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

1Samaja Karyada HejjegaluJournal of Social WorkVol. 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 leadershipin a time of normal conditions. The country is facing leadership crisisin all most all the fields. There is a great turmoil and chaos in theIndian politics and the political leadership is at the worst of its timeever before. Social leadership, religious leadership, institutionalleadership and such other fields are not exception to this. The countryis known by its leaders. India once upon a time was known by itsleaders such as Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, BabasahebAmbedkar, Maharshi Karve etc. Today there are hardly any suchleaders who have their own charisma.

Gordon Meriwether writes that leadership development can betaken it as a challenge and we can produce the good leaders requiredfor the country. He has found five ways for the leadership developmentthat are explained here. If the leader follows these five ways andimbibed in them and tried to inculcate these among his followersthere will be a tremendous change in the society. So to say that it isthe exemplary leadership that helps the society to grow according toits changing situations. These five ways are as follows:

By Modeling the Way: Leaders establish principles concerningthe way people should be treated and the way goals should be pursued.They create standards of excellence and then set an example forothers to follow. Because the prospect of complex change can


overwhelm people and stifle action, they set interim goals so thatpeople can achieve small wins as they work toward larger objectives.They unravel bureaucracy when it impedes action; they put upsignposts 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 believethat they can make a difference. They envision the future, creatingan ideal and unique image of what the organization can become.Through their magnetism and quiet persuasion, leaders enlist othersin their dreams. They breathe life into their visions and get people tosee exciting possibilities for the future.

By Challenge the Process: Leaders search for opportunities tochange the status quo. They look for innovative ways to improve theorganization. In doing so, they experiment and take risks. And becauseleaders know that risk taking involves mistakes and failures, theyaccept the inevitable disappointments as learning opportunities.

By Enabling Others to Act: Leaders foster collaboration andbuild spirited teams. They actively involve others. Leaders understandthat mutual respect is what sustains extraordinary efforts; they striveto create an atmosphere of trust and human dignity. They strengthenothers, making each person feel capable and powerful.

By Encouraging the Heart: An accomplishing extraordinarything in organizations is hard work. To keep hope and determinationalive, leaders recognize contributions that individuals make. In everywinning team, the members need to share in the rewards of theirefforts, so leaders celebrate accomplishments. They make peoplefeel like heroes.

The leadership in the educational institutions, voluntaryorganizations, religious institutions, political arena has miserably failedin India. It came to our mind that we should bring out a special issueof the ‘Samaja Karyada Hejjegalu’ on the leadership developmentand leadership crisis in India in different settings. It is thus an attempthas 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 contributetheir articles on the Leadership Crisis in India. Unfortunately therewas a very poor response. Reasons behind are unknown even todayfor us. We have received very few articles even after the repeatedrequests to the activists, university teachers, writers and such otheracademicians.

There are six articles in this special issue. Dr. Sandeep Jagdalehas contributed an article entitled ‘Leadership for Competence: Crisisin 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 ofIndian government have put major changes needed in social workeducation and practice. Dr. B.T. Lawani and Chandralekha Das writethat in the 21st century, the idea of leadership development is relatedto 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 problemsand environment in which we live. Cyber communication gives usthe opportunity to connect with people directly and indirectly. Not injust a one-way, but a two-way conversation. Leaders today areexpected to be people-centric and responsive, and social media helpsthem to meet and exceed these expectations. Social media helpscompanies to find out what their customers really think.

Ketaki Gokhale and Geeta Joshi have contributed an articleon ‘Leadership: An Important Domain in Social Work Education’.They claim that the main objectives of professional education forsocial work are to prepare the type and quality of man power capableof performing the professional tasks and functions currently beingperformed by variety of organizations employing social workers.Further they write that the existing training does not prepare them toassume roles of leadership in planning, formulation and implementationof social welfare programs at different level of practice andadministration. ‘Leadership in the Contemporary Society:

Dr. B.T. Lawani


Perspectives of Social Work Students’ is a contribution made by DrVeena S Algur and Dr S A Kazi. The scientific training in social workeducation aims at making a career in the field of professional socialwork 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 workcurriculum should be broadly based on needs to suit the various needsof students. Every student cannot be noted leader, can be a leaderbut in every one there is a desire to excel, a desire to do the best andhence a distinguishing mark of an able social work teacher is torecognize the leadership qualities in a students and make an sincereeffort to encourage them, empower them, enable them to excel asfuture Leaders.

‘People Centered Advocacy: An Effective tool for MarginalizedLeadership’ is an article that focuses on the role of social advocacyin the leadership development by Prakash S. Yadav. He is of theopinion that Public and people-centered advocacy are shaped by thepolitical culture, social systems, and constitutional framework of thecountry in which they are practiced. It is the practice of advocacythat determines the theory, and not vice a versa. If advocacy is notrooted in grassroots realities and is practiced only at the macro level,the voice of the marginalized is increasingly likely to be appropriatedby professional elites. However, the very credibility of advocacypractitioners depends on their relationship with mass based movementsand grassroots perceptions of what constitutes desirable social change.R.R. Patil based on his doctoral research study has made an attemptto examine the ‘Role of Non Government Organizations in theLeadership Development of Dalits in the state of Gujarat’. He hascome out with the conclusion that the NGOs regularly conductcapacity-building and leadership development programme forcommunity volunteers/members as local Leaders by adding value ofinformation and awareness to their voluntarism. The NGOs alsotraining dalits in the areas of agenda setting, planning programs and

pp. 2-6

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their implementation, impart training and awareness especially towomen activists and members of the community to ensure theirparticipation at local self-government and the society at the large.

In nut shell these articles focus on the leadership developmentefforts made by the different organizations and disciplines. This specialissue is an attempt to review the leadership issues in different arena.I hope that the issue will be most useful to the academicians, traininginstitutes and the leadership development organizations!

Dr. B.T.LawaniEditor –Special Issue

Dr. B.T. Lawani

7Samaja Karyada HejjegaluJournal of Social WorkVol. 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 people’s issues. It seems that competence basededucation 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 neverseen before. We are changing by every movement, things arechanging every second and nothing is going to be constant for long.The due credit of this is largely goes to the globalization policy thatnew world order imposed on every one of us. There is no area ofhuman life left unreached in this process be it social or private. Wecannot control, we cannot hide, and even we cannot claim that whatI am doing is unique, noble. Nothing is amusing people, nothing is

Leadership for Competence: Crisis in Social Work

Dr. Sandeep Jagdale1

1. Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, Walchand College of Arts & Science, Solapur–413006 (MS). Email: [email protected]

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new, everything is available, and reachable which poses many humanservice 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 tohelp themselves is seem quiet far from the perceived status of socialwork education in higher education scenario of India. We have seriousissues of governance in social work education where we need ajargon free critical analysis and commitment to raise professionalstandards of social work (Jagdale, 2013).

The present article is perceived itself as a step towards the newdiscourse needed in the field of social work after a decade ofglobalization policy. In other words the article has an intension tospotlight the crisis in social work and expecting new leadership thatstrives for the competence which will be instrumental for developingprofessional social work in India.

Conceptualizing Competence

If you ask a question to anyone or self i.e. what is competenceall about? What response do we get? Many will tell you that ‘it is anability to perform well’, ‘it is a capacity to work well’, ‘it is a capabilityto perform better’, ‘fineness in work’ and ‘expertise work’ etc.

The word ‘competence’ and ‘competent’ derive from the Latinword ‘competens’ meaning ‘be fit, proper or qualified’ (OxfordLibrary of Words and Phrases, Vol.III, Word Origins). It meanscompetence is invariably related to the qualification and the workexpected to be performed by one who has that desired qualification.This description of competence will help readers to understand theconsiderable confusion prevailing among the students and teachersof social work. The whole dilemma that has been an issue ofcontinuous 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 andthe competence.

There is no second thought about the context we presume whenwe think about competence i.e. work and work performance.

Dr. Sandeep Jagdale


Therefore we can conceptualize ‘competence’ as a ‘demonstrationof knowledge, values and skills of one’s profession’ (NIPQETP, 1992).We do have knowledge base, values, and skills which we try toinculcate in students of social work. In other words, social workcompetence 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 mindsto throw our traditional, conventional lenses to see social work. Wemust adopt an objective and critical views for our profession andhow one can do this? One can start with the task of operationalsingcompetence and developing measurable indicators of it. We must gofor specifications and leave jargons because they have harmed ourprofessional social work from all the possible ways.

The pillars of social work competence as expressed by O’Hagan(2005) are ‘Knowledge, Values and Skills’, those make us differentand will be instrumental to give us back our professional identity. Thepresent article is an attempt to assert the competence leadershipneeded in social work to minimize the crisis in it.

To demonstrate the competence in knowledge, values and skillsin social work let’s take an example of person with mental illnesswandering on streets.

KnowledgeThe knowledge needed to practice social work, to serve people

in need derives from many different sources. Competence practicewill depend upon knowledge of law, social policy and programmes,philosophy (ethics), sociology, psychology, social administration,organizational policies, procedures and guidelines, theories, methodsof social work interventions etc (O’Hagan, 2005).

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If we consider the aforesaid example, to demonstrate knowledgewe 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

ValuesValues 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 theexample, in a demonstration of values our students must;

• Identify and question their own values and prejudices (theyshould discover what they think about mentally ill people, theirattitude towards them, perceived place of such people in societyetc)

• Acknowledge and respect (particular needs of individual withoutjudgement)

• Promote his right to choose, his privacy, confidentiality whiledealing with him and his situation.

• Help him without stigmatizing either for his illness or situationand challenging discrimination against him.

SkillsThe 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 issignificant work has already been done in social work for what skillsare needed to perform social work. Many scholars (O’Hagan, 2005;McLaughlin, 2005; Heery, 1995; Glendinning, 1983, 1986) have shownthat skills are used by social workers in different circumstances aresimilar in nature.

Dr. Sandeep Jagdale


To demonstrate skills component of competence, we must ensurethat 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 contactetc.)

• Reflecting, clarifying, paraphrasing and summarizing what heis telling (to build valid data)

• Sure of discipline and control (enabling the exercise of theabove skills, continuous awareness of, and being able to respondwithin, the bounds of legal obligation and departmentalprocedures)

• Precise in report writing (clear, up-to-date for futureconsultations, case conferences, submission to courts etc.)

We must ask what, why, and how kind of questions for everythingwe do in social work field this will surely help us to internalize theimportance of conceptualizing and operationalizing competence.

Crisis in Social Work: Need for Leaders of Competence

In India, where the opportunities of getting higher educationbecoming expensive day by day, we are running with ample of socialwork institutes which offering higher education. I am not so sure butthe number has increased to 400 social work institutes, colleges andor departments in our country.

Growing is always welcomed and honoured by youth because itprovides employment opportunities to them. It becomes a source ofenergy which makes people lead their life. But it is also needed tothink about the competence of social workers to address people’sissues and serving them particularly after globalization where theprivate and foreign universities are strengthening their roots in Indianmass. We owe the responsibility to shape the new era of professionalsocial work in India. The Author perceives the crisis in social work isrelated to the competence of social workers to establish social workas profession and honoured professional identity with legal sanctions.

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No doubt that social work fraternity has been striving to improveits content, methodology, assessment etc. and author fairlyacknowledge the work done by Indian scholars to quote some ofthem 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 contributionof these people will certainly encourage the young mind coming insocial work stream. The Author strongly recommend rather requestyoung faculties of social work that they must read what has beenwritten by Indian scholars first before developing an insights aboutIndian social work.

What the new mind in social work expected to do is‘operationalizing each component of social work’, ‘developingspecific tasks for practising that component’; and ‘develop visible,measurable indicators for the same’, ‘practice it andsystematically record it’. It is quiet certain that it is not an easy taskbut there is no other way to demand fair, impartial, transparent andeven democratic benefits for those who are some or other waryattached 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. Dowe serve people? Are we human service professionals? If yes, thenonly competency comes in a picture. Then only we can have researchon service delivery, users satisfaction, burden on human serviceprofessionals, variations in practices of social work, proficiency inpractice, professional ethics which is popularly known as ‘evidencebased practice’ of social work. And if our answer is no then it is anissue of great debate, confrontation, introspection and collectiveownership 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 presentreality of social work in India as a whole. We could successfullymanage, detained the status quo of social work education as it is till

Dr. Sandeep Jagdale


now. But the era of globalization demand more transparent, moremeasurable evidences/ records of social work practices and researchand importantly pacing other human service professions. This is onlypossible when we will respect the allegations posed by people outsidesocial work stream. We should start to demonstrate social work inthe context of ‘knowledge, values and skills’ of social work. We needmanuals for working in different situations, matrixes and worksheetsfor every activity we presume as social work activity. Otherwise weare welcoming a new slavery in the field of social work where ourpeople work for our people for the benefit of our people but withforeign mind. Therefore a new dawn, new leaders are needed insocial 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 DisabledChildren. 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 ofSchools of Social Work in India.

