Vanishing volunteerism

Thirty years ago when I started doing voluntary work (digging wells for drinking water) at villages in India´s Rajasthan, it was simple. No money, no prospects, no expectations – just tremendous job satisfaction. Living and working in a village was not what ´respectable´, ´normal´ people did in the late 1960s and 1970s, so you were left alone. It was the best of times to try new ideas; it was .the worst of times to explain what you were doing because it did not make sense to others, especially friends and family..Voluntary work was not considered a profession. It was associated with welfare and charity and had nothing to do with development. You took a living wage (what you need to make ends meet), not a market wage (what you are worth). Today, what people call voluntary has been corrupted by big money, compromised by alien Western methods and ideas, bought by massive foreign funds and swamped by people who are narrowminded and greedy for recognition, for legitimacy and for financial security, sadly believing that this will attract the best (who or what decides what is best is a different matter)..Volunteerism of the kind that exists in these times suffers from moral bankruptcy. The courage to want to help the poor without taking away their dignity and self respect in a simple, direct and uncomplicated manner is just not there. Donor money has destroyed the ability to innovate, be flexible, think simple and be independent. The so-called volunteers are no different from any other profit-making body in the open market. They see no harm in being totally dependent on foreign funds, being co-opted, controlled and manipulated even as they see great danger in their own government. They look down on their village institutions that have stood the test of time because Western education has taught them that what is progressive, modern and sustainable is what comes from the West..The multi-million budget groups talk about transparency and accountability so long as it applies to others. Between 1984-89, in a move to make people think about financial discipline and public accountability, there was a move to draft a code of conduct for voluntary agencies by the agencies themselves. This sounded so threatening that many got together to form VANI (Voluntary Action Network India) just so that the code was not adopted. The code was welcomed by village-based groups but vehemently opposed by urban groups backed by foreign funds. The code was never adopted..Today, the most serious issue is the total dependence on funds from outside the country. Ninety percent of these organisations would collapse if donor agencies decide to pull out. In fact, the 1980s was a turbulent decade for the voluntary sector. The Kudal Commission set up by Indira Gandhi in 1980 to look into the working of Gandhian and Sarvodaya institutions broke the Gandhians. When they should have used the powerful weapon of non-cooperation that Gandhiji used so well and refused to submit any documents, they bent over backwards to satisfy the commission head. By the time the commission was wound up by Rajiv Gandhi in 1986, the Gandhians had lost all their credibility in the eyes of the voluntary sector. The eighties also saw the code of conduct debate splitting the sector right down the middle and the passing of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA)..It is now 1998, and time to look into the structural weaknesses of the FCRA. Voluntary agencies should be allowed to bring in that much money from abroad that they can raise from within through whatever indigenous sources – such as banks. There should be a ceiling on administrative expenses – not more than 20 percent. And, finally, to strengthen the 73rd and 74th Amendment, the FCRA should make it mandatory for all voluntary agencies to throw open their books and accounts to panchayats and urban bodies because every citizen and voter has a right to be in-formed of what is happening in their own village and town with external funds, whether foreign or government. Some of the voluntary agencies work with such secrecy that even their own staff are kept totally in the dark – forget the rural communities..It is these people who have destroyed the spirit of volunteerism in India. Unfortunately, because of their links with mass media and international funding agencies, they have become role models even for those who want to do genuine voluntary work. It is enough to put anyone off..The silver lining is that there is a silent majority of thousands of groups working in the remote corners of India keeping the voluntary spirit alive. Ordinary people with tremendous guts and dignity, fighting against formidable odds, with very little money and with incredible support from Gandhiji´s Last Man. It is their struggles that continue to inspire me, for one.