UDO ASSIGNMENTA CASE STUDY ON LIVING FARMS

Submitted ByAnshul Katyayan Krishanu Chakraborty

Group-13
Sec-B PGDM-RM

CONTENTS
1. Introduction..1 1.1 An Overview..1 1.2 Vision.....2 1.3 Mission......2 2. Structure and Governance System ...6-11 3. HRM and HRD12-13 4. Financial Health.14 5. Strategic Issues in Development....14 6. Culture of Learning.15 7. Sustainability16 8. Networking and Partnership.17 9. Challenges in Community Interface..18 10. Programme Management18

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A close encounter with hunger and malnutrition in tribal villages of Northern Orissa in 1998 compelled us to search for ways & means to respond to existing scarcity of food & nutrition. Thereafter the endeavor called 'Living Farms' started.- Team Living Farms

1. Introduction
Living Farms is an NGO, initiated in 2005 with the mission to uphold food sovereignty. They strongly believe that people can organize themselves to sustain their own needs. Living farms work with indigenous communities, landless, marginal & small farmers and consumers in Orissa, in the eastern part of India. Living Farms work to improve their access to and control over food, farming systems and natural resources. They promote local production, storage and consumption; prioritize local markets and the consumers' right to safe and nutritious food. Their key strategies are sustainable agriculture and sustainable management of natural resources. In collaboration with the local communities they try to understand their traditional knowledge of farming, the conservation of natural resources and trade. In collaboration with communities, Living Farms set up action research to find solutions to their local, specific problems. Living Farms document and share information about conservation initiatives, crop biodiversity, the impact of policies on farming communities and peoples struggle to assert their food sovereignty. The various projects of Living Farms include 1. Community Food Sovereignty Project 2. Establishing an Ecological Farming Model 3. Community Managed Decentralized Food Distribution System 4. Community Charter on the Climate Crisis 5. Improving Nutritional Food Security

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Area of InterventionLiving Farms works in the Rayagada district of Orissa mainly in Bissam-Cuttack block which is situated 60 Kms from the Rayagada town in the lap of Niyamgiri Hills inhabited mainly by the tribal population facing extreme backwardness in terms of access to food, education and other basic amenities.

Map of Rayagada district showing different blocks

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Map showing areas under the intervention for food sovereignty Food sovereignty is the main goal of Living Farms. It is the right of people to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations. It defends the interests and inclusion of the next generation. This offers a paradigm which prioritizes local and national economies and markets and empowers peasant and farmer-driven agriculture, communities involves in the farming system and food production, distribution and consumption based on environmental, social and economic sustainability.

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1.2 Vision Living Farms means farms are alive i.e. the life beneath & above the soil are alive. Living Farms envisages landless, marginal and small farmers living with dignity by upholding their rights, the soil being reinvigorated to a living entity, the culture in agriculture being restored and celebrated, agriculture becoming economically viable ecologically sensitive and capable of preserving the social fabric of rural communities.

1.3 Mission Living Farms is a non-governmental organization, initiated in 2005 with the mission to uphold food sovereignty. We strongly believe that people can organise themselves to sustain their own needs. We work with indigenous communities, landless, marginal & small farmers and consumers in Orissa, in the eastern part of India. We work to improve their access to and control over food, farming systems and natural resources. We promote local production, storage and consumption, prioritize local markets and the consumers' right to safe and nutritious food. Our key strategies are sustainable agriculture and sustainable management of natural resources. In collaboration with the local communities we try to understand their traditional knowledge of farming, the conservation of natural resources and trade. In collaboration with communities, we set up action research to find solutions to their local, specific problems. We document and share information about conservation initiatives, crop biodiversity, the impact of policies on farming communities and peoples struggle to assert their food sovereignty.

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2.

Structure and Governance SystemLiving Farms is directed and controlled by a governing body, or a board of directors which is also called as board of governors or board of trustees. The board has a legal, moral, and fiduciary responsibility for the organization. Boards Major Responsibilities Acquire and protect the organizations assets Make certain the organization is working to fulfill its mission At their best, boards reflect the collective efforts of accomplished individuals who advance the institutions mission and long-term welfare. The boards contribution is meant to be strategic and the joint product of talented people. People on a board are brought together to apply their knowledge, experience, and expertise to the major challenges facing the institution. Strategic thinking and oversight characterize the boards leadership role. The board organizes itself to carry out its duties and responsibilities. To manage the day-to-day operations of Living Farms, the board of directors appoints an executive director, sometimes called the chief of operations (CEO). Tensions and inefficiencies result if responsibilities, authority, and working relationships of board and staff are not clearly defined. The executive director has many duties. Mr. Debjit Sarangi administers and manages all day-to-day operations of the organization, including: hiring and supervising staff, monitoring programs and finances, providing ongoing leadership, advising and reporting to the board on the NGOs operations, and speaking on behalf of the organization as delegated by the chairperson/president of the board.

