Intellecap | SELCO India | A Little World
Building a Generation of Changemakers – reflections from E4SI (apply by Mar 7)
A number of immersion programs exist that attempt to make the youth aware about development challenges in India. Some examples include Grassroutes, Teach for India and Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI). As the application deadline for this year’s E4SI fellowship approaches (7 March, 2010), we asked some former fellows about their experience working for various social enterprises. The goal is to give our readers an understanding of the impact of such programs, both on the fellows and the participating organization.
Ankur Saxena (IIT Kanpur) and Rishikesh (BITS) spent the last summer working with Ethos Philanthropy on bringing together nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, donors, and individuals on a single web based platform. The team conceptualized a fellowship program (isupportfellowships) to engage professionals to volunteer for short-term consultancy projects for nonprofits. The program has been implemented and has seen participation from professionals working in MNCs in Bangalore and Mumbai as well as MBA students from the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. Sarabjeet Singh (IIT-Kharagpur), another E4SI fellow went on to work for Ethos full-time after graduating and is determined to help to turn their project into a “one-stop portal for change in India”
Some of the other fellows worked on designing cool and interesting products. Chitta Ranjan (IIT Kharagpur), worked with D.Light to develop a lighting device for hawkers. While designing the prototype, Chitta traveled and sought input from end users in rural areas of U.P. One of the final designs was selected by D.Light for full production. Srinath Ramakkrushnan (IIT Madras) spent his summer designing a paddy dehusker/dry-grinder/oil-expeller machine for SELCO. Srinath was so inspired by his experience that he went on to found the Rural Consultancy Group for delivering technical solutions to rural challenges. Anurag Priyam (IIT Kharagpur) and Neha Kumari (BITS) took on the task of developing a management information system for MFIs while working at Intellecap. Both of them raved about the mentorship they received and the charged and insightful debates with their colleagues. Neha summed up her experience as, “Engineers for Social Impact fellowship doesn’t finish with the immersion experience. It begins there”
Navesh Priyankar (IIT-K) worked on a project at A Little World for a fingerprint recognition and duplication tool for banks in rural areas – an interesting and impactful idea that can help bring safe banking to the masses. When asked about the impact of this experience on him, Navesh said, “The 2 months with ALW provided a whole new perspective on the economic and social conditions prevailing in the villages of our country. It made me aware of the enormous amount of work being put into this sector by the government, NGO’s and other social enterprises for the social and economic welfare of the masses.” Pankaj Agarwal (BITS), while also working for AWL, had a completely different experience working on analyzing feasibility of bio-gas plants in villages – a project that took him from working with scientists to the manufacturing floor to negotiating with village Panchayats.
Every single E4SI fellow I have interacted with left the program highly inspired – and this includes some fellows who knew nothing about social enterprises before the program. While building experience and skills like any other internship, such programs provide an unmatched leadership experience. If you have been part of a similar program in any part of the world, we would love to hear about your experience.
3 Comments on “Building a Generation of Changemakers – reflections from E4SI (apply by Mar 7)”
Why haven’t you written BITS Goa besides Pankaj, Neha and Rishikesh’s names? Did they ask you not to write it, or did you think it would hurt your brand if you mentioned the campus?
No counter point, I see. It’s pathetic that you won’t even argue you case, much less accept you made a mistake here.
Dear sir,
We are running NGO “Krishnaveni Educational Health and Enviroment society (reg 450) at vijayawada. Our society situated near poor people living area. We are getting used-cloths/new-cloths from a one organization Banglore.. The quantity with we are receiving is limited quantity. In this connection any organization wish to send. Please mail for further details. (2) Regarding books and weasels we are looking for donor. (3) jobs for non-tech and technical required. Both young boys and girls are seeking employment. Please any possibility arrange for the need people.
Sir we wish to inform you that we are situated in the banks for three rivers. People living banks of river. They don’t have proper goal for their life. People living with many problems like Health, Food, nutrition food, sex trafficking towards women and children. We wish the donor’s having kindness in giving may also participate and share their ideas and requirements. Money circulating schemes are running their live style. We propose only group income generating schemes. WE WANT IDEAS FOR POOR PEOPLE. WE WISH TO BRING CHANGE IN THEIR LIFE STYLE. My mail ID: purna9394@yahoo.com Cell No:9848177185 please do needful for poor people