Information Sheet On Ekta Parishad
May 18, 2021
About EP: Ekta
Parishad is a mass-based organization working in 150 districts of India. EP
mainly focuses on youth leadership, nonviolence, mass mobilization and policy
change in the interests of the poor and marginalized populations. The main
strength of EP is that it has a very strong community base in thousands of
villages.
Structure of EP: Ekta
Parishad has district coordinators and a support team in every district. A
select group from the district are represented in the State Committee. The State
representatives get nominated into the national committee. The national
secretariat of Ekta Parishad is operating from Bhopal. There are coordination
points and training centres in different states.
Decision Making in EP: The main decision-making body is the national committee
but decisions related to the state or the districts, are made at these levels.
Generally this is a consultative process between different bodies. Decisions
are generally made through a bottom-up process. Only in emergency cases like
Covid19 does it become top-down because of the urgency
Communication in EP: Communication is a two-way process. The national
committee takes responsibility for international communications and to bring
information back to the state and to the districts. There is a flow
of information that comes from villages to district and to state and then to
the national level. This is the information from the bottom that is generally
used for external communication and advocacy work.
Bank account of EP:
In the previous round of Covid-19 relief work during the year 2020, we received
about 80 lakhs from our international support groups and this money was shown
separately as Covid fund. At the end of the year we had a balance of about 10
lakhs and that is the money being used for the relief work this year. All
foreign contributions can only come to one bank account operated by MGSA in
Morena, Madhya Pradesh. For Indian money we have identified three organizations
within Ekta Parishad circle and the contributions will be used only for Covid19
related activities.
Covid operation in the field: We have selected 72 districts out of 150 as our
immediate operational area. (Lists of these 72 districts are attached). Soon we
are going to add some more districts from the southern part of India. EP
workers, volunteers and village level leaders are all active in reaching out to
the people and helping them in whatever way we can.
Coordination with state: As a well-known mass-based organization, EP is
connected to the governments at the state and district level. In the case of
Covid relief, we need full cooperation of the government, just as governments
need the cooperation of organizations that are credible at the village level.
Because of extensive outreach, EP related organizations are able to work with government(s)
without any difficulty.
National/international dimension of EP: Because of various important activities of EP during
the last 30 years, this organization is known in many circles nationally and
internationally. We have a support association in Europe and it is called EP
Europe. Nine countries are participating in this forum at the moment. Jai Jagat
global campaign launched jointly by EP and other organizations has also given much
broader reach to Ekta Parishad globally. The very fact that we are connected
globally gives us an opportunity to be heard, and to seek support when there is
an urgency like the Covid relief.
Covid-19 Operation in Phase 1 and Phase 2: In Phase 1 because the impact was felt on urban life, EP
took up the responsibility for finding work and food for migrant labourers who had
returned to their villages or lost their employment. We were able to organize
distribution of relief materials, work (shramdan) camps to create community
assets and also encourage tree plantation in many villages. In Phase 1, we have
reached nearly 100,000 (one lakh) families.
Phase 2 is more challenging in term of area to be covered
and demands to be met. To begin with we are encouraging communities to use
local herbs and medicines as well as to use masks and sanitizers as preventive measures.
Apart from Home Care and other preventative measures, EP is setting up
isolation centres with the support of Govt. for affected people. In addition we are sending volunteers with
the medical teams to villages for holding of vaccination camps. Other than
these actions we are also providing a medical kit with essential medicines and
mask to thousands of families.
Soon demand for food items may increase as there is no
employment, especially for landless populations. During the monsoon (July, Aug,
Sep) this will be particularly acute.
Transparency/Accountability: EP has been careful about transparency and
accountability and this is especially important in any disaster situation. EP
is trying to use every rupee for the people and avoid unnecessary overhead costs. There is an internal auditing system to begin
with and the financial statement becomes public after external auditing. All
major donors will receive a copy of the audited report and will be free to
cross-check for details. We have an accounts department that is fully dedicated
to this task.
Long-term
Partnership with Ekta Parishad:
1. Covid19
is a special situation and we have accepted to face this challenge. Relief is
not our basic character. We are more into the ideea of building a self
sufficient community rather than a dependant community. In-order to achieve
this we need long term partners and long term support in the following areas.
2.
Training
rural young people into community organizers.
3. Scholarship for trained
rural leaders (They have to devote
major part of their time in community organizing).
4. Working on local
nonviolent and sustainable economy.
This will mean small initiatives (land based, forest based, labour based) and
each initiative will require small start up support.
5. Networking with other initiatives
and organizations. To build a broad alliance to create a better
impact support for communication, travel etc.
6. Advocacy action for
policy change. Policies need to be
made in a way that will allow communities to have greater control over natural
resources and also have power to decide about their own future. Ekta Parishad
has already demonstrated that large scale community mobilization and advocacy
can go hand in hand.
7. Producing educational
materials out of experiences on the ground.
We have many documents, reports and films that are generally used as
educational material. More such materials need to be created in the larger
interest of all those who are trying to transform the society into a better
place.
Rajagopal.P.V
18th May 2021