5. Heraud, B. (1981). Training for Uncertainty: A Sociological Approach toSocial Work Education. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

6. Jagdale, S. (2013). The Issues of Governance in Social Work Education inIndia. 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 TooComplex? 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. O’Hagan, K. (1996). Competence in Social Work Practice – A Practical Guidefor Professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

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12. Pathak, S. (1989). Social Development and Social Work: Some UnresolvedIssues. In R. K. Nayak and H. Y. Siddiqui (Eds.), Social Work and SocialDevelopment, 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

Publications19. Subhedar, I. S. (2010). Indigenous Fieldwork Training in Specialized Fields of

Social Work. Agra: Current Publications.

Dr. Sandeep Jagdale


Abstract

In the 21st century, the idea of leadership development is relatedto 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 problemsand environment in which we live. Cyber communication gives usthe opportunity to connect with people (customers, employees,leaders, friends, community) directly and indirectly. Not in just aone-way, but a two-way conversation.” Leaders today are expectedto be customer-centric and responsive, and social media helps themto meet and exceed these expectations. Social media helps companiesto find out what their customers really think. This helps leadersmake decisions that better support with customers’ emerging needs.Cyber communication helps leaders stay on top of trends in theirindustry like never before. This helps leaders see new opportunitiesfor growth. Social media delivers news fast. This means leadershear about issues early and can respond before they become bigproblems. Many leaders today feel isolated. Every day we showup and work hard, but we feel disconnected from our colleagues andpeers. Cyber communication can be a simple and effective way toconnect leaders across your organization and even outside it. Socialmedia also allows you to share information before, during and afterformal development activities. It’s a great way to prepare leadersfor development and an even better way to sustain momentum aftera program ends. You can even use social media to let leaders helpyou design your leadership development programs. Leaders cantalk about topics that matter to them and reach out to get advicefrom one another, and if you participate in this conversation, you’lllearn how to make development programs more relevant to their

needs.

Leadership Development ThroughCyber Communication

Dr. B.T. Lawani1

Chandralekha Das2

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 forgrowth among youth, benefit such as social support, identity,exploration, and development of interpersonal thinking skills,educational benefits, academic support and worldwide cross-culturalinteraction. Online social networking allows people to connect witheach other. This concept arises from basic need of human beings tostay together in groups forming a community. Wikipedia defines socialnetwork service as online platform that focus on building and reflectingsocial networks or social relations among people who share interestsand activities. Social networking sites, mobile phones email, instantmessaging, video- and photo- sharing sites and comment posting areall tools that help people to communicate and socialize with eachother and are the elements of reach social development. In fact littleresearch has been conducted on the subject. Researchers havesuggested that the excessive busy life of human beings made them todepend 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


• 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 aboutleader’s organization network by looking at the connections betweenpeople. 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 atthe people-systems involved, the organization’s strategy, the criticalchallenges facing the organization, and the boundaries that need tobe 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 qualitativeapproaches) provides the information needed to ask appropriate andinformative questions that reveal the key network connections.Different types of connections or ties can be mapped through networkanalysis, including communication, leadership, energy, creativity,development, and culture. It is useful to examine a range of networksand levels to gain insight into the challenges facing the organization.In fact, strategic leadership development and organizationaltransformations are enhanced when leaders explore their own personalnetworks, plus group and organizational level networks. Although theresults of a network analysis can yield immediate insights, carefulinterpretation based on an understanding of the people-systems andorganizational 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 denotesconnections to diverse others. These terms are commonly used inthe social capital literature (Putnam, 2001). In the SNA and cybercommunication 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 bonding–bridging usage (Granovetter,1983). Analyzing network data to measure bonding and bridging helpsto predict important outcomes for the leaders. The extent to whichbonding or bridging occurs in a network often represents anintermediary outcome of leadership development.

Dimension of Leadership Development

Leaders are involved at different levels in taking care of thehuman person in educational sector, in the health sector, in social aidsector or in whatever other sector that directly or very concretelyaffects the human dimension. Here two dimensions to be cleared.a) The first one is to try to more forward and to make progress intheir own way of working, communication and of tackling matters.Nomatter whatever their working condition and working situation.b) Another dimension is related to the experience, environment, theproblems the situation they face. They are looking for ways ofchanging; modifying, improving or transforming things in terms of theactual social, economic structural, political and cultural causes of theproblems and environment in which they live.

Cyber Communication supports the Leaders

The term cyber communication is freely used by everyone inmodern society, including members of the general public, scholarsand management practitioners. Communication is defined as theinteraction, giving and taking of information, sending and receiving ofmessages through verbal and non verbal means. A function of cybercommunication varies as one must determine the function of thecommunication. It is known as the primary function and in certaincircumstances the situation or position may have one, two or threeother secondary function. For example, informing, controlling,persuading and co-ordinating. In cyber form of communication, thereis a sender and receiver of the message. The question of whether



the message is sent and how the message is received is of vitalimportance in communication. Cyber communication is successfulonly when the receiver receives the intended message of the sender.The simplest way can be followed.

Mobilize more people to your cause: A Case StudyNetwork strategies and platforms can engage significantly more

people in the democratic process. Social media is transforming howwe can mobilize for social change. The 2008 Obama for PresidentCampaign: The 2008 Obama campaign mobilized 13 million supportersand generated more than $750,000 in small donations, demonstratingthe power of social networks to activate citizen leadership. Onlinetools made it possible for people new to leadership to raise money,find each other, and organize house parties, and coordinate canvassingand phone banks.

Activities of Network-savvy Leaders

1) Improve the understanding of how the organization worksOrganizational charts provide a poor picture of how work actually

happens. Leaders with a network perspective look beyond prescribedflows and connections to informal structures and processes. Theyunderstand how information flows through the complex web ofrelationships within and across departments and up and downorganizational levels. This perspective reveals densely connectedclusters, bridging ties, and influential people who are often not formalleaders.

2) Identify and develop hidden leadersThey expand their view of people beyond the formal roles and

positions. They seek the hidden leaders, change agents, and keyplayers in their organization. A network perspective allows leaders torecognize and support the people who are crucial to the work and theculture, but whose importance is underemphasized in formal systemsand structures.

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3) Understand and strengthen the personal networkThey examine their current network, the opportunities and

constraints it presents, and make choices to strengthen it. They seehow their position in the organizational network and the position oftheir group or team influences whether they achieve desired outcomes.

4) Recognize network varietyMultiple networks exist within organizations including

communication, leadership, energy, creativity, and developmentnetworks. These networks are dynamic. Network savvy leaders focuson the networks most relevant to the strategic challenges they faceand how those networks change over time.

5) Promote a leadership culture of collaboration andinterdependence

The cultural beliefs and behaviours of an organization determinehow members interact within the network. Most organizations strivefor more effective collaboration across boundaries. This process isaided by an awareness of networks and an understanding ofinterdependence.

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 sharedexperiences. Leaders in the network share information provide adviceand support learn from one another, and occasionally collaboratetogether. Peer leadership networks provide leaders with access toresources that they can trust. Leadership development programs oftenseek to create and catalyze peer leadership networks to expand thetrusted ties that leaders have with one another. At other times peernetworks emerge when leaders with something in common personalbenefit in sharing and connecting their experiences.



2) Organizational leadership networkA set of social ties that are structured to increase performance.

These ties are often informal and exist outside the formal organizationalstructure, such as when an employee seeks advice from a colleagueother than her supervisor to help solve a problem more quickly. Anetwork connecting leaders who share common interests.

3) Collective leadership networkA self-organized system of social ties among people attracted to

a common cause or focused on a shared goal. Network membersexercise leadership locally. As the number of local groupings growsand there is increasing interaction, these groups begin to connect toform larger networks. These networks are often rooted in a sense ofcommunity and purpose.

Theoretical perspective of Cyber communication for leadersGreat man theory is well studied by political scientist, philosopher,

sociologist, psychologist and management scholars. Here they havetried to pinpoint the essence of leadership. Some wits said thatleadership is like pornography – you know it when you see it. Althoughwe may recognize leadership when we see it, describing what it is allabout is another matter. Leadership is a complicated concept. Theassumption is that certain people possess inherit ant qualities traitsthat make them perfect for leadership. Under this theory leadershipis born. But the present society contradicts the theory.

A Case study on Coaching and MentoringThe apprentice model has seen recovery for grooming leadership.

Coaching and mentoring have been gaining favour as elements ofsuccession planning programs. A 2008 American MedicalAssociation (AMA) study, “Coaching: A Global Study ofSuccessful Practices,” surveyed more than 1,000 business leadersaround the world and found that nearly 60 percent of North Americancompanies 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

one’s SNS profile is assessed by others and the characteristics offriends are strongly related to how one is viewed. In addition, the

feedback provided by one’s network in an SNS is influential in thedevelopment 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 one’s acquaintances is a display of connection. Theseare 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.



Scalability of Networking from Personal to Social for the Leader

A key feature of network perspective for the leader is the abilityto “zoom” to different levels of social interaction, from the scale ofone’s personal network all the way up to the scale of the socialnetworks that make up the larger society. Each scale offers its ownperspective with unique applications to leadership and leadershipdevelopment.

Think of network perspective as a powerful zoom lens. It can beexpanded or contracted to get a wide range of information and insight,like “Google Maps” for the connectedness of your workplace. Leadershave a 360-degree view of ground level at a specific place. Thisview is like their personal network. They can see the immediatesurrounding environment — the individuals they are directly connected.Zoom out to the neighbourhood and look down on where they werestanding. They see themselves as part of their own neighbourhood.A neighbourhood view is similar to mapping a group network withinyour organization. From this view they begin to get a sense of howtheir group fit within the larger organizational community.Case study: Bring projects to scale

Network strategies encourage self-organizing by giving smallgroups of people access to tools, models, and resources that they canuse and adapt to make a difference in their communities. Projectsthat empower people to take action in their local communities canmore easily evolve to be effective at a larger scale. The nationalnonprofits KaBOOM! (kaboom.org) aspires to create a “great placeto play within walking distance of every child.” To bring their idea toscale, they used a network strategy: they posted an online “do-it-yourself” direction kit making it possible for more communities toaccess the resources needed to build playgrounds without directsupport

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 goonline (Weiss, 2005), representing 21 million youth. Family-rescource.com states that 48 percent believe the Internet improvestheir friendships. With social networking sites becoming increasinglypopular, people are able to stay connected to real and online friends.Estimated 13 million allow conversations with friends in socialnetworking sites. On average, people on Facebook install apps everyday. Every month, more than 500 million people use an app onFacebook or experience Face book platform on other websites toadd social capital. More than 7 million apps and websites are integratedwith Face book. More than 350 million active users currently accessFace book through mobile. Face book has more than 800 million activeusers .50% of the active users log on to Facebook in any given day.Average user had 130 friends. People interact with 900 million objectslike pages, groups, events and community pages. Average user isconnected to 80 community pages, groups and events. On average250 million photos are uploaded per day. Face book has 550,000,000monthly visitors. 95,800,000 people visit Twitter every month. Monthly50,000,000 people use LinkedIn. At the end all it means that humancannot move without the social group.

Case study: Change hearts and mindsNetwork 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 animatedfilm about how our obsession with stuff is trashing our planet, ourcommunities, and our health. Its engaging presentation, powerfulmessage, and use of social media have made the film go viral, with10,000 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 one’s family, friends,and associates constitute an important asset, one that can be called



upon in a crisis. They enjoyed for own sake or leveraged for materialgain. It is true for individuals to holds for groups. So social capital isessential back bone for leadership development.

Case study: Build social capitalNetwork leadership strategies connect leaders across boundaries

of race, sector, and geography and create an environment that buildsand fosters trusted relationships. In Boston, a diverse network ofsocial change leaders is forming unlikely partnerships, bridging acrossboundaries of race, ethnicity, sector, neighbourhood, and more. Newideas, approaches, and solutions to persistent challenges are comingfrom leaders who break out of the silos and “groupthink” ofhomogenous networks

1) The Communitarian ViewThis perspective is called the communitarian view, equates social

capital with local level organizations, namely associations, clubs, andcivic groups.This view, measured most simply by the number of thesegroups in a given community. This indicates that social capital isinherently “good,” that “more is better,” and that its presence alwayshas a positive effect on a community’s welfare. This perspectivegives important contributions to leaders to analyses of education,economy, and health.

