MEANING AND DEFINITION OF NGO

A NGO is an organization consisting of private individuals

who believe in certain basic social principles/ obligations
and who structure their activities to bring about
development to communities that they are servicing.

“NGOs include groups and institutions that are entirely or largely independent of
Government and that have primarily humanitarian rather than commercial
objectives”.

They are non-profit making, voluntary and service oriented organizations. Working on
various issues like Environment protection, Save the Planet Earth, Disability, Science and
Technology, Health, Agriculture, Animal welfare, Art and Culture, Education.
NGOs are known by different names: Voluntary organizations (VOs), Voluntary
Agencies (VAs), Voluntary Development Organizations (VDOs) and Non Governmental
Development Organizations (NDGO).
NGOs vary greatly according to their philosophy, purpose, programs, approach, and
orientation, scope of activities, expertise and structures.
To a layman, NGO is a social institute; it is non-governmental and has a purpose of charity.

Following are the different definitions of NGOs to have a better understanding of

NGOs:
The World Bank defines NGOs as “Private organisations that pursue activities to
relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide
basic social services, or undertake community development.” In wider usage, the
term, „NGO‟ can be applied to any non-profit organisation which is independent from
government. NGOs are typically value based organisations which depend, in whole or in
part, on donations and voluntary service.

The United Nations describes an NGO as: Any non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which
is organized on a local, national or international level. Task-oriented and driven by people
with a common interest, NGOs perform a variety of services and humanitarian
functions, bring citizens‟ concerns to governments, monitor policies and encourage
political participation at the community level. They provide analysis and expertise,
serve as early warning mechanisms and help monitor and implement international
agreements.

In simple terms, NGOs can be

defined as “self-governing, private,
not-for - profit organizations that
are geared to improving the
quality of life for disadvantaged
people”
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GOALS OF NGOS
In essence, the goals of NGOs in Rural Development are:

a) to help the people help themselves in their endeavors to

progress;
b) to promote the growth of inherent potentials among people;
c) to initiate a process of participatory development;
d) to bring about social justice for the poor and create awareness about their rights
and duties;
e) to promote growth in social, political and economic aspects of life in rural areas
and
f) to devise policies through networking with national and international agencies for
sustainable development and facilitate the practice of the same.

CHARACTERISTICS OF NGOs
Though NGOs vary in different aspects like nature, structure and ideology but they have some
characteristics which make them fall into a category of non-government organizations. In
general, following are the common characteristics of NGOs:

i) The NGOs are not created for profit making, they are non–profit making
organizations. The profit generated, if any is used for working of organization’s
programmes and is not distributed among its members.

ii) NGOs are independent of government.

iii) The NGOs are formed on voluntary basis and possess spirit of voluntarism.

iv) The NGOs have legal status/ identity. They need to be registered under appropriate
Act (e.g. Trust Act, Society Registration Act or Companies Act). For obtaining foreign
funding, they need to be registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) with
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

v) All NGOs are formed to serve a common purpose of benefit and / or development of
community. They aim towards helping the needy.
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Type of NGOs and Their Role in Rural Development
NGOs adopt different vision, work styles (approaches), composition, and funding partnership.
Based on these, different authors have classified them differently. While World Bank's operational
directive (1989) classified NGOs into two broad categories viz; a) operational, and b) advocacy types
depending on its perspective, NGOs can be classified info four categories from the Indian perspective.

(a) Operational or Grassroots NGOs

These work directly with the marginalized rural people. Along with charity and relief, they
engage in following activities:
Welfare: Providing facilities for education, health, drinking water, roads, etc.
Services: Building up infrastructure in backward areas, facilitating credit supply of seeds
and fertilizers, providing technological know-how, etc.
Development of socio-economic status: Covering all people or concentrating on the poor
in an area.
Implementing projects related to income-generating activities, small saving schemes,
micro-credit, adult education, mother and child health, etc.
Development of human beings: Making people aware of rights, providing legal
safeguards, checking corruption and exploitation, protecting human rights, and enabling
the poor for their development.

