Emerging Model in MBA Program: Movement and Action Network for the Transformation of Rural Areas - Case Study Example

Case Study: Emerging model in MBA Program Introduction Rural development is a major concern area for most of NGOs operating in India. Gram Vikas is one such NGO that focuses on rural development across Orissa. It takes care about the basic requirements of these rural areas in terms of sanitation and water facilities. The NGO is even working in collaboration with other organizations to execute its initiative MANTRA which is related to being in transformation in rural area network. Gram Vikas has been able to change lifestyle of many rural people through its innovative working procedure of involving each individual from village in meeting the objectives of set plan. Question 1 Gram Vikas is a NGO that is located in Orissa, India and deals with rural development projects. Figure 1 reflects location of the NGO in Orissa. Figure 1: Map of Orissa in India (Source: Chowdhury & Santos, 2013) Gram Vikas, an NGO which was founded with an aim to take care the sanitation and water facilities in rural areas. It was established with the motive to serve the society and enhance overall development of rural areas in Orissa. The executive director of the organization is Joe Madiath who can be considered to be a social entrepreneur. Within few years Joe has been able to bring forth some drastic changes in villages across Orissa. This organization was established with non-profit motive where the major focus of the founder was to spread equality amongst villagers and to change their lifestyle. It was a distinctive approach towards entrepreneurship as organizational members desired to work along with village members. The factors that affected villagers were indebtedness and alcoholism. These conditions needed to be eliminated by the organization so that they can incorporate changes in the location. This non-profit organization also started their program on bringing in electricity in the villages. Their bio gas project was the first initiative towards this program. However unlike other entrepreneurial approaches Joe and his team members did not keep the project bounded within the system but spread its concept amongst all employees. This organization had even kept the facility that if their employees was able to establish bio gas project in other villages and if it proved to be successful then they would be their owners. Such approaches are not observed in any other form of entrepreneurship and this is because the major aim of such organizations is much above protecting their core values. The main distinctive factor of Gram Vikas approach was that it started improvement from bottom level of the rural living system. It believed that equality is important in making such projects successfully and hence focused on involving all the village members. This NGO started its journey with widespread bio gas projects which later shifted to advancements in sanitation and water facilities. The traditional approaches of entrepreneurship are more profit oriented with focus towards developing a strong position in the industry. However this type of social entrepreneurship aims at benefitting the society. These traditional approaches do not involve their target audience in the entire practice and protect its core concept or believes from being disclosed to outside world. The other factor where these two approaches differ is in profitability grounds. Traditional entrepreneurship approach implements innovative ideas so as to drive in maximum percentage of revenue. On the other hand social entrepreneurship in most cases discovers cost effective methods to fulfill their objectives (Eggers & MacMillan, 2013). Profit or meeting incurred cost is not an objective for the later entrepreneurship approach. Often in traditional practices of entrepreneurship when a firm witness loss then there are certain changes incorporated in business strategy. However in case of NGOs the core believe of the organization remain unchanged that is to mitigate societal problems though in initial stages there might be monetary problems. Question 2 MANTRA (Movement and Action Network for the Transformation of Rural Areas) was a sanitation and water program started by Gram Vikas. This organization believed that advancements can only be incorporated in the villages if certain changes were made in lifestyle of villagers. In order to do so proper water facilities was important for the villagers. There were situations in which village people had to carry water far away from their home or even had to take bath and discharge human waste in fields and river water. This in turn polluted water bodies which was being accessed by majority of homes in villages. The broader social goals of MANTRA were to spread equality across the village and to come up with a combined solution that would help to resolve issue related to sanitation and water problems. Its activities extended to developing bathrooms, piped water supply, and toilets for all the families present in village. However the organization tried to involve all the village members to construct such facilities as well as maintain them for long term. Figure 2 shows the Tank Construction by Gram Vikas in one of the villages in Orissa. Figure 2: Water Tank Construction (Source: Chowdhury & Santos, 2013) The initiative was made a part of villager’s lives by forming a committee who could take proper care about the construction and even a corpus fund was formed through collection of thousand rupees per family in order to develop such facilities. Other extension of MANTRA’s project was a partnership that was established so as to serve villages in Maharashtra. This was known as CRHP project and its main focus was to promote public health educational programs across villages. Gram Vikas through this initiative