Back to resources

Get, Set, NGO: How non-profit sector is going through remarkable change in India

Civil Society | Oct 20, 2019

The nonprofit sector is undergoing a remarkable change in India, powered by technology, young professionals and committed funders.

“What’s exciting for India is the innovation that’s happening around young entrepreneurs, how they are leveraging technology and how they are building communities that take more ownership,” she says. Rohini Nilekani, founder-chairperson of water and sanitation foundation Arghyam, says she is seeing more young, urban professionals enter the social sector, with a different approach to problem solving. “These are young, highly educated professionals who are looking to create more engagement to collectively solve a problem,” she says, while cautioning that professionalism in the social sector needs to be accompanied by passion and vision.

“Twenty years ago, a more long-term view would be taken. Then, it became a big thing and civil society organisations were spending half their time reporting impact rather than effecting social change. I think the pendulum is now swinging back,” says Nilekani.

Full piece here.

More like this

Civil Society

IIMB Round Table: Business and Development

Businesses now contribute to development through avenues other than the generation of employment and economic growth, such as corporate social responsibility initiatives, corporate accountability movements and alternative business models, using several partnership formats to deliver. A panel with representatives from leading corporations, NGOs, and a public sector bank discussed the changing nature of corporate power, […]
Aug 7, 2010 |

Strategic Philanthropy  |  Civil Society  |  Others

During the pandemic, we learned how Samaaj, Sarkaar and Bazaar work together in a crisis: Rohini Nilekani

This year marks 30 years since philanthropist-author Rohini Nilekani started her journey in civic engagement. She started with Nagarik, a public charitable trust, in 1992 and is now the Chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and Director of EkStep, a non-profit education platform. She is the Co-founder and Former Chairperson of Arghyam, a foundation she set […]
Aug 23, 2022 |

Strategic Philanthropy  |  Civil Society

Impact and Failures | Opening Keynote at Impact Failure Conclave, 2018

Rohini’s opening keynote delivered at the Impact Failure Conclave 2018 This is an edited version of Rohini Nilekani’s opening keynote delivered at the Impact Failure Conclave 2018. When we think about failure, the way it’s received by samaaj (society), bazaar (markets), and sarkaar (state) are quite different. In the social sector, we have realised how […]
Apr 13, 2018 | Speech

Civil Society  |  Strategic Philanthropy

Plotting Impact Beyond Simple Metrics

By Natasha Joshi | For NGOs, impact comes in different forms and to track the cycles of social change work, we must think across the tangibility and the speed of emergence of change. A few months back, we received an internal letter from the founder of an NGO, reflecting on the relationship between funders and […]
Aug 17, 2022 |