India Development Review | Media platform for the development community

Indian schoolgirls in uniform working as a group

Backlash: The consequences of defying gender norms

Even the most well-intentioned programmes for adolescent girls have unintended consequences that disempower them. We need to develop strategies that help address the backlash.

by Priti Prabhughate, Saniya Pawar | 5 min read

Get smart.
Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, IDR Edit, featuring the best reads on development in India.

Latest

Humour

Resignation emails: Rectified

What if you could be truly honest in your last email to your co-workers?

by Arjav Chakravarti | 1 min read

Rights

Do we turn a blind eye to animal rights?

The list of everyday cruelty towards animals in India is endless, but apart from a handful of animal rights activists, we never see any great outrage from members of civil society.

by Alok Gupta, Rajesh Kasturirangan | 5 min read

woman in odisha standing next to a toilet_rural sanitation_gram vikas

Water & Sanitation

Rural sanitation: A charter of demands

Research and experience across more than two decades in rural Odisha show that an effective rural sanitation model requires both financial assistance and an integrated water supply.

by Liby Johnson | 6 min read

Board & Governance

Budget 2019: What it means for the social sector

The Union Budget announced on 5th July was a mixed bag for the sector, with stringent announcements around taxation and the introduction of a 'social stock exchange'.

by Noshir Dadrawala | 4 min read

Social Business

Where do the disruptors go?

Even as more innovators enter the space of social change, financing hasn’t kept pace with evolving business models. What can we do to create an environment that supports these new-age entrepreneurs?

by Anshu Bhartia | 3 min read

Ground Up

See all

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

Livelihoods

"Main mazdoor hoon"

by Raghav Mehrotra

Udaipur district, Rajasthan

Agriculture

Freedom to graze

by Ashutosh Mishra

Godda district, Jharkhand

Monitoring & Evaluation

17 or 71?

by Outline India | Cautionary Tales

Patna district, Bihar

Water & Sanitation

Photo

Digging for days

by Native Picture

Sangli district, Maharashtra

Perspectives

See all

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

Lego people contructing a building_nonprofit scale_pixabay

Perspectives

Is size the right metric to measure impact?

An organisation’s growth is easier to measure than the effect it has on the people it serves. If attention and energies are directed towards outcomes instead, size becomes secondary, and not worth worrying too much about.

by Arun Maira | 8 min read

Close up of two Indian women's faces -women and development

Gender

The development discourse in India neglects women

"The development narrative homogenises women’s experiences and contexts, refuses to delve deeper into their life experiences, and is content to have counted women as participants, beneficiaries, victims, and case studies."

by Sushma Iyengar | 7 min read

A woman in Jharkhand advocating for local governance _ PRADAN

Perspectives

The only way to make development sustainable

"We asked ourselves — is there another way to engage with communities? Where ultimately, they can unlock the social capital that they have built, exercise their agency without external help, and where they themselves can decide on their development agenda."

by Binju Abraham, Sukanta Sarkar | 7 min read

We are on Instagram! [@idr_online]

IDR Interviews

See all

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

“I realised that freeing labourers amounted to little more than an academic exercise...if one batch of children was released, there was always another one to take its place. So, how could one prevent it entirely?”

Shantha Sinha
9 min read

“You cannot go to a new destination with old roads.”

Muhammad Yunus
7 min read

“We cannot talk about class without recognising how it affects men and women differently in a gender unequal society. Similarly, we can’t get rid of patriarchy without getting rid of caste or race because all these structures are connected. ”

Kamla Bhasin
8 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:

Rights

Do we turn a blind eye to animal rights?

The list of everyday cruelty towards animals in India is endless, but apart from a handful of animal rights activists, we never see any great outrage from members of civil society.

by Alok Gupta, Rajesh Kasturirangan | 5 min read

Water & Sanitation

Rural sanitation: A charter of demands

Research and experience across more than two decades in rural Odisha show that an effective rural sanitation model requires both financial assistance and an integrated water supply.

by Liby Johnson | 6 min read

Education

What does it take to promote multilingual literacy?

Dhir Jhingran – IAS officer turned social entrepreneur – speaks about effective literacy practices that promote inclusion in the classroom when students come from diverse linguistic backgrounds.

by Lamya Karachiwala | 1 min read

Themes

See all

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

See all coverage by topic:

Gender

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

See all coverage by topic:

Board & Governance

Budget 2019: What it means for the social sector

The Union Budget announced on 5th July was a mixed bag for the sector, with stringent announcements around taxation and the introduction of a 'social stock exchange'.

by Noshir Dadrawala | 4 min read

Monitoring & Evaluation

Do evaluations actually serve a useful purpose?

Our sector routinely commissions evaluations, but do individual reports feed substantively into key decisions? It appears that they’re used more as an institutional accountability requirement. Fortunately, there are steps we can take to change this.

by Karuna Krishnaswamy | 6 min read

Programme

Six lessons from working in communities

From overcoming your fears to being open to changing your approach, while staying true to your vision – here are some lessons from working in communities.

by Neetu Routela, Sarita Balooni, Shruti Batra | 4 min read

Why do you read IDR?

A little while ago we asked why you read IDR – here’s what you had to say.

Kamla Bhasin on listening to the communities you work with

History of social action in India: From 1947 onwards

Photo of the month

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

Get involved

Write for us

At IDR, we value diversity in the kinds of ideas we feature, the stories we tell, the issues we spotlight, and the people who contribute. So if you would like to pitch an article idea, your photography, or videos you’ve made, and are interested in learning how to do so, here’s what you need to know.

Learn more

Give us your feedback

We want to know how we are doing. We would love it if you could take ten seconds to tell us what you think.

How likely are you to recommend IDR to your colleagues and peers?

1-click feedback

Backlash: The consequences of defying gender norms

Our solutions for education aren't working. Here's why.

How to work with boys to reduce violence against women

Research, for whom?

No-Detention: Why did a popular policy get scrapped?

India's most significant innovations have roots in civil society

How development excludes Adivasi peoples

Latest

Resignation emails: Rectified

Do we turn a blind eye to animal rights?

Rural sanitation: A charter of demands

Budget 2019: What it means for the social sector

Where do the disruptors go?

Ground Up

"Main mazdoor hoon"

Freedom to graze

17 or 71?

Digging for days

Perspectives

Is size the right metric to measure impact?

The development discourse in India neglects women

The only way to make development sustainable

IDR Interviews

Sectors

Do we turn a blind eye to animal rights?

Rural sanitation: A charter of demands

What does it take to promote multilingual literacy?

Themes

Backlash: The consequences of defying gender norms

Where do the disruptors go?

Women’s workforce participation: What we need to know

Expertise

Budget 2019: What it means for the social sector

Do evaluations actually serve a useful purpose?

Six lessons from working in communities

Videos

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

Featured On