There are just soooo many people here in India-( 1,241,491,960 to be exact)[1] that even though there are great NGO’s filling in for government programs, it just doesn’t seem to be enough to address all the problems associated with poor health outcomes and poverty. On our last day of our two week adventure here in India, we met with two organizations that have been working in Delhi for decades. Both Care India and Salaam Balaak Trust have established programs working alongside the government of India. Care India has been providing technical assistance and other services to various government departments to strengthen health programs throughout India for the past 62 years; and Salaam Balaak Trust has been working since 1988 to keep runaway children who show up at the Delhi railway station, off the streets.
Care India discussed the evolution of their mission from providing direct food aid under Public Law 480 to now building capacity by mobilizing the community to improve health. They work in 200 districts located in 6 states. Unlike the other NGOs we met, Care India integrates its personnel into the various levels of district government to assist in program planning. The Care India personnel we met,s candidly discussed the need to analyze and address the social context of a particular health problem, stating that “technical solutions will not fix social issues.” They also discussed the changing focus of international philanthropy and the constant shift in funding priorities that inhabit any kind of project sustainability on the ground. It was particularly interesting to discuss the notion of a social enterprise and social entrepreneurship with the Care India folks who expressed some reticence about supporting it due to lack of data on programmatic success in the long term. I found it more distressing to learn that Care India has been working in India for 62 
years, and due to the magnitude of poverty and the constant shift in funding priorities from donor organizations, they end up just chipping away at the problem.
We later meandered through the chaotic streets of Old Delhi in our ridiculously large coach bus for 13 people to the Delhi train station where we met with Salaam Balaak Trust. Salaam Balaak tries to pick up runaways from the 370 daily trains that come into the busy train station before drug dealers and pimps get a hold of them. They believe India has over 300K children on the streets and 40-50,000 are runaways. Their main objective is to send the children back to their home, if feasible, or place them in children’s homes until they are 18. They run 5 children homes (2 designated for girls and 3 for boys). Unfortunately Salaam Balaak only has the capacity to rescue a small handful of children. They rescue 40-50 children a day and provide shelter and education services to only 360 who are not returned. They are financially supported by various donors including the Indian government and USAID. However, last year, USAID ceased funding Salaam Balaak and now they are scrambling to get funding from other sources to maintain their programs. One saving funding source is Planned International.
After we met at the Salaam Balaak headquarters, we walked about two kilometers through the overcrowded Old Delhi streets to the Salaam Balaak drop-in shelter where we met a few of the young adults and children saved by Salaam Balaak. Both boys were impressive and had amazing stories—one young man walked from Nepal to Delhi when he was 6 and another is sooo energized by the world, he is learning as many languages as he can (he currently speaks English, Spanish and Hindi) to make something of himself. To date, the Salaam Balaak Trust has placed 5 young men in the US for various training programs. They also partner with the US Embassy to create training opportunities. I was so overwhelmed by how much Salaam Balaak attempts to provide with their small staff of 137 (social workers and support staff) and frustrated that more children cannot be helped.
Both organizations have experienced success in their various niches. However, they are only dealing with a small proportion of the problem—much like the other organizations we met. In the past two weeks, I have been inspired and frustrated all at the same time. The NGOs all say they need more resources to get their work done—and we have heard about the rampant corruption in the Indian Government that stymie development, sanitation and poverty reduction. However, even though it may be true to an extent, I am not sure it’s just the Indian Government’s fault. Good policies are what drive social change. The income disparity in India could not be more blatantly apparent and is begs to ask, why isn’t the Indian 1 percent doing more to help the very country that they have taken so much from? The answer, my friends, is not blowing in the wind—it’s right here waiting for everyone to work together, because the work so far has been valiant, but not enough and everyone needs help.
