Practice Insights > Lessons From Practice

Sustaining the momentum of a transformation: Lessons from CHIRAG

By: V Santhakumar, Anant Gangola, Subrat Mishra

1. Introduction

Studying the dynamics of a non-governmental development organization is academically interesting and provides important lessons to practitioners. Every non-governmental organization (NGO) begins with a concern to address social challenges prevailing in a specific context, and it may have to evolve according to the changes taking place there. The founders of the organization may have a particular ideological position or may want to sustain a specific cultural ethos, which may also shape the way the organization responds to the changing social situation. In this report, we take a look at the work and evolution of one such organization, which has been in existence for the last 33 years—a fairly long period in the life of an NGO.

2. Background

Central Himalayan Rural Action Group, known as, CHIRAG, was established in 1986 in the Kumaon region of the Uttarakhand state by Kanai Lal, who had spent most of his life in the United States as a professional geologist and returned to India in 1985. The organization started its work in the Ramgarh block of the Nainital district. Its founding vision was to ‘be a catalyst for the creation of a society rooted firmly in the principles of dignity, justice, solidarity.’ The initial focus was on primary health and forest conservation, since, at that time, the forest cover had started to decrease, and people did not have access to primary healthcare. However, currently, the organization works on a number of issues, including water conservation, education, livelihoods and also the empowerment of women. It is now a major NGO working in the Kumaon region and receives funding from various national and international organizations. The details of its history and current activities are available on its website. Though they are involved with several interesting activities, we focus here, on three: (a) recharging of springs; (b) intervention in government schools; and (c) actions in the domain of livelihood and empowerment of women. The practice of CHIRAG and its challenges in each of these domains are discussed in the following sections.

3. Sustainable management of mountain springs

Mountain springs are the major source of water for households in these villages since the terrain is not suitable for open (or dug-out) wells, and streams or rivers are distant for the majority of the people. However, there are various reasons for the decline in the quality and quantity of water in the springs, for example, the quantum of water that seeps into the rock formations may come down due to the vagaries of rainfall (which can be influenced by climate change), land-use changes and other human interventions. There can also be an increase in the demand for water due to the increase in the number of households and population, which in turn, reduces the per-capita availability of water. As regards the quality of water, an increase in waste production in the surrounding area of the springs, if not disposed of safely, can affect it. Given the absence of other sources of water, maintaining the quantity and quality of springs is of paramount importance to the people living in these villages. Hence, it has become an important area of intervention for CHIRAG.

3.1 The Practice
CHIRAG started with the distribution of water from springs to human settlements. This was needed to reduce the distance travelled, mainly by women and girls, to fetch water. This was necessary not only to reduce their drudgery but also to free up time for girls’ schooling.

Managing water: While carrying out such an intervention, the organization felt the need for managing the distribution of water from springs, since water available from a spring would not be enough to meet the requirements of all targeted households, requiring rationing strategies (such as, the provision of water only for a few hours). If one spring was used to provide water to two or more settlements, it required equitable distribution of water between these settlements. While carrying out these activities, they also saw a decline in the water in springs, especially during summer, which has led them to take steps towards water conservation in the catchment.

Conserving water: The conventional framework for water conservation is watershed management. Though this is relevant for surface streams, the organization soon realized that it may not be the appropriate approach for recharging springs. The water from one catchment may seep underground and into rock formations and may come out in another watershed depending on the fragmentation and fractures in rocks. With the help of an organization based in Pune, CHIRAG acquired and enhanced the capacity of a set of local people in identifying the hydrogeology to demarcate what is called a `springshed’ – the catchment area of a spring. If this demarcation is carried out properly, the area under it could be smaller than that of a watershed, and hence, there can be a more intensive and effective effort to recharge water there.

We saw one conserved `springshed’ where trenches, levelling and contour bunds are made to recharge water and enhance its availability, especially during the summer. The creation of para-hydrogeologists – local people who are trained to do the basic measurements and demarcate the boundaries of the springshed – is also an interesting development intervention. Given that mountain springs continue to be a major source of water all over the Himalayan region spread over Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Nepal, and Bhutan, the experience of CHIRAG and other such organisations, in this regard, needs to be shared with others. This may be useful for the mountainous areas in other parts of the world too. The Government of India has already taken an initiative to document the importance of springsheds and come out with a proposal to conserve these, and CHIRAG is an important non-governmental partner in this. In our view, the technical process of identifying and conserving springhsheds, as followed by CHIRAG and other such organisations, is very clear and is a significant development.

