03.01.2007
Every decade or quarter century belongs to a particular person, industry or sector. For India, if the 90’s belonged to the IT Industry and that transcended into the Call Center / BPO Services Industry in this decade, I believe the next few decades clearly belong to the development sector and social entrepreneurs.
Every decade or quarter century belongs to a particular person, industry or sector. For India, if the 90’s belonged to the IT Industry and that transcended into the Call Center / BPO Services Industry in this decade, I believe the next few decades clearly belong to the development sector and social entrepreneurs.
When I was in school in the early 90’s, I may have probably heard the term community service but never really understood it or did anything about it. Even while I was in college, we did have the National Service Scheme (NSS) but it was never considered cool to be part of it. Today, in 2006, we at Dream A Dream have children as young as 12 and 13 calling us to ask if they can volunteer with us over their summer holidays. There has been an influx of college-going young people who are serious about volunteering and many even considering serious careers in the development sector. Many a management college has setup community initiative projects to involve students in community projects so they graduate as sensitive business leaders of tomorrow. A Master’s in Social Entrepreneurship course is not far from reality.
The influx of many multinationals into India has also brought in a concept of “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)” among all companies – big and small. This, ofcourse, did exist early but was maybe only the luxury of large corporate groups such as the Tata’s and Birla’s. However, today Corporate Social Responsibility is a buzz word even among startups and there are avenues available for them to support community projects. It is not only good citizenship but also positive branding and employee loyalty that are immediate benefits from a community participation project run by a company. Some companies have also initiated separate departments to look into CSR and employee involvement in community projects.
Another predominant trend has been Indians who moved out of India in the early 80’s made their mark on foreign shores are now coming back to their country in hordes and want to invest their hard-earned money in the development of their villages, cities, infrastructure and a host of development initiatives. Today, development projects are not just the responsibility of the government, NGOs and funding agencies but the common man/woman is getting involved in large numbers too. At Dream A Dream alone, we have over 600 volunteers supporting 15 projects for 500 children from vulnerable backgrounds.
There have also been remarkable changes in the development sector. With over 1.2 Million registered NGOs, the question asked today is, “What has the development sector as a whole contributed to the nation?”
There is greater emphasis among NGOs today on transparency and accountability. NGOs are becoming savvier in their approach to development challenges and focusing on core issues. NGOs are also looking at scale as an integral process of impact. Many decades back, there were probably a handful of NGOs that would have mass recall. In the years to come, we will have hundreds and thousands of NGOs that would have created nationwide impact and hence recall.
Partnerships are becoming more of a norm now to enhance impact. NGOs are no longer working in isolation with similar goals but are sharing resources, best practices and learnings. NGOs are looking at partnerships to improve efficiencies and scale up their work.
Trends like setting up credibility and transparency norms for the development sector by Credibility Alliance are positive trends to make NGOs more accountable for their work. GIVE India has created a unique online market space for credible NGOs and donors to connect, support and learn about each other. It is a unique platform where a donor sitting anywhere in the world can support an NGO in a village in Karnataka and be assured that the money will be utilized effectively and for the purpose stated. Forums like IndianNGOs.com have made it easier for the net savvy populace to learn about social issues and support them in more ways than one. Reporting standards among NGOs have improved and it is becoming increasingly clear that if an NGO is not transparent, does not share information with the community, support in the long-run will be difficult to come by.
Organizations like Ashoka are increasingly having a better presence in India developing the sphere of social entrepreneurs. This has further fuelled many social venture capital funds such as Acumen Fund and Un-Limited UK to support social entrepreneurs in India. Khemka foundation, Schwab Foundation and CII have instituted awards for social entrepreneurs and credible NGOs in India. Ashoka along with Pravaah has instituted ChangeLooms awards for young social entrepreneurs. A landmark in the sector was when a social entrepreneur, Muhammad Yunus, from Bangladesh won the 2006 Noble Prize for Peace acknowledging the fact that social development and poverty reduction is integral to bring about peace in the world.
The trends are definitely positive, the pace for change, the urgency for change in this sector has never looked better. There is a renewed energy and vigour in the sector, there is certain positive aggression that seemed missing earlier and the need to partner for the greater good has never been felt so intimately. The next decade for me definitely belongs to the development sector. We better watch out, poverty may be history soon!
Vishal Talreja
Social Entrepreneur
Director, Dream A Dream
www.dreamadream.org
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