NGO is a very large, rather nebulous, grouping of orgnisations. They have diverse purposes of existence and different roles. Rating, ranking or lebelling without reference to the same would not be meaningul.
Rating is done with a purpose. The government has, since 7th Five Year Plan, started awarding work contracts to “NGOs”. For which they needed a “qualifying critera”. Hence, they started rating the applicant NGOs on such definite criteria. For example, RWSS Department in Maharashtra has started an exercise of categorising NGOs to play “Support Organisation” role in Jalswarajya, and hired Karve Institute of Social Sciences/ Work, Pune to do that job. Such exercises have a purpose and a well defined end-use, without which rating would not have any meaning. What are yours?
You may be aware that rating experiments without a purpose (or with a “holier than Thou” purpose) ended up in generating unnecessary heat in the past. Please recall endeavours by Bunker (beginning in mid-eighties), VANI, CAPART, etc.
Of late, Credibility Alliance, Give Foundation, etc have been active on the scene. You may get in touch with them, if you are planning something serious.
Finally, let me state that any attempt to rate/ rank/ categorise/ lebel NGOs (or citizens, for that matter) is a discriminatory gesture at your own nation. But, discrimination is an integral part of our esteemed culture and lifestyle. If you want to perpetuate it, you will have to find a purpose in what you are doing. Else, you have to work towards changing it. The choice is yours!
Sincerely yours,
Yugandhar Mandavkar
grasp_agd@sancharnet.in
Executive Secretary & CEO
GRASP
57, Shreya Nagar
Aurangabad – 431005
Phone/ Fax : +91-240-2351224/ 2333294
URL : www.grasp.org.in