Community participation: CHIRAG has ensured the cooperation and participation of the local communities in the conservation of springsheds. Such participation had been there even in the projects to distribute water from springs to human settlements. However, there is a higher level of complexity in enlisting this participation in the management of springsheds. The people who own land where conservation efforts have to be taken may not always be the beneficiaries of the spring water. So, CHIRAG has come out with strategies like underground pits (where the surface can be used for cultivation) for the recharging of water without reducing the area of cultivable land. Likewise, it is unrealistic to assume that every beneficiary would come forward for the collective action. The organization focuses on a small set of people who need the spring water most, and also those who would be willing to take the effort to mobilize others for the work required to manage the springshed. There may be some people, especially landowners, who may not reside there (but their willingness is needed for the adoption of conservation strategies) and getting their permission could be tough in certain situations. CHIRAG has encouraged beneficiaries, who are willing, to exert pressure on the unwilling stakeholders. All these are interesting strategies of social engineering to make the conservation of the springsheds a reality.

3.2 The Future
Though the importance of conserving springsheds and their identification are well -documented by CHIRAG and others, including NITI AYOG, there is a need to document the practices and strategies to bring together beneficiaries to implement springshed conservation. Lessons from this, such as understanding who will come forward for collective action and the challenges the personnel from CHIRAG encounter in mobilising people may be important for other organizations which are interested in taking up similar programs elsewhere. It would be useful if these challenges are reflectively documented. How much of the financial resources are mobilized locally for the management of springsheds and under what conditions, also need to be analysed.

4. Interventions in school education

The people of this area also faced a number of issues regarding school education. Most children are now enrolled in schools, but this was not the situation earlier and it is due to the work of organizations such as CHIRAG and the government programs, that the interest in education has gone up in this region. However, given the small size of the settlements and inaccessibility, each (primary) school caters to about 10-50 children. So, there may be one to two teachers in each school considering the aggregate pupil-teacher ratio. This would make multi-grade teaching (by a single teacher) inevitable. For various reasons, children from better-off families opt for private schools, further reducing the number of children in government schools and aggravating the problem of multi-grade instruction. Then, there are teachers who travel to the school from 20-25 km away and consequently, have no links with the community. Child-friendly teaching is yet to become a practice in these areas. All these factors reflect in the learning levels and interest of children in schools.

4.1 The Practice
While considering this situation of school education in the area, CHIRAG has taken certain actions. The ‘Balshikshak’ program was conceptualized and begun in 1991. This involves the appointment of one or two `Balshikshaks’ – literally, ‘young teachers’– from the local community.

These are usually girls who have completed 12 years of schooling (some are enrolled in or have completed an undergraduate degree, mostly through distance education). These young teachers get a nominal payment from the organization and are appointed in consultation with the community—the organization works with the School Management Committees (SMCs). Once when CHIRAG faced funding issues for this program, the SMCs and even the school teachers have contributed money towards these young teachers’ payments. This shows the interest and the demand for these balshikshaks by the community and the school teachers. In one such school that we visited, the President of the SMC was requesting CHIRAG to appoint a young teacher. All school teachers that we met raised the problem of not enough teachers and multi-grade teaching and emphasised the need for the balshikshaks.

These young teachers carry out different roles in school, like engaging students in grades 1 and 2 when the (permanent) teachers teach higher grades. In one such school, a very active school teacher even organized a pre-primary education with the help of the young teacher. (According to this teacher, having such early childhood education as part of schools, helps retaining children in these government schools.) Having a young girl from the local community makes young children connect with the school (she may be seen as an elder sister). It has the potential of working as a socio-emotional safety net for younger children. Moreover, these young teachers serve as a link between the community (parents) and the school. They are in a better position to visit and discuss with parents if children are irregular than the teachers who may not live in the community. The issue of local language and culture is also taken care of through this process. Balshikshaks have made the school environment more child-friendly and vibrant. CHIRAG runs a library program in these schools and the young teachers play an important role in introducing books to children.

