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Till the 1990s, the role of non-government organisations (NGOs) in developmental and welfare administration was minimal. There were largely philanthropic organisations like the Bharat Seva Ashram, Ramakrishna Mission or other missionary institutionsthat worked in the educational field or helped people in distress.

But gradually the new generation of NGOs emerged. These were set up by educated professionals, who wanted to work in diverse fields. It was felt that if NGOs are involved in the actual delivery process, while the government confined itself to policy formulation, monitoring and supervision, the results would be better.

It was perceived that NGOS being localised and rooted to the area, were better suited to understand the needs and reach the target. In the process, the benefit would reach the intended beneficiary and there would be no leakages. In many government schemes, a fixed percentage of funds was earmarked for being administered only through NGOs. I have seen several such NGOs during my career, which performed admirably in their chosen fields. There was an NGO called the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP), which worked in the semi-arid regions of Sayala and Chotila talukas of Surendranagar district. It worked mostly in wasteland development, trying to promote water conservation, micro-credit and animal husbandry among the socio-economically backward sections.

Such organisations had a bunch of committed, professionally educated cadre and were well organised. Since they stayed in the area and identified with the local population well, the results were vastly superior to other delivery mechanisms. These organisations were small, less bureaucratic and transparent in their working.

But the same cannot be said about all NGOs. Many are quite big, spread over several districts and states with a vast hierarchy of decision-making, almost like in the government. In the process, they lose their effectiveness. Further, with large ingress of funds from the government and from other non-government sources, and with no definite norms of accountability, some of the NGOs became less transparent and more controversial.

From a close observation, one can say that size plays a role in case of effectiveness of an NGO. Small, localised NGOs are more rooted and sensitive to the needs of the local community and hence, more effective. Multiplicity of objectives too, is an important factor. If an NGO tries to emulate the government by following several objectives, it loses focus and the connect with the target. Further, the organisational culture too, plays an important role. Proper recruitment of personnel and transparent accounting norms are crucial aspects for an NGO to remain effective and clean.

The task of administration is becoming increasingly complex. It is impossible for the government machinery to be able to achieve the programmes by itself. There is a definite place for the PPP model to make governance more effective. That would require more effective NGOs and corporates to enter the governance process. But there is an urgent need for laying down effective and transparent norms for accounting, sources of funds and regulatory mechanisms for NGOs. This calls for redefining the ground rules for NGOs.

— The author is municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad