An interview with Dr. Nanditha C Krishna, Honorary director of the CP Ramaswamy Aiyar Foundation

An interview with Dr. Nanditha C Krishna, Honorary director of the CP Ramaswamy Aiyar Foundation, which runs Sarawathi Kendra Centre for children with learning disabilities, CPR institute of Indological Research, and CPR Environmental Education Centre.

Can you tell me how you started managing this NGO?

In 1981, I took over from the then director, and started a nature education, environment education, programme for children and teachers and also set up the Indological research center, which is my area of specialisation. In 1985 the Saraswathi Kendra was set up to assist children with learning disabilities. It is the only full time school in the country for children with learning abilities and it is affiliated to the National Open School, Delhi. In 1988, the Environment Education Center was setup as a separate programme along with the Ministry of Environment. The CP Ramaswamy Aiyar foundation does not take any government funding, it is privately funded.

Does one have to have a degree to work in this field?

Firstly, it is wrong to believe that you need a degree in Social Work to join an NGO. If you come to me with a degree in Social Work, however, it will be very hard for me to place you in my organisation. I need scientists for my environment center, I need psychiatrics as social workers for Saraswathi Kendra, and for my programs in the rural areas I need artists, craft men.

The best example would be that of Saraswathi Kendra which started out quite by accident. One woman was sent to me for employment and I tried placing her in various social service organisations but she was very unhappy. She then told me about learning disabilities and how she wanted to work with children who have these problems. At that time I had not heard of these disabilities, so we started out just with a table and chair and this one person and then slowly others started joining us and now it is a full-fledged school.

How different is the work in this field?

In the corporate sector, if you not qualified for production, manpower management or marketing then you are not employed. However in this field, anybody who has a skill and wants to share it with others, which will in turn benefit the society at large can find work. This field is not obsessed with profit motive, money is important but it is just a means to an end. In that way this field is very flexible, if tomorrow someone comes to me with a very good program then I will encourage them to get started.

People have this wrong image of the social worker; a woman decked in diamonds, collecting money at the regatta indulging in charity as a pass time. An NGO is not managed in that manner at all.

Anything unique about this field of work?

The kind of job satisfaction you get in this field is unparalleled. But, in a corporate sector your boss sets a target, and you will have to meet it or lose the job. For example, the vice-principal of Saraswathi Kendra is a highly qualified woman and she can command double the amount of money she is now receiving. She doesn't want to switch because she says that the amount of satisfaction she get doing this job is enough. When she is able to help a child with learning disabilities read a page, learn to talk, she feels extremely fulfilled.

Why doesn't the younger generation look to this field for career options?

The main reason for this is our education system. Do any of the schools encourage their students to try to get into alternative careers? All of them are groomed to either become engineers, doctors or accountants.

Each person has a talent but they are discouraged from developing it. Has anyone ever thought of encouraging their child to become a musicologist, a historian, and a paleontologist? Forget NGOs, children are not allowed to think of say, becoming a curator, a geologist, environmentalist, botanist the whole concept of alternative careers has been rejected by both the parents and schools. Our children are not brought up motivated to develop their skills and pursue a career of their choice.

We don't think in terms of developing our skills and use it to benefit the people around us and ultimately go on to help the community as a whole. We have become so obsessed with money that we have sold our beliefs and morals just to make a quick buck.

How does one go about establishing an NGO?

First it is better if you work in an NGO and learn how it operates and all the aspects that go into managing one. You should set up a very strong administration team because an NGO needs careful and efficient monitoring and management as any limited company. You have to maintain annual accounts and you should get a professional auditor to maintain the books of the organisation.

You should then register yourself, which will enable you to obtain various sources of funding. Then you need to pick out the people who will join you. Here you have to be absolutely sure that your partners are credible and possess a strong sense of integrity. One crooked person is enough to defame your whole organisation and once this happens then you cannot redeem the organisation at all. For the first three years you have to show an income, which indicates your capabilities, only after that funds will be allocated to your organisation.

There are various sources for funds. There are NGOs funded by various religious organisations like the ones funded by Christian churches. There are also government sources of funding. Salaries will not be very high and at the same time not very low, it depends on how talented you are and how much funds you can generate.

It is important that you recognise the area in which you want to work and your targets. This requires some amount of background work, which will help you to clearly outline your projects. Ideally speaking a five- year plan should be chalked out outlining the various activities and projects which are under way and planned for the future. But this is not always possible, so what many NGOs do is chart out a two- year plan keeping in mind the availability of funds. Today NGOs have become as professionally managed as any other sector.

There are several NGOs, which have been criticised for the way in which they are maintained or operate. What is your opinion?

An orphanage never says that they are fully occupied and turn back the child dumped at their doorstep. Some parents just want to get rid of these children and never come back even to visit them. With whatever resources they have the orphanage try to provide for all their children. I have personally seen orphanages operating on limited funds without a complaint and it is not easy to do this. They are not able to afford extra help, manpower and facilities for the simple reason that they don't have the money. The cost of food and basic necessities is not cheap.

Many NGOs work on a very stringent budget. You cannot negatively label the whole field because of a few dishonest people.

MALINI SURYANARAYANAN