Transcript Document

NATIONAL POLICY ON THE VOLUNTARY
SECTOR
International Forum –
Civil Society &
Aid Effectiveness
04.02.2008
Gatineau, Canada
Lalit Kumar
Planning Commission
Government of India
[email protected]
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CASE STUDY SESSION - CSO Effectiveness:
Accountability & Enabling Environment
National Policy – presented as a
case study
has been formulated in
a participatory mode to provide enabling
environment for voluntary sector
Legitimacy & Accountability
It provides legitimacy for the sector and
seek accountability from CSOs. Policy
talks abt Bilateral Aid and Foreign
Contribution regulation
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WHY WE REQD THE POLICY -
RICH TRADITION & SIGNIFICANT SIZE
 Diverse & rich sector - having all sorts of associations
Caste / Religious / Ethnic, Social Movements, Resident Welfare
Associations, Intermediary Associations, Foundations & so on
and now many more new variants & hybrids are coming up
 Significant size & scope
12 lakh VOs & 160 lakh Volunteers - provide innovative/ alternative
models for development, create social cohesion / social capital
and contribute to economy*. Thus, requiring legitimacy for and
accountability from VOs, in the form of a National Policy
*CSO, M/o Statistics is compiling statistics on contribution of NPIs to
economy, based on a UNDP Handbook, along with abt 30 other countries.
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REGULATORY & POLICY FRAMEWORKS INCREASING GLOBALLY
• “In the past two years alone, more than 20 countries
globally have introduced restrictive regulations …”*
[e.g. Russia, Sudan, Peru in 2006; Uzbekistan in 2007]
“The stated rationale for … regulations … counterterrorism, national security, or curbing NGO abuse. Even
where the goals themselves are legitimate, the means used
to achieve them are … harsh”*
• At the same time, Governments have come out with
Policies for better relations with emerging voluntary
sector, distinct from regulatory measures, e.g. Compact in
UK (1998) and Accord in Canada (2000)
• In democracies space is required for civil society - as
dissent & discussion is the essence
*[Source: David Moore (2007) Safeguarding Civil Society in Politically Complex
Environments. International Journal for Not-for-Profit Law 9(3):3-26]
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GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX Country Scores (34 Countries)
Rank
Country
Capacity
Sustainability
Impact
Total
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Netherlands
79
54
89
74
2
Norway
55
82
59
65
3
United States
76
54
54
61
…
…
…
29 India
27
30
20
27
34
26
19
12
19
Pakistan
[Source: Global Civil Society – Dimensions of the Nonprofit Sector
By: Salamon, L. M. & associates (2004), CT: Kumarian Press]
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VOLUNTARY SECTOR in
FIVE YEAR PLANS
First Five Year Plan (1951-55)
Chapter
on Public Cooperation in National
Development: A democracy working for social
ends has to base itself on the willing assent of
the people … VOs can greatly enlarge the
scope of the national plan by developing their
own activities and dealing with social
problems for which the State cannot provide in
sufficient measure
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VOLUNTARY SECTOR in
FIVE YEAR PLANS
Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12)
Approach Paper - the central government will ..
announce a policy for the voluntary sector to
recognize the enormous positive contribution
which the sector can make in the development
process
Document approved by NDC – highlights main
features of the Policy and states “effective
measures must be taken to implement the
policy for improving governance.”
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POLICY ON VOLUNTARY SECTOR-
Background
• Joint Machinery (JM) for GO-NGO collaboration,
decided in June 2003 to have a National Policy
• Draft prepared by VA Cell and placed before the JM
members in 2004 and later revised Draft placed
before 40 voluntary sector experts in 2005 recommended four Expert Groups to revise the
Draft Policy
• Number of consultations held
with voluntary
sector on the Policy. Cabinet Note prepared
incorporating suggestions of Ministries & States
and finally the Policy was approved by the Cabinet
in 2007
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CONTENTS OF THE POLICY
OBJECTIVES
 Create an enabling environment for VOs that
stimulates their enterprise & effectiveness
and safeguards their autonomy
 Enable VOs to legitimately mobilize
necessary financial resources
 Encourage VOs to adopt transparent &
accountable systems of governance
 Identify systems by which the Government
may work together with the VOs on the
basis of mutual trust & respect
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CONTENTS OF THE POLICY
Establishing Enabling Environment (EEE)
 Encourage State Governments to review
prevailing laws and rules and simplify,
liberalize them as far as possible
[para 4.2]
 Feasibility of enacting a new simple and liberal
central law to register societies, trusts and
non-profit companies to be examined [para 4.3]
 Recognition to an independent national level
self-regulatory agency for the voluntary sector
would be provided
[para 4.4]
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CONTENTS OF THE POLICY
EEE (Contd.)
 State and Central agencies to be encouraged
for placing basic documents of VOs in the
public domain to increase public oversight
[para 4.5]
 Foreign Contribution Regulation Act to be
reviewed, from time to time, to simplify its
provisions, in consultation with the Joint
Consultative Forum (JCF)
[para 4.7]
 Government guidelines for bilateral agencies
to give direct assistance to VOs need to be
simplified in consultation with the JCF to be
set up by the Ministry
[para 4.8]
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CONTENTS OF THE POLICY
PARTNERSHIP
•
Consultation: by setting up Joint Consultative
Forums / Groups at the Centre, State & District
levels
[para 5.4]
•
Strategic Collaboration: to tackle complex
problems where sustained social mobilization
is critical over the long term
[para 5.5]
•
Project Funding: through standard schemes ensuring proper accountability & monitoring of
public funds distributed to VOs
[para 5.6]
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CONTENTS OF THE POLICY
STRENGTHENING VOLUNTARY SECTOR
Encourage existing & new philanthropic institutions /
private foundations to provide financial assistance to
deserving VOs
[para 6.1]
 Government will encourage preparation &
updation of VO databases
[para 6.5]
Involvement of volunteers would be encouraged in
public services, e.g. at hospitals, schools, sanitation
campaigns, etc.
[para 6.7]
POLICY IS BEGINNING OF … A NEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOVERNMENT &
VOLUNTARY SECTOR, WITHOUT AFFECTING THE AUTONOMY/IDENTITY OF VOs
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A NEW DEAL FOR INDIA’S
VOLUNTARY SECTOR
“The
Planning Commission has unveiled the
National Policy …, to establish a new working
relationship between the government and the
voluntary sector …
A well-thought-out Policy that supports and
encourages NGOs, and reciprocal efforts by NGOs
themselves to assess and monitor their own
performance, would be a win-win situation for all”
[Source:
www.empowerpoor.org/backgrounder.asp?report=559]
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COMPREHENSIVE POLICY - EXCELLENT
FOR MULTI-STAKEHOLDER DIALOGUE
“… impressed by the comprehensiveness and quality of the ideas inherent
in this new policy, … convinced that
this text provides an excellent basis
for a multi-stakeholder dialogue
aiming to … support volunteerism in
the long run. It also … encourage and
inspire citizens to volunteer …”
- UNV, UNDP
(International Volunteer Day - 05/12/07)
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RESULTS ACHIEVED BY
THE INITIATIVE
 Legitimacy & voice provided to the CSOs and
accountability sought from them by selfregulation
 CMs of States requested to prepare a similar
Policy for their respective States - three States
have already prepared their drafts
 Ministries requested to take appropriate steps
on recommendations of the Policy
 Guidelines being prepared & Expert Groups
being set up to take forward different
recommendations of the Policy
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LESSONS & GOOD PRACTICE
 Participatory approach & providing ownership to
the CSOs helped in formulating a broadly agreed
policy framework for a diverse & vibrant sector
 Policy should be a broad framework but
deliverables & time bound targets shd be there
 International
consensus
to
have
similar
frameworks in developing & developed countries
would help in implementation of the Policy
 CSOs should be involved as active actors in
alignment, harmonization & management of
development results
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LESSONS & GOOD PRACTICE
 Policy frameworks for the voluntary sector
should help in capacity building of CSOs so
that they may move to center stage in
dialogues on issues like aid-architecture
 Games of aid-trade should be understood
by CSOs before they make suggestions,
and for that they need research back-up
 Before seeking accountability from donors
(Multilateral, Bilateral, NNGOs, State or
Federal Govts), CSOs have to set their
house in order
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