TATVA-2020

“Corporatization of NGOs - A case of WOTR”

Lead
It was a warm evening of April 2019 when Mr. Crispino Lobo congratulated Ms. Marcella
D’Souza for taking over the responsibility of Director of the WOTR Centre for Resilience
Studies (W-CReS). He clearly remembers the day when he became Executive Director of
WOTR (Watershed Organization Trust) in 1993. He through his experience has learned that
it is not an easy task to take over that responsibility of a growing NGO. There is change in
the way NGOs work now. The sensitization of NGOs and their work has increased among the
corporates, government and also society. The governance has become more transparent
and accountable. Now you can’t work like an old time social worker. There is a need to work
like a professional social entrepreneur, and create social value at the same time. You cannot
lead the organization by forcing people to follow you but you need to take them all
together, empower them, involve them, and make them accountable to help them
transform their own lives. Marcella couldn’t agree more to it. Funding isn’t the same as it
was before with more stringent norms and monitoring. It isn’t an easy task managing all this
at the position she takes over, not that she isn’t aware of the same.

Genesis
Mr. Crispino Lobo is one of the founding members of WOTR under the able leadership of Fr.
Hermann Bacher. Mr. Crispino reflected; Swiss by birth, Fr. Hermann Bacher came to India
in 1948 as a Jesuit priest. In 1987 there was the worst drought of the century, with overall
rainfall deficit of 19 per cent. It affected nearly 60 per cent of the crop area and more than
85 million people across the country. Drought has class biases; it impacts the poorest the
hardest.

Profoundly affected by the distress of the poor in the drought prone district of Ahmednagar,
in the hinterland of Maharashtra, Fr. Bacher decided to devote his life to their social and
economic progress. Initially people were sceptical and even suspicious of his motives.
However his efforts are now recognised and cherished by the communities.

So far, watershed development activities and measures in this region as well as elsewhere in
the State were undertaken primarily by Government Departments, namely the Soil and
Water Conservation Department. These treatments were undertaken with hardly any
participation or collaboration of the people and followed a standard set pattern. Moreover,
they were done in a manner with little regard to local situations or hydrological principles.
Follow-up in terms of maintenance was consequently absent. Thus, instead of enhancing
resource conservation, such measures often increased erosion and resulted in siltation of
down-stream structures in the area. Moreover, due to insufficient quality control as well as

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lack of protection, large areas that were afforested remained barren and in fact degraded,
primarily due to non-closure to grazing. There were only two NGOs that were working in the
area of watershed management and they were Social Center and Marathwada Sheti Sahaya
Samiti. They were pioneers in the practice of watershed development on a very tiny scale.

Fr. Bacher, who had experience in international watershed management and development,
saw an opportunity in the hinterland of Maharashtra. Up until that time, the government
and other organizations were using traditional watershed management techniques without
involving the concerned people in the project. This always meant that the effects of the
interventions were local and could not be up scaled. At times results were short term and
limited.

After spending 15 years in watershed management with various organizations in India Fr.
Bacher started WOTR in association with Indo-German Watershed Development Program
(IGWDP). The IGWDP program funds village-based, participatory watershed development
projects, with communities chosen for their low rainfall, geographical position—generally
within primary water catchments areas—and social composition. Fr. Bacher planned,
designed and set in place the institutional, organisational, financial and political
arrangements that led to the establishment and operationalization of the IGWDP. Villages
where a few families dominate land ownership are disqualified on the grounds that such
power imbalances would deter consensus on developing local land to the benefit of all. To
qualify, villages must agree to temporary bans on tree cutting and grazing on land
designated for regeneration. They must also contribute free labour—a common rural
practice known as shramdan—to cover at least 15-20 percent of project costs. Fr. Bacher,
who had by then earned a name for his rural regeneration programmes, was highly
respected and politicians encouraged his efforts. This image helped in dispelling doubts in
the minds of villagers regarding the watershed development programmes. Fr. Bacher was
the caretaker, manager, promoter, and innovator of the WOTR.

