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Organization Understanding OU Report
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Preliminary Information
Name: Christian Children’s Fund India
Address: Head Office at 22, Museum Road, PO Box No. 5054, Bangalore
- 560001
Telephone: (91) 80 – 2558 - 7157
Fax: (91) 80 – 2559 - 4271
E-mail: ccfindia@ccfindia.com
Website: www.christianchildrenfund.org
1.2 Introduction
CCF, formed by Mr. Calvitt J. Clarke as a result of a chance meeting with his friend who
challenged him to do something for the Chinese children suffering out of the Japanese
invasion of China, has grown on to become one of the leading International non-profit, non-
sectarian, humanitarian organisation and dedicated to the needs of the children worldwide
through person-to person assistance programs. It was in 1950, when CCF was forced to leave
China due to the communist takeover, that the organisation was renamed as Christian
Children’s Fund from the earlier Chinese Children Fund. Over the journey of its spectacular
growth CCF expanded from working in China to now being present in almost all continents
of the world.
CCF India started its operations in 1951, with the Alwaye Settlement School in Kerala as the
first project. CCF India is registered in India as the Branch Office of the International NGO
i.e. CCF Incorporation which is registered as a Private Voluntary Organisation under the U.S.
laws. CCFI currently operates in sixteen States of India through eighty eight NGOs as its
partners. CCF has invested about Rs. 6,260 millions in its ongoing projects on a population
of about 350,000 (source: Organisational Capacity Assessment). CCFI has been allotted a
quota of 72000 sponsors by the CCF and serves around 3.5 lakhs children located in about
2000 villages in India. The organisation works in the area of Child Care under the main
thematic areas of education, health, livelihood, and emergencies. The Early Childhood Care
and Development is an important focus area for the organisation.
PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

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1.3 Governing Body
CCFI does not have a Board of Directors as it is only a branch office and not a separate
organisation registered separately. The National Director heads the national operations and is
advised and counselled by an Advisory Council but he is responsible directly to the CCF
International Office in Richmond, Virginia, USA. The role of the advisory council is less as
compared to a board in a normal organisation and it doesn’t actually control the organisation
as a board does. CCF India reports directly to CCF Inc.
1.4 Mission and Ethics
1.4.1 Preamble
The organization has a preamble that serves as a guiding light in formulation of its policies
and strategies. The preamble of the organization states “Too many of the worlds children
suffer the debilitating effects of poverty and violence. Children have the right to experience
life with as much joy and hope as humanly possible.” Thus the preamble actually does two
things: firstly it recognizes the need for the organization to work in the area of child welfare
and secondly it recognizes the need of the children to live a better life as their right.
1.4.2 Mission
The stated mission of the organisation is: “Christian Children’s Fund creates an environment
of hope and respect for needy children of all cultures and beliefs in which they have
opportunities to achieve their full potential, and provides practical tools for change – to
children, families and communities.”
The organisation (CCF India) does not have a vision statement of its own. Besides this
mission statement and preamble, CCF India has a set of core values, code of ethics and fund
raising code of ethics. These are provided in the annexure.
1.5 Evolution of the Organisation
CCF was formed as a result of a chance meting between two friends Mr. Calvitt J Clarke and
Mr. Nagle with one challenging the other to do something about the Chinese children
orphaned by the 1938 Japanese invasion. In response to the challenge, Mr. Clarke founded
China Children Fund (CCF). In 1950, CCF was forced to leave China due to the communist

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takeover. Within four months of this, the organisation was renamed as Christian Children’s
Fund with the word China being replaced by the word Christian. The replacement of the
word China with the word Christian signified the organisation moving out of China to
expand its operations to the whole world. The choice of the new word “Christian” was due to
the organisation being rooted in the Christian faith of reaching out to the needy and due to its
preference of retaining the same initials CCF, already common among its donors.
Over the journey of its spectacular growth CCF expanded from working in China to now
being present in almost all continents of the world.
CCF entered India in 1951, starting with the Alwaye Settlement School in Kerala as the first
project. CCF India is registered in India as the Branch Office of the International NGO i.e.
CCF which is registered in United States of America as CCF Incorporation, as a Private
Voluntary Organisation . CCFI currently operates in sixteen States / Union territories of India
through about eighty NGOs as its partners. CCF has invested about Rs. 6,260 million its
ongoing projects on a population of about 350,000 (source: Organisational Capacity
Assessment). CCFI has been allotted a quota of about 72000 sponsors by the CCF and serves
around 3.5 lakhs children located in about 2000 villages in India.
CCF India over a period of time has matured in its understanding of development and has
responded to these changes by corresponding changes in its programs. It started with
providing institutional support to children through residential schools and orphanages like
that of Alwaye Settlement School. During the late 60s and 70s, the thinking changed to work
with children in their natural environment beyond the institutional setting by helping families
in their own homes, addressing specific needs. This was the result of the realisation that in an
institutionalised setting the children get distanced both emotionally and culturally from their
families and get even financially disparate from their siblings who are not sponsored. During
the 80s, CCF’s thinking was further refined as it moved to include community support
systems for poor families needing assistance. The present focus is on forming institutions
which will help in creation of health, education and other facilities. The future will has been
encapsulated in the Bright Futures Approach which focuses on community participation, area
development, program quality and increased networking.
The changes occurred not only in the development thinking but also in the operating
structure. With the emergence of a number of organisations (NGOs) in 50s and 60s inspired
by Gandhian school of thought, a National Office was opened at Bangalore in 1966 to

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expend work. As more projects started in the north, another office was started at New Delhi
in 1972. Both the offices reported directly to International Office. In the mid 1990s, it was
decided by CCF globally that every country should have only one National Office and
accordingly, in 1997, the Bangalore National Office was retained as National Office for
unified India program and Delhi office became Programme Office. The Sponsor Relations
and Finance were then centralised at National Office. In 2001, in order to get closer to the
field, it was decided to decentralise the Program operations. So, Zonal Offices were opened
at Hyderabad (South zone) and Kolkata (East zone) and the Delhi Office became the Zonal
Office for North zone. This structure continues till date.
2. Objectives and Methodology

Objective
The objective of the study was to develop an understanding on the working of an

organization. The focus of the study was to understand its purpose, strategies, structure,
system & procedures, culture, resources, customers etc. Understanding the relationship
between NGOs and ‘donor’ agency was also another motive of the study.
Methodology
Visits to National Office, Zonal Office, emergency Tsunami operations and partner NGOs of
CCF India were made to get first hand information about the working of the organization.
Primary sources of data for the study include semi-structured interviews with National
Director and other staff at the head office, zonal office and different partner organizations.
We had in depth discussion with the different staff in various divisions to understand its
working, importance in the organization, and the context in which they work. Secondary data
was collected from various published/printed documents, manuals, consultant reports,
brochures etc.

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3. STRUCTURE
3.1 Structure – Levels
CCF India works at 4 levels. First is the national office at Bangalore which takes care of the
strategic functions of the organisation. Some of the functional roles like those in sponsor
relations, finance etc. also held by the National Office. Then are the Zonal Offices at Delhi,
Hyderabad and Calcutta for each of the 3 zones viz. north, south and east zone respectively.
These zonal Offices do the monitoring of the partners through their various Area Managers.
Then there are the Project implementation Units that serve as the head quarters for the project
staff headed by the project manager. Further are the field level operations coordinated by the
project head quarters.
Schematic representation of CCFI NO – Zonal - Project Interface

Decide the flow of
development
Clusters , Sectors , CBOs
/federated bodies
Doing Level Avg. distance 15 -20 kms.
Project
OperationalImplementation
Level Units (PIU)
Building quality in program– Proximity PIUs.
Networking - State Govt. , NGOs. Alliances
Monitoring Zonal & Linkages . Focus on state level policy,.
Offices Closer technical & process support. Value
Level (Zone – PIU added support
interface)
interface)
Strategic Support , networking & advocacy,

Strategic N leveraging with GOI – Multi/Bi-laterals,
Resource agencies, technical & process
Level O support

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3.2 Structure - Divisions
The entire country operation is led by the national director. The national office is in
Bangalore and has three divisions i.e. Operation, Finance and Program. Operations division
comprises of Sponsor Relation, Human Resource management and Administration and is
headed by Operations manager. Finance division looks after fund flow, audit and
legal/financial compliances and is headed by finance controller. A detailed study of each of
these divisions was done to understand their functions and the modus-operandi, which is
presented in the later sections.
CCFI
Program Operation Finance
SR HR Administration IT/MIS
Figure: Divisional diagram of CCFI Head Office
3.3 Structure – Staff
National Director heads the operations in India and is a direct employee of CCF Inc. His
salary is deducted as an expense of CCF Inc and not CCF India. He is responsible to the
International office for the national operations of CCF India. Heads of the 3 divisions –
operations, program and finance directly report to him and also the country desk coordinator
and zonal heads. The rest of the structure is shown in the diagram and only an analysis of the
whole structure is presented in the next page.

