Old Wine In New Bottles: Can “new” evidence build momentum for social mobilisation of the poor?

Promoting and prirotising investment in social mobilisation of poor and marginalised men and women is required – by government, philanthropists, CSR, and funders – to achieve sustainable economic inclusion and empowerment, says Rajesh Tandon

A recent study on National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) conducted by International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) shows that women’s self-help groups (SHGs) improve the economic situation of women -- provided such SHGs become strong collectives. Other such current research and impact evaluations provide us with “new” evidence that social mobilisation of poor and marginalised men and women is essential for sustainable economic inclusion and empowerment.  

The history of development experiences from around the world is replete with such evidence. The Rome declaration in 1979 from the FAO conference explicitly emphasised the need to build ‘organisations of the rural poor’ to enable them to access benefits from government schemes. When I conducted field research in rural Rajasthan in 1977, I found that social mobilisation of poor farmers enabled them to access rural development programmes. Such mobilisation had three elements:

• Awareness about the scheme
• Skills to engage with service providers
• Organising groups to exert collective influence

This requires investment and effort in social mobilisation to create demand for relevant and effective delivery of services and economic opportunities. Mere improvements in supply-side delivery and provision of schemes are not enough to ensure inclusive and sustainable economic empowerment. Existing programmatic participatory mechanisms (like Village Health Nutrition Sanitation Committee or School Management Committee) do not function effectively because efforts at social mobilisation have been short-changed. Statutory participatory mechanisms (like Gram Sabha or Panchayat’s Social Justice Committee) also languish in the absence of serious social mobilisation efforts. Should this be mistakenly construed that social mobilisation is only relevant for rural poor, evidence from practice on the ground in social mobilisation of urban poor bears similar outcomes. Evidence from the 25 years of efforts by Slum Dwellers International (SDI), a network of organisations of urban poor in 30 countries including India, shows comparable results.

Despite this evidence available for more than four decades, not just from India but around the world, scepticism and uncertainty about social mobilisation continues to afflict planners and funders. New generation of philanthropists continue to focus their investments mostly on improving infrastructure, service provision and inputs, and more recently on use of technology – all on the supply side. Designing and launching an ‘App’ is seen as the end-game for empowerment.

Supply-side investments, including those based on technology, are important to facilitate inclusion and empowerment of the poor. But without simultaneous investment in social mobilisation of the poor and marginalised to strengthen demand, the return from such investment is uncertain. New wave of CSR funding in socio-economic development of the poor can support social mobilisation, with a medium-term time commitment. Entrenched inequalities, weak information access, widespread patriarchy and caste-based exclusions require social mobilisation efforts over a period of 3 to 5 years, not just 9 to 12 months as most CSR time frames are today.

Evidence, both past and present, tells us investing in social mobilisation gives the best return for economic inclusion and empowerment of the poor and the marginalised. Urgent policy convergence is needed to promote such investment.

You may be interested to read