Strengthening Civil Society Sector for Deepening Governance & Accountability Interventions in South Asia

As PRIA began to re-frame its new Strategic Directions for 2013-16, it became clear that it faces several challenges in taking forward its commitment to deepen democracy. Building internal capacities of young professionals on participatory methodologies unique to PRIA’s long-term efforts is one of them. With flexible resources for governance and accountability work by civil society in India and the region drying up, there is an urgent need for PRIA to engage with new constituencies of philanthropists and business and mobilise new resources to sustain its independent capacity to innovate in its work.

To meet these challenges, the Ford Foundation supported internal governance and leadership development interventions to strengthen thematic leadership, build capacities of internal leadership and practices for systematisation of knowledge within PRIA. When this proposal for institutional strengthening was being discussed with the Foundation, it became clear that PRIA’s recent work on ‘strengthening the voices of urban poor’ needed some further support to ensure that practical lessons from the previous phase are shared more widely as well. The grant from the Ford Foundation thus also focused in Year 1 on putting urban governance on the political agenda of India.

Activities undertaken

1. Putting governance of urban poverty on the political agenda

• 7 state level consultations in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Odisha and West Bengal
• 7 Campaign policy briefs in local language prepared and widely disseminated for advocacy in each of the 7 states
• One national consultation convened involving multiple stakeholders
• One national campaign policy brief will be prepared and disseminated for advocacy purposes at national level
• Field mobilization of organisations of the urban poor sustained in all the 7 States
• Terra urban e campaign

2. Institutional leadership and capacity building programmes 
• Staff development nominations
• Internal staff development programmes
• Field-based coaching to young professionals
• Mentoring process to senior management
• Governance advisory services

3. Knowledge services
• Synthesis of PRIA’s field experiences in knowledge products
• Branding, marketing and dissemination of ODL courses
• Training of in-house knowledge services team
• Acquisition of books and electronic journals’ access
• Website design, upgradation and mobilisation of PRIA’s websites

4. New Resource Mobilization
• Research on new philanthropists and CSR
• Meetings and consultations
• In-house capacity enhancement
• Production of manuals based on research and training
• Web-based communication with potential resource providers for ongoing networking and mobilisation

Outputs:

1. Putting governance of urban poverty on the political agenda
The project helped place governance of urban poverty as part of the discourse in the political priorities of democratic India. The Pre-Election Political Awareness Campaign (PEPAC) conducted in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections connected to powerful political leaders of the country. Almost all political parties made promises to act on urban poverty and urban governance. State level consultations and a national level consultation brought key stakeholders on one platform to collectively discuss issues and propose actions, which helped consolidation of existing partnerships and networks as well as further scaling up of networks by inclusion of more CSOs, universities, colleges and non-poor groups. Campaign briefs, city level analytical reports and communication through the Terra Urban blog (https://terraurban.wordpress.com/) highlighted the plight of the urban poor in cities of India. These interventions helped increase areas of influence from demand and supply (poor and government) sides to include significant intermediaries such as non-poor (middle class), residential and professional groups.

2. Strengthening thematic and institutional leadership
The first year of the project strengthened thematic competencies through a Trainer of Trainers programme for senior and middle level staff. Similar learning programmes have been continued in the second year of the project. The Strategic Planning meeting built an understanding of PRIA’s strategy for the next 5 years. This was followed by the PRIA Retreat, held in February 2014, which was one of learning from our history, understanding our fellow team members and envisioning a strategy for the future in which we work together to achieve our common goals. New professionals were trained and oriented in situ to the perspectives, methodologies and processes deployed by PRIA. Practical internships and field assignments under mentorship of seniors were designed to build and deepen such competencies. Staff from all levels were sent for trainings on communications, accounting and CSR functions.
In year 2, further delegation of leadership for programme management has been achieved. Additional capacity in project monitoring and operations has been recruited. Systemic reviews of financial and administrative decision-making systems were enabled through use of external professionals for periodic audits (including IT and HR audits).

Thirty-nine staff were involved in staff development programmes to develop enhanced capacities in advocacy skills, training skills, gender sensitisation, resource mobilisation, prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace, process documentation and analysis, Google AdWords campaigns, and leveraging volunteerism to take forward PRIA’s interventions.

Building on the strategy planning and ToT workshops conducted in Year 1 of the project, PRIA decided to systematically conduct its six-monthly learning and review meetings. Nearly 50 staff spent five days together in the most recent learning and review meeting, during which all programme and support staff built a shared understanding of the organisation’s history, mission, vision, participatory methodologies and ongoing projects. Learnings from the discussions were shared on Twitter through the hashtags #PRIALearningWeek and #LearningParticipatoryMethodologies.

Well-known gender activist Kamala Bhasin conducted a gender sensitisation workshop for all staff. This has helped tremendously in everyone in the organisation frame a common understanding on the concept of gender and how it should be incorporated into all of PRIA’s efforts, in field interventions and at the personal level.
The governing board discussed induction of new competencies as it prepares to rotate off, in cycles of renewal, some of its past members who have served PRIA so well.

