India programme

Report

Even though the last few years have seen a very impressive growth rate of 8 per cent plus in India, the situation relating to poverty remains a serious issue. Growth has not ensured equity, so while there is a growing middle and upper-middle class in the Indian population, the poorest continue to suffer and in many cases end up being worse-off, as growth is achieved on the back of their land, resources and labour.

Policy frameworks are unfortunately biased in favour of the better-off and while there are many programmes that aim to address poverty, they fail to incorporate the concerns and aspirations of the poor and are rarely well implemented. Social sector investments such as education and health have failed to reach the most vulnerable people, thereby curtailing their potential.

The complex nature of the social development challenge in India requires new ideas, innovation and learning from across a range of interventions if there are to be improvements in policy and practice. The Foundation’s India programme makes a small but significant contribution by funding sincere and concerned NGOs to reach out to some of the most vulnerable communities and explore alternative approaches to social development.

Over the course of 2011/12, the India programme has supported social development initiatives with eight different NGOs across the country. This is lower than last year, due to there being only a single round of grant-making, rather than the customary two. Because of constraints in scheduling our March 2012 committee meeting, decisions on a number of grants were pushed back to the next financial year, taking them outside of the purview of this report.

Our Open Grants were made across development sectors, maintaining our philosophy of supporting well thought through and relevant project ideas. The grants were made in the broad areas of governance, education, health and disability, violence against women and ensuring rights and entitlements of poor communities.

Our activities in the Easove financial systems in the NGOs we fund.

During the year a review of the India programme was completed by New Philanthropy Capital. They reported a high level of confidence amongst partners and the NGO sector towards the Open Grants scheme and support provided by the Foundation. In order to make a larger impact the report suggested that PHF should have certain explicit aims and actively address wider sector concerns such as governance and management of NGOs. Some work to this effect has already been described. Based on the report’s recommendations and the programme’s own experiences, we have begun the development of a new programme strategy for the period 2012–17.

Open Grants scheme

The India Open Grants scheme works with non-governmental organisations that help the most vulnerable groups in India. Organisations supported within the India programme have to be local Indian NGOs with Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration.

Grant awarded in 2011/12

Vikash

Rs. 2,354,700 (£31,126) over one year

Children with disabilities (CWDs) in many parts of the developing world are still largely isolated from mainstream society. In India, while some CWDs in urban areas have access to education, assistive devices and therapeutic services, the large numbers living in rural areas have little or no access to such services. Their families are mostly unaware of how to manage their disability and of the possible schemes and programmes that can be accessed from the Government.

The Government has initiated efforts at inclusive education through community-based multipurpose rehabilitation workers (MRWs) but this has had limited success as such workers are unable to understand all forms of disability. Schools lack materials or equipment and in many cases even proper access for CWDs or trained staff to assist them. These issues are accentuated in rural settings.

Vikash, an organisation based in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, has several years of experience of working with children and adults with disabilities. Established in 1986, it has a long record of work with leprosy patients. Vikash undertakes an approach which believes that communities are key partners in the change process, and that development of local capacities is a key component for community-based assistance to children with disabilities.

Supported by PHF, Vikash has begun work in 12 gram panchayats (local representative bodies) in the Gop block of Puri District, Odisha. Eight hundred children with disabilities have been identified and will be covered during the course of the project. The PHF assistance will help them cover the entire block with services. The strategy involves placing MRWs in the gram panchayats along with a team of therapists comprising experts on visual, hearing, physical and mental disabilities. Therapists develop a plan for each child covering therapy, care and management, and maintain periodic contact with the children. The MRWs follow this up with daily visits to the children, monitor the plan and ensure that the mother or guardian is following up with the home support elements of the plan. Each of the children identified will also be linked up with government programmes to enable them to access their entitlements.

With almost 100 per cent coverage of a development unit, the project will be able to inform policy on how a structured intervention based and evolved with the community can address the development of children with disabilities in a rural setting.

Ongoing grant

Samaj Vikas Sanstha

Rs. 714,000 (£8,925) for one year in 2009/10, followed by Rs. 3,073,000 (£40,973) over two years in 2010/11

Violence against women is common across India, and transcends region, caste, class and ethnic group. In areas that are backward and feudal, such as the Marathwada region of the western Indian state of Maharashtra, where child marriages are common and poverty is endemic, lower caste women are especially vulnerable.