of MANTRA had set up a platform for villagers belonging to different caste and creed to communicate with one another. Its broader social goal was to enhance equality throughout the system so that same technology can be effectively accessed by all villagers. The overall social benefit that this project had created is further illustrated in Figure 3. Figure 3: Sanitation and Water Coverage under MANTRA (Source: Chowdhury & Santos, 2013) Figure 3 states that MANTRA has been able to cover 500 villages by giving all the villagers proper water and sanitation facilities. Through its widespread activities MANTRA has fulfilled the broader objectives set by Gram Vikas. MANTRA model has proved to be an effective model as it has involved all the village members for completion of the project. This model states that a project can be successful only when there is equality amongst members. It even highlights certain initiatives which had been taken by government like building toilets in villages, etc., but this failed after certain time period as people were not aware about the hidden technology behind such initiative. On the other hand this model focuses on creating sense of ownership amongst village members so that such water and sanitation facilities can be easily maintained by them for long run. It even gives stress on corpus funds as this would help in involving all village members in the project. This form of funding approach is innovative for social organization as it is an initiative to work along with the victims (Bornstein & Davis, 2010). The model even outlines the factor that technological advancements can only be possible in such rural areas when there is equality amongst village members because richer class of village should not deprive lower class from their basic rights. Inequality is a major issue that is present all over India and this issue has been addressed in MANTRA model. Question 3 MANTRA model encompass certain challenges that needs to be addressed properly so as to be expand its activities across multiple regions. This model deals with certain basic issues such as water and sanitation problems that are observed in rural areas. However, the major challenge arises in terms of not an active participation from the village members. There are certain members who possess willingness towards the initiative taken by Gram Vikas but on the other hand there are villagers who due to financial instability or caste factor are not able to cooperate well with the organization. This model focuses on involving all the members and not even a small percentage should be left out as it would negatively impact the project. Thus it can be stated that major challenges for this model is to generate funds and involve all village members in such developmental project. It is generally observed in rural areas that caste is a factor that affects livelihood of many individuals. This also appears to be a challenge for the MANTRA model as the concept of bringing together upper and low caste village members are not accepted in many regions. In scaling up the model other challenge that might arise is in the form of conflict amongst organizational members. The objectives of the model is complicated for those individuals who believe that for sustaining such projects there is no requirement of involving villagers. Majority of the team members would find it difficult to convince villagers in relation to removing caste barriers from the system. Partnership can be considered to be a right or wrong approach depending on situations. Therefore, if MANTRA model needs to be incorporated in all corners of the country, it is important that there are partnership firms extending this concept to other rural areas. On the contrary partnership approach would not prove to be advantageous if goals and objectives of a NGO is complicated or cannot be understood easily by an outsider. Like for instance in the case of Gram Vikas their partnership with CRHP in Maharashtra has resulted into conflicts as both the organizations did not possess same believes and attitude. In these scenarios it is preferred to not work under partnerships. To overcome the challenges in scaling up this NGO should have different units located in different regions. This would help in working together as a team and there will be no such conflicts in opinions and views (Bornstein, 2007). If both the partners have common interest and goals then this approach is beneficial for long term sustainability but for MANTRA model it is advisable to expand operations under a single guidance. Conclusion As per the above analysis it can be stated that success and failure of initiatives undertaken by Gram Vikas is due to innovative idea behind the method of operations. The founder of NGO believed that a rural development operation can be successful only when villagers are actively involved in the process. However this idea was not supported by other agencies working in collaboration with Gram Vikas as they were finding it difficult to involve villagers and generate funds. This clearly indicates that programs such as MANTRA being developed by Gram Vikas should be operated under single guidance and not partnership in order to enhance its overall efficiency and effectiveness. References Bornstein, D. (2007). Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know. USA: Oxford University Press. Bornstein, D., & Davis, S. (2010). How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas. USA : Oxford University Press. Chowdhury, I., & Santos, F. (2013). Gram Vikas: What is the Essence of Social Entrepreneurship. France: INSEAD. Eggers, W. D., & MacMillan, P. (2013). The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government and Social Enterprises are teaming up to solve societys Toughest Problems. Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review. Read More