Long-term strategy and organizational mission

Gopal Singh playing with a baby at the same MFG group meeting. This is typical. Interaction with groups members and their kids is an important part of building the relationship between LSS and the village.


Gopal Singh writing in the ledger for the MFG in Kukrela during our most recent visit.


Grant Larsen at Kukrela MFG meeting.


Meg Fowler at Kukrela MFG meeting.

Hi all, I'm writing today to talk about the long-term strategy and focus of our organization, Lok Sahbhagi Sanstha, or Public Participatory Institution. I have mentioned most of it here already in the past, but through conversations while I was in India, we have distilled it into succint statements (which I will expand on below).

Our current mission statement: "Community empowerment through microfinance and technology."

Let's go through what this mission statement entails. Community empowerment means that we are not trying to "help" these people by giving them things from our pockets, but instead we engage them in a process of self-improvement that is driven and sustained by their own conversations and efforts. Through this process they feel empowered. Right now our primary area of work is in microfinance, through the microfinance groups for women that we run, and youth technology education. This explains the mission statement.

I would say this mission statement accurately reflects our current work and in some sense our plans for future expansion, but most likely it will be revised in a couple years. The primary reason for this is that we also plan on working in environmental management, especially water harvesting. For this work we need large block grants, since it typically involves a lot of labor to build the necessary water harvesting structures (dams, ditches, various types of barriers). We will wait until our three-year "trial period" required by the Indian government is over before we try to apply for such capital intensive projects. In a sense this work will involve technology, since we'll often bring in engineers to help design the water harvesting structures. However, most of the work will be manual and will be using earthen structures, so to see it would not bring visions of technology per se. Nonetheless, we believe this is the most appropriate mission statement for the organization at the present.


Grant and Ghalib working on the content of the brochure

Now, directly from the brochure is how we as an organization see our work:

Lok Sahbhagi Sansthan (LSS), or Public Participatory Institution (PPI), is a non-government organization registered under the Rajasthan Society Registration Act, 1958. With its head office based at the village Khora, Shahpura, Jaipur, it has started working primarily in the fields of Technical Education, Microfinance and Natural Resource Management.

The organization enjoys the benefit of several regular and irregular young and highly experienced members.

The members have rich experience with implementing many such programs at the community level and are capable in realizing novel ideas in the field.

LSS aims to sensitize and encourage people, especially youths, to go to schools and provide venues where they can learn how to handle and do work on computers efficiently. The goal is to open up new venues of livelihoods for them and thereby pick up the pace of their developmental process. Different centers for free computer education are being set up in the villages.

The current area selected by LSS lags behind in terms of education, technical education and job venues. The basic facilities for education, health and electricity are also poor in the whole selected area. LSS encourages the villagers to come out of their houses and to work together for their development and actively participate in the ongoing developmental processes.

Programs and Activities

Enabling poor youths to make use of technology and providing some venues to have technical knowledge and skills.

Imparting computer education through opening computer education centers in villages.

Facilitating villagers in the formation of Microfinance Groups (MFGs), in which local women pool resources to provide microfinance for each other.

Sensitizing people regarding natural resource conservation and management.

Conservation of forest, wild life and fauna and flora of the region.

"We become uncomfortable when we see that certain sections of societies are not in a position to keep up the pace of development while others are quite comfortably maintaining the pace. Identifying reasons for this and removing them is our priority."



Rohitash and I discussing our long-term plans and hopes for LSS


Finally, a quick word on our organizational structure. LSS is a development group, of which I am a part. My role is as an advisor on matters technical and with regards to the long-term vision of the organization, coordinator of international outreach, and fund contributor. Rohitash and Gopal run the office in India and run all of the microfinance groups and youth technology groups. For decisions of importance to the running of the organization and its long-term strategy, we three discuss the matter and agree upon a way forward, perhaps with input from others with experience. For day-to-day operations in India, obviously Rohitash and Gopal make the decisions, though if it seems that there is an issue that comes up that needs discussion they of course mention in our frequent phone call and email discussions. I trust these two tremendously and think anyone who has worked with them can vouch for their honesty, passion, toughness, and desire to bring development to the village area, where they and their families reside.