The Foundation has funded Samaj Vikas Sanstha (SVS) over a three-year period to address this issue. Following a thorough analysis of the situation, comprising a review of the laws pertaining to women and their rights and a primary study in 75 villages, a detailed implementation strategy was developed. The main initiatives were the setting up of nari adalats (women’s courts) to quickly resolve pending cases, and four legal aid cells to support victims of violence and enable them to access the formal legal system. Volunteers were trained and assisted in identifying and encouraging women to question, challenge and shun violence.

The second phase has continued and through volunteers has been able to set up anti-harassment committees in 100 villages, federated at the block level. An additional focus has been the sensitisation and consequent involvement of government officials, the police department and members of gram panchayats to prevent violence through community action.

The project challenges traditional caste and patriarchal arrangements and, as expected, has resulted in opposition from men who find it difficult to accept the change. However, the processes that have been set into motion have given women the confidence to continue to challenge tradition and yet gain support from men.

The achievements have been significant. Notably, almost 100 cases related to violence have been registered and the women’s courts have been able to resolve them to the satisfaction of both parties.

SVS has also begun publishing and distributing a monthly magazine called Awaj Stree Astituvacha (Voice for women’s identity). It has a print run of over 2,000 and there have been eight editions published so far. The magazine is distributed in the programme villages, public health centres, children’s daycare centres and to all members of the anti-violence committee and panchayats. The contents of the magazine include incidences of atrocities committed against women in the area, articles on women’s issues, women’s health, organisation of women and other relevant topics. The articles are mostly written by women who are members of the self-help groups and also the field coordinators of the organisation, teachers, journalists and students.

The project is ongoing and it is expected that by the time the project comes to a close, it will have created awareness on the issue of violence against women, legal and community systems to prevent it, and the momentum to sustain the action.

Completed grant

SAAD – Social Action for Association and Development

Rs. 683,000 (£8,538) for one year in 2007/08, Rs. 400,000 (£5,714) for eight months in 2008/09 and Rs. 2,090,200 (£26,128) over two years in 2009/10

Among the most vulnerable communities in the relatively prosperous state of Maharashtra are the dalit (‘untouchable’) communities, which have been traditionally dependent upon folk dancing and have had to depend on the charity of the more influential people of the area. These communities are also among the poorest, have no land or other productive assets and have had almost no access to education or other opportunities to help them build an alternative livelihood.

The condition of women and girls in these communities is distressing. Many young girls are married off to the local ‘god’ (devadasis/aradhyas) from where they end up as prostitutes. Others from traditional folk dancing communities (Tamasha is a traditional dance form here) have also degenerated into dancing in bars and into prostitution.

PHF has supported SAAD in its work with this extremely vulnerable group. Over three and a half years, the organisation worked with dalit communities in 90 villages in the Parbhani district of Maharashtra to understand the issue from the perspective of women and address the causes and effects of discrimination and exclusion. It aimed to do this by forming women’s self-help groups as a mechanism for them to come together, share their concerns and pool their strengths.

The project was able to build strong community groups and support them to help overcome their exclusion, and access welfare schemes and entitlements. The groups were also able to address the issue of violence and seek family counselling and legal assistance where necessary to claim their rights.

Almost 148 women have been supported to set up alternative livelihoods including small trading and running beauty salons. Some young women still find the theatre group as a means of livelihoods an attractive proposition. However, the self-help groups of dalit women have been successful in setting up a leather business and are now ready to expand it.

Simultaneously, to ensure a better future for children, SAAD facilitated the setting up of pre-school centres for the younger children. Over 800 children from the community have bene_ted from this initiative. As they have grown up they have been enrolled in regular schools with support to prevent them from dropping out. Thirty four older girls who had dropped out have been facilitated back to school.

The project has made good progress on all fronts. Strengthened self-help groups have been able to access loans and livelihood projects from the government, cases of domestic and other forms of violence have been counselled and taken to court where necessary, and the process has built a momentum which is keeping it going. Most crucial, however, has been the creation of 1,299 women leaders who have begun to exercise their rights to help themselves and their communities mobilise government support for projects relevant to them, play active roles in local governance and express their identity in public forums.

SAAD is an example of how funds from PHF have been effectively used, leading to the development of partnerships with like-minded organisations and leveraging support from other donors to keep the initiative going.