We could talk to a few of these young teachers. Most of them come from less privileged backgrounds. They take up this role as they cannot afford to pursue higher education or do not have other employment options. All of them who we met have noted certain positive changes in their lives through this assignment. It could be the use of time meaningfully for those who are unmarried (and waiting for marriage); or some opportunity and a minimal income for those who are married but unemployed. We came across some of them who were pursuing higher education within their family constraints. Overall, they appear positive about their work in schools. In general, we see that Chirag’s program of Balshikshaks is contributing to a certain improvement in the quality of schooling in this area. In summary, the program has the following features:

• It is a demand-driven initiative.
• Balshikshaks are selected by and from the same community where they work.
• They are fully oriented to the local context/culture and dialect. Training for the role is imparted by the organization.
• The organization has provisions to support the Balshikshaks if they want to study further.

4.2. The Future
There is a need for CHIRAG to contextualize this intervention of providing Balshikshaks to the current and probable future challenges faced by school education in the area. It seems that the enrolment is nearly hundred percent and the issue of dropping out from primary schools is not serious here. However, our discussions indicate that there could be a small percentage of parents (and this can be even 20 percent) who may not encourage children to be in schools on a regular basis. The need to take care of household work or younger siblings when parents go out for work is cited as a reason for the irregular attendance. This may affect the learning levels. Even among those students who attend schools, there could be inadequacies in terms of learning.

There is also a need to think about whether the appointment of young teachers is the only way to address multi-grade teaching. Though this is a rational and useful intervention on the part of the NGO, there is a need to have a formal response from the government, in this regard. Though the quality of infrastructure has improved (and we have seen teachers taking interest to maintain it), the quality of teaching may have to be made much more child-friendly and joyful. This may require additional training and reorientation of teachers.

Though CHIRAG supports the balshikshaks through different means, it would be better if CHIRAG takes certain additional steps for the personality development and career prospects of these young teachers. There can be personality development programs including the provision of soft skills and communication skills which may enhance their employment opportunities. If some of them can do well after higher education, they can become role models for the others. There could be a role for gender training and orientation for these younger women, as their current situation and future may depend on negotiating with the prevailing and not-so-enabling social norms related to gender roles. In general, there is a need to reimagine or reconceptualize the intervention. This may help in designing a better training mechanism for the balshikshaks. Teachers also need to be oriented to the possible role of these young teachers.

The intervention of CHIRAG in the domain of school education would become much more impactful if it is part of an integrated plan, considering the persisting challenges in this regard. For this purpose, it would be desirable if CHIRAG collaborates with other organizations working in the domain of education in Uttarakhand.

5. Empowering rural women

It is well known that women in India face a number of constraints in terms of education and participation due to social norms that justify different kinds of gender discrimination. Though the women in hilly states such as Uttarakhand are at the forefront in terms of domestic and agricultural work, the majority of them is confined to their households due to the limited opportunities for non-farm employment. This also reduces their opportunities for socialization. Encouraging such women to come together and be part of groups is seen as an important strategy for their empowerment all over the world.

5.1 The Practice
CHIRAG, like many other organizations, has encouraged women’s self-help groups (SHGs), that are encouraged to own and run micro-enterprises. The products from such enterprises or individual or family-run units are also marketed through the federation of SHGs. One such federation has been registered as a not-for-profit company called, ‘Kumaon Grameen Udyog’, and it generates about 1.75 crores as annual income. It is also supporting financially the education and health interventions of CHIRAG. The SHGs also serve as a platform for small savings and a part of the money is used to finance micro-enterprises owned or promoted by these groups or individual members.

We visited a few of these micro-enterprises or their marketing units and interacted with a set of leaders/participants of an SHG. The self-transformation of these women members/leaders is striking. Some of them, through the experience in the SHG, have taken up leadership positions in a number of community institutions. There are a few leaders who have been participating in different national forums too.

It is clear, and almost all of them agree, that the participation in the SHGs organised by the CHIRAG has given them an opportunity to come out of their narrow, household-chores-driven lives and be a part of a social group. These opportunities for socialization are very important in this social context. There is some increase in the income for those who actively participate in the production units. We saw a motor vehicle repair unit run by a woman. Though she has employed a male in the shop, she seemed to be in full control.

