Mr. Manoj Kumar - CEO Naandi Foundation

Naandi was set up by business heads of four different business houses, namely Dr Reddy's, Global Trust, Satyam and Nagarjuna in 1998.
Each one of them has their own corporate social responsibility programs or trusts.
Does this cause any conflict in terms of time and finances ?
Primarily all the four corporate heads came together on the request of the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Chandrababu Naidu. The idea was to create a credible, professional development organization, which would go beyond being a CSR.

The sum of the parts would be greater than the whole. A new age development organisation would be created that broke traditional moulds because it was powered not only by passion but honed by professionalism. Naandi was designed to be this new beginning.

The vision was to be an apolitical, neutral organisation that would serve only one purpose - eradicate poverty and grow beyond regional limitations. It would be that platform for anyone who wanted to give back to society.

And to do this in a radically new way four successful captains of the industry were invited, because they manifested that brand of professionalism and foresight that development initiatives needed to become more effective. T

he board of Naandi - our trustees, are like a sounding board where we check and validate our convictions. The board gives strategic direction to the organization.

They challenge us to perform better.

What is the involvement of corporate heads ?
To understand the involvement of corporate heads, it has to be seen at two levels. The first is that there is a board, which elects a chairman who heads the day-to-day operations of the organization.

So there is a larger involvement of the chairperson. Dr Anji Reddy in this capacity has spearheaded all the innovations that have gone into spreading Naandi's reach to more than 3 million people vulnerable men, women and children.

Operationally, all major operational decisions and partnership proposals are put to the entire board for approval. The board meets once in three months. It is the decision making body of the organization.

In this capacity they are like the underwriters of the stock exchange. They encourage you to think big.

Over the last two and a half years, these partners have grown and so has the organization. Secondly all the members of the board are frontrunners in their own areas of expertise and therefore whenever a need arises to consult on a particular issue for example IT, Finance, then, these board members are accessible.

In other words they form the intellectual capital of the organization.

Where all are you working right now ? How many corporate members are you aiming to work with ?
Right now we are working only in Andhra Pradesh but from this year onwards we are planning to spread our activities to Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, New Delhi, Bihar and Orissa.

All these state governments have approached us to work with them.

One of the benchmarks of the organization was the decision to make it a pluralist organization. We look forward to more and more Corporates coming into the fold.

A company can donate Rs 50 lacs and can become an AGM member.

What is the basic plank on which Naandi Operates ?
Our work can be summarized under the heading of 'Development process outsourcing' or DPO. We cannot deny that 98% of money in the social sector is that of the government.

The government is the largest development spender. But the unfortunate part is that more than 70% of this spending does not reach the poor due to various reasons, which we group under transmission losses.

We want to ensure on behalf of the government that these transmission losses are minimized and that these resources are utilized in a way that it reaches support and critical opportunities to underserved populations in an equitable and more efficient way. The challenges our operations poses to us are two-fold.

The first is to only work with democratically elected governments in each state to serve the poor and the vulnerable - tribals, girl children… - without getting politically aligned. That this year we will be working with a cross-section of political parties legally elected in various states underlines our approach and its acceptance.

We will work with any state provided they want to work with us and they agree to a partnership on our terms, which are designed to accrue maximum benefits to the underserved populations. Second, to convince state governments of our capacity, we have to prove that we can offer them greater efficiency in terms of quality of the services that we can provide on their behalf as well as the money spent on them. For example on the education front, we first have an open discussion with the government on the state and quality of education being provided in state run schools.

We offer to provide quality education with the same set of resources, through their present teams. Secondly we say don't give us Rs 100 if supposing that is the total cost of the government on education. We say, give us Rs 80 and we will provide equity in reach, efficient use of resources, cost effective education and no criticism. The rest of the money that we require, we raise it from the market.

To summarize, we work with the government, outsource their work, supplement money and ensure an equitable and a quicker distribution. In the process, the government decisions and policy also get influenced in a more productive and efficient direction. For impact in large areas we endeavour to create a qualitative demand for public services, particularly essentials like education and health and utilities like water and power. Right now the demand is cyclical & dependent on middlemen. We bring state and community together.

We enhance the services and upscale the community demand so it becomes self-sustaining. For example in Mahabubnagar district a pilot project was started to revive defunct Lift Irrigation Schemes. Farmers were trained in mechanical maintenance, water management and supply and accounting. This project has proved that replicable models can sustain public assets and make them viable.

Similarly, across Andhra nine districts are perennially drought hit. Drought made the government pass the order that these irrigation schemes be handed over to the community provided certain accountability measures are there.

Naandi can help implement these measures. India's poor are conditioned to poverty. Schemes are introduced and they fizzle out creating a feeling of helplessness.

Ensuring continuity, effective management and accountability of existing schemes will not only reduce the costs of addressing various problems for the government, it will also make the community more self reliant and motivated.

How do you raise the money ?
Apart from monies raised from state governments, bilateral agencies and other trusts we believe in igniting every member of the civil society (both individuals and companies) to give their mite to our programs.

Every company, every member of the civil society can make a difference or contribution to this cause and that is the source that we endeavour to tap.

For example, we go to a company and ask whether they can adopt a school. Initially we simply ask them to check in on the school so as to make the school staff accountable.

But eventually from our experience, we have seen that these companies end up giving financial assistance as well.

They get involved in the process of improving the efficiency of the school and give wholehearted support.

What is power of ten ?
We go to the company and tell their employees that every ten rupees donated on a monthly basis by them will go to the school that they have adopted.

It has been very successful in that it does not only help in collecting funds but it also helps in getting the civil society members involved in the process of upliftment.

