OAC23076

FELLOWSHIPS: ITS RELEVANCE AND REACH
- A STUDY
Submitted By
Mohammad S. Rajjaque (23076)
Faculty guide: Prof. V. Ballabh
Submitted to:
SIR RATAN TATA TRUST, MUMBAI
OTS (PRM 2002-04)
INSTITUTE OF RURAL MANAGEMENT, ANAND

2003
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
At the outset I thank Institute of Rural Management, Anand and Sir Ratan Tata Trust,
Mumbai for providing this great learning opportunity by studying ground level realities
through the Organisational Traineeship Segment.
I express my sincere gratitude for the support and help provided by my reporting officer Ms
Vartika Jaini and Mr Prodyut Mukherjee, Programme Associate, Sir Ratan Tata Trust. It
would have been a difficult task to complete the study without their guidance.
I am also thankful to my faculty guide, Professor Vishwa Ballabh for providing his help and
guidance, even when I was not in Anand.
Last but not the least, I am also thankful to Centre for Youth and Social development,
Bhubaneswar, all the fellows and people of Orissa for their love and co-operation during my
stay in Orissa.
Place: Anand
Md. S. Razzaque (23076)
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Student’s Name : Mohammad Shadique Rajjaque

Organisation : Sir Ratan Tata Trust
Reporting Officer : Ms. Vartika Jaini
Faculty Guide : Professor V. Ballabh
Project Title : Fellowships: Its Relevance and Reach- A Study
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this exercise is to study the fellows supported by Sir Ratan Tata Trust, and their
organisations, and understand the changes in the course of evolution of the fellows and find their
respective needs so that the relevance and outcomes of this programme can be analysed.
SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY:

The study was conducted covering seven fellows in different geographical regions of Orissa.
Initially a Terms of Reference was prepared for the study, and the indicators related to the effect
of the fellowship were defined. Based on this TOR and indicators, information was collected from
the field for analysis.
The primary data for the required information was collected mainly through formal and informal
discussion and semi structured interviews with fellows, their staff/volunteers and community. The
secondary sources include the study of records and documents available at Sir Ratan Tata Trust,
Centre for Youth and Social Development, Bhubaneswar and with fellows.
FINDINGS:
The purpose of this fellowship programme was to help small, grass root level fledgling initiatives
in gaining ground by providing both financial and non-financial support.
The needs of such small initiatives in the initial phases are more of non-financial type, like
creation of linkages with government agencies, capacity building training to make their work
more effective etc. Further, the needs of different fellows are different, depending upon the
background they have, the area of operation, and activities undertaken by them. Fellows who are
working on issues, like creating awareness against displacement related practices of coal mines,
need longer support to produce some significant results, than fellows who are undertaking some
activities related to meeting some specific requirements of the community. In case of fellows who
were already established, fellowship has marginally increased their activities, but in terms of
overall effect on organisations and their programmes the changes are quite significant.
As an overall outcome of the programme, small initiatives have gained some ground while
established organisations have improved qualitatively in terms of improved planning and
operationalisation of programmes, as envisioned in the fellowship programme. To make this
programme more effective, the implementation of programme needs some improvements; and
also more emphasis should be given on field based guidance.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Serial No Topic Page No.
Acknowledgements 2
Executive Summary 3
1 Introduction 7
2 Objectives of the Study 9
3 Methodology 9
4 Introduction to fellows 10
1 Ms Sasmita Mangaraj 10
2 Mr Rabi Narayan Jena 14
3 Ms Pushpanjali Jena 18
4 Mr Rakshyakar 24
5 Mr Khirod Routra 26
6 Ms Manorama Sahoo 27
7 Ms Shobhajini Das 30
5 Role of CYSD – A Note 33
6 Findings 35
4
LIST OF TABLES
1 Status of SHGs 11
2 Grants Received BY ISWO for year ended 31.3.2001 18
3 Grants Received BY ISWO for year ended 31.3.2002 19
4 Evolutionary Process of Fellows and their Organisation 35
5
6
1. INTRODUCTION
The Social development sector in India is largely unorganised. The so called ‘third sector’ or the world of NGOs
has very uncertain environment. Large and well-established organisations having good linkages with
government, donor and funding agencies do not face serious uncertainty in their environment, but people
working at the grass root level in the development sector find themselves working in a very uncertain
environment. They suffer a great deal of isolation being outside the ‘mainstream’. People earn poorly and
possess very limited means both at the personal and organisational level, to implement their innovative ideas for
local problems and most of the time even to carry on their current activities.
The constraint of limited financial means seriously hampers the level of their activities and they find it difficult
to continue their activities over a period of time. Also most of the time having very limited skills and abilities
negatively affects the overall output of their efforts. Due to such uncertainties and limiting factors most of the
initiatives in remote rural and tribal areas have to wound up their activities very soon.
1.1 THE CONCEPT OF FELLOWSHIP
The fellowship programme of Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) is aimed at removal of this limiting factor to make
their interventions more effective and help them establishing themselves in the sector. It is aimed at providing
handholding support to such small budding initiatives in remote rural and tribal areas or in spheres hitherto
untouched by other development agencies. It is a step towards making such interventions more effective.
To help such initiatives in making their work more effective, the requirements of grass root level NGOs and
individuals working on micro level can be identified under two categories- First is financial need, which can be
provided directly by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust itself; and second is handholding support, which is non-financial in
nature. The handholding support in terms of need based training for capacity building; exposure to new ideas
related to their activities; creation of supportive network for effectiveness in present and self-sustainability in
future are very long term and intensive in nature. Trust itself being a donor agency can not fulfil these needs of
organisations and individuals directly. Therefore it was decided to develop a partnership between individual and
an intermediary organisation having greater credibility and establishment and which possess the capability to
provide such long term support. The financial resources for providing such support to these small organisations
and individuals were made available by the trust to the intermediary agency.
1.2 DAP - PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION OF FELLOWSHIP CONCEPT
The Development Associateship Programme (DAP) of Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD)
Bhubaneswar, was accepted for practical implementation of Fellowship concept. Brief description of CYSD
and DAP is given as follows.
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1.2.1 Centre for Youth and Social Development – The Intermediary Organisation
CYSD is a Bhubaneswer based non-governmental organisation. It was established in 1982. The CYSD works
towards improving the quality of life of the underprivileged through participatory action and research initiatives
and by enhancing capacities of other development organisations. It has a good infrastructure base of its own and
its activities cover almost all geographic regions of Orissa. It has a rich experience of working in the
development sector.
1.2.2 Development Associateship Programme
The Development Associateship Programme was an innovative plan of CYSD. This was aimed at developing
and encouraging grassroots level initiatives, which can address a wide range of local issues and problems by
finding cost effective and innovative solutions. The objective of this programme was to expand and strengthen
micro development initiatives in the remote and backward rural areas in the state of Orissa by offering financial
and capacity building support to selected fellows and through promoting supportive linkages among them. This
programme has been envisioned by CYSD also to expand and replicate its learnings and experiences in the field
of development through development associates (or fellows) at micro level. The implementation of this
programme included:
• Selection process through a committee of experienced development professionals

• Emphasis on field based systematic guidance and monitoring
• Intensive need based capacity building training for fellows
• Proper withdrawal strategies on completion of fellowship period
• Duration of fellowship period for minimum of three years
Under this fellowship programme an honorarium of Rs 3000 per month along with a travel allowance of Rs 800
per month was provided to the fellows. In the first six month of the programme a block grant of Rs 25000 was
provided for infrastructure development.
1.2.3 Status Update of the Development Associateship Programme (DAP)
The DAP was started in November 2000. The programme was aimed at providing ten two year fellowship to
launch credible and action oriented development initiatives in Orissa. The total Grant sanctioned was Rs 16
lakhs, out of which Rs 11 lakhs have been released till date. Out of which Rs 860412 has been spent by the
CYSD on operationalisation of programme. Till now SRTT has provided its support to seven individual
development associates or fellows in collaboration with CYSD.
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2. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
As a considerable amount of time has been passed, since the inception of this programme, a need was felt to
analyse the effects and outcomes of this programme by doing a field level study. The objectives of this study
were defined as to:
1. Study the fellows/organisations to understand
o Depth of intervention
o Linkages with other organisations
o Systems of planning and operationalising programmes
2. Find out the facilitating and hindering factors in the initiation of a development initiative.
3. Study the needs of such development initiative in initial phases-both financial and non-financial.
4. Understand the changes in the course of evolution of fellows in terms of perspective, structure and
strategy and respective changes in their needs.
5. Analyse up to what extent the approach of trust, through its fellowship programme, is in confirmation
to these needs.
3. METHODOLOGY
Initially a Terms of Reference for the study was prepared in three parts - TOR for overall DAP programme, TOR
common for all the fellows and specific TOR for each fellows based on their activities and related documents
available at SRTT. Based on these terms of reference the methodology for each objective was defined.
The indicators related to the effect of fellowship were defined in four categories
1. Any positive changes in planning and operationalisation of programmes.

