Difficult for CSOs to serve needy during lockdown: IIMA study

Most of the civil society organisations (CSOs) observed an increase in the number of people requiring assistance week after week, the IIMA said in its survey of 113 such entities conducted last month. Organisations and collectives of various sizes and sectors launched efforts in diverse ways to address the grave hunger and food scarcity problem across the country caused due to the lockdown, it said.

Civil society organisations and individuals working to provide food to the needy during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown found it difficult to sustain their operations due to financial challenges, as per a survey conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Most of the civil society organisations (CSOs) observed an increase in the number of people requiring assistance week after week, the IIMA said in its survey of 113 such entities conducted last month.

Organisations and collectives of various sizes and sectors launched efforts in diverse ways to address the grave hunger and food scarcity problem across the country caused due to the lockdown, it said. The CSOs and individuals have been undertaking relief efforts in a wide variety of ways and responded to the needs of the public, the study said.

"Most (CSOs) observed an increase in the number of people requiring assistance week after week. The CSOs have found it difficult to sustain their operations in the face of financial and logistical challenges due to increase in number of the needy people, it said. Though many organisations continued with their efforts to serve the needy in the time of crisis, around 36 per cent (among 113 surveyed) had to close down their operations, it said.

As per the survey, 84 per cent out of those who closed down their operations said they ran out of funds, while three per cent said they did not feel the need to continue. Daily wage workers and migrant labourers formed the largest group of people who were served, according to the CSOs, it said.

The study suggested that at a time when food is scarce at the household level but not at the country level, universalisation of the public distribution system (PDS) is going to be essential to reduce hunger, as resources among independent efforts fast deplete. It also suggested for better coordination between the government and civil society at both the level of policy formulation and ground-level implementation.

"The survey responses shed light on how civil society across the country has promptly responded to launch diverse efforts to provide food relief to the vulnerable. The civil society's response has been quick and timely, and the relief initiatives have successfully built on their existing local networks for outreach, it said..