These members visit the schools, which have been adopted by their firms, and their presence helps to motivate the staff.

By collecting just Rs.10 per person, we are conveying two things. One that even a factory worker or a labourer can contribute meaningfully to society through the Power of 10.

Two, if every one of us who can afford Rs.10 was to join this movement, then poverty could have been eradicated. In other words, the solutions to poverty are simple and affordable.

Who are your partners in education projects, State government, corporate, funding agencies or individual donors ? Do you work with NGOs ?
We work with the community.

Conventionally we do not work with NGO's. At some places we are working with the local NGOs as the implementation process gets speeded up as they have a better grasp of the rural dynamics.

Our main aim is to work towards decreasing the gap between the state, which is the provider of public utilities, and the buyer that is the community.

The resources are provided by the state government, DFID, Royal Netherlands embassy, ICICI. We have approximately 7000 donors through the Power of 10.

A lot of companies match the contribution of their employees.

What would be the number of beneficiaries of your educational initiatives ?
In this financial year itself around four lacs and we have covered 3000 schools.

While most of the companies work in government schools, you have built schools with the help of community and handed them over to the government. Comment
Again the aim of this is to provide a cost effective, faster, accountable and a highly efficient education system, to the community.

In Hyderabad we have built 25 new schools with government money.

Government pays 70% of the cost of building the schools.

The advantages are that these are built faster, are child friendly and are strongly under the ownership of parents, children and the teachers.

Has Naandi made any efforts in area of setting up crèches for children of working parents so that the elder children can attend schools ?
In rural areas where both the parents are working, there the elder children are set to the task of looking after the younger siblings. The day-care facility is to allow these children to attend school.

Moreover it is not just a question of childcare while parents are working and elder siblings are attending school. Our main aim was to create a perfect learning environment for these infants so as to enable early child development.

A pilot project was initially taken up in Vizianagaram. Seeing the success of it, the government has agreed to set up 'early childhood development centers'.

There is a consideration to create 1200 centers (as a partnership between Naandi and govt.) in Vishakhapatnam.

How are you using IT in education ?
IT is not at a much-evolved level in our programs.

We are introducing it wherever it is present at an elementary level.

As schools provide the appropriate environment and opportunity, we are initiating school interventions by trying to set up IT hubs.

We aim at using IT as a tool for enabling an access to higher tools of knowledge by setting up science and math corners.

How is Naandi tackling the issue of infant mortality ? What are your initiatives at convergence of community health service providers to improve the health status of women and children ?
We have implemented programs addressing reproductive and child healthcare and potable water schemes. One flagship program aims at reducing infant mortality rate, neo natal mortality rate and maternal mortality rate.

We have undertaken community intervention firstly by discussing the program with the government and earmarking the areas to be addressed. Secondly we made sure that that the government health service providers understood and accepted the requirements of the program.

We tried to gauge the gap between the capabilities and delivery of services. The next step was to address the larger issues like distance of these services from the target population, accessibility, getting data on maternity.

An innovative strategy that we undertook was that for each village we arranged for 'fixed day services'. So a time and day of a month was fixed for a village when the entire health team will visit the village.

This was to be done once in a month. We now have a professional health management system that will improve the efficiency of service providers. We also work at the primary health centers and arrange for linkages with the secondary health care centers.

At the three levels that is primary, secondary and tertiary health care, the IMR is very high. We are planning to set up an institute for the newborn in Hyderabad shortly.

This facility will be affordable even by the poor but will have the latest technologies in place to make it the safest place for the newborn.

What is the concept of tribal banks and how does micro credit help them to come out of their poverty ?
Most of the times, these people do not know where to save their incomes.

That too, meagre sums of monies that they get on seasonal (erratic wage earnings) basis. The whole purpose of giving them financial support gets defeated.

The tribal banks are aimed to facilitate the tribals in making inquiries for loans and safely putting their savings somewhere.

We are also encouraging non-farm micro enterprise support to them for enhancing livelihood opportunities.

Livelihood opportunities empower the tribal and help them come out of the vicious circle of poverty.

Your projects are integrated that is naandi trying to cover education, health, livelihood etc simultaneously. Are you therefore aiming at rural transformation ?
Our primary role is in getting in as many stakeholders as possible while addressing the issues of poverty through critical interventions in the sectors of health, education, and livelihoods.

The concerted effort however depends on the need of the region.

The government has the largest and the most widespread of resources.

We aim to enhance the access and control of the community over it.

What are your views on NGO Governance ? How can the ngo sector enhance its credibility ?
NGOs by and large are driven by a set of ideologies and passions. However, they are seldom governed by professionals.

Governance led by professionals leads to transparency, pluralism and builds organizational credibility.

The need of the hour for the NGOs is that they need to utilize the best possible practices. If you have the mechanism of a board, system and process of objective decision making, auditing, levels of functioning then all these add up to better governance.

There should be more and more NGOs with corporate members on their boards.

They need to be a little more inclusive in their approach rather than sticking to a clichéd exclusive and aloof approach. Transparency is also very important for enhanced credibility.

How are you promoting online donations and what is the response so far ?
www.naandi.org allows donations to be made to the organization.

We have a payment gateway tie-up with ICICI and Verisign, the credit card secrecy authentification company.

However, what we have realized is that online donations are dependent on offline branding or marketing.

This is the challenge our communications team will be taking up this year.

Though the major source of our funds is the government, we have committed to involving the civil society in development issues and raising money from them.

So yes, branding the work we do to eradicate poverty is high on this year's agenda

- Deepshikha Mehta
( Hyderabad)