Monthly activity reports & half yearly progress report are submitted by the regional office to Headquarters at Kolkata where consolidation is done. Network partners submit their quarterly activities reports and half yearly progress report to SPAR-Headquarters. Sharing of information is largely done within the organisation through regional staff meetings and central workers’ forum meeting.

The overall plan of the organization is based on the people’s plan prepared at the grassroots level & compiled at the project office. These plans are scrutinized and considered by the POs with the facilitation of the project workers for identifying the specific plans, which need support of SPAR for implementation. For other plans resources are procured from other agencies including the local resources. These people’s plans requiring support from SPAR are again considered by the Workers’ Forum at Headquarters level and the programme activities for the project are finalized. Along with this the overhead expenditures for HQ’s and project offices are also included in the budget design.

SPAR manages its accounts and financial management system with both transparency and fulfilment of statutory obligations. The overall activities of the unit are supervised by the Finance Officer with guidance of the Executive Advisor and the Director. The Project Accountants are under the direct supervision of the Project In-charges. This unit transacts its business and operation, maintains the account and controls the cash flow in and out as per the existing financial norms of SPAR. It maintains the usual records and registers as per the accounts and financial propriety to ensure the integrity of the organisation in mobilising and utilising the resources available with the organisation. Besides this, the unit maintains individual files on each network partner sharing financial resource with SPAR.

All the decisions in regard to the programmatic and financial matters at the project level are generally taken by the Regional Workers’ Forum headed by the project in-charge. Monthly estimated requirement of funds according to cash flow chart is decided there which is sent to the HQ for consideration of the Central Workers’ Forum. It ensures the budgetary provision and programmatic preference. The Accounts Officer releases the fund with the approval of the Executive Advisor, who has been authorized by the Director to act on his behalf. For major and urgent expenditure, the recommendation of the Central Workers’ Forum is forwarded to the Governing Body for its approval. The audited Accounts Report of SPAR is placed at the annual general meeting of the organization. Audited account of the organization has to be placed to the general body for consideration and endorsing to the general body for approval every year.

SPAR has a strategic networking of likeminded NGOs working in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa and programmatically known as Development Cooperation for Solidarity and Struggle (DCSS).

SPAR also associate with various like-minded organizations / networks / individuals / Forums for working collectively on certain issues such as displacement policies, tribal rights, women rights, affects of globalisation etc. The geographical coverage of this programme includes India, Nepal and Bangladesh. This programme is known as Promotion of Issue-based Strategic Alliance (PISA).

Beside these, SPAR also extended special attention for conceptual capacitation of other organizations in the participatory process of development. SPAR, therefore, has been organizing a number of training programmes every year since 1994, which also provide another opportunity to build greater network with these organizations. This programme is known as Capacity Enhancement for Development Actors (CEDA).

We, SPAR, an NGO voluntary in nature, firmly believe that women’s participation in the development process is the most important factor to establish a just society where there will be no discrimination against gender, caste, creed, race, class and religion. SPAR believes that Human Rights and Women Rights are inalienable. From its inception, SPAR has been advocating for establishing women rights and is working for having women’s entitlement to the resources to make women specially marginalized economically self-reliant.

In fact, the Patharpratima project of SPAR has been working among the women in ten villages only with a competent woman project in charge and a number of women workers. Activities on gender issues are being carried out among the network partners also. One of such partners with a woman director works solely among the rural women in West Bengal. Gender issues are highlighted adequately in the journals of the organization.

SPAR has direct involvement with the people and indirectly through networking and capacity building of development actors. SPAR is committed to the cause of the poor people. It empowers scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, women, children, minority community and other backward community for realization of their entitlements.
SPAR is directly attached with people and indirectly through network partners, for people’s development. SPAR recognizes and reckons skill, knowledge and experience of the rural people and believes in strength of the people to transform the society in their favour. With this aim SPAR like to select beneficiaries on the basis of their present situation. They are mainly selected on the basis of their culture, health status, education and socio-economic condition.

SPAR in its main role as capacitator acts to build and enhance capacity of the people through the process of participatory sustainable development. Formation of people’s organization being their main objective, SPAR also likes to enhance the capacity of the people’s organization, network partners and other development actors so that they may address the emerging critical issues and problems in a more concerted and effective way. It enables and empowers the POs to translate their dreams of a society into reality.

SPAR felt that practicing the participatory approach in a few villages in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa is not enough, rather the approach in a few has to be propagated to other NGOs through network so as to achieve a snowball effect. So, since its time of inception, besides the participatory sustainable development activities in the village.

SPAR has been trying to build up relationship with a number of organizations of similar ideology, working in the states of Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal for mutual sharing of experience and knowledge as well as capacitation in a participatory process for sustainable development.

All the decisions in regard to financial matters at the project level are generally taken by the Regional Workers’ Forum headed by the project in-charge in accordance with the approved budget and the financial norms of SPAR. Monthly estimated requirement of funds according to cash flow chart is finalised there and sent to the HQ for consideration of the Central Workers’ Forum. It ensures the budgetary provision and programmatic preference. The Accounts Officer releases the fund with the approval of the Executive Advisor, who has been authorised by the Director to act on his behalf. For major and urgent expenditure, the recommendation of the Central Workers’ Forum is forwarded to the Governing Body for its approval. The audited Accounts Report of SPAR is placed at the annual general meeting of the organisation. Audited account of the organisation has to be placed to the general body for consideration and approval in every year. On receipt and examination of the monthly requirement of fund from the branch (regional project) offices, the fund is released by drafts and transferred to the respective bank accounts of the project offices. Project in charges maintain the accounts which are frequently audited internally and externally. SPAR is also practising the on-line accounting system.

As SPAR believes that practice is better than precept, a specific gender policy has been laid down for our organization to be followed at both levels both in our office and field activities, at the H.Q. and regional project offices. One-third members in the Governing Body are women. SPAR, in principle, follows a recruitment policy to induct as many as women workers to match 50% of the total number of workers at all levels, though unavailability of suitable and deserving candidates becomes a hindrance for implementation of the policy. Special and favourable consideration is shown during recruitment and staff management for SC/ST and dalit women.

Along with the general leaves (casual & medical), maternity leave is allowed. Leave regarding health for women workers is considered favourably to safeguard the interest of the women workers.

There is a confidential complaint cell comprising of three members of the organization, which receives/considers such complaint and take suitable actions in respect of such complaints and disputes regarding sexual harassment and misconduct to women workers. Two senior woman workers are the member of the said cell.

Participatory planning is made at PO level in consideration of availability of resources, requirement of the people, existing and emerging issues in the referral areas and the plans are consolidated at regional level by the project in-charge in consultation with the worker’s forum. Such plans are consolidated at head quarters in consultation with the central worker’s forum and the members of the governing body. The final plan is then given a shape according to the scope and terms of the funding agency. Monitoring and evaluation are also affected at regional/head quarter level both informally and formally as per our monitoring and evaluation policy norms. Besides frequent informal evaluation, formal evaluation by external evaluators is conducted in consultation with donor partners on regular basis within project period.