Social Work Magazine, Vol-4 Jan Issue-1, 2014

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Samaja Karyada Hejjegalu

Journal of Social Work
Vol. IV, No-1, January 2014
Contents
1. Editorial ..... 2-6
Dr. B.T. Lawani
2. Leadership for Competence: Crisis in Social Work ..... 7-14
Dr. Sandeep Jagdale
3. Leadership Development Through Cyber
Communication ..... 15-28
Dr. B.T. Lawani and Chandralekha Das
4. Leadership: An Important Domain in Social Work
Education ..... 29-41
Ketaki Gokhale and Geeta Joshi
5. Leadership in the Contemporary Society:
Perspectives of Social Work Students ..... 42-49
Dr. Veena S. Algur and Dr. S. A. Kazi
6. People Centered Advocacy: An Effective Tool for
Marginalized Leadership ..... 50-65
Prakash S. Yadav
7. Role of Non Governmental Organizations in the
Political Empowerment and Leadership
Development of Dalits in Gujarat ..... 66-85
R.R. Patil
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Editorial
Exemplary Leadership!
Great Leadership does not mean running away from reality.
Sometimes the hard truths might just demoralize the organization.
But at other times sharing difficulties can inspire people to take action
that will make the situation better!
Leadership in a crisis situation is very different from leadership
in a time of normal conditions. The country is facing leadership crisis
in all most all the fields. There is a great turmoil and chaos in the
Indian politics and the political leadership is at the worst of its time
ever before. Social leadership, religious leadership, institutional
leadership and such other fields are not exception to this. The country
is known by its leaders. India once upon a time was known by its
leaders such as Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Babasaheb
Ambedkar, Maharshi Karve etc. Today there are hardly any such
leaders who have their own charisma.
Gordon Meriwether writes that leadership development can be
taken it as a challenge and we can produce the good leaders required
for the country. He has found five ways for the leadership development
that are explained here. If the leader follows these five ways and
imbibed in them and tried to inculcate these among his followers
there will be a tremendous change in the society. So to say that it is
the exemplary leadership that helps the society to grow according to
its changing situations. These five ways are as follows:
By Modeling the Way: Leaders establish principles concerning
the way people should be treated and the way goals should be pursued.
They create standards of excellence and then set an example for
others to follow. Because the prospect of complex change can
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overwhelm people and stifle action, they set interim goals so that
people can achieve small wins as they work toward larger objectives.
They unravel bureaucracy when it impedes action; they put up
signposts when people are unsure of where to go or how to get there;
and they create opportunities for victory.
By Inspiring a Shared Vision: Leaders passionately believe
that they can make a difference. They envision the future, creating
an ideal and unique image of what the organization can become.
Through their magnetism and quiet persuasion, leaders enlist others
in their dreams. They breathe life into their visions and get people to
see exciting possibilities for the future.
By Challenge the Process: Leaders search for opportunities to
change the status quo. They look for innovative ways to improve the
organization. In doing so, they experiment and take risks. And because
leaders know that risk taking involves mistakes and failures, they
accept the inevitable disappointments as learning opportunities.
By Enabling Others to Act: Leaders foster collaboration and
build spirited teams. They actively involve others. Leaders understand
that mutual respect is what sustains extraordinary efforts; they strive
to create an atmosphere of trust and human dignity. They strengthen
others, making each person feel capable and powerful.
By Encouraging the Heart: An accomplishing extraordinary
thing in organizations is hard work. To keep hope and determination
alive, leaders recognize contributions that individuals make. In every
winning team, the members need to share in the rewards of their
efforts, so leaders celebrate accomplishments. They make people
feel like heroes.
The leadership in the educational institutions, voluntary
organizations, religious institutions, political arena has miserably failed
in India. It came to our mind that we should bring out a special issue
of the Samaja Karyada Hejjegalu on the leadership development
and leadership crisis in India in different settings. It is thus an attempt
has made to invite the articles from the different fields. It is in this
pp. 2-6
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context we had written to a good number of scholars to contribute
their articles on the Leadership Crisis in India. Unfortunately there
was a very poor response. Reasons behind are unknown even today
for us. We have received very few articles even after the repeated
requests to the activists, university teachers, writers and such other
academicians.
There are six articles in this special issue. Dr. Sandeep Jagdale
has contributed an article entitled Leadership for Competence: Crisis
in Social Work. He argues that after seven decades of its journey,
social work still lag behind to lead people in difficult circumstances.
In these decades the issues raised by developmental decisions of
Indian government have put major changes needed in social work
education and practice. Dr. B.T. Lawani and Chandralekha Das write
that in the 21st century, the idea of leadership development is related
to social networking. Society is looking for ways of changing;
modifying, improving or transforming things in terms of the social,
economic, structural, political and cultural causes of the problems
and environment in which we live. Cyber communication gives us
the opportunity to connect with people directly and indirectly. Not in
just a one-way, but a two-way conversation. Leaders today are
expected to be people-centric and responsive, and social media helps
them to meet and exceed these expectations. Social media helps
companies to find out what their customers really think.
Ketaki Gokhale and Geeta Joshi have contributed an article
on Leadership: An Important Domain in Social Work Education.
They claim that the main objectives of professional education for
social work are to prepare the type and quality of man power capable
of performing the professional tasks and functions currently being
performed by variety of organizations employing social workers.
Further they write that the existing training does not prepare them to
assume roles of leadership in planning, formulation and implementation
of social welfare programs at different level of practice and
administration. Leadership in the Contemporary Society:
Dr. B.T. Lawani
5
Perspectives of Social Work Students is a contribution made by Dr
Veena S Algur and Dr S A Kazi. The scientific training in social work
education aims at making a career in the field of professional social
work imparts necessary training to develop the basic knowledge, skill,
techniques and attitudes in students to work with individuals, groups,
and communities. Their study claims that the professional social work
curriculum should be broadly based on needs to suit the various needs
of students. Every student cannot be noted leader, can be a leader
but in every one there is a desire to excel, a desire to do the best and
hence a distinguishing mark of an able social work teacher is to
recognize the leadership qualities in a students and make an sincere
effort to encourage them, empower them, enable them to excel as
future Leaders.
People Centered Advocacy: An Effective tool for Marginalized
Leadership is an article that focuses on the role of social advocacy
in the leadership development by Prakash S. Yadav. He is of the
opinion that Public and people-centered advocacy are shaped by the
political culture, social systems, and constitutional framework of the
country in which they are practiced. It is the practice of advocacy
that determines the theory, and not vice a versa. If advocacy is not
rooted in grassroots realities and is practiced only at the macro level,
the voice of the marginalized is increasingly likely to be appropriated
by professional elites. However, the very credibility of advocacy
practitioners depends on their relationship with mass based movements
and grassroots perceptions of what constitutes desirable social change.
R.R. Patil based on his doctoral research study has made an attempt
to examine the Role of Non Government Organizations in the
Leadership Development of Dalits in the state of Gujarat. He has
come out with the conclusion that the NGOs regularly conduct
capacity-building and leadership development programme for
community volunteers/members as local Leaders by adding value of
information and awareness to their voluntarism. The NGOs also
training dalits in the areas of agenda setting, planning programs and
pp. 2-6
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their implementation, impart training and awareness especially to
women activists and members of the community to ensure their
participation at local self-government and the society at the large.
In nut shell these articles focus on the leadership development
efforts made by the different organizations and disciplines. This special
issue is an attempt to review the leadership issues in different arena.
I hope that the issue will be most useful to the academicians, training
institutes and the leadership development organizations!
Dr. B.T.Lawani
Editor Special Issue
Dr. B.T. Lawani
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Vol. IV, No-1, January 2014 pp. 7-14
Abstract
Education is been considered as an effective tool of change. It is
alleged that with qualitative education one can change his or her
realities of life. Social work claims that it helps people to change
their situations from bitter to better and work for inclusive policy,
social justice and social development. After seven decades of its
journey, social work still lag behind to lead people in difficult
circumstances. In these decades the issues raised by developmental
decisions of Indian government have put major changes needed in
social work education and practice. There are theories, approaches
in social work we are imparting but what is needed today is a
competence. Competence is something which will make social work
students to lead peoples issues. It seems that competence based
education and fieldwork is dire need to resolve the crisis in social
work. This reflective article is an attempt to line up the current
scenario, dilemmas, new demands posed by new era of social work.
Key words: leadership, competence, crisis, operationalizing, social
work.
Introduction
World has experiencing a pace of change, which it has never
seen before. We are changing by every movement, things are
changing every second and nothing is going to be constant for long.
The due credit of this is largely goes to the globalization policy that
new world order imposed on every one of us. There is no area of
human life left unreached in this process be it social or private. We
cannot control, we cannot hide, and even we cannot claim that what
I am doing is unique, noble. Nothing is amusing people, nothing is
Leadership for Competence: Crisis in Social Work
Dr. Sandeep Jagdale
1
1. Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, Walchand College of Arts & Science, Solapur
413006 (MS). Email: sandeepmsw@hotmail.com
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new, everything is available, and reachable which poses many human
service challenges for those who claim that they are valuable,
knowledgeable in serving people.
What we call social work in its definition i.e. helping people to
help themselves is seem quiet far from the perceived status of social
work education in higher education scenario of India. We have serious
issues of governance in social work education where we need a
jargon free critical analysis and commitment to raise professional
standards of social work (Jagdale, 2013).
The present article is perceived itself as a step towards the new
discourse needed in the field of social work after a decade of
globalization policy. In other words the article has an intension to
spotlight the crisis in social work and expecting new leadership that
strives for the competence which will be instrumental for developing
professional social work in India.
Conceptualizing Competence
If you ask a question to anyone or self i.e. what is competence
all about? What response do we get? Many will tell you that it is an
ability to perform well, it is a capacity to work well, it is a capability
to perform better, fineness in work and expertise work etc.
The word competence and competent derive from the Latin
word competens meaning be fit, proper or qualified (Oxford
Library of Words and Phrases, Vol.III, Word Origins). It means
competence is invariably related to the qualification and the work
expected to be performed by one who has that desired qualification.
This description of competence will help readers to understand the
considerable confusion prevailing among the students and teachers
of social work. The whole dilemma that has been an issue of
continuous debate in social work education in India since its beginning
(Desai, 1981; Gore, 1981; Heraud, 1981; Mathew, 1981; Pathak, 1989;
Siddiqui, 1989) has two sides i.e. qualification of a social worker and
the competence.
There is no second thought about the context we presume when
we think about competence i.e. work and work performance.
Dr. Sandeep Jagdale
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Therefore we can conceptualize competence as a demonstration
of knowledge, values and skills of ones profession (NIPQETP, 1992).
We do have knowledge base, values, and skills which we try to
inculcate in students of social work. In other words, social work
competence is a demonstration of social work knowledge, values,
and skills. And exactly we have a problem here with this demonstration,
we can call it as dilemma, considerable confusion, crisis or
problem spectrum in social work (Jagdale et al., 2012).
Competence in Knowledge, Values and Skills
To develop a new leadership in social work education in India,
we have to think in different way. We must have to make our minds
to throw our traditional, conventional lenses to see social work. We
must adopt an objective and critical views for our profession and
how one can do this? One can start with the task of operationalsing
competence and developing measurable indicators of it. We must go
for specifications and leave jargons because they have harmed our
professional social work from all the possible ways.
The pillars of social work competence as expressed by OHagan
(2005) are Knowledge, Values and Skills, those make us different
and will be instrumental to give us back our professional identity. The
present article is an attempt to assert the competence leadership
needed in social work to minimize the crisis in it.
To demonstrate the competence in knowledge, values and skills
in social work lets take an example of person with mental illness
wandering on streets.
Knowledge
The knowledge needed to practice social work, to serve people
in need derives from many different sources. Competence practice
will depend upon knowledge of law, social policy and programmes,
philosophy (ethics), sociology, psychology, social administration,
organizational policies, procedures and guidelines, theories, methods
of social work interventions etc (OHagan, 2005).
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If we consider the aforesaid example, to demonstrate knowledge
we must ensure that our students must have knowledge about:
Mental health and its causes
Social implications of mental illness
Mental health Act
Mental health care bill
Procedure/statues to be followed
Emergency numbers
Legalities involved
People, organizations who will help, guide
Knowledge of self, theory and methods of helping
Values
Values are invariably related to the ethical base we have. They
are formulated and evolve through social and political thought,
ideologies, and dialectic processes (Rosen, 1994). To go with the
example, in a demonstration of values our students must;
Identify and question their own values and prejudices (they
should discover what they think about mentally ill people, their
attitude towards them, perceived place of such people in society
etc)
Acknowledge and respect (particular needs of individual without
judgement)
Promote his right to choose, his privacy, confidentiality while
dealing with him and his situation.
Help him without stigmatizing either for his illness or situation
and challenging discrimination against him.
Skills
The word skill is often used wrongly to denote competence
and technique. Skill can be considered as performance proficiency
that includes ability, cleverness and understanding etc. There is
significant work has already been done in social work for what skills
are needed to perform social work. Many scholars (OHagan, 2005;
McLaughlin, 2005; Heery, 1995; Glendinning, 1983, 1986) have shown
that skills are used by social workers in different circumstances are
similar in nature.
Dr. Sandeep Jagdale
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To demonstrate skills component of competence, we must ensure
that our students must be;
Attending and listening to a person (to give being heard feeling)
Questioning and interpretation (appropriate questions and
interpretation of words, voice, tone, gap, emotion and attitude)
Empathetic
Pacing with him and sensitivity (uttering words and or sounds
of encouragement at the appropriate time, nodding, eye contact
etc.)
Reflecting, clarifying, paraphrasing and summarizing what he
is telling (to build valid data)
Sure of discipline and control (enabling the exercise of the
above skills, continuous awareness of, and being able to respond
within, the bounds of legal obligation and departmental
procedures)
Precise in report writing (clear, up-to-date for future
consultations, case conferences, submission to courts etc.)
We must ask what, why, and how kind of questions for everything
we do in social work field this will surely help us to internalize the
importance of conceptualizing and operationalizing competence.
Crisis in Social Work: Need for Leaders of Competence
In India, where the opportunities of getting higher education
becoming expensive day by day, we are running with ample of social
work institutes which offering higher education. I am not so sure but
the number has increased to 400 social work institutes, colleges and
or departments in our country.
Growing is always welcomed and honoured by youth because it
provides employment opportunities to them. It becomes a source of
energy which makes people lead their life. But it is also needed to
think about the competence of social workers to address peoples
issues and serving them particularly after globalization where the
private and foreign universities are strengthening their roots in Indian
mass. We owe the responsibility to shape the new era of professional
social work in India. The Author perceives the crisis in social work is
related to the competence of social workers to establish social work
as profession and honoured professional identity with legal sanctions.
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No doubt that social work fraternity has been striving to improve
its content, methodology, assessment etc. and author fairly
acknowledge the work done by Indian scholars to quote some of
them viz.; Desai (1981), Gore (1981), Mathew (1981), Singh (1985),
Pathak (1989), Siddiqui (1989), Jaswal (1994), Subhedar (2001),
Lawani (2002), Rao (2008) and Siddhegowda (2011). The contribution
of these people will certainly encourage the young mind coming in
social work stream. The Author strongly recommend rather request
young faculties of social work that they must read what has been
written by Indian scholars first before developing an insights about
Indian social work.
What the new mind in social work expected to do is
operationalizing each component of social work, developing
specific tasks for practising that component; and develop visible,
measurable indicators for the same, practice it and
systematically record it. It is quiet certain that it is not an easy task
but there is no other way to demand fair, impartial, transparent and
even democratic benefits for those who are some or other wary
attached to social work in India be it NGOs, Academicians,
Researchers, Consultants or social work students.
In other words, if we could answer couple of questions i.e. Do
we serve people? Are we human service professionals? If yes, then
only competency comes in a picture. Then only we can have research
on service delivery, users satisfaction, burden on human service
professionals, variations in practices of social work, proficiency in
practice, professional ethics which is popularly known as evidence
based practice of social work. And if our answer is no then it is an
issue of great debate, confrontation, introspection and collective
ownership of current scenario of social work education in the country.
