| Background Note on NGO Council
Sent to the proposed committee members on August 18, 2005 Dear During the flooding crisis in Mumbai, as I interacted with BMC, I realised there is no established way for the Government authorities (or for anyone else, including NGOs themselves,) to interact easily with a group through which information to and from NGOs could be conveyed. So the need for a Council of Mumbai NGOs is imperative. And, I believe, the timing is also right. I am taking the liberty to initiate such a move. I have put down my brief thoughts about such a Council and who should the Committee Members be. I have not had the pleasure of meeting you or indeed, several of the organisations that I have listed below. I seek your opinion on who should be included, who should be excluded, and the broad purpose and objectives of the Council and what it should strive to achieve in the first year. I would also very much appreciate your thoughts on what will make such a Council successful and what can make it fail. There would be two names from each organisation – one as the formal representative (presumably the person heading it) and one as the person who would be likely to attend the meeting in the former’s absence. So please let me also know the name of the alternate person from your organisation. I would greatly appreciate if you can phone me any time at your convenience to discuss the matter. Thereafter, after I have received feedback from several others, I would like to meet you personally to discuss in greater detail. I realise that we are the “new kid on the block” and this has its own strengths and weaknesses. I would request you to see www.karmayog.com if you have not done so recently so that you have a better idea about us. Please do also let me know who, in your opinion, would be a suitable convenor for the Council. As I have met very few of the people heading the NGOs below, I am not able to judge. My own preference for the first year is for me to be so – simply because we have a general relationship with a large number of ngo’s covering a variety of sectors, we will put in the internet and human resources required by the Council, we are not dependent on external financial support, and I am committed to see this through. I would like to circulate the broad preamble and the proposed list of committee members after a week i.e. on Thursday, 18 August, to other NGOs, etc., for feedback, and would thus appreciate your response as early as possible. If you are not interested in being in the Council at this stage, please do let me know that too. Thanks and Regards Preamble: The Council would be representing all NGOs. Purpose: 2 levels of membership: Criteria for Committee members: Objectives – to be decided by Council Sectoral Cells – e.g. by beneficiary-type e.g. Children, by issues e.g. Health, by activity e.g. awareness – later by the Council Core Team (from amongst the Committee Members) – to be decided by Council later Tentative List of Committee Members: 51 Category – Organisation Institution – TISS Children – CRY Health – CEHAT |