From the Field : Development Alternatives: Santhigram’s Experience

Abstract

In India the voluntary sector has been steadily growing in importance.. Not only in number andsize of the organizations but also in the substance of positive changes mediated by them, thevoluntary development sector has elicited both the attention and admiration of the country. Thesector is noted for a number of admirable traits. To mention one factor, there is a large space ofcreative freedom, space for experimentation and innovation. While the government and business
sectors are weighed down by concerns of immediate results and profits, respectively, the voluntarysector is, relatively at least, free from these and can devote its energies in the search for variousmeans and ways of achieving greater common good. For another, the voluntary sector has provedthat its service delivery can be most cost-effective. This is made possible because of its nature ofvoluntarism. No wonder, there is an awakening the world over, to adopt voluntary ethos into
governance systems. Voluntary organizations have, happily, come to stay in India.