Understanding and channelizing local issues at the grassroots level to policy makers at both regional and national level is both challenging and vital. With a dual objective to create a platform for conducting such local public-private dialogue (PPD) to enhance awareness of issues and assisting in measuring and representing local conditions to inform state and national policy, Centre for Development Finance (CDF) initiated the ‘India Local Economic Environment Project’.
Forming the basis to this project is the PPD process, which is a crucial initial ingredient, involving identification of various stakeholders cutting across diverse functions and their analysis. Somasundaram of CDF explained “We met an array of stakeholders ranging from elected representatives of panchayats, farmers, entrepreneurs who manufacture and sell bronze idol and lamps, vendors in vegetable and fish market, industry practitioners, bankers, NGOs, Government officials etc. Also we got hold of the District Collector and got the list of line department officials who would be of use to this initiative.”
Further to this on 1st July 2010, a one-day workshop was held in Thanjavur, one of the operational areas of the project, where a PPD was conducted. The participants were the horticulture and agriculture officials from Thanjavur district administration, academicians, union chairman of Thanjavur, secretary of chamber of commerce and representatives of – farmers’ association, bronze idol association, flute making and mud-idol association, and Bus owners association.
The participants were divided into groups and were asked to frame a vision statement for Thanjavur in the year 2015 – they identified “Self-sustained Thanjavur” as their vision. Having dealt with the ideal vision, the participants ventured towards identifying obstacles in reaching towards the said vision, some of which were: Non-availability of water inflow for paddy cultivation and non-availability of storage godowns for paddy; Poompuhar not procuring the bronze idols from the manufacturers; Government’s non promotion of agro-based industries; Lack of encouragement in developing temple-based tourism and non-availability of policy for rotation of crops. The existing procedural delay in setting up of business was also pointed out.
The participants realized the need for innovations in agriculture related activities. Also the information shared by the Tamilnadu Agriculture University on the manufacturing of small weeder and selling the same at reasonable cost for the farmers (which is been imported now at higher rate) was quite useful to them.
At the end of the day the participants formed a working group, comprising a healthy mix of private and government representatives, with consent to meet once a month (first meeting on 26th July 2010) for setting up priorities to be carried out to achieve the identified vision.
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Somasundaram, Progam Head – Development Metrics and Lalitha N, Project Manager, of CDF contributed this post.
Centre for Development Finance, CSO partners and IFMR B-School are hosting a seminar on “New Directions in Corporate Social Responsibility” by Dr. Wayne Visser of CSR International. He will discuss the current dynamics of corporate social responsibility and brief on a new approach towards it.
For the event flyer Click here.
Date : Friday 23 April 2010
Time : 4:00-5:30pm
Venue : IFMR B-School, 24 Kothari Road, Nungambakkam Chennai 600034
To RSVP: joanne.sprague [at] ifmr.ac.in
IndiaHCI (Human Computer Interaction) and Interaction Design for International Development (IDID) recently co-organized a conference at IIT- Mumbai exploring the challenges of designing technology for the emerging markets with a major emphasis on human-centered design. Researchers and practitioners from across the globe were invited to conduct tutorials, workshops and to present their latest research. Selvan Thandapani and Pooja Bhatia, Researchers at Centre for Development Finance (CDF) along with Kshitiz Anand from Deskala, a design research and consulting firm located in Bengaluru, were invited to conduct a day-long workshop on the topic “Design for Social Impact.”
The goal of the workshop was similar to the one conducted earlier this month at DJ Academy of Design, Coimbatore with emphasis on approaching problems holistically and from a solid prospective rooted in context and human behavior. However, this time our participants were mostly professionals and experts from areas like design, architecture, human factors, social sciences and engineering. Participants were introduced to the topic first by explaining the need for design in creating social impact followed by a series of videos, examples and case studies stressing the importance of design thinking.
Brainstorming at the workshop
Andrew Dearden, a workshop participant and conference co-chair, during his conclusion remarks stressed the importance of looking at how we approach a problem rather than spending too much time focusing on quick solutions to the problem. He also mentioned how the framework and activity planned for the workshop did a good job in capturing this idea and was a useful framework applicable to many situations across various fields of study. The one-day workshop concluded with a lot of positive comments and excitement from the participants to take this forward and use design to help make a difference in the lives of people around the globe.
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Selvan Thandapani and Pooja Bhatia, Researchers for the Rural Market Insight team at Centre for Development Finance, IFMR, contributed this post.