2) The Networks ViewHere the perspective on social capital can be identified that

attempts to account for both its “upside” and “downside.” This viewstresses the importance of vertical as well as horizontal associationsbetween people, and relations within and among other organizationalentities such as community groups and firms. Building on the influentialwork of Granovetter (1973), it recognizes that intra-community (or“strong”) ties are needed to give leaders a sense of identity andcommon purpose.

26

3) The Institutional ViewThe perspective of social capital, which we call the institutional

view, argues that the vitality of community networks and civil societyis largely the product of the political, legal, and institutionalenvironment. Where the communitarian and networks perspectiveslargely treat social capital as an independent variable giving rise tovarious “goods” and/or “bad”, the institutional view instead puts theemphasis on social capital as a dependent variable. This view arguesthat the very capacity of social groups to act in their collective interestdepends crucially on the quality of the formal institutions under whichthey reside (North 1990), and that emerging qualities such as highlevels of “generalized trust” in turn correspond to superior rates ofeconomic growth. It also stresses that the performance of states andfirms themselves depends on their own internal coherence,communication, credibility, and competence, and their externalaccountability 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 compellingwork emerging from the networks and institutional camps. While thesynergy view traces its intellectual antecedents to earlier work incomparative political economy and anthropology, its most influentialbody of research was published in a special issue of WorldDevelopment (1996). The contributors to this volume examined casesfrom India, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, and Brazil in search of theconditions fostering developmental “synergies”—i.e. dynamicprofessional alliances and relationships—between and within statebureaucracies and various civil society actors.

Broad conclusions

In closing some vital reasons are given why developing networkperspective is a 21st-century leadership imperative.



1) Work often happens through informal channelsEven after decades of restructuring, work activities often occur

happen through interactions outside of formal reporting and workingrelationships. Understanding informal networks is especially importantin flat, team-based, and agile work environments where formalstructure provides little guidance.

2) Leadership occurs through relationshipsDirection, alignment, and commitment are created through

relationships between people working on shared challenges. All peoplecontribute to this process and thus, leadership may be sharedthroughout the network. Further, boundary spanning leadershiprequires network perspective to accurately see and build connectionsbetween groups.

3) Successful leaders develop networks of strong, diverserelationships

They realize that under and over connectivity stifles performanceand limits outcomes. Purposeful (strategic) and authentic networkingis the key to developing healthy networks that prevent insularity.

4) Network knowledge is an asset in change effortsRelying on formal, vertical channels alone hinders capacity to

adapt to emerging issues. Change efforts may be accelerated byactivating informal networks and enhancing the network’s capacityto span boundaries. This approach is critically important in culturaltransformation because organizational culture lives largely within theconnections between people. Understanding these connectionsprovides insights into subcultures, pockets of resistance, and hiddenchampions of the transformation.

5) The most important challenges leaders face today isinterdependent

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 networkperspective is key to thriving in a world in which everything is, or willbe, 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 Quarterly3. Boss B.M. 1990 Boss & Stogdill’s handbook of Leadership Theory, Research

and Application. New York, the free press4. Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. The

American Journal of Sociology5. Chesebro, James. & Bertelsen, Dale. (1996). Analyzing Media: Communication

Technologies as Symbolic and Cognitive Systems. New York: The GuilfordPress.

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., O’Connor, P. M.G., & McGuire, J. B. (2008). Direction, alignment, commitment: Toward amore integrative ontology of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(6),635–653

8. Dizard, Wilson. (1997). Old Media New Media: Mass Communications in theInformation Age. New York: Longman

9. Fidler, Roger. (1997). Mediamorphosis: Understanding New Media. ThousandOaks: Pine Forge Press

10. Holley, June, Network Weaver Handbook: A Guide to TransformationalNetworks, Network Weaver Publishing, http://www.networkweaver (2011)

11. Leadership for a New Era wiki, http://www.leadershipforanewera.org12. 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.



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 basicorganization, 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 inSocial Work Education

Ketaki Gokhale1

Geeta Joshi2

1. Asst. Professor, Department of Social Work, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune, Maharashtra,9423035805, [email protected]

2. Asst. Professor, Department of Social Work, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune, Maharashtra,9420425263, [email protected]

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 ofour culture from the beginning. There were inbuilt systems in oursociety to render these services to the needy. Various approacheshave 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 thesecond quarter of the 20th century. In India, imparting training inprofessional social work started with the establishment of the firstsocial work institute in 1936. The description of professional socialwork 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 stagein late 30s and early 40s. But the extent of professionalism amongsocial workers and the societal acceptance of the profession aredebatable. There has been varying viewpoints, on a continuum, withregard to social work as a profession, starting from “it is not aprofession” 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 thisapplied more to helping professions, particularly the social workprofession. Social work profession that evolve from the tradition of

Ketaki Gokhale, Geeta Joshi


charity and concern for others long ago still continues to struggle foracceptance of its professional status social work profession is perhapsone of the most confused professions with a variety of issues andlevels of interventions, different clients and administrative settingsfor practice which has further compounded the dilemma (Siddiqui,1999). England (1986) captures the situation aptly: “if I imagine socialwork as an entity I see it as a curiously puzzled and confused body.There are parts rushing off in all directions and sometimes fallingover each other in the process. They are rushing to be busy and to beengaged, for to be busy and engaged is to feel assured that somethingworthwhile and important is being done and social workers deal withproblems that cannot humanely be neglected.”

The profession which initially focused on individual, group andcommunity as the major clients could not make much of an impactparticularly in less developed and developing societies due to masspoverty, unemployment and illiteracy.

Social Work Education:

The II UGC review committee on social work education (1980)therefore emphasized that social work education should address thelarger issues such as poverty, illiteracy, unemployment etc. thecommittee identified two categories of social work tasks: (1)developmental and (2) remedial and rehabilitative. However, thecommittee did not clearly define the developmental tasks and alsoassumed that the two can be combined. Siddiqui (2000) elaboratedthe developmental tasks “as those of the catalytic agent for developingand or modifying current policies/ services/ institutional structures:educating people to recognize their inherent capacities for action andto identify the policies/ institutional and socio-political structures thatexploit them…”

The capacity of social work profession or for that matter anyother profession to undertake the task of rebuilding the society and toreplace or modify the existing macro structures is going to be verylimited. It is strange to note that when medical profession hardlyconsider “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 thelaw profession does not lay any major emphasis on social justice asits professional objective the social work profession should considerthese and many other such macro issues within the exclusive domainof the profession. Gore (1981) rightly observed that “no singleprofession can expect to cover the whole area of social policy andsocial development expertly.”

Social Work and Societal Needs:

Whitemain (1972:31) has also pointed out that social work mustreflect a “sharpening recognisation of these societal needs, dimensionsand complexities which demand from social work profession- incorrect with other service professions and occupations- newperspectives, new knowledge and new understanding of thesecompelling societal force.” Unfortunately, despite the expiry of aboutsix decades since its birth in India, social work is still branded as ‘ anew and emerging profession’ (Kulkarni 1994:25), simple because itcould not make itself socially relevant and failed to provide effectiveservices with professional competence to its clients. Mandal (1989:309)has observed: “social work education in India has become irrelevantto the needs of Indian society because what is needed in Indian societyis primarily preventive and micro base social work.” Indian societyhas been increasingly becoming more and more complex, particularlybecause of closer contacts with the outside world which has beenconverted into a global village and rapid advancements in sciencesand technology. In such a social set-up social work professionals willbe facing a number of serious challenges from various quarters andwill have to struggle hard even for their basic survival.

Contemporary social work practice is increasingly becomingcomplex and challenging. Social workers are engaged in workingwith society’s most vulnerable, disadvantaged and deprived sectionsof the population who require help with a multiplicity of needs. Thesituations and needs requiring social work intervention could be intra-personal, inter-personal, inter-group or inter-organizational. Thosecould also be psychological, social, economic, environmental or a



combination of these. While some client’s have the most difficult andcomplex needs, other needs close support.

In India, social work practiced in a variety of settings and inmany organisations by those who often cannot be included within thecurrent framework of trained social workers. Even in the absence offormal training, many do bring in, and practice varying degrees ofnatural ability and experiences, akin to practicing trained socialworkers.

Social Work Leadership Definition:

Leadership is the capacity to work creatively, constructively, andeffectively with individuals, families, groups, organizations, andcommunities to promote social justice, catalyze social change, andaddress individual and social problems. Leaders accomplish this byinspiring vision, offering direction, and supporting individual andcollective 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 one’s own professional practice throughthe appropriate application of research techniques and evaluationmethodologies. Understand and acknowledge the profession’s mission,values, ethnic principles, and ethical standards and practice in a mannerconsistent with them. Understand the importance of continuedprofessional renewal.

2. Critical & creative thinking: Apply critical thinking skills within the context of professional

social work practice. Use theoretical frameworks supported byempirical evidence to understand development, behavior andinteractions 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 withindividuals, families and groups. Use verbal and non-verbalcommunication skills differentially with client populations, colleaguesand communities. Employ communication skills to establish andmaintain a relationship of mutual respect, acceptance and trust withother students, colleagues and clients. Share thoughts, ideas andfeelings effectively in discussions, meetings, field placement andpresentations with diverse individuals and groups. Demonstrateproficiency in oral and written communication designed to affectchange in clients, groups, organizations, communities and society inthe 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, maritalstatus, national origin, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. Validateand enhance assets and capacities for all client systems andcommunities, particularly diverse populations and disadvantaged,vulnerable or oppressed groups. Respect and promote the right ofclients to self-determination and assist clients in their efforts to identifyand clarify their goals. Develop an understanding of their ownpersonal, cultural values and beliefs as one way of appreciating theimportance 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 formsand mechanisms of oppression and discrimination and apply strategiesof advocacy and social change.

Various Studies on Social Work Leadership:

Gary Yukl (2006) defines leadership as “the process of influencingothers to understand and agree about what needs to be done and



how to do it, and the process of facilitating individuals and collectiveefforts to accomplish shared objectives” (P. 8). Peter Northbuse(2007) defines leadership as “a process whereby an individualinfluences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”

Influence is very essential in leadership. Having influence meansthat there is a greater need on the part of leaders to exercise theirinfluence ethically. Some people are natural leaders, endowed withcertain traits like ability to speak well, an extroverted personally heightviewing leadership as a process implies that leadership is aphenomenon that is contextual and suggests that everyone is capableof exercising leadership.

Leadership in social work have been recently revitalized by theCouncil on Social Work Education and its leadership initiative CSWEhas recognized the need for leadership development both inside ofand external to social work education

(sheafor, 2006). When organisation commissioned an exploratorystudy to investigate leadership context in curriculum only 74 syllabiwere receiver from 36 different institutions representing 6.8% of allaccredited social work programs (Lazzari,2007) of the syllabi received,most were from MSW programs with a macro concentration. Theauthor recommends further study of leadership in the social workcurriculum 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 verypopular issue in India. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is without doubtthe most important leader of the 20th century who has shaped thedestiny of modern India. His unique leadership style showsMaterialistic weaknesses and spiritual and political strengths. He isreferred to as the “Father of the Nation” due to his signal contributionto the Indian freedom movement against the British rule. His conceptof Satyagraha (literal translation meaning “insistence on truth”) hasfound a permanent place in the industrial relations scenario in Indiaas a common method of protest by unions and dissatisfied employees.It often takes the form of the employees sitting down and refusing tomove unless their demands are met or satisfactory negotiations areconcluded. Gandhi’s statues are found in almost all cities and towns,

pp. 29-41

36

roads and public buildings are often named after him, his birthday isobserved as a national holiday, and his philosophy and teachings areinvoked on numerous public occasions, though very little of it isfollowed in practice.

Culturally specific phenomenon such as personalized anddependency relationship, power distance, care consideration andfamilial attachment were found to affect leadership practices. In hisresearch during focus groups and semi structured interview describedthat outstanding leaders in social work are Ela Bhat, Medha Patkar,Sunderlal Bahuguna.

Bargal and Schmid (1989) provide social workers with the insightto some of the trends in leadership research outside of the socialwork 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 andtransformational styles of leadership (P.43). The authors applied thesetrends in leadership to three typical internal functions of social workadministrators. (Goal setting, motivation and development of humanresources and maintenance and administration) & two of the externalfunctions (resource mobilization and achievement of legitimacy)

Rank and Hutchison (2000) provided some empirical evidenceregarding social work leadership in their exploratory study of socialwork leaders. Result of the study indicated that respondents includedfive elements in their conceptual definitions of leadership pro-action(thinking ahead) values and ethics, empowerment, vision andcommunication. Most respondents (77%) believed that social workleadership is different than other professions for five common reasons:Professional commitment towards code of ethics, systematicperspective, a participatory leadership style, altruism, and concernabout the public image of the profession. (Rank and Hutchison, 2000p.493). Nine general areas of skills for leadership identified andbelieved were necessary were : community development skills,communication and interpersonal skills, ethical reasoning skills, risktaking skills, cultural competence/diversity skills, analytic skill,technological skills, political skills, visioning skills. 21th century social



work mission identified by respondents on four main themes: politicaladvocacy, a clear definition for the profession itself and for the public,social reconstruction, and vision. Respondents agreed that there shouldbe leadership development at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorallevel of social work education. This study provides evidence thatsocial work leaders see leadership development as essential for socialworkers and the profession as a whole, and that this area may beoverlooked.

