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Latest news and updates on COVID-19

A curated collection of news, resources, and stories on COVID-19 and the development sector to help you cut through the noise. Crowdsourced, vetted, and updated daily.

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Education

Funders need to think beyond the pandemic

If we want to use the crisis as an opportunity to transform education, we will need to fund education nonprofits at multiple levels, starting with the cost of technology itself.

by Swaha Sahoo | 5 min read

Roopali Pavnikar in her factory-women entrepreneurs

Livelihoods

A day in the life of: A woman entrepreneur

Running a business is hard, but running a business during the lockdown is even harder. A woman entrepreneur from Pune shows us how it is done.

by Roopali Pavnikar | 4 min read

Humour

My life as a series of Seinfeld moments

You know how over-the-top each character is and how exaggerated their reactions are? That’s me now.

by India Development Review | 1 min read

Damage after a cyclone in Odisha - Parij Borgohain, Pexels_edit

Environment

Climate change, disasters, and what philanthropy can do

If we don’t invest in building community resilience, climate change and natural disasters will undo what development work has achieved so far.

by Ayesha Marfatia | 5 min read

Perspectives

Civil society’s road to irrelevance

By disengaging with politics, the development sector is relegating itself to the sidelines and marginalising itself.

by Amitabh Behar | 8 min read

Ground Up

See all

Bite-sized stories from the people closest to the action.

COVID-19

Photo

Working from home

by Shivankar Mohan

Jhansi district, Uttar Pradesh

COVID-19

Relief application rejected

by B Shivanand

Gaya district, Bihar

COVID-19

Homeward bound

by Padma Bareddy

Rajnandgaon district, Chhattisgarh

COVID-19

The infamous middleman

by Ajit Kanitkar, Yogesh Dwivedi

Gwalior district, Madhya Pradesh

Perspectives

See all

Op-eds and commentary that hold a mirror up to civil society, reflect upon its evolution, and unpack key trends.

COVID-19

The blindspot in our response to COVID-19

While health emergencies are often seen as gender-neutral, our response to the COVID-19 pandemic must prioritise women.

by Sohini Bhattacharya | 4 min read

Text being edited with a red pen_Wikimedia Commons

Perspectives

Changing the public narrative of the social sector

The social sector's response to COVID-19 offers us the opportunity to change how people perceive nonprofit work.

by Varun Behani | 4 min read

person addressing rally-political individual

Advocacy & Government

Is sustainable development possible without an accountable government?

The forced depoliticisation of civil society has compromised our ability to build a democratic society.

by Arun Kumar | 4 min read

IDR Interviews

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Conversations with visionaries on their life's work, and their efforts to challenge the status quo in our country.

“Civil society institutions are the seismographs of society. They give early warnings for major catastrophes that can happen.”

Vijay Mahajan
8 min read

“Development evolves from within; when you do it to others, it needs a different name. I would just call it colonisation.”

Vandana Shiva
10 min read

“The liberation started when the manual scavengers themselves broke their own silence on the issue and started speaking out.”

Bezwada Wilson
7 min read

Sectors

See all

Insights and analysis of specific sectors in the development arena—what works, what doesn't, and what needs to change.

See all coverage by topic:

Education

Funders need to think beyond the pandemic

If we want to use the crisis as an opportunity to transform education, we will need to fund education nonprofits at multiple levels, starting with the cost of technology itself.

by Swaha Sahoo | 5 min read

Livelihoods

A day in the life of: A woman entrepreneur

Running a business is hard, but running a business during the lockdown is even harder. A woman entrepreneur from Pune shows us how it is done.

by Roopali Pavnikar | 4 min read

Environment

Climate change, disasters, and what philanthropy can do

If we don’t invest in building community resilience, climate change and natural disasters will undo what development work has achieved so far.

by Ayesha Marfatia | 5 min read

Themes

See all

Approaches and ideas that cut across sectors and counter the dominant narratives around us.

See all coverage by topic:

A graphic of a person offering an umbrella to someone else

Philanthropy & CSR

Funding well-being is investing in social change

Three steps to help funders actively support the well-being of their partner organisations.

by Priti Sridhar, Raj Mariwala | 5 min read

two people sitting in an office and talking-panchayat member

Advocacy & Government

A day in the life of: A panchayat ward member

In rural Bihar, elected ward members are going above and beyond the call of duty to face the dual challenge of keeping their village COVID-free and ensuring the well-being of the communities they serve.

by Hashma Khatun | 5 min read

abstract illustration of person walking up stairs-wellbeing

Philanthropy & CSR

How funders can support individual well-being

A look at myriad ways funders can support the well-being and mental health of often understaffed and under-resourced grantees, and help foster healthier individuals and organizations.

by Stanford Social Innovation Review | 1 min read

Expertise

See all

Skills and functions that are core to growing programmes and organisations.