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Organisational Structure
Advisory Council National Director
Program Director Finance Controller Operations Manager Director- Zonal Managers

Special Initiatives
Program/Technical
Specialists
Asst. Manager- I T Administrator Area Managers Country Desk

Finance Coordinator
Program Accounts SR Operations Program

Executive Officer Officers Executive Executive
Office Assistants,
Gardener, J anitor Driver
4. FUNCTIONING OF VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS
At the CCFI National and Area offices CCFI has its own established systems for managing
its operations. At CCFI we tried to understand the detailed functioning of these departments
to gain appreciation of the role of such systems in helping the organisation by making its
operations more organised.
4.1 PROGRAMS DEPARTMENT
All the program activities of CCF are centred towards well being of children and child is
formally consulted1 during project formulation. CCF do not consider children as the passive
1
During the formulation stage of project, the children are also called in a meeting and consulted separately to
indemnify child related issues, their definition of poverty and their dream.

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recipient of development benefits but as an active agent in the development process. CCF
believes all its initiatives should consider a child as an indivisible whole and must address
not only a child’s physical and intellectual needs but also his emotional needs. The initiatives
recognise that long term solution needs to be considered for child centric sustainable
development. Some of the long term solutions; such as micro enterprise or small business
development, food security, grain bank, credit unions and adult literacy have been
incorporated into program development.
The international program group is responsible for establishment of a set of guidelines and
standards that support CCF’s program development worldwide. The innovations in the
program by national office, programs and projects are also encouraged. CCF-India’s core
program areas include Health, Education, livelihood, Early Childhood Care and
Development. Some of CCF-India’s projects include:
• Credit unions/solidarity savings groups for women.
• Creation of issue-based village development committees for education, watershed

management, etc.
• Ensuring universal primary education for all children under 14 years of age in
communities where CCF works.
• Better natural resource management for sustainable agricultural development
• Promotion of dairy farming and animal husbandry
• Polio eradication
• HIV/AIDS awareness
Early Childhood Development program: Early childhood development (ECD) programs are
directed to children between the ages of birth and six years (or when they start formal
schooling) and /or their caregivers. These programs typically have a holistic focus on the
child’s total physical (health, immunization, nutrition monitoring, fine and gross motor
development), social (early simulation, relations with others, social competence), cognitive
(brain development, skills learning, language development), emotional (feelings of security,
relation with others, awareness of self) and moral development and seek to prevent the
occurrence of a range of physical and psychological problem.

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Education Programs: Education programs aim toward providing relevant and holistic
educational opportunities for children, youth and adults. The focus of the programs is both on
access to and quality of education opportunities. CCF facilitate access to education by
building primary schools and preschool centre, providing school furniture and teaching
materials, and helping families meet education cost through school fees assistance and
scholarship. National office has developed a standardized quality education guide for
ensuring quality education. Since in India providing basic education is the responsibility of
government, CCF’s effort in most cases goes towards supporting the exiting system rather
than creating an alternative education system. CCF’s effort to ensure quality education
operate at three levels: 1)to advocate for quality education and influence progressive
government policies 2) to provide or support direct educational services in formal pre-
primary, primary and secondary educational programs and 3) providing non formal
educational services to young.
Health program: The goal of the health program is that enrolled children and their families
achieve and maintain a state of good health. These programs aim towards ensuring access to
safe drinking water and sanitation, and proper treatment of children in diarrhoea, malaria and
respiratory infection. Affiliated projects conduct an annual nutrition surveys of all the
children five years of age or younger in order to analyze and discover the causes of
malnutrition and implement solutions.
Nutrition program: Nutrition programs are designed to educate caregivers about healthy
practices linked with the prevention of the malnutrition based on the selected child feeding
practices and food consumption behaviour. Incidence of malnutrition depends upon factors
like availability, consumption and utilization of food. The CCF program directed to prevent
malnutrition in children address all the above factors. The evaluation of nutritional status of
all CCF children less than five years old is done using standardised scales and growth charts.
All severely malnourished children are treated as medical emergencies. Moderately and
mildly malnourished children are treated to prevent further nutritional damage. The Hearth
Model, is being successfully used to encourage teaching of nutrition by community members
who themselves have good health and nutritional practices. Positive deviance practices of
families who have healthy children are incorporated and reinforced in the health and nutrition
education programs.

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Micro enterprise Development Initiative: (MEDI) Through its MEDI, CCF seeks to
contribute to the economic well being of children living in poverty by supporting activities
that can increase their family income in a sustainable manner. MEDI offers needed service to
the aspiring entrepreneurial poor like savings, credit and business training.
Sustainable livelihood: Livelihood program of CCF India is known as “Livelihood and

Economic enhancement of Poor” (LEEP) program. CCF India works for the wellbeing of
children belonging to families living Below Poverty Line (BPL). Child wellbeing is
considered to be a logical outcome of family income. However, CCF experience is that in
several cases result was found not happening. Hence, LEEP program actively works towards
ensuring child well being by design not by default. CCF believes that it exist to support the
family, not to replace it. CCF's Micro-Credit Program provides small, low interest loans to
help parents, especially women. Non-financial services also include literacy and numeracy
training, and a revolving livestock and seed program in which a recipient helps a future
recipient by "paying back" with livestock offspring or newly produced seeds.
Project staff: Each project is required to have few core staff apart from others to carry out
programs in the field. The core staff requirement varies from project to project, but generally
comprises project manager, sponsorship coordinator, accountant and community volunteers.
4.2 FINANCE DEPARTMENT
Sources and uses:
Sponsorship funds constitute the vast majority of the income of CCF Inc. Other sources of
income for CCFI are CCF DFC2 income, Other CCF income and Non CCF income. CCF
India as such do not mobilise funds from inside India, all supports it gets come from
developed countries through CCF, Richmond.
Subsidy: The monthly amount (Subsidy) that the sponsor sends to his/her sponsored child
through CCF is used to support the program that benefits the child according to the letter of
agreement. This whole subsidy amount for a project is used for the benefit of the whole
community in the project area. The portion of the subsidy amount (either allowed or
2
Designated Funds Certificate

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calculated by the National office, Max. 15 percent) goes towards the cost to support the
program activities like that directly not related to program support and salaries of all staffs
and office expenses.
Designated funds certificate: Some, not all, sponsors send additional money gifts (DFC,
designated Funds Certificate) to their sponsored child beyond the sponsorship commitment.
This amount is directly delivered to the child or his/her guardian and is used solely by the
child/family. To increase transparency and accountability to the sponsor, every time a ‘thank
you letter’ is send to the sponsor for the gift, describing the way the money was used by the
child/family supported by a photograph of the child with the purchased materials. In case
the gift amount is more than $100 the sponsor is asked for the way he/she wants, the money
should be used.
Non Sponsorship Program funds: Non Sponsorship Program (NSP) funds are funds received
by CCF’s international office as contribution, which in turn are made available to the country
offices. These funds are provided for activities over and above what is provided by
sponsorship income like program piloting, program replication, project affiliation, emergency
response and mitigation. These funds are directed at the international office. The strategic
intention behind providing NSP resources is to both significantly increase the effectiveness
of CCF’s sponsorship program and position the national office for additional grant funding
Flows of funds/operation:
CCF raises funds through individual sponsorship. Each sponsor sponsors a child and
provides a certain amount of funds on a monthly basis for the development of the child. The
sponsorship funds directly comes from CCF headquarter to the transmittal account and from
there to the respective partner’s FCRA account. Amount of money depends upon the number
of sponsored children under a project. CCF India national office gets a separate fund to
coordinate sponsor relation, to facilitate legal and financial management, and to provide
strategic guidance and program support. Every month the project partners are required to
send the closing balance statement to the zonal office and based on that next month’s
remittance is released. To ensure that the funds are being spent in a timely manner each
project are required to send their closing subsidy balance for the month. When a project has
not planned activities well or having problem implementing them, subsidy will accumulate as
a symptom of the underlying problem. If the closing balance amount is greater than 2.2 times
of the monthly budgeted amount, remittance may be stopped by national office for the