The authors recommend future research regarding “outcomesof social work leaders and their styles of leadership” (p.500).

Glission (1989) found that social workers evaluate leaders onmaturity, power, and intelligence. Further he found that there is astrong relationship between three dimensions and both organizationalcommitment and job satisfaction of social workers. This finding givesfurther credence to the importance of leadership and workerperformance. Glisson reports that leadership development is missingin the social work curricula.

Leadership Theories

Theory Basic tenets of the Exampletheory or modelManagers 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.

McGrengor’sTheory X-

Theory Y

Likert’s System1- System 4

Organizations fall under one of

four types (system 1, 2, 3, or

4). The lowest producing

A social work manager

completes Likert’s tool forassessing her organization and

pp. 29-41

38

Blake &

Mouton’sManagerial 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 &

Blanchard’sSituational

Leadership

Workers’ willingness andability 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.



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 I’s: Idealizedinfluence, 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.

Senge’s LearningOrganizations

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 thatleadership is the process and our profession immensely requiredleaders to solve the social issues. Social work education andcurriculum must emphasis on systematic leadershipdevelopment by introducing Leadership course /subject. Thisis the need of time to show the professional practice effect.This subject allied with capacity building workshop will definitelyshow result in developing exact good social engineers. Thereis also need to conduct various studies to asses the leadershipdevelopment in social work education.

2.As social workers are working at three levels and each levelrequired leadership, so continuous training will be effective todevelop professional leadership. Following training parallel tofield work would be helpful for trainee social workers to developtheir skills. Such capacity building training can be implementedconstantly throughout the course with specific time interval.

3.When students are working with NGO’s for field work training,many NGO’s does not appointed professional social workers.It affects on practice learning of trainee social workers. NGO’streat the trainee social workers as a human source to completetheir surveys. They are least bothered about students areimplementing theory into practice or not. Agency supervisorsalways 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



on systematic learning of students. Due to this environment inNGO’s we find very few students are able to developprofessionalism and leadership after completing two years fieldwork. In such situations Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth,Department of Social Work invent an ‘Issue Based Field Work’practice in 2009 which is more leadership oriented thantraditional practice. In this field work a group of around 10 to12 students’ works on one issue, here they independently plantheir field work as per the needs they found in their base linework in form of mini surveys and literature review. Whileimplementing the planning in the field students come acrossvarious unread cases, groups or some time community issues.Students deal with these issued using the primary methods arecase work, group work and community organization accordingly.They also implement secondary methods of social workespecially research. Through this field work they reach outnumber of peoples and vulnerable groups. Students initiate manycreative activities or programs and actively participated inadvocacy. Student also covers many setting of social workand develop network at various level in this field work. Studentswork recognized by bureaucrats and invited student to workwith them. Due to this innovative field work department isable to develop their own projects with various settings of socialwork.

References:

1. Devi Rameshwari and Prakash Ravi, (2004), Social Work Methods, Practicesand 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’, CurrentPublication, Agra

5. Katare P. M., (2007), Training for Social Work, Arise Publishers, New Delhi6. Singh Krushna Kant& Singh Ram Shankar, (2010), Encyclopedia of Social

Work in 21st Century, ABD Publishers, New Delhi7. 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 (Northouse’s (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. Algur1

Dr. S. A. Kazi2

1. Lecturer, Dept of Community Medicine, BLDEA;s Shri B M Patil Medical College Bijapur.

2. Chairman, Dept of Social work, Karnataka State Women’s University Bijapur.

Dr. Veena S. Algur, Dr. S.A. Kazi


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 acareer in the field of professional social work, imparts necessarytraining to develop the basic knowledge, skill, techniques and attitudesin students to work with individuals, groups, and communities.Orientation to existing social realities, social problems and strategiesto deal with the knowledge and method of working with people enablessocial work students to grow as leaders, recognize themselves asleaders 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 toaccomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way thatmakes it more cohesive and coherent. Another popular definition ofLeadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group ofindividuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse’s (2007, p3).1

Good leaders are made not born. If you have desire and willpower.You can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop througha never ending process of self study, education, training andexperience (jago1982).2

India is the magical land which has always been a very primeattraction for several western countries and tourists from all over theworld. India has cemented her place as a world power for quite afew years now. India is the proud land which host the Taj Mahal.India is the proud mother of world renowned legends like, RabindranathTagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, PanditJawaharlal Nehru and many other greats. India has been a developingdemocracy but the rate of improvement has been appreciated byalmost all countries. However, in spite of the tremendous scope andpotential of the land which was once called the golden bird, the countrytoday 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 fieldhas been corrupted to a very huge extent and the politicians todayare mainly people who have taken politics as an occupation. Themain reason for this sudden crisis has been because; the best fromall fields have stopped from entering the field of politics.

There was a time when only the best could be a leader and thatis what politics demands. When the question is of leading the nation,only a person who has an immense knowledge tank along with severalother qualities can. However, the current situation is such that people,who have made a name for themselves in their own field, avoid thesubject of politics. This has left such a vacant situation that peoplewho 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 thecontext 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 integralindividuals operate within groups to promote stimulate , guide orotherwise influence members to action, such activity has been calledleadership and the individuals have been referred as to leaders. powerholders, man of power, power centre’s and power elite. Accordingto Stegdill “leadership may be considered as the process ofinfluencing the activities of an organized group in its effects towardsgoal setting and goal achievement. “According to this definition theminimum social conditions which permit the existence of leadershipas an follow a group, common task, differentiated responsibility.Barnord states that “Leader is any person who is more than ordinarilyefficient in carrying psycho social stimuli to others and is thus effectivein conditioning collective responses. This being the case the leaderare those who are able to identify themselves socially andpsychologically in the group and work in a manner that result in thefulfillment of the goals of the organized group .4

The highest quality of leadership of all is the capacity to evokeits growth in others .Young should be encouraged to grow in socialand political consciousness so as to maturely respond as citizens tothe political life of the country. Mahatma Gandhi said “ A man ofcharacter will make himself worthy of any position he is given”5



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 ofthe group so the leader has to be extremely sensitive not only toknow the needs but to satisfy them also. A leader has to be able torise higher than level of the followers. Large difference in mentallevel between the two however, is unfavorable. Desirable qualitiesfor leadership are intelligence, popularity, initiative, personal charm,expert skill and so on.6

To truly understand what is leadership there is need to probewhat is in the mind set of the people. With this view point an attempthas been made to understand the concept and perspectives of socialwork students about issues related to leadership, characteristics ofleaders and leadership crisis .

The study area, Bijapur city, is a district head quarter. It is socioeconomically backward district7. In Bijapur, Social work educationat post graduation level has history of less than 10 years .There arefour centers which imparts professional social work education. Outof total 88 students studying in third semester only 68(77%) studentswere included in the study comprising of 42(62 %)Female respondentsand 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 aboutdifferent aspects of leadership.

Material and methodology

Study area-Bijapur cityStudy design –Cross sectionalSample size-68 studentsStudy setup- centers imparting MSW educationStudy technique:- QuestionnaireStatistical analysis: Percentage and chi square

pp. 42-49

46

Inclusive criteria-All the students studying in third semesterMSW course.

Exclusive criteria- students who are absent on health grounds,who are out of station due to personal problems, and who are notinterested 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 leadersfor social development. Out of total 88 students 68 (77%) haveparticipated in study, comprising of 37 (54 %) female respondentsand 31 ( 46 % ) male respondents. The respondents did not have anyquestion about type of leaders. Findings are about basic concept ofleaders.

Table No 1Opinion 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 essentialand more essential need of leaders for social development .out oftotal respondents 69 % among male 75% and female 65% haveopined that leaders are essential for social development .Where asamong the total 26% and males 19% and female 32 % felt that thereis more essential need of leaders for social development ,it is observedthat 3% of respondents have not answered



Table No 2Perspective regarding need of leader for Social

developmentGender More Essential Not essential Not answered Total

EssentialMale 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 Perspectivesregarding need of leader for Social development. When asked aboutneed of leaders for social development it is found 74% among all therespondents expressed that there is more essential need of leaders atpresent social scenario. 3% in general all the categories opinionedthat leader are essential. It can be noted that Maximum respondentshave felt that there is more essential need of leaders in our society.4% male &female respondents said that leaders are not essential forsocial development. 8% of respondents, 3% male and 5% femalerespondents have not answered .

Table No 3Awareness about Scarcity of leaders among respondents

Gender Scarcity exists No scarcity TotalMale 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 ofleaders among respondents. Maximum respondents (96%) amongthe total respondents have expressed that scarcity of leaders existsin our society. only 6% of males and 3% of females opinioned thatthere is no scarcity of leaders. Such rational outlook itself is foundationfor social development

pp. 42-49

48

Table No 4Opinion of respondents about commitment of leaders for

social developmentGender More committed Less committed Not Committed TotalMale 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. Withthis view point opinion of respondents was collected about commitmentof leaders for social development. It is found that maximum that is52 % among total respondents (48% of male respondents and 54%of female respondents) said that leaders are not committed for socialdevelopment. At same time average 44% of respondents felt thatleaders are less committed for social development. A very leastrespondents that is 7 % male 3 % females and 4% of total respondentssaid more commitment is found .

Table No 5Distribution of respondents as per their like to be leadersGender Like Don’t Like Not answered TitalMale 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 leadershipquestion was asked whether they have liking for leadership. Amaximum 87 % males, 49% females and 66% of the total respondentsdo not like to leaders, it gives researcher a hint that leadership istough, is a complex phenomena to grow as leaders. Only 28% of thetotal respondents, 13 % of males and 40 % of female respondentslike to be identified as leaders. It clearly gives us an idea that femaleshave craving for leadership status .



Major findings

Out of total respondents, 69 % have opined that leaders areessential for social development

It is found 74% males. 73% females and 73 % among all therespondents expressed that there is more essential need of leaders atpresent social scenario.

The Maximum respondents 96% have expressed that scarcityof leaders exists in our society.

It is found that maximum that is 52 % among total respondents48% of male respondents and 54% of female respondents said thatleaders are not committed for social development.

40 % of female respondents like to be identified as leaders. Itclearly gives us an idea that females have craving for leadershipstatus .

Conclusion

The issues, results related to the perspectives of social workstudents about leadership initiates social work educators to focus onperceptions, and concepts about social realities, burning socialproblems and issues related to social development among social workstudents. Professional social work curriculum should be broadly basedon needs to suit the various needs of students. Every student cannotbe noted leader, can be a leader but in every one there is a desire toexcel, a desire to do the best and hence a distinguishing mark of anable social work teacher is to recognize the leadership qualities in astudents and make an sincere effort to encourage them, empowerthem, enable them to excel as future LEADERS.

References

1. http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadcon.html#sthash.cdhAucEm.dpuf2. Donald clark concept of leadership http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/

leadcon.html#sthash.cdhAucEm.dpuf3. www.proud2bindian.in4. Dr S Guruswamy Leadership managing cooperatives ,social welfare vol XL

no 4 July 1993 p 335. Marie Mignon Mascarenhas, Family life education Value education A Text

book for college students p886. Shamshuddin what makes a leader Social welfare vol XL issue 4 1993 p-367. 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 MaharashtraVidyapeeth, Mukundnagar, Gultekdi, Pune 411037. Maharashtra, (India).Email: [email protected], [email protected] & [email protected]

People Centered Advocacy: An EffectiveTool for Promoting Marginalized Leadership

Prakash S. Yadav*

Prakash S. Yadav


Introduction

Effective Leadership is aimed at the individual who is seriousabout improving his or her own leadership development capabilities.The author aims to stimulate an awareness of leadership, provide anunderstanding of the principles and functions of leadership, and guidethe reader through the methods used to develop leadership skills,(John Adair1988).

Greater democracy, transparency and the work of civil societygroups to hold decision-makers accountable are more likely to achievelong term sustainable change for poor people. What is meant by beingpeople centered? The people centered approach prioritizesempowering people to advocate for pro-poor policies themselves.Simply put, its goal is to help poor people discover and secure theirrights. For this to happen people need to become empowered,organized and mobilized – able to express their basic needs andnegotiate them with outside actors., on the other hand advocacy workthat supports and enables people to better negotiate, on their ownbehalf, for their basic needs and basic rights is what is becomingknown as people-centered advocacy,(Jennifer ChapmanandAmbokaWameyo, January 2001).