Ending remarks
The Author is of the opinion that social work academicians,
perceived practitioners, critics are equally responsible for the present
reality of social work in India as a whole. We could successfully
manage, detained the status quo of social work education as it is till
Dr. Sandeep Jagdale
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now. But the era of globalization demand more transparent, more
measurable evidences/ records of social work practices and research
and importantly pacing other human service professions. This is only
possible when we will respect the allegations posed by people outside
social work stream. We should start to demonstrate social work in
the context of knowledge, values and skills of social work. We need
manuals for working in different situations, matrixes and worksheets
for every activity we presume as social work activity. Otherwise we
are welcoming a new slavery in the field of social work where our
people work for our people for the benefit of our people but with
foreign mind. Therefore a new dawn, new leaders are needed in
social work that strive for, experiments with competence.
References
1. Desai A. S. (1981). Social Work Education in India: Retrospect and Prospect.
In T.K. Nair (Ed.), Social Work Education and Social Work Practice. Madras:
Association of Schools of Social Work in India.
2. Glendinning, C. (1983). A Single Door: Social Work with Families of Disabled
Children. London: Allen and Unwin.
3. Glendinning, C. (1986). Unshared Care: Parents and their Disabled Children.
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
4. Gore, M. S. (1981). The Scope of Social Work Practice. In T.K. Nair (Ed.).
Social Work Education and Social Work Practice, Madras: Association of
Schools of Social Work in India.
5. Heraud, B. (1981). Training for Uncertainty: A Sociological Approach to
Social Work Education. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
6. Jagdale, S. (2013). The Issues of Governance in Social Work Education in
India. University News, 51 (31), August 05-11, pp. 14-17.
7. Jagdale, S. B., Jadhav, J. U., and Chougule, M.P. (2012). Is Doing Research Too
Complex? Some Reflections, Social Work Chronicle, Vol-1, Issue-2, pp. 100-
106.
8. Jaswal, S. (1994). Fieldwork Manual for first year Social Work Students.
Mumbai: TISS.
9. Lawani, B. T. (2002). Social Work Education and Field Instructions. Pune:
Centre for Social Research and Development.
10. Mathew, G. (1981). Current Social Work Practice: Content and Dimensions.
In T.K. Nair (Ed.), Social Work Education and Social Work Practice. Madras:
Association of Schools of Social Work in India.
11. OHagan, K. (1996). Competence in Social Work Practice A Practical Guide
for Professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
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12. Pathak, S. (1989). Social Development and Social Work: Some Unresolved
Issues. In R. K. Nayak and H. Y. Siddiqui (Eds.), Social Work and Social
Development, New Delhi: Gitanjali.
13. Rao, N. (2008). Project Report Manual. Pune: Karve Institute of Social Service.
14. Rosen, A. (1994). Knowledge use in Practice. Social Services Review, December,
pp. 560-577.
15. Siddhegowda, Y. S. (2011). Social Work Practicum Manual. Mysore: Mysore
University.
16. Siddiqui, H. Y. (1989). Rethinking Social Work Education. In R. K. Nayak and
H. Y. Siddiqui (Eds.), Social Work and Social Development. New Delhi: Gitanjali.
17. Singh, R. R. (1985). Fieldwork in Social Work Education: A Perspective for
Human Service Profession. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.
18. Subhedar, I. S. (2001). Fieldwork Training in Social Work. New Delhi: Rawat
Publications
19. Subhedar, I. S. (2010). Indigenous Fieldwork Training in Specialized Fields of
Social Work. Agra: Current Publications.
Dr. Sandeep Jagdale
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Abstract
In the 21
st
century, the idea of leadership development is related
to social networking. Society is looking for ways of changing;
modifying, improving or transforming things in terms of the social,
economic, structural, political and cultural causes of the problems
and environment in which we live. Cyber communication gives us
the opportunity to connect with people (customers, employees,
leaders, friends, community) directly and indirectly. Not in just a
one-way, but a two-way conversation. Leaders today are expected
to be customer-centric and responsive, and social media helps them
to meet and exceed these expectations. Social media helps companies
to find out what their customers really think. This helps leaders
make decisions that better support with customers emerging needs.
Cyber communication helps leaders stay on top of trends in their
industry like never before. This helps leaders see new opportunities
for growth. Social media delivers news fast. This means leaders
hear about issues early and can respond before they become big
problems. Many leaders today feel isolated. Every day we show
up and work hard, but we feel disconnected from our colleagues and
peers. Cyber communication can be a simple and effective way to
connect leaders across your organization and even outside it. Social
media also allows you to share information before, during and after
formal development activities. Its a great way to prepare leaders
for development and an even better way to sustain momentum after
a program ends. You can even use social media to let leaders help
you design your leadership development programs. Leaders can
talk about topics that matter to them and reach out to get advice
from one another, and if you participate in this conversation, youll
learn how to make development programs more relevant to their
needs.
Leadership Development Through
Cyber Communication
Dr. B.T. Lawani
1
Chandralekha Das
2
1. Director, YCISSR, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune-38.
2. Senior Research Fellow, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune-38.
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Leadership development practitioners are increasingly interested
in cyber communication as a way to strengthen relationships among
leaders in communities, and organizations. Evaluating leadership
networks is a challenge for leadership development. Social network
analysis (SNA) is an approach that uses to represent the structure
of relationships between people, organizations, goals, interests,
and other entities within a larger system. In this article we describe
core social network concepts and the application of them to
understand the effect of cyber communication on leadership
development.
Key words: Leader, leadership development, cyber
communication, social networking, bonding, bridging, network
building, network analysis, network savvy, scalability of networking,
social capital.
Introduction
The cyber communication provides innumerable possibilities for
growth among youth, benefit such as social support, identity,
exploration, and development of interpersonal thinking skills,
educational benefits, academic support and worldwide cross-cultural
interaction. Online social networking allows people to connect with
each other. This concept arises from basic need of human beings to
stay together in groups forming a community. Wikipedia defines social
network service as online platform that focus on building and reflecting
social networks or social relations among people who share interests
and activities. Social networking sites, mobile phones email, instant
messaging, video- and photo- sharing sites and comment posting are
all tools that help people to communicate and socialize with each
other and are the elements of reach social development. In fact little
research has been conducted on the subject. Researchers have
suggested that the excessive busy life of human beings made them to
depend on the new technologies.
This article will address the following questions:
Why do cyber network and network analysis strategies deserve
our attention?
Why do we need network classification to understand the
scalability for leadership?
Dr. B.T. Lawani, Chandralekha Das
17
What are the activities of a network savvy leader?
How views of social capital are related to leadership
development?
Network analysis to understand leadership development
It is the process of getting useful, accurate information about
leaders organization network by looking at the connections between
people. It allows leaders to see the networks within their organization,
identify leverage points, and assess change in networks over time.
The analysis of organizational networks starts with a close look at
the people-systems involved, the organizations strategy, the critical
challenges facing the organization, and the boundaries that need to
be spanned to enact the strategy and address these challenges.
Understanding the context and what is happening in the organization
(through observation, interviews, focus groups, and other qualitative
approaches) provides the information needed to ask appropriate and
informative questions that reveal the key network connections.
Different types of connections or ties can be mapped through network
analysis, including communication, leadership, energy, creativity,
development, and culture. It is useful to examine a range of networks
and levels to gain insight into the challenges facing the organization.
In fact, strategic leadership development and organizational
transformations are enhanced when leaders explore their own personal
networks, plus group and organizational level networks. Although the
results of a network analysis can yield immediate insights, careful
interpretation based on an understanding of the people-systems and
organizational strategy is required in order to make sound system.
Bonding and Bridging
Bonding and bridging are two different kinds of connectivity.
Bonding denotes connections in a tightly knit group. Bridging denotes
connections to diverse others. These terms are commonly used in
the social capital literature (Putnam, 2001). In the SNA and cyber
communication literature, bonding and bridging are often called
closure and brokerage respectively (Burt, 2005). It also explains
strong ties and weak ties are important related SNA concepts
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that we incorporate into our bondingbridging usage (Granovetter,
1983). Analyzing network data to measure bonding and bridging helps
to predict important outcomes for the leaders. The extent to which
bonding or bridging occurs in a network often represents an
intermediary outcome of leadership development.
Dimension of Leadership Development
Leaders are involved at different levels in taking care of the
human person in educational sector, in the health sector, in social aid
sector or in whatever other sector that directly or very concretely
affects the human dimension. Here two dimensions to be cleared.
a) The first one is to try to more forward and to make progress in
their own way of working, communication and of tackling matters.No
matter whatever their working condition and working situation.
b) Another dimension is related to the experience, environment, the
problems the situation they face. They are looking for ways of
changing; modifying, improving or transforming things in terms of the
actual social, economic structural, political and cultural causes of the
problems and environment in which they live.
Cyber Communication supports the Leaders
The term cyber communication is freely used by everyone in
modern society, including members of the general public, scholars
and management practitioners. Communication is defined as the
interaction, giving and taking of information, sending and receiving of
messages through verbal and non verbal means. A function of cyber
communication varies as one must determine the function of the
communication. It is known as the primary function and in certain
circumstances the situation or position may have one, two or three
other secondary function. For example, informing, controlling,
persuading and co-ordinating. In cyber form of communication, there
is a sender and receiver of the message. The question of whether
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the message is sent and how the message is received is of vital
importance in communication. Cyber communication is successful
only when the receiver receives the intended message of the sender.
The simplest way can be followed.
Mobilize more people to your cause: A Case Study
Network strategies and platforms can engage significantly more
people in the democratic process. Social media is transforming how
we can mobilize for social change. The 2008 Obama for President
Campaign: The 2008 Obama campaign mobilized 13 million supporters
and generated more than $750,000 in small donations, demonstrating
the power of social networks to activate citizen leadership. Online
tools made it possible for people new to leadership to raise money,
find each other, and organize house parties, and coordinate canvassing
and phone banks.
Activities of Network-savvy Leaders
1) Improve the understanding of how the organization works
Organizational charts provide a poor picture of how work actually
happens. Leaders with a network perspective look beyond prescribed
flows and connections to informal structures and processes. They
understand how information flows through the complex web of
relationships within and across departments and up and down
organizational levels. This perspective reveals densely connected
clusters, bridging ties, and influential people who are often not formal
leaders.
2) Identify and develop hidden leaders
They expand their view of people beyond the formal roles and
positions. They seek the hidden leaders, change agents, and key
players in their organization. A network perspective allows leaders to
recognize and support the people who are crucial to the work and the
culture, but whose importance is underemphasized in formal systems
and structures.
20
3) Understand and strengthen the personal network
They examine their current network, the opportunities and
constraints it presents, and make choices to strengthen it. They see
how their position in the organizational network and the position of
their group or team influences whether they achieve desired outcomes.
4) Recognize network variety
Multiple networks exist within organizations including
communication, leadership, energy, creativity, and development
networks. These networks are dynamic. Network savvy leaders focus
on the networks most relevant to the strategic challenges they face
and how those networks change over time.
5) Promote a leadership culture of collaboration and
interdependence
The cultural beliefs and behaviours of an organization determine
how members interact within the network. Most organizations strive
for more effective collaboration across boundaries. This process is
aided by an awareness of networks and an understanding of
interdependence.
Leadership Network Classification
1) Peer leadership network
A system of social ties among leaders who are connected through
shared interests and commitments, shared work, or shared
experiences. Leaders in the network share information provide advice
and support learn from one another, and occasionally collaborate
together. Peer leadership networks provide leaders with access to
resources that they can trust. Leadership development programs often
seek to create and catalyze peer leadership networks to expand the
trusted ties that leaders have with one another. At other times peer
networks emerge when leaders with something in common personal
benefit in sharing and connecting their experiences.
21
2) Organizational leadership network
A set of social ties that are structured to increase performance.
These ties are often informal and exist outside the formal organizational
structure, such as when an employee seeks advice from a colleague
other than her supervisor to help solve a problem more quickly. A
network connecting leaders who share common interests.
3) Collective leadership network
A self-organized system of social ties among people attracted to
a common cause or focused on a shared goal. Network members
exercise leadership locally. As the number of local groupings grows
and there is increasing interaction, these groups begin to connect to
form larger networks. These networks are often rooted in a sense of
community and purpose.
Theoretical perspective of Cyber communication for leaders
Great man theory is well studied by political scientist, philosopher,
sociologist, psychologist and management scholars. Here they have
tried to pinpoint the essence of leadership. Some wits said that
leadership is like pornography you know it when you see it. Although
we may recognize leadership when we see it, describing what it is all
about is another matter. Leadership is a complicated concept. The
assumption is that certain people possess inherit ant qualities traits
that make them perfect for leadership. Under this theory leadership
is born. But the present society contradicts the theory.
A Case study on Coaching and Mentoring
The apprentice model has seen recovery for grooming leadership.
Coaching and mentoring have been gaining favour as elements of
succession planning programs. A 2008 American Medical
Association (AMA) study, Coaching: A Global Study of
Successful Practices, surveyed more than 1,000 business leaders
around the world and found that nearly 60 percent of North American
companies use coaching for high-potential employees frequently or a
22
great deal and that about 42 percent use coaching of executives to
the same extent. These percentages were even higher in the
international sample of the same AMA study. Using social media in
mentoring programs is beginning to be a popular way to support
external mentoring programs.
On SNS we are judged by the company we keep it is based on
the strength of social capital that we are related. Signalling theory
and Warranting theory also propose that people assess other-generated
statements as more credible compared to self-generated information.
These early studies offer compelling evidence that what one puts on
ones SNS profile is assessed by others and the characteristics of
friends are strongly related to how one is viewed. In addition, the
feedback provided by ones network in an SNS is influential in the
development of the image of leader and social relationship.
Social network sites provide a platform for all age group to develop
personal and social relationship. Developing identities in SNS is very
similar to offline contexts. Donath and Boyd (2004) observe some of
the ways that individuals reflect their social identity. In the physical
world, people display their connections in many ways. The leaders
have parties in which they introduce friends who they think would
like or impress each other. Political people drop the names of high
status acquaintances casually in their conversation. Simply appearing
in public with ones acquaintances is a display of connection. These
are the basic background of the present social image development
for the leader.
There are many theories about and techniques for determining
the right leadership styles for an organization. The situational leadership
theory, for example, argues that the best type of leadership is
determined by situational variables and that no one style of leadership
pertains to all given workplace situations.6Identifying the leadership
style for an organization by using this approach includes identification
of the type of work, the complexity of the organization.
23
Scalability of Networking from Personal to Social for the Leader
A key feature of network perspective for the leader is the ability
to zoom to different levels of social interaction, from the scale of
ones personal network all the way up to the scale of the social
networks that make up the larger society. Each scale offers its own
perspective with unique applications to leadership and leadership
development.
Think of network perspective as a powerful zoom lens. It can be
expanded or contracted to get a wide range of information and insight,
like Google Maps for the connectedness of your workplace. Leaders
have a 360-degree view of ground level at a specific place. This
view is like their personal network. They can see the immediate
surrounding environment the individuals they are directly connected.
Zoom out to the neighbourhood and look down on where they were
standing. They see themselves as part of their own neighbourhood.
A neighbourhood view is similar to mapping a group network within
your organization. From this view they begin to get a sense of how
their group fit within the larger organizational community.
Case study: Bring projects to scale
Network strategies encourage self-organizing by giving small
groups of people access to tools, models, and resources that they can
use and adapt to make a difference in their communities. Projects
that empower people to take action in their local communities can
more easily evolve to be effective at a larger scale. The national
nonprofits KaBOOM! (kaboom.org) aspires to create a great place
to play within walking distance of every child. To bring their idea to
scale, they used a network strategy: they posted an online do-it-
yourself direction kit making it possible for more communities to
access the resources needed to build playgrounds without direct
support
Cyber Communication Signify Supporter for Leaders
Research done by the Pew Internet and American Life Project
(Lenhart, Rainie, & Lewis, 2001) found that the Internet has a pivotal
24
role in the lives of American. It has been found that 87% today go
online (Weiss, 2005), representing 21 million youth. Family-
rescource.com states that 48 percent believe the Internet improves
their friendships. With social networking sites becoming increasingly
popular, people are able to stay connected to real and online friends.