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The responsibility of the Board of Governors in this case is divided into three topics: board structure, governing documents, and board functions. BOARD STRUCTURE Boards tend to work effectively when they are structured to carry out each unique mission of the NGO and maximize the individual talents of board members. Dividing the board into committees is a common mechanism for: Organizing the boards work to accomplish the NGOs mission. Preparing board members for making informed decisions. Using board members skills and expertise (i.e., a board member with financial experience serves on the finance committee and one with a deep understanding of the clients needs serves on the program committee). Providing opportunities to become involved and serve the organization. The board structure for Living Farms is listed below. Chairperson of the Board Elected by the board for a set term. Presides over general board meetings. Speaks on behalf of the organization to the public and media. Chairs the executive committee. Vice Chairperson Succeeds the chairperson at the end of his term in office. Assists the chairperson and serves in his absence. Chairs the nominating committee.

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Standing Committees Described in the bylaws. Include the: Executive Committee: Board chairperson/president, vice chairperson, secretary, and treasurer. Executive committee has authority to make certain decisions between meetings. Finance Committee: The treasurer chairs this committee. It provides financial oversight for the organization, advises the board on the budget and financial affairs. Nominating Committee: Chaired by the Living Farms vice chairperson. Identifies new board members and nominates individuals to serve as Living Farms Field officers. Ongoing Committee Include a program committee, marketing committee, research committee, education committee, etc. Allow the board more flexibility to conduct its business and tailor committees to fit the mission of the organization. Ad Hoc Committee or Task Force Given assignments to be completed in a specified time (fundraising or a special event). Disband after their task has been completed. Extremely productive because they have defined tasks to complete within a limited time frame.

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Advisory Committees Individuals with specific expertise selected as committee members. They provide the board with information and advice to understand difficult or complex issues such as a construction project, client demographics, trends in government support, public policy debates, etc.

GOVERNING DOCUMENTS Three documents form the basis for Living Farms governance: articles of incorporation, bylaws, and the mission statement. These documents, along with the minutes of board meetings, budgets, financial statements, and policy statements, communicate how the organization is governed, individual responsibilities, the organizations past, and the organizations future plans. The article of incorporation is a legal document that is filed with the appropriate government agency of Indian Government to register the organization as an NGO. The items enlisted are as follows for incorporation (legal registration) of Living farms include: Name of the organization. Duration of the organization (usually perpetual). Purpose for which the organization is formed. Provision for conducting the internal affairs of the organization. Names and address of the incorporators. Address of the initial registered office and name of the initial registered agent of the organization. Provision for distribution of the assets of the organization on dissolution.

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BOARD FUNCTIONS As a governing body, the board has two major responsibilities: 1. Acquires and protects the organizations assets. 2. Makes certain the organization is working to fulfill its mission. The following functions enable the board to carry out its responsibilities. Planning: The board develops strategies to ensure that the mission and purpose of Living Farms are carried out. Board members approve short- and long-range plans for the organization. They monitor the effectiveness of the organizations programs to see if they have met the goals and objectives outlined in the plans. Personnel: The board hires the organizations chief operating officer (often called the executive director), makes assignments to the executive director, and monitors his or her performance. It is appropriate for the board or its personnel committee to do a formal performance appraisal of the executive director at least annually. The board approves salary scales and job descriptions for the other staff members who are hired by the executive director. The board approves the personnel policies for the organization. Effective board members respect each other and support the staff. Financial: The board approves budgets for the organization. No funds should be expended unless the funds are included in a budget approved by the board. The board approves spending reports that are submitted to them on a regular basis. The board is responsible for the legal and ethical actions of its members and those of the organization. The board is responsible for procuring adequate resources to enable Living Farms fulfill its mission. This includes approval of fundraising plans. Board members are expected to participate in fundraising, and most board members are expected to contribute to the bottom line. An exception is when clients, who may be poor, serve on the board. Public relations: Board members are aware of all of the organizations activities and encourage participation in appropriate activities in the community. The board seeks opportunities to enhance the public image of the organization. Monitoring and evaluation of programs and services: Monitoring is the process of routinely gathering information on key aspects of a project, program,

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or organization to determine if things are proceeding as planned. Monitoring can identify problems when they are small and easily corrected. Monitoring answers the question, Are we on the track? Evaluation answers the question, Are we on the right track?

