-    Vision and mission
-    Genesis
-    Board of Directors

Vision:

To improve the quality of life of disadvantaged groups through strengthening the effectiveness of development policies, practices and outcomes

Mission:

Facilitating change and outcomes in organisations working in development and assisting them to effectively manage development processes
- Through management support services
- Through building skills internally within CMS and group organisations

Genesis:

CMS was established in 1995. Its three founders, Col. MS Ashok, Mr. N. Raghunathan and Mr. N. Shiv Kumar set-up Catalyst Management Services as a research, consulting and capacity building firm. In its first few years CMS was involved in any type of consulting assignments that came its way. In 1999, after securing a few research assignments from DFID (ODA at the time) and entering HIV/AIDS related work the realisation dawned that CMS’ strengths lay in the social development sector and from this emerged CMS’ strategic intent at that time - to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of organisations working in social development.

Over the years through its work CMS has become recognised for providing quality consulting services. It developed a number of innovative tools and approaches. It became a “top of the mind” organisation for in the areas of research and monitoring and evaluation. It was also considered among the best in livelihoods, health and governance domains.

From 1999 onwards the organisation began to grow as more staff was recruited to support the increase in demand for its services. CMS was now able to take on more and larger assignments.

In 2002 CMS, having gained a lot of experience in the health and HIV sectors, ideated the development of a health resource centre. This resource centre, Swasti, was registered under the Karnataka Societies Act in 2004. Similarly its expertise in livelihoods paved the way for establishment of Vrutti, a livelihoods resource centre, in 2006.

The three organisations started working as a group – the Catalyst group – to enable them to leverage resources – human, financial and infrastructural, across the organisations. Today the group is reaping the benefits of this model, placing it in a unique position to address the diverse issues of the social development sector.

Board of Directors:

CMS was founded by Col. MS Ashok, Mr. N. Raghunathan and Mr. N. Shiv Kumar. In 2002, to pursue his passion in the livelihoods sector, Col. Ashok parted ways with CMS to establish Cirrus Management Services.

The current Board of Directors are:

Mr. N. Raghunathan: An agricultural engineer and post-graduate in rural management, Mr. N. Raghunathan’s passion for social development is reflected in all his work. Over twenty years of experience in the sector has provided him with expertise in providing a range of management consulting services. His domain of expertise is livelihoods – particularly micro-finance and micro-enterprise. He has also worked extensively in education, natural resource management, governance, disaster management. He is well recognised for his skills in research and monitoring and evaluation and has been involved in some cutting-edge evaluation studies.

Mr. N. Shiv Kumar: Mr. N. Shiv Kumar, a commerce graduate and post-graduate in systems and rural management has earned respect and recognition in the health sector – especially in the HIV sector in India and internationally. His educational qualifications and extensive work at the grassroots and organisational levels gives him diverse insights as a consultant. His expertise lies in health and governance. In addition, he has also worked extensively in the domains of education, and natural resource management. His skills in networking and HR and OD place him in a unique position to affect change and transformation in the social development sector.

Together Mr. Shiv Kumar and Mr. Raghunathan are visionaries who have successfully built one of the largest, self-driven management consulting firms in the social development sector in India. With their complementary skills and expertise they have been instrumental in developing innovative approaches to the complex problems of the sector.