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month. If the accumulation is seasonal –for example, funds have been accumulating during
rainy season where program development is hindered, or when the planning season begins
for an agricultural program etc. justification for the accumulation is sought and proper follow
up action is taken to ensure that these plans are on course.
Budgeting procedure:
Every month a requisition is sent by the finance in charge at national office for the working
fund, grant or NSP3 to the Richmond office. Any over or under expenditure is adjusted in the
next month. At the beginning of the fiscal year, each project partner prepares an annual
budget based on its work plan for the period. Each project budget carry an approval of the
project’s governing board. The national office approves the budget after reviewing that the
financial projections are reasonable and it supports the projects goal and objectives.
Auditing and legal requirements: Project accounts are audited yearly once by an external
auditor. In case the partner receives more than 40 lakhs in a year, accounts are audited
quarterly. The auditor is provided with a details audit guideline package so that the audit
practice falls in line with CCF. Other than the CCF’s own minimum requirements CCF India
has to abide by the Indian set of legal accounting laws. National office4 and each partner have
FCRA account to receive money from foreign country. CCF India works as a branch office of
CCF International and not registered in India as an NGO. But it has got registration from RBI
to receive fund in foreign currency. In addition, it has to send detailed history of payment (FC
3) to the home ministry of India.
CCFI has developed a standardized financial reporting system for the Program partners. The
partners regularly send report on the income from CCF and non-CCF sources, detailed break
down the expenses in the areas of health, education etc. as well as comparing income and
expenses with the annual budgeted figures. CCFI has also to send a similar report to the
Richmond office. Besides there is also a standard format developed for the program partner
for analyzing its finances, monitoring its budget, comparing expenses against work plan and
budgeting for the coming year. A software CEDAR is being used to send monthly financial
report to the Richmond office.
3
Non Sponsorship Program
4
FCRA account No: 45605040339

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Staff: Two account officer, one to look after the project financing and other for office related
accounts are directly accountable to the finance controller. Zonal offices do not have any
finance division; all their financial activities are looked after by the account officer, national
office.
4.3 OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT

Sponsor Relations and Human Resource departments are the main departments under the
Operations department having established systems. The work of administration department
and IT and MIS department has not been systematized. They do support functions like travel
bookings, office maintenance, requisition of computers etc. The main departments i.e. SR
and HR are described below.
4.3.1 SPONSOR RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
Sponsor relations department at CCF India is one of the most important as it is this
department that ensures sponsorship money flowing in on a continuous basis. SR department
of CCF is a model to the SR departments of other national offices because of the low
sponsorship cancellation rate (8%) as compared to elsewhere (12%) in the world and the
employees of other national offices have been visiting India. A high cancellation rate reflects
overall poor servicing of the sponsor. When sponsors don’t receive timely, quality
information about their children, their unmet needs can result in cancelling their
sponsorships. On an average, 1500-2000 letters are sent to the sponsors from national office
every day. During Christmas or New Year this figure goes up to 5000 in a day. The success
of this department can also be gauged from the fact that while rest of the departments have
undergone major overhauls including changes in employees, this department has been left
untouched.
Staff and reporting structure:
The structure of the department underwent a change in which decentralization was done to
reduce operating levels in the department to create a flatter structure. The earlier hierarchy
within the department had four levels viz. Sponsor Relation Manager, SR coordinator, Sr.
assistant and office assistant. While presently all 10 employees are designated as SR officers.
This has helped the department to seed up procedures with less reporting within the
department. All the ten SR officers report directly to the Program Officer. When the
workload is too much, they hire some local students for limited period.

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Operations
Processing of SR works at the project level as well as national office follows a standardized
system. The simple remittance of a child letter within the required deadline does not, by
itself, develop a strong relationship between a sponsor and child. It is the quality of
communication and the understanding of the sponsorship which will make the relationship
grow. CCF encourage its SR people to be creative in interpreting sponsorship to children, in
providing quality information to sponsors and helping them to understand project realities
and activities; the community, its people and culture; and doing everything possible to
develop a strong bond between sponsor and child (e.g. sending letter from the child to the
sponsor on his/her anniversary or birthday etc.). CCF also recognises the need of educating
the children and families on the country and its culture of the sponsor.
The operation of SR department can be divided into three parts Viz. child inventory, child
correspondence and enquiries. In fact, before the reorganization of the department these
functions were divided among different people. But now in order to bring in multi-skills in
employees, all these functions are divided among all these employees.
Child inventory:
This refers to keeping stock of children who are sponsored or those who are eligible for
sponsorship. Each project takes special care in the selection of the children for enrolment.
Each country office develops eligibility criteria for child enrolment for projects under its
supervision based on its strategic plan and its analysis of poverty. Beside, a stock of those for
who sponsorship has been discontinued either because of them reaching adulthood or other
reason (family moved, child completed program, economic situation has improved etc.) is
also kept for 6 months.
The NGO partners of CCF identify the individual child to be sponsor from the operation area
and they send details about the child and family background in a standard format along with
a photograph of the child. These details are fed into the database on a daily basis by SR
staffs. All the details are sent online to the Richmond office daily. The photographs of the
children are mailed once in a week.
Child correspondence:

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Once the Richmond office finds a sponsor they communicate it to the national office. The
national director writes a welcome letter to the sponsor to join the CCF family. This
correspond is followed by another welcome letter from the child to be sponsored within 7
days. This letter is given a lot importance as it is the moment where the relationship between
the sponsor and child really begins and the letter should foster that development.
Child correspondence is for continuing the constant communication and relationship between
the child and sponsor. This is also crucial for reducing cancellation of sponsorship, long term
development of the child and strengthening the emotional relationship between child and
sponsor. It also helps CCF to maintain its reputation and transparency to the sponsors.
Any sponsor can write letters to the child through Bangalore office, which is then sent to the
corresponding child. It is mandatory for all the partner NGOs to send a timely reply from the
child to the sponsor through Bangalore office. Every letter contains a drawing done by the
child and some description of the child, its family, culture and the country as a whole. To
fulfil CCF requirement, a child progress report (on health, education, achievement etc.) is
sent on annual basis for each sponsored child.
Child enquiry:
Through this any type of special request from the side of sponsor is entertained. The requests
may be for a letter from the child, clarification of the conflicting received about the child,
family etc., information on the needs on the child or family etc.
SR responsibility and accountability at the project level
Every project has a clear organizational chart which clearly shows the responsibilities of
staff for SR activities. The project is held accountable for the development of its SR work.
The national office has in place standards for measuring the SR activities of a project, as well
as measures to be implemented when non-compliance is verified. These measures range from
special trainings and orientations, suspending subsidy, to ultimately disaffiliation.
Computerisation: change in technology:

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Given its geographical spread, and with 60 percent of its intermediary NGOs already
connected, internet provides an ideal platform for sharing information. An Oracle based
software LINCS is being used for the operation and is online with the Richmond office,
USA. Almost all operations of the department are computerised. All the computer terminals
are connected through LAN. Two other software PCSI and SSIMS help the project partners
record their SR data. Gradually it leaning towards digital photograph, (sought for preparing
database of enrolled children) so that it becomes easy handling and sending to Richmond
office. Computerisation has speeded up the operation manifold and requirement of personnel
has gone down. While earlier it was 18 personnel in SR department, now it has reduced to 10
in spite of the workload increasing because of increased number of children and sponsors. As
one employee recalls -“When the first computer came in around 1985, it was a prized
possession as earlier all the work was manual and we had to struggle a lot with typewriter,
photocopier etc. as no mistake or cutting or erasing was allowed on the letter to be sent to the
sponsors. But now things have changed and we can manage more number of letters and
deliver better quality.” This technology up gradation however had a downside to it as some of
the staff members who were not conversant with computer were offered VRS.
Child security
CCF is highly concerned about the security of the sponsored children and also the dignity of
the sponsor which reflects in its SR operations. All the correspondence between the sponsor
and child are done through national office and do not carry address of either. This is done
firstly for safety reason and also to keep the children /family away from making any claim of
material or other benefit from the sponsor. In case the sponsor wants to visit the child, a
detailed enquiry is done on the criminal background of the sponsor before sending the
welcome letter by national director. The sponsor has to meet the child in presence of the
family member and project staff. CCF also has standardized types of questions that the
sponsor can’t ask the child/family.