Estimated 13 million allow conversations with friends in social
networking sites. On average, people on Facebook install apps every
day. Every month, more than 500 million people use an app on
Facebook or experience Face book platform on other websites to
add social capital. More than 7 million apps and websites are integrated
with Face book. More than 350 million active users currently access
Face book through mobile. Face book has more than 800 million active
users .50% of the active users log on to Facebook in any given day.
Average user had 130 friends. People interact with 900 million objects
like pages, groups, events and community pages. Average user is
connected to 80 community pages, groups and events. On average
250 million photos are uploaded per day. Face book has 550,000,000
monthly visitors. 95,800,000 people visit Twitter every month. Monthly
50,000,000 people use LinkedIn. At the end all it means that human
cannot move without the social group.
Case study: Change hearts and minds
Network leadership strategies can increase exposure significantly
enough to encourage new thinking and behaviours on a large scale.
The Story of Stuff (www.storyofstuff.org) is a narrated animated
film about how our obsession with stuff is trashing our planet, our
communities, and our health. Its engaging presentation, powerful
message, and use of social media have made the film go viral, with
10,000 views a day and more than 12 million online views
Views on Social Capital and Development of Leadership
The basic idea of social capital is that ones family, friends,
and associates constitute an important asset, one that can be called
25
upon in a crisis. They enjoyed for own sake or leveraged for material
gain. It is true for individuals to holds for groups. So social capital is
essential back bone for leadership development.
Case study: Build social capital
Network leadership strategies connect leaders across boundaries
of race, sector, and geography and create an environment that builds
and fosters trusted relationships. In Boston, a diverse network of
social change leaders is forming unlikely partnerships, bridging across
boundaries of race, ethnicity, sector, neighbourhood, and more. New
ideas, approaches, and solutions to persistent challenges are coming
from leaders who break out of the silos and groupthink of
homogenous networks
1) The Communitarian View
This perspective is called the communitarian view, equates social
capital with local level organizations, namely associations, clubs, and
civic groups.This view, measured most simply by the number of these
groups in a given community. This indicates that social capital is
inherently good, that more is better, and that its presence always
has a positive effect on a communitys welfare. This perspective
gives important contributions to leaders to analyses of education,
economy, and health.
2) The Networks View
Here the perspective on social capital can be identified that
attempts to account for both its upside and downside. This view
stresses the importance of vertical as well as horizontal associations
between people, and relations within and among other organizational
entities such as community groups and firms. Building on the influential
work of Granovetter (1973), it recognizes that intra-community (or
strong) ties are needed to give leaders a sense of identity and
common purpose.
26
3) The Institutional View
The perspective of social capital, which we call the institutional
view, argues that the vitality of community networks and civil society
is largely the product of the political, legal, and institutional
environment. Where the communitarian and networks perspectives
largely treat social capital as an independent variable giving rise to
various goods and/or bad, the institutional view instead puts the
emphasis on social capital as a dependent variable. This view argues
that the very capacity of social groups to act in their collective interest
depends crucially on the quality of the formal institutions under which
they reside (North 1990), and that emerging qualities such as high
levels of generalized trust in turn correspond to superior rates of
economic growth. It also stresses that the performance of states and
firms themselves depends on their own internal coherence,
communication, credibility, and competence, and their external
accountability to civil society.
4) The Synergy View
A number of scholars have recently proposed what might be
called a synergy view, which attempts to integrate the compelling
work emerging from the networks and institutional camps. While the
synergy view traces its intellectual antecedents to earlier work in
comparative political economy and anthropology, its most influential
body of research was published in a special issue of World
Development (1996). The contributors to this volume examined cases
from India, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, and Brazil in search of the
conditions fostering developmental synergiesi.e. dynamic
professional alliances and relationshipsbetween and within state
bureaucracies and various civil society actors.
Broad conclusions
In closing some vital reasons are given why developing network
perspective is a 21st-century leadership imperative.
27
1) Work often happens through informal channels
Even after decades of restructuring, work activities often occur
happen through interactions outside of formal reporting and working
relationships. Understanding informal networks is especially important
in flat, team-based, and agile work environments where formal
structure provides little guidance.
2) Leadership occurs through relationships
Direction, alignment, and commitment are created through
relationships between people working on shared challenges. All people
contribute to this process and thus, leadership may be shared
throughout the network. Further, boundary spanning leadership
requires network perspective to accurately see and build connections
between groups.
3) Successful leaders develop networks of strong, diverse
relationships
They realize that under and over connectivity stifles performance
and limits outcomes. Purposeful (strategic) and authentic networking
is the key to developing healthy networks that prevent insularity.
4) Network knowledge is an asset in change efforts
Relying on formal, vertical channels alone hinders capacity to
adapt to emerging issues. Change efforts may be accelerated by
activating informal networks and enhancing the networks capacity
to span boundaries. This approach is critically important in cultural
transformation because organizational culture lives largely within the
connections between people. Understanding these connections
provides insights into subcultures, pockets of resistance, and hidden
champions of the transformation.
5) The most important challenges leaders face today is
interdependent
Complex challenges cannot be addressed by individuals alone.
They can only be solved by groups of people working collaboratively
28
across boundaries (hierarchies, geographic regions, functional silos,
stakeholder interests, and demographic differences). A network
perspective is key to thriving in a world in which everything is, or will
be, connected.
References
1. Barr Foundation, http://www.barrfoundation.org.
2. Balkundi, P., & Kilduff, M. (2006). The ties that lead: A social network
approach to leadership. Leadership Quarterly
3. Boss B.M. 1990 Boss & Stogdills handbook of Leadership Theory, Research
and Application. New York, the free press
4. Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. The
American Journal of Sociology
5. Chesebro, James. & Bertelsen, Dale. (1996). Analyzing Media: Communication
Technologies as Symbolic and Cognitive Systems.New York: The Guilford
Press.
6. Day, D. V. (2000). Leadership development: A review in context.
LeadershipQuarterly
7. Drath, W. H., McCauley, C. D., Palus, C. J., Van Velsor, E., OConnor, P. M.
G., & McGuire, J. B. (2008). Direction, alignment, commitment: Toward a
more integrative ontology of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(6),
635653
8. Dizard, Wilson. (1997). Old Media New Media: Mass Communications in the
Information Age.New York: Longman
9. Fidler, Roger. (1997). Mediamorphosis: Understanding New Media.Thousand
Oaks: Pine Forge Press
10. Holley, June, Network Weaver Handbook: A Guide to Transformational
Networks, Network Weaver Publishing, http://www.networkweaver (2011)
11. Leadership for a New Era wiki, http://www.leadershipforanewera.org
12. Monitor Institute, Breaking New Ground: Using the Internet to Scale, A Case
Study of KaBOOM! http://kaboom.org/about_kaboom/ reports_and_studies/
breaking_new_ground_using_internet_scale (June 2010).
13. Story of Stuff Project, http://www.storyofstuff.org.
29
The main inspiration for the introduction of the formal training
for social work come to this country from the West, especially the
United States, when the first training institute was established in
1036 under the directorship an American. The program of education
has basically three components: classroom courses, research project
and field work. The objectives of professional education currently
are to prepare the type and quality of man power capable of
performing the professional tasks and functions currently being
performed by variety of organizations employing social workers.
Due to current political and economic changes which directly
influenced on daily lives of people, contemporary social trends
may prove more long-lasting than those of either political and
economic nature .As a result, governments are likely to seek new
approaches for dealing with human services, most acutely by welfare
leaders in those developing countries in which population growth
exceeds their capacity to satisfy even basic needs. Acting in
cooperation with their governments, social welfare specialist will
need to give leadership to the development of new public/ private
partnership in the provision of human services. In social work
profession social workers are particularly qualified to provide
leadership on critical issues. The foreignness of social work education
is so much all inclusive and pervasive as reflected in its basic
organization, curricula and the teaching material that most social
work graduates fail to pursue careers in professional social work.
Moreover existing training does not prepare them to assume roles
of leadership in planning, formulation and implementation of social
welfare programs at different level of practice and administration.
Leadership: An Important Domain in
Social Work Education
Ketaki Gokhale
1
Geeta Joshi
2
1. Asst. Professor, Department of Social Work, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune, Maharashtra,
9423035805, ketakig27@gmail.com
2. Asst. Professor, Department of Social Work, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune, Maharashtra,
9420425263, geetarajopadhye@gmail.com
pp. 29-41
30
Indian social work educators must accept this challenge and forge a
new strategy to transform the existing social work education to
develop and use indigenous study material. In this paper the
researcher wants to emphasis on the importance of professional
leadership in social work profession. It will focus on the role and
scope of a leader. The paper highlights on the wider perspective of
leadership in social work profession.
Key words: Social Work Education, Leadership, social issues
Social Work - A Profession:
Social work as a helping activity had been a part and parcel of
our culture from the beginning. There were inbuilt systems in our
society to render these services to the needy. Various approaches
have been adopted in the social work helping process. Gore (1965)
has identified fives approaches to social work in India:
- The religious traditional approach
- The liberal reformist approach
- The secular missionary approach
- The ethical revolutionary approach
- The professional social work approach
The professional social work approach commenced in the
second quarter of the 20
th
century. In India, imparting training in
professional social work started with the establishment of the first
social work institute in 1936. The description of professional social
work is that it is basically a helping activity to help a person in need.
Training in social work has no doubt developed from its infancy stage
in late 30s and early 40s. But the extent of professionalism among
social workers and the societal acceptance of the profession are
debatable. There has been varying viewpoints, on a continuum, with
regard to social work as a profession, starting from it is not a
profession to it is a profession.
Education is not for knowing more but for behaving differently
Jhon Ruskin said this in the general context of education. But this
applied more to helping professions, particularly the social work
profession. Social work profession that evolve from the tradition of
Ketaki Gokhale, Geeta Joshi
31
charity and concern for others long ago still continues to struggle for
acceptance of its professional status social work profession is perhaps
one of the most confused professions with a variety of issues and
levels of interventions, different clients and administrative settings
for practice which has further compounded the dilemma (Siddiqui,
1999). England (1986) captures the situation aptly: if I imagine social
work as an entity I see it as a curiously puzzled and confused body.
There are parts rushing off in all directions and sometimes falling
over each other in the process. They are rushing to be busy and to be
engaged, for to be busy and engaged is to feel assured that something
worthwhile and important is being done and social workers deal with
problems that cannot humanely be neglected.
The profession which initially focused on individual, group and
community as the major clients could not make much of an impact
particularly in less developed and developing societies due to mass
poverty, unemployment and illiteracy.
Social Work Education:
The II UGC review committee on social work education (1980)
therefore emphasized that social work education should address the
larger issues such as poverty, illiteracy, unemployment etc. the
committee identified two categories of social work tasks: (1)
developmental and (2) remedial and rehabilitative. However, the
committee did not clearly define the developmental tasks and also
assumed that the two can be combined. Siddiqui (2000) elaborated
the developmental tasks as those of the catalytic agent for developing
and or modifying current policies/ services/ institutional structures:
educating people to recognize their inherent capacities for action and
to identify the policies/ institutional and socio-political structures that
exploit them
The capacity of social work profession or for that matter any
other profession to undertake the task of rebuilding the society and to
replace or modify the existing macro structures is going to be very
limited. It is strange to note that when medical profession hardly
consider Health for All as its primary goal or educationist are not
pp. 29-41
32
professionally committed to the goal of Education for All or the
law profession does not lay any major emphasis on social justice as
its professional objective the social work profession should consider
these and many other such macro issues within the exclusive domain
of the profession. Gore (1981) rightly observed that no single
profession can expect to cover the whole area of social policy and
social development expertly.
Social Work and Societal Needs:
Whitemain (1972:31) has also pointed out that social work must
reflect a sharpening recognisation of these societal needs, dimensions
and complexities which demand from social work profession- in
correct with other service professions and occupations- new
perspectives, new knowledge and new understanding of these
compelling societal force. Unfortunately, despite the expiry of about
six decades since its birth in India, social work is still branded as a
new and emerging profession (Kulkarni 1994:25), simple because it
could not make itself socially relevant and failed to provide effective
services with professional competence to its clients. Mandal (1989:309)
has observed: social work education in India has become irrelevant
to the needs of Indian society because what is needed in Indian society
is primarily preventive and micro base social work. Indian society
has been increasingly becoming more and more complex, particularly
because of closer contacts with the outside world which has been
converted into a global village and rapid advancements in sciences
and technology. In such a social set-up social work professionals will
be facing a number of serious challenges from various quarters and
will have to struggle hard even for their basic survival.
Contemporary social work practice is increasingly becoming
complex and challenging. Social workers are engaged in working
with societys most vulnerable, disadvantaged and deprived sections
of the population who require help with a multiplicity of needs. The
situations and needs requiring social work intervention could be intra-
personal, inter-personal, inter-group or inter-organizational. Those
could also be psychological, social, economic, environmental or a
33
combination of these. While some clients have the most difficult and
complex needs, other needs close support.
In India, social work practiced in a variety of settings and in
many organisations by those who often cannot be included within the
current framework of trained social workers. Even in the absence of
formal training, many do bring in, and practice varying degrees of
natural ability and experiences, akin to practicing trained social
workers.
Social Work Leadership Definition:
Leadership is the capacity to work creatively, constructively, and
effectively with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and
communities to promote social justice, catalyze social change, and
address individual and social problems. Leaders accomplish this by
inspiring vision, offering direction, and supporting individual and
collective action in order to obtain mutually valued results.
Leadership Elements:
1. Self-Knowledge:
The ability to demonstrate the professional use of self in practice,
including the capacity for self-examination, insight and self-awareness.
Monitor the effectiveness of ones own professional practice through
the appropriate application of research techniques and evaluation
methodologies. Understand and acknowledge the professions mission,
values, ethnic principles, and ethical standards and practice in a manner
consistent with them. Understand the importance of continued
professional renewal.
2. Critical & creative thinking:
Apply critical thinking skills within the context of professional
social work practice. Use theoretical frameworks supported by
empirical evidence to understand development, behavior and
interactions across a life span. Analyze and formulate social policies.
Evaluate social work research and apply it to practice.
pp. 29-41
34
3. Effective communication:
Understand the various modalities of communication and how
contextual factors impact the effectiveness of communication with
individuals, families and groups. Use verbal and non-verbal
communication skills differentially with client populations, colleagues
and communities. Employ communication skills to establish and
maintain a relationship of mutual respect, acceptance and trust with
other students, colleagues and clients. Share thoughts, ideas and
feelings effectively in discussions, meetings, field placement and
presentations with diverse individuals and groups. Demonstrate
proficiency in oral and written communication designed to affect
change in clients, groups, organizations, communities and society in
the interest of social and economic justice.
4. Respect & inclusion:
Practice with respect, knowledge and skills related to clients
age, class, color, disability, ethnicity, family structure, gender, marital
status, national origin, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. Validate
and enhance assets and capacities for all client systems and
communities, particularly diverse populations and disadvantaged,
vulnerable or oppressed groups. Respect and promote the right of
clients to self-determination and assist clients in their efforts to identify
and clarify their goals. Develop an understanding of their own
personal, cultural values and beliefs as one way of appreciating the
importance of multicultural identities in the lives of people.
5. Moral courage:
Understand the value base of the profession and its ethical
standards and principles and practice accordingly. Recognize the forms
and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination and apply strategies
of advocacy and social change.
Various Studies on Social Work Leadership:
Gary Yukl (2006) defines leadership as the process of influencing
others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and
35
how to do it, and the process of facilitating individuals and collective
efforts to accomplish shared objectives (P. 8). Peter Northbuse
(2007) defines leadership as a process whereby an individual
influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal
Influence is very essential in leadership. Having influence means
that there is a greater need on the part of leaders to exercise their
influence ethically. Some people are natural leaders, endowed with
certain traits like ability to speak well, an extroverted personally height
viewing leadership as a process implies that leadership is a
phenomenon that is contextual and suggests that everyone is capable
of exercising leadership.