Most of these women have substantial responsibilities at home and may not have too much spare time. Moreover, they may not be able to take up jobs too far away from their homes, thereby having no other external sources of income (or have lower opportunity costs). Hence, they may be willing to work in micro-enterprises on a part-time basis even if these are non-remunerative. They gain joy and satisfaction from being part of a social group, and; value opportunities to interact and move around with other women. So, their participation in group activities may not be driven solely by financial incentives.

In summary, the SHG initiative of CHIRAG has made an important contribution to the first level of empowerment of the women in these settlements.

5.2 The Future
Despite these achievements, the financial gain from the participation in micro-enterprises continues to be very small compared to the time and effort that these women are putting in. For example, the cattle feed unit has assigned the job to one woman and she may be getting around Rs 3000. Though this may seem acceptable given the lack of other opportunities, our perception is that this could be due to lower productivity. Most of these members/workers of these micro-enterprises are grown-up women. However, the aspirations of their younger generation – their daughters who are in the twenties – could be different. We see many such girls who have completed schooling and under-graduation but remain unemployed. They may not be motivated to do the kind of work that their mothers have been doing. How to mobilize and empower them could be a challenge. This is a challenge faced not only here but also in other parts of India. For example, the members of SEWA (Self-Employed Workers Association) in Gujarat encounter a similar problem and are giving training to the younger members in the provision of value-added goods and services.

There could be opportunities for enhancing the productivity of the micro-enterprises promoted by CHIRAG. It could be lower, currently, due to different reasons—the scale of operations could be smaller, and here the demand may matter. If there is a more organized marketing at scale, it may enhance the demand which will facilitate scaling-up of operations warranting higher capital investments and this may enhance the productivity per worker. The nature of these settlements (with less than 100 households in a typical village) and the long-distance between villages could be creating certain inherent constraints against the scaling up of operations. However, there may be a need to explore whether there can be possibilities of increasing productivity within these constraints. There is a national (and probably, international) market for the kind of products that this part of the Himalayas produces, which may be expanded through appropriate quality-control and networking/aggregation. We understand that Fab-India is among those that outsource products from the federation of CHIRAG.

The possibility of providing a higher level of gender training to the members of its SHGs may be explored. There could be a possibility of enhancing the welfare of these hill communities if a major section of girls is educated and are encouraged to seek employment opportunities wherever these are available. We may take lessons from the Eastern Himalayas (starting from Darjeeling to the other North-Eastern States) in this regard. Geographically, these regions or their constraints in terms of livelihood or employment may not be very different from the central Himalayas. The people of the Eastern Himalayas are also somewhat closely wedded to their culture and traditions, but they seem to adapt to the challenges of urbanization/modernization much more effectively. Though there can be factors intrinsic to the central Himalayas, the difference in the situation of younger girls between these two regions is significant.

6. The Organization

CHIRAG, in its 33 years of its existence, has made substantial contributions to the people of this largely remote and unserved and inaccessible geography of the Kumaon region. The founders could recognize various gaps in the awareness, facilities, and at the same time, the strong cultural bonds in the communities. The organization has taken steps to protect this cooperative and collaborative way of living. Participatory planning and collective decision-making are evident in their work. Most of the programs evolved out of difficulty faced or demand by the community and so each of their programs has an element of buying in and ownership and inputs from contextual knowledge.

Though it has started its activities through an intervention in healthcare, CHIRAG has realized the importance of inter-related activities, like the need to procure enough water without wasting valuable time of girls and women, school education, empowerment and livelihood of women. It has expanded its operations over time.

There are a number of notable features in the functioning of the organization. CHIRAG has developed deep roots in the region and is well-connected with the people and communities there. There is a general goodwill among the people towards the organization. Its work in certain domains, like the conservation of springs, is also nationally recognized. It has become a part of a national group to plan future actions in this domain. It has also developed networks with higher education institutes and other professional bodies so that it attracts a regular stream of interns and volunteers, and they help the organization to fill certain gaps in terms of its own human resources.

