Our research and field teams occasionally run into curious and amusing situations on their data-collection missions into the hinterland. These experiences also offer insights into people’s lived experiences and the various dimensions of the problems central to our research. Here is an excerpt of ‘field notes’ from our coffee table book – ‘LEAD – the journey, catalysing change, enabling transformative solutions’. It only Takes a Village Imagine you’ve been assigned to track down and interview a person named Napolean Einstein
Delving Into the History of Pulicat, Its Inhabitants and Its Ecosystem
This post on the history and socio-economic context of Pulicat was produced in collaboration with students from Ashoka University to observe World Environment Day. Pulicat or Pazhaverkadu is home to over 56 fishing communities which depend on this endangered ecosystem for their livelihoods. They have been witness to the disproportionate effects of these changes across multiple dimensions. Understanding the history and how it influences livelihoods, power dynamics, gender relations, and access to resources in the region is critical to shaping
Postcards from the Field
In this new series, we bring forth anecdotes and lessons from our field interactions in Bhagalpur, Bihar and Tondiarpet, Tamil Nadu.
Moving the Clean Cookstoves Sector Forward: Six Principles for Investors
Around 3 billion people across the world rely on solid fuels for their daily cooking needs. The adverse effects of traditional cooking methods on health, socio-economic and environmental conditions, especially among women, are well documented. Clean cookstoves promise a solution to these issues, but the effectiveness of this sector in achieving different impact objectives highly depends on how investment decisions are made. A recent study by LEAD at Krea University, supported by FMO, the Dutch development bank, consolidates evidence on the impact of clean
Social Welfare Delivery in the Age of Platforms: Comparing Private Models
Globally, 1.3 billion people (22 per cent) live in multidimensional poverty – with millions of households in 107 countries living with undernourished members, out-of-school children, and lacking access to electricity and clean cooking fuel. The Covid-19 pandemic is estimated to have pushed an additional 88-115 million people into extreme poverty in 2020 alone, primarily in countries that already have high poverty rates. Moreover, social safety nets, an essential tool to help vulnerable populations cope with shocks and crises, remain out
Re-imagining Entrepreneurship Models for Rural Women
Building on the evidence highlighted in the first part of this two-part blog, the discussion in this second piece is anchored in a normative framework that shapes individual and household-level decision-making processes governing “appropriate” jobs for rural women. These norms do not only organize the time-use of female labor between paid and unpaid work but provide a rationale for the Haqdarshikas to lean heavily on their families and self-help group (SHG) colleagues for submitting citizens’ applications without being away from home
COVID-19 and Adaptation to Mental Health Services
COVID-19 caused disruptions in services to those with mental illness in several countries across the globe. While these disruptions have been well-documented, few studies have looked at the service provider perspective. A recent study by LEAD at Krea University and the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) explored care dynamics from the perspective of the service providers at SCARF, based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This study was supported by the India-Oxford Initiative (IndOx) at the University of Oxford. Accessibility, Availability and Personal Challenges Access
Landscaping the Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Adolescents
Seeta* is a teenager in rural Uttar Pradesh. Harassment by boys from the village had become an ordinary spectacle that relentlessly continued every day as she traced her steps to school. Despite her fears, a wary Seeta chose to not confide in her parents because she was afraid of being accused of promiscuous behaviour. Her dreams of completing college and securing a decent job also hung in the anvil. Seeta’s hopes were dashed when her parents eventually found out about the
COVID-19 Vaccinations: A Double Whammy for Rural Women in India
As the second wave of COVID-19 hit India and countries across the world, severe oxygen shortages, overloaded hospital beds, and acute shortage of critical medicines resulted in a severe public health crisis. The economic and social fallouts of the pandemic have also affected
Navigating the Research-Policy Interface during Crises Situations: What We Have Learned
As the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic gripped India and the world in early March 2021, discussions about vaccination inequities, and reopening schools and public spaces caught our attention once again. Social media, particularly the Twitterverse, was inundated with debates between epidemiologists, public health experts, economists, and armchair experts. Emily Oster, an economist at Brown University, and a strong advocate for using data to guide the decision of reopening schools in the US, found herself in the middle of