Leadership in social work have been recently revitalized by the
Council on Social Work Education and its leadership initiative CSWE
has recognized the need for leadership development both inside of
and external to social work education
(sheafor, 2006). When organisation commissioned an exploratory
study to investigate leadership context in curriculum only 74 syllabi
were receiver from 36 different institutions representing 6.8% of all
accredited social work programs (Lazzari,2007) of the syllabi received,
most were from MSW programs with a macro concentration. The
author recommends further study of leadership in the social work
curriculum and new models of developing social work leaders.
A study by Jagadeep S Chhokar Leadership and culture in India:
The globe research Project . He mentions that leadership is very
popular issue in India. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is without doubt
the most important leader of the 20th century who has shaped the
destiny of modern India. His unique leadership style shows
Materialistic weaknesses and spiritual and political strengths. He is
referred to as the Father of the Nation due to his signal contribution
to the Indian freedom movement against the British rule. His concept
of Satyagraha (literal translation meaning insistence on truth) has
found a permanent place in the industrial relations scenario in India
as a common method of protest by unions and dissatisfied employees.
It often takes the form of the employees sitting down and refusing to
move unless their demands are met or satisfactory negotiations are
concluded. Gandhis statues are found in almost all cities and towns,
pp. 29-41
36
roads and public buildings are often named after him, his birthday is
observed as a national holiday, and his philosophy and teachings are
invoked on numerous public occasions, though very little of it is
followed in practice.
Culturally specific phenomenon such as personalized and
dependency relationship, power distance, care consideration and
familial attachment were found to affect leadership practices. In his
research during focus groups and semi structured interview described
that outstanding leaders in social work are Ela Bhat, Medha Patkar,
Sunderlal Bahuguna.
Bargal and Schmid (1989) provide social workers with the insight
to some of the trends in leadership research outside of the social
work arena. They identified several themes in leadership, including :
the leader as a creator of vision and a strategic architect(P.40);
the leader as the creator (and Changer) of organizational culture
(P. 41); Leadership and followership (P.42); and transactional and
transformational styles of leadership (P.43). The authors applied these
trends in leadership to three typical internal functions of social work
administrators. (Goal setting, motivation and development of human
resources and maintenance and administration) & two of the external
functions (resource mobilization and achievement of legitimacy)
Rank and Hutchison (2000) provided some empirical evidence
regarding social work leadership in their exploratory study of social
work leaders. Result of the study indicated that respondents included
five elements in their conceptual definitions of leadership pro-action
(thinking ahead) values and ethics, empowerment, vision and
communication. Most respondents (77%) believed that social work
leadership is different than other professions for five common reasons:
Professional commitment towards code of ethics, systematic
perspective, a participatory leadership style, altruism, and concern
about the public image of the profession. (Rank and Hutchison, 2000
p.493). Nine general areas of skills for leadership identified and
believed were necessary were : community development skills,
communication and interpersonal skills, ethical reasoning skills, risk
taking skills, cultural competence/diversity skills, analytic skill,
technological skills, political skills, visioning skills. 21
th
century social
37
work mission identified by respondents on four main themes: political
advocacy, a clear definition for the profession itself and for the public,
social reconstruction, and vision. Respondents agreed that there should
be leadership development at the bachelors, masters, and doctoral
level of social work education. This study provides evidence that
social work leaders see leadership development as essential for social
workers and the profession as a whole, and that this area may be
overlooked.
The authors recommend future research regarding outcomes
of social work leaders and their styles of leadership (p.500).
Glission (1989) found that social workers evaluate leaders on
maturity, power, and intelligence. Further he found that there is a
strong relationship between three dimensions and both organizational
commitment and job satisfaction of social workers. This finding gives
further credence to the importance of leadership and worker
performance. Glisson reports that leadership development is missing
in the social work curricula.
Leadership Theories
Theory Basic tenets of the Example
theory or model
Managers generally believe
that workers either have a
natural inclination to dislike
work (Theory X) or natural
inclination to be creative and
productive (Theory Y)
The director of the local child
welfare agency takes a moment
to assess whether she believes
people operate under theory
X or Theory Y and then
compares this to what is
actually going on in her
department. She did not think
people liked coming to work,
there is evidence realizes that
although to the contrary.
McGrengors
Theory X-
Theory Y
Likerts System
1- System 4
Organizations fall under one of
four types (system 1, 2, 3, or
4). The lowest producing
A social work manager
completes Likerts tool for
assessing her organization and
pp. 29-41
38
Blake &
Moutons
Managerial Grid
Using a grid system, managers
can self-rate their performance
in relation to task and
relationship behaviors, yielding
a two-number a score (i.e. 1,9).
Employees can then also rate
the manager and the results can
be compared. Blake and
Mouton provide descriptions
of the types of leaders to
understand more.
The social services director a
large nursing home rates herself
on task and relationship
behaviors using the managerial
grid. She finds that her self-rating
yields a score of 5,5. This score
connotes that she places equal
emphasis on tasks and
relationship and perhaps does
not push her employees to work
harder than would be within their
comfort range. Her employees
complete the same assessment
and she finds that she has an
overall score of 7,3, which
indicates that they believe she
is more task oriented than
relationship oriented. She
presents these results to
employees so they can discuss
how to be more effective
working together.
Hersey &
Blanchards
Situational
Leadership
Workers willingness and
ability are assessed in order for
the leader to understand which
of 4 styles of leadership will
The house manager of home for
adolescent girls takes a moment
after performance reviews to
consider the maturity level of
organizations are typically
System 1 (traditional
bureaucracies) and the highest
producing and goal for all
organization is system 4.
System 4 leaders work with
their employees to solve
problems.
realizes they are operating at
about a System 2 level. She
then is able to see where the
largest weaknesses are and
work to move towards a
System 3, and eventually
System 4.
39
work best. The most mature
workers (high on willingness
and ability) are best managed
with a delegating style while
the least mature (low on
willingness and ability) are
best managed with a telling
style .Selling and participating
styles are best for those
workers average in maturity.
each of her five social workers.
After assessing their maturity
level, she reviews the types of
leadership that are most
effective with each and begins
to try to incorporate this style
in her management approach.
Arwater &
Bass
Transformational
Leadership
Effective leadership is based
on the 4 Is: Idealized
influence, intellectual
stimulation, individual
consideration, and
inspirational motivation.
Realizing that she is operating
from a reward and punishment
system that was not working,
the leader of a team to develop
an outcomes measurement
framework reviews the tenets
of transformational leadership
and begins trying to incorporate
some of these relationship
building techniques.
Senges Learning
Organizations
Learning organizations are
continually self reflective and
are created by careful attention
to five key components:
systems thinking, personal
mastery, identifying and
assessing mental models,
building a shared vision, and
team learning. These types of
organization may be the most
open to change and adaptable
in sometimes turbulent social
services environment.
The director of local
department of ageing sees
change coming in the agency
because of several reforms to
medicare benefits .She has been
attempting to learn more about
how to create a learning
organization and feels that now
is the time to share these ideas
with her employees and
develop a plan for becoming
more adaptable to change.
pp. 29-41
40
Strategies:
1.Inclusion of Leadership course: As we recognizing that
leadership is the process and our profession immensely required
leaders to solve the social issues. Social work education and
curriculum must emphasis on systematic leadership
development by introducing Leadership course /subject. This
is the need of time to show the professional practice effect.
This subject allied with capacity building workshop will definitely
show result in developing exact good social engineers. There
is also need to conduct various studies to asses the leadership
development in social work education.
2.As social workers are working at three levels and each level
required leadership, so continuous training will be effective to
develop professional leadership. Following training parallel to
field work would be helpful for trainee social workers to develop
their skills. Such capacity building training can be implemented
constantly throughout the course with specific time interval.
3.When students are working with NGOs for field work training,
many NGOs does not appointed professional social workers.
It affects on practice learning of trainee social workers. NGOs
treat the trainee social workers as a human source to complete
their surveys. They are least bothered about students are
implementing theory into practice or not. Agency supervisors
always busy with their own schedule and cannot concentrate
Goals
Envision (Raport
development,
Observation)
Enable (Analytical
skills)
Empower
Awareness of
self
Inculcating
professional
values and
ethics
Leadership
training
Interpersonal
communication and
behaviour
Goals
Team work
Problem solving and
conflict management
Group
Individual
Community
41
on systematic learning of students. Due to this environment in
NGOs we find very few students are able to develop
professionalism and leadership after completing two years field
work. In such situations Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth,
Department of Social Work invent an Issue Based Field Work
practice in 2009 which is more leadership oriented than
traditional practice. In this field work a group of around 10 to
12 students works on one issue, here they independently plan
their field work as per the needs they found in their base line
work in form of mini surveys and literature review. While
implementing the planning in the field students come across
various unread cases, groups or some time community issues.
Students deal with these issued using the primary methods are
case work, group work and community organization accordingly.
They also implement secondary methods of social work
especially research. Through this field work they reach out
number of peoples and vulnerable groups. Students initiate many
creative activities or programs and actively participated in
advocacy. Student also covers many setting of social work
and develop network at various level in this field work. Students
work recognized by bureaucrats and invited student to work
with them. Due to this innovative field work department is
able to develop their own projects with various settings of social
work.
References:
1. Devi Rameshwari and Prakash Ravi, (2004), Social Work Methods, Practices
and Perspectives, Mangal Deep Publication, Jaipur
2. Devi Ranjna K, (2009), Social Work Education and Action, Omega Publications,
New Delhi
3. Dr. Shaikd Azahar Iqbal, (2005), Principles and Practices of Social Work,
Sublime Publications, Jaipur
4. Dr. Subhedar Iqbal, (2011), Indigenous Fieldwork in Social Work, Current
Publication, Agra
5. Katare P. M., (2007), Training for Social Work, Arise Publishers, New Delhi
6. Singh Krushna Kant& Singh Ram Shankar, (2010), Encyclopedia of Social
Work in 21
st
Century, ABD Publishers, New Delhi
7. Singh Surendra, Shrivastava S. P., (2003), Social Work Education in India
Challenges and Opportunities, New Royal Book Co. Lucknow
pp. 29-41
42
Abstract
Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to
accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that
makes it more cohesive and coherent. Another popular definition
of Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group
of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouses (2007, p3).
Good leaders are made not born. If you have desire and willpower,
you can become an effective leader .Good leaders develop through
a never ending process of self study, education, training and experience
(jago1982).
The scientific training in social work education aims at making a
career in the field of professional social work imparts necessary
training to develop the basic knowledge, skill, techniques and
attitudes in students to work with individuals, groups, and
communities .Orientation to existing social realities social problems
and strategies to deal with the knowledge and method of working
with people enables social work students to grow as leaders,
recognize themselves as leaders or find out leadership quality in
people they come across, or can act as leader maker .
To truly understand what is leadership there is need to probe
what is in the mind set of the people with this view point an
attempt has been made to understand the concept and perspectives
of social work students about issues related to leadership,
characteristics of leaders and leadership crisis .
The study area, Bijapur city, is a district head quarter. It is socio
economically backward district. In Bijapur Social work education
Leadership in the Contemporary Society:
Perspectives of Social Work Students
Dr. Veena S. Algur
1
Dr. S. A. Kazi
2
1. Lecturer, Dept of Community Medicine, BLDEA;s Shri B M Patil Medical College Bijapur.
2. Chairman, Dept of Social work, Karnataka State Womens University Bijapur.
Dr. Veena S. Algur, Dr. S.A. Kazi
43
at post graduation level has history of less than 10 years .There are
only four centers which imparts professional social work education.
Out of total 88 students studying in third semester. only 68(77%)
students were included in the study comprising of 42(62 %)Female
respondents and 26 ( 38 % )Male respondents.
Key words: Social work, leaders, Students, leadership.
Introduction
The scientific training in social work education aims at making a
career in the field of professional social work, imparts necessary
training to develop the basic knowledge, skill, techniques and attitudes
in students to work with individuals, groups, and communities.
Orientation to existing social realities, social problems and strategies
to deal with the knowledge and method of working with people enables
social work students to grow as leaders, recognize themselves as
leaders or find out leadership quality in people they come across,
can act as leader maker .
Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to
accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that
makes it more cohesive and coherent. Another popular definition of
Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of
individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouses (2007, p3).
1
Good leaders are made not born. If you have desire and willpower.
You can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through
a never ending process of self study, education, training and
experience (jago1982).
2
India is the magical land which has always been a very prime
attraction for several western countries and tourists from all over the
world. India has cemented her place as a world power for quite a
few years now. India is the proud land which host the Taj Mahal.
India is the proud mother of world renowned legends like, Rabindranath
Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru and many other greats. India has been a developing
democracy but the rate of improvement has been appreciated by
almost all countries. However, in spite of the tremendous scope and
potential of the land which was once called the golden bird, the country
today is facing a stiff crisis in the context of leadership.
pp. 42-49
44
The country was always used to great personalities as leaders.
However, the political scenario has changed a lot. The political field
has been corrupted to a very huge extent and the politicians today
are mainly people who have taken politics as an occupation. The
main reason for this sudden crisis has been because; the best from
all fields have stopped from entering the field of politics.
There was a time when only the best could be a leader and that
is what politics demands. When the question is of leading the nation,
only a person who has an immense knowledge tank along with several
other qualities can. However, the current situation is such that people,
who have made a name for themselves in their own field, avoid the
subject of politics. This has left such a vacant situation that people
who are not apt or could not find any other work to do, join politics.
Thus, naturally, the great country of India is facing a crisis in the
context of leadership which is not very good news for not only India,
but for the entire world.
3
Within the power structure of every society certain vital integral
individuals operate within groups to promote stimulate , guide or
otherwise influence members to action, such activity has been called
leadership and the individuals have been referred as to leaders. power
holders, man of power, power centres and power elite. According
to Stegdill leadership may be considered as the process of
influencing the activities of an organized group in its effects towards
goal setting and goal achievement. According to this definition the
minimum social conditions which permit the existence of leadership
as an follow a group, common task, differentiated responsibility.
Barnord states that Leader is any person who is more than ordinarily
efficient in carrying psycho social stimuli to others and is thus effective
in conditioning collective responses. This being the case the leader
are those who are able to identify themselves socially and
psychologically in the group and work in a manner that result in the
fulfillment of the goals of the organized group .
4
The highest quality of leadership of all is the capacity to evoke
its growth in others .Young should be encouraged to grow in social
and political consciousness so as to maturely respond as citizens to
the political life of the country. Mahatma Gandhi said A man of
character will make himself worthy of any position he is given
5
45
Leadership is a relative concept. No person is a leader universally,
in every type of situation, whether a person will become leader will,
to a certain extent, depend upon how for he satisfies the needs of
the group so the leader has to be extremely sensitive not only to
know the needs but to satisfy them also. A leader has to be able to
rise higher than level of the followers. Large difference in mental
level between the two however, is unfavorable. Desirable qualities
for leadership are intelligence, popularity, initiative, personal charm,
expert skill and so on.
6
To truly understand what is leadership there is need to probe
what is in the mind set of the people. With this view point an attempt
has been made to understand the concept and perspectives of social
work students about issues related to leadership, characteristics of
leaders and leadership crisis .
The study area, Bijapur city, is a district head quarter. It is socio
economically backward district
7
. In Bijapur, Social work education
at post graduation level has history of less than 10 years .There are
four centers which imparts professional social work education. Out
of total 88 students studying in third semester only 68(77%) students
were included in the study comprising of 42(62 %)Female respondents
and 26 ( 38 % )Male respondents.
Objectives
1.To elicit perspectives of social work student about leadership;
and
2.To know the gender of the respondents and their opinion about
different aspects of leadership.
Material and methodology
Study area-Bijapur city
Study design Cross sectional
Sample size-68 students
Study setup- centers imparting MSW education
Study technique:- Questionnaire
Statistical analysis: Percentage and chi square
pp. 42-49
46
Inclusive criteria-All the students studying in third semester
MSW course.
Exclusive criteria- students who are absent on health grounds,
who are out of station due to personal problems, and who are not
interested to participate in study.
