Themes

Approaches, ideas, and fresh perspectives that cut across sectors within the social impact space.

Women marching with slogans-women's empowerment
Ecosystem Development
Learning from the grassroots
Sujata Khandekar, Founding Director, CORO on integrating grassroots knowledge and lived experience into how we think about and approach social change.
by Rachita Vora, Shreya Adhikari | 7 min read

Latest

An image of a woman holding a mobile phone with a zoom video playing on it. We can see her saree, there are bangles on her hand, and we can see her id card hanging. As we move from digital learning to physically attending schools again, what steps can policymakers take to create a supportive and enabling environment for government school teachers-teachers
Education
What motivated teachers during the pandemic?
As schools reopen, here are six steps policymakers can take to create a supportive and enabling environment for government school teachers.
by Swaha Sahoo | 7 min read
Failure Files podcast written on a dark blue background and an illustration of a person watering a bit F in the ground
Failure Files
A crisis among co-founders | Garima Sahai
Garima Sahai, the co-founder of a social enterprise focused on providing high-quality sanitation solutions for rural India, shares how the absence of a detailed road map for the growth of the organisation led to differences between her and her co-founder, resulting in Garima stepping away from their organisation.
2 min read
People of diverse ethnic identities, disabilities, and ages_Flickr-persons with disabilities
Diversity & Inclusion
Building a disability-friendly workplace: Why includability matters
To go beyond the differences, leaders must focus on the commonalities between them and the person they are interacting with. To be an includable leader, one must do away with the us-versus-them narrative.
by Shanti Raghavan | 6 min read
Person using a mobile phone_©Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Sanjit Das_financial inclusion
Advocacy & Government
Why it’s so hard to raise issues with India’s financial services
The banking sector’s digital grievance redressal system needs to solve for gender barriers and limited access to technology.
by Rohan S Katepallewar, Vani Viswanathan | 5 min read
Schoolkids during lockdown in Tain village, Nuh, Haryana_Digital Empowerment Foundation-social sector
Perspectives
The good, the bad, the ugly: What went wrong during India’s COVID-19 response
No single entity—be it the government, the corporates, or the social sector—can operate in isolation. However, all three failed to collaborate when the pandemic was at its peak in India. Why?
by Osama Manzar | 6 min read
NEW SECTION. Featuring bite-sized stories from the ground.

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Colourful group of people against a purple background-lgbtq inclusive workplace
Diversity & Inclusion | November 18, 2021
Is your workplace queer inclusive?
Here are four ways in which it could be.
by Pavel Sagolsem, Ishani Banerjee | 5 min read
The area outside Jama Masjid with people and buildings, captured from a height in Jama Masjid. Indian cities are plagues by poor planning.
Urban | November 16, 2021
Building better cities
Indian cities are plagued by poor planning. To remedy this, a recent NITI Aayog report suggests reviewing outdated city plans, encouraging citizen participation, and strengthening local leadership.
by Debojit Dutta, Tanaya Jagtiani | 6 min read
On the contrary-technology-democratising-or-dividing
On the Contrary | November 10, 2021
What makes a good city?
What makes a city liveable? Who should benefit the most from the growth of a city—financial investors or its residents? In this episode, Sheela Patel, director of SPARC, and Ireena Vittal, former partner at McKinsey, answer these questions and more.
3 min read
A picture of solar panels. Over the past five years 120 climate tech start-ups raised more than 200 funding rounds from 272 unique investors.
Environment | November 4, 2021
Climate tech start-ups: The need of the hour
Climate tech start-ups play a crucial role in combating climate change. Here’s how we can strengthen the ecosystem in India.
by Deepanshi Balooni, Shriya Nene, Ramraj Pai | 6 min read
A boy sitting on a desk with a tablet, performing technical task-India's youth-job
Youth | October 29, 2021
Understanding what our youth want, not what they need
For the young people of India, employment is not just a financial decision. They want better working conditions and jobs that align with their long-term goals.
by Aakash Sethi | 7 min read
Lightning in a dark sky. During COVID-19, the volunteer coalitions added capacity and revealed the power of the public, despite the failure of public services.
Ecosystem Development | October 28, 2021
What has COVID-19 taught us about disaster response?
Four lessons from civil society’s response to the second wave of COVID-19 that can help us prepare for future disasters.
by Sahana Jose, Natasha Joshi | 5 min read
Failure Files podcast written on a dark blue background and an illustration of a person watering a bit F in the ground
Failure Files | October 22, 2021
To bribe or not to bribe? | Ghazanfar Iqbal
Social entrepreneur Ghazanfar Iqbal talks about a time in his life when he had to choose between doing what is easy and doing what is right, and how this decision turned his life upside down.
2 min read
Training young people for job interviews-youth employment
Livelihoods | October 21, 2021
“Listen to young people and learn from them”
A day in the life of a trainer at a nonprofit in Nagaland, who equips young people in this emerging economy with the skills they need to succeed in the workplace.
by Tsepila Zhimomi | 5 min read
Failure Files podcast written on a dark blue background and an illustration of a person watering a bit F in the ground
Failure Files | October 15, 2021
To fail is to have dared | Rohini Nilekani
Philanthropist, author, and former journalist Rohini Nilekani speaks to India Development Review (IDR) co-founder and CEO, Smarinita Shetty, on why failure needs to be underwritten in the social sector, and how philanthropists must develop more patience and create a space that normalises failure in the context of nonprofit work.
2 min read
On the contrary-technology-democratising-or-dividing
On the Contrary | October 13, 2021
COVID-19: Vaccine vs virus
Microbiologist and virologist Dr Gagandeep Kang speaks with Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder-chairperson of one of India’s largest pharmaceutical companies, about India’s flawed vaccine roll-out, and the trade-offs between patents and pricing.
4 min read
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