2. Attainment of financial sustainability through creating linkages with donor and other agencies.
3. Creation of operational linkages with other organisations and Government agencies.
4. Physical infrastructure development.
The data related to required information was collected both from the primary and secondary sources. Primary
sources were consisted of formal and informal discussion and sometimes semi-structured interviews of fellows,
volunteers/staffs of related organisation and the local community. The secondary source was study of records
available at SRTT, CYSD and fellows.
Poor availability of Secondary data was a constraint. Except two fellows, none of them had any proper record of
their previous activities. Further, the time available for study with each fellow was very limited.
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4. INTRODUCTION TO THE FELLOWS
4.1 MS SASMITA MANGARAJ
4.1.1 Introduction
The fellowship period of Ms Mangaraj is from June 2001 to May 2003. She is working for the socio economic
empowerment of women in her operational area. She is a young social worker with an experience of five years
in social work.
4.1.2 Details of Operational Area
Sasmita Mangaraj is working in the Mahanga Block of Cuttack District. Her operational area includes five
villages namely Naupal, Bilipada, Mogalpatna, Jerkand, And Brahmanmanijori. These villages are situated at a
distance of around 10 Kms from Cuttack-Paradeep highway, but no regular communication linkages are
available. The larger fraction of population belongs to non tribal community. Prime occupations are agriculture
and daily wage labour.1 Agriculture is dependant on rain. Migration for wage labour work to nearby cities
among poor families is quite common.
4.1.3 Present Activities
Formation and Follow up of SHGs

She started to work with SHGs after coming in touch with Abhiyan in 1999. Initially she was given charge of
some SHGs to facilitate after. When fellowship started she had already mobilised 8 SHGs, which were promoted
with the help of Abhiyan. But now she is working independently and the number of SHGs has grown from 8 to
16 in two years. And four more groups are collecting money among themselves but they have not been formally
registered as SHG at the block office. Three SHGs, promoted by her have already got the Revolving fund under
SGSY. The status of five SHGs, which I visited, can be summarised in the table 1.
Seven new SHGs have been graded under SGSY programme for loan. The records of SHGs are kept by
members itself. The loan transaction among members is quite regular and also the payment of external loan is
made on time.
The difference between old and new SHGs was clearly visible. Members of old SHGs were very articulate and
almost all of them were engaged in some income generating activities. While in new SHGs, members were not
very articulate regarding their activities and income-generating activities are yet to be started. Some senior
members of these SHGs in one of the village are actively participating in Palli Sabha.
1
According to village profile made by fellow
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Table 1: Status of SHGs
Name No. of Date of Total Maintenance of Regularit Involvem
Members formation Amount records y of ent of
(Saving+ Collectio members
Bank loan) n in
discussio
n
Jai Durga 20 11.10.99 22654.00 By members in Regular High
M.S.S. turn
Maa Budi 20 06.05.99 23320.00 One of the Regular High
Jagudi member
M.S.S.
Maa Tarini 9 01.02.03 600.00 One of the Regular Low
M.S.S. member
Jay Maa 15 05.02.03 915.00 One of the Regular Medium
Mangala Member
M.S.S.
Mahalaxmi 16 25.12.99 4208.00 By members in Some Medium
M.S.S. turn irregulari
ty
Bal Vikas Kendra

She is running three Bal Vikas Kendras (BVK). These BVK are being run as a substitute to the government
school for children of poor families. I covered all three BVKs in my visit. The level of attendance of students
was a bit less, but the standard of teaching is comparatively satisfactory. Children were able to easily recite
tables and alphabets and were also good in simple arithmetic calculations.
Tailoring Training centre

This training centre is operational since February 2003. The machines being used in this centre are bought by
one of the SHG one year back with the help of People’s Science Institute, Dehradun. The Motive behind this
Centre as explained by fellow is two fold. She found that after completing their high school and +2, girls are
made to confine within the house. This gave her the idea of training centre, where she can organise them and
also they will learn something in the meantime. Presently there are 15 girls enrolled in the centre.
Krishak Vikas Mandal

These were promoted as a means to bring the male population of her operational area under her activities. But
till now, except one training programme for compost making, which was organised one year back, these
Mandals are dormant.
4.1.4 Evolution of the Fellow:
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For analytical purpose, the evolution of Ms Mangaraj as a development worker, on the basis of her activities can
be divided into three broad phases- when she was working individually, when she was working with an
organisation, and when she again started working individually with the support of Trust.
Phase I
The first phase of her life lasts till 1999. Ms Mangaraj has been an active social worker since her school days.
She had formed a group of some classmates with the help of his father and named it as “Sriram Swayamsevi
Dal”. This group use to clean school premises, village lanes, temple etc.
During her college, she was actively participating in cultural activities. She was sent to National Youth Camp in
Rajasthan from her college in 1997. After completing her B.A. in 1998 she started to raise voice against some
women related issues, like domestic violence and higher education for girls etc. In June 1999, she was selected
for Nehru Yuva Kendra’s National Service Scheme for her activities. She was getting a stipend of Rs 700 per
month under this scheme from June 1999 to March 2001. She was also selected as Vice President of college
Student Union in 1999. She was the only female member in the executive body of college union at that time. Till
then her activities were limited to college union and organising girls for higher education.
The facilitating factors in the first phase of her life were support from her family and her own individual
capability. According to her, in that period limited financial means and opposition from society, as she was a
girl, were the limiting factors, which hampered her activities.
Phase II
After the super cyclone of 1999 she joined Abhiyan, a local NGO, as a relief worker. During this relief work she
came in touch with Mr. Madhusudan Sahoo who was secretary of Abhiyan. After the relief operations were over,
she joined Abhiyan as a volunteer for managing SHGs, which were recently formed by Abhiyan. While working
with Abhiyan, she participated in ‘Anti Liquor Movement’ being promoted by Abhiyan and some other local
NGOs. Under this movement she started mobilizing women in her area against liqueur. She was attacked
violently by some miscreants during this movement for her involvement. But she managed to eradicate this
business completely from her operational villages within one year. For her involvement in this movement she
was awarded as the ‘Best Social Worker in Mahanga Block’ in 2001 by local NGOs.
During this phase of her life her association with Abhiyan was the main facilitating factor. With the help,
guidance and mentoring of Mr Sahoo, she started to actively participate in social activities and even fought
against liquor mafia bravely. With her association with Abhiyan, she also got a lot of exposure. Limited financial
sources and her dependence Abhiyan for her activities were again a limiting factor in this phase of her life.
Phase III
In June 2001 her fellowship started and with the support of this fellowship, she started working independently
and undertook various activities on her own. The scope of her activities kept on widening during this period.
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She started with facilitating and mobilizing SHGs formation, but later on, she started Bal Vikas Kendra. And
now she has started a Tailoring Training Centre for girls in February 2003.
Initially she has only one volunteer to start with. This condition improved and presently she has three
volunteers. However she still does not have any regular staff. Initially she did not have any proper office to
operate from, but in 2002 she managed to obtain some land from the local temple for her office and built a two-
room office. This office also accommodates Tailoring Training Centre and one of the Bal Vikas Centres
promoted by her. As a next step towards the growth of her organisation, she has decided to float her own
organisation named ‘Sanskar Shakti’ with the help of some friends, SHG members and volunteers. But this
proposal is in infant stage, and no proper planning has been done for this.
The main facilitating factors in this phase of her life were fellowship support from SRTT, and her linkages with
Abhiyan. As far as limiting factors are concerned, there is not any serious limiting factor except occasional
financial constraints.
4.1.5 Effects of Fellowship
The effects of fellowship, in terms of defined parameters are as follows.
Planning and Operationalising Programmes

