Opinions on global development and Indian politics
India’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been in the midst of a brewing crisis for sometime now, which goes well beyond questions over technical competence or efficiency of delivery, to questions over their existence and their legitimacy. It is pertinent to examine the reasons for this crisis, and set out ways in which NGOs can restart …
Continue reading "The shape of India’s non-profits in the 21st century"
In my latest livemint column, I argue that NGOs need to be far more political than they currently are, if they wish to really serve the communities they work with. Malicious political masters and their misguided tools such as the IB should not be allowed to dictate the choice of strategies on the ground.While every …
My latest column for livemint, on how the space for traditional NGO-led development model is shrinking *** The 1980s and 1990s were the heydays of the NGO-led development model in India, where significant funds flowed through them into development programmes targeting the poor. NGOs played a critical role in developing model interventions of service delivery …
Continue reading "Why the traditional model of NGO-led development must end"
My latest livemint article is up todayRecognizing that an external agency ought to play the role of a facilitator, it is safe to say that unless an agency has a well-defined withdrawal strategy for self-reliance and sustainability, the main motive for its existence itself is endangered. An agency cannot just contemplate packing its bags when …
It is possible to make a difference to lives of people by sustained intervention at the grassroots. Keep in mind, the concept of big and small development - the big can take over the small, but don't wait for the positive big swell to take you over; and dont worry about the negative swell undoing all of your …
Over at The Road to the Horizon, Peter expresses his solidarity with women in the aid sector constantly under pressure to balance their work lives with their personal ones. The other evening, I went with E. over all the women we knew. And we tried to flag those we thought had found a good balance between …
Continue reading "Can we ever be completely gender neutral?"
The NGO I was working with in India organised communities to tell elected representatives from the region - 'if you don't stand by us when we construct our water supply system, don't come to us when you need our votes'. It was on one hand, a remarkably simple pressure mechanism that often worked. However, did …