Results
As the study intends to make an attempt to elicit basic concept,
knowledge and perspectives about leadership and need of leaders
for social development. Out of total 88 students 68 (77%) have
participated in study, comprising of 37 (54 %) female respondents
and 31 ( 46 % ) male respondents. The respondents did not have any
question about type of leaders. Findings are about basic concept of
leaders.
Table No 1
Opinion of respondents about need of Social development
Gender Essential More Not essential Not answered Total
essential
No (%)
Male 23 (75) 6 (19) 1 (3) 1 (3) 31 (100)
Female 24 (65) 12 (32) 00 1 (3) 37 (100)
Total 47 (69) 18 (26) 1 (2) 2 (3) 68 (100)
X2 P=2.511
It is observed that there is lot of difference between essential
and more essential need of leaders for social development .out of
total respondents 69 % among male 75% and female 65% have
opined that leaders are essential for social development .Where as
among the total 26% and males 19% and female 32 % felt that there
is more essential need of leaders for social development ,it is observed
that 3% of respondents have not answered
47
Table No 2
Perspective regarding need of leader for Social
development
Gender More Essential Not essential Not answered Total
Essential
Male 23 (74) 1 (3 ) 4 (13) 3 (11) 31 (100)
Female 27 (73) 1 (3) 4 (11) 5 (13) 37 (100)
Total 50 (73) 2 (3) 8 (12) 8 (12) 68 (100)
X2 P=0.293
An attempt has made to focuses on respondents Perspectives
regarding need of leader for Social development. When asked about
need of leaders for social development it is found 74% among all the
respondents expressed that there is more essential need of leaders at
present social scenario. 3% in general all the categories opinioned
that leader are essential. It can be noted that Maximum respondents
have felt that there is more essential need of leaders in our society.
4% male &female respondents said that leaders are not essential for
social development. 8% of respondents, 3% male and 5% female
respondents have not answered .
Table No 3
Awareness about Scarcity of leaders among respondents
Gender Scarcity exists No scarcity Total
Male 29 (94 ) 2 (6 ) 31 (100)
Female 36 (97) 1 (3 ) 37 (100)
Total 65 (96 ) 3 (4) 68 (100)
X2 P=0.562
An Attempt is made to know the Awareness about Scarcity of
leaders among respondents. Maximum respondents (96%) among
the total respondents have expressed that scarcity of leaders exists
in our society. only 6% of males and 3% of females opinioned that
there is no scarcity of leaders. Such rational outlook itself is foundation
for social development
pp. 42-49
48
Table No 4
Opinion of respondents about commitment of leaders for
social development
Gender More committed Less committed Not Committed Total
Male 2 (7) 14 (45) 15 (48) 31 (100)
Female 1 (3) 16 (43) 20 (54) 37 (100)
Total 3 (4) 30 (44) 35 (52) 68 (100)
X2 P=657
Future nation builders need to understand social realities. With
this view point opinion of respondents was collected about commitment
of leaders for social development. It is found that maximum that is
52 % among total respondents (48% of male respondents and 54%
of female respondents) said that leaders are not committed for social
development. At same time average 44% of respondents felt that
leaders are less committed for social development. A very least
respondents that is 7 % male 3 % females and 4% of total respondents
said more commitment is found .
Table No 5
Distribution of respondents as per their like to be leaders
Gender Like Dont Like Not answered Tital
Male 4 (13) 27 (87) 00 31 (100)
Female 15 (40) 18 (49) 4 (11) 37 (100)
Total 19 (28) 45 (66) 4 (6) 68 (100)
X 2 P=11.730
To find out a instinct wish, a existing passion for leadership
question was asked whether they have liking for leadership. A
maximum 87 % males, 49% females and 66% of the total respondents
do not like to leaders, it gives researcher a hint that leadership is
tough, is a complex phenomena to grow as leaders. Only 28% of the
total respondents, 13 % of males and 40 % of female respondents
like to be identified as leaders. It clearly gives us an idea that females
have craving for leadership status .
49
Major findings
Out of total respondents, 69 % have opined that leaders are
essential for social development
It is found 74% males. 73% females and 73 % among all the
respondents expressed that there is more essential need of leaders at
present social scenario.
The Maximum respondents 96% have expressed that scarcity
of leaders exists in our society.
It is found that maximum that is 52 % among total respondents
48% of male respondents and 54% of female respondents said that
leaders are not committed for social development.
40 % of female respondents like to be identified as leaders. It
clearly gives us an idea that females have craving for leadership
status .
Conclusion
The issues, results related to the perspectives of social work
students about leadership initiates social work educators to focus on
perceptions, and concepts about social realities, burning social
problems and issues related to social development among social work
students. Professional social work curriculum should be broadly based
on needs to suit the various needs of students. Every student cannot
be noted leader, can be a leader but in every one there is a desire to
excel, a desire to do the best and hence a distinguishing mark of an
able social work teacher is to recognize the leadership qualities in a
students and make an sincere effort to encourage them, empower
them, enable them to excel as future LEADERS.
References
1. http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadcon.html#sthash.cdhAucEm.dpuf
2. Donald clark concept of leadership http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/
leadcon.html#sthash.cdhAucEm.dpuf
3. www.proud2bindian.in
4. Dr S Guruswamy Leadership managing cooperatives ,social welfare vol XL
no 4 July 1993 p 33
5. Marie Mignon Mascarenhas, Family life education Value education A Text
book for college students p88
6. Shamshuddin what makes a leader Social welfare vol XL issue 4 1993 p-36
7. Dr Nanjundappa report.
pp. 42-49
50
Abstract:
Public and people-centered advocacy are shaped by the political
culture, social systems, and constitutional framework of the country
in which they are practiced. It is the practice of advocacy that
determines the theory, and not vice a versa. If advocacy is not
rooted in grassroots realities and is practiced only at the macro
level, the voice of the marginalized is increasingly likely to be
appropriated by professional elites. However, the very credibility
of advocacy practitioners depends on their relationship with mass-
based movements and grassroots perceptions of what constitutes
desirable social change.
Rights based and people centered advocacy almost always
challenges power structures and can therefore be very difficult and
risky work. A key concern for civil society organizations is how to
deal with threats that often have to be faced by the community in
the face of vibrant people centered advocacy. For example, in the
case of the campaign against insecure land tenure in Nepal, bonded
labourers advocated for their liberation under constant threat from
landlords.
The present article is based on people centered advocacy which
leads to leadership among marginalized communities. It also
discusses the role of marginalized communities in the process of
formulation of policies. The present article will urges all concerns
related to people centered advocacy and marginalized leadership.
Key Words: Leadership, development, skills, democracy,
transparency, people, centered, advocacy, marginalized, practice,
etc.
* Assistant Professor & Head, Department of Social Work, Tilak Maharashtra
Vidyapeeth, Mukundnagar, Gultekdi, Pune 411037. Maharashtra, (India).
Email: tmu.sw.dept@gmail.com, msw@tmv.edu.in & paks_2705@yahoo.co.in
People Centered Advocacy: An Effective
Tool for Promoting Marginalized Leadership
Prakash S. Yadav*
Prakash S. Yadav
51
Introduction
Effective Leadership is aimed at the individual who is serious
about improving his or her own leadership development capabilities.
The author aims to stimulate an awareness of leadership, provide an
understanding of the principles and functions of leadership, and guide
the reader through the methods used to develop leadership skills,
(John Adair1988).
Greater democracy, transparency and the work of civil society
groups to hold decision-makers accountable are more likely to achieve
long term sustainable change for poor people. What is meant by being
people centered? The people centered approach prioritizes
empowering people to advocate for pro-poor policies themselves.
Simply put, its goal is to help poor people discover and secure their
rights. For this to happen people need to become empowered,
organized and mobilized able to express their basic needs and
negotiate them with outside actors., on the other hand advocacy work
that supports and enables people to better negotiate, on their own
behalf, for their basic needs and basic rights is what is becoming
known as people-centered advocacy,(Jennifer Chapman
andAmbokaWameyo, January 2001).
Such advocacy need not just be local, and can strike to the heart
of national even international policy making. With people centered
advocacy, people become powerful. The people centered approach
challenges the notion that the poor cannot formulate or understand
policy, arguing instead that the gap between the poor and policy makers
must be decreased and that states, governments and policy makers
should be responsive to the voices of the excluded.
People centered advocacy is work that directly involves people
negotiating better, on their own behalf, for their basic rights. People
centered advocacy is often, but not always, associated with local
level work in which people are supported to analyze their own
situations, identify their rights, make their views heard and hold
decision makers accountable.
Advocacy is a word that is up for grabs in public discourse,
research, and policy. Journalists, activists, academicians, lawyers,
52
government officials, classifiers, non-profit managers, and others use
the word differently in their professions. Advocacy describes a
wide range of individual and collective expression or action on a cause,
idea, or policy. It may also refer to specific activities or organizations.
Sometimes a distinction is made between advocacy on behalf of
others and grassroots advocacy or civic and political participation.
The word is often modified to describe the venue for political action.
Discussion about non-profit advocacy that reaches across academic
disciplines and professions often encounters definitional problems.
Does the word advocacy clarify or confuse this discourse? Does
the word have negative or positive attributes? How does it compare
to other words that describe civic and political engagement, words
like social action, political action, and public voice, social capital,
mobilizing, or organizing? Is it a useful word for research and analysis?
Do regulatory constraints associated with nonprofit lobbying and
political activities create confusion about its meaning and application
to nonprofit practices? To lessen ambiguity in research and regulation
about non-profit advocacy, it is important to define which activities
are advocacy activities, what advocacy activities are regulated and
why, and which organizations are advocacy groups.
Sorting through definitions and use of advocacy clarifies
discussions about the role and behavior of non-profits as social and
political actors, non-profit impact on governance and citizen
participation, and the scope and rationale of regulation for non-profit
political activities. Some of the more common entanglements in
defining and using the term in research and regulation are noted below.
Advocacy Activities and Organizations:
Advocacy activities can include public education and influencing
public opinion; research for interpreting problems and suggesting
preferred solutions; constituent action and public mobilizations; agenda
setting and policy design; lobbying; policy implementation, monitoring,
and feedback; and election-related activity. However, there is no
Prakash S. Yadav
53
agreement on which activities constitute advocacy, and no one source
gives a full account of the many kinds of activities and strategies
groups use to leverage influence in the policy process. Each research
project must define the activities important to the question under study.
Further, there must be continual clarification about what kinds of
activities are subject to regulation. Although data on organizations
are available through a variety of sources, it is difficult to use them
for the study of non-profit advocacy. When researchers operationalize
advocacy as a broad set of activities (Boris and Mosher-Williams
1998), data collection and classification of advocacy activities can be
difficult and imprecise.
When research focuses on a smaller subset of activities, such as
lobbying or litigation (Salamon 1995), the empirical profiles often
provide only a partial picture of the wider phenomena. Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) data for advocacy analysis are limited to the
collection of information on lobbying expenditures. Definitional
problems come into full play when data are combined from diverse
sources, such as lobbying disclosure data, Federal Election Commission
(FEC) data, Encyclopedia of Organizations data, and surveys.
Additionally, the significance of any data set can be over stated in
paper titles such as Explaining Non-profit Advocacy or Non-profit
Advocacy Organizations.
It is also important to clarify which groups are advocacy
organizations. All non-profits build organizational capacity and
infrastructure to meet their missions, although groups that engage in
advocacy are likely to strengthen their organizations in ways most
useful to achieving their political goals. Groups engage in advocacy
activities to various extents: as the primary focus of their work, as a
regular part of their overall activities, and on occasion when an issue
spurs them to action. Some groups have specific organizational
structures and decision making processes to accommodate their
political affairs; others join coalitions or policy networks to increase
their capacity to advocate effectively.
54
There are over 1.5 million non-profit organizations grouped into
classification schemes of many shapes and sizes offering different
windows into nonprofit advocacy. The federal tax code separates
non-profits into 21-plus categories of tax-exempt organizations, and
permissible political activities vary by category. Using IRS taxonomy
of organizations and data helps us understand levels of expenditures
for certain kinds of legislative and political activities. It also structures
the use of the tax-exempt form for political purposes. For example,
social welfare organizations, 501 (c) (4)s, may engage in unlimited
amounts of legislative lobbying and thus serve as an organizational
vehicle for citizens who wish to associate for public policy purposes.
Other tax-exempt groups, such as trade and professional associations,
veterans groups, and labour unions, share the same benefits of
association and latitude of political action and are also active political
players. Thus it is hard to get a full picture from these data and
classification schemes about the extent to which groups interface
with the process of policy development and policymaking.
Most analysis of the non-profit sector requires a rigorous look at
the links between specific activities and specific organizations.
Advocacy activities are embedded in distinct organizational models,
setting boundaries around the practice of advocacy and participation
in the political process by insiders and outsiders alike (Minkoff 1999).
Interest groups, political organizations, mobilizing groups, public
interest groups, citizen organizations, multi-issue organizations, social
movement organizations, and other descriptions of non-profit
organizations as policy actors fill our democratic vocabulary and adopt
different advocacy activities and strategies. Jeffrey Berry points out,
It is not their tax status that distinguishes them from other non-
profits, but rather its that they are openly and aggressively political
(Berry 1999). Other social science research contributes to our
understanding of organizations and activities. For example, interest
groups have been studied at the national level to determine how patrons
shape their advocacy practices (Walker 1991).
Social movement organizations mobilize resources from their
broader environment; over time, the loose alliances and protests of
Prakash S. Yadav
55
social movements evolve into more routine advocacy in nonprofit
organizations (Zald and McCarthy 1987). Some research asks which
groups are effective advocates, what kinds of activities are effective,
and at what stages of the policy process groups are most successful
(Rees1998; Berry 1999).
Representation and Participation:
Non-profit organizations are intermediaries between citizens and
other institutions of government and business. They deepen the ways
in which people are represented and participate in democracies.
Contrasting advocacy as organizational representation with advocacy
as social and political participation can be a useful way to describe
how non-profit organizations relate to the body politic.
Non-profit advocacy as representation evokes the familiar phrase
on behalf of. This interpretation draws meaning from the Latin
word advocate coming to the aid of someone. A strong tradition of
case advocacy exists in the United States. Advocates appeal through
court action on behalf of individuals and classes of people whose
interests are underrepresented in government. Case advocacy may
open the political system to new voices and interests as the courts
redefine the rights of individuals and the roles of state and society in
addressing social problems. When advocacy is viewed as
representation of interests, values, or preferences, questions may arise
about the legitimacy of organizations to represent us. Non-profit its
that are regular players in policy and politics may or may not include
citizens in their internal organizational affairs or engage citizens in
public action. Further, organizational styles of advocacy vary and the
non-profit community can be divided in its approaches to social reform.
Social justice advocates prefer their efforts not to be associated
with special interest lobbies or inside political operators striking deals
with little public consent or exploiting the political system to serve a
narrow interest. Community organizers, who urge citizens to come
together and speak out about their concerns, prefer not to be confused
with the paternalistic styles of professional do gooders.
Advocacy, examined as social and political participation,
emphasizes how people take action on their own behalf. Nonprofit
56
advocacy as participation refers to collective action and social protest
as well as the face-to-face contact of people and their political leaders.
Language about the practice of advocacy as participation includes
grassroots action, civic voice, public action, citizen action, organizing,
mobilization, and empowerment. We look to participation indicators
to judge the health of our democracy, but whether or not we are
currently in a participatory drought depends on the indicator. If voting
is a measure, we are about to die of thirst. If volunteering is a measure,
we have found an oasis. If campaign donations are a measure, we
are in a flash flood. Nonprofit organizations are central to civic
engagement, especially churches, unions, and other groups that link
citizens to governance. Social networks that develop norms of trust
and reciprocity among Citizenssocial capitalmay shape the
conduct of citizens in democratic decision-making (Putnam 2000).
Advocacy as participation addresses the ways organizations
stimulate public action, create opportunities for people to express
their concerns in social and political arenas, and build the resources
and skills necessary for effective action (Verba, Schlozman, and
Brady1995). Professionalized advocacy organizations and political
consultants may have replaced earlier traditions of civic engagement
and political action (Skocpol and Fiorina 1999).