The fellowship support has helped her to establish herself on her own, which is evident from the fact that she is
confident enough to take a decision of floating her own organisation. With the help of training provided under
fellowship programme, she is now working as a resource person for SHG related training for other NGOs.
However her operational area is limited to five villages only, and she wants to remain limited to these villages
only.
Financial Linkages
Her operational area is very small and is within a radius of one kilometre from her own village. She thinks that
she can carry on her work even without any financial assistance, and therefore she does not have any concrete
future plan for this as well.
Operational Linkages
Her operational linkages in terms of obtaining resource persons for training of her SHG members, and for
linking her SHGs with Government agencies for credit and other facilities, are confined mainly to Abhiyan.
Direct linkages with Government agencies like bank and Block Development Office are yet to be developed.
Physical infrastructure
With the help of this fellowship, she has built an office of her own. This construction also houses training centre
and one of his BVK. She now has a place of her own to operate from.
4.2 MR RABI NARAYAN JENA
4.2.1 Introduction
13
The fellowship period of Mr Jena was from June 2001 to May 2003. He is a very senior Gandhian Ideologist
and has a work experience of around thirty-five years in social work. . He is also a writer and a number of his
articles on social affairs and youth welfare have been published in state and local level newspapers. He is
working towards creation of citizen’s organisation to take active participation in local governance. However due
to health problems since last one and a half years, it is very difficult for him to move from place to place and
organise his activities effectively
4.2.3 Details of Operational Area
Mr Jena is working in the Rajkanika Block of Kendrapada District of Orissa. This region is comparatively better
from rest part of Orissa in terms of education and general economic status. Many youth clubs are functional in
his operational area. The activities of these youth clubs are focussed towards organising youth related activities
like sports competition, cycle rally etc. Some NGOs are there but they are operating with very limited resource
base and resource constraints do not permit them to expand their activities. No major NGO is working in the
area.
4.2.4 Organisational Status
Mr Jena has formed an organisation called Nagarik Parishad for achievement towards his goal. The Organisation
Consists of three tiers. The first tier consists of members from each Panchayat. The number of members is not
limited, however practically it ranges from two to twenty five per panchayat, according to the annual report. The
second tier consists of four zones in the block. It will include all the members of Nagarik Parishad in all the
Panchayats falling in that zone. The third tier consists of ‘Executive Body’, which is formed by two
representatives from each Panchayat. Presently the executive body has only 32 members, as it has covered only
sixteen out of thirty Panchayats of the block.
The members of Nagarik Parishad are mainly retired government employees and teachers who belong to the
upper strata of the society. There is very limited representation for youths and lower strata of the society in the
members of Parishad.
He started working on the concept of Nagarik Parishad around seven years back, but formally it was started in
1999 only. Mr Rabi Narayan Jena and the President of Nagarik Parishad, Shri Banshidhar Mishra are the only
active functionaries in the executive body of the Parishad. Mr Jena himself does not have any official post in the
executive body of Nagarik Parishad. The Nagarik Parishad does not have any office of its own till now. The
literature and documents of the Parishad are kept in a wooden box, which keeps on shifting from place to place
as per the availability of space and willingness of members. The organisation has not been registered yet.
There is not any fixed source of funds for the organisation. The annual membership fee was earlier ten rupees
which has been increased to thirty rupees in 2001. But there are few members who pay fee regularly. For
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example out of thirty-six members in his panchayat Taras, only eight members have paid annual fees for this
year. The details of fund could not be made available as the secretary, who keeps all the records, was out of
station. The training provided by fellowship programme was availed by some of the youths selected by him who
are no longer active in the Parishad.
Presently Mr Jena is undertaking two activities, namely organising meetings of Nagarik Parishad and Creation
of Panchayat level Information Centre
Meetings of Nagarik Parishad

The meetings of Nagarik Parishad were supposed to be held whenever felt required by the executive body. Till
now five block level meetings have been organised by Nagarik Parishad. But Mr Jena himself admits that out of
thirty-two members of executive body only ten to fifteen participated in these meetings. The Panchayat level
meetings have been held only in two Panchayat till now, one in Taras, his own Panchayat and another in
Garodia, which is a neighbouring Panchayat of Taras. His activities are now limited to this area only due to
health reasons. There has not been any meeting of Nagarik Parishad since last four months due to paucity of
funds.
Panchayat level Information Centre

He has established four Panchayat Level Information centres till now. The aim behind these information centres
is to provide information to general mass, regarding functioning and provisions of Panchayati Raj Institutions.
These information centres contain literature related to PRI and government programmes. He has bought four
wooden almiras for this purpose. However he himself admits that these information centres are not serving their
purpose. For example, The Panchayat Information Centre of his own village Taras, was in the building of local
youth club. The books and other informative materials were locked in a shelf and keys of the shelf were lost.
4.2.6 Evolution of the Fellow
The social career of Mr. Jena can be divided into two phases based on his method of working. The first phase,
when he was working with other organisations; and second phase, when he settled down at his village and
started to work upon concept of Nagarik Parishad.
Phase I
He has been active in social work since his school days. He completed his Graduation in Mathematics in 1964,
and joined Post Graduation. To work as a volunteer in draught affected Kalahandi and Bolangir Districts under
late Rama Devi Choudhary, he dropped his P.G. studies in 1966. Then onwards he devoted himself completely
to social work and worked with many contemporary leaders like Shri Jai Prakash Narayan, and Shri N.
Krishnaswamy. He has also worked as state secretary of Orissa for youth Hostel Association of India for four
years. Currently he is honorary secretary of Orissa Ganasikhya Samiti.
15
The facilitating factors in this phase of his life can be summarised as his own individual interest for social work.
The hindering factors, according to him, were very limited financial resources which hampered his activities,
and sometimes created problems in maintenance of his family as well.
Phase II
After 1997 he has to leave his active social life due to some serious health problems and stayed at his home.
From then onwards he started working on the concept of Nagrik Parishad actively. In June 2001 this fellowship
support came to him. With the help of this support he started to undertake some other activities while working
for Nagarik Parishad as well
The major facilitating factor during this phase of his life is his linkages with other organisations and persons
from the field of development. It helped him in getting some financial support now and then to carry on his
activities. This fellowship support has helped him in creation of Panchayat Level Information Centre and
helping some school going children in terms of provision for tuition and books in his village.
4.2.7 Effect of fellowship

