Priorities to be accorded by the Government

Priorities to be accorded by the Goverment

  1. A transparent system be developed in the Ministry for processing release of grants to Voluntary Organizations.
  2. As far as possible, new projects shall be approved in respect of those voluntary organizations which locate these in rural areas which are not benefitting from voluntary action at present. However, this would not apply in the case of schemes which are specifically aimed at tackling problems relating to urban areas.
  3. Since the funds available for assisting the efforts of the voluntary sector in the field of social welfare are limited, assistance from the Govt. shall be limited to duration of 10 years in case of new project. Those on-going projects that have been receiving assistance for the last 5 years and above will be given a phase out period of 5 years and in respect of those assisted for a lesser period the phase out period shall be 10 years. Where the phase out period is 5 years grants shall be reduced by an amount of 20% every year. In case of a phase out period of 10 years the reduction in grant shall be 10% every year.
  4. Voluntary organizations shall recover some proportion of the expenses incurred on the beneficiaries through user charges from families of beneficiaries or beneficiaries themselves for the services rendered. The user charges may be fixed by the NGO keeping in view the income strata of the population benefiting by voluntary action. The scale of charges shall be displayed prominently through a board put up in public view. The user charges recovered shall be fully accounted for in the annual audited accounts of the NGO.
  5. Monitoring of utilization of funds released by the Ministry be ensured through periodical reports from the assisted organization and field inspections by representatives of independent organizations / State Government / Others.
  6. Voluntary organizations may be required to display boards which should be erected at each service centre clearly indicating that the organization is running under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
  7. Public should be able to register their suggestions for the improvement of the functioning of the organizations and a suggestion box may be provided at all such service centres. Inspection agencies and the Ministry officials may have access to them. Making suitable changes according to the suggestions received may help in making the organizations more responsive to local problems/needs.
  8. Releases should be time bound and progress determined. The voluntary organization should be able to in advance project their requirements and the achievements they would be able to register. Releases thereafter should not be time-consuming and should be made Once there is evidence of progress, advances should be released.
  9. Professionalism in voluntary organizations and involvement of qualified persons should be promoted.
  10. The releases of funds made by the Ministry to voluntary organizations should be adequately publicised so that the general public is aware of the activities of the Voluntary Organizations in the area and periodic feedback is available to the Ministry through public representatives, local bodiesand the press on the performance of these organizations.
  11. At least one branch of a Voluntary Organization should be inspected once a year. Schedule for inspection may be prepared by March itself and a format should be prepared to make the assessment of the performance.
  12. Each Voluntary Organization shall submit an Annual Report to the Ministry. They will include the per capita expenditure incurred on the beneficiaries. This would be one of the key instruments to measure the efficiency of the organizations and would provide a comparison between organizations and regions.