Our Work
IDR’s mission is to advance knowledge on social impact in India.
Our editorial focus is on cross-sector solutions to development problems, cutting-edge ideas and real-world practice. We know that knowledge is only a part of the solution for any complex problem; but we also know that it is a crucial part. Therefore, we aim to publish substantive, well-written and thought-provoking articles in jargon-free language.
Our editorial direction is independent of any funder, nonprofit or partner relationship. We choose what to write about based on our collective judgement and experience of what will be most interesting and useful for our audiences. Independence, excellence and relevance are our highest priorities.
Voice
IDR works with a diverse community of contributors such as experts, practitioners, funders, researchers, writers, designers and freelancers. A large number of people working or investing in development in India consume, create or contribute to IDR. While we may speak in different voices, we share some core values.
We believe that the development community in India has a vast trove of expertise and wisdom on advancing social change. However, not all of it is accessible, locked as it is in people’s heads or within organisations. It is important to enable access to these valuable lessons, insights and decisions in order to move the field forward.
Operating Principles
IDR’s guiding principles are based on our responsibility to the reader to produce fair, independent and quality content.
Facts
We commission, create and curate content for our readers. For articles written by contributors, we trust that they have verified all facts, charts, graphs and data included in their pieces. Our team also fact checks and verifies all data wherever possible; in cases where data isn’t available, we defer to the expertise of our contributors. When errors are brought to our attention, we correct them right away.
Editorial Opinions
Our editorial content is often written by contributors external to IDR. Any opinion thus expressed should not be construed as an opinion endorsed by the whole organisation.
Governance
India Development Review is a Section 8, nonprofit company. Our board provides financial oversight and corporate governance, and also offers strategic advice to the CEO and senior staff. A complete list of board members can be found on the website.
Relationships with Funders
Since IDR will always feature a variety of voices in the development sector, it is possible that there will be times when a current funder will write for or be featured by IDR. In such instances, we will provide a full disclaimer of the relationship along with the article. As a nonprofit reliant on grant funding, we also maintain full transparency regarding all our funders.
Personal Conflict
In the event that an employee of IDR is a board member or has a spouse, partner, or other close relationship with an employee of an organisation that gets featured on IDR, we will disclose the relationship in the article.
Professional Appearances
Members from our team are often asked to appear in a professional capacity as experts at various conferences, roundtables and on media platforms. These appearances do not constitute endorsement of any organisation or individual that gets discussed.
Relationship with CSIP
IDR and Ashoka University’s Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP) have a close partnership that leverages each organisation’s strengths across research, networks, content and dissemination. While we exchange learnings and insights and share strategic choices, IDR and CSIP exercise full independence with respect to their editorial and research policies, mandates and practice.
