Harvard South Asia Institute and Tata Trusts Concludes Project on “Livelihood Creation in India Through Social Entrepreneurship and Skill Development”

~ Showcases Project Outcomes In Three Publications Released In The Event ~

Bangalore, January 24, 2017:The Harvard South Asia Institute (SAI) in collaboration with Tata Trusts successfully concluded the 18-months project on ‘Livelihood Creation In India’(http://southasiainstitute.harvard.edu/livelihood-creation-project/) in an event hosted in New Delhi today. The event was graced by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, who also delivered the keynote address.

The event showcased an overview of ‘Livelihood Creation in India’ that focuses on three key areas: Rural Livelihood Creation in the handicrafts and handloom sectors; Educational, Social and Economic Empowerment of Women; and Science and Technology-based Social Entrepreneurship.

Dr. Shashank Shah, Visiting Scholar, Harvard Business School and Project Director and Fellow Harvard University SAI, who led the project said, “The Harvard SAI Team visited over 40 crafts enterprises across 10 states in India to study various implementation models and understand the challenges and issues faced by grass root organisations. These provided valuable insights. The major challenges faced by the sector could be classified into eight broad categories: policy and regulatory environment; working with artisans; sales and marketing; fundraising; human resources; scaling up; communications; and monitoring, evaluation and quality control.”

The project aimed at addressing these challenges and filling the capacity gaps through residential workshops jointly conducted by Harvard Faculty and in-region experts. Over 50 crafts enterprises from 15 states of India were shortlisted for the workshop, which focused on themes including artisan outreach, product design, process innovation and supply chain efficiency, branding and merchandizing, fundraising, policy and certifications, scale, management and growth, and the use of online platforms and social media. During the workshop, the participants were immersed in the signature Harvard Business School case methodology. The workshop on science and technology based social entrepreneurship was conducted in collaboration with IIT Delhi and focused on diverse themes including business perspectives to social entrepreneurship, perspectives from the government, design for success and impact, perspectives from the industry, and leveraging external resources. Over 25 social entrepreneurs from 14 states were shortlisted for this workshop.

A vital part of this project was to stimulate interventions and scale up existing initiatives that can lead to greater impact in select geographies. Social innovation grants totalling INR 50 lakhs were given to 12 budding social entrepreneurs and crafts enterprises in India to achieve this objective.

Professor Tarun Khanna, Director, Harvard University South Asia Institute; Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School; and Chairman, NITI Aayog Expert Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, and faculty chair of this project, shared the project findings and outcomes with the audience. Explaining about the project, he said, “The South Asian Region is a laboratory for entrepreneurship, technological advancement and cultural diversity. The Harvard SAI consistently makes efforts to use its multi-disciplinary faculty expertise to contribute to India and the region with research-based learnings and interventions.”

“The core objective at Tata Trusts”, said Ganesh Neelam,Head Technology and Innovations, Tata Trusts and Director -Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI) & Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) “is ‘Making a sustainable difference in the quality of life’ for communities we work with. Science and technology play a critical role in resolving the challenges faced by them and the Trusts’ collaboration with Harvard University SAI is a step towards identifying some of the best possible technology solutions, to address barriers being faced in the areas of livelihoods, healthcare and education to name a few. With the key focus being scalable social impact, this programme brings together multi-sectoral strengths to create a platform for capacity elevation and innovation across the country.

“Tata Trusts have historically supported visionary individuals and organizations with the passion to promote India’s rich crafts and their potential for creating dignified livelihoods for our artisans. This collaborative effort with Harvard University SAI is an effort to build an engaging network of organizations that share a common purpose to rejuvenate India’s crafts and its practicing artisan communities with the intent to deliver catalytic economic and social impact. Social entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations and artisan collectives came together under this unique program to learn from each other, get mentoring, pitch innovative ideas and receive seed funding to fund a passion project. The intent was to create an enriching experience for key players in the sector to help deliver resilient and sustained impact in artisan communities they work with” said ReshmaAnand, Head Partnerships, Strategy and Crafts, Tata Trusts.

Later, two panel discussions followed. The first one was on Rural Livelihood Creation in the Indian Crafts Sector, anchored by Dr.Vandana Bhandari, Former Dean and Professor National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi. The second on ‘Science and Technology Based Social Entrepreneurship’ was anchored by Professor Tarun Khanna.

As a culmination of the project, the Harvard team released three publications which include reflections by subject experts and showcase some high impact interventions by participating organisations. These included:

Innovation in Tradition: Rural Livelihood Creation in the Indian Crafts Sector

Science for Society: Science and Technology Based Social Entrepreneurship

Task-shifting in Healthcare: Reframing the AYUSH Debate

While a series of webinars and workshops were conducted by subject experts including Harvard faculty members, as part of this project, now ‘Livelihood Creation In India’ will host a web portal that will include information generated during this project. It will focus on the above mentioned thematic areas to promote the socio-economic advancement of women.The portal will also showcase best practices and innovative interventions, feature organizations outlining the work they do, include developments in technology, training programs and resource material created by organizations, and collate precedents on data collection, research capabilities and data evaluation.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)