The fellowship has supported his activities financially and as can be inferred from the monthly reports send by
him, the number of meetings held by him has increased during the period. He says that as he is working for
mobilizing common people to participate in local governance, which is a complex issue that requires
fundamental changes in the attitude of concerned people which is a long term process and therefore, it is
difficult for him to show some tangible results in such a short period. The point of consideration here is that he
has been working on this issue since last seven years and still something tangible has not come out.
As far as training and handholding support is concerned, he thinks these were not useful for him as he himself is
an experienced social worker and therefore he does not need them. He sent some local youth as volunteers for
training provided under DAP programme, but after some time all of them left the Parishad and now working
somewhere else.
Financial Linkages
During this fellowship period, Mr Jena has not tried to attain any financial sustainability and the movement still
do not have any strong financial support or planning to carry it on its own. However, according to Mr Jena, he
does not need large financial assistance to carry on his work. This fellowship has helped him in adding some
more dimensions to his activities like creation of panchayat level information centre, which he himself admits
has not yielded expected result.
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During this period the Nagarik Parishad promoted by him continued meetings on its own and they have put in
very little efforts to create functional linkages with other agencies and organisations like panchayat body and
various government departments. The functional relationship with such civic bodies has been limited to sending
of some letters related to certain local issues like repair of road and absenteeism of teachers from the school to
concerned authorities.
Very little amount was spent on physical infrastructure development with the help of this programme. He spent
most of the money on philanthropic works like arranging tuition for children, paying for extra teacher in school
and helping others. The Nagarik Parishad still do not have any proper office of its own.
4.3 MS PUSHPANJALI JENA
4.3.1 Introduction
The fellowship period of Ms Pushpanjali Jena was from March 2001 to February 2003. She is working for the
promotion of maternity health among women to reduce infant and maternal mortality in the slum areas of
Denkanal.
4.3.2 Operational Area
She is working in the three slum areas of Dhenkanal, which are actually tribal villages, situated at the outskirts
of Dhenkanal town. Two of the villages Bhagavanpur Juang Sahi and Bhagavanpur Sabar Sahi are actually parts
of the same village. So effectively she is working in two villages only under the DAP. Situated at the outskirts
of town these villages lack basic health facilities and the nearest hospital is in Dhenkanal at a distance of around
ten kilometres.
She is associated with an organisation called “Indira Social Welfare Organisation” as chief functionary. This is a
well-established organisation and has been working for various projects funded by national and international
donor agencies. The lists of projects funded by some donor agencies during last two accounting years are as
follows:
Table 2: Grants Received BY ISWO for year ended 31.3.2001
17
Grant Received from Amount (in Rs)
1) OMFED, Dhenkanal for health 26,500.00
Awareness programme for women.
2) NYK, Dhenkanal For health awareness 3,760.00
programme for women
3) CWS, Secundarabad for ACM 2000 82,000.00
Follow up on Gender programme
4) CWS, Secundrabad for fellowship 45,000.00
5) Andheri Hill fe Germany, for women 150,000.00
empowerment through SHG for SC
and ST group
6) Indo German Social Service Society, 236,800.00
Delhi for construction of primary
School and Teacher’s Salary
7) TDH, Kolkata, for Awareness 30,000.00
programme for woman and children
8) Global Fund For Women, California, 298,128.00
for women empowerment activities
9) MAMACASH, Netherlands, for 95,000.00
Crèche Programme
TOTAL 967,188.00
Source: Annual Audit Report, ISWO, Dhenkanal.
Table 3: Grants Received BY ISWO for year ended 31.3.2002
18
Grant Received from Amount (in Rs)
1) Andheri Hill fe Germany, for women 97055.00 Source:
empowerment through SHG for SC and ST Annual
group Audit
2) CWS, Secundarabad Report,
a. Programme for women networking 100,000.00 ISWO,
b. Programme on awareness on
community development for tribal 225,000.00
c. Gender ACM follow up programme 44,000.00
d. Programme for Human Rights Project 85,000.00
3) Indo German Social Service Society, Delhi for
construction of primary School and Teacher’s
Salary 119,000.00
4) NORAD programme for Zari craft and Patch
Work 249,475.00
5) Nirnay, Secundrabad, programme for women
empowerment and social development 90,000.00
6) Office of the Development Comm. Ministry of
Textile, Govt.of India, programme for
construction of Work Shed 175,000.00
TOTAL 1,184,530.00
Dhenkanal
The organisation has a good physical infrastructure base. It has its own office and seven paid staff along with
around thirty volunteers. The operational area of this organisation is municipality area of Dhenkanal and some
villages in the outskirts of the town. As shown in the table this organisation has been engaged in various
activities related to tribal and women development.
ISWO also has a cultural group. They have been conducting dramas, road shows, dance programmes etc on
social occasions and also for spreading awareness messages. It also acts as an extra source of income for them.
The organisation is also conducting training programmes for tailoring and related skills like appliqué for girls
and women.
The fellowship has helped her in strengthening the physical base of her organisation. She has bought a computer
with the help of this fellowship. And she has added three new villages in her operational area with the help of
this fellowship.
ISWO has good functional linkages with other organisations and government agencies in the area. It has
linkages with donor agencies, Government Agencies and other NGOs working for the women empowerment as
evident from its activities and other reports available at its office. For example it has contacts with Indira Mahila
19
Vikas, Dhenkanal, a women activist group for help in legal issues, along with “Samajik Sewa Sadan” and
“Piper” that help ISWO in tribal development programme and cultural programmes. ISWO also has functional
relations with National Human Rights Commission for women related issues.
Following activities were undertaken by Ms Jena under this fellowship programme:
Health Check Up camp

She is organising health Check Up camps in the proposed slum area to provide direct access to health facilities
to tribes of these villages. These health check-up camps are being organised with the help of Dhenkanal
Municipal Hospital. These camps are effective in the sense of bringing free health facilities at the doorstep of
these tribal. Almost all people, who came to see us during my visit, enquired as to when the next heath camp
will be organised.
Health related training

For providing information about preventive measures and other health related issues she conducts meeting with
villagers and organises training camps. The frequency of such meetings and training camps are good. Two of the
volunteers, associated with ISWO as field level worker, have been trained as trainer for conducting such camps.
They have undergone one week training for this with the help of local municipal hospital. They also present
health issue related drama and road shows etc, with the help of their cultural group, to disseminate information
among tribals. The effectiveness of these training programmes can be seen in the terms of people enquiring
about the health facilities available at the municipal hospital and charges for them. Overall, they are successful
in creating awareness.
Health Fund
It is an innovative concept in which members regularly pool money among them to use at the time of health
related need. Members can borrow from this fund to meet their health expenses at very low interest rates. This is
aimed at freeing them from the hands of moneylenders. The health fund created under this programme is
functioning quite well and, around Rs.1700/- have been collected till now. Three of the members have taken
benefit for this health fund till now, and also have returned the amount borrowed within stipulated time.
Formation Of women’s Group

They have formed three SHG groups till now in the proposed operational area under DAP. The average strength
of membership of groups is twenty-five. Animators them self maintain all the accounts and transactions of
groups. They have not formed these groups to obtain revolving fund under SGSY as evident from the size of the
groups. The main aim is to organise them and they are successful in doing that. Last year the members of two
SHG groups at Bhagavanpur Sahi village, forced to shut the local liquor shop in their village. They have also
built a small hut to work as community hall out of their own resources.
20
Some members have undertaken some income generating activities like Rice business and Saari business and in
last two years they have shown good profit. For example The Rice business, which was started with Rs 400, has
a total capital of Rs 1800 now.
4.3.5 Evolution of the fellow
The evolution process of Ms Jena as a development worker, and her organisation “Indira Social Welfare
Organisation” can be divided into three phases; the first phase when they were working on their own as a group
of girls working for women. And second phase when she had an established organisation and good functional
linkages with other organisations and government agencies
Phase I
In 1986 after completing her graduation Ms Jena opened a Tailoring Training Centre in her home. With the help
of trainees she started to organise stalls for food and handicraft items, during festivals and other functions, to
increase their income. She also started taking up women related issues like domestic violence, dowry etc by then
with the help of her group. She used to call her group “Swayam Sidha”. This group was engaged in some
income generating activities like handicraft work and making some food items. In this first phase of her
activities she was working with a group of girls, without any proper financial support or functional linkages with
other agencies.
The facilitating factors in this phase as explained by her were support from family and some friends belonging
to well off families who provided some financial support now and then. The major hindering factor according to
her in this phase was their ignorance regarding various proceedings for arranging loans, booking of place for
stalls etc. Also she faced a lot of problems in arranging credit or monetary support for undertaking income
generating activities for her group.
Phase II
Later on to have some more recognition in society, she contested election in 1991 for ward councillor but lost.
The election campaign helped her in developing good linkages with government agencies, and as a result her
group got some work related to Community Based Convergent Service, which was sponsored by UNICEF under
its literacy programme. This helped her group establish herself. Then onwards, with her group, she was
continuously engaged in one or the other government programmes. In 1994 her group was selected as district
nodal agency for adult education under CBCS. She informally started her organisation ISWO in 1994.
In the second phase of her evolution she started developing linkages and achieved some sustainability in
financial terms. According to her if this fellowship support would have come in that period, it would have
helped her in a long way, as the major hindering factor in that period was managing credit and loan facilities for
her activities. The facilitating factors in that period were her linkages with government agencies and some local
organisations, which she had recently developed.
21
Phase III
From 1995 onwards she started Anti liquor Campaign, and for her work she was invited to Konark Seminar in
1996 where she met Geetanjali Jena of CYSD, Bhubaneswar and Sanyukta Sathpathi of Nari Shakti,
Bhubaneswar. Later on these relations improved and she got some projects from Nari Shakti and Centre for
World Solidarity, Secundarabd to implement. These projects helped ISWO in attaining financial strength. She
got her organisation registered in 1998. Her involvement in anti liquor campaign irked some local interest
groups and was attacked physically for her involvement in this campaign but she continued working with the
help of CWS and Nari Shakti. In 2001 she was awarded as “Brave Women of the year” from NAW. In the same
year she was also given District Award for relief work after cyclone. In March 2001 she was selected for
Fellowship Programme.
Now she thinks that she needs a lot of training, both for her and for her staff in terms of accounting, report
writing, and such related skills. She went for Organisational Development training under this fellowship
programme, and found it to be useful for her, as after that training she has divided her operational area in three
parts, the field level workers and volunteers of each area are handled by three staffs that report to him, instead of
dealing with all the volunteers and workers herself. It gives her more time to look after other things.
She entered the third phase of her activities during mid nineties. The major facilitating factor in this phase was
her functional and operational linkages with other organisations. It helped her in effectively operationalising her
programmes, making her organisation financially sustainable and creating her own image as a recognised
women activist. The major hindering factor in this phase was her limited knowledge of organisational
management. She faced problems in managing all the projects her organisation is undertaking at this moment.