In spite of efforts the majority of NGOs did not have the technical, managerial and
organizational skills necessary to mobilize people on the scale required to spark a grassroots
movement for watershed development.

The efforts of the existing organisations failed as a result of their lack of adopting a
structured approach to implementation, and methodology used did not give sustainable
results. The lack of technical knowledge and resources was one of the primary reasons as
well. Further, the outcomes of such programmes are seen in the long term and not showing
results did not favour the organisations when it came to support from the locals. This
eventually resulted in the fizzling out of the influence of the organisation and eventually the
failure of the interventions.

Having been launched with great expectations, the IGWDP threatened to come to a
standstill. In this despair and crisis, WOTR (Watershed Organization Trust) was born in

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December 1993 with the specific mandate to undertake capacity building efforts of NGOs
and village groups on a large scale.

Structure
Capacity building was the first priority at WOTR. In each community, a Village Watershed
Committee of local residents was nominated, usually by the village assembly, to make and
implement decisions. Villagers also worked on a pilot project, learning water and soil
conservation techniques, with WOTR for training, technical, organizational, and financial
support. After12 to 18 months, NABARD assumed project oversight, and agreed to fund
scaled-up watershed activities designed by and delivered through the village committee,
again with the support of WOTR. The organization relies heavily on the local population for
implementation of its work, shramdan is a key element of the WOTR model of doing things.
It has ground workers, who supervised by project heads and coordinators. The organization
made sure everything was centered around village and villagers.

Organizational Processes
Mr. Crispino had major task of overcoming the mistrust of many villagers, especially sheep
and goat farmers, including many poorer families, who feared that grazing bans on
regenerating land would cut down the available fodder, harming their already fragile
livelihoods. Through a series of village meetings, the NGO explained how the temporary
bans would allow trees to grow, eventually yielding more fodder and more water for crops.
Any violators of the ban would pay a fine to the community. The restoration plan came in
the form of technical assistance from WOTR, which offered loans and training to livestock
owners who wanted to switch from sheep and goats to high-yield milk cows.

The work was carried out by the villagers themselves, following training by WOTR field staff
in simple conservation-based agricultural practices and management techniques such as
land measurement and record-keeping. Wherever possible, WOTR worked with landowning
couples to boost local women’s confidence and involvement in decision-making.

Organizing people’s groups at the village level is by far the most trying task, although this
aspect is often lost sight of by commentators and evaluators of the voluntary movement.
During the entry period, some groups introduce small economic programmes in order to
draw the people into sensitization programmes, and simultaneously supplement their
incomes. This invariably secured the confidence of people in the WOTR.

Funding
Fr. Bacher was member of German Jesuit society in India which helped him to connect with
German Government for funds. He was instrumental in bringing the attention of the
German government towards this problem. He planned, designed and set in place the
institutional, organisational, financial and political arrangements that led to the

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establishment and operationalization of the IGWDP. But then the German government
could give funds only to another government or an agency of the government. And the
Indian government further could either give it to the state government or a government
body. At that time, they identified NABARD, which was the only a refinancing bank. NABARD
personnel had no idea on utilisation of funds but funds could only come through them. They
identified the need of a capacity building agency, an agency that could go talk to all the
villagers to help implement the project. NABARD searched for few NGOs in the rural areas,
they started work with them, but later NABARD found out that those agencies could not
understand the whole programme and couldn’t design it, as there was no blueprint to
conduct the project. This was the time when WOTR was established to create this blue print
and further utilise the funds for capacity building of NGOs and local people. Mr. Crispino
Lobo was the first coordinator, coordinating between the German govt. (through the GTZ -
German Agency for Technical Cooperation), the Indian government, NABARD and WOTR in
setting it up. The IGWDP grants were official terminated by NABARD in Maharashtra in
2015.

