Katha, a Delhi-based NGO, has been working towards involving corporate organisations in various community development programmes. However, the response is lukewarm, describes Nisha who is one of the key members of this NGO. She says that even when some of the corporate organisations evince interest in supporting activities, such as organising a fund-raising event, their outlook at times runs contrary to the basic premise of Katha's social agenda.

For instance, when she approached certain corporate houses for financial support to organise a series of workshopsfor Katha's target group, namely slum children, apparently some of the organisations suggested that they would be interested in funding a `Daler Mehendi concert' or a `Rain Night at a disco', the proceeds of which could go to Katha. Though the gate money at these events would have helped Katha sustain some of its activities, Nisha felt that the events per se would have had a negative influence on the target group.

Hence, Katha went ahead and organised a three-day workshop called `Basha Tamasha' at India Habitat Centre (IHC), with minimal corporate support. ``Some support did come by,'' she says. For instance, IHC offered space for the workshops free of cost, Rupa & Co provided material support, Birla group provided Rs 20,000, and Rs 10,000 came from another private organisation. ``What the corporate organisations by and large missed is that events like these can provide them with good visibility. More than 5,000 children visited the workshops every day. The sponsors could have earned the goodwill of alarge audience,'' she says.

``But, there are organisations like Wimpys which have provided us good support. Wimpys has allowed us to set up donation boxes at eight of their outlets. This organisation has also sponsored the education of three children in our target group. Besides, they have extended gift coupons to 36 spastic children in our group,'' informs Nisha.

Katha has also tried to involve individual members of corporate organisations in some form of social action. Last year, the NGO mooted the idea of employees of corporate organisations contributing a token amount every month towards community development programmes. But, there was no response from the organisations. ``People are not sensitised to the developmental needs of society,'' says Nisha.

However, this proposal is being considered by Steel Authority of India (SAIL), National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Urban Housing Development Corporation (HUDCO) and few others. ``Organisations per se are positive, but their employees need alot of counselling when it comes to seeking their individual support for social development,'' says she.Katha has however enjoyed the support of various government organisations in its community development endeavours. Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), for instance, has lent due support for Katha's activities. This government body has helped Katha set up a large office in the midst of Govindpuri slums where this NGO conducts its various developmental programmes.

Katha promotes translations of regional information-based literature into English and Hindi. These books are patterned in such a way that children learn about the world through games and fun-filled activities. ``Our target group cannot be educated through the conventional text-books,'' says Nisha.Katha prints about 2,000 copies of these books which are then circulated to various libraries across the country. ``Our school at Govindpuri takes a few copies, but we have a problem with marketing these books at other places,'' she says.

Katha,through its wing Katha Vilasam, published select stories from regional literature after translating them into Hindi or English. Special prizes have been instituted for these stories. So far, the organisation has brought out eight volumes of these stories.

The Katha School of Entrepreneurship is a pioneering endeavour of this NGO. The school provides scholastic, vocational and entrepreneurial training, right from the pre-school stage. ``At a very young age, children get an orientation to the nuances of micro-business. They receive formal education along with the curriculum at our school. Moreover, our school has a hidden curriculum, that of fostering social values in our students, apart from inculcating creativity and curiosity in them,'' says Nisha.

There were initial difficulties in getting students for this programme. ``We realised that if we could take care of their daily needs and provide an interesting curriculum, children will definitely stay with us. And, that's exactly what happened,'' saysshe.

Katha reduced the student drop-out ratio by introducing an empowerment programme for the mothers of the students. ``We introduced a programme called Shati Khazana which provided training in vocational skills to mothers of our students. By improving the earning capacity of the mothers, we were able to control the drop-out rate of our students,'' she adds.

Katha also set up a `Ma Mandal' which has 650 members now. The mandal promotes interaction between the mothers and teachers of our school. Over the years, it has acted as a forum for addressing key education and health issues taken up by Katha.

Katha also set up an open school with support from the National Open School. ``Four batches from our open school have cleared the National Open School examinations,'' says Nisha.

The NGO also organises intensive entrepreneurship workshops for senior students. The focus at these workshop is on personality development, business development skills, accounting skills and the like.

``To improve thecomparative skills of our students, we decided to set up a computer training centre at our school in Govindpuri slums. We approached various corporate organisations to give us some of their phased-out computers which we could use for training the slum children. But, we received no support from them,'' says she.

Eventually, we received a set of seven computers from the German embassy with which we set up our computer centre. ``Our students are now trained in DTP, programming and multi-media. Some of them have got interesting assignments as well,'' she adds.

``I must say that Dorabjee Tata Trust has provided us with critical support in the initial stage of our activities. But, other than that we have hardly received any substantial support from other corporate houses,'' says Nisha.Katha is now working towards setting up a corpus of funds that can act as a backbone for its integrated long-term development programmes. ``There are many more social issues to be taken up. With due financial support, we hope wewill be able to make a difference in the society,'' she concludes.