FOUNDING MEMBERS MEET

Founding Members Meet

On April 16, 2024, a reflection meeting was conducted for all the founding members of the Ensuring Social
Protection (ESP)Program. This session brought key members together to reflect on what has been accomplished,
what has not, and what still needs to be done. The reflection meeting focused on the following areas:
a) Impact of Lok Manch: What is its impact at the community level, local government level, and at the state and
national level policies?
b) Partnerships: Who are our partners? Are we building effective partnerships? Are all partners fully committed and
performing well? What challenges exist in partnership building?
c) Governance Structure of Lok Manch: How is it functioning? Whether the governance structure being is fully
utilized to achieve the goals.
d) Investment in Training: Is the investment sufficient for training community leaders? How is the budget allocated?

After a daylong meeting and in-depth discussions, several reflections brought valuable insights and paved the way
for major action plans. These included strengthening the governance and decision-making structure in Lok Manch to
ensure it remains inclusive, democratic, and well-represented. Evidence suggests that the participation of the Core
Team Members should be amplified in major operational discussions. The importance of ground-level platforms,
such as state and national platforms, should be highlighted and made visible. There is also a need for financial
analysis, focusing on community programs, organizations, and professional salaries. A combination of
accompaniment, relationships, and a value-driven approach with professionalism should become the unique selling
proposition (USP) of Lok Manch.
Additionally, the meeting proposed conducting reflection processes with all the partners and carrying out partnership
assessment instead of having an external evaluation. This approach will promote a strong and effective governance structure, facilitate smooth functioning, and provide concrete learnings for the next phase of planning and execution.

It will also help assess each partner organization and strengthen the partnership-building process at all levels.
Furthermore, zonal level meetings will be organized for two days, with three participants (the head of each
organization and two staff members) from each organization. Key aspects such as impacts at various levels,
feedback processes, shortcomings and challenges at local, state, and national levels, and budget issues will be
discussed and resolved.