WOTR also gained funding from small donors of Germany. Later due to their Swiss
connections they could manage to get funds from the agencies like Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Swiss Re Insurance Co. Ltd. So, with them WOTR
started growing funding sources and had a credible list of donors. Mr. Crispino realized that
it is risky to completely relying on foreign funding. He told his team that “if we have to grow
we must keep in mind that there is a purpose to WOTR beyond the Indo- German we have
to grow our portfolio of budget which had come from different funding sources so that we
do not depend on any foreign funding”.

Mr. Crispino later realised that they still had to depend on projects for their own survival.
When NABARD dissolved the IGWDP programme with WOTR the role of programme
coordinator was no more required and now the role of WOTR is remained only to capacity
building. Now it becomes apparent to the WOTR to look for some other opportunity to scale
and diverge for survival.

In this time another phenomenon started to show itself, skewed climatic conditions,
irregular rainfall, and extended periods of untimely rain. It was in this period that Marcella
highlighted the need to shift focus on climate change adaptation. In her conversations with
Crispino she highlighted the need, keeping the vulnerable groups at the centre and
explaining how their lack of adaptability could hinder their existence in the coming decades
as climate change effects are something that will be seen however their capacity to tackle
and adapt to the same needs to be built along with the scalability of WOTR. This pivot in
strategy was also responsible for getting funding from other new sources like the Swiss
government.

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Scalability
The most difficult task was to set up all-new organization to create social value with
entrepreneurial purpose. In case of venture where there are many such NGOs in existence
it becomes riskier to initiate one more NGO. WOTR was initiated at such a time. And now it
has become a ‘Mother NGO’ for many other organizations that it provides training and
other help.

The main focus of WOTR’s strategy was capacity building and participatory approach in
project implementation. Mr. Crispino Lobo tactfully tapped the human resources, assistance
of govt. and political people. The unique approach of doing by learning gave competitive
advantage over other approaches used by various other NGOs.

Beginning with scarce resources, huge challenges and expansive dreams typical of youth,
Mr. Lobo has led WOTR to not only realize its original mission, but also expanded its
influence and contribution to developmental discourse and practice well beyond the
boundaries of Maharashtra.

It is important here to highlight that the organisation was “creating its own competitors”. By
engaging and building the capacity of various other NGOs they were creating entities which
could potentially replace them. This was done as need of the hour and seeing the larger goal
and objective, the betterment of people.

As Crispino himself pointed out:

“What happens is the problem is so great that we can’t afford to be selfish. But what we
realise as well when we create our own competitor, we have to look at something else for
ourselves. That’s what we looked at, we look at, well I won’t tell you my secret, we look and
see what’s the next opportunity. So it looks at you know what is the other gap that is not
being filled that we can step into. So we allow our competitors to take it forward and we
look at the next gap. Keeping a little ahead of the time, that’s how we have to keep
ourselves relevant”.

Scalability was always an issue and the solution was not something that benefitted the
organisation but it was in the interest of the people. The question did come up again and
again that if scalability was a good move or not. A little look further into the outcome could
help identify the validity of scaling up.

The Outcome
One of WOTR’s major contributions has been the pioneering of an effective strategy for
rapid, large-scale capacity building called the Participatory Operational Pedagogy (POP).
Two innovative components of this pedagogy, which facilitated intensive participation and
high quality of work, were the Net Planning Method for project preparation and the
“Learning-By-Doing” system of training and accompaniment for project implementation.

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Signs of increased household wealth and well-being included the arrival of kitchen gardens
and individual latrines, as well as televisions, bicycles, and motorcycles. Before this project
implementation people used to migrate outside in search of livelihoods. Today, people who
had moved away are returning. In fact, additional farm laborers are now being drawn from
nearby villages to work the new acres of cultivable land. Our village is now tanker-free,
despite receiving less than its annual average rainfall. Inhabitants have also gained in less
tangible ways from the self-organization that has driven their village’s revival. They have
learned new skills and found new social cohesion.

