Why 2005 declaration on synergy between government and NGOs is still relevant

Development required technology, capital, and other resources but above all, motivation and capability of the concerned people to utilise their resources in efficient, equitable, and sustainable manner. Such participation was the core of sustainable development.

Development required technology, capital and other resources but, above all, motivation and capability of the concerned people to utilise their resources in an efficient, equitable, and sustainable manner.

In the 90s of the last century, an outrageous idea started to emerge. It held that apart from the government agencies, corporates, the cooperative sector, and other citizens could get together for common developmental causes. In some ways this was the creative and “developmental” aspect of what is today loosely called the Fifth Estate. It began in a small way. A former IIM, Ahmedabad director, Ravi Mathai, chucked it all up one day and decided that he would spend his life in seeing if he could develop what a student of his later called ‘the bottom of the pyramid’.