Alliance news issue 8, May 2007
A monthly update of Credibility Alliance
CREDIBILITY ALLIANCE IMPROVING GOVERNANCE BUILDING TRUST

This newsletter intends to be the voice of the sector and
we want our members to use this as an organ of communication with their stakeholder as well as Alliance.
Do send us information of programs/ events at your end and we can share it with other members of the Alliance.
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

Our New Member

Society for Environment and Village Advancement (SEVA), Uttaranchal

 Member’s Contribution

Economic Rural Development Society (ERDS), member of Credibility Alliance has been granted 35AC against the construction of Primary School Building at Thinagar, Malda, West Bengal. Under 35AC, donations are 100% tax exempted.

Divya Chaya Trust organizes “Corporate Challenges” – an event to sensitize corporate sector on social issues

Credibility Alliance West Bengal State committee member – Divya Chaya Trust along with S.P. Jain Institute of management & research, Mumbai on April 20, 2007, organized a seminar titled “Corporate Challenges”. Eminent persons from the corporate sector like ONGC, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Acclaris & Divya Chaya Trust Director Ms. Rekha Mody made up the panel. Topics like e. governance, principles & attributes of governance were presented by the speakers. The need for Corporate Sector to come forward and support the efforts of the Voluntary sector by way of taking up issues on education, women development, HIV – Aids prevention & child care as part of CSR.

Challenges like – apathy by Corporate Sector and lack of support from state Governments were expressed. In conclusion, the panel of speakers representing various fields of expertise called for ‘unity’ among corporate stake holders to take up seriously the burning issues that concern society in general.

East Regional Coordinator, Robert Dequadros was invited by the organizers to make presentation on Credibility Alliance. He briefly spoke on the vision & mission of CA, development of norms and accreditation for VO’s in the country. He also shared about membership to the Alliance and corporate interest by CII. He exhorted the panel and members of the audience to support the CA initiatives.

Dear members!

Welcome to the May 2007 issue of our newsletter. Month of April was full of promotional activities in various parts of India, which we have tried to communicate through our newsletter. We also conducted our first Plan and Review meet for this financial year at CA - head office in Mumbai. It was an exhaustive discussion and update of activities at our regional offices and formulation of strategies for next quarter. We thank our regional coordinators Mr. Robert, Mr. Praveen, Mr. Vimal and Mr. Srivastava and our head office staffs for their valuable support in making this event successful.

We would also like to inform our members that Ms. Rewati Bhagwat, who joined us in January 2007 as Deputy Director has been promoted to Jt. Executive Director of Credibility Alliance.

Congratulations on behalf of all our members and best wishes for years ahead!

April 2007: The Month in Review

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) offers to help members of Credibility Alliance

 In April 2006, East Regional Coordinator, Robert Dequadros met with officials of ‘Tata Consultancy Services’ in Kolkata and presented the objectives of Credibility Alliance.  TCS, in reply, offered to partner with Credibility Alliance Eastern Region members by way of ‘dual support scheme’. This offer involves:

  1. TCS staff skill support to Credibility Alliance member NGO
  2. Donation of 2-3 year old Pentium III computers.

It is heartening to know that TCS has deputed staff in computer skills to train staffs of two CA member organizations. They are: 1) Divya Chaya Trust & (2) Calcutta Urban Services. In addition, TCS has donated 19 Pentium III computers to four Eastern Region members.

CA Norms and Accreditation discussed at CBM advisors’ meet
CBM north region invited their advisors on April 10th 2007 to discuss future strategies for CBM. Ms. Silvana Innasalman, regional director for north region invited Credibility Alliance to speak about accreditation. Ms. Rewati Bhagwat held a presentation on Norms and Accreditation process. The questions raised were mainly with regards to the process of accreditation. Most of the advisors who attended this meeting acknowledged that there is a need for accreditation.

4th Norms committee meeting to discuss program evaluation norms
Credibility Alliance had its 4th Norms Committee meeting at Nirmala Niketan Mumbai on 11th April 2007. The main agenda of the meeting was to discuss norms in details followed by other international certification bodies and prepare a framework for CA.

Workshop with CBM partners to promote norms of good governance   
CBM organized a workshop with their 180 partners on April 12th 2007 at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. In this workshop CA Programme officer- Mr. Kuldeepsinh Solanki presented on norms of good governance and accreditation. Our members Dr. Bhushan Punani of Blind People Association- Ahmedabad, Mr. Satish Girija from NBJK- Jharkhand, and Dr. Shreelekha Roy from Voluntary health association- Tripura shared their views on needs for a self-regulatory mechanism and benefits of membership.
 
