Final Report- AID

8/6/2019 Final Report- AID

1/20

A Study on

Evolution & Present Structure of

AID-INDIA

Submitted to:

Dr. MuktaKulkarni

August 25th

, 2010

Atish Negi (1011303)

Deepak Nanwani (1011308)

Divye Bansal (1011312)

Nitumoni Borah (1011335)

Ritesh Ritolia (1011346)


2/20

2 | P a g e

Table of content

Table of Contents 02

1. AID-India Origin & History 032. Scope oft e Project 043. Met odology 044. Early Days: The Beginning & Initial Structure 045. Expansion ofAID & change in Organizational Structure 066. AID-India: Initial Working Model & Structure 077. AID-India Expansion 088. AID-India Chennai Chapter 119. AID-India Delhi Chapter 1310. AID-India Kolkata Chapter 1511. AID-India Bangalore Chapter 1612. Critical Analysis 1713. Recommendations 18

Appendix I List of References 19

Appendix II List of questions forprimary data 20


3/20

3 |P a g e

1. AID-INDIA Origin and HistoryAssociation for Indias Development (AID) was founded in 1991 by Ravi Kuchi anchi He

got his Bachelor in Technology from IIT Mumbai and thereafter went to the US to pursue

masters and PhD from the University of Maryland. During his early days in the USas a

student, he often observed groups of Indian students di i g p liti , pti , p v t

d oth i that plagued India. But he soon realised that these groups, all having great

moral intentions, were lacking when it came to concrete action to tackle these issues. He

wanted to make a difference by putting his ideas into practice. And this was the motivations

behind AID. The vision of the organisation was "problems are interconnected, so must be

the solution."

Since then the organi ation has matured into an enormous volunteer movement with over 50

chapters in US, India and Australia and more than 1000 volunteers working in various

capacities in various projects. In the US it is registered as a non-profitable organi ation.

In India there are tenchapterslocated in various metropolitan cities. The organi ations prime

objectives are sustainable, equitable andjust development by fighting corruption and through

various constructive projects. AID in general and AID-India in particular focus on various

issues like education, agriculture, energy, health and fighting corruption among others. The

organi ation structure is dynamic and has changed drastically as the organi ation has grown

and as the number of social initiatives has gone up. The organi ational structure and the

decision making hierarchy varies between the chapters in different cities.

AID

EDUCATI-ON

HEALTH

WOMENEMPOWE

-RMENT

SOCIALJUSTICE

LIVELIH-OOD

ENVIRON

-MENT

AGRICUL-TURE


4/20

4 | P a g e

2. SCOPE OF T E PROJECTThe project is aimed at studying the evolution of AID-India as an organization and the

formation of its various city chapters. A unique part of this study is the difference in the

evolution mechanism ofthe various Indian chapters. Since AID-India has its roots with AID-

US, the same has too been discussed in brief.

Furtherthe scope includes the study of present organizational structure ofAID-India and the

strengths and weaknesses of the structure with respect to the objective and vision of the

organization.

We have not discussed the various projects undertaken by AID-India in details as a part of

this study due to limitations of space. The stress has been on studying the structural form of

the organization, decision making and the culture.

3. MET ODOLOGYWe have referred to both primary data (interviews and project site visits)as well as secondary

data (websites and project reports).Extensive study ofthe evolution and projects ofAID-India

has been done using the website ofthe organization. The secondary sources of data also have

been the regular project reports that come out in various periodic AID publications.

At the same time to study the evolution of the chapters in India, we have spoken to variousvolunteers as well as coordinators/presidents of various chapters across the country. All of

these interviews lasted 90-120 minutes extended over various sessions.

