8 minutes read
Author– Meena Vaidyanathan
“We change through our collaborations. The important stuff for life on earth happens in those transformations, not in the decision trees of self-contained individuals.” -Tsing, 2016
Social change requires awareness, learning and consensus building through creative solutions and technology. For a non-profit to scale in a country like India, one needs to partner, learn and evolve with various stakeholders in the ecosystem. Development happens when pioneering ideas are replicated by others, multiplied and actively supported by the society. It is imperative to engage and collaborate with everyone in the ecosystem -individuals, communities, the civil sector and government to get it right, the first time.
In the past decade, change processes have evolved away from small groups conducting traditional action research or even innovation and ushered in a new wave of collaborative engagement that has the potential for large scale systemic and sustainable change. There are several programmes and inspiring initiators of this wave, and we at niiti want to engage with these innovators on one hand and with the communities on the other so we can collaborate to sustain this change. As we look to the future, we hope that we will embrace such “many-to-one” approaches to bring about change and ensure it becomes human-centric. We believe that this shift on the way of working will herald in a new era for transforming organizations, revitalizing communities, and developing human potential.
 Project- BISA field visit in Ghadchiroli |
 Project- Aajeevika Bureau |
2020 doesn’t just mark the beginning of a new decade for the world. It also ushers in the next decade in the niiti consulting journey! It just seems like yesterday when a few like-minded professionals passionate about being the change decided to get together in 2010 to create an implementation-focussed consulting firm. We dreamt of and created a for-profit, virtual organisation that believes in going the extra mile to make a difference to the communities we work with.
 Project- Nokia DEF (Digital Empowerment Foundation) |
 Project- RNP (Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies) |
A decade in the development sector, we at niiti have crossed milestones because of partnerships, learnings, and guidance from experts in the industry. To acknowledge that we stay true to our value system and spirit of collaboration, we hope to bring you over the course of this year, an online blog “Engage.Collaborate.Change.”, which will have examples from various sectors where collaborative change as a human experience holds great promise. It is like a repository of ‘best practices’ from the experts in the industry. These stories will offer a glimpse into the issues and opportunities one could face and provide value and information to establish social businesses and ideas. Do share your views, engage on the subject, collaborate with new ideas and insight and I am sure together, we can bring in lasting sustainable change.
 Project- Fulcrum Awards |
 Project- Nokia DEF (Digital Empowerment Foundation) |
Project- BAYER field visit in Ranchi
