The Changing Face of Non-Traditional NGO Governance: The Case of the Chinmaya Rural Primary Health Care and Training Centre (CRTC), India

Nonprofit literature suggests that non-governmental organizations (NGOs), even those that intentionally want to maintain a collectivist structure, tend to adopt bureaucratic governance features when subject to growth and accountability from funders (Handy, Kassam and Ranade, 2000). The 'The Chinmaya Rural Primary Health Care and Training Centre' (CRTC), in India, is an exception as it chooses to maintain its collectivist structure despite its rapid growth, and its reliance on international funding. As a collectivist structure, it has developed a space that allows for its staff and constituents to take a more active role in its governance, departing from traditional governance that relies on trustees or boards (Smillie and Hailey, 2001). Garreth Morgan's principles of holographic design (1986) is used to explain CRTC's overall organizational structure that allows for inclusive governance mechanisms.

By critically examining governance at CRTC for generalizations that can apply to other rural-development NGOs, this paper argues that it is possible for rural-based NGOs to develop non-traditional forms of governance by deliberately maintaining a collectivist structure. This widens the traditional governance equation to include staff and constituents with direct implications on the traditional functions of the board. The paper concludes with the 'Dynamic Holographic Collectivist Governance Model.' The model is neither comprehensive nor inflexible and is designed for generic adaptability by practitioners to suit their particular environmental needs.