Name of Person Posi ion in AID-India Chapter Association

PrachiAggarwal Chapter President, Chapter

volunteer coordinator

AIDDelhi

AnirbanMudi Website Coordinator AIDDelhi, AID Bangalore

Viraj Gupta Volunteer AID Noida

Himanshu Singh Volunteer AID Noida

Ritesh Lohia Founder/Secretary AID Kolkata

4. EARLY DAYS: T E BEGINNING AND INITIAL STRUCTUREAs Ravi Kuchimanchi(AID founder) set about trying to find like-minded people who could

help him in putting his ideas and plans into action, he came across a group calledA ti


5/20

5 | P a g e

Indi .Although the groups members were very enthusiastic when it came to discussions and

debates about the issues plaguing the Indian society, there was no concrete action. So Ravi

Kuchimanchidecided to call for support for a project called Village Education Project. The

project aimed at adopting a small village education project in India and hiring a suitable

teacher to teach the children and the adults alike. He called for donations and a coordinated

effort in orderto execute the project. His initial call for volunteers got enthusiastic response.

This project was a non AID project being run in India. RaviKuchimanchi and his friends

decided to provide monetary supportto the project.

Some people volunteered to take care of functions like accounts while others decided to

donate generously. RaviKuchimanchi, along with a couple of friends, kept track of the

donations and took care ofthe logistics from the US itself. The project was closely monitored

and funding was sanctioned after a lot of diligence on project scope and impact. This initial

group of a dozen or so volunteers were an essential driving force when AID grew in size and

expanded across US. While some of these core group members have returned to India towork with AID-India, the others are still working in the US and are actively involved in fund

raising and project evaluation activities.

The major points to note aboutthe initial structure ofAID-USare highlighted below:

Structural and

Contextual

Dimensions

Even as AID began, there was littl

liz ti n in the

organization. Everyone who contributed to the Village Education

Project was associated with AID in a way. There was nohi hy

of authority, centralization orspecialization. People voluntarilytook

the initiative to coordinate the various activities of the first project.The basic driving factor was enthusiasm towards the cause of the

organization. The size of the organization was very smalland there

were around a dozen people who were working on the project

directly. The others were simply donating funds because they

identified with AIDs goals and vision. The culture was that oftrust

and driven by a common commitment to work towards eradicating

the basic problems ofthe Indian society.

Methods of Control The organization was driven by a shared valuethat the problems

facing the Indiansociety were interconnected and in orderto alleviate

them, a concerted effort was required towards all the issuessimultaneously.This was essentially belief system control, as there

were no formal rules and procedures to control the people. Since the

organization had a flat hierarchy (consisting of only volunteers),

formal control procedures would not have been effective.

Decision making

authority

Ravi Kuchimanchi used to organize regular weekly meetings (by the

name of Communit y Service Hour or CSH) which could be

attended by anyone who was interested in the working of AID


6/20

6 | P a g e

people from inside the university campus as well as people from

nearby residential areas. People took up various duties voluntarily

and all major activities were discussed during these meetings with

everyone. The decisions were taken jointly by the group and there

was no central decision making authority.

Conclusionsabouttheinitialstructure

AID started out as a loosely knit group of people bound together by little else than a common

goal and a vision. From 1991 to 1994, AID was mainly composed of people who could

identify with the vision of AID and worked towards the cause without any promise of

material returns a typical case of a non-profit organisation. The main purpose of AID

during this time was to raise funds (mainly from college students) and support NGOs in

India. Occasionally, when some AID member visited India for personal affairs, he made it a

pointtovisit project sites and gets a feel ofthe actual ground work being done in AID fundedprojects. The functioning ofthe organization atthis point oftime did not require a formal and

centralized structure. The core group managed the collection of donations and disbursed the

funds on behalf ofAID.

The initial growth of the organisation followed the entrepreneurialphase of evolution as

given by L. Greiners model of organizational growth. However after a strong leadership was

instated, the organization kept growing in line with the operational charter set by the leader.

Owing to the nature ofthe organization and the flat structure, there was no crisis of autonomy

in subsequent periods. AID didnt necessarily follow the successive phases of evolution and

revolution as suggested by Greiner.

5. EXPANSION OF AID AND CHANGE IN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUREThe CSH meetings were regularly attended by some people from outside the city. As more

people came to know about the organization, they spread it in their social circles.