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4.3.2 HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT
Human Resources Philosophy of CCF-India

It is the fundamental policy of CCF-India that all employees should be treated fairly and
without any discrimination. The Organization likes to maintain cordial relations with its
employees, afford easy accessibility, strengthen channels of communication and adopt a pro-
active role to motivate its employees. CCF-India tries to become an Equal Opportunity
Employer. No person, in principle, is discriminated against in employment because of race,
colour, religion, sex, gender, marital status, political belief, age, disability, ancestry, and
sexual preference. However we did see proportionally higher number of Christians in the
organization. On suggesting this to the Operations head, he admitted that there could have
been a tendency to recruit more Christians with the expectation that they will have more
commitment, but things are very clean now, something that even we concluded going by the
general environment.
Human Resource Practices

An effort was made by the previous operations head to put in place an effective system for
human resource management and a comprehensive HR policy manual was designed
improving upon the existing documentation on HR policy. This policy manual has been
effective from the beginning of this year.
Conduct of an Employee
CCF-India expects that all individual employees shall maintain professional code of conduct
and high standards of trust, honesty and integrity. For the period of employment, no
employee is expected to engage in or carry on any business or profession or commercial
activity. During the employment period, the employee should not make public any
documents or information in any form, written or verbal, without the permission of the
National Director and should refrain from making false, inaccurate or misleading statements
either in writing or verbally. Employees should not misuse any amenity, communication
facilities provided by the Organization and use the same only for work purposes of the
organization. CCF-India does not provide gifts to its employees and employees are not
permitted to solicit or accept gifts, loans or favours from peers, superiors, subordinates,

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personnel connected to CCF-India projects or any other individual / organization which are
directly or indirectly associated with or have dealings with CCF-India. The employee’s
immediate supervisor is responsible for assessing any incident, and all disciplinary actions
are taken in consultation with the National Director.
Major Infractions:
An employee is liable for suspension or even dismissal post disciplinary procedure if he/she
commits a major infraction of rules in the Organization premises. Examples are:
• Theft or fraud
• Physical violence (actual or threatened)
• Clocking in/out for another employee
• Wilful destruction of Organization property
• Disclosure of Organization secrets
• Gross insubordination
• Possession of unlawful or illegal items
• Deliberate violation of safety rules
• Other conduct which would bring serious discredit to Organization
Respective Heads of Department / Zonal Heads are authorized to start an enquiry into the
incident and submit a report of the findings. If the employee is found to be guilty of
misconduct, the Heads of Department / Zonal Heads register written warnings against
person(s) involved. All such documents are recorded in the personnel folder of the
employee(s). Written notices soliciting response from the employee(s) are sent thrice and if
during that time, there is no response from him /her why disciplinary action should not be
taken against him / her, a notice of disciplinary action is to be served and filed in his/her
personnel file. The severity of disciplinary action depends upon the following criteria:
• Nature and degree of offence

• The impact of the offence on the other party involved
• Instances / Frequency of Offence

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• Duration of association of the offender with the Organization i.e. the Organization
expects senior members of CCF-India (in terms of duration of service) to adhere to
the rules and lead by example for other employees, hence, an offence by them
receives sterner actions
• Effect of the offence on the reputation of the Organization
Human Resource Planning

Till recently, no institutionalised process for HR planning existed in the organisation.
Recruitment was done as and when the need arose for the same. Only in the updated HR
policy manual (effective from 1st January, 2005), there has been an attempt to put a proper
system in place.
In the new HR manual, human resource plan is seen as a ‘systematic process of anticipating
an organization’s future human resource needs and developing action plan for fulfilling those
needs.’ The responsibility of preparing the HR Plan remains with the Departmental Head for
his/her department, which is prepared in consultation with the Operations Manager and the
National Director. Fixed deadlines are suggested in the new HR policy manual for each
operation involved in making the HR plan, with the view to institutionalize the process. By
the third quarter of every year, the Operations department should ideally have all the
preliminary data (employee movements) of the year before and additional resource
requirements for immediate and future needs. The Operations department decides on the HR
Manpower Calendar and sends the manpower requisition form to department heads.
National Director then approves the requirement of manpower in the light of planned
expansion of work, the existing strength of manpower, the estimated employee turnover, and
/ or any other reason. The resulting additional human resources requirement is then provided
in the Budget. The Recruitment and Selection Process is based on the consolidated and
approved Annual HR Plan.
Staffing
The purpose of staffing is seen ‘to establish a formal process by which qualified resources
are recruited, appointed and transitioned into assignments’. The following procedures have
been set down for the identification, selection and appointment of employees. External

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agencies and advertisements can be used predominantly for attracting qualified applicants.
When an external agency is not conducting the recruitment process, the Operations
Department is fully responsible for compliance of the entire processes. The entire process is
explained below:
Requisitioning a Position: The Personnel Requisition Form is used by the department / unit
to identify recruitment needs. The job descriptions are reviewed and desired changes
documented along with the Requisition Form and forwarded with signatures from
appropriate authorities to the Operations department.
Advertising for the requisitioned post: Vacancies are advertised though internet, generally on
the website www.devnetjobs.com as it gives good response and is free of cost. The
advertisement generally contains a brief introduction to the organisation, job profile and
requirements for the job. Applications are invited from suitable candidates, stating the last
date.
Consideration of Applications: The Operations Department (or the external agency),deems

applications received from candidates to be valid for consideration when the application is
submitted on or before the application complete in all respects is received on or before the
stipulated deadline. The applications which reflect that the applicant possesses the required
knowledge, skill, ability and experience are short listed and the applicants are called for an
interview.
Selection / Screening Committee: A selection committee is responsible for attraction of

candidates with the right skills, knowledge and aptitude to CCF-India. This committee
comprises of the immediate supervisor of the position in question and not less than two other
members. Consideration is given to ensure representation from within and outside of the
work area. For higher positions (Program Director, Finance Controller, Operations Manager
and Zonal Manager), at least one representative from the local Advisory Council is required
to be part of the panel for first round and at least one representative from the international
office and the National Director should be present for the final round of interviews. The
committee members is finalized by the Operations manager and approved by the National
Director. The selection committee is oriented on recruitment procedures.

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Selection Techniques: The candidates progress through a multiple hurdle selection process –
along with the panel interviews, backed with the empirical interpretation from the time tested
inventories which strengthen the recruitment process. The hiring risk is considerably reduced
for better fit. Employment tests are used for objective comparison between applicants. Tests
are applied based on suitability of positions and required skills. This is followed by
interviews (or a round of interviews, depending ion the seniority of the post). The
performance of the candidate is recorded on an interview assessment from by each
interviewer immediately upon completion of the interview with each candidate. It is after
individual scoring that group scores are discussed to finalize on the candidate.
The Employment Decision: The final step in the selection process is the employment
decision. All employees are appointed by the National Director upon recommendation of the
selection committee. Remuneration matching with the qualifications, competence and
experience of the candidate is determined by the National Director. Factors such as
availability of manpower with matching skills and experience, market demand for such
positions and external market competitiveness is taken into consideration while fixing the
compensation package.
Conveying the employment decision and follow-up: Within a week of the closure of the
selection process, the selected candidate is sent the Offer of Employment Letter in a
prescribed format. Candidates not selected are sent a Letter of Regret after the positions have
been filled. Upon completion of the interview process, the Operations Department hands
over to the Country Desk Coordinator (CDC), the list of selected candidates and their other
details. The CDC completes the rest of the processes such as verification of personal
details/employment history, conducting reference checks, issuance of letters, coordinating the
joining dates etc. The Operations Department is kept informed about the progress. All
candidates selected are required to furnish employment certificates stating the position held
by them, period of service, last drawn salary and statement on their conduct from their
previous employer.

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Induction: All the newly recruited employees joining CCF India are inducted into the
system after a formal orientation / training. Feedback is sought from the newly recruited
employees and report of the induction is submitted to the Operations department through his
/ her immediate superior for recording into the new employee’s personnel file. Induction
process is generally multi departmental orientation program and the employee is sent on
rotation to other departments to enable him / her to understand the overall departments of the
Organization. Typically, the induction program is for 5 working days.
Probation: All newly recruited employees undergo a probation period of not less than six
months from the date of appointment. The probation period may be extended by the
management of CCF India at its sole discretion. During probation, should the employee
resign, he / she is required to give one month’s notice, in writing and resignation is become
effective only when Management accepts the same. The performance of an employee on
probation is evaluated in a prescribed format before the expiry of the probation period.
If the performance of the employee during the probationary period is satisfactory, then the
supervisor makes necessary recommendation to the National Director through the Operations
department for issuing the letter of continuation of service. If the performance of the
employee on probation is not satisfactory, the Supervisor/ Operations department
recommends issuing a letter of extension of probation for a maximum period of six months
before expiry of the probation period, following which the performance of the employee is
reviewed again for an appropriate decision.
Confirmation: On satisfactory completion of the probation period, the employee is confirmed
in the services of the Organization. The letter of confirmation includes the terms and
conditions of confirmed employment, date from which his / her services are being confirmed,
salary payable, eligibility to benefits such as medical allowance, leave travel assistance, and
other benefits, along with the conditions and notice period required should the Organization
terminate the service of the employee. A letter of confirmation is given to the employee and a
copy is recorded in the employee’s personnel file.
Resignation/retirement
A permanent employee desirous of leaving the services of the Organization is required to
give two months notice in writing to the National Director through his / her immediate
superior. The employee is required to submit the exit interview form duly filled on or before
the last day of employment. Exit interviews are conducted with departing employees before