Such advocacy need not just be local, and can strike to the heartof national – even international – policy making. With people centeredadvocacy, people become powerful. The people centered approachchallenges the notion that the poor cannot formulate or understandpolicy, arguing instead that the gap between the poor and policy makersmust be decreased and that states, governments and policy makersshould be responsive to the voices of the excluded.

‘People centered advocacy’ is work that directly involves peoplenegotiating better, on their own behalf, for their basic rights. Peoplecentered advocacy is often, but not always, associated with locallevel work in which people are supported to analyze their ownsituations, identify their rights, make their views heard and holddecision 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 usethe word differently in their professions. “Advocacy” describes awide 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 ofothers 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 academicdisciplines and professions often encounters definitional problems.Does the word “advocacy” clarify or confuse this discourse? Doesthe word have negative or positive attributes? How does it compareto other words that describe civic and political engagement, wordslike 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 andpolitical activities create confusion about its meaning and applicationto nonprofit practices? To lessen ambiguity in research and regulationabout non-profit advocacy, it is important to define which activitiesare advocacy activities, what advocacy activities are regulated andwhy, and which organizations are advocacy groups.

Sorting through definitions and use of “advocacy” clarifiesdiscussions about the role and behavior of non-profits as social andpolitical actors, non-profit impact on governance and citizenparticipation, and the scope and rationale of regulation for non-profitpolitical activities. Some of the more common entanglements indefining and using the term in research and regulation are noted below.

Advocacy Activities and Organizations:

Advocacy activities can include public education and influencingpublic opinion; research for interpreting problems and suggestingpreferred solutions; constituent action and public mobilizations; agendasetting and policy design; lobbying; policy implementation, monitoring,and feedback; and election-related activity. However, there is no

Prakash S. Yadav


agreement on which activities constitute advocacy, and no one sourcegives a full account of the many kinds of activities and strategiesgroups use to leverage influence in the policy process. Each researchproject must define the activities important to the question under study.

Further, there must be continual clarification about what kinds ofactivities are subject to regulation. Although data on organizationsare available through a variety of sources, it is difficult to use themfor the study of non-profit advocacy. When researchers operationalizeadvocacy as a broad set of activities (Boris and Mosher-Williams1998), data collection and classification of advocacy activities can bedifficult and imprecise.

When research focuses on a smaller subset of activities, such aslobbying or litigation (Salamon 1995), the empirical profiles oftenprovide only a partial picture of the wider phenomena. InternalRevenue Service (IRS) data for advocacy analysis are limited to thecollection of information on lobbying expenditures. Definitionalproblems come into full play when data are combined from diversesources, 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 inpaper titles such as “Explaining Non-profit Advocacy” or “Non-profitAdvocacy Organizations.”

It is also important to clarify which groups are “advocacy“organizations. All non-profits build organizational capacity andinfrastructure to meet their missions, although groups that engage inadvocacy are likely to strengthen their organizations in ways mostuseful to achieving their political goals. Groups engage in advocacyactivities to various extents: as the primary focus of their work, as aregular part of their overall activities, and on occasion when an issuespurs them to action. Some groups have specific organizationalstructures and decision making processes to accommodate theirpolitical affairs; others join coalitions or policy networks to increasetheir capacity to advocate effectively.

54

There are over 1.5 million non-profit organizations grouped intoclassification schemes of many shapes and sizes offering differentwindows into nonprofit advocacy. The federal tax code separatesnon-profits into 21-plus categories of tax-exempt organizations, andpermissible political activities vary by category. Using IRS taxonomyof organizations and data helps us understand levels of expendituresfor certain kinds of legislative and political activities. It also structuresthe use of the tax-exempt form for political purposes. For example,social welfare organizations, 501 (c) (4)’s, may engage in unlimitedamounts of legislative lobbying and thus serve as an organizationalvehicle 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 ofassociation and latitude of political action and are also active politicalplayers. Thus it is hard to get a full picture from these data andclassification schemes about the extent to which groups interfacewith the process of policy development and policymaking.

Most analysis of the non-profit sector requires a rigorous look atthe links between specific activities and specific organizations.Advocacy activities are embedded in distinct organizational models,setting boundaries around the practice of advocacy and participationin the political process by insiders and outsiders alike (Minkoff 1999).

Interest groups, political organizations, mobilizing groups, publicinterest groups, citizen organizations, multi-issue organizations, socialmovement organizations, and other descriptions of non-profitorganizations as policy actors fill our democratic vocabulary and adoptdifferent advocacy activities and strategies. Jeffrey Berry points out,“It is not their tax status that distinguishes them from other non-profits, but rather it’s that they are openly and aggressively political”(Berry 1999). Other social science research contributes to ourunderstanding of organizations and activities. For example, interestgroups have been studied at the national level to determine how patronsshape their advocacy practices (Walker 1991).

Social movement organizations mobilize resources from theirbroader environment; over time, the loose alliances and protests of

Prakash S. Yadav


social movements evolve into more routine advocacy in nonprofitorganizations (Zald and McCarthy 1987). Some research asks whichgroups 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 andother institutions of government and business. They deepen the waysin which people are represented and participate in democracies.Contrasting advocacy as organizational representation with advocacyas social and political participation can be a useful way to describehow 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 Latinword advocate coming to the aid of someone. A strong tradition ofcase advocacy exists in the United States. Advocates appeal throughcourt action on behalf of individuals and classes of people whoseinterests are underrepresented in government. Case advocacy mayopen the political system to new voices and interests as the courtsredefine the rights of individuals and the roles of state and society inaddressing social problems. When advocacy is viewed asrepresentation of interests, values, or preferences, questions may ariseabout the legitimacy of organizations to represent us. Non-profit it’sthat are regular players in policy and politics may or may not includecitizens in their internal organizational affairs or engage citizens inpublic action. Further, organizational styles of advocacy vary and thenon-profit community can be divided in its approaches to social reform.

Social justice advocates prefer their efforts not to be associatedwith special interest lobbies or inside political operators striking dealswith little public consent or exploiting the political system to serve anarrow interest. Community organizers, who urge citizens to cometogether and speak out about their concerns, prefer not to be confusedwith 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 protestas well as the face-to-face contact of people and their political leaders.Language about the practice of advocacy as participation includesgrassroots action, civic voice, public action, citizen action, organizing,mobilization, and empowerment. We look to participation indicatorsto judge the health of our democracy, but whether or not we arecurrently in a participatory drought depends on the indicator. If votingis 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, weare in a flash flood. Nonprofit organizations are central to civicengagement, especially churches, unions, and other groups that linkcitizens to governance. Social networks that develop norms of trustand reciprocity among Citizens—social capital—may shape theconduct of citizens in democratic decision-making (Putnam 2000).

Advocacy as participation addresses the ways organizationsstimulate public action, create opportunities for people to expresstheir concerns in social and political arenas, and build the resourcesand skills necessary for effective action (Verba, Schlozman, andBrady1995). Professionalized advocacy organizations and politicalconsultants may have replaced earlier traditions of civic engagementand political action (Skocpol and Fiorina 1999).

The distinction between advocacy as organizational representationand 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 nonprofitadvocacy, particularly the capacity of groups to stimulate individualcitizens to take action on their own behalf. In contrast, direct advocacymay refer to lobbying and other appearances before key decisionmakers by organizational representatives on behalf of others(McCarthy and Castelli 1996). Adding to the confusion, the IRS callslobbying on specific legislation “direct advocacy,” while communityorganizers call mobilization “direct action.”

Government Centered and People Centered Advocacy:

Government-centered advocacy and society-centered advocacysuggest different venues are available for building the political will toleverage policy change. In the American political system, theorganization of interests is often described as an interaction of three

Prakash S. Yadav


sectors government, society, and business with competition andcooperation among these sectors when matters of public concernneed attention. Global advocacy in the international system refers toadvocacy among organizations and their networks in civil society,international institutions, and national governments.

Advocacy is often modified to describe the venue of action, andthe resulting terms may be used interchangeably in law, research,and practice to describe either activities or venues. Policy advocacymost frequently refers to advocacy that influences governmentpolicymaking. But Craig Jenkins’s definition of policy advocacy as“any attempt to influence the decisions of institutional elite on behalfof a collective interest” (Jenkins 1987) encompasses decision makingin any kind of institution inside and outside of government.

Administrative advocacy, judicial advocacy, and legislativeadvocacy can help us focus on the uniqueness of decisions andprocesses in the different branches of government (OMB Watch2000). Administrative advocacy and program advocacy focus onadvocacy during the implementation phase of the policy process, whenrules and regulations are promulgated and service delivery systemsdesigned and put in place, sometimes with feedback from citizengroups (Reid 1998). Program advocacy is also used to describe theeveryday work of organizations carrying out their charitable missionsor providing services, as long as the activities are not outside therealm of protected speech; does not refer to specific legislation; anddoes not become partisan activity (Hopkins 1993).

People centered advocacy suggests that nonprofits have animportant role to play outside government in shaping public opinion,setting priorities for the public agenda, and mobilizing civic voice andaction. People centered advocacy most often describes advocacy associal action, social change, or social movements. Non-profits arevehicles for developing common visions and social missions, andadvancing common interests and values collectively. They analyze,interpret, and convey information in society and thus create the contextfor government policy.

State and local advocacy is often distinguished from nationaladvocacy because organizational resources, opportunities, and

58

practices differ. Most grassroots advocacy takes place at the stateand local level, yet national organizations are often the focus ofresearch and media exposure. Organizational networks and practicesare less formal at the local level. Advocacy may still be contentiousor competitive, but the intimacy of the local setting means that activistsand government officials may have more access to one another andmay share social networks and contacts that mediate conflict. National-level advocacy, by comparison, involves larger, more formalorganizations, structures, and practices. The links between nationaland local organizations may influence whether local voice has anorganizational route to national decision making.

Nonprofit advocacy advances the interests or values of a groupthat stands to benefit from action in the policy process or elsewhere.One measure of advocacy effectiveness is the extent to which agroup succeeds in shaping new policy that directly benefits itsconstituency. Public interest advocacy makes broad public claims inthe policy process on behalf of consumers and citizens. Organizationsadvocating for the disabled, the elderly, or an ethnic group, forexample, may be more narrowly defined by their constituencies.Beneficiaries of advocacy, or those who stand to gain from policychange, may be the organizations themselves (through contracts) orgroups of citizens (through public programs), or the public (throughwidely applicable policy).

Self-defense advocacy is lobbying on issues necessary to anorganization’s survival. None of these definitions are much help inunderstanding the wide range of non-profit behaviors that makegroups weak or powerful voices in policymaking. They do, however,help us locate where the advocacy is occurring and think about howadvocacy used in one arena might affect outcomes in another. Althoughthe definitions say little about how groups acquire access or influencedecisions in any one arena, they do lead us to think about the processesfor decision making in each arena that may affect opportunities foraccess or make one kind of activity more influential than another.

Prakash S. Yadav


Lobbying and Advocacy:

In April 1999, the General Accounting Office (GAO) issued areport on lobbying definitions in the Lobby Disclosure Act and theInternal Revenue Code Sections 4911 and 162(e). Their findingsindicate that agencies use lobbying language to describe differentsets of activities at the national, state, and local levels. Thesedifferences were found to affect registration and reportingrequirements as well (GAO 1999).

Adding to the confusion, government and private funding agenciessend mixed messages to contractors and grantees about thepermissibility of engaging in advocacy and about reporting it. Forexample, IRS guidance indicates that lobbying is permissible becauseit is limited but not prohibited. Some agencies and foundationsdiscourage the use of “advocacy” to describe organizational missionand activities. Foundations may use restrictive grant language thatunnecessarily discourages grant recipients from engaging in advocacywhen they are legally permitted to do so under the law.

Issue advocacy, on the other hand, is an advocacy activity thathas been a source of contention in law and practice because itgenerally falls outside the scope of either the IRS or FEC regulationas public education. Yet it is a powerful tool for groups advocatingreform and favoring candidates with positions compatible with theirorganizational interests.

Issues of Marginalization:

In the Indian context this has proved to be extremely inadequateboth for understanding the processes by which minorities are createdand for taking care of the disadvantages faced by them. At the timeof independence, minorities were identified primarily on the basis ofreligious identity. Even though the Constitution spoke of linguistic andcultural minorities little attention was given to them and their problems.Shortly after independence, however, the demand for linguisticreorganization created zones within which one particular linguisticcommunity was dominant. Linguistic minorities in the national context

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were thus transformed into a regional majority. However, this processcreated new minorities for example, Bengalis in Assam, Tamils inKarnataka and Gorkhas in Bengal- who faced the same problem ofmarginalization within the region as the recognized regional languageshad faced within the Indian union.

