EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Students' Name: Vandana Lohia (25102); Mathura Nanda Lenka (25025)

Organization: Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India), AKRSP (I)
Reporting Officer: Mr. Neeraj Joshi
Faculty Guide: Prof. Smita Mishra Panda
Project Title: Organization Understanding

AKRSP (I) is a non-denominational and non government development organization, which works for the
upliftment of rural communities by providing support to the local communities to promote different
activities and develop models for sustainable natural resource use and development of human resources.
AKRSP (1) started working in 1984 in 3 distinct socio-geographical areas (Drought-prone Surendranagar
district, tribal, rain fed Bharuch district and coastal Junagarh district) of Gujarat. Later expanded to the
earthquake affected Kutch district and Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. But scope of our study was
limited to the central office at Ahmedabad and Bharuch and Surendranagar programme areas.
Objective- i) To develop an understanding, of the organization as well as its evolution.
ii) To study the structure and the functions, resource mobilization, strengths and weaknesses, stakeholders
and organizational strategy.

Scope of the study - The study was confined mainly to the two spear head teams at Bharuch and
Surendranagar programme area and the head office at Ahmedabad, it has also other three spear head teams
at Junagarh, Kutch and Khandwa (MP) which are beyond our study.

Methodology and Data Sources - The main tools applied for the study are: a) Interviews: CEO and all the
development associates, area managers, programme specialists, community organizers were interviewed to
know the objectives and other aspects of the organization. Interviews were also conducted with para-
workers at the bottom level to understand their perspective towards AKRSP (1). b) Literature review:
Literature study like Annual Reports and Programme Area Notes were used as secondary sources for data
collection about the organization. c) Observation: Regular observation of day-to-day activities also gave an
idea of organizational culture. In order to get an insight of the organization we also talked to other
employees of the different departments like Accounts, Research and monitoring, MIS, BRD and Policy
advocacy. All the information gathered formally and informally was aggregated, collated and analyzed.

Activities of the organisation- AKRSP (1) is active in over 500 villages with a staff of over 150. Now a
ten year project "SCALE" (Sustainable Community based Approaches to Livelihoods Enhancement) that
was approved by the EC (European Commission) is being implemented in the programme areas. From
1994-2001 it had secured funding from the European commission under the community management of
natural resources (CMNR) project. Now AKRSP (I) is working on nine themes under the new project
"SCALE": Community Institutions, Drought Coping, Gender and Class Equity, Gir Periphery Area
Management, Micro Enterprise Development, Participatory Irrigation Management, River Basin
Management, Salinity Ingress Prevention and Watershed Plus. AYRSP (1)'s overall expenditure for the year
was Rs.162.7 millions (which is 110% of its planned budget) in 2003. Out of the total of 162.71 millions,
programme expenditure was Rs. 134.58 millions (82.72%); operational expenditure was Rs. 6.86 million
(4.22%) and capital expenditure was Rs. 21.27 millions(13%).

Learning; - It was learnt that the style of working of the leaders influence the work culture of an
organization which ultimately has an impact on its performance. The success of an organization depends on
the alignment of its mission and vision with the strategies it adopts. This is because strategies provide long
term direction to art organization. If it is not directed towards the vision and mission of the organization, it
is difficult to achieve the desired state. In AYRSP (1), the strategies are aligned with its vision and mission.
Also, the structure of the organization is decided by the kind of strategy it adopts. In AKRSP (1), as the
strategy was working through village institutions, the structure of the organization includes spearhead
teams at the fiold level which has been given enough autonomy as it works at grassroot level where things
may not always be predictable. Two major features of AKRSP (1)'s culture are that its actions are based
upon participatory management and their staff is provided with ample autonomy to implement and take
decisions on their own.