(b) Support NGOs

They provide services to strengthen grassroots NGOs and other agencies like Panchayati
Raj institutions and cooperatives for Rural Development preparing project proposals,
providing training, disseminating information through publications, conducting research,
and making evaluation studies.
Occasionally, they provide financial support to grassroots NGOs. Some examples of such
NGOs are Participatory Research in Asia, Voluntary Health Association of India, Xavier
Institute of Social Service, etc.

(c) Network NGOs

They are formal associations or informal groups of grassroots and/or support NGOs who
meet periodically on particular local issues to promote or defend them. They reshape the
agendas of donors by raising the local issues in national and international policy debate,
lobbying and advocating, and thus contribute towards changing strategies for rural
development. Some samples of such NGOs are Voluntary Action Network India, District
Action Group in Odisha, Federation of the Voluntary Organization in Karnataka etc.

(d) Funding NGOs

These provide financial support to grassroots, support, and network NGOs. Such NGOs are
national (CAPART in India) and international (IGSSS, USAID, FORD Foundation, etc.)
agencies.
Though NGOs are classified into specific categories, they overlap in the first three
categories and in their activities. A support or network NGO can also be a grassroots NGO
or vice versa.
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(e) Grassroots Support and Network NGOs

The main thrust areas of Council for Professional Social Workers (CPSW), with its
headquarters at Bhubaneswar, are tribal development, sustainable livelihood, eco-
regeneration, community health, promotion of child rights and education, gender equity,
micro-credit, capacity building, and strengthening of community based organisations. It is
working at present in eight tribal and dalit dominated districts of Odisha in integrated
rural development projects geared towards sustainable livelihood. From 1993-96, CPSW
was the first organization to start gender sensitization training programmes for
development networkers and government officials in the state of Odisha. It also provided
training on watershed management.
Xavier Institute of Social Services located at Ranchi in Jharkhand state was established in
1955 with the vision to put the last first.
As a support NGO, it provides training to grassroots NGOs, sensitizes local NGOs and
people through documentations and publications, researches on various issues of the
state, and prepares RD professionals through its professional educational programme. It
networks the grassroots NGOs on various issues and implements RD projects.

EVOLUTION OF NGOS IN INDIA

PERIOD ACTIVITIES
Pre Independence Social welfare, Constructive work (inspired by Gandhian philosophy) very
much in line with independence movement

1950-1970 Social welfare, Govt. funded and managed NGO like

Khadi Industries. India‟s five year‟s development plans came into
existence, Most of the development works were rested with NGO‟s

1970-1990 Civil Society space started increasing from 70s, NGO‟s started highlighting
that why govt. programme not yielding positive results for poor and
marginalized, presented new model for development with people’s
participation. With this new model NGO’s covered vast program areas like
education, primary health care, drinking water, sanitation, small
irrigation, forest regeneration, tribal development, women’s development,
child labour, pollution safety etc. later on many of these models were
included in govt programme and policies.

1990-2005 GO-NGO partnership got a boost in this period; NGO focus is more on
Self Help Groups, Micro Credit, and Livelihood. NGO participation is
ensured in policy formation and programme implementation
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 ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF NGO’S IN INDIA
The NGOs perform various functions for the benefit of society. The
range of NGO activities is huge and is spread in all fields: environment concern,
age care, rural development, health, culture and heritage, women empowerment,
child care and upliftment, basic education to all children, animal welfare, disaster
management and many more.

India, being a largely populated country, it is not easy to meet all social and
human needs by the government without help of NGOs. NGO takes efforts to satisfy
the needs of a common man and development of nation by undertaking
various projects and thus helps the Government to fulfill its objectives.

“The Government has enunciated welfare state as one of the Directive Principles of
State Policy and essentially the society and social organizations also have a role to
play in providing basic needs and amenities to and addressing the problems of the
down trodden, destitute, and the weaker sections (women and children).
Government has identified, considering the social pattern of living and needs of
citizens, schemes in which NGOs and voluntary organizations can participate. These
are broadly: Age Care, Agriculture, Animal Welfare, Art & Craft, Children, Cities &
Urban, Culture & Heritage, Disability, Education, Environment, Health, Human
Resource, Rural Development, Science & Technology, Tribal People, Waste
Management, Welfare, Women Development, Other Social and Cultural Activities”.
“NGOs provide expert analysis in the field; serve as early warning agents and
help monitor and implement international agreements. NGOs also help raise public
awareness of issues, play a major role in advancing UN goals and objectives and
contribute essential information at UN sponsored events. NGOs advocate many of the
causes of concern to the United Nations. Volunteer resources and execute and oversee
development projects”.

