Samanvay: Digital Governance Framework for Tri-Sector Collaboration in India’s Social Welfare Ecosystem

Abstract: India’s social welfare ecosystem suffers from fragmented coordination among Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), corporate bodies executing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mandates, and government agencies overseeing welfare programs. No existing platform in India integrates all three stakeholders into a single, end- to-end digital workflow with verifiable fund tracking and structured project governance. This paper proposes Samanvay, a centralized web-based collaboration platform that addresses this gap through three formal technical contributions: (1) a Multi-Criteria Weighted Sum Model (WSM) for dynamic NGO Trust Grade computation across six normalized compliance and performance dimensions, (2) a rule-based Tripartite Matching Engine that ranks NGOs against government and corporate project requirements using a weighted similarity function, and (3) a Milestone-Gated Fund Release mechanism that conditions disbursement on dual-verified evidence and auto-generated Utilization Certificates. Prototype evaluation using 120 synthetic NGO profiles and 40 simulated projects demonstrates a verification processing time reduction of 64%, a CSR partner discovery time reduction of 71%, and 100% fund-to-milestone traceability. A comprehensive end-to-end workflow simulation comprising 120 automated test assertions across 10 functional phases achieved a 100% pass rate, validating integrated operation of all formal models in a realistic multi-stakeholder scenario. The platform supports India-specific regulatory compliance including 12A, 80G, FCRA, and Companies Act Section 135, and is applicable to education, healthcare, rural development, and skill-based welfare programs aligned with SDG 17.

Keywords: NGO Collaboration, CSR Platform, Digital Governance, Multi-Criteria Decision Making, Weighted Sum Model, Social Impact Monitoring, Milestone-Gated Fund Release, Public-Private Partnership, E-Governance, NGO Verification