See all coverage by topic:

question marks painted on the ground-careers

Leadership & Talent

Managing your career during COVID-19

Four tips for social sector professionals wondering how the pandemic will affect their work.

by Roshan Paul | 5 min read

Fundraising & Communications

Five myths about impact bonds

With impact bonds gaining traction as a means of financing, there are many misconceptions and myths around them in the sector. Here are the truths that dispel those myths.

by Carlijn Nouwen, Dayoung Lee, Kusi Hornberger | 5 min read

Leadership & Talent

What it takes to be an ‘Abundant Leader’

Effective leadership goes beyond outward-facing skills such as managing people and growing organisations. What matters is mastering the ‘inner game’ of introspection. Here are some concrete ways to do so.

by Garima Deveshwar-Bahl | 8 min read

P Sainath on India's agrarian crisis

Kamla Bhasin on listening to the communities you work with

History of social action in India: From 1947 onwards

Photo of the month

Monsoon harvest

June 2020 | Paddy seeds are sown in June, in time for the kharif harvest. This year, with the national lockdown, many farmers—like the one featured in this image from Kerala—face severe livelihood insecurities as the kharif season approaches. Photo: Navaneeth Kishor, Flickr (CC-BY 2.0)

Where do we go from here?

May 2020 | Many construction workers are stuck because of the national lockdown. Neither do they have a way to contact the state, nor can the state contact them. And their contractors and principal employers take little responsibility. Photo: Jan Sahas

On lockdown

April 2020 | Bangalore, notorious for its heavily congested streets, lies unusually empty amidst the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. Photo: Kinshuk, Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Standing tall and proud

March 2020 | Rajkala Devi, the first ever Sarpanch of Hingwahera gram panchayat in Alwar district, Rajasthan, motivates other women to stand tall and voice their opinion. Photo: UN Women/Ashutosh Negi

Shades of red

February 2020 | In Sehore District, Madhya Pradesh, women’s haemoglobin levels are tested by taking a blood sample from their fingertips and matching it to a colour card. The World Health Organisation (WHO) colour scale method is an inexpensive way to estimate haemoglobin concentration, before deciding whether to test for anaemia. Photo: ©Gates Archive/Mansi Midha

Bangalore is burning

January 2020 | Avijit Michael, director of Jhatkaa (jhatkaa.org), on a fact-finding mission around Bangalore on the practice of garbage burning, and how it causes catastrophic changes to the air quality. Photo: Hari Adivarekar

What's in a name?

December 2019 | Even though neighbouring villages also comprise of Adivasi communities, this village in Ganjam district, Odisha, is called 'Adivasi Colony', named after the community that migrated down from the hills to settle here. Photo: Anushka Dalal

Rural cartography

November 2019 | Women from the Village Organisation (VO) in Koimari (Rangjuli block, Assam) carried out a 'resource mapping' of their village, a two-day exercise facilitated by professionals from the development organisation SeSTA. The houses in this map are colour-coded to reflect which ones have piped water, sanitation, and so on. Having this information makes them better placed to demand improvements from their local government. Photo: Saahil Kejriwal

Teesta and Rangeet

October 2019 | The rivers Teesta and Rangeet are named after two river-spirits who challenged each other to a race down the hills. The Lepcha people of Sikkim consider the race's finish line, the confluence of the two rivers, to be a sacred site. Newlyweds are taken here, and people wish them a life as happy and prosperous as the two river-spirits. Photo: Zarir De Vitre

Classroom learning

September 2019 | In a school in Dharwad district, Karnataka. Photo: Deepta Sunil

Fast fashion

August 2019 | Worn for ceremonies and by elders of the Toda tribe, a shawl like this takes more than three months to complete. ‘Slow fashion’—where the experience and effort that goes into making a garment is recognised and respected, is quickly losing out to fast fashion. Photo: Native Picture

Against the grain

July 2019 | Nagaland is the largest producer of maize among all the north eastern states in India—it is grown in every district of the state, and is its second most important food crop after rice. Recently, however, the crop has come under attack by the Fall Armyworm, a pest that has devastated maize fields in neighbouring states, and preliminary calculations estimate that it has affected nearly 1,70,000 hectares of maize crop across the country. Photo: Dhruvank Vaidya

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Latest

Funders need to think beyond the pandemic

A day in the life of: A woman entrepreneur

My life as a series of Seinfeld moments

Climate change, disasters, and what philanthropy can do

Civil society’s road to irrelevance

Ground Up

Working from home

Relief application rejected

Homeward bound

The infamous middleman

Perspectives

The blindspot in our response to COVID-19

Changing the public narrative of the social sector

Is sustainable development possible without an accountable government?

IDR Interviews

Sectors

Funders need to think beyond the pandemic

A day in the life of: A woman entrepreneur

Climate change, disasters, and what philanthropy can do

Themes

Funding well-being is investing in social change

A day in the life of: A panchayat ward member

How funders can support individual well-being

Expertise

Managing your career during COVID-19

Five myths about impact bonds

What it takes to be an ‘Abundant Leader’

Videos

P Sainath on India's agrarian crisis

Why do you read IDR?

Kamla Bhasin on listening to the communities you work with

History of social action in India: From 1947 onwards

Dr Fernandez on urban health

Kamla Bhasin on feminism

Photo of the month

Get involved

Write for us

Give us your feedback

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