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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We wish to express our deep and sincere gratitude to the Institute of Rural Management, Anand and Pratham, Gujarat for bestowing upon us this unique opportunity to learn as part of our organization traineeship segment(OTS) from 6th June 2005 to 30th July 2005. It would be an honor to express our appreciations to Mr. Aditya Natrajan, the Programme Manager,Pratham Gujarat, for providing the necessary facilities and for extending full cooperation for carrying this study. We are thankful for the guidance and support rendered to us by Miss Kanupriya Kumar, the programme leader, Rural Community Action; Deepak Dogra ,the programme leader Direct. This project would not have been possible without the guidance of our faculty guide Prof. Kameshwar Choudhary and we would like to express our gratitude for his laudable help and continued support throughout the project. Last but not the least we are thankful to all the members of the staff and the department heads for giving us a patient hearing. Their enthusiasm motivated us to put in our best. Ruchi Agarwal & Subodh Bhadani

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Title: Organisational Understanding Component Organisation: Pratham Gujarat Education Initiative Head Office: Mumbai Reporting Officer: Miss Kanupriya Kumar Faculty Guide: Prof. Kameshwar Choudhary Students’ Name: Ruchi Agarwal (25042) & Subodh Bhadani (25045) Introduction: Pratham is an NGO established in 1994 and working in the field of elementry education. It is a network of different autonomous trusts and foundations. It operates in 12 states of India. Its projects are run in 29 cities in these states. In addition, its work is now spread in 33 districts of Maharashtra, 3 districts of Gujarat, 6 districts of Madhya Pradesh, and two districts of Uttar Pradesh. In peak operating periods during the school year, there are close to 200,000 children in Pratham programs daily. In addition about 400,000 children benefit from Pratham libraries in the urban slums. Objective: The objective of the study was to understand the organisation structure, its culture, programmatic strategies, strengths, weaknesses. Methodology: The methodology of the study included semi-structured interviews with employees at different levels, focused group discussions with Programme leaders (PLs), Programme Officers (POs) and supervisors. Discussions with the Programme Manager also provided us with useful insights into the functioning of the organisation. Pratham’s records and files also a very useful source of information. Scope: The scope of the study was limited to Pratham Gujarat’s head office at Ahmedabad and it branch office at Surat. Major Findings: Pratham started in the slums of Mumbai, as a result of the vision of Prof. Farida Lambay and Dr.Madhav Chavan It started with a mission of “Every Child in School ….and Learning Well”. Pratham Gujarat Education Initiative (PGEI) is the Gujarat branch of Pratham. Structure: Pratham Gujarat education initiative is moderate on horizontal differentiation. There is no formal hierarchy that exists, but an informal hierarchy can easily be identified which can be divided into 5 layers. It is highly spatially differentiated. Work at higher levels in PGEI is low on formalisation while at the lower levels it is quite high. Culture: At the level of the PLs and the POs individual initiative is highly encouraged and there is greater risk tolerance, greater integration and greater management support to the lower level of employees. Strategy: The programmatic level strategy of PGEI mainly focuses on comprehensive geographical outlook, all encompassing, replicablity and scalability and utilizing untapped local resources. Strengths & Weakness: The major strengths of PGEI as identified are strong base of committed and dedicated employees, good team of professionals at the upper level, support of top notch people from the corporate world and eminent personalities. The major areas of improvement are the absence of proper HR practices, lack of proper flow of communication and too much freedom to the employees which sometimes results in the wastage of resources.

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List of Tables Table 1: Summary of the formalization…………………………………………………17 Table 2: Details of Compensation………………………………………………………37

List of Charts Chart 1: Structure of Pratham India..................................................................................11 Chart 2: Administrative Structure.....................................................................................11 Chart 3: Operating Structure…………………………………………………………….13 Chart 4: Organisation structure of Pratham gujarat education initiative(PGEI)………...15 Chart 5: Factors Affecting Strategy Development at PGEI…………………………….35 Chart 6: Details about Funds…………………………………………………………….42 Chart 7: Distribution of fund…………………………………………………………….43 Chart 8: Flow of Funds………………………………………………………………….44 List of Annexure Annexure 1: Pratham’s presence in India………………………………………………..50 Annexure 2: Chronology of Events………………………………………………...……51 Annexure 3: List of Participants in Focused Group Discussions………………………..54 Annexure 4: Details of funds…………………………………………………………….58

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