Alliance News issue 24, September 2008

A monthly newsletter of Credibility Alliance

This newsletter has been envisaged as a tool with which we would like to communicate and engage with our stakeholders. This newsletter will be a co-traveller in Credibility Alliances journey towards enhancing accountability and transparency in the voluntary sector.

Dear Friends,
Welcome to the September issue of our newsletter! We hope Ganesha has brought cheer to all our members. In the last newsletter, we focused upon the rationale, structure and roles of State Committees. This was effectively illustrated through the functioning of Jharkhand State Committee (JSC). One of the main roles of a State Committee is to plan and implement training interventions. This training helps enable member organizations to meet the norms of good governance.

In this newsletter, we have presented the capacity building needs identified by JSC for its member organizations. You will also read about the process by which these needs were identified. We appreciate the effort taken by JSC to work on guidelines to help the member organizations comply with as many levels of CA norms as possible.

In some of the state committee meetings, the discussions have centered on the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill 2006. You can find out more about the Bill simply click on the links we have provided you. You can also read a document by Financial Management Service Foundation. This document analyzes the provisions of the Bill and its likely impact on voluntary organizations.

On August 29, CA had its fourth Annual General Body Meeting (AGM). We thank all the participants of the AGM for their contributions and active support. Unfortunately, Ms Rewati Bhagwat, the Executive Director of CA will not be able to continue with her position. On August 31, she bid CA and the team goodbye, but she will remain with us in spirit. Team CA and all the members thank her for her contribution towards strengthening CA. We wish her all the best!

A warm welcome to Mr Vijay Nadkarni, who has taken over as Deputy Director of CA from September 1.

August 2008: At a glance

1. Gujarat State Committee Meeting

On August 8, Gujarat State Committee (SC) meeting was held at Unnatis office in Ahmedabad. Representatives from eighteen member organizations were present for this meeting. The agenda for this meeting was i) Discussion on accreditation ii) Discussion on DOSA (Discussion Oriented Self Assessment) questionnaire iii) Status of Peer Group Review (PGR) process iv) Selection of state representative to represent the state in the Annual General Body Meeting of CA. The Regional Co-ordinator gave an update regarding the status of accreditation at national and state level. At the state level, accreditation of N.M Sadguru Water and Development Foundation was completed in the first week of August 2008. A decision was made that the note on the concept and functioning of state accreditation committee would be finalized after the Regional Co-ordinator and the convener of accreditation committee had a discussion with each member of the committee. The DOSA tool was modified by incorporating CA norms in the questionnaire. A presentation on the same was made. There was a discussion on the status of Peer Group Review process in the state. Four organizations have undergone PGR in Gujarat. Unnati and Saurashtra Voluntary Actions (SAVA) are in the process of applying for PGR. SAATH has agreed to review Gujarat Stree Pragati Mandal and they have nominated one person from their organization as a potential reviewer. Mr Harnath Jagawat was selected to represent the state in the CA Annual General Body Meeting scheduled on 29 August 2008.

2. Promotional Meeting in Koraput, Orissa

On August 9, a promotional meeting was organized at Koraput in Orissa to present the CA norms and encourage voluntary organizations to join the CA initiative. The East Zone Regional Co-ordinator presented the genesis and norms of CA. Robert Dequadros, Executive-Resources explained the value addition which an organization could derive by becoming CA member. It was decided that organizations interested to become members of CA could seek the advice of Mr Jagannath Mishra from EKTA regarding whether they should apply for membership through PGR or through self disclosure.

3. Maharashtra State Committee Meeting

On August 14, Maharashtra State Committee (SC) meeting was held at SOSVAs office in Mumbai. Representatives from nine organizations were present for this meeting. The agenda for this meeting was i) a session on NGO accountability, ii) update on CA activities, iii) discussion on accreditation and PGR, v) selection of state representative to participate in the Annual General Body Meeting of CA. The session on NGO accountability was taken by Tara Korti, a consultant working part time with CA. The session was facilitated in the form of a discussion regarding the different stakeholders to whom an NGO is accountable, the different forms of accountability, and the mechanism and processes by which accountability is achieved. This session was followed by the Regional Co-ordinator updating the group about the membership status in the state, an update on accreditation and PGR process. Executive Director of NASEOH to represent the state during the Annual General Body Meeting. The participants elected Ms Sudha Balachandra, the

4. Membership status We Welcome Our Newly Joined Members to Credibility Alliance - A Network of Voluntary Organizations in India to promote norms of good governance and public disclosure.
The membership status currently is Central zone: 21 members, South zone: 79 members, East zone: 113, West zone: 49 members, North zone: 49 members, North East zone: 4 members. The total number of members is 315.

