MISSION MULTIPLIERS Looking Ahead
George C. Varughese

A garage is not everyone’s idea of a perfect setting for defining the complex maze of sustainable development.  But, it is indeed a graphic description of the initial days of Development Alternatives, a decade ago.  During the first couple of years a great deal of our time was spent on pondering over the need for “alternative” approaches for the country’s development.  We were part of the then small, but growing breed of votaries of sustainable development.  The beginning was tough - many sceptics wrote us off, others were intrigued by our zeal and motivation, and fewer still saw substance in our vision.

The initial years
There were the initial hiccups in finding external projects, and the environment group was clearly struggling for  clients and also for sustainable solutions.  Early 1986 saw a few projects materalising - EIA of soapstone mines, rural energy planning, rehabilitation of bonded labourers, etc.  Soon an opportunity for national policy advise came as a shot in the arm.  These assignments generated a tremendous amount of internal confidence and the staff strength  grew to seven.  The projects, however, did not bring in adequate financial security with the result that longer-term staff and subject area continuity were debilitated.

Around the same time, the country presented a number of interesting possibilities- the economy was beginning to be liberalised and a number of high growth areas got a boost, government was just beginning to listen to NGOs and the environment movement was slowly gaining momentum.  It perhaps provided a conducive environment for our own growth.

By then we had also moved, from the garage to our own beautiful headquarters building -- a celebration of earth architecture.  This period was clearly a distinct watershed, bringing in subject area strengths: natural resources management including community based management systems, and participatory planning systems at the district and watershed levels.  We also gained expertise in using tools like EIA and GIS for environmental management.  This phase of consolidation helped us deepen and widen professional disciplines in the group and also provided a fair amount of financial latitude.

About the same time, Development Alternatives played an active role in the united Nations Conference on Environment And Development (UNCED).  The president of Development Alternatives having been nominated as the Chairperson of the International Facilitating Committee, the organisation served as his technical secretariat.  This provided us a unique opportunity  to strengthen and consolidate our global networks.

Problems kept chasing us nonetheless: we would fluctuate between phases of virtual lack of work and spurts of frenzied activities.  Institution building, we were increasingly convinced, was a hard battle.  Looking back, we draw immense satisfaction from our institutional growth curve, the strengths we derived from our organic growth were immense, as opposed to rigid cut and dried prescriptions of institutional structures.

Building up
In early 1992, as part of our evolution we undertook a strategic planning exercise, which among other things highlighted the need for further decentralisation within the group.  The existing picture (please see the centre spread) consists of focussed thematic groups and facilitating units and the spirit is one of strength and confidence in shaping the future environment mandate of our country.

A trans-disciplinary team of approximately 20 professionals spanning the social, biological, engineering, planning and management sciences have the capability to address a broad spectrum of environment and development issues.  Some of our basic infrastructure like laboratories, GIS and computer modelling facilities, information support units and field stations are regularly enhanced and upgraded.

Each of the thematic groups and facilitating units are in the process of consolidation and are establishing themselves systematically and consistently identifying substantive areas of interest based on our relative advantage and future needs.

The basic needs and environment group has been historically looking into various issues of natural resource management and rehabilitation of project affected people.  The current thrust is on designing and setting up environmentally, socially and economically viable micro enterprises based on non-timber forest produce.  In conjunction with our GIS and modelling facility, the group is also focussing on evolving decision support systems for meso and micro level planning and management.

The industry and environment group has graduated from EIAs and is moving into waste minimisation and pollution prevention strategies and technologies especially for small and medium enterprises.  Concepts and techniques for audits and life cycle analysis are also being perfected.  Our environmental monitoring laboratory after having developed a low cost water quality testing kit in collaboration with WWF-India, is working towards improving the kit and is also developing kits  for soil and air.

Our group on living resources conservation is working on natural habitat assessments and management  of protected areas.  The global environment group is focussing on the human dimensions of global change with an attempt to understand the science, impacts and possible response strategies.  We have developed and conducted environment education and training capsules for school children and teachers, NGOs, industrial personnel and government officials.

The Government of India has nominated us to the National Environment Council, while the UNEP awarded us the Global 500 Roll of Honour for environmental achievement at Rio in 1992.  These are just examples of  formal recognition in addition to the tremendous amount of good will already generated with different institutions and individuals.

Looking Ahead
Our game plan for the future relies on deriving multipliers from our past and present work.  The approach we intend to adopt would be to work more intensely with like minded individuals and groups from among government agencies, research institutions, industry, financing agencies and the NGO community.  This is notwithstanding the importance of strengthening our own capability in addressing issues of sustainable development.  We would continue doing this by enhancing our field-level operations and research work.

A logical corollary to our current efforts will be a conscious move towards strengthening our network functions.  Developing durable and adaptable working relationships is a process, but we already have a body of experience which should guide us in future.  Be that as it may, we are fired by the reality  that the problems of this country are gigantic and unless synergies are derived, we can only have limited impacts and no more.

An important partner that requires specific focus is the vast number of small organisations spread  across the country.  The diversity of their approach and ingenuity in addressing problems of environment and development need to be reinforced.  However, a good majority of them operate at sub-optimal level and are often hindered by lack of expertise, infrastructure and finances.  On the other hand, they have the requisite credibility with local communities.  Institutions like Development Alternatives could provide these missing links leading to mutual benefit.

Most specifically, this role will include building up systems where by small organisations can have better access to:

To derive these multipliers, we are proceeding carefully and hope to learn the intricacies as we go along.  We are confident that this approach will provide more meaning to the laboratories, research facilities, satellite imagery interpretation and other capabilities which we are currently building up.  This link with grassroots organisations would also ensure that our work and activities are constantly rooted in the ground realities of this country.  The in-house technical competence developed will continue to have a soul and the chances of our “garage dreams” materialising will hold much more promise.

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