Consequently, with people taking initiatives, AID grew out of Maryland Campus and spread

to other cities. The initial publicity was mostly word of mouth. Later on university students

and otherAID volunteers started staging playsto highlightthe issues faced by the Indian poor

and also tell people aboutthe work done byAID

in theI

ndian villages.

The new chapters started out as a group of people broughttogether by the vision ofthe parent

organization. They called themselves AID chapters, but there was no concept of centralized

management. The donation to a chapter was directed towards the regional chapter offices.

Soon volunteers started publications and newsletters with local level circulations. Some of

these publications like AID NEWS became very popular and thus brought in a large number

of new volunteers.


7/20

7 | P a g e

As the number of chapters grew, volunteers from the AID core group(the first few volunteers

from the Maryland Chapter) visited new AID chapters and made presentations to keep them

connected to the AID philosophy. This was to share the vision and values ofthe organization

and introduce them to the culture ofthe organization.

The main purpose ofAID atthis point was to fund the on-going peoples projects/movements

in India. Soon AID had central headquarters in US and all the donations started getting

directed there. The core group(mentioned above) tookthe decisions regarding the funding of

projects in India, in consultation with the other members. This growth continued for around a

decade and resulted in funding being directed to over 100 projects all across rural India.

One of the volunteers Mahendra Verma returned to India to join IIT Kanpur as a faculty

member. Here he gottogether a group of student volunteers to organize construction workers

on campus and teach their children. He also started collaboration between AID andJa

riti an NGO, started by college students, specialising in developing and deploying low cost IT

enabled solutions for rural areas. Soon other initiatives started (like the Lodhar School, a

community school project near Kanpur) and within no time there were AID projects running

all over the country in partnership with various NGOs. A lot of other activists in India who

belonged to various social sectors visited the CSH meetings in US and this had a deep

influence on the ideology ofthe organization. And soon Ravi Kuchimanchi returned to India

in 1997 along with BalajiSampath(very active core group member) to work full time from

India itself.

Interestingly this had another impact on the chapters in the US. As more and more AIDvolunteers came to India, more people across the US got motivated by the idea of their own

volunteers working on the Indian grounds. This inspired a growth spurt and within a few

years there were close to 25 chapters across the US.

6. AID-INDIA: INITIAL WORKING MODEL AND STRUCTUREIn 1997, BalajiSampath registered AID-India in Chennai. The initial structure of the

organization in India (as AID-India) was dependent on the kind of developmental projects

that were taken up. AID volunteers realised that there was a lot of strength in the peoples

movements in various regions across India they had a much wider support base and a much

wider impact. Thus AID decided to be associated with these ongoing peoples struggles

initially. They started by expressing solidarity with these movements fight against

corruption; struggle to get a village electrified and even to set up a school.Agitations,

petitions (with or without legal recourse) or simply funding an ongoing project; these were all

part of the initial working strategy of AID-India.AID-India started as a learning

organization, trying to carve out a social niche for itself. The hierarchy was flat and the main


8/20

8 | P a g e

aim was to partner with NGOs and learn as much as possible aboutthe actual ground work in

the field of social initiatives. At the same time, they tried to get as many volunteers as

possible, build a support base among citizens and gain public trust before they could begin

their own projects.

As more and more volunteers joined in, AID-India expanded its base to cover close to 1000

villages in Tamil Nadu. This expansion and growth has been covered specifically under the

Chennai chapter.

On basis of his learning from the US chapter, a certain degree of formal structure and control

was broughtto table by BalajiSampath. Howeverthe organization at large remained a loosely

bound unit with the vision being the key driving force.

7.

AID-INDIA EXPANSION

Growth ofChapters

Gradually, as AID-India movement expanded throughoutthe country, numerous city chapters

were formed on the lines of AID-US. The first seeds of these chapters were sown as

volunteers moved across the country and brought together like-minded people in their

respective regions. Meetings were organised on lines of the CSH meetings in the US. As

these groups of volunteers started working on developmental projects in their regions, the

regional chapters ofAID-India were formed. AID-Chennai was the first chapterto be started

out of India in 1997. Soon after, Bangalore chapter was started; but the growth of two

chapters presents a study in contrast.

