JOIN USBBMP’s NGO engagement: How much is too much?
In the areas of education, health, lake management and solid waste management, many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are active in Bengaluru. Some work on policy advocacy, some are engaged in on-site disaster relief, and some help the government implement its programmes. The contribution of NGOs and civil society has been phenomenal during the pandemic and the recent floods.
However, an example that should not be emulated is that of Chilume Trust which was roped in to conduct electoral roll clean-ups. The NGO which had a for-profit sibling is facing charges of collecting voter information illegally. The The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP), working at 57% of its capacity, lacks the human resources to go door-to-door to clean up voter rolls, and has not monitored the NGO’s work.
“Governments in any developing country have the problem of inadequacy in both qualitative and quantitative resources when it comes to handling the complex issues they are expected to tackle. So, taking the support of citizens and NGOs becomes an option,” says Manivannan P, secretary to the Social Welfare Department. He has worked with NGOs and citizens in his previous stints as BESCOM managing director and Covid management zonal officer.
Srinivas Alavilli, head of civic participation at Janaagraha, a Bengaluru-based NGO, explains: “Almost every government department — Union, state and city — is understaffed and depends on NGOs and consulting companies for delivering their services.”
Bridging gaps vs taking over the tasks
NGOs, think tanks and civil society groups can bridge the capacity gaps in the system. NGOs spend the grants they have from corporate social responsibility funds on things that matter to people. Profit is not an expectation here but the impact is.
There are examples of NGOs being roped in to do the work of the government sometimes. “It is extremely important to establish do-not-cross lines—such as not collecting private or personal information, not printing official-looking badges, not maintaining any data in-house but using government IT systems and definitely not seeking Aadhaar numbers,” says Alavilli.
“NGOs shouldn’t be setting up parallel systems, because that is the government’s responsibility. NGOs should support the BBMP and call out their shortfalls. If the municipal body needs capacity building or training, NGOs can provide their services there, too. But we cannot take over their operations,” says Archana Tripathi, Chief Executive Officer of Saahas, an NGO working in the area of waste management.
“A government-NGO partnership can work well as long as the engagement is transparent and bonafide. Being bonafide is an issue that needs close and real-time scrutiny. So, the bottom line is transparency, which can be achieved easily using information technology and the Internet,” says Manivannan.
BBMP’s Solid Waste Management (SWM) wing is tasked with managing waste in the city. “The SWM wing has a history of working with NGOs to bring about behavioural changes for the effective implementation of SWM rules. Citizen participation is necessary to bring positive changes and for that NGOs are helping us. Our association with any such groups is always within the framework of prevailing laws and it will be a continuous process,” says Harishkumar K, Chief Executive Officer of Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd.
Monetary transactions
Many NGOs partnering successfully with governments have made it their motto to not have monetary transactions in the picture. Makkala Jagriti is one such NGO working in the field of education.
Sunayana Chatrapathy, chief executive officer of Makkala Jagriti, says: “We are able to partner with the government and bridge some gaps where the government does not have expertise. We decided to not participate in any projects that require receiving money from the government, so it has been smooth so far.”
Nalini Shekar, co-founder of Hasiru Dala, an NGO active in the environmental space, says: “We have worked with state and city governments. Generally, we avoid financial exchanges but we have had some. Hasiru Dala is strict about getting it done in the right way, so it’s hard to work with the government when money is involved, but overall it has been good.” Hasiru Dala has been working with the BBMP in the field of waste management.
In cases of non-profit and for-profit wings of the same entity wanting to work with the government, things become complicated. “There is a need for a hands-off relationship between the two. Non-profit and for-profit should never get mixed up. For-profit groups should fight the bidding and win contracts,” says V Ravichandar, a city-based urban expert.
Knowing the role
Defining and knowing the roles is very important in a collaboration. “Each side needs to know its role in such collaborations. Deciding what to prioritise while implementing the projects is the role of BBMP. One cannot get into deciding this or influence the decisions. BBMP has to decide on these, through elected representatives and executives,” says Ravichandar.
