Wecome to Nirmal Bahuddeshiya Sanstha

From the desk of the President                        

Dr. P. S. Shandilya

I am happy to represent Nirmal Bahuddeshiya Sanstha that it has successfully completed 2 years of its glorious journey and as it enters its third year, it is my privilege to be its Secretary. Ninrmal was set up by a team of visionaries. That partnerships and collaboration are important strategies for development, and will become even more important in the era of open economy was something that the founders visualized and wanted to set up mechanisms to be prepared for the change. The vision statement of Nirmal holds good today.

Nirmal has over the past two years experimented with a variety of innovative ideas to build and develop these partnerships. Some very interesting initiatives have been undertaken and each of these has strengthened the partnership processes. Yet a lot remains to be done. We need to build upon these experiences. It has, despite its interesting format and idea, still operated at the margins. We need to bring it centre stage to the new initiatives that are developing in the areas of Public Private Partnerships. Moving from the role of building collaboration, Nirmal has to expand and evolve the agenda of Community VS (Voluntary Sector). During the past two years the idea has been developed and linkages with the private sector have also been initiated that can shape this agenda. One of the successes of Nirmal has been its ability to be able to interface with both the government and the voluntary sector with equal ease and I am happy to say that we have been able to maintain that faith in both sectors. We have to be able to now also respond effectively to the demands that are being placed on us. To expand outreach and make our program delivery more effective, we have decided to develop Area offices gradually. This will ensure that Nirmal is closer to its target groups and can provide more effective services and be more responsive and dynamic to people’s needs. This year onward we the team of Nirmal will hope to broad base support of developmental organizations / govt. departments / donors etc. and hope to also increase the magnitude of work over the next few years. We are also proposing to expand the membership to the General Body of Nirmal and have received a large number of applications. By broad basing the membership, we will be able to generate more interest in the organization and also make the programming and initiatives more relevant.

As a strategy, Nirmal has continued to work with carefully identified smaller voluntary efforts. Our response from this group has been an important motivation to go on. Capacity development in the sector will thus remain an important agenda for the organization. Civil society institutions like the voluntary agencies that Nirmal is working with and we need to be able to encourage such initiatives and make them more widespread covering every district of our operational states. More than just ‘projects’, it is an institutional base that will help achieve the long term goals of development. Nirmal would like to see a large number of effective development partnerships develop between the government and the voluntary agencies and also the private sector in each district of the state and for that to happen the voluntary agencies must have the intrinsic capacity to take on such evolved roles.

I take this opportunity to especially invite the donor community to join hands with Nirmal to broad base the sector in a way that most areas are effectively covered through civil society efforts and that these organizations can play an important and efficient part in the state’s and country’s development. Nirmal is also conscious of the fact that the sector is being invaded by a large number of players who have motivations other than public benefit and are misusing the partnership frameworks for their own vested interests. Together with the networks and voluntary organizations in the states, Nirmal has initiated discussions on issues such as self-regulation and organizational discipline. Nirmal has also brought in a greater amount of rigour in its work with the government on important issues that affect partnerships. We hope to strengthen these efforts and invite the government to take advantage of Nirmal’s understanding and experience in making the partnership process more effective and meaningful and directly beneficial to the poor for whom we are working. Nirmal’s two years have seen it go through several ups and downs. These experiences have strengthened it and given it the confidence and the staying power. It has demonstrated its utility and proven its relevance in the development environment. I am confident that the team will be able to respond effectively to demands that Nirmal’s partners place upon it and set the tone for the ‘next ten years of partnerships’ which is the slogan on which Nirmal will build its agenda and role.

Thanking you so much fo your interest with us.