Visit of Additional municipal commissioner to Credibility Alliance-HO

Mr. Kishore Gajbhiye, Additional Municipal Commissioner visited Credibility Alliance, Mumbai office. He acknowledged the need for accreditation of NGOs working with the municipal corporation in the area of health and education.
This was followed by a discussion with Dr. Keluskar, In-charge of people’s participatory cell. It was suggested to hold a workshop with NGOs partnering with/ connected to BMC and to discuss the need for compliance to Credibility Alliance norms for good governance.

BENEFITS OF CREDIBILITY
ALLIANCE MEMBERSHIP
   
1. Recognition as being committed to a set of norms that ensures accountability, good governance and transparency within their organization.
2. Access to capacity-building support to meet the requirements specified in the norms.
3. Free services rendered by the Alliance, such as listing your organization in the ‘Organizational Profile’ on the Alliance’s website. 
4. Concession in accreditation fees, when it commences.
5. Prospects of attracting greater financial and other forms of support, from different stakeholders, including the government and other donors.
6. Opportunities to influence the policies and procedures of grant-making agencies including the government.
7. Networking opportunities within a large membership base.
8. A sense of belonging in broad and collective efforts to bring greater credibility to the sector as a whole.
   
LETS JOIN HANDS TO MAKE A POSITIVE CHANGE FOR A WELL GOVERNED AND TRUSTWORTHY VOLUNTARY SECTOR IN INDIA !

Click here to download membership form
   
Organizations who are members of Credibility Alliance since one or more than one year have a reason for being part of such an alliance. Credibility Alliance thus wish to understand the perspective of the Organizations and thereby acknowledge their success stories / experiences. 

Our feedback questionnaire is prepared in order to have all responses in a standardized format and at the same time simple to understand. This will help us to integrate your unique experience,
We request you to go through the form, complete it, and send it to:
communication@credall.org.in
and
members@credall.org.in .

Click here to download the form
   
Workshop on training of assessors for accreditation of VOs
Second orientation workshop for assessors was held by Credibility Alliance and YASHADA on April 17th 2007. 15 participants including three Credibility Alliance members attended this workshop. The participants were oriented to the process of selection of VOs, accreditation forms and format of reporting.
Mixed reaction of PACS partners on CA Norms in their annual meet
Poorest Area Civil Society (PACS) organized their annual peer-learning workshop on April 24th 2007 for their partners in Maharashtra. They invited Credibility Alliance to speak on accreditation. Initially there was a lot of resistance from their partners. Partners felt that the nature of the norms is not inclusive and hence most of the grass root level organizations may not be able to comply with CA norms. The concern was also related to the cost of accreditation. Most of the organizations that participated in the workshop stated that they do not have enough funds to spend on accreditation. Few of them expressed that there is no need for accreditation because most of the NGOs are committed and do not need any self-regulatory mechanism. 

Promotional Meeting in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh       
Our member organization ASSIST in leadership of Mr. J. Ranga Rao organized a promotional workshop on April 24th 2007 on behalf of Credibility Alliance. The workshop started with a brief introduction to Credibility Alliance by Mr. Ranga Rao who also explained the objective of the workshop. This was followed by self-introduction of 36 participants from Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts and a presentation on Norms and Governance by regional coordinator- Mr. Praveen. Organizations felt that self-regulatory mechanism can be the best solution to reform the function of organizations.

Mr. S.A. Sattar, Representative of Care India, explained to the participants about CARE INDIA and its functions. Mr. Sattar also talked about approaches for funding and implementation of various projects. In his address, he stressed on need of Transparency and Accountability for the voluntary organization. The workshop was fully sponsored by ASSIST. 

Credibility Alliance and Atma Mumbai’s promotional workshop
Atma Mumbai, an organization working on Capacity Building issues for voluntary organizations held a workshop in collaboration with Credibility Alliance on April 24th 2007. The workshop was held at Somaiya Institute of Management and Research (SIMSR) and was attended by 13 representatives from six VOs and three faculties of SIMSR. ATMA Mumbai will sponsor the membership for their partner organizations.

Selection of Treasurer at West Bengal State Committee meeting
Dr. Anshuman Acharya, Secretary of AYONKAR, has been elected as Treasurer of West Bengal State Committee in the meeting organized on April 30th 2007. He has been elected for two consecutive years (Feb 2007 – Jan 2009). He took charge on May 4th 2007.
Congratulations on behalf of the Alliance and Mumbai head office!!!

Planned Activities for May 2007
Workshop on ‘Good Governance practices according to CA norms’ – 30th May
(Registration Fee Rs.75/- Per Head; Venue – Divya Chhaya Trust, Kolkata.
Contact: Mr. Robert Dequadros (Regional Coordinator-East) - 9831105649)

Promotional Workshop in Chennai - May 22nd 2007,
Venue - Human Resources Development Centre, Vellore.
Contact: Mr. Praveen (Regional Coordinator – South) - 9342673527
Questions / comments/ contributions?
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.
To know more about us please write at:
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