To brief,
 NGOs perform a very important role in helping the needy people.
 NGOs are of great help in case of natural disaster / calamity like earthquake,
tsunami or floods.
 NGOs act as a link between people and the government which act as a
communicator, facilitator or active force for solving the problem.
 NGOs have a significant role in improving the standard of living and reducing
the poverty.
 NGOs are also contributing in important research and education for
development of the country.
 Many NGOs are actively bringing about social mobilization on issues like
empowerment of women, human rights, environment concern
through campaigns, rallies or workshops.
 The corporate sector along with the NGOs is bringing sustainable
development. NGOs play an important role in CSR activities. NGOs being
more knowledgeable about social structure and social problems, expert advice
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or assistance of NGOs are very useful for corporate sector in executing their
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CSR activities.
ROLE OF NGOS IN RURAL RECONSTRUCTION

India has a predominantly agricultural base and nearly 70 per cent of its population lives in rural
areas. Practically after the introduction of new technology in every field of human life there is
a visible change even in the thinking pattern and understanding, but, it is very clear that we need
a corresponding change in the rural areas too. Such changes bring about a better standard of
living and better overall economic, social and cultural environment, where a rural folk can grow
up, get educated through formal and non-formal system and be good citizens of India. It can be
termed as Rural Reconstruction.

The objectives of rural reconstruction are manifold and encompass improvement in

socio-economic conditions, removal of poverty and indebtedness, regeneration of village
and cottage industries, health, nutrition, family planning and sanitation, education
through formal and non-formal system, local administration, and etc.

MAJOR ROLE PLAYED BY THE NGOS IN RURAL RECONSTRUCTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

 They supplement government efforts in implementing various programmes

relating to rural reconstruction and development projects,
 NGOs mobilize their local resources initiative and promote self employment activities in
rural areas;
 They Organize and mobilize rural people for social action to create awareness among
them,
 They build self-reliant for sustainable society by acting as mediator between
people and government, to help the specific target example women, children, SCs and
STs, landless agricultural labours and downtrodden people, act as a supporter and
partner of government programmes in activating delivery system and in
implementing rural development programmes etc.,
 They promote appropriate technologies and conducting demonstrations, where and
when there is a need,
 They generate self-confidence, self-help and to enhance decision-making capacity
among the rural communities, activating social legislations Acts like Dowry,
Minimum Wages, Abolition of Child and Bonded Labours, and Abolition of Female
Infanticide and AIDS, factor of transformation, concretization and improvement of
the living standards and welfare of the poor,
 They act as facilitator of development, education, training, professionalization, etc.,
 They provide needed information especially information pertaining to modern
agricultural technology as well as appropriate technology for promoting eco-friendly
industrial activity.
 They promote rural health, sanitation, population control family planning activities.
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THE FOLLOWING ARE THE IMPORTANT ACTIVITIES FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL ECONOMY

AGRICULTURAL RELATED PROGRAMS:

Numerous activities can be undertaken under agriculture sector. The jobs/projects like
distributing planting materials, cattle, poultry, minor irrigation, free medical care for
cattle’s, safe drinking water for animals etc.

HEALTH PROGRAMMES FOR HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN BEINGS:

The works like pit drainage, housing, creation of smokeless environment, good drinking
water for animals and human beings, regular health checkup camps etc. will improve the
health conditions of the human and non-human beings.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS:

The community development programs like adoption of villages for development, moral
support during flood and famine period, supply of food and drinking water during flood,
common well, training programs for the rural youths, housing projects, repair and
renovation of houses etc will satisfy the basic necessities. The important program like
training programs for the rural poor will hold the youths from rural exodus. Even this type
of training programs may also be extended for the rural women, so that we can expect
self sustenance among this community.

