Mumbai: NGOs Gather In City To Share Ideas & Resources; Funding Drought & Volunteer Shortages Highlighted

Representatives of nearly 25 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) met in the city on Saturday to create a network to share resources and ideas, especially those relating to funding and personnel. 

The meet was organised by Vinay Somani, founder trustee of Karmayog, which had created one of the largest platforms for social and civic causes. Somani said that the meeting aimed to find ways to strengthen the social sector.

Funds thin since COVID-19

Many of the groups represented at the meeting said that funding was a perpetual problem. Sona Kumar, whose trust works with children in the Anand Nagar slums, helping them with school tutorials and extra-curricular activities, said that funding has dried up since the COVID-19 epidemic. Her group, which helps school students from underprivileged families to participate in inter-school and state-level sports competitions, said that it was becoming difficult to buy fresh sports shoes for the children.   

Rajendra Agarwal, the former district government of Rotary International, said that one way that NGOs can increase their visibility and funding prospects is by inviting prospective donors to their premises and introducing them to their work.

Shortage of volunteers

While lack of funding was a major complaint, social workers said that the shortage of volunteers and experts was also a stumbling block in their work. Beena Modak, whose group runs day-care centres for people undergoing psychiatric rehabilitation said that they needed psychiatric social workers for a new centre they were setting up.

The Children Toy Foundation, which takes its mobile toy vans to over 10,000 children between the ages of four and fourteen, said that apart from providing children access to toys and games, they helped in identifying children who are not attending schools. Vandana Sonawane, who works with the group said that they needed volunteers.  

Lack of surveys and their ill effects

Apart from the shortage of funds and volunteers, many groups said that the lack of surveys means that potential beneficiaries of government welfare schemes do not get access to the benefits. Anu Oza, who helps women in self-help groups that work in Mumbai slums where there is food deprivation, said that while there were plenty of government food schemes, many residents of slums, especially those who have recently migrated from rural areas, find it difficult to access free or subsidised food.

People with expertise in social work offered their help in management and documentation. Prakash Borgaonkar, who had worked with Helpage India, a group that works with the elderly population offered the expertise he had gained as a social worker for more than three decades. He said that the biggest problems faced by NGOs are funding and documentation. “There is a lot of funding available but poor documentation skills means that a majority of organisations struggle to get financing,” said Borgaonkar.

Other groups talked about their work. Dr Dnyanraj Patkar, whose Narmada Kidney Foundation works to create awareness about kidney disease, said that 6100 people were on the wait list for a kidney transplant in 2023 in Maharashtra, but there were only 140 cadaver donations during the year. “Out of the overall kidney donations, cadaver donations formed only 20%,” said Patkar.