The distinction between advocacy as organizational representation
and as participation has led to the contradictory use of the terms
direct and indirect advocacy in practice and research. In research,
indirect advocacy may describe the participatory aspects of nonprofit
advocacy, particularly the capacity of groups to stimulate individual
citizens to take action on their own behalf. In contrast, direct advocacy
may refer to lobbying and other appearances before key decision
makers by organizational representatives on behalf of others
(McCarthy and Castelli 1996). Adding to the confusion, the IRS calls
lobbying on specific legislation direct advocacy, while community
organizers call mobilization direct action.
Government Centered and People Centered Advocacy:
Government-centered advocacy and society-centered advocacy
suggest different venues are available for building the political will to
leverage policy change. In the American political system, the
organization of interests is often described as an interaction of three
Prakash S. Yadav
57
sectors government, society, and business with competition and
cooperation among these sectors when matters of public concern
need attention. Global advocacy in the international system refers to
advocacy among organizations and their networks in civil society,
international institutions, and national governments.
Advocacy is often modified to describe the venue of action, and
the resulting terms may be used interchangeably in law, research,
and practice to describe either activities or venues. Policy advocacy
most frequently refers to advocacy that influences government
policymaking. But Craig Jenkinss definition of policy advocacy as
any attempt to influence the decisions of institutional elite on behalf
of a collective interest (Jenkins 1987) encompasses decision making
in any kind of institution inside and outside of government.
Administrative advocacy, judicial advocacy, and legislative
advocacy can help us focus on the uniqueness of decisions and
processes in the different branches of government (OMB Watch
2000). Administrative advocacy and program advocacy focus on
advocacy during the implementation phase of the policy process, when
rules and regulations are promulgated and service delivery systems
designed and put in place, sometimes with feedback from citizen
groups (Reid 1998). Program advocacy is also used to describe the
everyday work of organizations carrying out their charitable missions
or providing services, as long as the activities are not outside the
realm of protected speech; does not refer to specific legislation; and
does not become partisan activity (Hopkins 1993).
People centered advocacy suggests that nonprofits have an
important role to play outside government in shaping public opinion,
setting priorities for the public agenda, and mobilizing civic voice and
action. People centered advocacy most often describes advocacy as
social action, social change, or social movements. Non-profits are
vehicles for developing common visions and social missions, and
advancing common interests and values collectively. They analyze,
interpret, and convey information in society and thus create the context
for government policy.
State and local advocacy is often distinguished from national
advocacy because organizational resources, opportunities, and
58
practices differ. Most grassroots advocacy takes place at the state
and local level, yet national organizations are often the focus of
research and media exposure. Organizational networks and practices
are less formal at the local level. Advocacy may still be contentious
or competitive, but the intimacy of the local setting means that activists
and government officials may have more access to one another and
may share social networks and contacts that mediate conflict. National-
level advocacy, by comparison, involves larger, more formal
organizations, structures, and practices. The links between national
and local organizations may influence whether local voice has an
organizational route to national decision making.
Nonprofit advocacy advances the interests or values of a group
that stands to benefit from action in the policy process or elsewhere.
One measure of advocacy effectiveness is the extent to which a
group succeeds in shaping new policy that directly benefits its
constituency. Public interest advocacy makes broad public claims in
the policy process on behalf of consumers and citizens. Organizations
advocating for the disabled, the elderly, or an ethnic group, for
example, may be more narrowly defined by their constituencies.
Beneficiaries of advocacy, or those who stand to gain from policy
change, may be the organizations themselves (through contracts) or
groups of citizens (through public programs), or the public (through
widely applicable policy).
Self-defense advocacy is lobbying on issues necessary to an
organizations survival. None of these definitions are much help in
understanding the wide range of non-profit behaviors that make
groups weak or powerful voices in policymaking. They do, however,
help us locate where the advocacy is occurring and think about how
advocacy used in one arena might affect outcomes in another. Although
the definitions say little about how groups acquire access or influence
decisions in any one arena, they do lead us to think about the processes
for decision making in each arena that may affect opportunities for
access or make one kind of activity more influential than another.
Prakash S. Yadav
59
Lobbying and Advocacy:
In April 1999, the General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a
report on lobbying definitions in the Lobby Disclosure Act and the
Internal Revenue Code Sections 4911 and 162(e). Their findings
indicate that agencies use lobbying language to describe different
sets of activities at the national, state, and local levels. These
differences were found to affect registration and reporting
requirements as well (GAO 1999).
Adding to the confusion, government and private funding agencies
send mixed messages to contractors and grantees about the
permissibility of engaging in advocacy and about reporting it. For
example, IRS guidance indicates that lobbying is permissible because
it is limited but not prohibited. Some agencies and foundations
discourage the use of advocacy to describe organizational mission
and activities. Foundations may use restrictive grant language that
unnecessarily discourages grant recipients from engaging in advocacy
when they are legally permitted to do so under the law.
Issue advocacy, on the other hand, is an advocacy activity that
has been a source of contention in law and practice because it
generally falls outside the scope of either the IRS or FEC regulation
as public education. Yet it is a powerful tool for groups advocating
reform and favoring candidates with positions compatible with their
organizational interests.
Issues of Marginalization:
In the Indian context this has proved to be extremely inadequate
both for understanding the processes by which minorities are created
and for taking care of the disadvantages faced by them. At the time
of independence, minorities were identified primarily on the basis of
religious identity. Even though the Constitution spoke of linguistic and
cultural minorities little attention was given to them and their problems.
Shortly after independence, however, the demand for linguistic
reorganization created zones within which one particular linguistic
community was dominant. Linguistic minorities in the national context
60
were thus transformed into a regional majority. However, this process
created new minorities for example, Bengalis in Assam, Tamils in
Karnataka and Gorkhas in Bengal- who faced the same problem of
marginalization within the region as the recognized regional languages
had faced within the Indian union.
The problems confronted by these new minorities have revealed
the limitations of the concept of minority and the associated idea of
minority rights. Minorities, it is evident, are context specific. A
community may be a majority in the nation but a minority in a particular
region. For instance, Hindus constituted the religious majority in India
but in the state of Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir they represented a
minority. Accordingly, in this region their educational institutions were
designated as minorities institutions within the region. Further, it is
perhaps equally important to note that a majority and a minority are
identified with reference to an identity and, the use of diverse identities
does not always yield the same majority and minority. In India, when
religion is taken as the basis of differentiating the population, Hindus
constitute a majority; however when language becomes the relevant
index of identity then certain groups within the majority become
vulnerable minorities. Indeed, in India, the tendency to identify
permanent and fixed Minorities has resulted in the privileging of
religious identity. It is also focused on the problems faced by Muslims
and other religious minorities and their rights within the nation-state.
By comparison, scant attention has been paid to the problems faced
by linguistic minorities or other backward and socially discriminated
communities.
Minority rights, it must be noted, are best suited for preserving
cultures and identities rather than countering the processes of
marginalization. In India the concerns of linguistic minorities within
the nation-state were addressed by reorganizing the boundaries of
regions or provinces. Linguistic reorganization transformed Minorities
in the national context in to majorities in a regional context. Even
though specific linguistic groups remained vulnerable Minorities in a
region, languages which had not been officially reorganized by the
nation were now able to preserve their identity. In other words,
transformation of a minority in to a majority allowed for the survival
Prakash S. Yadav
61
of the recognized regional language. This is significant because in
the discourse on multiculturalism, preserving ones cultural identity is
often seen as a way of countering the marginalization faced by
minorities in the nation-state. In India, by comparison, protecting
cultures and diversities has not been an effective way of halting the
processes of marginalization. Indeed, even the attempt to preserve a
marginalized culture has left the structures that engender
marginalization intact.
The Indian experience obliviously tells a different story. It reveals
the difficulties associated with the identification of a minority, and
shows that a minority is almost entirely context dependent. Further,
since minority rights generally seek to preserve cultures and
community practices, they are often insensitive to the democratic
need for creating a public sphere in which freedom and equality are
the operative norms. In so far as the latter is, and must remain, the
primary concern of all democracies, it is necessary to contextualize
minority rights and analyze the conditions under which these rights
are well-suited with the democratic agenda.
Untouchable Movements in the Indian Context:
A section of untouchables who could improve their economic
condition, either by abandoning their traditional occupations, launched
struggles for higher status in the caste hierarchy. They followed
Sanskritic norms and rituals. They tried to justify their claim to a
higher social status in the caste hierarchy by inventing suitable
mythologies. All untouchable jatis, however, have not succeeded in
removing civic disabilities traditionally imposed upon them. Practically
they are still treated as untouchables in their places of residence
(Shyamlal 1981; Brar 1985; Kumar 1985; Parmar 1987).
A major anti-untouchability movement was launched by Dr.
Ambedkar in the 1920s in Maharashtra. This has continued in different
forms till today. Though the movement is primarily rooted in
Maharashtra, it has spread to different parts of the country and
acquired an all- India character. Dr. Ambedkar emerged as the leader
of untouchables of the country. During the 1920s the Mahars launched
62
unsuccessful satyagrahas against untouchability in Maharashtra.
Ambedkar saw the possibility of advancement for the untouchables
through the use of political means to achieve social and economic
equality with the highest classes in modern society (Zelliot 1970; Nath
1987).
Amedkar organized the Independent Labour party (ILP) on
secular line for protecting the interests of the labouring classes.
Though the party was open to the labourers belonging to al the castes,
it was dominated by the Mahars. It did not make much of an impact.
their political movement overrode efforts to claim religious rights,
failed in the attempts to represent class or labour, and took on much
of the nature of caste association functioning in the political
arena,(Zelliot 1970). Later, Ambedkar formed the Scheduled Caste
Federation (SCF) in 1954, to fight elections and look after the interests
of the SCs. Those interests were confined to reservations of jobs
and political positions (Verba et al. 1972; Nath 1987). The SCF was
later converted in to the Republican Party in 1956, with the intention
of broadening its base by including in its fold the Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes and backward castes.
Assertion of dalit identity has almost become a central issue of
dalit movements. This involves local-level collective action against
discrimination and atrocities. Statues of Dr. Ambedkar are found not
only in urban dalit localities but also in many villages where their
number is fairly large. Dalits, though very poor, enthusiastically
contribute to installing Ambedkar statues in their neighborhoods. They
struggle to get a piece of land from local authorities to install the
statue. Radhey Lal Boudh of the Dalit Panthers argued in the 1980s
that installing Ambedkars statue dalits could propogate an
Ambedkarite iconography, which would generate a kind of pan- Indian
bahujan imagined community, apart from asserting their control over
land (Pai 2002). The statues and photos of Dr. Ambedkar are an
expression of dalit consciousness and their assertion for identity.
There are several local movements in which dalits en mass
migrate from their villages protesting against discrimination and
atrocities. In the 1980s there were five such incidents. Desai and
Maheria (2002) document one of the micro-level movements. In
Prakash S. Yadav
63
protests against torture and beating, the dalits of village Sambarda
undertook hijarat, i.e. en mass migration like refugees from their
native village and camped in the open before the district collectors
office for 131 days in 1989.
Organizations and Leadership:
Ambedkar formed the Independent Labour Party and Scheduled
Caste Federation, and there are a number of Scheduled Caste
organizations at regional levels. But there is no study focusing on the
organizational set up and leadership and their efforts aimed at mobilizing
the Scheduled Castes. Owen Lynch, in his study, The Politics of
Untouchability (1969, gives some information regarding the
organization of the Jatavas of the Agra city. Denis Von der weid and
Guy Poitevin (1981) give a brief account of the organization of the
RCDA, Tamil Nadu. Saurabh Dube has analyse the Satnami
Mahasabha between 1925 and 1950 showing how it had undergone
changes.
Robert Hardgrave (1969) and A. Aiyappan (1944) give an
account of the Nadars and Iravas. They are caste associations like
any other caste organizations involved in the process of political
mobilization. Hardgrave observed that, The Nadar Mahajan Sangam
is a voluntary association, drawn from the ascriptive, reservoir of
castes. Its actual membership is but a fraction of its potential in full
caste recruitment, but the association claims to speak for the
community as a whole, asserting virtual representation. If this claim
is to be accepted as credible in the light of economic differentiation
and the diffusion of political support within the community, the
association must withdraw from active political involvement. The
caste association has played a vital role, nevertheless, in the political
mobilization of the Nadar community, serving as the agent of
community integration and as the vechile for its entrance in to the
political system of modern India (1969-2001).
Moreover, as peasants, the harijans participated in the various
peasant struggles. In a few movements they acted autonomously
under the leadership of and the organization of militants drawn from
among themselves (Heningham, 1981).
64
The most important leader of the dalit movement in India was
Dr. Ambedkar. There are quite a few bibliographies of Ambedkar.
Among them the important ones are by Dhanjay Keer (1954), W.N.
Kuber (1973) and M.S. Gore (1993). Eleanor Zelliots study on Dr.
Ambedkar and the Mahars is a very important contribution to the
subject (1996). Gore analyses Ambedkars ideology and locates it
within the broader framework of a study on social movements, on
the one hand, and the sociology of idea systems, on the other.
According to Zelliot, Ambedkars programmes were intended to
integrate the untouchables in to Indian society in modern, not traditional
ways, and on as high a level as possible. Ambedkar planned his
program to bring the untouchable from a state of dehumanization
and slavery into one of equality through the use of modern methods
based on education and the exercise of legal and political rights. At
the same time, Ambedkars modernizing ideology was tempered in
practice by a clear perception of the tenacity of caste and tradition.
He sought to awaken in the untouchables awareness of their debased
condition and common interests that would promote the unity needed
for the development of effective organizations and mass action. For
such reasons, Ambedkar advocated a separatist policy accentuating
caste distinctions as an initial stage in creating a society in which
identities would be unimportant (Zelliot, 1972).
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the term advocacy has multiple meanings depending
on the context in which it is used. It broadly describes the influence
of groups in shaping social and political outcomes in government and
society. In law and regulation, advocacy refers to types of reportable
activities, but regulatory agencies may differ on their use of the term.
In research, advocacy may describe both the representational and
participatory aspects of groups as intermediaries between citizens
and decision - makers, types of organizations and their capacity to
advocate, and strategies of action in different venues.
No one definition of advocacy suffices to help us understand
how groups influence policymaking or how regulation can best be
Prakash S. Yadav
65
designed to protect against political abuses yet not inhibit public
engagement in the political life of the nation. Yet the term can be
used broadly as an umbrella for cross-cutting discussion from different
perspectives and expertise to help inform regulation and practice. If
discussions about non-profit advocacy practice and regulation are to
bridge discourse across academic disciplines, organizational expertise,
and regulatory perspectives, participants will have to be precise about
the meaning of advocacy.
In general the advocacy describes both the representational and
participatory aspects of groups such as untouchables and minority
communities as intermediaries between citizens and decision - makers,
types of organizations and their capacity to advocate, and strategies
of action in different venues for the social, economic, political and
cultural spheres of integrated development of these communities.
Hence, it is significantly true that the people centered advocacy
is the effective tool for the overall development and enhance the
leadership capabilities among marginalized communities.
References:
1. Berry, Jeffrey. (1999) New Liberalism: The Rising Power of Citizen Groups,
D.C.: Brookings Institution, Washington.
2. Falk, Richard, (1988), The Rights of Indigenous People, Oxford University
Press, New Delhi.
3. Hopkins, Bruce. (1993), Charity, Advocacy and the Law, Wiley. New York.
4. Jenkins, Craig. (1987), Nonprofit Organizations and Policy Advocacy. In
The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, edited by Walter W. Powell
(297). New Haven: Yale University Press.
5. J. Martinez Cobo,(1986) Study of the Problems of Discrimination Against
Indigenous Populations, Volume 5,UN.Doc.,E/CN.4.
6. Parekh, Bhikhu, (1995), Cultural and Liberal Democracy, Sage Publications,
London.
7. Simon and Schuster. Reid, Elizabeth J. (1998), Nonprofit Advocacy and
Political Participation. In Nonprofit and Government: Collaboration and
Conflict, edited by Elizabeth Boris and Eugene Steuerle (291325), D.C.: The
Urban Institute Press. Washington.