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS:

The personality development programs, skill development programs, educational

programs, integrated development projects etc will enable the rural poor to earn bread
and butter.

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NGO- JHARKHAND

Vikas Bharti Bishunpur is a people’s

organization which has been working with
the most backward and under privileged communities in all 24 districts of
Jharkhand. The organization has been extending full support to the community to
ensure their rights and entitlements. Vikas Bharti Bishunpur is a registered
voluntary organisation under Society registration Act 1860, established on 14th
January 1983. The organisation has its headquarters in Bishunpur, Gumla and Co-
ordination office at Ranchi, Jharkhand. Vikas Bharti believes that development can
only be actualised through meaningful, long term and strategic partnership with
community based institutions, government, agencies willing to help the poor and
international agencies. At present Vikas Bharti is the most trustworthy and largest
partner of government. Besides, many national and international agencies have
come forward to carry its Endeavor to ensure deprivation free society.

IDEOLOGY
Go to the People
Live with them
Learn from them
Love them
Start with what they know
Build with what they have
But with best leaders
When the work is done
Task Accomplished
The people will say
We have done these works
VISION
To ensure a deprivation free and just society, where even
the person, standing last in the societal rungs, experiences
holistic development.
MISSION
To work for the total empowerment of the weaker sections of
the society through confidence building measures; mustering
cooperation from various spheres; and increased availability
and accessibility to resources and services.

OBJECTIVES
 To empower the weaker sections of society through educational and skill development
initiatives.
 To keep the communities abreast with the new developments in science and technology so as
to bring about an improvement in their standards of living.
 To organize communities so that they can work together towards mobilization of resources for
their own development
 To establish linkages of community-based organizations with financial and technical institutions.
 To mobilize masses and identify needbased issues for taking up advocacy campaigns thereby
ensuring rights and entitlements of the weaker sections of the society.
 To promote creation and conservation of livelihood resources in a sustainable manner so as to
prevent any forms of conflict over the sharing of these resources.
 To work for the strengthening of all development oriented services and ensure its accessibility
for all sections of the society
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IT’S CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS RURAL DEVELOPMENT
MGNREGS NRLM-CFT CONVERGENCE PROJECT
CLUSTER FACILITATION TEAM(CFT)

To enhance the income of rural people, the organisation is supporting the Rural Development Department
to create more person days of labourers at community level by creating the platform through community
mobilization activities. NRLM-MGNREGs-CFT
Convergence Project is an initiative of Department of
Rural Development, Government of India to improve
quality implementation of MGNREGs. Vikas Bharti
Bishunpur is implementing CFT Project in 5 blocks of
Gumla and Lohardaga districts. Gumla Sadar, Ghaghra &
Palkot blocks in Gumla district and Kuru and Senha block
of Lohardaga district respectively. 5 blocks, 82
panchayats and 223 revenue villages are covered under
the project. Vikas Bharti Bishunpur is implementing CFT
project since 1st August, 2014.
The Objective of the project is to strengthen the implementation of MGNREGs by facilitation & capacity
building of CBOs, SHG Collectives, labourers, PRI Members, MGNREGs functionaries and Gram Panchayats.
The ultimate obiective of the project is to increase in demand to provide at least 60 person days by the
end of 2nd year and 75 person days by the end of the third year to every active ST/SC job cards/house
hold. After 3 years income will increase at least 25%.

YOJNA BANAO ABHIYAN (YBA)

CFT Team of Vikas Bharti Bishunpur actively participated & supported “Yojana Banao Abhiyan” (05th
January, 2016 to 25th February, 2016) as a CFT Team and SRT (State Resource Team) to prepare Village
Development Plan for MGNREGs and 14th Finance Commission for 82 Gram Panchayats of Gumla and
Lohardaga districts. 10 members of CFT team trained as a State Resource Team, who have supported
district, Block and panchayats administration in training of PPT (Panchayat Planning Team) and 3 days Tola
Sabha /Gram Sabha (planning process) to prepare Annual Action Plan / Village Development plan. CFT
team supported 597 Tola Sabha during the abhiyan.

