It is a source of great joy for DFID to join Development Alternatives (DA) in their Silver Jubilee celebrations. Over the years, we have witnessed DA establish itself as a civil society actor in India, contributing significantly to sustainable development and poverty reduction among the most underdeveloped communities. We extend our heartfelt greetings to DA on their tremendous success and growth.

DFID has enjoyed a long-standing partnership with DA in the field of development. Formally, this journey began in the 2002, when DFID India delegated DA and Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) the responsibility of managing the Poorest Area Civil Society (PACS) Programme. Running over seven years, the PACS Programme is our largest civil society initiative, focusing on the 100 poorest districts in India in the states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It is a key vehicle for DFID to reach out to and work with the poor and marginalised Indian societies.

Clearly, managing a programme of this scale was not a straightforward task. DA had to establish a robust and dynamic management arrangement and ensure that the programme maintained a strategic focus with cross-programme impacts as well as lesson learning, and that individual project components were sound and DFID funds were properly used and accounted for. What made the task even more daunting was implementing the programme in the most difficult, remote and service-deficient areas. Also, seven years ago, it was the first anti-poverty civil society initiative ever taken up on such a scale.

The management consultants rose to this challenge earnestly. One of their most important contributions was a decentralised and cost-effective management system. They put in place a strong governance structure which ensured that that the programme made steady and consistent progress, making certain that the grants and monitoring systems functioned well, with minimal corruption or improper utilisation. Similarly, utmost integrity was maintained in the selection of project proposals through a strictly independent committee with systematic turnover of members. The first annual review conducted by independent evaluators in November 2002 noted that ‘solid progress had been made in the programme and that it had invoked a very good response from the CSO in target areas’.

What made PACS unusual was that it brought together a large number of diverse civil society groups onto one platform, simultaneously ensuring context-sensitive project implementation across different locations. Building extensive programme outreach was yet another expectation that the management consultants managed admirably. This was done through an innovative model aimed at reaching out to the most marginalised social groups, especially in areas where the CSO presence then was either minimal or non-existent. The programme reached 19,500 villages in 94 remote rural districts, engaged in rights action with more than 600 civil society organisations and nearly 2.5 million poor and marginalised people.

To ensure optimum quality, DA brought in expertise from different areas and consistently engaged with different stakeholders. This helped open dialogue on several neglected and difficult issues of vital importance such as social exclusion, gender and disability. The National Advisory Board (NAB) and the Project Selection Committee (PSC), comprising members with wide and extensive experience, offered valuable advice which ensured programme quality. What was significant was the way in which DA aligned the ideas from many stakeholders into a meaningful actions and outputs that translated into perceivable gains for the poor.

The programme was successful in enhancing the marginalised groups’ awareness of their rights and building the capacity of civil society to help claim these rights, thus helping the poorest people get their entitlements to public investments and services. It also enabled the women to whole heartedly participate in local governance, with more and more women getting elected, attending meetings and engaging in discussion and decisions.

The programme’s successful implementation offers some global lessons for civil societies – first by showing that civil society can address poverty over a large geographical area and not become limited to islands of excellence; and second by proving that civil societies can lead to large programmes, scale up the existing ones and increase its impact at the ground level.

The PACS programme was brought to a successful close in April 2008. Sharing this journey with DA has enriched DFID’s experience and helped us see how social transformation can happen through processes of demand creation, awareness-building, empowerment, social mobilisation, and building organisational capacity for rights-based work. DA’s contribution to managing the programme will continue to serve as an important model for DFID’s future engagement with civil society in helping to fight poverty in India. q

 

Ritu Chhabra
Programme Officer DFID India
r-chhabra@dfid.gov.uk