By Dr. Pallavi Rekhi, Programme Officer at Voluntary Action Network India (VANI)  

In between providing support to the COVID-19 affected communities and making sure to reach out to the most vulnerable ones, the CSOs themselves across India were tremendously impacted, just like other sectors. Therefore, it became imperative to analyze the effects of the pandemic on the sustainability and operations of the civil society sector. This article provides a timely snapshot of the financial, programme and organizational impacts of the crisis on nonprofits, especially grassroots organisations, across India. The article illustrates the state of the sector post COVID-19. The price that the nonprofits, their employees and leaders paid for compensating the center’s failure in ensuring robust health systems, infrastructural arrangements, the migration menace, urban development and providing social security, has been briefly encapsulated here. The light at the end of the tunnel is the courage and commitment that the CSOs showed, understanding and flexible funders, identifying and focusing on the root causes of certain developmental problems and acknowledging mental health and psycho- social wellbeing as key dimensions of overall health of an individual.  

VANI, in collaboration with Forus and AFD, conducted a face-to-face meeting in Nagpur, Maharashtra, wherein, a full day was allocated to discussing the challenges that the grassroot CSOs are facing today and devising probable solutions for them. The meeting gave voice to the representatives from the grassroots, working on developmental issues, in the remote areas of India. A total of 55 participants from a varied range of CSOs, working on diverse themes in different geographical locations (7 Indian states namely, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi and Rajasthan) took part of the dialogue. Some of the challenges that emerged from the consultation are listed below, which might mirror the context in other countries as well:  

• Depleting Resources: Like the medics and paramedics in India and those providing essential services, India’s CSOs also stepped forward to deliver vital services and material by organizing and sharing correct information about COIVD-19, filling the gaps between health services and the community, facilitating access to oxygen cylinders, necessary medicines, ambulances, etc., and proving disaster relief to vulnerable groups. They have once again fulfilled their purpose, even at the greater risk of life. However, many donors stepped back during the lockdown. The ones that remained were also focused on fulfilling the approved activities rather than COVID-19 relief, except for a few exceptions. As a result, many CSOs were forced to downsize their staff to survive the funding cuts and increased expenditures. The grassroot CSOs have been gasping for breath, much like the COVID-19 affected individuals they served. They had to repurpose their money in order to provide relief services and cater to the needs of the community, which often led to neglecting their own project activities. 
• Employee Retention: Navigating through the pandemic, retaining employees became a huge challenge for grassroots CSOs. Since March 2020, India experienced a record high rate of unemployment, including in the civil society sector. One evident reason for failing to retain employees, was of course the scarcity of funds. Employees’ expectations have shifted due to growing concerns around COVID-19. 
• Ineffective Governance: A lack of effective governance is a big challenge for grassroots CSOs. Most of the founders of these organizations do not have effective organizational boards. The founders, with their limited team members, might be focused on running the institution, generating funds, and completing activities. However, good governance is a necessity and it is the foundation for transparency. 
• Poor Networking Skills: Poor networking and communication skills is another major challenge for smaller CSOs. This leads to duplicated efforts and waste of the employee’s precious time and energy. In addition, it leads to a lack of a strong network outside the organization, which can help deploy funds, create opportunities and increase visibility. 
• Increased Compliance: Nearly 6,000 NGOs including the likes of Oxfam India, Jamia Millia, Tuberculosis Association of India will no longer be able to receive new foreign funds or utilise the existing foreign funds for their social work as their FCRA registration was cancelled by the Indian government in January, 2022. As a result, grassroots CSOs that were heavily dependent on foreign donors for their activities, were significantly impacted and many had no choice but to shut down operations. Government data indicates that over 20,000 Indian NGOs have been stripped of their foreign funding licenses since 2011. In addition, the compliances for CSOs under other regulations in India, regulating the not for profits, have become immensely demanding. Apart from this, everything has become digital today. As much as it has its own benefits, but for the grassroots CSOs, that struggle with even the basic digital tools in their everyday activities, it has become extremely difficult to meet the required compliances. 

It is now time for the grassroots CSOs in India to reinvent, repurpose and reform! They need to build new strategies, devise new mechanisms to cope up with the impact of the pandemic and “Build back Stronger”. For this, we have created a report which showcases the innovations of civil society in mitigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, thus contributing towards strengthening civil society and hopefully leading to increased support and investment in the sector.”