Site overview
I was present when Martin J. Hörmann met with members of the “Ingenieure ohne Grenzen” (Engineers without Borders) association in Steinhagen. After two months, he called me and wanted to talk with me again about India. What I learned about the situation in Gagillapur, the location of the Indian Hörmann company, appeared somewhat illogical to me during this conversation. I offered to visit the place myself at my own expense. There, I also met the Indian management of Shakti Hörmann – formerly Shakti Met-Door.
At the time, there was no social commitment system implemented at the company. I then suggested: if you want to do something meaningful, consider developing the community.
The first step involves a survey of the current situation. We must not overreach ourselves. We should only start at specific points. First of all, that would be the administration. What can be improved? What about citizen participation in the community, i.e. the civil society of the place. Is it being heard? Do they have any control? If possible, all levels – supraregional politics, state administration – should be included in the assessment. There are numerous welfare programmes in India. Do they help the poor in the community? Also, it is important to know whether there is already social commitment on the part of other players and other companies.
We cannot assume that a company like Hörmann can develop an entire town. Only impulses can be started from this and only certain capacities can be built up. The idea is to set up a process that is self-sustaining in the long term.
Previous sponsoring
It is difficult to get involved in such social processes as a foreign company in any country. You have to be mindful of that in any case. There is always a lot to learn at first. In this case, it was an advantage that Shakti Hörmann and its management were and are very experienced and open to new ideas.
The first funds granted by Hörmann in the earlier phase went to the Catholic Church. Specifically for the almost finished construction of a local Catholic Church, in fact almost a cathedral. Shakti Met-Door itself had already assisted infrastructure projects in Gagillapur before the acquisition by Hörmann. But they all went nowhere. Both, the management of Shakti and Hörmann, wanted to put an end to this kind of commitment.
There is a place in Gagillapur where the sewage of the village ends up. It is a huge and stinking sewer. Martin J. Hörmann was determined to help rectify this situation, i.e. to build a proper sewerage system. That is the reason why he contacted the “Ingenieure ohne Grenzen” (Engineers without Borders). This could have been a several year long project for Hörmann.
I then joined the project and saw that the water tower of the village, the water treatment plant, things that had been paid for by Shakti Met-Door in the past years, were no longer functioning. I was and am firmly convinced that it usually makes no sense to invest in an infrastructure improvement project in isolation. This also seemed to be the case here. Nobody takes responsibility for the maintenance or even the reasonable operation of facilities without an owner. I was also told by the official responsible for the district where the water treatment plant is located: “When are you finally going to repair it?” He did not consider it to be community property but a matter for which Shakti Hörmann is responsible. The lack of participation and sense of responsibility can only be overcome through a painstaking process.
Initial steps with new partners
We then discovered MAS, a local development aid organisation, which is experienced in collaborating with self-help organisations. It has a good reputation and seemed to have experience in our field. So we wanted to get immediate access to the local situation. But even with MAS as a partner, we realised that the project would not be running on its own.
The beginning was much more difficult than expected. We had to and still have to constantly make improvements. We need to compensate for the lack of management capacity and vision by bringing in additional people, such as my colleague Mrinalini Shastry. And I had to be on location more often than planned.
The deployment of Mrinalini Shastry has proven to be very valuable. She played a crucial role in familiarising the leadership of Shakti Hörmann with the MAS way of working. Both the Shakti managers and Martin J. Hörmann are impressed with her work. Mrinalini has indirectly taken over the management of the team. She is a freelancer and is paid by Hörmann. She had previously worked for an agency that handled government contracts and is therefore also well connected politically.
New is that the cooperation with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is starting. In this way, we can benefit from the political umbrella of German institutions in India. MAS has already cooperated with GIZ (German Corporation for International Cooperation). As a consultant to a private company alone, I do not have sufficient prestige and negotiating leverage. Being recognised as part of a larger institution has a positive effect. Without political support, you cannot get very far with a project like this.
Involvement in the community
Through the survey and our familiarity with the area, we know a little about the infrastructure of Gagillapur. We have an overview of the self-help groups, we know their potential. We established a village development organisation, called the Village Development Committee, whose 22 members were elected by the community. They now actually represent the 10000 inhabitants of Gagillapur and are the voice for the civil society.
We also have an overview of the situation of the poorest of the poor. We went from family to family and asked about the number and age of the family members. We asked about the income and the existing welfare assistance. We help them not by handing out money but by opening up access to existing government programmes.
Some of them are illiterate and cannot fill out forms. We join them in dealing with authorities and ensure that approved funds are used wisely. We started this for 250 people and took special care of 45 of them. We have a list of 150 adolescents wanting to improve their education. We asked the 18 largest companies in and around the town about the kind of workers they were looking for. We want to tailor the sponsored training to their needs. There are sewing courses, computer courses and we have started a collaboration with the Don Bosco Centre for Education in Gagillapur. Hereby, we do not only focus on the local training centre: Don Bosco is the largest training institution in India, apart from the government school system, and has extensive training facilities in Bombay. The big European companies also have their staff trained there. Moreover, Don Bosco has a lot of experience with dual professional training as we know it in Germany.
The objective: To strengthen civil society
We have agreements with the district and county government – on the state side – as well as with the municipal government and finally the newly established Village Development Committee (VDC). “We” therefore consists of many voices. It reflects the civil society facing the municipal administration. The civil society is very articulate in Germany, but in India it is largely absent or only rudimentary. We want to strengthen the civil society and at the same time improve the municipal administration.
An office is now established in the village, which is run by MAS and the village development organisation. It is used by village residents, some of them volunteers, who are the contact persons for all issues. This is not an office by Hörmann or MAS. We certainly don't want that, because others who want to get involved in Gagillapur should also be able to participate.
We also encounter non-transparent structures, e.g. with the water treatment plant, which has been repaired. However, not everyone welcomes it: Some village leaders have tank trucks to sell water. So the plant is competition for them. So they would like to pull the plug on that. We have to accept that. By now, the municipal administration is paying for the electricity for the treatment plant. Through them, we also now have free access to the raw water that we previously had to buy.
In other words, extensive local learning processes are taking place. The villagers learn step by step that you can achieve something if you inquire, if you appear self-confident, if you dare to do something and if you stick together and fight back. That is the process we are striving for. During a meeting with the village development organisation, I was addressed as a representative of Hörmann with regard to the complaints about MAS. But I was able to explain that personal responsibility is required and that it is not acceptable to see Hörmann as the payer and MAS as the executor who can be held responsible for everything. The village community itself must take action, plan and realise. For this, they have to seek government funding and also raise money themselves. MAS is not a general contractor, but rather there to guide and support the people.
The former district head said once: “Don't give us money for infrastructure improvements. We have money. I just can't spend it wisely unless there is sensible planning on location and sufficient capacity for use and maintenance. This is where Hörmann or the project initiated by Hörmann can help me out.”