| Date 21-Feb-2011 to 25-Feb-2011 |
Location New Delhi |
Format Institutional |
March 13, 2011 - From 21 to 25 February, PSO visited the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), based in New Delhi, India PSO was represented by board member Leen Verbeek, director Margo Kooijman and Cristien Temmink, facilitator of learning, and was accompanied by Monique Bouman, from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is involved in the PSO programme that is being funded by this ministry.
As PSO and PRIA have increased their cooperation around issues of capacity development and civil society, the visit aimed at gaining more insights into the Indian context, as well as getting to know PRIA’s people, programmes, practices and challenges. Rajesh Tandon, PRIA’s president, has visited PSO on various occasions and last November, celebrated PSO’s anniversary with an inspiring speech.
PRIA is also involved in two PSO Thematic Learning Programmes: ‘Planning, monitoring and evaluation of complex processes of social change’ and ‘Learning practices for social change’. During this PSO visit, further opportunities for strengthening the relationship, increasing cooperation and engaging others were explored.
PSO had the opportunity to participate in two major events. The Round Table on “Capacity Development of Civil Society in India Today”, organised by PRIA, and the conference of the Voluntary Action Network India (VANI), discussed the serious challenges facing civil society in India. On the one hand, civil society needs to mobilise and join forces urgently to confront a reality of growing inequality and poverty, in spite of overall rapid economic growth. On the other hand, it is losing ground, as it has to deal with lack of resources and decreasing democratic space.
Civil society can access Indian governmental funding when officially registered and incorporated into a regulatory framework. However, this framework is perceived as counter productive and control oriented by many civil society actors. It might provide a ‘formal’ identity, trust and resources, but at the same time compromises independence and authentic identity. Moreover, available funding is mostly for service delivery and extending governmental programmes, instead of advocacy, human rights issues or deepening democratic processes.
Support for these activities would more likely come from external sources. But as foreign aid to India is declining and increasingly aligned with policy interests of donor countries, this will have significant implications for future funding and thus civil society space and relevance in India.
Besides focussing on external factors, civil society actors participating in the events were also quite self-reflective. They contemplated issues of credibility (as a result of the mushrooming of NGOs), effectiveness, accountability and the need to de-institutionalise and connect and engage with their constituency. ‘Civil society and capacity development are about relations and engagement, not about supply and demand’, said one participant.
To get a taste of community based civil society action, we also visited various initiatives supported by PRIA. One was a women’s group in the Haryana region that has been campaigning against sex selection through female foeticide. The women shared that in their community giving birth to a baby girl was perceived as a tragedy, because girls are considered a burden for their family (partly due to the dowry system). Hence, the growing practice of early tests to learn the sex of the baby and abort female foetuses.
Monique Bouman, Margo Kooijman and Cristien Temmink meet members of the Women’s campaigning group against sex selection, Sonipat Haryana, India.
We were struck by the stories of the women, and by their openness and bravery. They have organised themselves and continue their work to involve others, both women and men. We spoke with women that had just joined the group and others that were planning to. ‘We visit families that just had a baby girl and throw them a party’, said one women with a broad smile.
All in all it was a very inspiring visit. We concluded that civil society in India and the Netherlands face some common issues. First, we both struggle with our role and position in our own society and in relation to our governments. Second, we have to reconsider our relevance, now and in the future, and redefine strategies accordingly. And last but not least, the funding issue. Civil society needs to find its “protectors” and connect to the resources, while making sure that it remains in touch with its people and their voices and without compromising what it stands for.
In its inaugural issue of Global Partnership, the e-newsletter (January- March 2011) of PRIA Global Partnership (PGP), PRIA invites international allies (also in Africa and South America) to build connections, share strategies and lessons, and enhance solidarity and joint action in order to regain civil society space. PSO will definitely take up and support this invitation.