5. Orissa State Committee Meeting

On August 8, Orissa State Committee (SC) meeting was held at Koraput. Representatives from ten member organizations were present for this meeting. The agenda for this meeting was i) presentation on CA norms of good governance and norms compliance, ii) update on CA activities, iii) consultation on the

Our New Members: Agami Lok Kalyana Sagha, Orissa Peoples Organization for Hill Area

adoption of PGR for higher accountability, iv) election of office bearers for the Orissa State Committee, v) election of representative to represent the state in the Annual General Body Meeting of CA. The East Zone Regional Co-ordinator (RC) presented the minimum and desirable norms. A compliance sheet was given to the participants to analyze their organizations position with regards to norms compliance. Annual report compliance sample was disseminated to the members, to help them frame the annual report. Robert Dequadros, Executive-Resources updated the participants about CAs activities regarding sensitizing the donors and government departments regarding norms of good governance. A consultation

Reconstruction Awareness, Orissa Dalit Vikas Vindu, Bihar Bhoruka Public Welfare Trust, West Bengal

INFORMATION YOU CAN USE 1. Notification on Change of FC-3 Filing Date Ministry of Home Affairs has brought out an Amendment to Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules Vide Notification GSR 83 (E)No. F.No. II/21022/23(43)/2007-FCRA-II dt.08.02.2008 to the filing date of FC-3 Returns from 31st July to 31st December. 2. The following links are useful for understanding the legal issues of NGOs. www.incometaxforngos.org www.fcraforngos.org www.legalissuesforngos.org

on adoption of PGR followed and the members unanimously agreed on making it mandatory. New zonal co-ordinators were elected as the existing leadership structure of Orissa State Committee had completed three years. Mr Mangaraj Panda was elected to represent Orissa in the Annual General Body Meeting. The house decided to hold the next SC meeting on November 24 at Kalahandi.

3. A Synopsis of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill, 2006 is available on the website of Financial Management Service Foundation (FMSF). It can be accessed by going to the link http://www.fcraforngos.org/synopsis. pdf

ORISSA STATE COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 8 AUGUST AT KORAPUT, ORISSA

6. Annual General Body Meeting

The fourth Annual General Body Meeting of CA was held on August 29 at PRIA, New Delhi. Representatives from 16 member organizations, 9 Board members, and 7 members of CA staff were present for the meeting. Mr. Mathew Cherian, Chairperson of CA governing board, presided over the

4. FMSF has drafted a paper titled Critical Issues on Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill, 2006. This paper analyzes the various provisions of the Bill and its likely impact on voluntary organizations. For accessing this paper log on to http://www.fcraforngos.org/Critical%2 0Issues.pdf

meeting. Some of the key decisions which were taken during the meeting are as follows: vii) viii) M/s. S.S.Sahoo and Company was appointed as auditor for the financial year 2008-09. Two board members Ms Sheelu Francis and Ms Neelima Khetan retired this year. Ms Usha Sridhar from The Interface, Tamil Nadu and Dr Bhushan Punani from Blind Peoples Association, Gujarat were nominated as new Board members. ix) New membership and renewals will be done through PGR and will follow the calendar year January to December. x) The validity of accreditation certificate was increased from three years to five years. Hence forth, Annual General Body Meeting will be held in August every year. A three member committee comprising of Mr. Bhushan Punani, Mr. Viraf Mehta, and Ms. Sucheta Dalal was constituted to interface with Planning Commission on behalf of CA. The terms of reference for this committee would be prepared by Mr. Mathew Cherian.

