Features
Special IDR features and series, including editorial collaborations.
The limits of AI in social change
More actors—from grantmaking to service delivery—are exploring the use of AI. However, the excitement around scale and efficiency often overshadows a critical question: What does it mean to bring machine-generated abstraction into systems built on trust, context, and relationship?
IDR Explains
A comprehensive introduction to a development topic, concept, or approach that captures expert views as well as the latest secondary research on the topic.
SUPPORTED BY COMMON GROUND INITIATIVE
IDR Explains | Commons
In just 10 minutes, learn how India’s commons power its people, ecology, and economy—through examples, their history, and challenges.
IDR Explains | Forest Rights Act (FRA)
In just four questions, learn what FRA is, why it was enacted, how it aims to benefit India’s forest-dwelling communities, and what are the barriers in doing so.
IDR Explains | Circular Economy
In just five questions, explore the circular economy—what it is, why it’s crucial for sustainability in India, and the challenges of adopting it.
The well-being series
A partnership with Stanford Social Innovation Review, Skoll Foundation, Schwab Foundation at World Economic Forum, and The Wellbeing Project, focused on well-being in the field of social change.
What students want from their teachers
Researchers asked students what makes a caring teacher—and these same qualities may help support your well-being as an educator.
Social-emotional learning in India: The importance of intersectionality
Social-emotional learning (SEL) programmes should adopt an intersectional lens that takes into account young people’s diverse experiences of caste, class, and gender.
Integrating individual well-being with environmental systems
How cultivating a values-based, ecological worldview can help lay the groundwork for collective action toward the greater well-being of individuals, societies, and the systems in which we live.
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For a Mizoram candy brand, seasonal fruits are both a gift and a gamble
Serchhip district, Mizoram
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Green gold crisis: The barriers disrupting Kendu leaf trade in Odisha
Koraput district, OdishaIDR Interviews
Conversations with visionaries on their life’s work, and their efforts to challenge the status quo in our country.
A day in the life of
Frontline workers and first responders share their insights from working at the grassroots.
Why conservation needs connection: Guarding Rajasthan’s forests
A day in the life of a forest guard, who navigates gender roles, community needs, and conservation in Rajasthan.
From self to society: Navigating silence and stigma around mental health
A day in the life of a community health worker in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, who tackles mental health stigma through trust and support—in her own life and for the people she serves.
SUPPORTED BY KOITA FOUNDATION
Observing classrooms, building capacities
A day in the life of an educator, who uses a technology-enabled approach to coach government school teachers in Palghar, Maharashtra.
Building team culture isn’t optional
A nonprofit co-founder reflects on how scaling rapidly unintentionally alienated employees, which led to cracks in organisational culture.
Preparing for a marathon, not a sprint
Dalit civil rights activist Thenmozhi Soundararajan on why failure is an opportunity to build power, how systems of oppression affect well-being, and what healing looks like for individuals and communities.
Why don’t nonprofits talk about their failures?
A number of risks, both real and perceived, stop nonprofits from talking about failure. Here's how various stakeholders can work together to overcome them.
Perspectives
Op-eds and commentary that hold a mirror up to civil society, reflect upon its evolution, and unpack key trends.
The limits of AI in social change
More actors—from grantmaking to service delivery—are exploring the use of AI. However, the excitement around scale and efficiency often overshadows a critical question: What does it mean to bring machine-generated abstraction into systems built on trust, context, and relationship?
Indian nonprofits must collaborate to survive
Nonprofits face mounting pressures, but their strength lies in their diversity. Leveraging this diversity will be key to the survival of the social sector in India.
Our tryst with destiny: Building a circular economy for inclusive growth
To realise poorna swaraj, we must ask what growth is for and how we can ensure equity.