The Chennai chapter, underthe guidance of BalajiSampath, gradually evolved into a formally

structured organization. On the other hand Bangalore chapter, which started out at around the

same time as the Chennai chapter, has been limited in its growth and scope of its projects.

The primary reason for this has been the lack of leadership; Chennai chapter had

BalajiSampath, who was both experienced and passionate towards the organizations vision

while Bangalore never had a charismatic leader in its initial phase.

The Delhi chapter started in 2004, much later than the Chennai and the Bangalore chapters

but it evolved with a formal structure right from the start. This was owing to the factthatthe

key founder was an active member ofAID-US and replicated his learnings during formation

ofAID-India Delhi Chapter.

The Kolkata chapter was the lastto start from among all the chapters that have discussed in

the report. The chapter started as a loosely knit group of volunteers. The lack of dynamic

leadership and lack of volunteers meant that the Kolkata chapter remained restricted to

partnering with NGOs and doing a few small scale projects.


9/20

9 |P a g e

The evolution and present status of these chapters have been discussed in details in the later

parts of the report.

Present Leadership & Executive Structure

Currently there are ten officially recognised regional chapters under AID-India. The total

volunteer count is over 1000 and AID-India has taken up more than 365 projectstill date in

18 Indian states.

The executive structure of AID-India has three levels ofleadership.

The board of directors at apex carries the responsibility ofstrategic supervision of the

organi ation. They are responsible for decentrali ation of the activities and empowering the

executive board and the chapter bodies. They also oversee the election / nomination of the

members of the executive board.

The executive board is empowered by the board of directors to oversee projects and efforts of

various chapters. The executive board members are considered officers of AID, as opposed

to officers of a chapter of AID, and have overa ll responsibility forstrategic managementof

AID-India. At the chapter level, there is an executive committee which is responsible for

carrying out all the tasks of a chapter and for meeting the objectives of the organi ation.

This three-tiered interlinked leadership process creates a wholesome balance between the

need for focus and freedom, and the need for supervision and control. A six-page by-law

document details the structure & membershi p criterion of the board of directors, executive

board and chapter regulations.

Culture

The organi ation operates in a dynamic environment and need to respond to the changes in

the external domain. The organi ation has a strategic focus on its volunteers, who constitute

its key resources.

Board of Directors(3-7)

Executive Board

(8-1! )

Chapter ExecutiveCommittees (8-18)


10/20

10 |P a g e

The stories of Ravi Kuchimanchi, BalajiSamapth and other keymembers are often used as

narratives within the organi ation to motivate and instill enthusiasmwithin the volunteers.

The inclusion of Gandhijis caricature in the logo of the organi ation reflects the mission of

the organi ation.

Jeevansaathi&SaathiProgram

In recognition of work done by its volunteers and to motivate them further, AID-India came

up with a concept ofJeev" # $ " " thi, Associ" teJeev" # saathi and Saathi programs. This is a rite

of enhancement followed in AID-India.

The Saathiprogram is aimed at recogni ing and honouring outstanding social and

environmental activists in India. The program creates a mutua lly enriching relationship

between AID and the saathi and entails not only support in the form of a stipend, but also

non-monetary involvement and strategic support from AID volunteers.Saathis are referred to

AID by their associates in India, volunteers across AID or existingSaathis and Jeevansaathis.

After evaluating the work of the potential candidates they are conferred the Saathiaward.Saathis are a source of great inspiration to AID volunteers, and provide insight into

development processes. AID so far has 26 Saathis.

