PwC staff lends support for village civic plan

Robert Bark from the Netherlands, Debbie Last from Australia and Octavio Espinosa B from Mexico spent the last two months travelling in and out of Orissa's villages.

They were not on a vacation. Debbie had left behind her two little children, one an infant. They were visiting the wells, pipelines and the toilets built in villages by the local community with the help of Orissa NGO Gram Vikas.

Joe Madiath, founder of Gram Vikas, could not be happier. The reason ""his unique programme of getting villagers to build their own bathrooms and putting in place a system to get piped water supply is finally going to stretch beyond his adopted state. Madiath moved from Kerala, where he was a student, to Orissa years ago.

Madiath is also excited about a visit by Debbie, Bark and Octavio, consultants from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) who are rendering their expertise for free to help him expand the work to other states through a network of NGOs.

The corporate volunteering programme called "Ulysses is an annual feature for the partners of the international firm and every year three people from the company's top brass are sent to lend their services for development projects in different parts of the world. The programme completed eight projects last year.

"This year, 18 partners of the company are leaving for six developing countries to help accomplish six different projects by NGOs and social entrepreneurs. The idea is to develop a sense of responsibility and leadership in the company's partners, because only a good leader can take a business forward," said a company official.

On its contribution towards Gram Vikas' sanitation and drinking water programme, Bark said the focus of their work was to create a strategy for forming a successful network. "Funding will not create that. It depends on choosing the right partners and evolving a programme to monitor the expansion through partners. Funding will come at the end of the day," said Bark.

The NGO plans to set up offices in other states where the sanitation programme will be carried out. The Gram Vikas model is based on public partnership, wherein after the completion of a sanitation programme people of the area come together to implement it in other villages.

Madiath, whose model of water supply and sanitation has touched the lives of people living in Orissa's 361 villages, aims to reach out to 100,000 people by 2010. "We may achieve the target of millennium development goals of total sanitation. But whether people will actually enjoy the benefits is a different matter," he said.

He said his model aimed to empower people. "In India, people use water for ablution. They need water in the toilets. We believe that water has to be there and so also a place to bathe. Women can't be expected to go out for a bath," Madiath added.

He said he had been utilising government funds so far. "Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has shown interest in the programme and wants the entire state to be covered under it. I am sure other states too would show interest in the programme," he said.

It is Madiath's second tryst with PwC and Ulysses. He has benefited from their free consultancy earlier too.

Bark and his friends are ready to leave for home. "The experience of seeing people live in such pathetic conditions is a revelation for us. We don't remain the same after this. It has changed the way we look at issues," he said. The other two gave a silent nod.

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