Go the enterprise route through correspondence

Is creating social change on your mind? Want to run a non-governmental organisation, but wondering how to finance it? Is financial sustainability of NGOs your concern?

Well, help is at hand, through a four-month, part-time, online certificate programme called Social Entrepreneurship Online Program, offered by the Centre for Social Initiative and Management (CSIM).

This online course for existing and potential social work professionals, social entrepreneurs, volunteers and all others interested in the subject, tells you just how to run an NGO on an enterprise model, rather than on a charity model.

“Working on a charity mode puts you under the dependence of a donor.  But through an enterprise mode, the programme is saved from being shut down because of funding crunches”, voices Marie Banu J, Head-Communications, CSIM. CSIM has been teaching social entrepreneurship for the last 10 years through various programmes like the one-year, full time Postgraduate Diploma in Social Initiative and Management (PGDSIM).

Several participants of CSIM’s programmes have gone on to launch NGOs. CSIM is a project of Manava Seva Dharma Samvardhani Trust (MSDS) and collaborates with many organisations and institutes such as IIT-Madras. For an insight into case studies of those who are creating social change through CSIM’s social entrepreneurship models, log on to www.csim.in/bangalore-alumni.php

The online programme was launched in 2010 and has already seen 200 students join. This includes students, working professionals and even retired individuals from around the country and abroad. The course is open to all, and can be taken up at any point of time you wish to. But it has to be completed in four months.

On registering for the course, the student will be given a user ID and password. The course includes assessment tests and embedded objective tests. “Candidates will have access to faculty members throughout the week and any e-mail query is guaranteed to be answered within 14 hours,” informs Marie Banu J.

The programme includes 10 modules dealing with legal aspects, fund development, social marketing, and management tools (project management, finance management and human resource management) and communication.

Short films and documentaries on successful social entrepreneurs are included as case studies. Twice a month, webinars that allow for interactions with entrepreneurs and others are part of the programme.  CSIM will also offer support in getting internships for candidates at functioning NGOs. The course fee is Rs 5,000.

CSIM also holds the social entrepreneurship programme in contact class mode (held over a four-hour session every Saturday afternoon, over four months), in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. To register for the online programme, contact Latha Suresh, at [phone] or Marie Banu J at [phone]. For more information on the course, log on to http://csim.in/social-entrepreneurship-elearning.php