Three billion people across the world rely on solid fuels for their daily cooking needs. The negative effects of traditional cooking methods on health, environmental, and socio-economic conditions, especially of women, have been well-documented, and clean cookstoves provide a promising … Read More
Publications
The COVID-19 Pandemic and its Impact on Mental Health Services: The Provider Perspective
This exploratory study supported by the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, at the University of Oxford, provides insight into Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF)’s experience in providing mental health services to communities in Tamil Nadu, in the Covid-19 context. … Read More
Assessing the Multidimensional Impact of Finance Provided to Microenterprises: Insights from a Workshop Series
This discussion note summarises insights from a series of workshops across three sessions that were conducted with key experts to better understand aspects of micro-entrepreneurs and business functions. Themes explored centred around measures of entrepreneurial orientation, job creation, and proxy indicators to identify low-income households in urban settings, relevant for the study. These inputs will help the research team refine and finetune the survey design and questionnaire. … Read More
Building Back Better for MSMEs in India: Insights from the Field
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play a crucial role in supporting and sustaining livelihoods, contributing to vibrant economies worldwide. This infographic provides a… … Read More
Menstrual Hygiene Management: Evidence from SHGs in Tamil Nadu
Menstrual hygiene is an essential dimension of the global development framework to eliminate gender inequities in sanitation and hygiene. In the last decade, formative research on social attitudes… … Read More
Early Insights from a Digital Intervention for Women’s Collectives
Government entitlements are often the primary source of social protection for poor households. In Chhattisgarh, IWWAGE – an initiative of LEAD at Krea University – and Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions Private Limited (HESPL), in collaboration with the State Rural Livelihoods Mission … Read More
Emerging Insights from Digital Solutions in Financial Inclusion
In a rapidly digitizing country, Digital Financial Services (DFS) and fintech companies hold the promise of bringing financial inclusion to the last mile. Ensuring that vulnerable and marginalized groups have access to digital finance, can substantially reduce the time spent on … Read More
Recovery Roadmap for Micro and Small Enterprises in Telangana
In the past year, India has been weathering unprecedented health, social and economic adversities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Disrupted supply chains, poor access to finance and markets, and consumers’ limited propensity to spend have revealed the fault lines in … Read More
Tax Reforms to Increase the Viability of Business Correspondents
Business correspondents (BCs) play an essential role in advancing financial inclusion and bringing financial services and products to unbanked and underbanked populations. RBI clearly recognizes and supports their role as stated in its financial inclusion strategy for 2020-2024 as well … Read More
Conducting a Systematic Review: Methodology and Steps
Systematic reviews have gained momentum as a key method of evidence synthesis in global development research in recent times. As defined in the Cochrane Handbook on Systematic reviews “Systematic reviews seek to collate evidence that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria in … Read More