Earlier people never used to come together for any discussion or collective activity. But
today the whole village takes all the decisions collectively for the benefit of all. Now there is
no room for animosity or fights. The liquor problem in many villages has been solved.
People are happier in their homes.

Despite the end of funding due to completion of the project, its benefits are continuing,
testifying to the effectiveness of the regeneration and the Village Watershed Committee.
Contributions from villagers and penalties charged for rule-breaking were also used to top
up the fund, and WOTR continues to provide village businesses with microfinance support.

This resulted not only in diminishing of mutual suspicions but also led to an increase in
mutual appreciation and respect. The outcome was that all benefited - people were
enthused to come together because they felt they were part of something bigger than
themselves; Govt. officers gave of their best as they could see their efforts bearing fruit in
term of appreciation and impacts; NGOs and private institutions got linked into the local
institutional network and felt a sense of belonging and appreciation. This resulted in the
creation of goodwill and a favourable climate for the expansion of the WOTR in other parts
of Maharashtra.

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From its inception water has supported close to 3000 villages and has had a positive impact
on the lives of over 2.8million people. WOTR has worked directly with over 900 villages
directly impacting 1.1million people. It has also been involved with other agencies working
in 2100 villages indirectly impacting 1.7 million people.

The organisation’s watershed programme covers close to 250,000 ha of land across 400
villages. It has helped facilitate MNREGA in 200 villages covering an area of 170,000 ha of
land.

The organisation has trained over 300,000 individuals coming from 69 countries and 27
different states of India. This has been conducted through onsite training programmes and
virtual ones as well.

The organisation has been involved with gender related interventions as well, WOTR has
been directly involved in creating over 4000 SHGs affecting 200,000 women. This also will
help build the base to the next section which specifically talks about women’s participation
and its various aspects.

Crispino mentions in one of his interactions how essential it was to bring Marcella on board
for integration of women into the decision making process. He recalls how Marcella had

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more appeal to everyone in the area when she came on with organisation. They joke about
how she had more influence than Crispino in some areas.

Participation of Women
When Marcella D’Souza joined in 1995 she was given the task of putting women on the
agenda and mainstreaming gender in the watershed program. She discharged that task with
distinction and has gone on to set up, as an extension of WOTR, the Micro-finance initiative
(now called the Sampada Trust), a large-scale SHG promotion program and the health,
sanitation and school environmental education program.

To encourage greater self-confidence and independence, WOTR trains village women in

record-keeping and organizational skills, and encourages them to form savings and credit
groups. Darewadi village and its surrounding hamlets now boast eleven such groups as well
as an umbrella women’s organization, the Samyukta Mahila Samiti.The women give each
other small loans to support basic needs. Bigger loans—for example, to launch Darewadi’s
women-run dairy—are available through microfinance arranged by WOTR.

The women in the villages have become wiser and smart. They can express their views
fearlessly and openly in any meeting or discussion.

The poor can help themselves. If the responsibility is primarily theirs, they can and do lift themselves
out of poverty. External help must play only a supportive and accompanying role. When the
environment in resource-fragile areas is regenerated, the lives of all are touched for the better,
particularly those of the poor. Fr. Hermann Bacher

Public control Accountability

At the State and the program level, an institutional framework, which drew upon the
competencies of both the private and public sector as well as reduced their inherent
limitations, to the extent possible, was evolved by all the actors involved. To ensure financial
accountability as well as to fulfill legal requirements, the bilateral funds were routed
through a Govt. of India, financial institution called NABARD, which is the apex refinance
agricultural bank in India. To ensure GOM support, the highest civil authority (Secretary) of 3
Depts., namely Soil and Water Conservation, Forest and Agriculture, were represented on
the state level sanctioning committee which is actually the highest Policy, Sanctioning and
Review Body of the Programme. To ensure ownership of the project, building of capacities
as well as accountability, project funds were routed directly to an account operated jointly
by the watershed dwellers and WOTR, which was accompanying them. The autonomy and
the freedom of the WOTR was assured as administrative and management funds were
routed directly to it.