8. Zald, Mayer, and John McCarthy, (1987), Social Movements in an
Organizational Society, Transaction Publisher, London.
66
Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in the
Political Empowerment and Leadership
Development of Dalits in Gujarat
R.R.Patil*
1
Abstract
The present research paper attempts to examine the programme
carried out by the four selected NGOs for the political empowerment
of dalits in Gujarat. Each NGOs one major programme directed
towards the political empowerment of dalits have been identified
and analysed to find out their suitability for the political
empowerment and leadership development of Dalits. The paper
describes and analyses programme of NGOs, keeping in view
political empowerment and leadership aspects. The researcher has
considered ten categories such as basic information of programme;
process of planning for programme; process of resource arrangement
and utilization; programme execution process; nature of local
participation in programme; Dalit empowerment aspects in
programmme; decision making process; monitoring; evaluation;
sustainability of programme, while analyzing, interpreting and
discussing about the contribution of programme of each NGO to
understand the political empowerment process of dalits. It also
highlights the process of capacity building and leadership
development among dalits and tries to understand the extent of
NGOs contribution in the political empowerment of dalits.
Key Words: Leadership, NGOs, Political, Empowerment,
Programme, Dalits
Introduction:
The proliferation of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) is
a continuous process in India. During the last three decades, there
1*Dr. R.R.Patil, is a Professor, Department of Social Work, School of Social Sciences, Central
University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, Rajasthan-305801, Email: ravi_patil72@yahoo.com
(The above manuscript is the excerpt of unpublished Ph.D work of the author)
R.R. Patil
67
has been a rapid growth in the number of NGOs in various parts of
India. The studies have shown that the nature and types of NGOs
are varied in India. They are involved in performing various activities
such as providing educational and health services, relief, charity and
welfare services, increasing peoples voice in decision making,
engaging in developmental work, self-help group, human rights issues,
social awakening, community development activities in urban and
rural areas, etc. These NGOs have been involved in the welfare and
development of poor and weaker sections of the society. However,
the different aspects of NGOs and their contribution for various issues
and situations remain unexplored due to lack of information and
literature. The contribution of NGOs in dalit empowerment is one
such unexplored area of social science discipline.
The dalits problem and suffering in India are multi-dimensional
due to practice of caste system and caste-based discrimination.
Historically, there have been various efforts against the practice of
caste system and untouchability. Similarly, the Indian government has
initiated various legal and constitutional provisions for the welfare,
development and protection of dalits. However, despite of government
efforts, there has not been much change in the condition of the majority
of dalits in India. Moreover, how NGOs are instrumental in political
empowerment of dalits and creating leadership among them is
unexplored area in social science literature. It is in this context; the
present article highlights and examines how NGOs as a component
of civil society contribute for dalits political empowerment in terms
of political leadership development in three districts of Gujarat.
Gujarat, one of the economically progressive States of India, has
long history of voluntary movement and comparatively high proportion
of NGOs. However, the state suffers and lags behind in various
dimensions of human development. The estimate of below poverty
line in Gujarat is 18.4 per cent and it is comparatively high among the
population of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Similarly, the
problems related to land reform, redistribution of common community
resources, practice of untouchability, caste-based discrimination and
atrocities committed against dalits are still a regular phenomenon in
the various parts of the state (Shah, 2000; Lious, 2002). Thus, the
pp. 66-85
68
present article tries to examine the contribution of NGOs in political
empowerment of dalits and understand the process of capacity building
and leadership development of dalits in the state of Gujarat. According
to unpublished sources of NGOs, there are totally 42 NGOs
addressing the issues of Dalits and twenty (20) NGOs among them
work for Dalit empowerment in Ahmadabad (10), Anand (3),
Banaskantha (1), Gandhinagar (1), Junagarh (1), Rajkot (1),
Sabarkantha (1), Surat (1) and Surendranagar (1) districts of Gujarat
( Jan Path, 2003). Out of these 20 NGOs (universe of the study) four
NGOs have been selected purposely (purposive sampling) for the
study. These four NGOs such as Ashadeep Human Development
Centre (AHDC), Banaskantha District Dalit Sanghatan (BDDS),
Behavioural Science Centre(BSC), Navsarjan Trust (NT) have been
chosen keeping in view their involvement in mitigating caste-based
discriminations and atrocities committed against the Dalits, and their
programmes directed towards the social, economic, educational and
political empowerment of Dalits in Gujarat. These four NGOs are
located in Ahmedabad (2), Anand (1), and Banaskantha (1) districts
that represent more than 1/4 Dalit (Scheduled Castes) population i.e.
990734 out of total 3592715 Dalit population of Gujarat. Hence, the
above four NGOs of Ahmedabad, Anand and Banaskantha districts
have been selected to examine their contribution for the political
empowerment of dalits in Gujarat.
Methodology:
The present study falls under exploratory research design for
qualitative research. To justify the importance and needs of the study,
the method of case study has been especially adopted to scrutinize,
in detail, the profile of the selected NGOs, their programmes for the
political empowerment of dalits. Keeping in view the objectives of
the study, the purposive sampling has been used as sampling technique
for the study. Certain criteria have been adopted for selecting NGOs
as a purposive sample. The data have been collected by using both
primary as well as secondary sources. The primary data regarding
NGOs programmes and their relevance to the political empowerment
of Dalits have been collected through semi-structured interview
R.R. Patil
69
schedule from the Programme Coordinators of the selected NGOs.
The present study is heavily relied upon qualitative analysis; however
the quantitative analysis were also made for explaining some of the
facts. The quantitative as well as qualitative data collected through
interview schedule, interview guide and informal discussion were
analyzed descriptively to understand the fact that to what extent the
NGOs can contribute for political empowerment of Dalits. Finally,
the analyzed data have presented through the descriptive writing to
support the objectives of the study.
NGOs' Programme for the Political Empowerment and
Leadership Development of Dalits:
In this part, one programme of each NGO related to political
empowerment of Dalit community have been illustrated. The
researcher has considered ten categories such as a) basic information
of the programme b) planning process c) process of resource
arrangement and utilization d) programme execution process e) nature
of local participation in programme f) Dalit empowerment aspects in
programme g) decision making process h) monitoring i) evaluation j)
sustainability of programme, while analyzing, interpreting and
discussing about the contribution of each NGO in the political
empowerment process of dalits.
The illustration of the following four case studies will help to
understand the process of political empowerment of dalits and their
by their leadership development in the state of Gujarat:
Case Study No. 1
There are a total of four programmes of this NGO namely a)
Legal Education and Awareness Programme (LEAP) b) Career
Guidance Cell (CGC) c) Youth Education Service (YES) d)
Community Organization and Rural Development (CORD). Out of
these four programmes, CORD is directly related to the political
empowerment of dalits. This programme has been studied and
analyzed to find out its relevance and contribution to the political
empowerment of Dalits. The details of this programme are as follows:
pp. 66-85
70
The Programme of Community Organisation and Rural
Development (CORD)
This programme has been started with an intention to organise
the Dalit community and educate them about various developmental
and welfare schemes of the Government in order to ensure that all
the benefits would reach those for whom the schemes are envisaged.
The objectives of the CORD are as follows: a) to sensitize and educate
the Dalit community about the welfare and developmental scheme
of Government b) to organize Dalit to collectively demand the
government authorities for the implementation of government schemes
in their favor c) to form self-help and local mandals of the women
and youth at the village level and d) to initiate small micro credit and
entrepreneurship programmes for Dalit women. With these objectives,
the CORD has been started in 1979.
At present it works in the 25 villages of Anand district and targeted
towards the Dalit women and Dalit youth. The CORD section is
responsible for the formation of 25 village level Mahila Mandals and
registered trust under the name of Stree Chetna Sangh in 1993. Each
mahila mandal in the village functions under its own independent name
and is affiliated to the Stree Chetna Sangh. The Stree Chethna
Sangh through the CORD conducts various activities for the growth
and development of the women and securing government welfare
schemes in favour of Dalit community. The working committee of
Stree Chethna Sangh meets regularly once in two months, where
local issues affecting the community are discussed; attempts are made
to solve the problems. Similarly, there are 36 Dalit youth mandals in
the 36 villages of Anand district formed by the CORD.
At present CORD section is mainly concentrating on the creation
of new mahila mandals and youth mandals and monitoring of the
existing mandals. The planning process of CORD is also in the same
direction to make local mandals more effective and strengthen to
resolve their problems through themselves and CORD will provide
guidance. The planning is conducted among the director, programme
co-ordinator and field staffs of the organization, the new strategy,
methods of work and activities are planned in the direction to create
R.R. Patil
71
new mahila and youth mandals. The resources in terms of programme
co-ordinator and field staff are recruited for effective implementation
of the programme. However, the special efforts are made through
camps and training programme to mobilize volunteers from the target
community. The intention behind this the local community and local
mandal should take initiative to resolve their crisis and CORD will
support from the outside.
The CORD team visits regularly to the operational area and
conducts meeting with the executive council of each mandal to
understand the problem of Dalit community and resolve the local
crisis through local mandals. For the creation of mandals in the new
areas the CORD organizes the meetings, camps, training programme
and guidance session to sensitize the Dalit women and youth about
the importance of unity and collective struggle against the injustices.
Similarly, to make the self-help groups self-reliant the CORD section
organized a number of awareness and training programs in the villages
in collaboration with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission
(KVIC), a Government of India undertaking. Information was given
on the various income generating programs that can be undertaken,
and the procedure to obtain the loans offered to the beneficiaries.
There is a good response of Dalit women and youth to CORD
activities. They regularly attend meetings, awareness sessions and
pro-actively taking action to resolve their local problems and seeking
the benefits of Government schemes in their favour. The programme
co-ordinator reveals, The members of Mahila Mandal and Youth
Mandal took initiatives and themselves have got some
Government schemes and civic amenities like widow pension,
delivery stipend, etc. for their villages. The 9 villages received
subsidized loans for purchase of buffaloes. In a village a co-
operative society of handloom weavers is formed with the help
of CORD and 21 men and 4 women have undergone 6 months
handloom training for self employment. These women have taken
active part in organizing women groups in other villages.
The programme is directed towards the sensitization and
mobilization of Dalit community and creating ability among Dalits
especially women and youth to participate in the socio-political
pp. 66-85
72
activities, take socio-political action for economic and social
development of the communities and form an organization for action
and upliftment. The CORD is doing good work in this direction to
create political empowerment among Dalit community.
The decisions of CORD are mainly taken by the director of the
current NGO and CORD team but there is a scope for the member
of different mandals to participate in the decision-making process for
the better implementation of programme. The decisions for the village
level mandals are taken after the prior consultation with the executive
committee and member of the women and youth mandals. There is a
greater involvement of women in the decision making and staffs play
the role of facilitators.
The monitoring is monthly process, in which programme co-
ordinator takes feed-back from the field staff and personally visits
the villages and interact with mandals. The regular monitoring keep
CORD programme co-ordinator aware about the internal issues of
the mandals and needs and issues of the community. In the annual
evaluation, apart from strength and weakness of CORD, the issues
related to strengthening bond among the members of mandals,
effective governance, formations of new mandals and innovative
measures for seeking larger participation for democratic struggle are
discussed and evolved.
The CORD is well-directed towards the political empowerment
of Dalits through the creation of women and youth mandals. The
planning, execution, decision-making processes and monitoring and
evaluation are well channelised to achieve the aim of programme.
The higher level participation of Dalits in every meeting and training
camp shows the importance of programme in their life. The CORD
shows the character of long term sustenance. In a nutshell, CORD
creates awareness among Dalits about their socio-political rights and
forms local organization of Dalits to initiate welfare and developmental
activities and collectively struggle against the injustices. Thus, the
CORD programme of this NGO contributing to political
empowerment process of Dalits thereby brings them in the main
stream of political leadership.
R.R. Patil
73
Case Study No. 2
There are a total of five programmes of this NGO that works
for Dalit empowerment such as a) Organization Building and Legal
Aid Programme (OBLAP) b) Saving and Credit Co-Operative Society
(SCCS) c) Bal Vikas Kendra (BVK) d) Panchayati Raj Initiatives
(PRI) e) Developmental Programmes (DP). The Panchayati Raj
Initiatives (PRI) have been selected to analyze and understand the
contribution of this organisation for the political empowerment process
which are as follows:
The Gujarat Government amended the Panchayati Raj Act in
1961 in tune with the 73rd constitutional amendment. The purpose
was to increase the participation of the Dalits, Adivasis and women
in the process of self-governance. In spite of this the Dalit, Adivasi
and Women Sarpanchs and Chairpersons of Social Justice Committees
are unable to enjoy their power. They meet discrimination even after
being elected in the Gram Panchayat. No confidence motions are
misused in dismissing them. They cannot work or take decision for
the welfare and development of their own community. Keeping these
things in view, the Panchayati Raj Initiatives (PRI) has been started
since 1999 to prevent injustices and increase Dalits participation in
self-governance. The objectives of this programme are: a) to enable
marginalized sections such as Adivasis, Dalits and Women to
participate in the process of local self-governance b) to enable Dalits,
Adivasis and Women to raise their welfare and development issues
at the Gram Sabha c) to create leadership qualities among the
marginalized section d) to provide guidance and training to Dalit,
Women, Adivasi Sarpanchs, Panchayat members and Chairpersons
of Social Justice Committees to run the office effectively e) to make
facilitation groups of marginalized sections sarpanchs at taluka level
to address their common concern at the higher level f) to coordinate
and network with other like minded organizations for taking the issues
of marginalized to higher level. The marginalized sections such as
adivasis, Dalits and women are the target groups of PRI.
The planning for PRI is designed by the president, secretary and
programme wing staff to evolve effective measures such as methods
pp. 66-85
74
of work, trainings, camps and guidance to sarpanchas/social justice
committee chairman, and addressing the welfare and developmental
needs of Dalit community. The special staff such as block programme
co-ordinator, block in charge have been appointed to carry out regular
activities of PRI such as understanding of the village dynamics, rapport
formation with government officials and updating information about
the government welfare and development schemes for SCs/STs.
Similarly, the cadre of volunteers also developed at the village level
for mobilization of support and community organization. All the
activities of PRI are managed by the funding from international funding
agency.
The programme execution process generally starts with the survey
to identify Sarpanchas and Social Justice Committee Chairman
(SJCC) from the marginalized sections of the operational areas. After
this, the list of Sarpanchas and Social Justice Chairman is prepared
and block level meeting is conducted to aware them about the situation
of Dalits in the rural areas. In this meeting, the views, difficulties and
needs of Sarpanchs and SJCC are also taken into consideration and
as per requirements the trainings, exposure visits and camps are
conducted to enhance their knowledge and capacity building. The
training programmes are mainly focused on the topic such as economic,
social, political analysis; understanding of Panchayati Raj Act;
understanding of government schemes; financial matters in the
Panchayat; leadership skills in local self-government; role/
responsibilities of leaders in the Panchayati Raj Structure; role of
Social Justice Committees in Peoples Movement; plan for capacity
enhancement of Social Justice Committee; role of Peoples
Organizations in Panchayati Raj; duties of Women Sarpanchs;
participation of women in Gram Sabha; peoples participation in
Panchayati Raj; planning, implementation & evaluation; etc. The
participation of Dalits is positive and high in training programmes and
they try to implement in their acquired new knowledge for better
functioning of the gram sabha.
The PRI especially design for the political empowerment of Dalits.
It is improving the skills and knowledge of Sarpanchs and SJCC for
effective functioning of local self-government for the welfare and
R.R. Patil
75
development of the Dalits. Similarly, it also increases the ability of
the Dalits to participate in the socio-political activities, take socio-
political action for economic and social development of the
communities and form an organization for action and upliftment of
the community.
The decision making of PRI is democratic and participatory. The
president, secretary and the programme wing staff jointly plan for
programme and evolve methods of work and activities. Due regards
are also given to the views and opinions of sarpanches and SJCC in
the planning and formulation process. The monitoring and evaluation
are conducted on a regular basis by the programme wing staff and
impact of training programme is evaluated as per initiatives taken by
the Sarpanchs and SJCC for the benefits of the Dalit community.
