Abstract
This paper examines the role of civil society in constructing a childcare network in the postdevelopment era with a focus on the function of NGOs in Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme in contemporary India. My data are based on fieldwork conducted in urban slum areas in Delhi. The study found that there are two types of NGOs that participated in the public-private partnership model of ICDS, namely, a substitution-type NGO and an advocacy-type NGO. The substitution-type NGO substituted the role of the government and promoted smooth and efficient implementation of the project’s objectives, while positioning the poor as the object of the scheme rather than its subject. Meanwhile the advocacy-type NGO promoted the participation of the poor attempting to reflect the voice of the poor by listening and responding to their complaints and demands. The former contributed to improving the capability of the poor, while the latter their capacity. In other words, the former increased their chances of getting child development services as per the fixed objective of the scheme while the voices or the needs of the poor were not taken note of. The latter, however, provided opportunities for the poor to raise their voice about their needs and to take part in the negotiation process. These NGOs played vital roles in providing effective organizational foundation for ICDS though in very different ways. Therefore, this paper concludes that it is important to focus on the ways of participation of the poor and the form of NGOs that mediate the participation of the poor in order to understand the role of civil society in constructing childcare network, unlike previous studies which focused solely on the degrees of participation of the poor.