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they leave to get their inputs about the organisation and its work culture. It is preferred that
the exit interviews are held after the full and final settlement, so that the employee does not
feel pressurized in any manner. The exit interview form is analysed and corrective action
steps devised to determine root cause of employee grievances. If necessary, policies,
procedures and other aspects of human resources management are reviewed.
Performance Appraisal
All confirmed employees are appraised bi-annually against the objectives set out at the
beginning of the year. Appraisal is a two way process and the appraisal document is signed
by both, the appraiser and the appraised. The supervisors ensure that the Goal Setting and
Review forms are filled and submitted back to the Operations department before the
specified deadline. The appraisal period is from July to December 31 of each calendar year
and January to June of the subsequent year. The performance evaluation process consists on
two parts – self-assessment and superior assessment. The Operations department provides the
Performance review form which is divided into 2 sections viz.
Individual Accomplishments: This section highlights specific areas of accomplishment for

the employee, drawing inputs from the departmental and individual goals based on the
Organization objectives.
Employee characteristics and professional competencies: This section identifies the

employee’s strengths and areas of development. Every employee in CCF-India is required to
practice certain behaviour as he/she strives to achieve his/her individual goals. The employee
is evaluated against these characteristics. These are competencies, which enable the
jobholder to perform the job successfully.
Performance Appraisal Processes

The following steps are adopted in conducting the Annual Performance Appraisal
process:
1) The immediate supervisor provides specific feedback along with ways to correct
performance, in the employee development areas section
2) The supervisor ensures that all the appraisal forms are filled-up, duly signed by the
employee and himself/herself, and handed over to the Operation Department by the
second week of May.

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3) A committee consisting of immediate supervisors, Operations Manager and the

National Director reviews relevant appraisals in the last week of May for making
appropriate recommendations keeping overall organization perspective in mind.
4) Based on the Organization performance, the Operations department and the Finance
Department, in consultation with the National Director formulates a Reward Program,
which is linked with the recommendations of the reviewing committee.
The Country Desk Coordinator ensures that all the Performance Appraisal Forms and
subsequent decisions in regard to employees’ performance, reward, promotion,
relocation etc are properly documented and filed in the personnel files. The CDC
works with the Operations Department to monitor this entire process.
Employee Grievances
The grievance procedure is completely confidential. Grievances are to be fully processed
until the employee is satisfied. Any employee desirous of the redressal of grievances arising
out of dissatisfaction concerning any work-related issue or disagreement with the
interpretation and application of policy by management, supervisors, or other
peers/employees proceeds by bringing the situation to the attention of the team leader or
supervisor/Zonal manager/departmental head as soon as possible and explaining the nature of
the problem in a written summary. If the grievance involves the team leader or supervisor,
then it is permissible to go directly to the next manager in reporting line. The supervisor, or
team leader, is expected to promptly investigate the grievance, attempt to resolve it and
provide a written reply to the employee within a reasonable time period. In case the
employee is dissatisfied with the result of the resolution, he can go to the Operations head
and further to the National Director by presenting a summary of the incident within two
weeks of resolution by the lower authority. Employees are however expected to be
responsible for addressing their grievances and refrain from pushing up petty issues upwards.
4.4 TSUNAMI RELIEF OPERATIONS
CCF-India has started its emergency operation in the tsunami affected area right after the
tsunami struck the coastal India on 26th December, 2004. Presently CCF is providing relief to
five hard-hit areas of India—Chennai, Pondicherry, Nagapattinam, and Cuddalore and
Kanyakumari. CCF- India has launched a ‘livelihood restoration project’, using a grant from
the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), matched by funds
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from CCF contributors. CCF is working through 6 partner organization and the whole
operation is coordinated by a special team of 15 employees who have been hired on a
contractual basis. The organization also has established a Tsunami Response Secretariat to
coordinate emergency response activities with the many different agencies, individuals, and
the government working on child-related issues. CCF-India has established 104 Child
Centred Spaces in 40 to 50 villages in these five districts. CCF understands that the processes
of psychosocial healing especially with children are even more critical in order to help adults
and children begin their lives afresh. Therefore, CCF-India works in the affected villages,
camps and shelters to provide psycho-social support to children and the families by
organizing structured normalizing activities in the ‘Child Centred Spaces’. These Child
Centred Spaces are used as a gathering point for Health Interventions. CCF and Save the
Children are working in cooperation there - CCF is providing the gathering point, and Save
the Children is providing the health interventions through the mobile vans. CCF-India is also
assisting in the reconstruction of school buildings hit by tsunami.
CFF - India is working with local organizations, farmers and fishermen, to make a living to
support their families. CCF trains the local communities to provide vocational training, so
that former inland fishermen can be trained as carpenters and mechanics who can repair boats
and boat motors. In addition to the land reclamation and vocational training, CCF’s
livelihoods program supports repair or restoration of fishing gear and other accessories,
reactivation of market and trading linkages, and provides low interest loans and other
resources for small businesses/trades.
5. ANALYSIS OF ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE:
5.1 Less number of Area Managers (A.M.)
Area Managers act as a link between CCFI and the NGO partners. They are supposed to both
monitor and provide managerial support to the projects. However, each area manager has
about 8 projects under him. So, practically, each Area Manager visits a particular project only
after about 6 months and that too only for about a week. Also considering the high level of
turnover rate of area managers, his understanding of the partner organization is very limited
with this level of involvement. With the A.M. supposed to play an important role in decisions
like selection of Project Manager (often from within the existing staff), his limitation in

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understanding of soft issues like overall organizational culture and individual employee level
factors like integrity, motivation level and capabilities is a big handicap. The A.M.’s
interference in promotion of internal employee to the post of Project Manager was
questioned in one of the organizations we visited on the basis of level of understanding of the
A.M. about internal issues.
In another partner NGO we visited, the lower level employees confided in us about the
various financial malpractices of the higher management of the partner NGO. So this raises
questions about the effectiveness of even the monitoring function of the A.M., leave alone
the support function. This to some extent can be attributed to the less time spent on each
project by each A.M., which can in turn be attributed to high number of projects per A.M.
5.2 Absence of specialists at Zonal Level
There is no provision for positions of specialists as Health/Education/Livelihood advisors at

the Zonal Level. So the technical support provided by CCFI to the partners is contingent on
the capacity of the project manager which is again limited to one or two areas, which can be
different form those in which the partner is working. Some specialists are present are present
as the project staff as employees of partner NGOs, but their capacity to give strategic
direction to various interventions is doubtful according to us. So, their present role is limited
to managing operational details of the interventions in their respective fields.
Only recently, CCFI has started recruiting specialists, but this is being done at National Level
and not at Zonal level, bringing all 88 projects under them. So, how effectively say one
Health Advisor be able to support 88 projects spread all across the country is questionable.
So, we feel that there is a need for specialists at the zonal level considering the capabilities of
the project staff.
5.3 Diversity of functions of Operations head
The operations head is heading a number of operations like SR, Administration, HR and
IT/MIS. 10 Sponsor Relations Officers, 3 Office Assistants (for administration), one IT
administrator and one MIS administrator directly report to him. Besides this, he carries out
all the HR related work all by himself. Functions like HR require very different orientation

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from that required by functions like IT/MIS and especially if one is handling the operational
part (like the operations head is handling for HR function).
In fact the Operations head of CCFI left the organization for another organization during our
stay at CCFI. One of the reasons he mentioned for joining the other organization was that he
will be able to focus more on HR with his new employer than he was able to do here because
of diverse responsibilities.
5.4 NGO’s perception of CCFI
Partner NGOs perceive their relation with CCFI as a top down one with CCFI merely
regulating and monitoring them as a typical funding agency, rather than engaging them as a
partner on a co-equal basis. Decisions like budget cuts and inclusion of new policies of
including income generation activities are thrust upon them without giving due
considerations to ground realities. The problem has a behavioral dimension as well as the
power distance between CCFI employees and those of partner NGOs was clearly visible in
the behaviour of A.M. visiting one of the partner NGOs we visited. So, CCFI should sensitize
its own employees to give more respect to the views of partner NGOs.
6. MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF PROGRAMS:
CCF uses a standardized ‘Project Monitoring Tool’ for monitoring, evaluating and planning
process using some key management indicator. The main purpose of this tool is to promote
wellbeing of children and accountability to the donor through effective and efficient project
management. It also provides a basis for projects to self monitor and self direct and measure
program impact, effectiveness and efficiency. The PMT system highlights project successes
and raises red flags where there are weaknesses. PMT will be evaluated in terms of
responses to the red flags raised. Project performance will be reflected by the indicators. The
three main functional areas of CCF program, program (AIMES), sponsor relation (SSIMS)
and finance (FIT) have separate indicators to track. There are four major tools (SITE,
Template, TUFF and Monitoring Tool) which capture the information within each functional
area.