As the fellow Ms Jena was quite well established even before the fellowship and was undertaking many
programmes, she has used this opportunity to try out a new intervention in the area of Health promotion. The
training for Organisational Development under fellowship programme has helped her in managing her
organisation more effectively
Financial Linkages
She already has financial sustainability. However during the fellowship period her linkages with donor agencies
have improved as can be inferred from the table no 2 and 3. However the role of fellowship support in this
improvement does not seems to be very important.
22
Functional and operational linkages with other organisations were already there even before this fellowship.
They have been improved during this period. Again like financial linkage. The role of fellowship support in this
improvement does not seem to be very important.
She has improved her infrastructural base during this period and has also bought some land in outskirts of
Dhenkanal town for creation of an “Ashram” in future. In fact, major portion of fellowship support was used in
physical asset creation.
4.4 MR RAKSHYAKAR
(Very little information is available about this fellow, as he could not provide time due to his engagements)
4.4.1 Introduction
The fellowship period of Mr Rakshyakar is from June 2001 to May 2003. He is working on the issue of
displacement due to mining. His aim is to provide alternative life support system for displaced people and also
lobbying and advocacy against displacement due to mining.
His operational area is displacement-affected villages of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited in Jharsuguda. The
villages in that area are affected by coalmines and transportation of coals, which causes displacement and
pollution. There is provision for funds in MCL’s annual budgets for Periphery development. But according to a
report2 this fund is not utilised properly.
Presently Mr. Rakshyakar is working with Development Initiative. He is the chief functionary of the
organisation. There is an executive body of the organisation but it is quite dormant and he himself is the only
active member in the organisation. The organisation is registered under Society Registration Act, 1860 and has
its office in Jharsuguda.
Development initiative has formed a collaboration of six like-minded organisations of Orissa, called “Orissa
Mines Affected Peoples Network” (OMAPAN). As a result of public litigation filed by this network the
proposed expansion of Lakhanpur Open Cast Project of MCL, which was supposed to displace 14 villages, have
been stopped till further notice.
2
Report by Dr.Hursikesh Panda, IAS, Revenue Divisional Commissioner, Sambalpur.
23
Presently the organisation is engaged in lobbying for displacement-affected people from the mining activities of
Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, formation of SHGs for Beedi Makers in Sadar block of Jharsuguda and Solid
Waste Management Programme in Rourkela. The organisation has also done micro level planning for some of
the affected village. The details of activities could not be made available due to lack of time as the fellow had
some engagements elsewhere.
4.4.5 Evolution of Fellow
Mr. Rakshyakar hails from Cuttack district. He has been an activist since his school days. He joined All India
Student’s Federetion (AISF) in 1982 when he was a student of class 8th. Later on he became the unit secretary of
AISF for his college when he was in +2. And during his graduation he was the General Secretary of AISF for his
University. He completed his post graduation in political science from Utkal University in 1992. He joined as
assistant manager in a private firm after his P.G. and then left the job after six months due to some problem with
senior staff. He was active with CPI for some time during this period. In 1993 he started his own organisation in
Teluki block of Keonjhar District named as “Social Upliftment Centre”. He arranged some money from his
home and continued for some time. But as no donor agency came up to fund his programmes of tribal
development he left that place and joined Development Initiative in Angul, which was being run by his friend
Manas. In the meantime he was also active with CPI. In 1997 he left Development Initiative in Angul and
settled in Jharsuguda to work for mining affected people. He started with the same name “Development
Initiative”. Presently He is also the state youth executive member of State Youth Welfare Board for the period
April 2002 to March 2004.
4.5 MR KHIROD ROUTRA
4.5.1 Introduction
The fellowship period of Mr.Khirod Routra was from March 2001 to February 2003. He is working for
strengthening civil society organisation to ensure peoples participation in civic governance.
The operational area of Mr. Routra is nine villages in the Hemgir block of Sundargarh district. The villages
selected by him are very near to operational area of PRAYAS, Sundargarh project being run by CYSD,
Bhubaneswar, which is an Integrated Tribal Development Programme. His Proposed Operational Area has
remote villages dominated by marginal farmers and landless tribals. An NGO Arti Mahila Mandal, from
Sambalpur, has started working in these villages through formation of women SHG. However the fellow does
not had any knowledge about these activities.
24
Mr Routra is the chief functionary and secretary of “Udyog”. It is a registered organisation with its office at
Choudwar, Cuttack, aboutb two hundred Kilometres away from the proposed operational area. It was formally
established in 1994 but it remained dormant since then. The organisation does not have any full time staff. It
also does not have any regular office set up or staff structure at the field.
Initially a database survey was conducted in eight villages and some meetings were arranged. However there
has not been any activity since almost a year. Also the database has not been compiled yet.
The evolution of Mr. Routra as a development worker could be divided into two parts. The first phase when he
was working with other organisations; and second phase when he left the organisation and started on his own.
Phase I
Mr. Routra hails from Cuttack district of Orissa. After completing his graduation in 1985 he joined CYSD as a
volunteer in Choudwar IRDP project. He remained with that project for seven years and then joined DRTC cell
of CYSD in 1992 as Programme Associate for Training and Micro Planning. During this period he formally
established his own organisation in 1994 as “Udyog”. In 1996 He was sent as project Co-ordinator for Rural
Sanitation project in Khurda, Puri. In the meantime he got his own organisation registered in 1997. In 2000 he
was sent to PRAYAS Sundargarh. During all this time his organisation “Udyog” remained dormant. However as
can be inferred from the records available with him, he kept on trying to create linkage with donor agencies to
fund his plans for these villages as also for some slums of Cuttack during this period.
The facilitating factor in this phase was his exposure and linkages, which he had during his long association
with CYSD. During this period according to him the hindering factor were financial constraints, as he does not
had any linkage with any agency. And his income was insufficient to undertake development activities in his
proposed area.
Phase II
After getting this fellowship in March 2001, he left CYSD and started working independently with his
organisation. He started with preparation of baseline data for his operational villages. The next step in his plan
was to do micro planning on the basis of that data, but due to a serious health problem at the end of 2001 he
remained bed ridden for almost six months. This seriously hampered his activities and his financial status. The
major hindering factor in this case was not external. Due to his poor heath he could not work actively in these
villages.
25
In this case the effect of fellowship is very limited.
1) Almost nil development related activities were undertaken by the fellow in the operational area
2) There are no concrete future plans for financial sustainability.
3) Functional linkages with other agencies are missing.
4) No physical infrastructure has been developed to support activities.
(The reason of such limited effect of fellowship was external in nature. The fellow developed a serious problem
of slip disk after some time and remained bed ridden for a long period. This also put a heavy financial burden on
him, apart from hindering his activities)
4.6 MS MANORAMA SAHOO
4.6.1 Introduction
The fellowship period of Ms Sahoo was from June 2001 to March 2003. She is working for the economic
empowerment of women to check migration problem in Bolangir district.
She is working in the Tureikela and Khaprakhol Block of Bolangir District. These fall into one of the most
backward areas of Orissa. Most of the villages in her operational area, which fall into the reserve forest zone, do
not even have any regular pathway for communication. Further, the topography is very uneven. The villages are
dominated by ST/SC community. Agriculture is main occupation but it is highly dependant on rain. Larger part
of the population in villages is landless labourers who migrate to cities during lean season. They remain in these
cities for up to eight months. (Source: Plight of KBK Districts, A report by Jagadish Pradhan, Sahbhagi Vikas
Abhiyan, Bhubaneswar)
She started her organisation Gramya Mahila Sangathan (GMS) in 1998. It is registered under Society
Registration Act, 1860. The office of the organisation is in one room of her home. She is the member convenor
of the organisation and looks after all the activities of the organisation with the help of her husband. The
managing committee of the organisation consist of ten field level volunteers. The meeting of managing
committee is held monthly at the office.
The members of managing committee have their respective area where they help the SHGs assigned to them.
They have formed two zones in their operational area and have formed zone level committee of executive
members, to look after the groups in their respective zone. However this arrangement is not functional yet. They
have good linkages with the Bank and BDO. Twelve of the SHG groups have been linked with the Bolangir
Anchalik Gramin Bank for their revolving fund for the second time.
26
There are some more organisations working in the area on the same lines, which were formed by the former
employees of FARR, Bolangir. She has good functional relation with them as well. She act as resource person
for the training of their SHG group members or help them link with banks. In one of the case they hand over
seven SHG group to other local organisation called ‘Nipidit’ as these groups were far away in their operational
area.
GMS has been selected as Nodal Agency for SHG promotion and monitoring in Tureikela block under Nari
Shakti Programme for 2001 –2003
GMS is undertaking SHG formation and follow up, creation of grain bank, and promotion of income generating
activities among SHGs. Since the start of fellowship period, the number of groups has increased from the initial
thirty to fifty-nine now. Also the total fund collected by members till date, have been increased steadily from Rs
63525 to Rs 295510. The total amount of bank loan approved till now, for SHGs was Rs 252000 in March 2003.
In the Grain Banks promoted by GMS the total collection is 40 quintals of paddy and 8 quintals of rice among
27 SHGs. GMS also helps its SHG members to avail other facilities provided by government, like widow
pension, Indira Awas Yojana etc.
The evolution process of Ms Sahoo as a development worker and her organisation “Gramya Mahila
Sanghathan” can be divided into two phases – First phase when she was working with Friends Association for
Rural Reconstruction, Bolangir; and second phase when she started to work on her own with her own
organisation.
Phase I
Ms Manorama Sahoo came to Bolangir after completing her Matriculation from Cuttack in 1988. She joined
FARR, which was working on an integrated development programme in that area, as a tailoring instructor. Later
on in 1989 she went for training for fund mobilisation and women development from FARR. She started
mobilizing women group after this training and formed around 150 groups by the end of 1996. She worked in
that organisation till Jun 1997, as resource person for women development programme. She was looking after
all the groups herself. She married one of her colleague Mr. Manoj Badnayak in 1989.
While working with FARR, she received a rich experience and exposure in the field. She also underwent some
training. This association proved for her to be a major facilitating factor in this phase. The limiting factor in this
phase, according to her, was financial constraint and engagement with the organisation, which prevented her
from starting to work on her own.
27
Phase II
In 1997 she, along with her husband Mr. Manoj Badnayak left FARR due to some internal friction and started on
her own. She formed an organisation called Gramya Mahila Sangathan (GMS) with the help of some volunteers
and old SHG members. During this phase she kept on communicating with donor agencies and NGOs to provide
some support to her organisation but could not mobilize any resource. By the end of 2000 the number of SHGs
promoted by them went up to thirty and five of them were linked with bank for revolving fund. Before this
fellowship period the organisation was in a serious financial crunch. Some funds were coming from friends and
relatives which kept the organisation moving. In June 2001 she got fellowship support. The fellowship helped
them in their activities and within two years they manage to create good linkages with banks and other
government agencies.
The major facilitating factor in this phase was the financial support provided by fellowship. Their Association
with other organisations, due to their involvement with FARR, also helped them in creating functional and
operational linkages with other organisations. One of the major facilitating factor for Ms Manorama Sahoo was
the assistance of her husband who has a good experience of 15 years working with FARR, Bolangir project and
Oxfem, Bolangir project at different managerial posts. The hindering factors during this phase were not very
relevant except that sometimes she had some problems due to irregular payment of fellowship amount.

