CPID-CIFSI 1st Quarterly Showcase

The program commenced at sharp 10 AM with morning snacks which served as a central gathering point for all attendees, fostering a conducive atmosphere facilitating free flowing interactions between our fellows, advisors and ISDM staff.

The program was moderated by Mallika Luthra, RA at CPID, in which she briefly introduced the objectives of the program and its importance in shaping up the research of the CoE’s. Following this, Trisha Varma, our Director at the Global Knowledge Hub, introduced ISDM, untangling the objectives of ISDM’s Centers of Excellence, namely the Center for Philanthropy for Inclusive Development and the Center for Innovative Finance and Social Impact and the pertinence of this fellowship in fulfilling the objectives of the Centres.

Subsequently, Dr. Rajesh Tandon, an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development, took the stage to deliver the keynote session for our fellows. He joined online since 6th Feb also marks PRIA’s foundation day.

Speaker Session: Dr. Rajesh Tandon is an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development. He founded Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a global educational centre for participatory research and training.

He encouraged our fellows to unpack the meaning of social purpose organizations in relation to their research theme that resonated strongly with everyone present. His emphasis on conducting research in remote areas like Kalahandi truly struck a chord, highlighting the importance of choosing the right location in addressing societal challenges.

In particular, the fellows greatly appreciated his emphasis on redirecting philanthropic initiatives towards small and localized organizations.

CPID Presentations: For the first half, we had CPID fellows presenting their work exploring themes like bridging funding gap in education philanthropy (Jharkhand), looking at philanthropy from caste lenses (Maharashtra), studying the work of organizations like Shri Sadguru Seva trust in Chitrakoot and inter-regional marriages in Haryana. Each fellow was given 15 minutes to present their key highlights covering literature review, research objectives, research questions and methodology among many others. Post the presentation of each fellow, 15 minutes were for questions and discussions.

They received suggestions and feedback from the audience present including our CPID mentors Neelima Khetan (CSR & Social Sector Advisor), Malini Thadani (Independent Board Director, Strategic Adviser, Sustainability, ESG, CSR) along with Trisha (Director, GKH) and ISDM staff members nudging our fellows to critically think their research methodologies, focus on certain research questions more or make a timeline which they can truly commit to complete. One point that was commonly reiterated among experts : Urging fellows to ask questions on what kinds of scenarios and factors has or would lead to the effectiveness in community philanthropy.

One of the fellow named Ankit presented his documentary towards the end exploring the intergenerational impact of these inter-regional marriages. Link for the movie is here: Bittoo’s story

CIFSI Presentations: Post lunch, CIFSI fellows had their presentations. They touched upon the theme of innovative finance from both non- profit organizations and investors' sides. Where one fellow is exploring what are the key drivers for investors to invest in specific sectors or why there is a low percentage of investment in outcome based financing, the other one is untangling these questions from social entrepreneurs perspective especially representing the non-profits at the grassroots level.

Some of our advisors Anushree Parekh, Emmanuel Murray and Ankur Sarin were present to prompt the fellows in the right direction and help them ask the right questions to plan for the next steps ahead.

The event concluded with a vote of thanks and was followed by evening tea.