The role of civil society organizations in the development of any region can’t be ignored or overlooked. In India, it has been able to actively engage in the development of education, health, livelihood etc. It has not only been limited to these domains but also has been advocating public rights and influencing government to hold accountability for their actions.
Evidently, India’s most significant innovative solutions have roots into the civil society initiatives. Starting from rural spaces to urban spaces; demonstrations of the great initiatives and interventions was so phenomenal that it changed the way people and government used to look at the problems and impacted many million lives positively. Looking at the Self-help-groups (SHGs), ASHA workers, Biogas plants, RTI applications and so on; every single initiative is an innovation by civil societies worldwide.
In India, multiple government programs and policies have taken birth from these efforts. MGNAREGA, NRLM, integrated water management programs are some among top of the success stories. These civil society organizations have not just been the catalyst but also the innovators: technical innovators and idea innovators. They took complex problems and came out with a completely new way to address them.
A new approach that gave us hope and methods to design sustainable solutions. However, managing such organization is not a cake walk and easy process in our country. It faces big challenges and obstacles in orders to impact lives positively at the grass root level.
Such an organization requires:
1. At an individual level; lots of passion, commitment, persistence, hard work and all those good and positive adjectives that we have got inspired through books
2. At government and society level; need for breaking down many assumptions, beliefs, perceptions, perceived notions, being patient etc.
3. At ecosystem level; an environment where entrepreneurs could be nurtured, supported and motivated. This is one the most crucial and important aspect which makes any organization to establish, grow and sustain for impact.
In many states, the quality delivery of the civil society organizations is very high because of the access to quality of human resource, healthy & assessable funding environment, and acceptance of the community towards organizations etc. On the other hand, in some states, finding a high-quality organization will be like searching for a peanut in the cold dessert. In one country, experiencing such difference opposite to each other in their functionality is not just a coincidence but attracts the attention on possibilities of different reasons and at the end leaves with so many questions. It compels to think about the system and the deficiency, causing gaps day by day.
Bihar is also among those states which tops from the last. Despite having a very enriched history and potential, it is standing on the threshold. However, this place doesn’t have the scarcity of talent but is highly underutilized or unseen. There are many success stories which are unheard of and many initiatives not spoken about. It is also not an issue of people as there are plenty of individuals who have devoted their life in doing everything in their capacity for social good, something which a real hero tries to do and make a dent in the universe. Similarly, there are many organizations who have made a very significant impact but their success hasn’t been shared widely. It is time now!
To move forward we need to think through this as one of the strength to co-create.