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Multiplier Effect/ Scalability
WOTR laid the foundations for the establishment of the National Watershed Development
Fund by the Govt. of India in 1999 to spread watershed development along the lines of the
IGWDP to 100 districts of the country. A total of 183 projects been started. It was also the
basis on which the “Mother NGO” concept of the Govt. of Maharashtra’s DPAP program has
been developed implementing 105 projects in the Ahmednagar District.

Over the years WOTR has diversified its outreach programs to include other areas such as
micro- finance, promotion of self-help groups, health, sanitation and school-based
environmental education. This was in response to emerging demands — as the basic needs
of the watershed dwellers were increasingly satisfied; other quality-of-life-enhancing needs
began to surface. A particular example of this was the launching of the Microfinance
initiative in 1999 to address the credit needs, particularly of women, in watershed projects.
Today, this effort has bloomed into a separate organization called the Sampada Trust, which
supports women’s groups across Maharashtra. In response to the increasing demands for
practical field-based trainings in the area of watershed development and self-help group
promotion, WOTR set up a Training Centre in our village, Darewadi, to share with
practitioners its portfolio of skills, experiences and systems. As a support to this, WOTR set
up the Information Technology Cell as well as the Communication and Documentation Cell.
WOTR is been invited by the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh to open a branch in Andhra Pradesh
and from April 2002, it had done so at Narayanpet, Mahabubnagar District. Fr. Hermann
Bacher was appointed as a member of the High Level Committee under the Chairmanship of
Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, mandated with the task of preparing an Action Plan for Agriculture
for the coming 25 years in Maharashtra.

The following is the testimony of the waters that WOTR has stepped into, and also the
recognition is has received, and duly so. Fr. Bacher was awarded Germany's highest civilian
Award, the Federal Order of Merit, Class 1 by the German Minister for Economic
Development and Cooperation in Mendhwan, the very village where Fr. Bacher had
successfully mobilized the people to regenerate their watershed. In the same year, the Govt.
of Maharashtra bestowed upon him the Krishi Bhushan in recognition of his outstanding
services to farmers in the state.

Thus, under the vision of Fr. Bacher and his inspirational missionary zeal, many lives in the
dry arid villages of Maharashtra have undergone several positive transformations. Dreams
have turned into reality and the economic conditions of many villages are on an upward
rising, with even reverse migration taking place, as farming no more remains a dreadful job.
We have only a primary school in our village and we have determined to have a high school
and would like to name it after Fr. Bacher. I feel the credit for the ‘Water Project’ goes to
Bacher Baba and the committee. Of course a large share of the credit goes to the labourers
too.

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The organisation has had a long journey to where it finds itself today. In these times of
disruptive technology and fast paced change. Organisations like these are going through a
tectonic shift in organising themselves. Demand for technical knowledge and skill has never
been this much, individuals aren’t just social workers anymore, they are professional social
entrepreneurs. Being inclusive is an essential and using a participatory approach is the bare
minimum. NGOs don’t have it easy with funding and donations as well. Norms have become
stricter and rules more stringent. How a NGO is structured is also essential in deciding if the
interventions will be successful, if the work being done generates any social value. Looking
at these changes it begs to question are we moving into a phase where we are seeing
“corporatization of NGOs”.