3. HRM & HRD

In recruiting staff, specific traits are considered to be in sync with the type of expectations and demands Living Farms have. These include a willingness to locate and work in remote areas, adherence to institutional norms and systems, are affordable by Living Farms and have the ability to work in complex teams with people from diverse backgrounds, age and experience. Plurality and diversity among staff is valued especially as this is seen as vital in generating new ideas and in strengthening debates and discussions, as well as exchange of knowledge and skills.

Human resource challenges before Living Farms are by no means a result of the changes in the environment alone. Several systemic limitations contribute to the challenges in recruiting, nurturing and retaining adequate human resources. These include low pay and low appreciation. For most Living Farms working with a project orientation there is low priority for investing in nurturing human resource capacities and staff security measures.

For young people joining Living Farms, there is not enough mentoring or clear career direction, while simultaneously there is a pressure to learn and deliver. Staff is bothered by a general lack of transparency and weak systems in most Living Farms. There are limited spaces to share ideas and concerns, and the absence of peer groups is acutely felt. There is also limited investment in people who have been around for long periods in the organization to counter the sense of dissatisfaction and distancing from the vision.

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Capacity building of the staff is recognized as a critical need of NGOs. Present challenges in this regard have to do both with the attitude of NGOs towards capacity building and the suitability of current focus of service providers in capacity building. The study revealed that:

Staff gaining new skills and taking bigger responsibilities were reported among the biggest benefits of training programs.

Instances of either the staff member leaving the organization or gaining little from attending the program have also been reported.

More often Living Farms pays for training from specific project funds than own general funds.

Leadership and motivation related capacities and communication skills are the most essential area. Inputs in specific sectors also ranks high.

Living Farms staffs listed the need for customized and context specific training .

Cost of the programs and language constraints were cited as the key limitations with the existing lot of capacity building services provided by various institutions.

Living Farms highlighted that there was little common between what they needed and what was being offered. A general sense of dissatisfaction with what is presently available for building staff capacity training and education institutions was palpable.

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4. Financial HealthThe information regarding the exact financial position of the organization was not shared with us but based on our experience and observation during our stay with the organization it can be said that its financial health is quite good and they are managing their resources both effectively and efficiently. The employees are being paid regularly and the organization also has good infrastructural facilities in terms of Office, Guest rooms, Telephones, Internet, Two-Wheelers, Four-Wheeler etc.

5. Strategic Issues in Development

The external issues that affects the strategic decisions of Living Farms

Issues

Impact Interventions in these areas are difficult and

More of the poor are in low potential area.

require long term involvement. Most of these are region based and the

There are growing environmental concern.

Causative agents are multinationals. The prioritizing of regions on basis of

The

geographical

distribution

of

poverty

and

human and Development Index is Poverty becoming challenging. Migration and rapid urbanization compels

(under)development is changing.

The share of the population in rural areas is falling.

rethinking of strategy. Food sovereignty is threatened in a way

Urbanization and rising incomes are changing the pattern of foreseen. Never demand for food. Inflow of cheap substitutes, GM Crops and The world economy is increasingly Globalized. So in spite of liberalization farmers are not Hazardous Bio-tech interventions.

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International trade expansion is not Uniform.

getting equitable share of profit.

The internal constraints Living Farms behavior and affects it strategic management. The constraints are as follows:

Service is often intangible/hard to measure Client influence may be weak Strong employee commitments to professions Resource contributors intrude on internal management Restraints on use of rewards and punishments

The various internal strategic issues pertaining to development as specified from the organization source are as follows

Goal conflicts with rational planning: Because the organization typically lacks a single clear cut performance criterion, divergent goals and objectives are likely, especially with multiple sponsors.

An integrated planning process tends to shift from results to resources: Because Living Farms tend to provide services that are hard to measure planning becomes more concerned with resource inputs, which can be easily measured than with service which cannot.

Ambiguous

objectives

create

opportunities

for

internal

politics

and

goal

displacement: The combination of vague objectives and heavy concerns with resources allows managers a considerable scope in their activities. Such attitude created opportunities for politics.

Professionalization simplifies detailed planning but adds rigidity: In Living Farms professional values and traditions can prevent the organizations from changing its conventional behavior patterns to fit new service mission tuned to changing social needs. Goals of the professionals and their representative bodies may not align with organizational goals.

Decentralization is complicated: The difficulty of setting objectives for an intangible service complicates the decision making authority.

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Increased requirement for an environmental buffer role: Because of the heavy dependence on outside sponsors a special need arises for people in buffer roles to relate to both inside and outside organizations.