Asian regional workshops helped adult educators and members of civil society organisations from South Asia, Central Asia and South East Asia to connect and find mutually cohesive ways for countries in these regions to benefit from the youth bulge they are experiencing. PRIA supported ASPBAE to conduct a three-day workshop on ‘Youth and Inclusive Citizenship: Approaches to Realize the Demographic Dividend in Asia Pacific’ from 8 to 10 September at PRIA, New Delhi, and  to conduct two workshops in September 2014 and April 2015 on youth and inclusive citizenship. PRIA also participated in ASPBAE’s Festival of Learning in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in November 2014 which discussed and deliberated on new strategies, frameworks and agenda for education beyond 2015.

3. Scaling-up Knowledge Services
In order to revitalise and upgrade different components of its knowledge services, the organisation embarked on creating a Knowledge Resource Centre where the field practices of PRIA are being archived under thematic rubrics. Work on the Knowledge Resource Centre began in April 2014 and the revamped Centre was launched in August 2014. All organisational documents, such as project proposals, departmental manuals, minutes of meetings, HR memos, etc, were also collated/collected. The Knowledge Centre provides employees access to important organisational communiques.

PRIA’s redesigned bi-lingual (English and Hindi) website was launched in December 2015. The new website has been designed to communicate in an easy, interactive and engaging manner with new and continuing visitors. A comprehensive organisational blog has been activated to communicate with a wider audience on issues of social relevance apart from learnings from PRIA’s own work. The new generation of development professionals and practitioners in India and around the world lack access to tools, methods and knowledge in areas that PRIA has enormous documentation. They are now able to access this knowledge through the Knowledge Resources section of the website where resources are available in open digital formats to enable practitioners, researchers and students to access them easily and at minimal cost.

PRIA’s social media communication extended PRIA’s reputation in participatory research and the development sector by reaching a new generation audience. Since April 2014 various social media properties have either been created or, where they already existed, revived and redesigned. The main objective of PRIA’s social media communication is to extend PRIA’s reputation in participatory research and the development sector by reaching a new generation audience. PRIA’s YouTube Channel is in the top 5 searches for participatory research. We now have nearly 5000 ‘friends’ on Facebook, with a phenomenal growth of 300 per cent in the number of ‘likes’. Engagement through Twitter reaches 216 followers, and each tweet posted is re-tweeted at least 20 times.

PRIA International Academy revised and reformatted its various online courses and delivery in modes that are user-friendly. The design and production of a new self-study learning programme on sexual harassment at the workplace is an example of this direction of effort. The digital marketing strategy has been improved to include keywords that are both high on specificity as well as commercial intent. The AdWords campaign is aimed at incorporating geo targeting to enhance reach to the target audience. It also focuses on optimisation for achieving a higher conversion rate. A social media marketing strategy has been put in place to engage our target audience in a two way conversation. The strategy is focused on reaching out to institutions as well as individual candidates, and facilitating networking with alumni, institutions and prospective learners in order to increase enrolments.

The branding and marketing of PRIA International Academy’s ODL courses adopted an integrated approach and synchronised marketing activities with an effective brand strategy.  There was, and continues to be, strategic intent to create short term marketing plans. Concerted efforts at marketing through various platforms of social media such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Google AdWords were carried out.

4. New Resource Mobilisation
Senior colleagues learnt constituency-building and networking competencies under mentorship of Dr. Rajesh Tandon. In particular, learning negotiation skills with new actors, especially private business and philanthropists, was supported. Continuous efforts were made to generate additional resources through a broader partnership to carry forward the emerging agenda for policy and programme reforms to address urban poverty in the country. This included a co-convened donors’ consultation with Ford Foundation in March 2014, and rounds of follow-up conversations with Delegation of European Union to India, Mac Arthur Foundation, The Asia Foundation and Action Aid India.

Conversations with state governments of Chhattisgarh and Bihar were initiated which subsequently has resulted in long-term partnerships with the government of Chhattisgarh to undertake participatory sanitation behaviour change in Chhattisgarh.

Junxion, a branding agency, was hired to help generate a fresh approach to communicate PRIA’s work and legacy to new constituents within the country and abroad.  Based on the Consultant’s recommendations, a Brand PRIA document was created. This document is intended to be a touchstone for ongoing creative and content work for PRIA.

John McCormick, a consultant from Canada, spent a month-long residency at PRIA in February 2014 to understand at close quarters the activities of PRIA and make recommendations on seeking private sector funding, including an international approach to funding PRIA’s programmes. A separate database of corporate clients who can be approached for CSR partnerships was developed. Flyers and information sharing through LinkedIn groups was undertaken to promote PRIA’s CSR initiative.