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Appendix
1. CSR regulation in India:
In 2013, government enacted Section 135 of the Indian Companies Act prescribing a
mandatory “CSR spend of 2% of average net profits … during the three immediately
preceding financial years” for all companies meeting specified financial thresholds. ... Indian
banks did not have CSR reports before 2012.

https://www.fiinovation.co.in/corporate-social-responsibility/

Activities listed in schedule VII

“Eradicating hunger and poverty, promotion of education and employment, livelihood

enhancement projects, promoting gender equality, women empowerment, hostels for
women and orphans, old age homes, day care, environmental sustainability, protection of
flora and fauna, contributions to PM relief fund, measures to benefit armed forces veterans,
war widows and dependants, promotion of sports, and rural development projects”.

http://theconversation.com/in-india-a-legislative-reform-is-needed-to-push-corporate-
social-responsibility-80169

2. Social Centre
Social Centre is a philanthropic organization of the Pune Jesuit Province, and is involved in
comprehensive sustainable development of communities in drought-prone districts of
Maharashtra. This programme significantly affects the quality of life and enables the
underprivileged to live with dignity. Their prime objective is to promote and empower
people by connecting them with ecology-based sustainable development.

3. You Tube links

Crispino Lobo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPGjwPvbYbw&t=182s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpL7Ez5juBw

Marcella D’souza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYGNJTiUFIk

WOTR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlq5XNfNvus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmmPIsu6ZJA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fxj1F2avRc
https://www.youtube.com/user/wotrindia

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 4. Profiles
Father Hermann Bacher
Founding member of WOTR, came to India in 1948 and has been
working with the marginalised groups in Maharashtra.

During his time there Maharashtra was facing severe droughts and as
a result state government started few employment guarantee
programmes centred on soil conversation and water management.
This was after the 1972 drought that hit the region.

In the early 1980s he approached the government for funding and the indo German
watershed programme was born. He recruited Crispono Lobo in 1989 and with him he
founded WOTR as an organisation to help with capacity building for the indo German
watershed programme.

He was a primary agent in bringing NABARD on board the project and was a link between
the Indian and German government.

Currently Father Hermann resides in Switzerland, at the age of 94 he is still involved in the
working of WOTR remotely.

Crispino Lobo
Founding member of WOTR, was the executive director from 1993
to 2005. Still one of the managing trustees of the organisation, he is
an alumnus of Pune university and Harvard University.

As part of the organisation he was critical in evolving the vision and

mission of the organisation and implementing them. One of his key
roles was to find donors and other sources of funding, during the
years from 1997 to 1999.

Crispino was responsible for developing the participatory net assessment method which the
organisation used extensively for its work. He was also the first to suggest inclusion of
women in the decision making process. He also contributed in mobilising the village masses
and kickstart the process.

Currently he is the Executive Director of Sampaada Trust and still works closely with the
organisation.

Dr. Marcella D’souza

She currently serves as the director W-Cres, WOTR’s sister
organisation devoted to research. She has served as the executive

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 director of water from 2006 to 2019. She was brought into the project as a project
coordinator for women’s promotion in the year 1995. Before this she was working with the
rural populations of Peru in South America.

She began with in house evaluation of projects in 2002, as a means to measure the impact
of the work; this became the basis for W-Cres. Her major contribution was in gender
inclusivity where her approach was to involve SHGs to build capability of participants. She
along with Crispino developed pedagogy for upscaling interventions.

Marcella pioneered exclusive funding for women for which she faced many challenges in
instating the same. Her contribution towards developing a methodology for designing
context specific interventions cannot be left out.

One of her major contribution was to bring in the climate change adaptation perspective
into the discourse and was responsible for funding on the same lines from 2009-2010. She is
also an alumnus of Harvard.

Timeline of events:

1989: WOTR is 1997-98: 2002:Conduct first in 2009-10: Initiated

setup by Fr. Funding for house assessment. funding for climate
Bacher and Mr. WOTR initiated. This becomes the change mitigation and
Lobo basis for upscaling adaptation interventions

1995: Dr. 1999: National 2006: Incorporate

Marcella Joins the Water climate change
organisation. Development Fund adaptation into
Gender inclusivity setup at NABARD the discourse
as an agenda.

In the last decade the organisation has concentrated more on capacity building of various
organisation and its workers along with the villagers to help with the overall implementation
of the watershed programme. They have become pioneers in developing a pedagogy for
implementation and a methodology foe evaluation and analysis.

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