Some insights from Sankalp’s Annual Reviews

April is a busy month at Sankalp. It is time to review the work done in last year, compile reports, share feedbacks and plan for the time to come. It's the time when the gaps from the past year tend to share the mind space with the resolve to achieve the targets for the year to come.

One of the key strengths of Sankalp India Foundation is this very direct, straightforward and honest review of work. We had one round of review where we discussed the Rakta Kranti program and the Thalassemia program of the organisation. Vibrant discussions went on for hours together stealing the time from the other teams. We will be sharing the outcome of the reviews in the team specific as well as the general annual report soon. Nevertheless, we share some insights which surface during such review sessions.

As we look back at the years, we realise that our quest for quality has pushed the envelope way higher than what is manageable by ad-hoc volunteering. Each team in Sankalp today is an expert in the subject they deal with. Years of experience and firsthand knowledge is being used to shape daily work. While this contributes to the highest standards of quality, safety and efficiency - it also demands consistent involvement from the volunteer. It's not surprising thus that a regular volunteer of Sankalp spends about thirty hours a week doing work for the organisation consistently throughout the year.

One thing that came out clearly in the review is that we have huge opportunities to make a difference right ahead of us. However, for conversion of those opportunities, planning, management and execution like never before will be needed. There are strong reasons for each Sankalp volunteer to work upon themselves and prepare to hold greater responsibility. We are committed to the same.

Another observation from the experience is about the depth of work. We started with the simple aim to never to let anyone suffer because of blood. As we worked with consistency and reliability in whatever we undertook - whole new dimensions of this problem began emerging. We started seeing things in greater detail and the sources of problems began originating. While we could choose to continue guiding people to nearest blood bank, we were keen to solve the root causes themselves. So, we engaged with challenges however insurmountable they appeared and invested as much time and effort as we could to solve them. As one barrier was overcome, the next showed up. Working on problems taught us that the reward for having solved a problem well - is only a more difficult problem to solve. With each year we gained depth.

Sometimes there is a choice we have between greater depth or larger expanse. Should we focus more on growth in terms of numbers and size? Or should we become better at what we do. Doing things the right way, with quality and high proficiency has always weighed more than the size in the balancing act between the two. Fortunately, we realised that size follows when the quality is high while the reverse may not always be so easy to achieve.

Constant innovation is another area which we believe we cannot overemphasize. Aggressive quest to find faster, smarter, more reliable ways of doing things has paid rich dividend in the past and continues to be of prime importance. Technology today allows work to be done with planning in a measurable way. We are amazed at how we need to constantly evolve our technical applications to keep pace with the changing needs and exploit technology to the maximum.

New opportunities to make a difference have cropped as a result of the ever expanding work scope. We realise that people who are in a position to make commitments to spend some time regularly each week and those who are able to spend lot of time but all at once - like during a vacation have immense scope of making a large impact.

From the time when 6 volunteers pooled from their frugal pocket money to get 1000 visiting cards printed, we have come a very long way. We are lucky to have received timely and adequate financial support and guidance. In spite of the multi-fold increase in the funding requirements of the organization we are striving to preserve the culture if judicious use of resources. Transparency and accountability have been our strengths and pride. We are striving to keep it that way.