“Poverty is a state, where a person lacks the basic capacity to participate effectively in the society. Poverty in a democracy is a denial of services and opportunities to lead a long, healthy, creative life and enjoy a decent standard of living. We see poverty as an instrument which normally facilitates too much capital to grow. There is great potential of human and social capital for the poor to grow or reserve. People with too much capital are a causality. Therefore, we are focusing on sensitising the community on the development activities undertaken through various flagship schemes and programmes; and also enabling people to understand their roles and responsibilities and expand their capacity towards building a sustainable community.

Nations around the world are challenged on how to ensure the benefits of governance and development reach the last mile.  When all things are done, what really matters is whether the person at the last mile is feeling the impact of, and getting the benefits of good governance. Democracy calls for a shift from Jamindari to Jan Bhagidari or effective partnership. The partnership is very dynamic which requires relationship building that continues for a longer time. It demands both independence and interdependence in terms of behavioural competency, functional competency, and domain competency. It requires both changes in the mindset and mindset to change. We have to develop an attitude to learning from the community, the CSOs, the government, the media-building narratives, and the academia. Let’s work together and learn from each other. Influencing the state on how to work with other actors including the CSOs; and mobilising the CSOs to work with the government is very critical. Above all, the community is always at the centre. Starting from brainstorming with the community for project formulation/designing, to participatory project implementation, monitoring & evaluation, review-cum-reflection are important for the success of the project.

Human development can only happen when people and processes from the public sector, private sector, civil society, citizenry, academia and the media come together and synergistically work to ensure it. This is now possible with the spirit of partnership, or ‘Jan Bhagidari’. The key is in our hands i.e. ‘Transformative change from Karmachari to Karmayogi”