The problems confronted by these new minorities have revealedthe limitations of the concept of minority and the associated idea ofminority rights. Minorities, it is evident, are context specific. Acommunity may be a majority in the nation but a minority in a particularregion. For instance, Hindus constituted the religious majority in Indiabut in the state of Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir they represented aminority. Accordingly, in this region their educational institutions weredesignated as minorities’ institutions within the region. Further, it isperhaps equally important to note that a majority and a minority areidentified with reference to an identity and, the use of diverse identitiesdoes not always yield the same majority and minority. In India, whenreligion is taken as the basis of differentiating the population, Hindusconstitute a majority; however when language becomes the relevantindex of identity then certain groups within the majority becomevulnerable minorities. Indeed, in India, the tendency to identifypermanent and fixed Minorities has resulted in the privileging ofreligious identity. It is also focused on the problems faced by Muslimsand other religious minorities and their rights within the nation-state.By comparison, scant attention has been paid to the problems facedby linguistic minorities or other backward and socially discriminatedcommunities.

Minority rights, it must be noted, are best suited for preservingcultures and identities rather than countering the processes ofmarginalization. In India the concerns of linguistic minorities withinthe nation-state were addressed by reorganizing the boundaries ofregions or provinces. Linguistic reorganization transformed Minoritiesin the national context in to majorities in a regional context. Eventhough specific linguistic groups remained vulnerable Minorities in aregion, languages which had not been officially reorganized by thenation were now able to preserve their identity. In other words,transformation of a minority in to a majority allowed for the survival

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of the recognized regional language. This is significant because inthe discourse on multiculturalism, preserving one’s cultural identity isoften seen as a way of countering the marginalization faced byminorities in the nation-state. In India, by comparison, protectingcultures and diversities has not been an effective way of halting theprocesses of marginalization. Indeed, even the attempt to preserve amarginalized culture has left the structures that engendermarginalization intact.

The Indian experience obliviously tells a different story. It revealsthe difficulties associated with the identification of a minority, andshows that a minority is almost entirely context dependent. Further,since minority rights generally seek to preserve cultures andcommunity practices, they are often insensitive to the democraticneed for creating a public sphere in which freedom and equality arethe operative norms. In so far as the latter is, and must remain, theprimary concern of all democracies, it is necessary to contextualizeminority rights and analyze the conditions under which these rightsare well-suited with the democratic agenda.

Untouchable Movements in the Indian Context:

A section of untouchables who could improve their economiccondition, either by abandoning their traditional occupations, launchedstruggles for higher status in the caste hierarchy. They followedSanskritic norms and rituals. They tried to justify their claim to ahigher social status in the caste hierarchy by inventing suitablemythologies. All untouchable jatis, however, have not succeeded inremoving civic disabilities traditionally imposed upon them. Practicallythey 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 differentforms till today. Though the movement is primarily rooted inMaharashtra, it has spread to different parts of the country andacquired an all- India character. Dr. Ambedkar emerged as the leaderof untouchables of the country. During the 1920s the Mahars launched

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unsuccessful satyagrahas against untouchability in Maharashtra.Ambedkar saw the possibility of advancement for the untouchablesthrough the use of political means to achieve social and economicequality with the highest classes in modern society (Zelliot 1970; Nath1987).

Amedkar organized the Independent Labour party (ILP) onsecular 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 muchof the nature of caste association functioning in the politicalarena’,(Zelliot 1970). Later, Ambedkar formed the Scheduled CasteFederation (SCF) in 1954, to fight elections and look after the interestsof the SCs. Those interests were confined to reservations of jobsand political positions (Verba et al. 1972; Nath 1987). The SCF waslater converted in to the Republican Party in 1956, with the intentionof 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 ofdalit movements. This involves local-level collective action againstdiscrimination and atrocities. Statues of Dr. Ambedkar are found notonly in urban dalit localities but also in many villages where theirnumber is fairly large. Dalits, though very poor, enthusiasticallycontribute to installing Ambedkar statues in their neighborhoods. Theystruggle to get a piece of land from local authorities to install thestatue. Radhey Lal Boudh of the Dalit Panthers argued in the 1980sthat installing Ambedkar’s statue dalits could propogate anAmbedkarite iconography, which would generate a kind of pan- Indianbahujan ‘imagined community’, apart from asserting their control overland (Pai 2002). The statues and photos of Dr. Ambedkar are anexpression of dalit consciousness and their assertion for identity.

There are several local movements in which dalits en massmigrate from their villages protesting against discrimination andatrocities. In the 1980s there were five such incidents. Desai andMaheria (2002) document one of the micro-level movements. In

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protests against torture and beating, the dalits of village Sambardaundertook hijarat, i.e. en mass migration like refugees from theirnative village and camped in the open before the district collector’soffice for 131 days in 1989.

Organizations and Leadership:

Ambedkar formed the Independent Labour Party and ScheduledCaste Federation, and there are a number of Scheduled Casteorganizations at regional levels. But there is no study focusing on theorganizational set up and leadership and their efforts aimed at mobilizingthe Scheduled Castes. Owen Lynch, in his study, The Politics ofUntouchability (1969, gives some information regarding theorganization of the Jatavas of the Agra city. Denis Von der weid andGuy Poitevin (1981) give a brief account of the organization of theRCDA, Tamil Nadu. Saurabh Dube has analyse the SatnamiMahasabha between 1925 and 1950 showing how it had undergonechanges.

Robert Hardgrave (1969) and A. Aiyappan (1944) give anaccount of the Nadars and Iravas. They are caste associations likeany other caste organizations involved in the process of politicalmobilization. Hardgrave observed that, The Nadar Mahajan Sangamis a voluntary association, drawn from the ascriptive, reservoir ofcastes. Its actual membership is but a fraction of its potential in fullcaste recruitment, but the association claims to speak for thecommunity as a whole, asserting virtual representation. If this claimis to be accepted as credible in the light of economic differentiationand the diffusion of political support within the community, theassociation must withdraw from active political involvement. Thecaste association has played a vital role, nevertheless, in the politicalmobilization of the Nadar community, serving as the agent ofcommunity integration and as the vechile for its entrance in to thepolitical system of modern India (1969-2001).

Moreover, as peasants, the harijans participated in the variouspeasant struggles. In a few movements they acted autonomouslyunder the leadership of and the organization of militants drawn fromamong themselves (Heningham, 1981).

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The most important leader of the dalit movement in India wasDr. 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 Zelliot’s study on Dr.Ambedkar and the Mahars is a very important contribution to thesubject (1996). Gore analyses Ambedkar’s ideology and locates itwithin the broader framework of a study on social movements, onthe one hand, and the sociology of idea systems, on the other.According to Zelliot, Ambedkar’s programmes were intended tointegrate the untouchables in to Indian society in modern, not traditionalways, and on as high a level as possible. Ambedkar planned hisprogram to bring the untouchable from a state of ‘dehumanization’and ‘slavery’ into one of equality through the use of modern methodsbased on education and the exercise of legal and political rights. Atthe same time, Ambedkar’s modernizing ideology was tempered inpractice by a clear perception of the tenacity of caste and tradition.He sought to awaken in the untouchable’s awareness of their debasedcondition and common interests that would promote the unity neededfor the development of effective organizations and mass action. Forsuch reasons, Ambedkar advocated a separatist policy accentuatingcaste distinctions as an initial stage in creating a society in whichidentities would be unimportant (Zelliot, 1972).

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the term advocacy has multiple meanings dependingon the context in which it is used. It broadly describes the influenceof groups in shaping social and political outcomes in government andsociety. In law and regulation, advocacy refers to types of reportableactivities, but regulatory agencies may differ on their use of the term.In research, advocacy may describe both the representational andparticipatory aspects of groups as intermediaries between citizensand decision - makers, types of organizations and their capacity toadvocate, and strategies of action in different venues.

No one definition of advocacy suffices to help us understandhow groups influence policymaking or how regulation can best be

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designed to protect against political abuses yet not inhibit publicengagement in the political life of the nation. Yet the term can beused broadly as an umbrella for cross-cutting discussion from differentperspectives and expertise to help inform regulation and practice. Ifdiscussions about non-profit advocacy practice and regulation are tobridge discourse across academic disciplines, organizational expertise,and regulatory perspectives, participants will have to be precise aboutthe meaning of advocacy.

In general the advocacy describes both the representational andparticipatory aspects of groups such as untouchables and minoritycommunities as intermediaries between citizens and decision - makers,types of organizations and their capacity to advocate, and strategiesof action in different venues for the social, economic, political andcultural spheres of integrated development of these communities.

Hence, it is significantly true that the people centered advocacyis the effective tool for the overall development and enhance theleadership 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 UniversityPress, 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 AgainstIndigenous 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 andPolitical Participation.” In Nonprofit and Government: Collaboration andConflict, edited by Elizabeth Boris and Eugene Steuerle (291–325), D.C.: TheUrban Institute Press. Washington.

8. Zald, Mayer, and John McCarthy, (1987), Social Movements in anOrganizational Society, Transaction Publisher, London.

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Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in thePolitical 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 NGO’s one major programme directedtowards 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

NGO’s contribution in the political empowerment of dalits.Key Words: Leadership, NGOs, Political, Empowerment,

Programme, Dalits

Introduction:

The proliferation of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) isa 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, CentralUniversity of Rajasthan, Ajmer, Rajasthan-305801, Email: [email protected](The above manuscript is the excerpt of unpublished Ph.D work of the author)

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has been a rapid growth in the number of NGOs in various parts ofIndia. The studies have shown that the nature and types of NGOsare varied in India. They are involved in performing various activitiessuch as providing educational and health services, relief, charity andwelfare services, increasing people’s voice in decision making,engaging in developmental work, self-help group, human rights issues,social awakening, community development activities in urban andrural areas, etc. These NGOs have been involved in the welfare anddevelopment of poor and weaker sections of the society. However,the different aspects of NGOs and their contribution for various issuesand situations remain unexplored due to lack of information andliterature. The contribution of NGOs in dalit empowerment is onesuch unexplored area of social science discipline.

The dalits problem and suffering in India are multi-dimensionaldue to practice of caste system and caste-based discrimination.Historically, there have been various efforts against the practice ofcaste system and untouchability. Similarly, the Indian government hasinitiated various legal and constitutional provisions for the welfare,development and protection of dalits. However, despite of governmentefforts, there has not been much change in the condition of the majorityof dalits in India. Moreover, how NGOs are instrumental in politicalempowerment of dalits and creating leadership among them isunexplored area in social science literature. It is in this context; thepresent article highlights and examines how NGOs as a componentof civil society contribute for dalits political empowerment in termsof political leadership development in three districts of Gujarat.

Gujarat, one of the economically progressive States of India, haslong history of voluntary movement and comparatively high proportionof NGOs. However, the state suffers and lags behind in variousdimensions of human development. The estimate of below povertyline in Gujarat is 18.4 per cent and it is comparatively high among thepopulation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Similarly, theproblems related to land reform, redistribution of common communityresources, practice of untouchability, caste-based discrimination andatrocities committed against dalits are still a regular phenomenon inthe various parts of the state (Shah, 2000; Lious, 2002). Thus, the

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present article tries to examine the contribution of NGOs in politicalempowerment of dalits and understand the process of capacity buildingand leadership development of dalits in the state of Gujarat. Accordingto unpublished sources of NGOs, there are totally 42 NGOsaddressing the issues of Dalits and twenty (20) NGOs among themwork 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) fourNGOs have been selected purposely (purposive sampling) for thestudy. These four NGOs such as Ashadeep Human DevelopmentCentre (AHDC), Banaskantha District Dalit Sanghatan (BDDS),Behavioural Science Centre(BSC), Navsarjan Trust (NT) have beenchosen keeping in view their involvement in mitigating caste-baseddiscriminations and atrocities committed against the Dalits, and theirprogrammes directed towards the social, economic, educational andpolitical empowerment of Dalits in Gujarat. These four NGOs arelocated in Ahmedabad (2), Anand (1), and Banaskantha (1) districtsthat represent more than 1/4 Dalit (Scheduled Castes) population i.e.990734 out of total 3592715 Dalit population of Gujarat. Hence, theabove four NGOs of Ahmedabad, Anand and Banaskantha districtshave been selected to examine their contribution for the politicalempowerment of dalits in Gujarat.

