"This process, facilitated by the North East Network ("NEN), a leading rights based organisation, resulted in the realisation of a definite and distinct need for a local institution and the consequent setting up of Foundation for Social Transformation – a foundation for enabling new and creative energies to socially transform the strife torn region."
Civil society initiatives have been part of the history and socio political heritage of the NE region. This is evident from the active women’s movement in Assam, Manipur and Nagaland that evolved over time to address local issues. Youth groups including students unions are another active and vibrant element of civil society playing a vital role as watchdogs and influencing the politics of the region. In fact the civil sector has been a moving force in the socio economic development of the region. Yet, it enjoys minimal official support of the Govt, and corporate sector
Geographic distance, communication connectivity and bureaucratic hurdles also affect access to information and support from larger national and international donors. This is particularly acute for smaller NGOs who are faced with the spectre of sustainability, which is linked to governance, and capacity to manage organizations and projects, and the ability to seek support from local communities. The passion and commitment of many organizations and individuals, often flounders because of limited access to monetary, material or human resources.
Developing the capacity of civil society organizations to connect with their local communities and network with larger agencies and diversify their sources of funding is vital for sustainability of the non-profit sector in NE India.
FST rationale
FST is a non profit organization conceived led and managed by people from the region to support forward looking initiatives in north east India. We recognize the important role that civil society plays in the political, social, cultural and economic development of the region. The objective of FST is to offer support to forward looking initiatives with a potential for social transformation, both by way of grant making and capacity building.
Initially incubated by North East Network (NEN) a leading gender and human rights organization, and seeded by Ford Foundation, FST started operating independently from 2008. Since commencing independent operations FST has approved and is providing small grant and modest fellowship support in phases to a total of 19 organizations and 32 individuals from the 7 states of the NE region, for their work across a wide range of thematic areas. With the grant making underway, FST is now in the process of taking stock of the impact of our efforts and have initiated a monitoring and evaluation process with our partners.
Meanwhile, workshops and training programs have been conducted at regular intervals for FST’s partners to build capacities on a range of issues. Training needs have been assessed formally by circulating a questionnaire from time to time among partners. The most recent responses indicate that partners have prioritized Documentation and Reporting, Fundraising, Rights Based Approach and Communication as ‘very important’ in their list of topics for future training workshops.
In keeping with its commitment to address the training needs of its partners FST has once again tied up with Resource Alliance, a renowned international organization with a strong presence in India and a mission to build capacities for fundraising of the non profit sector worldwide, to conduct a 3 day workshop on Fundraising and Report writing.
Partners Workshop on Fundraising and Report Writing
FST’s is collaborating with Resource Alliance and its India NGO Awards program with the Rockefeller Foundation to organize a 3-day workshop on Fundraising and documentation at on the 19th, 20th and 21st May 2010 at Guwahati.
The objective of the workshop is to build partners’ awareness and capacity on –
different workable techniques of fundraising, from varied sources including Govt schemes and programs, local communities and donor agencies - proposal writing; fundraising linked communication, social networking.
regular documentation for monitoring of project activities and end of project evaluation reports ;
The resource persons expected to cover the topics will include:
Dr. Sudeep Gadok – International Health and Development Expert, Country Director of Project Hope ( till Jan 2010); Program officer- Health Sir Ratan Tata Trust; Prog Coordinator Social Mobilization Network, UNICEF.
Gayatri Buragohain – Feminist Approach to Technology & Joint Leap Technologies
Representative from Govt – Ministry of DONER, Govt of India for inputs on Govt Schemes and Programs.