The overall evaluation of PRI conducted in sixth monthly review
meeting of the NGO.
The PRI is an innovative programme directed towards the political
empowerment of the Dalits. It enhances capacity of the Dalit
sarpanchs and SJCC to address the issues of the Dalits and run local
self-government efficiently. The planning, progamme execution,
decision making, monitoring and evaluation are well directed towards
the political empowerment of the Dalits. However, independent funding
is required for the sustainability of the programme. It has been
described above that the PRI programme of this NGO has been
designed for political empowerment of Dalits. PRI building capacity
of Dalit sarpanches and increases their participation in the local self-
government. It also promotes socio-political action to address socio-
political issues of the Dalit community. Thus, the NGO through PRI
programme contributing to the political empowerment of Dalits in
Banaskantha district.
Case Study No. 3
There are totally seven major programmes of this NGO that are:
a) Antyodaya Vikas Shikshan Centre (AVSC) b) Bhal Bara Dalit
Mahila Credit Co-operative Society Ltd. (BBDMCCSL) c) Child
Development Centre (CDC) d) Panchayati Raj Initiatives (PRI) e)
pp. 66-85
76
Resource and Support Programme (RSP) f) Human Rights Cells
(HRC) g) Human Resource Development Programmes (HRDP).
These programmes are run by the respective units of the NGO. In
order to understand the contribution in political empowerment of dalits
the Panchayati Raj Initiatives (PRI) has been selected, analysed and
interpreted that are as follows:
The Panchayat Raj Initiatives (PRI) of this NGO has emerged
on the particular socio-political context of Gujarat. The observation
and working with the Dalit and women sarpanches of gramsabha
brought out the fact that although 73
rd
constitutional amendment and
the Gujarat Panchayat Act (GPA), 1994 opened up the new avenues
for political participation of Dalit, women, and marginalized section
at the local self-government but in the reality they have been excluded
from political power. The working experience of this organisation
shows that the Dalit, women and marginalized section sarpanchs face
difficulties such as strong sense of caste-based discrimination and
practice of untouchability in the village creates major detriments
for the operationalisation of PRI provisions, lack of functional working
relationship among the Dalit communities and inability of the Dalit
communities to articulate their demands, existence of strong patriarchal
set-up, lack of unity among the Dalit community, lack of awareness
of the PRI and GPA provisions, higher caste ruling by proxy, dismissing
the Dalit sarpanches who dared to be assertive and autonomous
through engineered no-confidence motions and by controlling the local
bureaucracy.
Keeping the above things in view, the organization took initiatives
for strengthening the political participation of the Dalit community
and effective implementation of GPA started PRI programmes in the
operational areas. The objectives of PRI are as follows: a) the
implementation of GPA provisions for uplifting the socio-political status
of SCs, STs and Women and ushering changes in social relation b)
Promotion and support to the Dalit community-based organization c)
capacity-building of PR representatives to address the Dalit issues in
the panchayat d) to build political consciousness and attainment of
political power among Dalits. The target groups of PRI are Dalit,
women and marginalized section sarpanches of the gramsabha. At
R.R. Patil
77
present, the programme is operationalised in the five districts of Gujarat
covering 4000 villages of 21 talukas/blocks.
The PRI planning process is participatory and democratic. The
director, secretary, project co-ordinator, programme wing staff of PRI
team and CBO members jointly plan for the programme. In the
planning process, the strategies and methods are adopted for effective
implementation of programme. The training programmes, camps,
exposure visits are designed as per the needs and strengthening
capacity of the Dalit and women sarpanches, social justice committee
chairman and community-based organizations (CBOs). Thus, the
planning process mainly strives towards capacity building of the elected
Dalit and women representatives of local self-government and making
them able to address the issues of Dalit community in the gramsabha
and local bureaucracy.
The special PRI cell has been created under the rural development
team and the Project co-ordinator, Project supervisor and field staffs
have been appointed for the effective implementation of programme.
Similarly, the CBOs are identified and the cadres of volunteers are
prepared at the taluka and village level for conducting training
programme, mobilization of local support and community organization.
The financial resources for the recurring and running expenditure of
the PRI programme are managed through the international funding
agency.
The programme execution process of PRI is systematically
addressing the real issues of the Dalit and women sarpanches. At
the outset, the organisation organizes district wise preliminary meetings
of staff of the CBOs and director and PRI cell. The main purpose of
this meeting is to establish the context and relevance of the programme
which the organization intended to take up, role clarification and, the
activities that the organisation would be engaged in the forthcoming
period. The people share their experiences related to the problems
faced by Dalits and their representatives with respect to Panchayati
Raj. The issues and problems such as the strategies used by the
upper castes during elections to divide the Dalit votes, such as,
putting up dummy candidates, lack of information regarding the
procedure of filing nominations during elections, leading to rejection
pp. 66-85
78
of forms, resulting disqualification from contesting the election,
constant threat of no-confidence motion against Dalit and women
sarpanches, if they dare to go against the vested interests of the
powerful castes/leaders of the villages, non-cooperation and
withholding of crucial information regarding the developmental
programmes, allocation of finances and other important issues
pertaining to the Panchayat by the Talati (secretary to the Panchayat,
the lowest ranking revenue functionary), gram Sabha not being
convened, or when convened, excluding the marginalized communities
from the same, and not taking up issues of importance to those
communities, social justice committees not being constituted, its
chairpersons kept unaware of their roles and powers etc presented
and discussed in the meeting.
The decision making of PRI is participatory and democratic.
The Director, Project Co-ordinator, Project supervisor, field staff and
CBO members jointly plan and discuss the issues related to the
implementation and governance of the programme. The decisions
regarding design of the training programme, workshops, staging of
protest march to government offices, implementation of welfare and
development schemes for Dalits are taken jointly and in consultation
with the CBOs.
The monitoring is conducted on monthly basis by the Project
Co-ordinator, programme wing staff and CBO members. The CBOs
monitor the programme at the village and taluka level and report the
impact and performance of programme to project supervisor. This is
followed by the Projects supervisor leading to the Project Co-ordinator,
ending up with the Director. The overall evaluation of the PRI
conducted annually to assess the strength and weaknesses of the
PRI. The impact of the programme is measured on the basis of the
initiatives taken by the Sarpanchs and SJCC for the implementation
of government welfare and development schemes for the benefits of
the Dalit community. The planning process, progamme execution,
decision making, monitoring and evaluation are well directed towards
the political empowerment of Dalits community. However, financial
self-sufficiency is required for the long term sustainability of the
programme.
R.R. Patil
79
The PRI is well directed towards the effective political
participation and political empowerment of the Dalits. The training
programme of PRI is strengthening capacity of CBO members as
well as Dalit/women sarpanchs and SJCC for effectively running the
gramsabha and social justice committee. It has been revealed by the
programmme officer that the impact of PRI training programme is
positive on the Dalit/women sarpanches and the SJCC of the different
villages. They became efficient and confidently governing the affairs
of the Panchayat. They articulate Dalits interests in the meetings
and implement the government welfare and development schemes
for the benefits of Dalits. Importantly, they take independent decisions
for the welfare and development of village in general and Dalits in
the particular. Thus, the PRI has created a team of efficient Dalit/
women sarpanches, SJCC to address the different issues of Dalits at
the Panchayat as well as district levels. It is innovative programme
of this organisation for effective implementation of local self
government as well as political empowerment Dalits.
In nutshell, it has been observed that PRI programme of the
organisation is addressing the political empowerment of Dalits. PRI
contributes to the political empowerment process of the Dalits. It
develops capacity of Dalit/women sarpanches, SJCC to address the
issues of the Dalits and runs local self-government effectively. It
creates socio-political consciousness and promotes welfare and
developmental initiatives of Dalits. Thus, looking at the nature and
performance of PRI programme, it is evident that the organisation
sufficiently contributing to the political empowerment of Dalits.
Case Study No. 4
The organization under study has systematic and well-directed
programmes towards the Dalit empowerment. All the programmes
and activities have one common agenda of strengthening non-
cooperation against the castebased discrimination and the practice
of untouchability. The organisation strongly believes that caste
discrimination and atrocities against the Dalits will disappear by
systematic intervention and broad-based movements. There are total
pp. 66-85
80
six major programmes of the organisation Viz., a) Legal Aid, Legal
Education Programme (LALEP) b) Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK) c)
Educational Programme (EP) d) Campaign, Training and Mobilization
Programme (CTMP) e) Abolition of Manual Scavenging and
Rehabilitation of Scavengers (AMSRS) and f) Womens
Empowerment Programme (WEP). Out of these, Campaign and
Training and Mobilization Programme (CTMP) are directed towards
the political empowerment of Dalit. The details of this programme
are as follow:
The organization has major program of Campaign, Training and
Mobilization Programme focus on generating awareness among
masses about the Dalit deprivation in India. This programme has
been started since its inception of NT. The main aim of programme
is to generate socio-political awareness and consciousness among
Dalits and strengthen Dalit local initiatives through different means
to resolve issues of Dalit deprivations. The idea of programme is also
to create an atmosphere of mutual sharing and exchange of ideas,
views and experiences about Dalit empowerment between the Dalit
community as well as the organization.
The objectives of programme are as follows: a) To train activists,
community members and committed individuals in understanding
society in its various manifestations and wider perspectives and be
sensitive to the agenda of social justice, b) To empower local groups
to increase their power and confidence through exposure to both the
problems and resolutions, c) To train community volunteers as local
Leaders by adding value of information and awareness to their
voluntarism, d) To promote exchange of experiences between
organization and the community to increase common knowledge base,
e) To increase community participation in the movement in areas of
agenda setting, planning programs and their implementation, f) To
impart training and awareness especially to women activists and
members of the community to ensure their participation at all levels.
Under this programme various activities organised by the NGO
under the study such as Campaign for Drinking water for the Dalits,
Implementation of land reforms, Unemployed Primary Teachers from
Scavenger Community, Implementation of the Minimum Wages Act,
R.R. Patil
81
Implementation of the Atrocity Act, Ban on Manual scavenging and
Rehabilitation of Scavengers, etc. Similarly, the training programs for
activists, community members, volunteers, Dalit sarpanch and
members of other social groups and organizations have been organised
with the objective of Awareness, community organization, campaign
against untouchability, local self-government power and duties under
the law, legal mechanism, government schemes, etc. In the year 2003-
04, the total 212 training programs organised by the organisation and
7368 persons participated in this training programme.
The organization under the study strongly believes that apart
from legal measures, the community action is essential for resolving
the issues of Dalits. In this regards the organization organizing mass
mobilization of Dalits around the issues such as Land reforms, securing
minimum wages, implementation of welfare programs, securing
primary and elementary education, atrocities against Dalits, effectively
banning practice of manual scavenging and the rehabilitation of
scavengers etc.
The planning procedure of CTMP is based on the findings of
survey and research conducted by the organization on various issues
related to Dalit deprivation. The planning of CTMP takes place
between director, staff and founding member of the organization.
The priority is always given to issue, which demands immediate
concern and response. In the planning process the special emphasis
is always given to the democratic and constitutional approach, strategy
building, community support and resource mobilization, and long-term
wider impact of the programme.
The resources for CTMP are arranged by recruiting state
campaign co-ordinator, zonal collaborator, taluka/block collaborator
and field staff at the organizational level. The cadres of volunteers
are generated at the village level and community resources in terms
of cash and materials are collected and utilized for the implementation
of programme. Similarly, the membership fee of the organization is
mainly used to carry out the activities of CTMP and no funding agency
is contacted for financial support.
The CTMP execution process starts through a range of activities
in the Dalit vas (quarter). In some of the Dalit vas, the preliminary
pp. 66-85
82
discussions with Dalits helps for the identification of a local problems
such as availability of water and electricity, discrimination in minimum
wages, caste-based discriminations etc. To get more authenticity of
the fact, the organization conducts survey and collects wider
responses, and starts initiative by CTMP to highlight the issues. The
eruption of caste violence and case of atrocity in any village also
provide entry point for intervention. This is followed by a period of
intensive activity by registering the case, initiating legal process,
mobilizing Dalit community, preparing victim and witness for court
procedure, generating mass awareness for speedy legal remedy.
Where there is no direct intervention with the issues, there the
organization generates awareness, trained volunteers, provides moral
support and keeps the issue alive.
The Dalit community response to CTMP overwhelming due to
strong trained cadre of volunteers and membership based organization.
The training programme has helped members of local and other
organizations to further the awareness of the Dalit rights in the different
areas. The Peoples participation increased including women has
increased in programs of mass mobilization and campaign around the
issue of drinking water, land, minimum wages, atrocities, manual
scavenger or membership organization.
The impact of training program of CTMP has motivated
participants to set up local organizations and gave new rise to
leadership among Dalit youths, who are expressing their voice against
injustices and addressing issues of common facilities and their access
to Dalits in the village panchayat. Thus, in real sense, the CTMP
working for the political empowerment of Dalits by creating ability
among Dalits to participate in the socio-political activities, take socio-
political action for economic and social development of the
communities and form an organization for action and upliftment.
The decision making process of CTMP is democratic,
participatory but hierarchical in nature. The decision of CTMP has
been taken by the Director in consultation with the State co-ordinator,
zonal collaborator, taluka collaborators. The decisions further passed
on by taluka collaborators to field staff and volunteers. At the village
level meeting and training programme, the taluka collaborator, field
staff, volunteers takes views and opinion of Dalits about the issues
R.R. Patil
83
and initiatives of CTMP, which is communicated again to director,
state co-ordinator, and zonal collaborator by the taluka collaborator.
The monitoring of CTMP conducted on the monthly basis by
different staff of programme. The state co-ordinator, zonal collaborator,
taluka collaborator, field staff as per division of their responsibility
supervise programme at different level and provides feed back to the
higher authority. The director conducts meeting once in three months
with the staff of CTMP and get feed-back about the impact of the
programme and emerging areas of concerns. The evaluation of
programme conducted in the annual review meeting in which strength
and weaknesses of CTMP assessed by the board of trustees, staff
of the organization and measures are adopted for effective and wider
impact.
The CTMP is the major programme of the organization to address
the socio-political issues of Dalits through effective means and
strengthen non-cooperation Dalit movement in Gujarat. The aims,
objectives, process of planning, resource mobilizations, programme
execution, participation of people, Dalit empowerment aspects,
decision making process, monitoring and evaluation are systematically
designed and implemented to give long term sustainability to
programme.
It is described above that the organization has CTMP programme
exclusively for political empowerment of the Dalits. CTMP strives
for political empowerment of the Dalits through broad-based
campaigns, training and mobilization programme. It creates ability
among the Dalits to participate in the socio-political activities to
strengthen non-cooperation movement against the caste-based
discrimination and untouchability. Thus, the organization under the
study through CTMP strives to contribute to the political empowerment
of Dalits in the Gujarat.
Conclusion:
The present study highlights that each NGO under the study has
one major programme to contribute to the political empowerment of
Dalits in the selected areas. The programmes of NGOs are
systematically designed, executed, monitored and contributing
pp. 66-85
84
sustainably to the political empowerment of the Dalits. The well-
directed political empowerment programme of NGOs have been
addressing various socio-political issues of dalits through the
mechanism of participation, mobilization, awareness campaign,
advocacy, networking, agitation, protest-march, sit-in etc. The
programme of NGOs also train the activists, community members
and committed individuals in understanding society and oppressive
practices, and developing their perspective for the agenda of social
justice. It empowers local groups to increase their power and
confidence through exposure to both the problems and resolutions.
The NGOs regularly conduct capacity-building and leadership
development programme for community volunteers/members as local
Leaders by adding value of information and awareness to their
voluntarism. The NGOs also training dalits in the areas of agenda
setting, planning programs and their implementation, impart training
and awareness especially to women activists and members of the
community to ensure their participation at local self-government and
the society at the large. In conclusion, the above details highlights
that the NGOs under study have systematic programmes and
contributing positively to the empowerment process of the Dalits in
Gujarat. However, the long term sustainability of programme and
regular contact of NGOs with target group and people are essential
factors for any civil society organization to create and facilitate
effective empowerment process for the marginalized sections.
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