India  

As PRIA approaches its 40^th Anniversary in February 2022, we are co-convening conversations on several thematic areas in which PRIA has worked:

• Sustainable urban future 
• Empowering civil society
• Decentralised community governance
• Making the gender leap
• Citizen participation 
• Building a knowledge democracy

Of the myriad roles that civil society plays in making development and governance inclusive, innovations to solve ‘wicked’ problems has been one of the most significant contributions. In recent years, these foundational innovations along with new technologies have also been adapted, adopted and supported by many philanthropic and corporate social responsibility initiatives. Many such civil society innovations were fostered within an eco-system that attracted and nurtured appropriate human talents in the sector. The openness of the international donors to underwrite the risks involved in any innovative and experimental work on one hand and willingness of the government to search for innovative ideas and practices beyond the official system, helped to flourish many such innovations that assisted millions of the poorest of poor and marginalised communities. As we confront newer development challenges along with the existing ones, civil society’s seminal role to innovate cannot be overemphasised. However, the support system including sufficient flexible resources to invest in civil society innovations is diminishing rather rapidly. A disproportionate demand for scaling up outreach (often misconstrued as the only impact) of proven tracks have the risk of homogenising civil society by overemphasising its ‘fill the gap’ implementation role at the cost of cutting edge innovations.
 
As Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) completes its 40 years, it recommits to foster a conducive and supportive environment for civil society and non-profits to continue as well as re-engage in cutting edge innovations. PRIA in col laboration with Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy, Ashoka University and The/ Nudge Foundation will co-organise a Samvad - Conversation on “Investing in Civil Society Innovations” on Thursday, 30 September, 2021 from 4.00 pm to 6.00 pm (Indian Time). The Conversation will delve into the following key questions:

• What are the best funding practices that foster development innovation by civil society?
• What needs to change in the current funding practices of resource providers to foster development innovations by civil society?

Please REGISTER for the event. On registering, we will send a Zoom link via email (at the email address provided in the registration form), which will give you access to the event.