[TC-I Changemakers]: A conversation with Rajendra Joshi of SAATH

Editor’s note: The following interview is part of an ongoing series for ThinkChange India where we speak to social entrepreneurs firsthand. The ThinkChange India staff is committed to providing our readers with first-hand insights from groundbreaking changemakers. Readers will be able to see other conversations under our TC-I Changemakers tab.

One of the grassroots social enterprise voices at SoCap09 was that of Rajendra Joshi, founder of SAATH, an NGO in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.  SAATH works in slums to address a number of issues, including livelihoods, capacity building, health, education, physical infrastructure improvement, access to resources and services, slum development and natural resource management.  SAATH also started a social enterprise, Urmila Home Managers.  ThinkChange India Managing Editor Shital Shah met with Mr. Joshi at SoCap to learn about SAATH and its programs.

Please note that Mr. Joshi’s answers below are not verbatim.

TC-I: What is the story of SAATH’s beginning?

Rajendra Joshi (RJ): I am originally from East Africa (Tanzania).  I came to Ahmedabad for college, and majored in zoology. After that, I started out as a medical salesman, but it was not what I wanted to do.  I was looking for a change, so I answered an ad for an educationist.  While doing that, I met an inspirational person – a Jesuit priest named Ramiro Erviti.  I worked for two years with his NGO, and came to know about slums and various issues.  I didn’t have any solutions, but I had found an approach.  I saw that if people change, then only things change.

Ramiro passed away in 1986, but I was hooked to continue working in the slums.  I worked with two other NGOs, but none were working in the slums, they were in the rural areas.  I had to start my own NGO in 1989 to do what I wanted to do.  Right from the beginning, I was clear on a couple things.  To make a difference, you need to address as many issues as possible in one situation.  Also, you can’t do it alone – you need to build partnerships, especially with the government.  Finally, services would not be free.  It wouldn’t be the actual cost of the service, but it wouldn’t be just a token amount, either.  Free services tend to reduce incentive and self esteem. Striking that balance also encourages our accountability and efficiency.

TC-I: I noticed that SAATH has set up Urban Resource Centres in the slums to encourage community participation. Can you tell us more about the URCs?

RJ: It is important to look at this from a macro level.  What is SAATH doing?  We are an organization that works with the government, NGOs, and the private sector.  The government may have a programme for slum residents, and SAATH ensure that those programmes are implemented.  We wanted to figure out how to do this at a local, ward level.  So we created the Urban Resource Centres.  We recruit locals, build their capacities, and they are able to manage after two or three years.  The URCs also promote community based organizations and ensure local management and local needs.  The URC is a connector not only for the government but also the private sector, NGOs, and other organizations.

The problem is that staffing in the government is inadequate, they are unpaid, and there is a lack of motivation.  The last mile implementation is missing.  Implementation is also missing for private sector and NGOs, and the URCs help achieve their targets.

It also works in reverse – the URC serves to connect the slum residents to the outside.  So it is a win-win situation.

TC-I: SAATH’s vocational training program UMEED provides skills development.  How do you match the skills with the market demand?

RJ: The courses are based on market wants.  We do a market scan and go to leaders of particular segments.  For example, we will talk to the hotel industry association and learn what skills are required, who the individual hotels are, and then design the curriculum.  During the course, people from industry come to talk about what is needed.  During the second half, participants themselves do a survey and come back with information for the instructors.

ITIs only concentrate on the academic aspect.  Youth here live in slums, and it is very different from the workplace environment, so they often feel out of place on the job.  We have training modules that include life skills, such as basic spoken English and computer awareness.  UMEED doesn’t give all the technical skills of ITIs, but it adds life skills and increases chances for employment.  The programme also increases their comfort level and lets them learn quickly on the job.  They are all capable, they just need employability training.

TC-I: What do you think of the appetite for social enterprise in Gujarat?

RJ: There are a lot of non-social enterprises that address quite a few needs.  Gujarat is the hub of the NGO movement.  They haven’t transitioned from an activist based approach to a social enterprise.  They may see success as an NGO and find it hard to make the switch.

TC-I: SAATH has started a social enterprise. Can you tell us about Urmila Home Managers?

RJ: One of the sectors we wanted to work was on slum livelihood.  Even if we produce good quality for the usual trades (tailor, papad making), who would buy it?  The service sector is the fastest growing, and needs human resources.  A friend had a pregnant wife and needed someone reliable in the house – how do you work with servants and do value addition?  They can become valuable managers of the house.  We got together a group of 20 women, charged Rs 400 per household, and had them work at multiple households in a day.  On the demand side, there was an issue of trust – how do you hand over your keys to someone else?  We worked to get police clearance, health clearance, trainings on households appliances, fire, children, middle class cooking styles, etc, along with a Taj Hotel certification.  We would then check with the client on the amount of work to be done, went through negotiations on this, signed a contract, and then the home manager would be ready to start working.  The clients are mostly upper middle class.  The need for this service is reflective of increasing nuclear families.

Right now, we have 220 home managers, and it works like a business.  Everything goes to the for profit arm.  Urmila has acquired a branding of its own.  We can incubate in the nonprofit arm, but the principles can be different, so it must spin off.

TC-I: How does SAATH fit into the social capital market?

RJ: All enterprises will need investments.  Grants will not work in for profits.  I joined the Social Impact course to help transition from social worker to social entrepreneur.  It helped me learn what the whole game was about.  The demand is there, we just need new and innovative services.

TC-I: SAATH also has a successful microfinance programme. How does it all fit together?

RJ: It is important to address as many issues as possible.  The clients of the various programmes complement each other.  It makes business sense to have all the different verticals, and it increases impact.  Within the URCs, we are adding more services, which gives the poor a choice between providers.

Consciously, our human resources investment has been in the local people right from the beginning.  They formed their own local institutions and community based organizations.  We are building knowledge within the slums.