A partners’ meeting organised by PRIA on 9-10 November 2014 discussed the challenges the non-profit sector is facing, especially resource constraints, and in what ways CSOs can work with the corporate sector to help implement CSR initiatives. It is important to understand the dynamics of corporate functioning and its outlook towards CSR. A common knowledge hub to share ideas on emerging funding opportunities and ways to access them is a positive step that could benefit the sector. PRIA committed to organising outreach activities and regional events as a first step in achieving collective mechanisms to face common challenges.

Special mention needs to be made of our ongoing deliberations and joint project formulation MOU with Wipro Limited. PRIA and Wipro will submit joint proposals which complement each other’s strengths and experience. Over the past year, two such joint proposal were submitted – to the National E-Governance Office and to develop a training and capacity building strategy for capacity building of all levels of staff in Department of Social Welfare (DSW) and Rural Development Department (RDD), Government of Bihar. Likewise, we discussed collaboration for joint skills training programmes in panchayats in Chhattisgarh with ICICI Foundation.  This partnership has not been taken forward as the training requirement was in accounting skills.

PRIA has been advocating in various forums for corporates to formulate a focused and result-oriented policy for CSR. In this regard, PRIA’s President attended the dialogue organised by CII Industry Civil Society Interface Committee in June 2014; ‘Mobilising Impact Through CSR’ conference organised by FICCI in August 2014; at VANI’s VOICE 2014 conference on ‘Demystifying CSR: Expectations from the New Companies Act-2013’ held in September 2014; and in the workshop ‘Beyond CSR: Corporate Citizenship in India’ organised by Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD) in Bhubaneshwar in January 2015.

In 2014-15, PRIA worked on collaborating with Cairns India in Barmer (Rajasthan) to bridge the gap in capacities of panchayats to implement various socio-economic development programs. Consultations with Tata Steel to prepare a participatory R&R plan for sustainable relocation of communities affected by coal mining are currently stalled pending reallocation of coal blocks. PRIA has been in discussions with Bloomberg Philanthropies to partner in their initiative to promote citizen engagement in urban areas. The initiative seeks to build capacities of officials in municipalities and civil servants to enable them to seek and strengthen civic participation in the Smart Cities programme of the government. PRIA will contribute its expertise by preparing learning designs and modules for capacity enhancement and prepare knowledge resources to document the process as cities bid for Smart Cities funding.

To build its capacities to undertake ‘new age’ fundraising, PRIA has associated with Dasra and developed a profile focused on PRIA’s work in the area of governance (with panchayats and urban local bodies). This will now be marketed more effectively with Dasra’s support. PRIA was represented by a senior director, Dr Martha Farrell, at the Dasra Social Impact Accelerator Program in January 2015 and at Dasra’s Philanthropy Week in March 2015.  These workshops helped orient and build capacities on key areas such as impact assessment, fundraising, pitching, etc. PRIA also associated with Dasra to engage with Vodafone Foundation’s World of Difference program. Two interns from Vodafone worked in PRIA for eight weeks from mid January to mid March 2015 to support marketing of its online courses and resource mobilisation for its field programs. These interns were employees having substantial years of experience in areas of strategy, marketing, sales, and general management.

Challenges and Way Forward
Dr Martha Farrell’s loss forced PRIA and its board of trustees to face many challenges. Most civil society organisations never anticipate such a calamity will befall our colleagues when they travel to remote and often dangerous locations in the pursuit of our missions. Our project proposals do not highlight such risks, nor do our insurance covers anticipate this. At PRIA, following the tragic circumstances of Martha’s loss,  minimum level of insurance coverage of all employees has been enhanced. It varies for different level of staff based on the exposure to risks, length of service, emoluments, etc. Since the overall coverage for all employees increased substantially, the premium liability (which is entirely borne by PRIA) has also increased. The Governing Board in its meeting of 1 August 2015 approved the new GPAI policy, which accordingly became operative from 6 August 2015. Our promise to Martha’s memory is that we will help other civil society organisations to take similar steps in the interests of all those who commit to work for social change.

The leadership void in the Senior Management Group (SMG) at PRIA is immense. The Chair of the board continues to work with other SMG members to help bridge the gap, and has made additional trips to support SMG. There is also the challenge of leadership development as the founder-President and many of the current Board members prepare to move on. We are also aware of the gender imbalance that Martha’s loss has created in the SMG. The ensuing organisational change will have to be managed effectively to help the organisation move into the next phase of leadership.

PRIA has never lost sight of its larger vision of a just, inclusive and peaceful society, locally and globally. It has believed in the inherent capacities of all citizens to learn, act and transform their lives, families and communities in ways that bring about common public good for all. Without such strategic support from The Ford Foundation, re-tooling would not have been feasible. Further investments will be required over the coming period to institutionalise these efforts and secure a sustainable financial base for the kinds of interventions and impacts PRIA desires to make.
Knowledge. Voice. Democracy. requires far greater capacities and determination in the years ahead!

Year/Period 
October 2013 – September 2015

Client
The Ford Foundation