SRT members facilitated different YBA activities:

 Training of Panchayat Planning Team (PPT) on YBA.

 District & Block Level workshop on YBA
 PRI Members Training on YBA
 Training of SHG Members on YBA
 Training of PRI Members on Panchayat Karyakarini Baithak
 Tola Level Planning
 Awareness Generation activities
 Support in Documentation

One CFT Member Trained as SRG (State Resource Group) for

GPDP (Gram Panchayat Development Plan) under Panchayat Raj Department.
Thereafter, YBA training cum workshops were organized at Panchayat, Block and District levels to entrust
responsibilities to the stakeholders of YBA including the PRI representatives at different level.
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PROMOTION OF
SELF HELP GROUP (SHG)
For promotion of cooperation and collaboration
between individuals and between institutions the
organization has formed Women Self Help Groups in
Rural and urban areas. It is continuously supporting
them in maintaining their records, skill enhancement
and linking with the Financial Institutions. The
organization also provides opportunity to increase
their product qualities and to sell their products.
Through SHG groups the organization aims to make
women economically independent, confident and
Self reliant

Strengthening of local Governance (PRI)

The organization believes that for development of country it is

necessary to strengthen local governance. The democracy starts from
the village level. Before election a state level voter sensitization
programme was organized on 4th November, 2015 by the organization
at Ranchi to make the community aware about importance of
Panchayat Representative and right selection

Youth Mobilization
The Organization sincerely appreciates the fact that in India, Social change can be transformed from an
illusive dream to a concrete reality through youth mobilization in the society. The organization realizes
their potential and creates platform for youths to bring revolutionary changes. It organizes number of
youth festivals and seminars on different issues. During this year following activities were organized :•
 Swami Vivekanand Football Tournament was organized from 15th August to 31st October in
Gumla, Lohardaga, Latehar, Ranchi district of Jharkhand.
 Yuva Vikas Shivir organized on 7th September 2015 at Bishunpur, Gumla.
 Mairathan and Cycle race for boys and girls was organized from 1st October to 3rd October 2015
in Gumla, Lohardaga and Latehar district.

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CONCLUSION
The main thrust area for all round development and prosperity of the village shall be to
improve the economic condition of the people living in the area, generate self employment,
improve healthcare, education, basic amenities, ecology etc. A comprehensive study of
socio economic status, natural resources and basic amenities of the area is essential to
understand the development pattern. To evolve the participatory approach for preparing
perspective plan and implementation will encourage the villagers to think positively,
analyze systematically and respond properly to the development process. It is envisaged
that participation at planning and implementation level would bring confidence in them.

NGOS has long experience on different areas for Conceptualization, Planning,

Implementation, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting of the programme with
Government, Industry and other agencies at grass root level.

As Charity had its roots in ancient India. The term, “NGO” came into existence in 1945.
Role of NGOs in development of nation was recognized by government of India, and
emphasized in every five year plan of India also.

NGOs in India perform a variety of activities that would benefit the public basically because they
do not have any commercial interests or profit motive. The important objective of NGOs is to
serve the people who are suffering out of poverty or some natural calamity. Though NGOs are
often criticized that they are wasting public money, they counter those criticisms by identifying
the social problems systematically involving in finding a solution for them. As NGO in India runs
mainly with the support of the funds that are raised, they plan everything carefully so that each
programme that they execute is executed in a very cost effective way.

The Seventh Plan recognised that government alone could not handle the task of rural
development.
It enunciated a clear-cut policy for involvement of voluntary organisations in Rural Development
in a big way. It stressed the need to enlist voluntary agencies in accelerating the process of social
and economic transformation through their participation in the planning and implementation of
programmes of rural development.

NGOs dependency on donors makes the concept of management, an essential element in their
activities. NGOs need to manage their projects in such a way that they achieve optimum
utilization of available resources. Like commercial organizations, non-profit organizations
also have to plan their budgets, resources, time lines and goals.
Government introduced various schemes for funding NGOs. NGOs started getting recognized as
Third Sector or NGO sector.
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