“In the 1990’s, design used to be about fancy products with big price tags, now design is about much more than that. Design is about a new way of thinking and approaching problem solving using a systematic process called ‘Design Thinking,’” explained Selvan Thandapani, Researcher at Centre for Development Finance (CDF) as part of a workshop on “Design for Social Impact.” The one-day workshop held on 1st March involved a group of thirty design students at the DJ Academy of Design in Coimbatore and was conducted by Selvan and Pooja Bhatia, also a Researcher at CDF. The workshop is a precursor to a larger workshop that will be conducted at the India HCI Conference at IIT-Bombay at the end of March.
Design Thinking, a phrase coined by David Kelly, Founder of IDEO, is gaining popularity as a welcome alternative to traditional solution-based problem solving approaches. Instead of focusing so much on the end-result, it is a method that emphasizes the importance of a systematic process to ensure that eventual solutions are looking at the problem holistically and from a solid prospective rooted in context and human behavior.
Students were introduced to the topic through a series of videos, examples and a case study on improved cook stoves, a project taken up by the Rural Market Insight (RMI) team over the past few months. This project, along with much of RMI’s other research work has followed the ‘Design Thinking’ process closely, using an adapted, 3-step version including: Learning (the problem area and identifying key parameters), Conceptualizing (the cause and effect towards a few specific parameters) and finally, Ideating (creative solutions for a particular cause).
After the concept introduction, the design students, a mix of Industrial and Communication designers, were asked to use the same process to work on a range of issues that affect each of us in our everyday lives – from public transportation inefficiencies and problems pedestrians face on the roads to even thinking about how the students can green their own college campus. The students brainstormed with their fellow classmates and were encouraged to try and take action on their ideas.
Students at the workshop
The goal of the workshop is to expose students to the important role design can play in all aspects of problem solving, especially the impact design can have on social and economic development. Spreading the values of creativity, out-of-the box reasoning and thinking differently, our hope is that students will apply the ‘Design Thinking’ process and design principles to their everyday lives, and towards making a larger positive impact on their communities and beyond. After all, according to Canadian designer, Bruce Mau, “It is not about the world of design, it is about the design of the world.”
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Selvan Thandapani and Pooja Bhatia, Researchers for the Rural Market Insight team at Centre for Development Finance, IFMR, contributed this post.
It’s been an exciting month for the Centre for Development Finance’s (CDF) Infrastructure and Governance groups, with staff spreading CDF work both far and near.
On February 9th, Rich Woodbridge (Researcher, Rural Infrastructure and Governance) presented interim findings from the Rural Market Insight team’s work on domestic energy consumption at the Rural Technology and Business Incubator’s (RTBI) 2-day workshop on “Redefining the Development Paradigm in the Post Industrial Revolution Era” at IIT Madras.
Rich’s presentation, entitled ‘Energy Consumption and Expenditure: A Fresh Perspective’ discussed India’s domestic energy market from the national level down to the rural household level and the implications for social entrepreneurs and policy makers. At this workshop, Snehashis Sarkar from ESF presented findings from their new Environmental Sustainability Index for Indian States, and Dave Wallack from IFMR Trust gave a presentation entitled ‘Rural Energy: Challenges and Issues in Creating Access’.
On 11-13 February, David Fuente (Program head, Infrastructure and Governance) presented a paper entitled “Pro-poor Renewable Technologies and their Impact on Society” at the Asian Security Conference 2010: Asian Strategic Futures 2030 – Trends, Scenarios, and Alternatives. The conference drew a wide range of invited speakers from the US, UK, and across Asia. IDSA is currently compiling a volume from the conference proceedings, in which David’s paper will be profiled.
On 19-22 February, Chandrakant Pradhan (Researcher, Rural Infrastructure and Governance) presented a paper entitled “What Determines Adoption of a Clean Technology: Cost of the Technology or Cost of Production?” at the International Conference on Climate Change and Developing Countries organized by the Centre for Environment, Education, and Technology in Kottayam, Kerala.
And, there’s more to come…
In March, Nithya Raman (Senior researcher, Urban Infrastructure and Governance) will be presenting a paper she co-authored with Dr. Karen Coelho from the MIDS entitled “The Poor and the Objectionable: Habitat Negotiations in and around Chennai” at the International Conference on Urban Ecologies in Asia, being held at the Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences. This paper is part of a larger project that Nithya and Dr. Coelho are working on together, in which they document the history of organizing and collective action among the urban poor in Chennai.
And, on March 1st Selvan Thandapani and Pooja Bhatia (both researchers, Rural Infrastructure and Governance) will be giving a half-day workshop on design for social impact at the DJ Academy of Design in Coimbatore. Leveraging insight from CDF’s Rural Market Insight team this workshop is in preparation for a day long workshop Selvan and Pooja will be leading with the design firm Deskala at the India HCI 2010 & Interaction Design for International Development Conference being hosted at IIT-Bombay on March 20-24, 2010.