The Jeevansaathi program was initiated in 1998 to enable and encourage AID volunteers to

engage in full time social work. It is an honorary title presented to only a few individuals who

commit themselves to work on development issues by being a part of AID's network and

opening up new directions for AID to explore. These Jeevansaathisguide the volunteers in

Adaptability

Culture

Mission

Culture

Clan Culture Bureaucratic

Culture

External

Internal

Flexibility Stability

Needs of Environment

Strate

icFocus

AID


11/20

11 | P a g e

the US based on their experiences of working in India. At present there are 6 Jee% ansaat&

is

working with AID-India.Ravi Kuchimanchi (Founder ofAID) and BalajiSampath (Founder

of AID-India) are most senior AID Jeevansaathis. Swades, a 2005 bollywood film that

became a symbol for non-resident Indians interested in Indias grass root development was

inspire by the life of Ravi Kuchimanchi.

Kiran Vissa ( Narmada Bac&

aoandolan), RavishankarArunachalam (IIT Chennai, Project

Eureka), RanchaDingra (Compensation to Bhopal gas tragedy survivors) and

AravindaPillalamarri (marketing k&

adi)are the other Jeevansaathis.

8. AID-India Chennai ChapterHistory &Evolution

When BalajiSampath came to India and founded AID-India in 1997 he chose Chennai as the

location to function from. Consequently, Chennai functioned as the headquarters forAID-

India (and later on also became the centre of Chennai chapter). The primary focus of Chennai

chapter was on ensuring quality education for every child in Tamil Nadu. And the structure

too evolved keeping this strategic focus in mind. The chapter decided to classify its work

broadly under five teams:

y Primary Education (reading and counting)y Secondary Science Educationy Pre-primary Educationy Libraries and Community Learning Initiativesy Life Skills and Health Education

Slowly, additional teams were added as the work expanded. These teams worked on

designing their respective course material and structure. Thus we see as the organization

diversified, specialization set in. A certain degree of formalization also came in as

coordinators were appointed forthe various projects as well as forthe broad level initiatives

The executive boardof AID-India appointed a core group (CG) to coordinate all of the

education initiatives in Tamil Nadu. This core group looked afterthe day-to-day activities ofAID-India in Tamil Nadu planning, making strategic decisions, and managing all of the

education programs and periodically reported backto the executive board. The CG was the

managementteam directly responsible forthe project implementation and management.

The scale up in the organization and the consequent increase in the number and kinds of

people working with the chapter increased the complexity of decision making and its

implications. The earlier Core Group was too small to reflect the different levels of people


12/20

12|P a g e

and perspectives in the organi ation accurately. At the same time it was difficult for the Core

Group to meet frequently and take executive decisions. To address both of these issues, AID-

Chennai has now constituted a 2 tier decision making structure.

Present Structure & WorkingPrinciple

AID-Chennai now has a 30-member strong Eureka Child Core Group (ECCG) which has

representatives from all state and field teams as well as people with the longer organi ational

experience. This group meets once every two months to review program progress, the status

of the volunteers, and also to frame larger policy decisions which form the framework for day

to day executive decisions. Because the ECCG represents a larger collectiveit is able to

incorporate multiple perspectives and come up with better policies.

To handle the need for quicker and larger number of day to day executive decisions a smaller

Management Committee (MC) consisting of 6 people has been constituted. This committeeis responsible for handling day to day decisions and reporting to the ECCG. This MC is to

meet every week and work within the policies framed by the ECCG.Both the MC and the

ECCG are ultimately responsible to the Aid-India Executive Board and Office Bearers which

is the formallegal body responsible to the external world.

The current organi ational structure of Aid-Chennaiis shown below:

Office Bearers + Executive Committee

AID INDIA LegalBody

AID Tamil Nadu Core Group

(Decisions on Vision, Direction and Strategy)

Eureka Child Core Group

30 member committee

(Policy Level Decisions)

Management Committee

6 members committee

(Day to Day Execution Decisions)

RuralExecution

UrbanExecution

ResearchDevelopme

nt

Operationsgroup

EurekaLearningInstitution

EurekaBooks


13/20

13 |P a g e

The flagshi p project of Chennai chapter called the Eureka Child project has now becom

synonymous with the Chennai chapter, to the extent that the chapteris now known as Eureka

Chennai chapter.