Methodology:

The present study falls under exploratory research design forqualitative 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 thepolitical empowerment of dalits. Keeping in view the objectives ofthe study, the purposive sampling has been used as sampling techniquefor the study. Certain criteria have been adopted for selecting NGOsas a purposive sample. The data have been collected by using bothprimary as well as secondary sources. The primary data regardingNGOs’ programmes and their relevance to the political empowermentof Dalits have been collected through semi-structured interview

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schedule from the Programme Coordinators of the selected NGOs.The present study is heavily relied upon qualitative analysis; howeverthe quantitative analysis were also made for explaining some of thefacts. The quantitative as well as qualitative data collected throughinterview schedule, interview guide and informal discussion wereanalyzed descriptively to understand the fact that to what extent theNGOs can contribute for political empowerment of Dalits. Finally,the analyzed data have presented through the descriptive writing tosupport the objectives of the study.

NGOs' Programme for the Political Empowerment andLeadership Development of Dalits:

In this part, one programme of each NGO related to politicalempowerment of Dalit community have been illustrated. Theresearcher has considered ten categories such as a) basic informationof the programme b) planning process c) process of resourcearrangement and utilization d) programme execution process e) natureof local participation in programme f) Dalit empowerment aspects inprogramme g) decision making process h) monitoring i) evaluation j)sustainability of programme, while analyzing, interpreting anddiscussing about the contribution of each NGO in the politicalempowerment process of dalits.

The illustration of the following four case studies will help tounderstand the process of political empowerment of dalits and theirby 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) CareerGuidance Cell (CGC) c) Youth Education Service (YES) d)Community Organization and Rural Development (CORD). Out ofthese four programmes, CORD is directly related to the politicalempowerment of dalits. This programme has been studied andanalyzed to find out its relevance and contribution to the politicalempowerment of Dalits. The details of this programme are as follows:

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The Programme of Community Organisation and RuralDevelopment (CORD)

This programme has been started with an intention to organisethe Dalit community and educate them about various developmentaland welfare schemes of the Government in order to ensure that allthe benefits would reach those for whom the schemes are envisaged.The objectives of the CORD are as follows: a) to sensitize and educatethe Dalit community about the welfare and developmental schemeof Government b) to organize Dalit to collectively demand thegovernment authorities for the implementation of government schemesin their favor c) to form self-help and local mandals of the womenand youth at the village level and d) to initiate small micro credit andentrepreneurship 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 targetedtowards the Dalit women and Dalit youth. The CORD section isresponsible for the formation of 25 village level Mahila Mandals andregistered trust under the name of Stree Chetna Sangh in 1993. Eachmahila mandal in the village functions under its own independent nameand is affiliated to the Stree Chetna Sangh. The Stree ChethnaSangh through the CORD conducts various activities for the growthand development of the women and securing government welfareschemes in favour of Dalit community. The working committee ofStree Chethna Sangh meets regularly once in two months, wherelocal issues affecting the community are discussed; attempts are madeto solve the problems. Similarly, there are 36 Dalit youth mandals inthe 36 villages of Anand district formed by the CORD.

At present CORD section is mainly concentrating on the creationof new mahila mandals and youth mandals and monitoring of theexisting mandals. The planning process of CORD is also in the samedirection to make local mandals more effective and strengthen toresolve their problems through themselves and CORD will provideguidance. The planning is conducted among the director, programmeco-ordinator and field staffs of the organization, the new strategy,methods of work and activities are planned in the direction to create

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new mahila and youth mandals. The resources in terms of programmeco-ordinator and field staff are recruited for effective implementationof the programme. However, the special efforts are made throughcamps and training programme to mobilize volunteers from the targetcommunity. The intention behind this the local community and localmandal should take initiative to resolve their crisis and CORD willsupport from the outside.

The CORD team visits regularly to the operational area andconducts meeting with the executive council of each mandal tounderstand the problem of Dalit community and resolve the localcrisis through local mandals. For the creation of mandals in the newareas the CORD organizes the meetings, camps, training programmeand guidance session to sensitize the Dalit women and youth aboutthe importance of unity and collective struggle against the injustices.Similarly, to make the self-help groups self-reliant the CORD sectionorganized a number of awareness and training programs in the villagesin collaboration with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission(KVIC), a Government of India undertaking. Information was givenon 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 CORDactivities. They regularly attend meetings, awareness sessions andpro-actively taking action to resolve their local problems and seekingthe benefits of Government schemes in their favour. The programmeco-ordinator reveals, “The members of Mahila Mandal and YouthMandal took initiatives and themselves have got someGovernment schemes and civic amenities like widow pension,delivery stipend, etc. for their villages. The 9 villages receivedsubsidized loans for purchase of buffaloes. In a village a co-operative society of handloom weavers is formed with the helpof CORD and 21 men and 4 women have undergone 6 monthshandloom training for self employment. These women have takenactive part in organizing women groups in other villages”.

The programme is directed towards the sensitization andmobilization of Dalit community and creating ability among Dalitsespecially women and youth to participate in the socio-political

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activities, take socio-political action for economic and socialdevelopment of the communities and form an organization for actionand upliftment. The CORD is doing good work in this direction tocreate political empowerment among Dalit community.

The decisions of CORD are mainly taken by the director of thecurrent NGO and CORD team but there is a scope for the memberof different mandals to participate in the decision-making process forthe better implementation of programme. The decisions for the villagelevel mandals are taken after the prior consultation with the executivecommittee and member of the women and youth mandals. There is agreater involvement of women in the decision making and staffs playthe role of facilitators.

The monitoring is monthly process, in which programme co-ordinator takes feed-back from the field staff and personally visitsthe villages and interact with mandals. The regular monitoring keepCORD programme co-ordinator aware about the internal issues ofthe mandals and needs and issues of the community. In the annualevaluation, apart from strength and weakness of CORD, the issuesrelated to strengthening bond among the members of mandals,effective governance, formations of new mandals and innovativemeasures for seeking larger participation for democratic struggle arediscussed and evolved.

The CORD is well-directed towards the political empowermentof Dalits through the creation of women and youth mandals. Theplanning, execution, decision-making processes and monitoring andevaluation are well channelised to achieve the aim of programme.The higher level participation of Dalits in every meeting and trainingcamp shows the importance of programme in their life. The CORDshows the character of long term sustenance. In a nutshell, CORDcreates awareness among Dalits about their socio-political rights andforms local organization of Dalits to initiate welfare and developmentalactivities and collectively struggle against the injustices. Thus, theCORD programme of this NGO contributing to politicalempowerment process of Dalits thereby brings them in the mainstream of political leadership.

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Case Study No. 2

There are a total of five programmes of this NGO that worksfor Dalit empowerment such as a) Organization Building and LegalAid 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 RajInitiatives (PRI) have been selected to analyze and understand thecontribution of this organisation for the political empowerment processwhich are as follows:

The Gujarat Government amended the Panchayati Raj Act in1961 in tune with the 73rd constitutional amendment. The purposewas to increase the participation of the Dalits, Adivasis and womenin the process of self-governance. In spite of this the Dalit, Adivasiand Women Sarpanchs and Chairpersons of Social Justice Committeesare unable to enjoy their power. They meet discrimination even afterbeing elected in the Gram Panchayat. No confidence motions aremisused in dismissing them. They cannot work or take decision forthe welfare and development of their own community. Keeping thesethings in view, the Panchayati Raj Initiatives (PRI) has been startedsince 1999 to prevent injustices and increase Dalits participation inself-governance. The objectives of this programme are: a) to enablemarginalized sections such as Adivasis, Dalits and Women toparticipate in the process of local self-governance b) to enable Dalits,Adivasis and Women to raise their welfare and development issuesat the Gram Sabha c) to create leadership qualities among themarginalized section d) to provide guidance and training to Dalit,Women, Adivasi Sarpanchs, Panchayat members and Chairpersonsof Social Justice Committees to run the office effectively e) to makefacilitation groups of marginalized sections sarpanchs at taluka levelto address their common concern at the higher level f) to coordinateand network with other like minded organizations for taking the issuesof marginalized to higher level. The marginalized sections such asadivasis, Dalits and women are the target groups of PRI.

The planning for PRI is designed by the president, secretary andprogramme wing staff to evolve effective measures such as methods

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of work, trainings, camps and guidance to sarpanchas/social justicecommittee chairman, and addressing the welfare and developmentalneeds of Dalit community. The special staff such as block programmeco-ordinator, block in charge have been appointed to carry out regularactivities of PRI such as understanding of the village dynamics, rapportformation with government officials and updating information aboutthe government welfare and development schemes for SCs/STs.Similarly, the cadre of volunteers also developed at the village levelfor mobilization of support and community organization. All theactivities of PRI are managed by the funding from international fundingagency.

The programme execution process generally starts with the surveyto identify Sarpanchas and Social Justice Committee Chairman(SJCC) from the marginalized sections of the operational areas. Afterthis, the list of Sarpanchas and Social Justice Chairman is preparedand block level meeting is conducted to aware them about the situationof Dalits in the rural areas. In this meeting, the views, difficulties andneeds of Sarpanchs and SJCC are also taken into consideration andas per requirements the trainings, exposure visits and camps areconducted to enhance their knowledge and capacity building. Thetraining 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 thePanchayat; leadership skills in local self-government; role/responsibilities of leaders in the Panchayati Raj Structure; role ofSocial Justice Committees in Peoples’ Movement; plan for capacityenhancement of Social Justice Committee; role of Peoples’Organizations in Panchayati Raj; duties of Women Sarpanchs;participation of women in Gram Sabha; people’s participation inPanchayati Raj; planning, implementation & evaluation; etc. Theparticipation of Dalits is positive and high in training programmes andthey try to implement in their acquired new knowledge for betterfunctioning 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 foreffective functioning of local self-government for the welfare and

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development of the Dalits. Similarly, it also increases the ability ofthe Dalits to participate in the socio-political activities, take socio-political action for economic and social development of thecommunities and form an organization for action and upliftment ofthe community.

The decision making of PRI is democratic and participatory. Thepresident, secretary and the programme wing staff jointly plan forprogramme and evolve methods of work and activities. Due regardsare also given to the views and opinions of sarpanches and SJCC inthe planning and formulation process. The monitoring and evaluationare conducted on a regular basis by the programme wing staff andimpact of training programme is evaluated as per initiatives taken bythe Sarpanchs and SJCC for the benefits of the Dalit community.The overall evaluation of PRI conducted in sixth monthly reviewmeeting of the NGO.

The PRI is an innovative programme directed towards the politicalempowerment of the Dalits. It enhances capacity of the Dalitsarpanchs and SJCC to address the issues of the Dalits and run localself-government efficiently. The planning, progamme execution,decision making, monitoring and evaluation are well directed towardsthe political empowerment of the Dalits. However, independent fundingis required for the sustainability of the programme. It has beendescribed above that the PRI programme of this NGO has beendesigned for political empowerment of Dalits. PRI building capacityof 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 PRIprogramme contributing to the political empowerment of Dalits inBanaskantha 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 DalitMahila Credit Co-operative Society Ltd. (BBDMCCSL) c) ChildDevelopment Centre (CDC) d) Panchayati Raj Initiatives (PRI) e)

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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. Inorder to understand the contribution in political empowerment of dalitsthe Panchayati Raj Initiatives (PRI) has been selected, analysed andinterpreted that are as follows:

The Panchayat Raj Initiatives (PRI) of this NGO has emergedon the particular socio-political context of Gujarat. The observationand working with the Dalit and women sarpanches of gramsabhabrought out the fact that although 73rd constitutional amendment andthe Gujarat Panchayat Act (GPA), 1994 opened up the new avenuesfor political participation of Dalit, women, and marginalized sectionat the local self-government but in the reality they have been excludedfrom political power. The working experience of this organisationshows that the Dalit, women and marginalized section sarpanchs facedifficulties such as strong sense of caste-based discrimination andpractice of “untouchability” in the village creates major detrimentsfor the operationalisation of PRI provisions, lack of functional workingrelationship among the Dalit communities and inability of the Dalitcommunities to articulate their demands, existence of strong patriarchalset-up, lack of unity among the Dalit community, lack of awarenessof the PRI and GPA provisions, higher caste ruling by proxy, dismissingthe Dalit sarpanches who dared to be assertive and autonomousthrough engineered no-confidence motions and by controlling the localbureaucracy.

Keeping the above things in view, the organization took initiativesfor strengthening the political participation of the Dalit communityand effective implementation of GPA started PRI programmes in theoperational areas. The objectives of PRI are as follows: a) theimplementation of GPA provisions for uplifting the socio-political statusof 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 inthe panchayat d) to build political consciousness and attainment ofpolitical power among Dalits. The target groups of PRI are Dalit,women and marginalized section sarpanches of the gramsabha. At

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present, the programme is operationalised in the five districts of Gujaratcovering 4000 villages of 21 talukas/blocks.