She has undergone training for micro finance, SHG management and community mobilisation under this
fellowship programme. The documentation has improved considerably. Now they have prepared a format for
monthly updating the overall status of all SHGs. They have also prepared printed forms for recording first
proceedings of the group, and also for internal loan application.
Financial Linkages
During this period they have contacted with NABARD to be act as monitoring agency for the district under Nari
Shakti project. The proposal has been approved but formalities are due. Due to this project some financial
stability has been achieved.
They have created good linkages with government agencies and local NGOs for facilitating their activities. The
work done by them with the help of fellowship has helped them to be recognised among government agencies
and other organisation.
With the help of fellowship they have refurnished their office.
28
4.7 MS SHOBHAGINI DAS
4.7.1 Introduction
The fellowship period of Ms Shobhagini Das was from September 2001 to May 2003. She is associated with an
organisation called “Social Action and Justice Action Group” (SAJAG). She is working for enhancing socio
economic status of Kamar Tribe and promotion of SHGs with this organisation.
She is working in Nuapada and Komna block of Nuapada district. There are a number of organisations working
in this region. But no organisation is working specifically for Kamar tribe. Major part of operational area falls
into the Reserve forest area. The level of education is very low.
Kamar is a tribe who live in this region. They still live a primitive life and are dependant on jungle for their
livelihood. Literacy among them is almost zero. They still use bow and arrow for hunting in the jungle. They
live in a separate part of the village, away from the rest of the community. However they are listed as OBC in
the government records. Due to this reason these people even being eligible, do not get any benefit from
facilities available for STs.
Ms Das is working with SAJAG, which is a registered organisation and has its own office in Panchampur,
Nuapada. She and Gandaram Manjhi, who is the Secretary of SAJAG, are the only two active functionaries in
the organisation. Gandaram looks after all the activities of organisation with assistance of Ms Shobhagini Apart
from these two there are two field level workers who have been employed since last two years.
SAJAG has been working with Sahabhagi Vikas Abhiyan (SVA), Bhubaneswar, since its inception. SVA is a
large NGO with its operations spread all over the Orissa. It is mainly involved in provision of Resource inputs
like resource persons for training and publishing of literature related to developmental aspects, research reports
etc. SVA has given him initial support in terms of some part of small projects and arranging resource persons for
his activities.
Presently SAJAG is engaged in two activities – Development of Kamar tribe and Promotion of SHGs. They
have prepared a database related to Kamar tribe in the whole district with the help of ‘Sahbhagi Vikas Abhiyan’,
a Bhubaneswar based NGO. In July last year they have updated this data for two blocks of the district as well.
They have organised the Kamar tribe on district level under the banner of Kamar Vikas Manch. They have
formed ‘Kamar Vikas Manch’ to raise the issue of Kamar tribe to include this tribe in ST category. The
29
registration of Kamar Vikas Manch is in process. It has been approved by District Collector. In future, they have
planned to file a case in High Court to include Kamar tribe in STs. The details for this are yet to be worked out.
They are also working as an agency for promoting SHGs (Self Help Promotion Institution or SHPI) under
Mission Shakti Project of DRDA. Presently they have fifty SHGs, which they are facilitating under this
programme. An amount of Rs 2000 per SHG per year is provided by DRDA for this purpose. In September
2002, SAJAG was selected by Centre for Development Research and Training of XIM, Bhubaneswer; for its
WETSH (Women Empowerment Through Self Help Groups) programme. Under this programme they are
arranging quarterly training camps for SHGs.
Apart from above mentioned activities, SAJAG is also running a Child Labour Project School for children with
an annual budget of Rs 183000.
4.7.5 Evolution of the Fellow
The evolution Ms Shobhajini Das as an development worker can be explained in two phases, first when she was
working with a local organisation as a field worker and second when she herself started Social Action and
Justice Action Group (SAJAG) with a colleague.
Phase I
Shobhagini Das completed her matriculation in 1991 and joined an NGO named ‘Biswas’ as a field worker to
support her family. This organisation was mainly involved in some projects of Oxfam, Orissa for food for work
programme, SHG formation and follows up and provision of basic services in tribal areas. She continued
working as a field worker till 1995 in that organisation. Her activities included follow up of SHG groups and
some clerical work in the office of the organisation. She got very little exposure, as she was never sent for any
training or exposure visit during this period. She also came in touch with Mr. Jagadish Pradhan of Sahabhagi
Vikas Abhiyan, Bhubaneswar, during one of his field visit. She along with Mr Gandaram Manjhi started to form
SHGs on their own even when they were working with ‘Biswas’.
The major facilitating factor in this phase for her and also for Mr. Gandaram Manjhi was their linkages with Mr.
Jagadish Pradhan. Mr Jagadish Pradhan is a known authority on development related issues of KBK districts in
Orissa. He inspired them to work on their own and form SHG groups. The major hindering factor during this
phase was financial constraints which prevented them to left Biswas and start on her own.
Phase II
Gandaram Manjhi along with some other colleagues, including Shobhagini, left Biswas in 1995 and started her
own organisation with the help of support provided by Mr. Jagadish Pradhan in terms of some part of small
projects like land development work for five villages in 1995. Ms Shobhagini joined this organisation ‘SAJAG’
as Secretary. SAJAG had operational linkages with SVA, Bhubaneswar since its inception. SVA has given him
initial support, and arranging resource persons for his activities. Later on they got a small project for promotion
of Smokeless Choolha in Komna block through DRDA. Later on the organisation got some more support in
30
terms of other small projects like sanitation programme by DRDA in 1999-2000, with a budget of 156000. With
the help of these small projects they employed two volunteers for their work and bought a tiled mud house for
their office in 2000.
From then onwards they got some more projects on their own. In 2001 SAJAG was selected for managing a
school running under Child Labour Project having an annual budget of 183000. In the same year the fellowship
support from SRTT came in which made them financially more sustainable. It helped them taking up the issue
of Kamar tribe more vigorously. Here onwards they got some more support in terms of fellowship for Mr.
Gandaram Manjhi from SVA and a contract from Oxfam, Bolangir for land development.
The factor that helped them most during this period was their linkages with Jagadish Pradhan and his
organisation Sahbhagi Vikas Abhiyan, Bhubaneswar. By the time this fellowship support came in, their financial
condition was started to improve. It was further enhanced by fellowship. The major limiting factor they faced
during this period was their limited skills related to management and sometimes financial constraints arising out
of irregular payment of fellowship, as it was the basic support they had during this period.

