Upward Mobility in the NGO sector

When the world is becoming more uniform can the NGO sector be any different? Thus one can see that there is similar development in the NGO sector too. With the failure of the public sector in general in ensuring that there is inclusive growth the Indian Government and also the International Organizations wanted to try out the NGO sector which is neither public nor private. In order to meet the demands of these organizations it is seen that the NGOs are becoming more uniform m in their outlook as well as action. The older NGOs brought up in the Gandhian tradition have been giving way to the newer ones who are more aggressive in keeping with the business trend all over. In the light of the above one can say that even the employees in this sector have become more akin to the employees in the business sector moving in an out in search of greener pastures. The following paragraphs deals with the development in the sector in detail.

NGOs today: Let me narrow my view about the NGO world to the ones which are engaged in the livelihood generation program. Most of the NGOs are still registered under the Society Act of 1860, although a few are charitable trusts and a very few are registered as Section 25 not for profit companies. It is also seen that most of the new ones are formed by people who have no better employment avenues. Thus, a few friends of a leader would get together and then register an NGO to take up some voluntary work – the long term view being grants and big loans for micro finance activities. The flip side of it is that there are the frauds/ persons of dubious motives who have formed NGOs under this act only to siphon off funds meant for development. These people have spoilt the good name of this sector.

There are also the bankers and financial workers who have registered their organizations under the society act although they are interested only in the micro finance part and mostly for profit which may or may not be overtly expressed. Of course being society which should be not- for-profit they take their remuneration in large amounts so that the profit is siphoned off one way or the other. Hence the story that MFIs (Micro Finance Institutes) are paying huge packages these days!

Some of the SHG which have matured enough in their minds and want to go higher are also registering their SHG under the societies act so that on paper they too become NGOs. But in effect they are more like the cooperatives since their membership is limited to the original group amongst which they share their profits.

Employment in the sector: When few friends get together to form an NGO their workers are they themselves. Normally the Secretary and the President would do most of the running around and also bear the cost of running the organization till funds come from out side. Sometimes the treasurer is also seen to be taking some responsibilities. In some of the organization the President could be an elderly gentleman respected in the area and acting like the President of India – only signing the papers without much control over the system. Very few organizations have a proper governing board constituted to overseen the activities of the executive. RGVN is known for the existence of such a Board. When the executive power and the overseeing power is left with the President and the Secretary there is difficulty in monitoring and this is something to be noted while evaluating the NGOs.

If the President and the Secretaries run the organization then they may employ persons to look after the project work. This group of people is very mobile unlike the president and the secretaries. They would move to other organization as soon as they see better opportunities. Even the training provided to them would help them to move from one NGO to the other. The market affording such mobility is very good in the MF sector. Ever since the GOI has been stressing on the SHG movement and MF, the commercial banks, private or otherwise have been seeking such NGO workers to assist them. For them this field is an uncharted territory and they would rather take some one who has some experience in the field before they start taking better professionals. Of course the salaries provided by them are very high which the older organizations can hardly afford.

Thus the movement of the NGO persons is from the village level NGO to the town level and then to the city level to end up with some multinational or international NGOs. In between there are enough programs which the workers go to attend to improve their skill and also power of communication. It is seen that some of these workers have received more training than their counterparts in banking industry or elsewhere because of the sympathy of the government. International exposure is also becoming common for this group of workers in the NGO sector.

Skill Building: There are very few reputed organizations providing degrees in social work. TISS is one such organization whose students get picked up even before they complete their degrees. The Xaviers’ organizations are also doing good work. In the NER there are not many such organizations offering courses for NGO persons, although there should be some as the sector is emerging as a very good sector for those with arts degrees. The commerce students have become very attractive because of the MF program which requires more accounting than other NGO activities. It is seen that there are also courses offering NGO accounting and NGO management. One year course at the EDI has become very attractive for the people in the NGO sector. In fact there banks which offer scholarships to pursue courses in the NGO sector, thinking that these people would work for the society in the near future and this expenditure could be like their contribution under CSR.

RGVN’s experience: RGVN being the pioneer in the income generating support program for the NGO sector in the NER and the Eastern India has had many interesting episodes of attrition in the organizations. Some of the workers are working for or leading international organizations in the sector. Quite a few are in the national level apex organizations. Insurance sector has some of the RGVN persons too. It is interesting to note that the salary difference between the present workers in RGVN and those who have left RGVN is very high. Yet there are people willing to fight it out at RGVN because of the nature of the work and also some other non monetary reasons. Thus attrition could be for various reasons although the lure of money has been an important factor as well.

Cheating the organization/clients and then leaving or being forced to leave an organization is not very uncommon in the sector. Only thing is that because of the lack of paper work or the informal nature of the work in the NGO sector, the records are not kept very strictly so that the culprits can still find ways of joining some other organizations in some other location. This is another reason for the mobility in the NGO sector which is different from the organized sector or the government sector.

Role of skill: One can hardly distinguish one individual worker from the other in terms of skill in the NGO sector. It is the willingness to work, the communication and also leadership quality rather than the technical quality that make bigger difference in the sector. One does not require technically superior persons in an NGO. Such things can be always done by technical persons or consultants. But what is required is good social skills and willing to works with sincerity. Such people are easily picked up by the international organizations. The IRMA as become another institution whose students are running some of the most important NGOs and MFI in the nation. Once again the general management skill is what is required of the workers.

NGOs and the Corporate sector: One is referring to the trusts that business houses like the Tata or the Reliance group has set up or like the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, which have become major recruiters. The village boy who had started working in some organization in the small town now can reach the house of Tatas through various channels to work for the Trust. This shows that mobility in the sector is becoming very good. This is giving hopes to any persons that although they may have started an organization as an unemployed graduate; there is scope for them to sit in the same board which would have interviewed them for the post of a lowly clerk or a junior officer. Could we say that the NGO sector has become a great leveler? I guess there is nothing to keep one tied to the job anymore. The NGO sector provides the scope to move out even after the normal retirement. More choices definitely make the system itself very efficient. The time is probably around the corner where the NGO sector would be able to compete with major recruiters in terms of job content, salary and other benefits. This would also mean that at the lower rungs, there would be similar developments. This is what the sector is waiting for. And it would be worth the wait.

To conclude, our experience has been that although there is a large pool of educated unemployed, it is very difficult to get right persons for the job even in the NGO sector. It is the need of the hour that we make this an issue to get public focus. Only then there may be students preparing ealry on for the jobs in the NGO sector. Even the salary structure floating around is not known to the public at large. Let us make an all out effort to give focus to the activities and the remuneration in the sector. Upward mobility is there in the sector. The road for the village youths from the local schools to places like the CGAP or the Ford Foundation is not so unending any more.