The PRI planning process is participatory and democratic. Thedirector, secretary, project co-ordinator, programme wing staff of PRIteam and CBO members jointly plan for the programme. In theplanning process, the strategies and methods are adopted for effectiveimplementation of programme. The training programmes, camps,exposure visits are designed as per the needs and strengtheningcapacity of the Dalit and women sarpanches, social justice committeechairman and community-based organizations (CBOs). Thus, theplanning process mainly strives towards capacity building of the electedDalit and women representatives of local self-government and makingthem able to address the issues of Dalit community in the gramsabhaand local bureaucracy.

The special PRI cell has been created under the rural developmentteam and the Project co-ordinator, Project supervisor and field staffshave been appointed for the effective implementation of programme.Similarly, the CBOs are identified and the cadres of volunteers areprepared at the taluka and village level for conducting trainingprogramme, mobilization of local support and community organization.The financial resources for the recurring and running expenditure ofthe PRI programme are managed through the international fundingagency.

The programme execution process of PRI is systematicallyaddressing the real issues of the Dalit and women sarpanches. Atthe outset, the organisation organizes district wise preliminary meetingsof staff of the CBOs and director and PRI cell. The main purpose ofthis meeting is to establish the context and relevance of the programmewhich the organization intended to take up, role clarification and, theactivities that the organisation would be engaged in the forthcomingperiod. The people share their experiences related to the problemsfaced by Dalits and their representatives with respect to PanchayatiRaj. 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 theprocedure of filing nominations during elections, leading to rejection

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of forms, resulting disqualification from contesting the election,constant threat of no-confidence motion against Dalit and womensarpanches, if they dare to go against the vested interests of thepowerful castes/leaders of the villages, non-cooperation andwithholding of crucial information regarding the developmentalprogrammes, allocation of finances and other important issuespertaining to the Panchayat by the Talati (secretary to the Panchayat,the lowest ranking revenue functionary), gram Sabha not beingconvened, or when convened, excluding the marginalized communitiesfrom the same, and not taking up issues of importance to thosecommunities, social justice committees not being constituted, itschairpersons kept unaware of their roles and powers etc presentedand discussed in the meeting.

The decision making of PRI is participatory and democratic.The Director, Project Co-ordinator, Project supervisor, field staff andCBO members jointly plan and discuss the issues related to theimplementation and governance of the programme. The decisionsregarding design of the training programme, workshops, staging ofprotest march to government offices, implementation of welfare anddevelopment schemes for Dalits are taken jointly and in consultationwith the CBOs.

The monitoring is conducted on monthly basis by the ProjectCo-ordinator, programme wing staff and CBO members. The CBOsmonitor the programme at the village and taluka level and report theimpact and performance of programme to project supervisor. This isfollowed by the Projects supervisor leading to the Project Co-ordinator,ending up with the Director. The overall evaluation of the PRIconducted annually to assess the strength and weaknesses of thePRI. The impact of the programme is measured on the basis of theinitiatives taken by the Sarpanchs and SJCC for the implementationof government welfare and development schemes for the benefits ofthe Dalit community. The planning process, progamme execution,decision making, monitoring and evaluation are well directed towardsthe political empowerment of Dalits community. However, financialself-sufficiency is required for the long term sustainability of theprogramme.

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The PRI is well directed towards the effective politicalparticipation and political empowerment of the Dalits. The trainingprogramme of PRI is strengthening capacity of CBO members aswell as Dalit/women sarpanchs and SJCC for effectively running thegramsabha and social justice committee. It has been revealed by theprogrammme officer that the impact of PRI training programme ispositive on the Dalit/women sarpanches and the SJCC of the differentvillages. They became efficient and confidently governing the affairsof the Panchayat. They articulate Dalits interests in the meetingsand implement the government welfare and development schemesfor the benefits of Dalits. Importantly, they take independent decisionsfor the welfare and development of village in general and Dalits inthe particular. Thus, the PRI has created a team of efficient Dalit/women sarpanches, SJCC to address the different issues of Dalits atthe Panchayat as well as district levels. It is innovative programmeof this organisation for effective implementation of local selfgovernment as well as political empowerment Dalits.

In nutshell, it has been observed that PRI programme of theorganisation is addressing the political empowerment of Dalits. PRIcontributes to the political empowerment process of the Dalits. Itdevelops capacity of Dalit/women sarpanches, SJCC to address theissues of the Dalits and runs local self-government effectively. Itcreates socio-political consciousness and promotes welfare anddevelopmental initiatives of Dalits. Thus, looking at the nature andperformance of PRI programme, it is evident that the organisationsufficiently contributing to the political empowerment of Dalits.

Case Study No. 4

The organization under study has systematic and well-directedprogrammes towards the Dalit empowerment. All the programmesand activities have one common agenda of strengthening non-cooperation against the caste–based discrimination and the practiceof untouchability. The organisation strongly believes that castediscrimination and atrocities against the Dalits will disappear bysystematic intervention and broad-based movements. There are total

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six major programmes of the organisation Viz., a) Legal Aid, LegalEducation Programme (LALEP) b) Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK) c)Educational Programme (EP) d) Campaign, Training and MobilizationProgramme (CTMP) e) Abolition of Manual Scavenging andRehabilitation of Scavengers (AMSRS) and f) Women’sEmpowerment Programme (WEP). Out of these, Campaign andTraining and Mobilization Programme (CTMP) are directed towardsthe political empowerment of Dalit. The details of this programmeare as follow:

The organization has major program of Campaign, Training andMobilization Programme focus on generating awareness amongmasses about the Dalit deprivation in India. This programme hasbeen started since its inception of NT. The main aim of programmeis to generate socio-political awareness and consciousness amongDalits and strengthen Dalit local initiatives through different meansto resolve issues of Dalit deprivations. The idea of programme is alsoto create an atmosphere of mutual sharing and exchange of ideas,views and experiences about Dalit empowerment between the Dalitcommunity as well as the organization.

The objectives of programme are as follows: a) To train activists,community members and committed individuals in understandingsociety in its various manifestations and wider perspectives and besensitive to the agenda of social justice, b) To empower local groupsto increase their power and confidence through exposure to both theproblems and resolutions, c) To train community volunteers as localLeaders by adding value of information and awareness to theirvoluntarism, d) To promote exchange of experiences betweenorganization and the community to increase common knowledge base,e) To increase community participation in the movement in areas ofagenda setting, planning programs and their implementation, f) Toimpart training and awareness especially to women activists andmembers of the community to ensure their participation at all levels.

Under this programme various activities organised by the NGOunder the study such as Campaign for Drinking water for the Dalits,Implementation of land reforms, Unemployed Primary Teachers fromScavenger Community, Implementation of the Minimum Wages Act,

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Implementation of the Atrocity Act, Ban on Manual scavenging andRehabilitation of Scavengers, etc. Similarly, the training programs foractivists, community members, volunteers, Dalit sarpanch andmembers of other social groups and organizations have been organisedwith the objective of Awareness, community organization, campaignagainst untouchability, local self-government power and duties underthe law, legal mechanism, government schemes, etc. In the year 2003-04, the total 212 training programs organised by the organisation and7368 persons participated in this training programme.

The organization under the study strongly believes that apartfrom legal measures, the community action is essential for resolvingthe issues of Dalits. In this regards the organization organizing massmobilization of Dalits around the issues such as Land reforms, securingminimum wages, implementation of welfare programs, securingprimary and elementary education, atrocities against Dalits, effectivelybanning practice of manual scavenging and the rehabilitation ofscavengers etc.

The planning procedure of CTMP is based on the findings ofsurvey and research conducted by the organization on various issuesrelated to Dalit deprivation. The planning of CTMP takes placebetween director, staff and founding member of the organization.The priority is always given to issue, which demands immediateconcern and response. In the planning process the special emphasisis always given to the democratic and constitutional approach, strategybuilding, community support and resource mobilization, and long-termwider impact of the programme.

The resources for CTMP are arranged by recruiting statecampaign co-ordinator, zonal collaborator, taluka/block collaboratorand field staff at the organizational level. The cadres of volunteersare generated at the village level and community resources in termsof cash and materials are collected and utilized for the implementationof programme. Similarly, the membership fee of the organization ismainly used to carry out the activities of CTMP and no funding agencyis contacted for financial support.

The CTMP execution process starts through a range of activitiesin the Dalit ‘vas’ (quarter). In some of the Dalit ‘vas’, the preliminary

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discussions with Dalits helps for the identification of a local problemssuch as availability of water and electricity, discrimination in minimumwages, caste-based discriminations etc. To get more authenticity ofthe fact, the organization conducts survey and collects widerresponses, and starts initiative by CTMP to highlight the issues. Theeruption of caste violence and case of atrocity in any village alsoprovide entry point for intervention. This is followed by a period ofintensive activity by registering the case, initiating legal process,mobilizing Dalit community, preparing victim and witness for courtprocedure, generating mass awareness for speedy legal remedy.Where there is no direct intervention with the issues, there theorganization generates awareness, trained volunteers, provides moralsupport and keeps the issue alive.

The Dalit community response to CTMP overwhelming due tostrong trained cadre of volunteers and membership based organization.The training programme has helped members of local and otherorganizations to further the awareness of the Dalit rights in the differentareas. The People’s participation increased including women hasincreased in programs of mass mobilization and campaign around theissue of drinking water, land, minimum wages, atrocities, manualscavenger or membership organization.

The impact of training program of CTMP has motivatedparticipants to set up local organizations and gave new rise toleadership among Dalit youths, who are expressing their voice againstinjustices and addressing issues of common facilities and their accessto Dalits in the village panchayat. Thus, in real sense, the CTMPworking for the political empowerment of Dalits by creating abilityamong Dalits to participate in the socio-political activities, take socio-political action for economic and social development of thecommunities 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 hasbeen taken by the Director in consultation with the State co-ordinator,zonal collaborator, taluka collaborators. The decisions further passedon by taluka collaborators to field staff and volunteers. At the villagelevel meeting and training programme, the taluka collaborator, fieldstaff, volunteers takes views and opinion of Dalits about the issues

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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 bydifferent staff of programme. The state co-ordinator, zonal collaborator,taluka collaborator, field staff as per division of their responsibilitysupervise programme at different level and provides feed back to thehigher authority. The director conducts meeting once in three monthswith the staff of CTMP and get feed-back about the impact of theprogramme and emerging areas of concerns. The evaluation ofprogramme conducted in the annual review meeting in which strengthand weaknesses of CTMP assessed by the board of trustees, staffof the organization and measures are adopted for effective and widerimpact.

The CTMP is the major programme of the organization to addressthe socio-political issues of Dalits through effective means andstrengthen non-cooperation Dalit movement in Gujarat. The aims,objectives, process of planning, resource mobilizations, programmeexecution, participation of people, Dalit empowerment aspects,decision making process, monitoring and evaluation are systematicallydesigned and implemented to give long term sustainability toprogramme.

It is described above that the organization has CTMP programmeexclusively for political empowerment of the Dalits. CTMP strivesfor political empowerment of the Dalits through broad-basedcampaigns, training and mobilization programme. It creates abilityamong the Dalits to participate in the socio-political activities tostrengthen non-cooperation movement against the caste-baseddiscrimination and untouchability. Thus, the organization under thestudy through CTMP strives to contribute to the political empowermentof Dalits in the Gujarat.

Conclusion:

The present study highlights that each NGO under the study hasone major programme to contribute to the political empowerment ofDalits in the selected areas. The programmes of NGOs aresystematically designed, executed, monitored and contributing

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sustainably to the political empowerment of the Dalits. The well-directed political empowerment programme of NGOs have beenaddressing various socio-political issues of dalits through themechanism of participation, mobilization, awareness campaign,advocacy, networking, agitation, protest-march, sit-in etc. Theprogramme of NGOs also train the activists, community membersand committed individuals in understanding society and oppressivepractices, and developing their perspective for the agenda of socialjustice. It empowers local groups to increase their power andconfidence through exposure to both the problems and resolutions.The NGOs regularly conduct capacity-building and leadershipdevelopment programme for community volunteers/members as localLeaders by adding value of information and awareness to theirvoluntarism. The NGOs also training dalits in the areas of agendasetting, planning programs and their implementation, impart trainingand awareness especially to women activists and members of thecommunity to ensure their participation at local self-government andthe society at the large. In conclusion, the above details highlightsthat the NGOs under study have systematic programmes andcontributing positively to the empowerment process of the Dalits inGujarat. However, the long term sustainability of programme andregular contact of NGOs with target group and people are essentialfactors for any civil society organization to create and facilitateeffective empowerment process for the marginalized sections.

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

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