Government eyes corporates to help Kerala’s poor

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With NGOs finding the going tough under the Modi regime, the state government has for the first time decided to collaborate with industrial houses and corporate bodies in the welfare of the destitute.   

The original project, drawn up before the BJP came to power, was to involve civil society groups in a big way in social welfare projects.

But with NGOs being starved of funds, and their interest in the running of welfare of homes falling dramatically, the state government has included corporates within the definition of civil society groups.  

Industry and corporate groups will be allowed to collaborate at all the four levels of welfare activities, graded on the basis of the duration, volume and type of involvement.

Level one: Activities are stand-alone one-time programmes like taking institutionalised children out for a movie.
Level two: involves sort-term activities, the duration of which ranges from a few days to one year; electric connections for a welfare home, for instance, or its maintenance.  
Level three:  Involves long-term projects that will extend for more than a year; like sponsoring the medical treatment of inmates or sponsoring nutritious food for women and children for a pre-determined period. Level four is institutional management; like being the facilitator for the delivery of high quality institutional care services.  

“For levels three and four initiatives by corporate bodies, an MoU will be insisted upon,” a top Social Justice Department official said.

The time-duration of the activity need to be spelt out along with the conditions for termination of the arrangements by by both the Corporate involved and the Social Justice Department.  

The activities of corporates will be subject to strict monitoring and evaluation. Fairly representative multi-stakeholder committees will be constituted to plan, implement, evaluate and monitor the collaborative ventures.

Such committees should have representation of the inmates, relatives of inmates, local body leaders, MP/MLA, academicians, professionals and officials. An appropriate reporting system also should be in place.