5. Registration is now open for second batch of Diploma in Financial Management and Accountability. DFMA is a one year, long distance education programme on financial management of not-for profit organizations, DFMA is a joint initiative of Tata Institute of Social Sciences and FMSF. For details log on to www.fmaonline.in

xi) xii)

Capacity Building Needs of CA Members in Jharkhand WHY YOU SHOULD BE A MEMBER OF CREDIBILITY ALLIANCE: Recognition that you are committed to accountability, good governance and
One of the roles of State Committee is to plan and implement training interventions to enable member organizations to meet norms of good governance. During the Jharkhand State Committee (JSC) meeting on March 12, 2008, the members reached a consensus that the Jharkhand State Committee would make an annual plan for meeting the capacity building needs of member organizations. The responsibility for making this annual plan was given to Mr Murari M. Choudhury, Executive Director, Network for Enterprise Enhancement and Development Support (NEEDS). It was decided that Mr Murari Choudhury would make an initial plan and then circulate it to all members of JSC and based on the feedback received would finalize the plan. Mr Murari Choudhury introduced a self assessment tool for excellence mapping to eight member organizations. This tool enabled members to identify their gaps for capacity building in connection with raising their standards prior to applying for Peer Group Review and Accreditation. During the next Jharkhand State Committee meeting held on 15 July, Mr Murari Choudhury shared the experiences of using this tool. The annual plan for meeting the capacity building needs was developed based on the information provided by the 8 member organizations that assessed themselves by using the tool. The member organizations participating in the training interventions will contribute resources towards it. Plans are also being made to raise resources from funding organizations.

transparency within your organization. You can access the capacity-building

support help you comply with the norms. You will benefit from free services provided by CA, such as listing your organization in the Organizational Profile on the CA website. Possible concession in accreditation fees Your organization can attract greater

financial aid and other forms of support from the government agencies and other donors. You get an opportunity to influence the policies and procedures of ALL grantmaking agencies. You get the opportunity to network within large membership base of CA. You belong to the broad and collective efforts to bring greater credibility to the voluntary sector. LETS JOIN HANDS. LETS MAKE A POSITIVE CHANGE. LETS WORK TOWARDS A WELL-GOVERNED AND TRUSTWORTHY VOLUNTARY SECTOR IN INDIA!

The capacity building needs which have identified are as follows:

Income tax compliance: 1. Understanding on Income Tax laws compliance and knowledge of Board members about other legal compliance issues. Accounts: 2. Internal control mechanism of accounting including the procedure on accounting for community contribution (particularly when contributions are in kind). 3. CEOs capacity to read audit statements and trial balance Governance: 4. Revisit the vision and mission statement by board and staff members; developing tools to share vision mission with clients [program participants] 5. Contributory provident fund- designing a framework and putting it into practice. 6. Human Resource policy and adherence to Human Resource Policy [tools and templates for adherence to HR Policy] ; HR policy development workshop 7. Board rotation / board functions : develop NGO specific solutions Transparency: 8. Annual report writing workshop Programmatic Effectiveness: 9. Logframe development/creating indicators for all programmes

10. Workshops on Monitoring and Evaluation, and on Management Information System.

We welcome contributions in the form of articles, stories of change (from member organizations), views, and any other relevant piece of work on NGO transparency, accountability and governance from members, researchers, experts, and development workers. All contributions will be duly acknowledged. You may send them in hard copies or preferably via email to camumbai07@gmail.com . If you would like to unsubscribe from the Credibility Alliance Newsletter, please email us with "REMOVE" as the subject line. Credibility Alliance is a registered organization under Societies Registration Act (XXI) of 1860. As an independent, voluntary (not for profit) organization, we aim at building
trust among the stakeholders of an organization such as staff, the board, donors, volunteers, the general public and the media. We do this by advocating norms for public disclosure and good governance that will help organizations become more transparent and accountable to their stakeholders. The draft of our norms was published in 2003 in English and later translated into six other languages Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. More than 15000 copies of this booklet have been distributed. Credibility Alliance 3rd Floor, West Khetwadi Municipal School, Lane# 5, Back Road Khetwadi, Mumbai -400004. Ph: 022-23894046/47 Visit us at: www.credall.org.in

To know more about CA please contact us:

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