Once upon a time, in villages of the heavily forested Gadchiroli district tucked into the southeast corner of Maharashtra, the infant mortality rate (IMR) was a shocking 121 out of 1,000 live births. SEARCH for Health, a non-profit that works to improve public health in rural India, successfully reduced IMR from 121 to 30 by way of its intervention in Gadchiroli, bringing it down to less than a quarter of the previous levels. Their intervention was then adopted by the government of Maharashtra where IMR was reduced by 51%. Their programme has now been implemented across India. We refer to such organisations that are partnering with governments for population-level impact as System Support Organisations (SSOs).
The government is central to resolving India’s growth and development challenges, playing the roles of the service provider, regulator, and funder. And governments are open to engaging with civil society organisations that provide them with specialised, technical, and administrative inputs to create outsized impact.
These SSOs are like a new category of unicorns that stand out not for their billion-dollar valuations, but for the impact they have achieved by supporting governments to overcome a myriad of issues in sectors ranging from education to health to policy design to road safety. Here are some more examples of SSOs. Vidhi, which works to strengthen policies and governance, has assisted the central and state governments with 394 projects that included drafting Acts, Rules,and Regulations. Vidhi was instrumental in framing landmark laws like the Aadhaar Act and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
SaveLlFE Foundation (SLF), which aims to improve road safety and emergency care in India, piloted the Zero Fatality Corridor (ZFC) model on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway that resulted in 58% reduction in fatalities (despite increased traffic on the expressway in this period). They are now working with the ministry of road transport and highways to expand the ZFC model to the top 100 most dangerous highways in the country. SLF also helped secure India’s first Good Samaritan Law, which protects and empowers people who help victims of road accidents.
While all three SSOs work in different domains and have chosen different methods to achieve results, a systems change approach is what unites them. The systems change approach necessarily entails working with the government as it is the main actor in accelerating India’s growth. For large-scale impact in their respective domains, the SSOs work in close collaboration with the Union and state governments to get to the root of the problem and resolve them for the long-term, rather than suggest quick fixes or band-aid solutions.
A report by The Convergence Foundation and India Impact Sherpas studied 20 SSOs in India, including SEARCH, Vidhi, and SLF, that have adopted systems change to understand the underlying practices of the approach. The report outlines in detail a model of what needs to be done to create systemic impact — outward programmes and practices along with internal organisational building work.
The practices include using data and evidence for building scalable solutions, and working with governments to inform policy design and implementation. The inward-looking processes account for everything from a systems change orientation at the leadership level, to aligning with funders who need to know that this approach will not necessarily bear fruit in the short run, to building a diverse talent pool in-house. These internal structures and culture are key to building organisations that are resilient and lasting to make a long-term systemic impact.
It is, however, important to acknowledge at this point that besides the organisation’s intention and practices, funding plays a critical role in enabling systemic impact. In the last decade or so, we have seen several leading Indian philanthropies put their (financial and strategic) weight behind systems change and work with governments across India.
Take, for example, the Piramal Foundation which has collaborated with NITI Aayog to strengthen last-mile delivery in aspirational districts. They are also working with the government of Rajasthan to improve education quality and health care services. They even support SSOs like the Kaivalya Education Foundation that has partnered with 10 state governments to build the leadership capabilities of education officials.
The Tata Trusts have partnered with the ministry of women and child development to support the Union government’s National Nutrition Mission. They provide managerial and administrative support to the district and state administrations for effective implementation of the mission.
The Azim Premji Foundation too has collaborated with a group of nonprofits and the governments of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu to improve nutrition and hygiene, enhance the livelihoods of small farmers, and rehabilitate mentally ill homeless people respectively. These philanthropic initiatives recognise that investing in systems change and working with the governments will give them the highest RoI in terms of scale and sustainable impact.
The government, funders, and SSOs, all need to come together for transformative, large-scale impact by keeping systems change at the forefront. By committing to systems change, we will be laying the foundation for India to become a developed nation.
Ashish Dhawan is founder-CEO, The Convergence Foundation.The views expressed are personal