9. AID-India Delhi ChapterHistory & Evolution

The seeds of AID India Delhi chapter were sown in 1999 by a group ofindividuals, who kept

in touch over socialissues and AID work through an internet based mailing group. It became

a formal chapter only in January 2004. The chapter was formally started by Anuj Grover who

had worked with the AID-US San Diego chapter and hadjust returned to India. By this time,

most of the AID-US chapters had evolved into formalised and organi ed structures and this

was the reason why AID-India Delhi chapter too was modelled on the same lines.Anujrealised the importance of volunteers to make this initiative a success, and went about

gathering volunteers.

Delhi chapter was in principle catering to the entire National Capital Region (NCR),

including the satellite towns of Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad and was actually

known as AID NCR. As the volunteer numbers and the number of projects started growing,

the organizational structure evolved and eventually the chapters split up. Noida and Gurgaon

chapters became separate from the Delhi chapterin 2007 and cater to their respective towns.

Today the Delhi chapter caters only to the Delhi region. Since these chapters came from the

Delhi chapter, the organizational structure is similar for all the three chapters with subtle

differences in terms of the volunteer numbers and the functioning, especially in terms of fund

raising.

Present Structure& WorkingPrinciple

The organizational structure of AID-Delhi chapteris shown below:

Erstwhile AID-NCRhad the post of a President which has now been replaced by individual

chapter coordinators for all NCRchapters including Delhi.

ChapterCoordinator

VolunteerCoordinator

TreasurerFund

RaisingCoordinator

WebsiteCoordinator


14/20

14 | P a g e

The above mentioned five members form the working committee ofthe Delhi chapter. These

members are elected by the AID-Delhi volunteers. The election process is relatively new and

has been started only in 2008. Only the regular volunteers ofDelhi chapter can vote during

the elections of the Delhi chapter working committee. The working committees ofDelhi,

Noida and Gurgaon chapters and two members from the Faridabad chapter (which is

relatively new) constitute the seventeen membersE'

ecutive Committee ofAID- NCR. The

basic job ofthis committee is to increase coordination among these chapters in terms of fund

raising activities. Since a lot of volunteers from Noida and Gurgaon keep on changing their

base owing to professional commitments, this committee has become all the more important

for coordination between chapters in terms of volunteer transfer. This executive committee

also coordinates on the matters of publicity, project resource sharing and procurement of

basic infrastructure.

With increased scope and size ofthe projects, it has become very important forthe chaptertochoose the right people for the volunteer work. With this objective in mind a preliminary

induction and recruitment process has also been put into place. This process has been

designed by AID-India recently and is being increasingly adopted by various chapters. The

volunteers who wantto work with AID have to fill up a small form on the website specifying

their location, the motivation to work, as well as the kind of workthey wantto do. Else they

can contact an existing AID volunteer who directs them to the Volunteer Coordinator. The

Volunteer Coordinator ofthe respective chapterthen gets in touch with the concerned person

and after a basic interview puts the person on a project. The volunteer coordinator interacts

with the volunteer on a regular basis and helps him adjustto the requirements ofthe project

and helps align his thinking with the organizations thinking process. This is followed bymonthly feedback collected from the project coordinator as well as the volunteer about the

volunteers work and future expectations. A positive feedback translates into greater

responsibility for the volunteer. This informal volunteer feedback mechanism has been put

into place as a method of control in order to keep the volunteers aligned with the

organizational goals. This feedback mechanism exists in the Gurgaon and the Noida chapter

as well.

Another unique feature ofthe Delhi chapter has been itsself sufficiency with respectto funds

for its projects. AID-India has always wanted its projects to be self sufficient in terms ofthe

funds. PrachiAggarwal, during her currenttenure as Delhi chapter president, tookthe idea to

a new level when she decided to make the entire chapter self sufficient in terms of donations

and project funding.

Following are the salient features ofAID-Delhi with respectto its organizational structure:

y The formal structure of the organization has resulted into greater professionalism inthe chapter with respectto the otherIndia chapters.


15/20

15 | P a g e

y With increased stress on self sufficiency the post ofthe fund raising coordinator hasassumed special importance in the chapter. This is an example of one strategic

position in an organization assuming special importance with changingoperational

goals ofthe organization.