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SITE: (Standard Impact Tool for Evaluation) is a key indicator compilation tool and an
annual snapshot of impact indicators to measure process and impact.
Template: (a response tool) it is a menu of intervention options-to respond to data results
from the SITE. It is a list of best practices.
Tool Used for Focus (TUFF): (a prioritization tool) it is to choose the highest priority
problem per functional area to focus both time and resources.
Monitoring Tool: (a composite tool) It is to bring all three functional areas together as a
whole in a single tool. This is basically for a Parent Committee or community federation to
ensure that the project is on track.

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There is a complete system behind each functional area which captures critical information
on an ongoing basis. These systems are “read” and the information is recorded on a SITE.
The purpose of collecting the data is to point to areas of weakness in order to be able to focus
efforts to address real needs. Each functional area has a system which feeds their SITES.
Red flags are raised when the data on the SITE points to problems. For instance, if the
immunization rate seems unusually low compared to what would be expected, and then it

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raises a red flag. Red flags point to templates which offer guidance for responses. A Template
is applied in order to help figure out how to best respond to these red flags. In this case, a
project may investigate why a red flag has been raised, what the underlying causes are, and
what the most effective response might be. This leads to the TUFF which prioritizes what
the most important and effective response should be. The Monitoring Tool can be used to
quickly assess how the project is doing in addressing these priorities. Fundamental to PMT is
the idea of red flags since these will be the starting point for addressing an improvement in
project performance.
6.1 Annual Impact Monitoring and Evaluation System (AIMES)
CCF monitors progress of its interventions against ten child wellbeing indicators, using
customized software called AIMES. The system is designed to monitor impact according to
these indicators. Every month the partners collect data against these indicators from the
sponsored/enrolled children and are compiled by national office. AIMES data of the last five
year is provided in the next page.
During the last five years, several new projects have been affiliated and several old projects
have been disaffiliated. Even within the projects, several projects have been enrolled and
several old children have been phased out. Though at the project level AIMES data gives a
very good picture of the actual situation, the consolidated AIMES data does not give the true
picture of the actual situation at the national level; however it indicate the national trend.
During the last five years, CCF has done extremely well in reducing IMR and U5MR, in
increasing immunization of children and pregnant mothers among the families of the
sponsored children. It has also done well in providing safe drinking water and sanitation and
in bringing about awareness on ORT among its target communities. However, it has not done
satisfactorily on improving adult literacy and in improving the nutritional status of the
families.
SN Indicators Unit 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Per
1 Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) 1000 31.00 30.00 29.00 30.45 22.92
Under 5 Mortality Rate Per

2 (U5MR) 1000 53.00 62.00 58.51 62.00 47.10

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3 Immunization Per 100 86.00 81.89 85.98 94.65 99.57
4 TT2 Per 100 80.00 74.18 85.94 77.89 87.68
5 Nutritional status
Normal Per 100 40.13 40.59 42.04 35.90 39.93
Mild Per 100 32.93 35.73 36.16 36.10 36.48
Moderate Per 100 19.51 18.74 17.27 17.27 18.61
Severe Per 100 7.44 4.94 4.53 6.00 4.99
6 ORT knowledge
ORT Per 100 79.05 84.12 84.77 88.42 77.02
ARI Per 100 68.40 71.01 72.36 73.24 63.33
7 Safe drinking water Per 100 81.40 84.42 85.34 92.22 82.68
8 Sanitation Per 100 45.00 45.09 41.32 44.26 35.78
9 Adult literacy
Male Per 100 69.50 69.15 69.62 69.83 64.32
Female Per 100 51.30 51.91 53.83 51.52 47.04
10 Demographic
Families Enrolled 65826 68419 60584 56372 63260
34009 35679 30942 29030

Population Enrolled 3 6 8 1 330477
CCF has been performing very well, according to its AIMES indicators. Infact, it has been
one of the few development agencies to be ahead of the Millennium Development Goals. But
this exceptional performance was not something that we could see in its operations. To
understand this contradiction, we further analysed the performance of CCF. What we realized
was that CCF, as a result of its child focused approach, had taken indicators like lowering
IMR, increasing literacy rates etc. as indicators to judge its performance. Performance in
such service delivery areas is comparatively easier to obtain as compared to those in areas
like poverty alleviation, business development and empowerment. So, the child focus (a
consequence of child sponsorship) has given it softer targets, which it has met with
regularity. Now, that the programs are incorporating livelihood focus as well, performance
will still be measured in terms of the effects of these programs on the life of child.

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6.2 Financial Indicator Tool:
CCF’s money is expected to be spent in a timely and responsible manner, to assist the
children who are enrolled in the local program. At the bottom of the project revenue and
expense statement is the FIT SITE which provides indicators on essential financial aspects.
The FIT SITE is a key indicator compilation tool. It is designed to provide a snapshot of
financial performance indicators used to measure process and impact. Deficiency in any of
these indicators brings up an immediate red flag which must be addressed. Major indicators
which indicate compliance with the policy are:
• Revenue per sponsored child
• Revenue per enrolled child
• Revenue per assisted child
• Subsidy accumulation
• DFC balance
• CCF percentage of project income
• Ratio of program (health/ education) expenses to program support
6.3 Sponsor Service Indicator & Measurement System:
SSIMS SITE is an instrument used for the tabulation of SR data over a period of time. The
key indicators for sponsor relations are child inventory, child correspondence and
miscellaneous (10x and cancels). Under each indicator are several subgroups. They are:
Child inventory-
• Reassignment request control
• Child departure
• Child deaths

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• Child information files
Child correspondence
• Welcome letter
• Bonding letter
• Thank you letter
• Response letter
• Child initiated letter
Miscellaneous
• 10x’s
• Cancellation Rate
The first indicator, child inventory is important to evaluate as it reflects proper management
of the children’s file. The second indicator, child correspondence reflects the information
from /about the children that is shared with the sponsors. The strength of the bond between
sponsor and children depends upon the quality and timeliness of the correspondences. The
third indicator, miscellaneous shows how responsive the children are to sponsor initiated
requests for information. The cancellation indicator is a broad based indicator evaluating the
overall effectiveness of sponsorship.
7. FUNDING RELATED ISSUES
7.1 Child Sponsorship – the strategy and the strings attached
CCF has been following a strategy of Child Sponsorship, wherein one rich person sponsor
supports a poor child, to raise funds since its inception. Built on the simple principle of
person-to-person relationship with no government involvement, no ideological agendas,
minimum amount of bureaucracy; it has become one of the most powerful tool for fund
raising for many funding agencies. The idea of supporting a poor, malnourished, uneducated
child in some far-away land is very appealing to the general public, more so if you can also
send and receive regular letters from the child and can also meet the child (on your own
expense, though). Since it can be done only for $24 per month (not a very high contribution

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in the developed world), it allows the sponsorship agency to have very wide sponsorship base
of very normal people. CCF’s sponsors include very normal people like taxi drivers, petrol
pump vendors, school teachers etc. having a very average salary.
This strategy affects all operations be it choice of partners, choice of areas, nature of
programs, structure of the organisation etc. The partners have to be those who are sensitized
to the needs of the children. The programs chosen have to be child-centric. The areas chosen
should be safe enough for the sponsors to visit to see and meet the sponsored children. For
e.g. When inquired about the reason of not operating in north – east India, it was told that the
area is not safe enough for sponsors n case they choose to visit.
Working with this strategy brings in its own set of problems for CCF. Being a child
sponsorship agency means a lot of paper work is required to ensure that children reply to
letters of sponsors and reports of special events like death of parents of child, initiate
correspondence when sponsors do not write for long, send regular child progress reports to
the sponsors, write thank you letters when they receive special gifts (DFCs) etc. Since all the
correspondence has to be routed through CCF because of its child protection policy, it
becomes a lot of paper work. So, a considerable amount of resources have to be invested for
this purpose. Secondly and more importantly, it creates a lot of problems in deciding the
mechanism of support to the projects. CCF started with institutional support like funding
orphanages, boarding schools etc. where child focus was quite easy to maintain. But over a
period of time, CCF has identified many limitations of this sort of institutional funding like:
it addresses only the effects instead of root causes, creates distances between the supported
and non-supported children either within the community or even within the family etc. This
has forced CCF to change its program implementation strategy to a more holistic, community
based approach; aimed on empowering the community instead of charity to a particular child.
But this community empowerment approach is not what the sponsor easily understands and
desires. So, the net result is that CCF has to educate all its stakeholders on a lot of issues.
Sponsors have to be educated that the direct child support that is more appealing is not
actually the ideal mode of support. The NGO partners have to be educated to maintain a
strong child focus in all their projects, even if they are directed towards the whole
community; as that is what in the first place keeps the money coming in. Even the
community has to be explained (by the NGO partners) as to why a particular child is getting

