|
RIM held
its annual conference in Bangalore on Dec 21st 2001, which was attended
by all the participating
NGOs. I was one of the attendees from RIM USA at
the conference.
What impressed
me at the outset was looking at many of the stalwarts of the Indian
activism/social-development scene all assembled in the same room. The
discussions reflected the wisdom of their combined experience and created
a sense of excitement
and anticipation of changes to come.
A new model for the
RIM 'Samaj Shilpi’ (SS) program improving upon the existing one
emerged at this meeting. This new model will go into effect in 2003.
A transition plan was
also discussed for 2002.The significant
improvements/changes in the new model are as follows :
- Renewed focus
on volunteerism
Jill Carr
Harris very clearly stated the importance of the volunteer spirit
in India and the
fact that volunteerism was in a decline. In the new model the
‘Samaj Shilpis’ will support themselves (instead of being paid
a stipend). RIM
funds will be instead focused on selection and training of
Samaj Shilpis. An important component of this training will be
specialized vocational
training to earn a living.
- Ways to scale the
program
A movement
implies large masses people in pursuit of a common goal. We are
far from it at 70
Samaj Shilpis working in a hundred villages. The previous point
of having the Samaj Shilpis support themselves frees RIM from the
constraints of
ever-growing budget. Another idea/suggestion was to have the
Samaj Shilpis create a ‘Volunteer Force’ in the village of
operation even
before s/he tackles any of the local issues. This is beneficial in
2 ways. 1) A group
tackling issues has a higher chance of success than an
individual. 2) The RIM program itself scales for the inputs put into
it. A related issues
was that of clustering SS in a geographic area so that
they could interact and support each other. The current SS find it
hard to interact and
learn from each other since they are dispersed over a
large area.
- Fundraising
In the past
the RIM US team has been the single source of funding which in turn
raised funds from few sources. This put the program at a risk and
hence RIM is looking
to multiple sources of funding. A new
website was developed by the RIM US team that hopes to raise funds
online based on RIMs
achievements presented therein. RIM US is also applying to
US based foundations to raise funds. RIM
India will try to
raise 25% of the funds in the year 2002 and 50% of the funds
in the year 2003. This can be from Corporates, Govt. and other
agencies.
The heads of many
of the NGOs that were present at the meeting resolved to contribute
more of their time to RIM and its activities. A “RIM
Program document” that came out from the conference discussions clearly
lists the Goal,
Objectives, Activities, Inputs and Outputs. This lays a good
framework for thinking about and planning RIM activities and for measuring
achievements. The achievements
of RIM have been impressive, given the short time in which during
which the program has been active. An important goal achieved has been
the creation of a common platform for NGOs to come together and pull
in the same direction.
This is perhaps the most significant first step towards
the movement that we all dreamed of in the summer of 1999.
|
