ROLE OF THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR IN

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Involvement of voluntary organizations

will help the government in public

service

A TRADITION TO BE MAINTAINED

The tradition of voluntary action is deep-rooted in the country and has been a part of our national awakening and of our freedom struggle.

Swami Dayananda, Swami Vivekananda, Gandhiji and other great reformers who emphasized strong social and community action to remove social evils.

These efforts need to be strengthened and synergized. Community based, it is more accountable and capable of providing services at a lesser cost.

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More significantly, voluntary organizations have the

flexibility to develop innovative projects based on local

needs and resources in contrast to the standardization

that normally characterizes governmental actions.

The growth of the voluntary sector has been uneven in

the country and consequently the flow of funds, both

domestic & foreign, is somewhat skewed in favour of

some States and some activities. It is stressed that this

needs to be corrected. It is necessary to have a regular

review of the contributions of the voluntary sector.

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• Nation building is a chariot that is driven by five horses.

These are: the Central Government, the State

Governments, the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), the

Private Sector and Voluntary Organizations (VOs) and

Community Based Organizations. The chariot will run fast

and in the right direction only when all the five horses run

in tandem.

• Democracy can be strengthened with a tradition of public

service and a spirit of voluntarism. These promote a

culture of cooperation among the people and between the

people and the government. 4

Much work has been done by devoted activists in

different areas of nation building (such as integrated rural

development, watershed management and traditional rain

harvesting, construction of community toilets, woman and

child welfare in tribal and hilly areas, etc.). They may

inspire others, especially the younger generation, to

participate in voluntary work. Greater involvement of

voluntary organizations will help the government in

providing more efficient delivery of services at

substantially lower costs and create gainful employment.

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• In areas of food and nutritional security,

implementation of ICDS programme the NGOs

had an important role in creating awareness

and dissemination of information.

• There is need towards development of an

effective GO-VO partnership in all sectors of

development. Thousands VOs are currently

working in India and are engaged in activities

that are best done by VOs.

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The use of the term NGO (Non-Government Organization)

instead of VO (Voluntary Organization) attached a

negative connotation to it, as it does not reflect the true

nature of voluntarism.

Responding to the suggestion to accept the acronym VO

in place of NGO, it was pointed out that there is an

extensive international usage of the term NGO particularly

in the UN system.

Economic inequality is at the root of all forms of social

injustice and therefore VOs must develop a viable

mechanism to raise the economic conditions of the

deprived people.

It is felt that formation of selfhelp groups could be one

such method to help the deprived.

The administrative constraints being faced by the VOs

requires that a practicable time frame be observed for

fast dealing with applications for assistance from the

VOs.

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Development functions like running of schools, health

care, water supply etc. may be in the definition of

voluntary sector as these are really voluntary in

character. Real development of a society free from

exploitation of all sorts is possible only after the people

and the social activists, NGOs included, possess

strength of character and capacity to bear humiliations

and insults in pursuit of the good of the society and that

such constructive work could be done by the VOs only.

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• Public health and sanitation,

• health education,

• literacy,

• rural development and

• social welfare, are the activities of VOs that need fullest

cooperation between the Government and people’s

organizations There is a need for training of

functionaries for capacity building of the VOs, which is

essential for their involvement in disability, rural

technology, water conservation, natural resource

management etc.

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In Tamil Nadu, the voluntary sector had taken up activities

in health & family welfare, literacy, land use, minor

irrigation, sericulture and notably in human rights and

child labour. The State has been actively promoting

formation of women’s SHGs, sanitation, and AIDS

prevention, through the NGOs. Demonstration of

replicable models developed by the VOs and the

Government for reflecting not only the capacity of the VOs

to mobilize the communities but also pool the

technologies and resources of the government is needed.

GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS:

Clear-cut guidelines for working arrangements

to involve voluntary organizations in self-

employment and SHG may be issued by

Planning Commission.

Schemes implemented by VOs utilizing foreign

aid / grant schemes should be a part of District

/ State level action plan.

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GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS:

Schemes implemented by VOs should not be

duplicating the schemes of the Government.

Quarterly bulletin on the schemes

implemented by VOs should be published by

CAPART.

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GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS:

VOs should not take up contract works.

New and smaller VOs should be preferred for

local level small projects.

Projects awarded to VOs should be uniformly

distributed throughout the State.

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GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS:

VOs should be strictly apolitical.

Capacity building of small VOs should be the

responsibility of mother VOs.

Right to information and social audit is a must

for VO projects; and

Monitoring and evaluation of VO projects by

PRIs, Government officials, other VOs, People’s

Committees and academicians is desirable.

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