10. AID-India Kolkata ChapterHistory &Evolution

The Kolkata chapter started in 2006 (a couple of years after the Delhi chapter) when a few

enthusiasts, driven by a passionto contribute to the society came togetherthrough the internet.

This group got in touch with AID-US and started monitoring AID-US funded projects on

their behalf. This initial work also included visiting various sites of proposed AID projects in

and around Kolkata. At this point it is important to note that, AID-US was still funding

projects in India that were being run by independent NGOs. The initial volunteer group atthe

Kolkata chapter included only ten people.

Once these volunteers had gained sufficient experience of actual ground work on AID-US

funded projects, they started up their own projects. Their early projects included running a

weekly health and sanitation camp in a group of villages in Mathurapur district in West

Bengal. For all these projects they gathered funds on their own by visiting various corporate

offices and public sector institutions. These donations made the Kolkata chapter self

sufficient in terms of project funding.

But the AID-Kolkata chapter never actually took off as compared to other chapters aroundthe country. A lot of volunteers who registered with the chapter initially leftthe city and the

volunteer work for other professional commitments. Additionally, AID Kolkata lacked the

dynamic leadership thatthe Chennai or the Delhi chapters had. This meantthatthe scope of

the projects taken up by the Kolkata chapter was always limitedand there was no initiative to

get more volunteers. Most of the projects taken up by Kolkata chapter today are in

partnership with other NGOs around Kolkata (like Swanirvar, Tomorrows Foundation). This

is another classic example ofthe strategy-structure linkage.

PresentStructure & Working Principle

Since the chapter did not take start on a large number of projects, the need for a formalised

structure was never felt. A Chapter Secretary Post was instituted who was responsible for

coordinating all the fund collection activitiesas well as volunteer activities. The chapter has a

very flat structure. Barring the post ofthe Chapter Secretary there is little centralization. The

size ofthe chapter is very small and there are very few active projects thatthe volunteers are


16/20


17/20

17 | P a g e

of how lack of leadership can alterthe growth of an organization and have a bearing on its

strategy as well as structure.

PresentStructure & Working Principle

Currently AID Bangalore is a very small chapter with a small number of volunteers. The

chapter is managed by a chapter coordinator and a volunteer coordinator, who coordinate

activities ofAID volunteers for various projects in partnership with various NGOs. Other

than these two formal positions the structure is essentially flat. Weekly meetings are held at

where the progress of various projects is discussed with the volunteers who decide to attend

the meeting. The projects taken up by the chapter are in partnership with the local NGOs. The

chapter is in a state of flux where the structure is gradually being changed to bring it on the

lines ofDelhi chapter. The chapter has recently introduced a volunteer induction process on

similar lines as the Delhi chapter. The reason forthese changes is the efforts ofAnirbanMudi.

He is one of the first volunteers to have worked with AID Delhi. He has seen the Delhi

chapter evolve and is still a part ofthe Working Committee ofthe Delhi chapter. Since he has

been in Bangalore for quite some time he is trying to bring some form of standardization in

the organizational structure of Bangalore chapter.

12. CRITICAL ANALYSISAID-India in general, has certain degree of formalization when it comes to the Executive

members and the official-post holders while it follows a very organic structure forthe grass

root volunteers. This helps the organization with instatement of professional management and

atthe same time provides an encouraging environment for volunteers.

The hierarchical growth in the organization is a function of ones commitment and

capabilities. Instead of conventional performance grading mechanisms, AID utilizes an

informal peer feedback system. This makes sure that only people with high commitment

towards organizational vision and those who have exhibited their leadership capabilities grow

up in organization. These characteristics are essential, keeping in mind jobs voluntary nature.

The evolution of different chapters has followed dissimilar paths and thus the chapters have

shaped up differently. While this may have worked up for certain chapters, this model doesnotseemto be scalable. The failure of Kolkata chapter can be partly attributed to this. It has

also been noticed that success of many chapters and projects are very dependent on the

quality ofthe leadership instated forthe unit.