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more money or gifts (in case of DFCs) as the community feels that perhaps the recipient is
paying the NGO to siphon off more funds.
Some other constraints are also put due to child sponsorship role. CCF limits the funding to
that village only from where sponsor children are. For e.g. in one of the partners visited,
more than 65 lakhs of rupees were being spent in only 10 villages, which is very high by
Indian NGO standards. But the partner is not allowed to increase its area of operation even if
it wants to do so using the same money. At the same time, a constant pressure is exerted by
national office to ensure that the funds allocated are spent in time by the partner. So, the
partner at times feels that CCF is not allowing it to expand its area of operation and at the
same time putting pressure to use the funds quickly. Besides this, a lot of financial
monitoring is required to ensure financial accountability to the sponsors. CCF Inc did suffer
one its major crises (Mochdale hearings) when some financial irregularities were brought out
in the open by a reporter, following which the monitoring systems have become even stricter.
With a spurt of many money-minting NGOs, this has become even more important. So a lot
of paperwork and monitoring is necessitated because of its own accountability to sponsors,
who in a child sponsorship agency are millions.
So, the child sponsorship strategy imposes many constraints on the working of the
organisation and the organisation continuously grapples to work meaningfully within these
constraints.
7.2 Power Struggle
Donor agencies are often criticized by NGOs of having little regard to local, ground level,
practical considerations, too much documentation requirement and an overall high-headed
attitude. They are often criticized for always trying to maintain unnecessary control and
trampling on the autonomy of the NGOs. At CCF India, we tried to analyze this power game.
Power in any setup wrests with those who supply money: be it the shareholder, the proprietor
or in case of donor agency, the donor. Similarly in a child sponsorship agency like CCF, the
ultimate power wrests with the sponsors who give money for the children. CCF being
responsible to its sponsors, gears its mechanism to keep its sponsors in good humour. It also
means that even if not all the sponsorship money is given as cash to the child but through

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development programs, all their programs have to be essentially child-centric, as explained in

the previous section. These constraints are often not understood by the NGO partners and
thus it criticizes the donor agency for being insensitive to ground-level situation.
But not all reasons are forced. The unequal relation of the funding agency – NGO is also due
to its own attitude. Even if the money that CCF India employees give to the NGOs is not
their own money, they definitely control that to whom the money will flow. So it
immediately creates a difference in the relations. The difference in salaries and perks of the
staff of the donor agencies and NGOs contribute to this inequality as well. A person as
qualified and as competent, if employed in a NGO might not get even half the salary as his
Donor Agency counterpart. So this salary difference creates an automatic distance between
otherwise two relatively equally competent persons. This difference further translates into a
superiority complex on the part of the funding agency employee. Thus, differences in the
system blend even those who enter the donor agencies after sufficient NGO experience into
the donor agency culture.
8. EVALUATION OF PARTNERS
The success of the operations of an organisation like CCF India which operates through
partner NGOs depends on the effectiveness of the partner NGOs. So, it is imperative that the
partner NGOs possess the capacity required to meet the desired goals of CCF India. An
Organisational Capacity Assessment was done by CCF India by engaging IRMA which also
pointed out the weaknesses of the CCF – partner relations. CCF India has a very high number
of partners spread across the country which makes their monitoring difficult. That these
partners are of varying levels of character further complicates the problem. The NGO
partners of CCF India do not share the vision of CCF India and see it as a donor agency
rather than a catalyst for development. The reporting structure for partners is also quite hazy
and confusing. The project cycle management capacity of most partners is very low. No
sound mechanism is there for either identifying the villages for intervention or having proper
exit plans. Some of the partners have been supported for years and still no visible difference
is noticeable in their areas of operation. We could even notice some issues of transparency,
accountability and integrity in the partner NGOs. Further the partners are almost completely
dependent upon CCF India for funds and few have alternate sources of funding. CCF India
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accounts for 90% of its partners incomes though it believes that its fund should serve only as
the seed investment for these NGOs. Overall the partner NGOs are highly unprofessional and
single personality dominated.
9. SWOT ANALYSIS
This swot analysis was done in consultation with the employees of the organisation as well as
understanding of the organisation. Some inputs were taken from the existing documentation
of the organisation as well.
Strengths
• CCF is secular in character and action
• CCF has 54 years of field experience in India
• CCF provide a long term and stable funding for field intervention
• CCF has strong financial and human resource base
• CCF’s capacity to manage change is high
• CCF India has a significant knowledge of issues related to children
• It has strong goodwill in development sector of India
Weaknesses
• Skills in project management –planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation need
to be strengthened.
• CCF’s level of networking is inadequate
• CCF’s intentional low profile often means that its works goes unrecognized
• Its name leads people to think of it as a Christian-only organization instead of it a
secular organization.
• CCF –India’s projects are clustered in some area but by and large spread out and
scattered; hence significant impact of CCF’s work is not felt.
Opportunities

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• Its fund raising mechanism (sponsorship) is an open tool that can support all kind of
development.
• CCF- India’s presence across the country.
• CCF’s capacity to leverage grants funding.
• The ability to network and work with other organizations, state government and bi-
laterals.
• An environment that is conducive to both development education and fund raising in
country.
Threats
• Larger environment, economic and political framework within which it works
provide both opportunity and threats to its work.
• Collaborative alliance with international NGOs can be both an opportunity and can be
disruptive.
10. FUTURE CHALLENGES
CCF India is today an organisation on the move. It is trying to shed off the inertia it has
gathered over the years to evolve into a more dynamic and professional organization. Till
now, the organization has not been really dynamic, primarily because such a need to change
and evolve has never been forced on it. It has over the years fulfilled its responsibilities
towards the donors by having a very good SR department, which is one of the best among the
various national offices of CCF. As a result, sponsor retention has been the highest, allowing
a regular fund inflow. But the rest of the part of organizational evolution in terms of systems,
program delivery etc. has not been really outstanding. That the organization has not had a
vision – mission statement of its own, it has not had an evolved organization structure even
after more than 50 years of existence is questionable. That the organization has a number of
legal cases pending dealing with HR issues also hints at inability of the organization to
successfully negotiate HR problems. But presently there seems to be an effort to change in
many spheres. Starting with the organizational capacity assessment been done, to hiring of
new staff by creating new positions and an overall process of churning undergoing in the
organization is a precursor to better future. Even now the change process is self initiated

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(through directions from CCF- Inc) as it can still proceed with the way it has done over the
years and still it will continue to get enough funds for its operations. So, the change process
is because of introspection and looking back that the organization has done on its years of
work in the country rather than been outside imposed. But the changes which are being
initiated will go a long way in redefining the role of CCF India in the future. These changes
are explained below:
1) Child Fund India: CCF India is starting to explore avenues for fund raising in India
itself. These funds could be through child sponsorship, grants or any other
mechanism. Child Fund India is eventually expected to overtake all the activities of
CCF India. It has already been registered and the staff hiring is also almost complete.
Construction of the office of Child Fund India in the same premises as the National
Office of CCF India was also on during our stay at CCF India. So, Child Fund India
is ready to start operating in India for raising funds. This change in policy regarding
fund raising in India is in line with the international goal of CCF Inc. of increasing
the sponsorship income by fifty percent and non-sponsorship income by eight
hundred percent in the next decade.
2) Bright Futures Approach: CCF India is also exploring opportunities of direct
intervention in the identified areas instead of working through partners. This step can
go a long way in changing the whole way of working of CCF India along with its
number of staff etc. Working directly in a country like India having huge diversities
will be a big challenge for CCF India.
3) Incorporating Livelihoods Focus: CCF programs which have hitherto been more on
the lines of service delivery in the areas of health and education are now being
changed to have a more livelihoods focus. Income generation through micro-
enterprise development or livelihood support is a more difficult task than service
delivery, more so when it is to be done within the constraints imposed by child
sponsorship. So, a position of a livelihoods specialist has been created which is
expected to be filled soon. Another position of micro-finance specialist has been
created and filled as well. So, the process of incorporating livelihoods focus is well
underway.
All these changes which will have far reaching changes on CCF India operations are being
initiated after the appointment of the new National Director, Mr. Dola Mohapatra. His
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appointed came after a major personnel change where almost the whole senior management
was asked to leave. This all out change has made the change process much easier and faster,
as the new staff is very open to change and does not carry the burdens of the past like internal
politicking etc. So, this helped us to understand that how such all out changes can help the
organisation by making the change process faster and easier. But the challenge posed by
these self imposed challenges is huge even if the current leadership is sensitive to the need
for change. How CCF India responds to these challenges and further charts its path of
organisational development to contribute even more, is something that needs to be seen.
REFERENCES
1. Robbins P. Harold (2001). “Organization Theory. Structure, Design and Applications”

New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Private Limited.
2. Larry E. Tise: “A Book about Children- Christian Children’s Fund 1938-1991”

