Leave No One Behind

The principle of “Leave No One Behind” that underpins the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implicitly points to the need for participation of everyone, including the most vulnerable, marginalised and excluded in society.

In this context, India is at a crossroads. The landscape of Indian civil society is rapidly changing. There is massive expansion, increased desire for better quality and accountability is starting to gather traction. Funders are being required by the existing regulatory and policy framework to take on social responsibilities as a way of adding value and contributing to the realisation of the SDGs. To accomplish this, they must collaborate with reputable and effective civil society organisations who can demonstrate enhanced credibility, improved organisational practices, programmatic impact and visibility among donors.

The country has also been one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is currently the fifth-largest economy. However, it is also accepted that it is no longer sufficient just to focus on economic growth, but on fairer, more inclusive and equal societies.

The gap between the haves and have nots has continued to widen, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic and extended lockdown. This has pushed more than 200 million Indians into poverty. As the pandemic overwhelmed India’s public systems and cut off the livelihoods of millions, civil society organisations offered a lifeline to its cities’ poorest and most vulnerable residents.

Yet it is the civil society sector that has been under pressure to be innovative and resilient to withstand the immense pressures over the recent years. Many organisations that were critical to tackle poverty and inequality collapsed. Those that survived were left to question whether they were going to be sustainable and relevant in the new philanthropic and socio-political environment.

em4 works with civil society organisations in India and globally to help secure their sustainability and increase their social impact.

Our aims are to work with organisations to build stronger, more sustainable structures, enabling them to develop and implement long-term planning and strategies. em4 does this by focusing on key capacity areas that are critical to enabling the organisation’s wellbeing and which ultimately lead to better outcomes for its service users and donors.

More than ever, organisations need the assistance, guidance and inspiration to plan for financial sustainability and accelerate their impact. This in turn should help funders to develop stronger relationships with their grantees and bring about collective change.

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