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Latest news and updates on COVID-19

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

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by Arun Maira | 4 min read

Humour

Being the office kid: A superhero story

The journey you go through as the youngest person in an organisation, expressed through Marvel characters.

by Krishna Kejriwal | 1 min read

Programme

Nonprofit financial planning for COVID-19

Here’s how we should plan for the financial health of our organisations for the next three to nine months.

by Mahamaya Navlakha, Satyam Vyas | 6 min read

Gender

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

Ground Up

See all

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

Inequality

Photo

COVID-19: Masking inequality

by Raghav Mehrotra

Mumbai Suburban district, Maharashtra

Health

Photo

Quarantine

by Md Meraj Uddin

Gumla district, Jharkhand

Diversity & Inclusion

Photo

The deng gwi

by Rabindra Debbarma

Sepahijala district, Tripura

Livelihoods

Chicks for free

by Smarinita Shetty

Angul district, Odisha

Perspectives

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

Perspectives

"A pandemic is not a law and order problem"

The government has forgotten that COVID-19 is a disaster and that we need to mobilise all the resources we have. To do this effectively, it must create a framework that enables civil society to join the fight.

by Amitabh Behar | 4 min read

Environment

“Biodiversity may be the most critical science for our survival”

How we can solve for the climate crisis in India, and why the National Biodiversity Mission is crucial.

by Rachita Vora, Saahil Kejriwal | 6 min read

Perspectives

Building resilience in the development sector

Nonprofits need to be prepared to respond proactively to big shifts in policy, technology, and the environment. Else they will be rendered irrelevant.

by Suvojit Chattopadhyay | 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.

“Development today is often understood as making other people become like you. When we enter villages as development agencies, we want to change people. But we have no right to do that.”

Dr John Oommen
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

“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

Sectors

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

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Livelihoods

COVID-19: Voices from the margins

A rapid assessment survey of the impact of COVID-19 on migrant workers paints a dismal picture. Here are recommendations for the central and state governments to alleviate the situation.

by India Development Review | 7 min read

Rights

“The government response cannot begin and end with the lockdown”

Efforts undertaken by nonprofits and volunteers to address the plight of stranded migrant workers are being impeded by the lack of clarity or response from the government.

by Ashif Shaikh | 5 min read

coolies pushing a heavy load in kolkata-informal workers

Livelihoods

Supporting informal workers during the COVID-19 crisis

Farmers, agricultural labourers, and informal sector workers are the worst hit by COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns. Here are some steps that the government and banks can take to help them cope financially.

by Vijay Mahajan | 5 min read

Themes

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

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Gender

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

A rural market with supplies in Tamil Nadu

Philanthropy & CSR

How to approach your funding during COVID-19

Drawing on the knowledge of nonprofits working at the grassroots, here are four approaches to help you think through how and where you direct your COVID-19 funds.

by Naghma Mulla | 4 min read

kudumbashree women preparing food in kerala-food relief

Advocacy & Government

COVID-19 and lessons from Kerala

A series of measures undertaken in the 1990s are now paying off as Kerala strives to quell the spread of COVID-19.

by Rachita Vora | 6 min read

Expertise

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

See all coverage by topic:

Programme

Nonprofit financial planning for COVID-19

Here’s how we should plan for the financial health of our organisations for the next three to nine months.

by Mahamaya Navlakha, Satyam Vyas | 6 min read

Leadership & Talent

Five ways to manage teams while working remotely

As many people practise physical distancing, here are five things that managers can do to support their teams.

by India Development Review | 4 min read

Board & Governance

Budget 2020 has bad news for the social sector

The Union Budget of 2020 has made it even more difficult to set up and run a charitable institution in India.

by Noshir Dadrawala | 2 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

On lockdown

April 2020 | 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

The peripheries

June 2019 | The Fakhruddin Gutta hills, on the outskirts of Hyderabad are one of the few sites with rich biodiversity left in the city, but environmentalists are concerned about the quarrying taking place here. The destruction of nature to further urban development is a major concern in the midst of our climate crisis. Photo: Goutham Raj KJ

Nomadic life

April 2019 | Shivam, a blacksmith from Madhya Pradesh working in Magadi, Karnataka: “There are many blacksmiths in MP. Everyone travels to different parts of the country. We got here about a year ago and we’ll leave after Shivarathri. We plan from the time Ragi (finger millet) is ready for harvest till the end of Shivarathri.” “That’d be October to March?” “We don’t know the English calendar, we travel according to the seasons and to the festivals and that’s how we know what tools are used when.” Photo: Native Picture

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Building resilience in the development sector

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Sectors

COVID-19: Voices from the margins

“The government response cannot begin and end with the lockdown”

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Themes

The blindspot in our response to COVID-19

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COVID-19 and lessons from Kerala

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Nonprofit financial planning for COVID-19

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Budget 2020 has bad news for the social sector

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

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Write for us

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