Providing better ideas of doing things is where civil society can help, he says, adding that taking up a good idea at scale should be BBMP’s responsibility.
Sandya V Narayan, a member of the Solid Waste Management Round Table, says: “In the kind of work we do, we should be involved in the process. It doesn’t mean we should be above the government or authorities. There should be a formal process and formal structures of engagement to make the community a part of committees and decision-making.”
Documents and memorandums of agreements are important in defining the role and sticking to it. “We ensure that there are carefully drafted documents where the roles and responsibilities are clearly mentioned, which is honoured by both parties,” says Sunayana.
“The BBMP has to be watchful about the NGOs they decide to work with. If they hear something they have to investigate it,” says Revathy, managing trustee of Bangalore Political Action Committee.
However, certain things cannot be outsourced by BBMP to NGOs or others even if the services come for free. “Voter data is particularly sensitive and it makes no sense for the BBMP or any other government agency to involve NGOs in dealing with voter data,” says Alavilli.
Conflict of interest
“Wherever commercial benefits are evident, organisations must be careful while taking the help. There are high chances of accessing data while understanding how the system works and later using the same for commercial gain,” says a bureaucrat.
Revathy says NGOs are the conscience-keepers of the government. “There are several NGOs that do really good work, but there are some that work for personal or hidden agendas. This is totally unacceptable. We have to be doubly careful especially when we work closely with the government, politicians and bureaucrats. We have to avoid all kinds of conflicts of interest,” she adds.
“There shouldn’t be any chance for anybody to say that the involvement of civil society has a vested interest. You cannot be promoting a specific vendor or brand as part of the solution because that will reflect a vested interest. The solution has to be for the larger public good,” says Ravichandar.
Filling the gaps silently
Working anonymously on the streets of Bengaluru for 12 years now, the city-based The Ugly Indian (TUI) has found its own way of doing things without getting into conflict with the system. “Governments are hesitant to formalise citizen involvement precisely because they know it can be misused,” says a volunteer at TUI that works on visual cleanliness in the city by involving citizens.
Back in 2013, when transformers were used as garbage dumps, the TUI group wanted to work with BESCOM to fix and maintain them. BESCOM officials told them that “we are the custodians of public assets and are obligated to respond positively when people want to help. However, we can’t allow the public to spend their own funds.”
The BESCOM decided to depute an official when there is an intervention needed to clean the area around a transformer. The public can spend time if they want but not money. BESCOM would provide the material they want. The work will be done anonymously with no names, as it is voluntary.
“If we wanted to clean a blackspot near a transformer, we had to intimate BESCOM, BESCOM would send their people, and volunteers can go and clean the place anonymously. We would provide the list of materials we want, and BESCOM would buy them for us. Under this partnership, close to 100 spots were cleaned successfully,” says the volunteer.
“BESCOM understood the power of anonymous work, and did not allow transformers to become an advertising board for anyone,” he adds. Keeping the work anonymous and not having money in the picture were the highlights of this model.
Later in 2019, Bengaluru-based NGO India Rising Trust which supports TUI came up with a model, ‘Adopt a Street’. This had a memorandum of agreement (MOU) which specified mainly that — Any cleaning or other work to be done should not be a part of an existing tender; There will be no monetary transaction between the adopter and BBMP; BBMP can withdraw or cancel the MOU at any time.
As many as 10 streets at the heart of the city, such as MG Road, St Marks Road and Museum Road were adopted by India Rising Trust. As many as 42 companies were interested to adopt more streets which did not happen due to the Covid lockdown. However, this model showed a way for a successful public-private partnership.
In this model, the adopters were allowed to spend what they wanted and take credit, but there have been no conflicts. “Processes that outlast officials or NGOs will help BBMP or other agencies maintain transparency,” says the volunteer.