ‘circumstance of any injustice that makes philanthropy necessary’. Creating a better world, a different world needs to be the focus and one cannot do that without questioning the basic beliefs and practices of the present world and investing in endeavours that promise to change those.
- What is your view of CSR?
I have serious problems with CSR as it is defined and practised. The connotation is that corporate (business) activity must apply a part of its profits to improve the human condition as an expression of its responsibility towards society. So if a corporate shares a bit of its profits to serve some social objective, say ameliorating poverty, it is a responsible corporate, never mind that the harm it may have done to society in the course of earning those profits, even if inadvertently or due to lack of careful and wholesome application of mind, far exceeds the good CSR produces! That to me is plain hypocrisy. After all, is not the purpose of all human endeavours—beyond day to day survival—to enhance the human condition? If so, should not the purpose of all corporate activity also be to enhance the human condition, to produce social good? Is there some other definition of corporate responsibility? To me a responsible corporate factors creation of larger social good, net of all ‘good’ and all ‘bad’, in whatever it does and however it does.
Vandana Goyal is the Chief Executive Officer of the Akanksha Foundation. Akanksha focuses on providing high quality education to children from low-income communities in Mumbai and Pune. Excerpts from her interview:
- Name the social area that you focus on. What urged you to get associated with this space?
We focus on education. At Akanksha we truly believe that our children are the future of this world, and an investment in them will have huge payoffs in the long run socially, politically and economically. We believe that we need to focus on not just basic literacy but quality education to equip all children for the dynamic world they will enter as young adults.
- Describe an instance within your social work which created a sense of pride for you.
There are many instances of pride for us - most of them are related to our students. When we see them get into great colleges, get competitive jobs, communicate in English fluently, solve complex problems in the world through their social initiatives - we feel that what we are doing is working, slowly, day by day.
Which are the top challenges your NGO faced during its growth phase?
The greatest challenges we face are:
(1) human capital - having enough skilled people with the right mindsets to take on the right roles, and
(2) systems development - putting in place the right org structures to enable us to operate efficiently at scale.
- Suggest performance metrics which measure progress/impact in your focus area?
Student learning outcomes by both internal and external assessments, student/teacher attendance and retention, college enrollment, SSC marks, type of job/income as alumni, parent engagement.
Which are the 2 or 3 changes which you would like to observe in the philanthropy space?
More foundations with a commitment and understanding of what it takes to achieve quality. People who focus on outcomes and not just inputs. Donors with a better understanding of how difficult it is to achieve certain outcomes in short periods of time - we need an understanding that change takes time and we need to focus on outcomes but know what factors to look for rather than having unrealistic expectations of what is achievable.
We spoke with Vandana Gupta, Founder of V Care Foundation. V Care was founded with the objective of providing emotional and mental support to cancer patients and their families, and provides medical and psychological to cancer patients. Excerpts from her interview:
- Name the social area that you focus on. What urged you to get associated with this space?
We focus on Cancer. I had Cancer 20 years back and found lots of gaps at that time. So I founded the organisation (V Care Foundation)
- Describe an instance within your social work which created a sense of pride for you.
There are a lot of instances....when people get financial help, when they get the information they need, when they are cared for and so on. Anytime a patient comes back or writes to us; is a satisfying moment for the organisation.
- Which are the top challenges your NGO faced during its growth phase?
Ours is a volunteer based organisation. Getting volunteers, getting people to donate to the cause, getting doctors to believe that we will not woo the patients or give incorrect information, getting hospitals to allow us to be a part of their institutions, getting people to train the volunteers and so on.
- Suggest performance metrics which measure progress/impact in your focus area?
Unfortunately we have not been able to implement the best ways of evaluation. We have some basic tools to know the numbers who have come, for what purpose from which area etc
- Which are the 2 or 3 changes which you would like to observe in the philanthropy space?
More and regular information about the existence of NGOs and the work they are doing.
Interaction amongst the NGO's working in the same field to share knowledge experience and challenges.
We share the views of Shakuntala Majumdar, President of the Thane Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The Thane SPCA provides medical aid and relief to pets, strays and abandoned animals through their team and emergency care centre.
- Name the social area that you focus on. What urged you to get associated with this space?
Animal welfare. My family has always been ardent animal lovers and I only wanted to extend our help in an institutional way.
- Describe an instance within your social work which created a sense of pride for you.
Nothing makes me proud. But I was happiest when I saw the first animal released back into nature after full recovery
- Which are the top challenges your NGO faced during its growth phase?
While we are still growing, the top 3 challenges were and are still are : funds, volunteers and dispassion of the administrative authorities.
- Suggest performance metrics which measure progress/impact in your focus area?
Increased calls for rescue from random unknown people from all over India and footfalls in the hospital premises measure progress.
- Which are the 2 or 3 changes which you would like to observe in the philanthropy space?
The one change I would like to observe would be to have philanthropists have a unbiased view of the social sectors. As of present, causes which serve humans directly take the priority. We need to shift focus towards a comprehensive philanthropy as one whole each part of which affects every other. We spoke to Shyamala Nath, CEO of Women’s India Trust. Women’s India Trust helps women to develop skills and earn a regular income by skills-based training. This has changed their lives and the lives of their families. Excerpts from her interview:
- Name the social area that you focus on. What urged you to get associated with this space?
Social Area: Women’s empowerment through Education, Vocational Skills Training and Livelihood.
Reason: To enable women from lower income group to progress.
- Describe an instance within your social work which created a sense of pride for you.