Hartland publishing
3. Project Management Tool – CCF

4. Program Guide- CCF
5. Future vision- We Shall Overcome – CCF-India
6. Project Operational Manual – CCF-India

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7. Global Strategic Plan – CCF

8. Organization Capacity Assessment – CCF
9. Organization Capacity Assessment – CCF-India
10. www.christianchildrensfund.org
ANEXURES
Core Values
Over they years, through a combination of steadfast dedication to the care of children and
constant adaptation in order to remain an effective and relevant instrument to serve this
cause, CCF has demonstrated adherence to some interlocking core values which have served
as anchors for CCF policies and programs and have provided identity for the organisation.
These core values are:
1. Intrinsic Worth of the Child: Through its child centred method of people to people
sponsorship, the emphasis on children has remained central to the CCF programs and
policies in spite of it widening it approach to include the family and the community

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with changing needs of time and changing development paradigms. CCF sees
sponsorship as a means for development of children – enlarging their world,
extending their self worth and expanding their opportunities.
2. Strong bias for action and effectiveness: As an eminently practical organisation, CCF
has avoided ideology, dogma or iron clad policies and procedures as it has sought to
remain relevant – and effective instrument for good lives of children. Thus, among
other ways that CCF reflects its origin, is its ability to adapt to changing world
circumstances and to the changing needs of children with the view of remaining
practical and worthwhile.
3. Independent, non-sectarian commitment to children: CCF responds to the needs to

the needs of the children regardless of gender, race or creed based on need alone. As
an independently chartered humanitarian organisation with broad public support,
freedom from governmental dependence or alliances and an active independently
elected governing body, CCF maintains substantial freedom of action to adopt
policies, procedures and policies that are free from any considerations other than the
needs of the children and the capacity of the organisation to meet these needs.
4. Strength in diversity and local leadership: CCF has been in the forefront of
humanitarian agencies in embodying the multi cultural values and the developmental
goals of the organisation into the day-to-day methods of the work. Recognising that
successful child development and community-based initiative for change are baser on
the combination of expertise, cultural sensitivity, and understanding, CCF relies upon
national and local staff to the extent possible. It goes further to empower parents and
other volunteers and professionals to carry out key decisions for the children, thus
bringing into its working the concept of community participation as far as possible. In
addition to its practical impact, the rich diversity of language, culture national
heritage and professional background has provided strength and dynamism to the
organisation. Within the national offices and programs everywhere, CCF strives to
embody the values of diversity and inclusiveness and to represent the transcending of
narrow sectarian community, tribal or ethnic loyalties.
5. Rooted in Faith: CCF was founded as a concrete and visible expression of Christian
faith and values and built on the Christian ethic of reaching out to the people in need.
CCF serves as witness and demonstration of God’s love for all children. CCF

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responds to the needs of children regardless of gender, race or creed based on needs
alone. CCF attempts to exemplify in all it does the values and the teachings of
Christian religious tradition, promoting the spiritual development pf children while
respecting the rights of parents to transmit their own religious creeds to their children.
Code of Ethics
CCF has adopted a strict code of ethics it strives to follow throughout its
operations so as to remain committed to the interests of all its stakeholders. The code of
ethics is (Source: CCF website) as follows:
”We pledge to deal fairly, equitably, openly and honestly with:
CHILDREN – by giving the highest priority in all decisions to the well being of
the individual child in a constructive family and community context; by fostering his or her
growth as a contributing member of society; by promoting the child’s self-respect and human

43/46
rights, and by internationally promoting social and economic development consistent with
these goals.
PARENTS OF CHILDREN – by ensuring that they fully understand their right

and obligation to assume responsibility for project activities so that they and their children
can realize their full potential as the primary force in determining their own destiny.
SPONSORS (DONORS) – by standing fully behind the accuracy of information

sent to the sponsors from the field about the needs of each individual child and his family,
and by responding to the sponsor’s inquiries promptly, honestly, and as fully as possible, in
keeping with the highest standards of respect for the rights and sensitivity of all parties
concerned.
EMPLOYEES – by clearly explaining their duties and the organization’s

responsibilities and obligations to the child and the sponsor; by dealing with each employee
in the merits of individual performance as it relates to the overall conduct of the
organization’s business, and in all ways seek to establish a cooperative, safe and satisfying
work environment.
GOVERNMENTS – by complying with applicable legislation and regulations; by

cooperatively advocating for the Rights of Children and by assisting in the implementation of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Adopted by the General Assembly of the United
Nations on November 20, 1989).”
Fundraising Code of Ethics
Apart from the code of ethics, there is another code of ethics specific to fundraising that is
followed by the organisation in order to increase accountability and transparency in financial
matters. The following code of ethics was ratified by the Board of Directors of Christian
Children's Fund in 1980.
“Recognizing the value of and need to restate high principles in fundraising, we reaffirm and
pledge continuing compliance with the following minimum ethical standards of practice:

44/46
We are truthful in our broadcast, print and direct mail advertising using actual, current case
histories and photography with honest statements of purpose. We neither minimize nor
overstate the human needs of those whom we assist.
We are committed to minimize overhead costs; to keep fundraising and administrative

expenses at the lowest possible percentage of receipts; and to spend the maximum amount of
available resources for the purposes for which they were given.
We maintain full confidentiality of all sponsors and contributors on our mailing lists, which
will neither be sold to nor exchanged with any other agency or commercial enterprise.
We support financial reporting in accordance with the requirements of the American Institute
of Certified Public Accountants and will publish and disclose on request to any person,
agency or the media our complete and independently audited financial statements.
We utilize designated contributions only in programs and projects identified by the donor.
We pay no commissions, percentages or finder's fees for any fundraising activity.
We refuse to engage in fundraising methods that are intimidating, harassing and misleading,
that are not subject to adequate control, or that create an undue sense of obligation such as
mailing unsolicited merchandise or canisters; paid canvassing; telephone solicitation to the
general public; offering prizes or sweepstakes; combining appeals with commercial sales
which do not define specific benefits to the agency; conducting misleading campaigns or
events; and paying for or making use of insincere endorsements.
We make economical and judicious use of all methods of fundraising, including direct mail,
broadcast and print advertising, and web related fundraising.
We demonstrate respect for the integrity, pride, beliefs and culture of the people whom we
serve, and will not denigrate them in our advertising and promotion.
Our objective in all our efforts is to further the good of the children who are in need, their
families and communities; to raise the resources required to assist them; and to increase the
goodwill and support of our constituents and the public on the one hand and of the people
and governments of the nations we serve on the other.
We are governed in all our activities by an elected, independent Board of Directors, meeting
regularly, serving without compensation, operating under bylaws ensuring adequate voting
trusteeship, and whose members shall have no financial or other conflict of interest with the
goals of the organization.

45/46
We are committed to a policy and practice of full public disclosure of all relevant information
concerning agency goals, programs, finances and governance.

46/46

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Organization Understanding OU Report

1.1 Preliminary Information

Name: Christian Children’s Fund India

Telephone: (91) 80 – 2558 - 7157

Fax: (91) 80 – 2559 - 4271

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

1.3 Governing Body

1.4 Mission and Ethics

1.5 Evolution of the Organisation

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

2. Objectives and Methodology

The objective of the study was to develop an understanding on the working of an

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

3.1 Structure – Levels

Schematic representation of CCFI NO – Zonal - Project Interface

Doing Level Avg. distance 15 -20 kms.

Strategic Support , networking & advocacy,

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

3.2 Structure - Divisions

Program Operation Finance

Figure: Divisional diagram of CCFI Head Office

3.3 Structure – Staff

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

Advisory Council National Director

Program Director Finance Controller Operations Manager Director- Zonal Managers

Asst. Manager- I T Administrator Area Managers Country Desk

Program Accounts SR Operations Program

4. FUNCTIONING OF VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS

4.1 PROGRAMS DEPARTMENT

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

• Credit unions/solidarity savings groups for women.

• Creation of issue-based village development committees for education, watershed

• Better natural resource management for sustainable agricultural development

• Promotion of dairy farming and animal husbandry

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

Sustainable livelihood: Livelihood program of CCF India is known as “Livelihood and

4.2 FINANCE DEPARTMENT

Sources and uses:

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

4.3 OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT

4.3.1 SPONSOR RELATIONS DEPARTMENT

Staff and reporting structure:

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

SR responsibility and accountability at the project level

Computerisation: change in technology:

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

4.3.2 HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT

Human Resources Philosophy of CCF-India

Human Resource Practices

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

• Nature and degree of offence

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

Human Resource Planning

PRM - 25 Chakraborty, Goyal

Consideration of Applications: The Operations Department (or the external agency),deems

Selection / Screening Committee: A selection committee is responsible for attraction of