The only major change in operationalising of their programme can be seen as their success in terms of
organising Kamars for formation and registration of Kamar Vikas Manch and its registration. The two
employees, whom they sent for training to CYSD under DAP programme, have left SAJAG and are now
working as teacher at other place. She herself went for SHG management training, which she thinks has not
added much value to her knowledge. Here, the poor educational background of fellow may be a reason behind
this.
Financial Linkages
Some financial viability is achieved in terms of help for SHG related programmes by DRDA. Here again as they
were getting such small programmes now and then, since the inception of their organisation, the role of
fellowship in this improvement does not seem to be very important.
They have created linkage with CENDRET, XIMB for provision of training to SHGs and animators in their
operational area. The improvement in the quantity of their work with the help of fellowship support has some
role in this.
With the help of fellowship support they have renovated the office of SAJAG and bought some furniture for the
office.
31
5. ROLE OF CYSD IN FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME – A NOTE
Under this fellowship programme CYSD was supposed to provide handholding support to fellows, in terms of
field based guidance, help to create operational linkages with supportive organisations and agencies, provision
of need based training to enhance their capability and help in planning and operationalising their programmes.
The performance of CYSD during this period can be analysed under following heads –
5.1 MONITORING
As per the proposal of DAP, the intermediary organisation CYSD was supposed to conduct field visits twice a
year apart from conducting quarterly review meeting to monitor the progress of fellows. Review meetings were
held regularly and were useful as fellows felt. It helped them monitoring their own activities and identifying
their mistakes and problems. Here again the progress made by fellows as per the quarterly progress report
submitted by them was very loosely verified on field level. Further, field visits were not so regular, for example
two field visits were made in the operational area of Khirod Routray within three months from September to
November 2001; while no field visit were made in the operational area of Ms Manorama Sahoo during this
period, who was working in Bolangir district.
5.2 GUIDANCE FOR PLANNING AND OPERATIONALISING PROGRAMMES
In DAP, provision was made for field level guidance and support to all the fellows to help them effectively plan
and implement their programmes. The help in planning was limited to quarterly review meetings. And one of the
fellows, Mr. Rabi Narayan Jena, admitted during an informal discussion that he used to submit arbitrary plans
because he was supposed to do so as per the requirement for release of next instalment of honorarium.
Four of the fellows were linked to field projects of CYSD for field level guidance and mentoring. Two of the
fellows Mr. Khirod routra and Mr. Rakhsyakar were linked with PRAYAS, sundargarh Project while other two
Ms Manorama Sahoo and Ms Shobhajini Das, were linked with PRAYAS, Koraput Project. But the role of these
mentors was not very significant. There was only one field visit made for each of the two fellows from
PRAYAS, Sundargarh project’s programme officer, during this period; while there were not any field visits
made from any official of PRAYAS, Koraput in the operational area of the fellows linked to them. These two
fellows themselves never contacted their mentors during this period as well.
5.3 PAYMENT DISBURSAL
32
The fellows selected under this programme, except Ms Pushpanjali Jena, had very limited financial means apart
from this fellowship support, to carry out their activities. The payments to the fellows were supposed to be made
at each quarter on submission of quarterly progress report and future plan. In some of the cases the payments
were delayed by upto nine months for example Ms Shobhajini Das, was paid her honorarium on 5.6.03 for the
period Oct 02 to Jun03.
6. FINDINGS
6.1 ROLE OF BACKGROUND OF FELLOWS
The growth and evolution of fellows are affected by their previous background in terms of their education, their
organisational status, their area of activities and their prior experience. In this way the background of fellows
played very important role in determining the effects of support provided by this programme.
The individuals who start on their own without any prior experience of working in the sector face a lot of
difficulty in the initial stages. The process of gaining ground becomes slow for them due to their lack of
experience, and limited functional relations with other organisations. Whereas the fellows who possess prior
experience of working with some large organisation has the advantage of having some linkages and financial
sources to carry on their work for some time on their own without any external support. This difference in their
background results into different results for different fellows out of the same support. For example Manorama
Sahoo and Sasmita Mangaraj, had prior experience of working with a large organisation while Ms Pushpanjali
Jena do not had this advantage, and it took much more time for her to gain ground than others.
The educational background of fellows is also important in the sense that it determines the output of training
provided to them. All other fellows, who had good academic background accepted that the training provided by
CYSD under this programme has some positive impact on their method of working; While Shobhagini Das who
had a very little academic background and limited experience of working only as a field level worker accepted
that the training provided under fellowship programme was not very effective.
Area of activity is also an important factor in determining the effect of fellowship. Fellows who are working to
address certain specific needs of the society like promotion of SHGs and provision of health related facilities to
underprivileged are able to show some tangible results in a short period and thus have managed some support
for their activities, while in case of fellows working over an issue like empowerment of citizens to take part in
local self governance or on problem of mining related displacement, the results are not so tangible in nature and
they are generally not visible, which creates problem for them to convince others in generating support for their
activities in the short run. Moreover government agencies do not provide support to such activities; as a result
such issue-based initiatives need longer support to hold ground than others.
33
The fellowship support in terms of helping fellows to move one step ahead and to help them gain ground in the
respective area is more significant in case of small organisations with limited resources like Gramya Mahila
Sangathan, or for those who are working on an individual basis. In case of Ms Pushpanjali Jena who already had
an established organisation, this support has resulted in adding some extra activities, which are not very
significant for them considering their current activities. The intended results in terms of producing significant
overall changes, or in helping themselves, to move one step ahead, are not very significant. Most of the
fellowship support was directed towards creation of physical infrastructure.
6.2 EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS OF FELLOWS AND RELEVANCE OF