AID India operates as a congregation of several Individual city chapters, with fairly low

overlap between projects of the individual chapters, apart from financials. This helps the

individual city chapters to have a clear focus on the problem areas and accordingly choose


18/20

18 | P a g e

the projects they want to pursue. This is in-line with AIDs strategy of bottom-up

identification of the problems. However, not working as a common group, AID India as a

whole fails to exploit any economies of scale or scope in any of its projects. Also because of

this low levelof Horizontallinkage, the learning of one unit is nottransferred to other.

The strategic alliances thatthe organization has formed up with other NGOs are in line with

the mission oftackling societal issues. For example, this is a pretty effective strategy for the

Kolkata chapter, where AID currently doesnt run projects by its own but assists other NGOs

with various resources. As similar organization types having cooperative relationships, they

are very high onInstitutionalism.

Since the executive committee members and the volunteers are primarily focused on their

individual projects, they may have limited view ofthe overall organizational goals and vision.

Though, this doesnt seem to be a disadvantage for the organization with respect to the

outcome of its activities.

13. RECOMMENDATIONSOn basis ofthe study, the following are the recommendations on organizational structure of

AID-India:

y Integration levels needs to be increased between various chapters to benefit fromknowledge sharing and. Also knowledge and leanings should transfer from one unit to

other.

y Clear rules must be charted out for formation of new chapters including the initialstructure and the role ofthe mother chapter. The evolution ofDelhi chapter may be taken

as a model case.


19/20

19 | P a g e

Appendix I - List of References

1. History ofAID: http://aidindia.org/main/content/view/16/67/2. Bylaws ofAID: http://aidindia.org/main/content/view/85/67/3. Annual Report ofAID 20084. Annual Report ofAID 20075. Annual Report ofAID 20076. Description ofAID (AboutUs AID):

http://aidindia.org/main/content/blogsection/3/67/

7. AID-India Delhi Chapter website:http://aidindia.org/main/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,379/

8. AID-India Chennai Chapter website:http://aidindia.org/main/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,380/

9. AID-India Kolkata Chapter website:http://aidindia.org/main/component/option,com_wrapper/

Itemid,383/

10.AID-India Bangalore Chapter website:http://aidindia.org/main/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,387/

11.AID-India Gurgaon Chapter website:http://aidindia.org/main/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,381/

12.AID-India Sat( i Program: http://aidindia.org/main/content/section/16/139/13.AID-India Jee) ansaat0 iProgram: http://aidindia.org/main/content/section/15/399/14.AID-India Associate Jee1 ansaat2 iprogram:

http://aidindia.org/main/content/section/25/401/

15.VolunteerInduction process: http://aidindia.org/main/content/blogsection/4/368/16.Swades, 2005 bollywood movie Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swades


20/20

20 | P a g e

Appendix II List of question forprimary data collection

1. What are the origins of the AID? Please throw some light on the style of functioningofAID-US.

2. How did AID-India evolve? How were decisions taken regarding the collaborationwith various NGOs?

3. Who were the first people who worked forAIDIndia? What were their roles and whatwas the vision specifically keeping in mind Indian conditions?

4. Are the various chapters working independently?Is there any collaboration betweenchapters?

5. How are fundraising activities handled within chapters?6. What are the various functions within chapters? Please provide details about thehandling of fund raising programs, volunteer recruitment, project coordination and

volunteer recruitment.

7. What is the reporting structure within a chapter? Who does the chaptercoordinator/secretary reports to?

8. Who makes up the governing/coordinating body of the country? What are the basicfunctions ofthe governing body?

9. Is there something like a volunteer recruitment/induction process?And how do yougo about monitoring their work? Is there any mechanism to separate committed

volunteers from free riders?

10.Who elects the working committee for a chapter?11.Reasons behind the failure/success of a particular chapter with relation to its structure.12.Please elaborate on the concept ofSat3 i4 Jee5 ansaat3 i program. How are they chosen?

Documents

Final Report- AID