It is also heartening to note that the organization has a set of informed, sincere and committed employees, and most of them are youngsters. The majority of these employees come from the region/locality and their connect with the local people is advantageous for the organization. Our perception, based on the limited exposure, is that the organization is concerned about the welfare of its employees and takes steps in that direction within the financial and other constraints encountered by a medium-size NGO in India. Some of its employees move on as they acquire experience and take up other assignments. Hence, CHIRAG has facilitated the creation of a number of other NGOs doing good and sincere work in the region and a number of its former employees have either started and/or are managing these organizations.

Another interesting feature is the creation of the Kumaon Grameen Udyog – a non-for-profit company selling the products made by the SHGs. This has become a profitable venture and is in a position where it can fund some of the altruistic activities of CHIRAG. This could be an important and laudable model for the financing of NGOs in India. This is so since the dependence on project-based funding from national/international altruistic sources (including those from corporate organizations) need not be a reliable source of finance for longer-term social actions, especially for independent NGOs.

The organization has also acquired certain assets and a limited corpus. We understand that the organization has a reasonable amount as the corpus, though it may not be adequate to meet the project expenditures. The assets include land, buildings, and vehicles but some of these may require maintenance or renewal.

The organization has also moved to a new leadership which is not part of the founders or founding family. It could integrate/assimilate second-generation professional leadership as part of its transition. This is an important achievement since the transition to second-generation leaders is a difficult task for many NGOs in India.

7. The Future

It seems that CHIRAG has reached the peak of one level of activism through its work during the last 33 years. It can continue more or less at this level for many more decades. The assets, limited corpus, the reputation among the funding agencies, the income from its own progeny – Kumaon Grameen Udyog, the networks and social capital may enable its sustenance in a notable manner. However, this may not be adequate to scale-up or move towards a higher level of equilibrium. Whether the organization wants to achieve a larger scale or not has to be a conscious internal decision, and outsiders may not play much of a role in this.

However, there may be a need for scaling up, if the organization wants to be more impactful in changing the socio-economic conditions of local people. They may overcome certain challenges (in terms of the non-access or non-use of primary education or health-care) but may face newer challenges (for example, not enough livelihood/employment opportunities due to the mountainous region, and hence, a higher incentive for migration). The increase in the population, the need for resources and also the overall changes in the natural environment (including climate change) may also throw up newer challenges. How CHIRAG equip itself to enable the local people to meet these new challenges in an effective and impactful manner is an important concern. The capability of the organization in this regard may depend on its current decisions. We make the following observations/suggestions in this regard:

• The model of creating a not-for-profit company to contribute a part of the financial resources for altruistic activities of the organization is an interesting model. This model and its process may be strengthened. This may require an increase in the scale of the operations and revenue of the not-for-profit company. This is also related to the second suggestion.
• There is a need to enhance the productivity of the livelihood- and micro-enterprises created by the CHIRAG. This may require identifying those products which have local advantages, producing these at scale, and facilitating marketing at national (and possibly international) levels. The producers’ organizations of CHIRAG would need to be much more viable and resourceful within the constraints created by the geographical and socio-economic conditions of the region. This would also enhance the revenue of these organizations and a part of this can be used for CHIRAG’s education and healthcare activities.
• The contribution of the CHIRAG in school education would need to be considered with respect to the need for quality schooling in the region, and also, the appropriate skills required for those who complete schooling. This may require partnering with other organizations. It may be desirable to explore a partnership with the Azim Premji Foundation in the case of school education and to learn from the experience of SEWA in the training of youngsters in the production of value-added goods and services. The latter can be linked to point no. 2 above.
• There may be a need for training and awareness programs on gender and development in the region. The opportunities for enhancing welfare can be limited by the prevailing gender norms. There may be conscious efforts in this direction.

Overall, we see the need for and the possibilities of scaling up the operations of CHIRAG in a viable manner, without compromising but by utilizing the social connectedness and the goodwill it has already generated and following the ethos with which it has developed into a notable organization in the region.

AUTHORS

V Santhakumar, Professor, Azim Premji University

Anant Gangola, Associate Director, Field Practice and Students Affairs, Azim Premji University

Subrat Mishra, Program Manager, Field Practice and Students Affairs, Azim Premji University