Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya 1 Resource NGOs and Field NGOs : Roles, Responsibilities and Participation Strategies CAIM Start Up Workshop 15 th July 2010 Presented By:

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Role of NGOs in CAIM EXECUTION - Piloting, innovation Designing need based programmes Identification and reaching the poorest of the poor Identification of community leaders Social Mobilisation, Awareness building Local Institution building 2

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Role of NGOs in CAIM Research and Advocacy –Watchdog –Building pressure for policy changes (RTI) –Research based advocacy Capacity Building –Transfer of technology –Facilitating Convergence –Exposure –Creating learning platforms 3

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Role of NGO vis a vis Government agencies Mutual complementarity between government and NGOs –NGO researches and pilots, Govt replicates (SHG) –Govt plans, NGOs execute (Jal Swarajya) –Government plans and executes, NGO monitors or involved in capacity building (NRHM, NREGA) Joint planning monitoring and evaluation – as equal partners is necessary approach for CAIM, since it is a new intervention 4

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Why Participation? To identify the needs and perceptions of the community As a strategy for withdrawal – for community to sustain the interventions To monitor and evaluate the programme To institutionalize community-based mechanisms. To develop ownership among the community To facilitate decision making Convergence of resources To reduce cost, and ensure sustained financial contribution to run the programme To increase effectiveness of the programme by using local knowledge To empower the community 5

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Why lack of participation? Non participation is a result of socio –economic exclusion Social Factors –Dalits, women, tribals have been excluded Economic Factors –Lack of resources, and limited opportunities Social and economic exclusion goes together - so there is a greater percentage of landless, poor and hungry amongst the marginalised communities 6

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Participation in development - An Instrumentalist perspective Lip service to a term imposed by the donor agencies A management strategy for effective utilization of resources and achievement of targets A strategy to build consensus and transparency A strategy for withdrawal A tool for decision making Sharing the burden of failures in experimentation 7

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Transformational Participation … A conscious approach to community empowerment and shared accountability It is not the means, but the end … to build institutions which have transformational participation, is the end goal of development process. Because … If people are actively engaged in identifying the problem and building consensus at solutions, then there is no need of external facilitation. 8

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya PERCENTAGE OF FUNDS ALLOCATED TO FACILITATE PARTICIPATION Determining Factor to assess importance to participation 9

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Key Principles of Participation with Empowerment Approach Trust between the community and the facilitators Collective Conceptualisation of the problem and solution A genuine belief in the capacity of the community to be the change agents Visualise the NGOs role as mere facilitator not even main actor on the stage Ensure a relationship of equality between facilitator and actors Understand that the role of the facilitator/ mentor will change with increased capacities 10

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Participation should Be … Equal and Inclusive Flexible since the local plans may change In an environment where different stakeholders can communicate their concerns and negotiate for a solution Combined with decision making capacities Participation cannot exists in the absence of: Organisation of the community – if they are isolated, fragmented and unorganised, their views will not be heard. Decentralisation with truly democratic structures 11

Chaitanya Strategies for Community Participation 12

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Participation Strategies Participation In Piloting and execution Establish People’s Institutions Common sharing platforms for different stakeholders – quarterly reflection and action Building people’s capacities to plan and implement Convergence through household and village level plans Build ownership of community Ongoing learning and sharing – since CAIM is new concept 13

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Participation at project management level Help communities: –Identify –Prioritise –Negotiate –Coordinate interventions Facilitate Inter –Institutional Coordination (Convergence) Ensure Replicability of the models Build Cost Sharing –e.g., User’s Fee from the beginning Ensure Organisation’s Contribution is recorded Role of technology in facilitating participation 14

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya Community Participation Matrix 15 Needs Assessme nt PlanningMonitoringImplem entation Evaluati on Village and FNGO RNGO - consortium District level Regional level

Cornelia Govani / IBMMarch 2010 Chaitanya A word of Caution! Excessive participation, may also lead to indecisiveness for long periods In regions of extreme distress, it is a luxury, not all can afford it Meaningful participation, therefore requires creating and developing organisations to become aware of their rights and collective strengths 16