Impact on Evaluation & Control

Rewards & penalties have little or no relation to performance: When results are vague and the judgment of success is subjective, predictable and impersonal feedback cannot be established.

Inputs rather than outputs are heavily controlled: Because its inputs can be measured much more easily than outputs, the not for profit organization tends to focus more on the resources going into performance than on the performance itself.

6. Culture of LearningThe organization follows a leaning culture in which it has a policy to learn and understand the community first in the area or region of its intervention. It encourages its team members to observe, listen and learn from the experiences of the community members which has its unique advantages as it helps the organization to create a bond with the community by listening to them, engaging them in the further development activities becomes an easy task in the future and also it stimulates the community to analyze their problems on their own. Nevertheless, it makes the process of bringing a change in the area of its intervention a bit slow but it gives a higher return in the long run by making the change sustainable and successful.

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7. SustanabilityLiving Farms works with landless, small and marginal farmers and consumers in Orissa, India to improve food and nutrition security, food safety and to uphold Food sovereignty, Sustainable agriculture and Natural Resource

Management. The organization works on the farming systems which would sustain and improve agriculture, improve community food sovereignty and cause minimal damage to the natural ecosystem and bio diversity. They feel that farmers need to gain more control over the production resources and managing the support systems. They need help in dealing with risks, vulnerabilities and environmental change, including climate change. Sustainable agriculture is based on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The organization strongly opposes the use of pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified crops and stresses upon the need to revive the culture of using traditional seeds for the cultivation purpose by the farmers and conserve the receding gene pool from the nature. The organization started remarkable and positive community seed conservation initiatives like the Indigenous Seeds Festival. This colourful celebration was organised by Lok Vikash Sangathan, a local farmers' organisation and networking partner of Living Farms.Living Farms tries to look at the future in the areas where we are active. In the case of the Dongria Kondh they have gone for a reintroduction of a millet based farming system.

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8. Networking & Partnership

Partnerships are intended for joint solving of problems, resource exchange, cooperation, coordination and coalition building. The relationship among partners can be temporary (local bodies, including government, grassroots NGOs) or permanent. A partnership brings together institutional capabilities and human resources in the form of skills, experiences and ideas to tackle common problems that are often beyond the capacity of a single organization or group of the size of Living Farms.

Living Farms for the purpose of smooth functioning and project delivery partners with a number of pan-Indian and International organizations.

The tabulation below shows the organization and types with which Living Farms have built over the years of functioning-

Type Organization Organic Farming Association of India Millet Association of India Specified Action Network- Asia Pacific Vasudha Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies Vrihi Navdanya International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture organization Pan-Indian Pan-Indian International Pan-Indian Pan-Indian Pan-Indian Pan-Indian International

of

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9. Challenges in Community InterfaceThe Living Farms faces some of very typical challenges owing to its specificity in the area of intervention which is mainly tribal villages in the Bissam-Cuttack block of Rayagada district in Orissa which are-

a)

Location of the villagesThe tribal villages are mainly located in the remote hills without any proper roads to reach their. Thus, the organization has to face a big hurdle every time in terms of easy communication whenever there is issue to have a frequent visit to the villages.

b) Low Literacy RateThe tribal villages have a very low literacy rate due to lack of primary and secondary schools in the region which makes it a challenging issue for the organization to use written forms of communication in order to inform and create interest in the community.

c)

Shortage of staffThe biggest challenge being faced by the organization is in the form of shortage in the number of field staff which is not sufficient enough given the mammoth challenge of working effectively on the number of projects.

10. Program ManagementThe program management in Living Farms consists of five major steps:

1. Project Initiation Initiating the project and developing the project charter with the help of community Project governance, program management and portfolio management Definition of roles and responsibilities of the project manager and the project sponsor Definition of roles and responsibilities of the team

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2. Project Planning Analysis and Strategy Development Introducing the Logical Framework Analysis of the problem Conducting stakeholder assessments Developing Problem Trees Developing Objective Trees Conducting Alternatives Analysis

3. Project Planning The Log Frame Matrix Stage One Top Down (Goal, Objectives, Outputs, Activities) Stage Two - Work Across(Measurable Indicators and means of verification) Stage Three Bottom Up(Assumptions and Risks) Benefits of risk management in project management (internal and external) Risk management processes and tools

4. Project Planning - Scheduling Scheduling techniques (Milestones, GANTT Charts) Critical path method Risk assessment and logical schedule alternatives

5.

Project Monitoring and Change Control Status reporting Financial Monitoring Change control

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