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David Fuente, Program Head, Infrastructure and Governance, CDF, contributed this post.
Ever wonder if all that investment in ‘capacity building’ for your organization is worth the cost? Or whether all that paperwork you do really contributes to your development goals? Ever ponder why some organizations get funded for years but don’t seem to have much impact, while others have no infrastructure or funding to speak of but manage to be incredibly effective?
Wondering the same the Strategy Advisory Group at Centre for Development Finance (CDF), adapting the latest research on organizational behavior and management, has launched a survey to assess organizational development needs among Indian NGOs, foundations and social enterprises.
The objectives of the survey are:
- To assess the current level of development and structure of Indian social sector organizations
- To understand key gaps and needs that can enable effectiveness, and
- To inform the design of customizable tools for organizational capacity building.
To know more about this survey and what every respondent gains by filling out please click here.
Earlier this year, I was involved with a really interesting urban planning project in Chennai, a project that has continued to shape my work. I, with the help of my colleagues at Centre for Development Finance (CDF), organized a meeting in which workers from the informal sector gave their suggestions for a new plan being written for the city of Chennai, the City Development Plan. This was a historic event: to our knowledge, this is the first time in India that informal sector workers were officially involved in a city planning process.
Cities must draw up a City Development Plan before they can access funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, a central government initiative that provides Rs. 50,000 crores of central government funding to cities to encourage them to build more infrastructure. According to the Mission’s guidelines, the City Development Plan is an important document. Through a participatory process, the plan is supposed to articulate a vision for the city. Cities are meant to use the plan to prioritize infrastructure projects needed to achieve that vision, and apply to the Mission for central government funding for these projects.
The meeting that we organized was one of five public consultations held with different groups of citizens before Chennai’s plan was written. We met with local informal sector workers’ organizations beforehand, provided them material about the Mission and the planning process in Tamil (something that was previously unavailable), and explained to them, if they did not already know, the current and potential impact of the Mission’s infrastructure projects on their daily lives.
A wide range of people, professions, and neighborhoods were represented at the meeting. More than 200 people attended, mostly women, and discussed shelter policy, infrastructure needs for informal sector workers, transport needs, and issues facing women workers. Although the attendees had a limited amount of time, they were able to articulate clear recommendations for future city investment that contrasted sharply with the proposals in existing city plans. An editorial I wrote about the outputs from the consultation can be found here.
Organizing the consultation gave me a window into current government planning processes and into the difficulties of planning for – and with – the urban poor. Indeed, the questions and issues that came up during the consultation have motivated much of my later work and research at CDF, including questions of data gaps in urban informality, de facto versus de jure planning processes, how to improve participatory planning processes, and how to enable greater citizen oversight over government spending and decision-making.
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Nithya Raman, Researcher in the Urban Infrastructure and Governance group, CDF, contributed to this post.
Centre for Development Finance has come up with two sites aimed at the development sector:
Please click here to read more.
In a freewheeling conversation with Jay Chaudhuri, IFMR, it was interesting to know about the various dimensions of “Centrally Sponsored Schemes” upon which he is currently researching on.
Being a federalist nation, India has clearly defined areas which come under the prism of either central or state subject. Few areas like Education, Healthcare, and Infrastructure which are state subjects have seen a lot of infusion from the central government through its centrally sponsored schemes.
Jay emphasized that typically a centrally sponsored scheme would be for a cause which is universal in its nature and is aimed generally at overall development irrespective of any bias, unless specifically aimed at a particular stratum of society.
Some of the schemes which are centrally sponsored are:
- NREGA – Providing legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year for rural households.
- PMGSY – Providing road connectivity to rural areas
- SSA – Aimed at universalizing elementary education
- NRHM – Aimed at availability and access to quality health care in rural areas
While the schemes have a very novel intent; what really is a cause for concern is the implementation and accountability, lamented Jay. Increased accountability of states and an effective tracking mechanism would go a long way in making the schemes more effective and efficient.
IFMR Trust’s work on centrally sponsored schemes revolves around providing a simplified brief on such schemes for public knowledge, evaluation of PMGSY, and publishing whitepapers on such areas from time to time.
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Jay Chaudhuri is a researcher with IFMR, his current research focuses on centrally sponsored schemes in India. Jay has a double major in Finance and Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University. He did his graduate studies in International Development from Cornell University. His research interests include Poverty, Inequality and Public Economics.