- Women after having learned a skill / education are happy to state that they now have an “Identity” and are an earning member of the family.
- When women spend their earnings on the education of their children/ siblings.
- Which are the top challenges your NGO faced during its growth phase?
Funding and Societal change
- Suggest performance metrics which measure progress/impact in your focus area?
- Number of women in education.
- Number of children in education.
- Number of women with livelihood skills.
- Increase in number of women in livelihood programmes.
- An increase in their wages.
Kavita Shah is the CEO of Concern India Foundation. Concern extends financial and non-financial support to 270 grassroots NGOs working in the areas of education, health and community development. 275,000 marginalised people are impacted through Concern intervention.
- Name the social area that you focus on. What urged you to get associated with this space?
Concern India Foundation supports the issues of education, health and community development. Ensuring that the underprivileged can live a life of dignity and self reliance, we started with the vision of supporting different beneficiary groups that included children, youth, women, the specially challenged and the aged so as to work toward holistic growth. After more than two decades of working in the social sector, today we support more than 270 grassroots level programmes across India.
When we started we realised that people are always more than willing to give and donate for a worthy cause, but most often they don’t know how to proceed with it. Facilitating people in helping them choose the right cause and the right channel has over the years become our core motivational factor and strength in this field.
- Describe an instance within your social work which created a sense of pride for you.
Every time I visit any of our supported programmes and meet the people it has impacted, I feel a sense of immense joy and happiness. Two such incidents that stand out:
14-year-old Sharath Kumar was from one of our NGOs in Chennai. He had been an active participant at our annual Inter NGO Sports Meet for two years. At this particular meet he was noticed for his sporting acumen by the officials of Athletic Federation of Tamil Nadu. Sharath is now being trained to be an athlete by the federation and it’s a dream come true for him.
Then there was a bright young girl, Aarti at one of our education programmes who came from a very underprivileged background. She was very young when she joined but today after almost 15 years, she has not just passed out of our centre but has also become a teacher at the very school and is nurturing young dreams like her own.
Every time someone we help becomes self-sufficient and are able to help not individuals but entire families or communities, they become moments of pride for us all at Concern India Foundation.
- Which are the top challenges your NGO faced during its growth phase?
When we started in 1991, charities followed a non-financial and welfare approach, making it tough to educate people into believing in an organised and systematic channel for donations. Also when people donate to a charity they want an explicit account of every rupee spent, so winning their trust initially in monetary matters is a challenge for us.
- Suggest performance metrics which measure progress/impact in your focus area?
Consistent monitoring and evaluation can help an organisation review its past and ongoing activities which in turn forms the basis for enhancement and upgrading to formulate future strategies to assess programme growth and advancement. We support projects for a minimum of three years, with a commitment to improvise on fronts such as programme management, programme development, financial management, introducing best practices in the development sector as well as accounting procedures to help reach programme sustainability, intensively working towards strategic planning.
Concern India Foundation has adopted the Logical Framework Analysis Approach, commonly known as LFA, a management tool for effective planning and implementation for developmental projects. LFA helps us in monitoring and evaluation of our supported programmes in order to maximize their impact. LFA is rigorously used to examine the progress of the programmes and co-relate the activities carried out and results achieved.
- Which are the 2 or 3 changes which you would like to observe in the philanthropy space?
I would really like to see younger professionals joining the social sector. It is time this sector is accepted as a respectful and professional workplace to build one’s career.
I also feel the most important area that needs an immediate change is people’s commitment towards long term support for a cause or an NGO. Even now individuals and corporates are skeptical about getting into a long term commitment to giving whether it is their time or money. As an organisation, if we are clear about the funds coming in, we can strategise better and the impact our support can make can be enhanced.
Additionally, donors now need to accept the need for higher administration costs that match international standards so that non-profit organisations are able to function in a more efficient, professional manner.
Sanjeev Vasudev is Managing Director at STADD Development Consulting Pvt. Ltd. STADD is a development consulting firm based at New Delhi working in South Asia on issues concerning poverty, agriculture, forestry, markets, institution development, and rural development.
- Name the social area that you focus on. What urged you to get associated with this space?
My focus has been on all aspects of rural livelihoods, agriculture and forestry in particular. I believe economic independence will not only help improve quality of life of humans but also allow improved and independent decision making to the set of underpriveledged otherwise driven by compulsion and not choice.
- Describe an instance within your social work which created a sense of pride for you.
The independent upscaling of efforts utilising conservation agriculture techniques initiated by us with poor farmers of Vidarbha, Maharashtra. From a set of 3 smallholder rainfed farmers we demonstrated through sowing 2 crops on 4 acres in 2010 kharif, the results had 45 farmers adopting our practices sowing 8 different crops over 120 acres in 2011 kharif. Benefits of productivity and improved economic return realised by farmers in the short term allowed them to adopt practices that led to improving the soil and water endowment, adjusting to climatic aberrations, and lower GHG emissions in the long term.
- Which are the top challenges your NGO faced during its growth phase?
Funding and lack of enthusiasm on part of government functionaries.
- Suggest performance metrics which measure progress/impact in your focus area?
Measuring income, crop productivity, natural resources endowment, time spent in activity; on an ex-post against baseline study basis.
- Which are the 2 or 3 changes which you would like to observe in the philanthropy space?
Philanthropists understanding issues to their true depth, identifying and working with committed NGOs not necessarily those who you end up noticing, helping them network for results, maintaining a long term position on issues supported. Finally stop seeing your actions as charity and consider yourself as the primary enabler to create agents of change.
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