FELLOWSHIP
To recapitulate the overall findings it may be concluded, from the phases of development of fellows and their
organisation, as described in the previous section; we can broadly identify four stages of development based on
their activities and phases of evolution. The summary of the development process of fellows is given in Table 4.
Stage I
During this phase, fellows start working on their own in a very limited operational area generally limited to their
village or locality. They lack exposure and their activities are not planned. Their linkages were limited to some
local key persons or organisations that mentored them. The role of mentor to help them in this initial phase was
very important (for example in case of Ms Sasmita Mangaraj and Ms Pushpanjali Jena). At this stage they need
exposure, which was provided by Mr Madhusudan Das in case of Ms Sasmita Mangaraj, but there was not such
exposure for Ms Pushpanjali Jena. She made her way on her own. It is remarkable that but Ms Mangaraj is
about to float her own organisation only after four years of her activities. This emphasises the importance of a
mentor in this stage. Their financial needs are very limited, but as they do not have any source, it creates
difficulty for them and negatively affects their activity. The fellowship support during this period is relevant.
During this phase some small stipend can produce the same result like the fellowship did in case of Ms
Mangaraj.
Stage II
This phase is characterised by presence of some planning in their activities. Their operational area increases
during this period. They start working with some volunteers and also create some infrastructure like office
facilities etc. They generally work with informally organised groups. They start developing formal linkages with
other organisations and government agencies. Due to increase in their activity their financial needs increases and
34
Table 4: Evolutionary Process of Fellows and their Organisation
INDICATORS Hindering Needs Example

Stages Planning and Financia Staff And Operational Factors/
operatinalising of l Infrastructure linkages Limitations
programmes linkages
Stage I Limited Very No paid staff, Very limited Limited Exposure, Phase I of
operational area weak Few volunteers, Up to local exposure, Training, Sasmita
No planning Marginal Persons or Financial Limited Mangaraj and
Sometimes work Infrastructure some mentor constraints financial Puspanjali
with other assistance Jena.
organisations
Stage II Some planning, Weak No paid staff, Limited Financial Training for Phase III of
operational area more volunteers, relational constraints, self, Sasmita
increases, Little linkages with Linkages with Mangaraj and
Generally work infrastructure, other Limited government Phase II of
with other Informally organisation operational agencies, Pushpanjali
organisations organised group. know how Financial Jena and
assistance for Shobhajini
infrastructure Das
development
Stage Planned activities Improve Some paid staff, Other Financial Training for Phase II of
III Some d but not More volunteers, organisations Problems, lack self and staff, Shobhagini
formalization in stable Formal or and of trained staff Functional Das,
operations registered government and limited linkages with Pushpanjali
Some small organisation, agencies operational government Jena, R.N.
projects, generally Little linkages with agencies and Jena and
funded by other infrastructure other agencies other NGOs Khirod
NGOs Routra
Stage Work in a planned Stable Paid staff, Good Operational Phase III of
IV manner Registered operational Linkages with Pushpanjali
Formalization of organisation, linkages with other NGOs Jena
activities Developed government and
Long term projects infrastructure organisations government
funded by donor and other agencies,
agencies and NGOs Training for
NGOs Staff
Lack of financial support becomes a limiting factor in their operations. At this stage they need some basic
training related to their activities to make their more effective. For example training for SHG management, IGP
related activities etc. they also need some financial assistance to carry on their activities as well as infrastructure
35
development. Phase II of Ms Shobhagini Das and Ms Pushpanjali Jena and Phase III of Ms Sasmita Mangaraj
can be seen as good example of this. A support like fellowship coupled with a small project grant would be more
relevant in this phase.
Stage III
During this phase, the activities are planned. They manage to get some small projects from government and
other NGOs. Generally they form a formal organisation during this period. They also develop some functional
linkages with them. They possess some limited physical infrastructure in this phase. Also in this phase they
employ one or two paid staff to look after their activities. Their financial condition still remains unstable during
this phase. However in later period some stability comes in as linkages with other organisations and government
agencies start to develop. They need training for staff, and help for developing operational linkages with donor
agencies and other organisations. During this period they possess required knowledge and experience for
carrying on their activities, most of the time what they lack, is financial support. Therefore if they get a support
like fellowship, it helps them making their activities more effective which further help them enhancing their
linkages with donor agencies and other supporting organisations. The second phase of Ms Manorama Sahoo,
Khirod Routra, Shobhajini Das and later part of phase II of Ms Pushpanjali Jena can be taken as example of this.
Stage IV
This is the phase of self-sustainability. From here onwards they can make their own way given they have the
individual ability to do so. They undertake long-term projects funded by donor agencies and also have paid staff
and relatively good physical infrastructure in the organisation. The financial condition, due to linkages with
donor agencies for supporting long-term projects, becomes stable. Fellowship provides very little support and is
aimed at small organisations and individuals. The basic aim of fellowship is to help grass root level initiatives
gaining some ground and therefore the fellowship support in this phase is financially not very relevant. It makes
very little difference to overall financial status of the organisation even when with the help of fellowship; they
can produce good results in the proposed area of activity due to their organisational ability. This is like
providing same amount of credit to a rich businessman and a small SHG group, the rich businessmen will use
that amount much more effectively than the SHG, but the overall results will be very significant for SHG and
marginal for businessman.
As far as the overall effect of fellowship is concerned, as we have discussed above, it has been proved beneficial
for all the fellows. For example, fellows who have started on individual basis have gained some ground with the
help of this fellowship, as we can see in the case of Sasmita Mangaraj. She is about to establish her own
organisation while Ms Manorama Sahoo and Ms Shobhajini Das has developed good functional linkages with
various agencies and their organisational status has improved. The fellows who stated from a certain established
platform like Ms Pushpanjali Jena of Dhenkanal, have improved qualitatively as some positive changes in
planning and operationalisation of plans can be seen, however such improvement is very little comparing to
other organisations.
36
Some improvement is also needed in the implementation part of current programme. This programme was
implemented by CYSD. The implementing agency lacks at various points like irregular field visits, delay in
payments, lacking in monitoring process, and very little or almost no field level guidance to fellows. Field level
guidance is very important for these fellows who start working on their own without any formal prior
experience of working in the development sector. These factors seriously affected the overall outcome of
fellowship programme and therefore these factors are needed to be taken care of in future.
37

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FELLOWSHIPS: ITS RELEVANCE AND REACH

Faculty guide: Prof. V. Ballabh

OTS (PRM 2002-04)

INSTITUTE OF RURAL MANAGEMENT, ANAND

Md. S. Razzaque (23076)

Student’s Name : Mohammad Shadique Rajjaque

SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY:

Serial No Topic Page No.

2 Objectives of the Study 9

5 Role of CYSD – A Note 33

1.1 THE CONCEPT OF FELLOWSHIP

1.2 DAP - PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION OF FELLOWSHIP CONCEPT

1.2.2 Development Associateship Programme

• Selection process through a committee of experienced development professionals

1.2.3 Status Update of the Development Associateship Programme (DAP)

1. Any positive changes in planning and operationalisation of programmes.

4.1 MS SASMITA MANGARAJ

4.1.2 Details of Operational Area

4.1.3 Present Activities

Formation and Follow up of SHGs

Bal Vikas Kendra

Tailoring Training centre

Krishak Vikas Mandal

4.1.4 Evolution of the Fellow:

4.1.5 Effects of Fellowship

The effects of fellowship, in terms of defined parameters are as follows.

Planning and Operationalising Programmes

4.2.3 Details of Operational Area

4.2.4 Organisational Status

4.2.5 Present Activities

Meetings of Nagarik Parishad

Panchayat level Information Centre

4.2.6 Evolution of the Fellow

4.2.7 Effect of fellowship

Planning and Operationalising Programmes

4.3 MS PUSHPANJALI JENA

4.3.2 Operational Area

4.3.3 Organisational Status

Table 2: Grants Received BY ISWO for year ended 31.3.2001

Source: Annual Audit Report, ISWO, Dhenkanal.

Table 3: Grants Received BY ISWO for year ended 31.3.2002

4.3.4 Present Activities

Following activities were undertaken by Ms Jena under this fellowship programme:

Health Check Up camp

Health related training

Formation Of women’s Group

4.3.5 Evolution of the fellow

4.3.6 Effect of fellowship

Planning and Operationalising Programmes

4.4.2 Operational Area

4.4.3 Organisational Status

4.4.4 Present Activities

4.4.5 Evolution of Fellow

4.5 MR KHIROD ROUTRA

4.5.2 Operational Area

4.5.3 Organisational Status

4.5.4 Present Activities

4.5.5 Evolution of the fellow

4.6 MS MANORAMA SAHOO

4.6.2 Operational Area

4.6.3 Organisational Status

4.6.4 Present Activities

4.6.5 Evolution of the fellow