RosaryA climate needs to be created for NGOs in the South Central India region to come together informally for the purpose of working together towards a common goal of development. As we know, 'development' does not take place until it becomes a people's movement; it is only through collective activity that long-term change can be brought about. It is important that NGOs do not continue to develop policies and programmes in isolation. Partnership will allow the quality of development programmes to be improved and the giver/receiver model to be replaced by one of sharing. With this perspective in mind some of the NGOs who have been already working in the region decided to come together on common problems employing innovative methodologies to work towards mutual sharing and caring with an overall vision for people based participatory development. This collective is called the South Central India Network for Development Alternatives (SCINDeA).

South Central India Network for Development Alternatives (SCINDeA) is a Network of 15 field based NGOs initiated in March 1993 and working among the women, quarry workers, youth, children, tribals, dalits, fisherfolk and slum workers.   Of the 15 partner organisations 5 are headed by women.

SCINDeA as a Networking NGO and a Network of NGOs is a registered society having its own identity and character. As NGOs we have come together to strengthen and support each other in the common goal of promoting peoples development. While empowering and enabling the most under privileged sections of our society to actively participate in their own development, SCINDeA believes in members working together in order to draw strength and support from one another thus enabling its partners to be transparent and accountable. 

Members of the Network basically belong to the area in which they operate. The main criteria for selecting the South Central area is that the geographical proximity of the primary and intermediate level NGOs makes it easy to network and effectively implement the participatory model. Secondly, the common language is either Tamil or Telugu that are also being extensively used. Their programmes have not been developed in a vacuum. At one time or the other they have been victims of the context in which they have lived. Most of the NGOs operate in rural and tribal areas and also in the border districts of the southern states.