The event saw the presence of sector veterans including Ashish Dhawan, Founder ISDM, Neera Nundy, Founder Dasra; Vidya Shah, CEO of EdelGive Foundation, etc.
India CSR News Network
MUMBAI: The Indian School of Development Management, Delhi (ISDM) hosted a pre-launch discussion on Ecosystem for Development Management – Driving Sustainable Social Change. This was held at the SkyLounge, Motilal Oswal Tower, Prabhadevi, Mumbai. The evening was filled with passionate conversations amongst a diverse crowd of social sector organizations, corporates, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, and academia around the concept of Development Management, its linkage to social change and the possibilities of a satisfying and successful career in this domain.
The context for the evening was set by Ashish Dhawan, founder ISDM and Ashoka University as he elaborated the role of developmentmanagement education in the social sector. This was followed by dialogues with other leaders like Neera Nundy, Founder of Dasra and Vidya Shah, CEO of EdelGive Foundation who were the Guests of Honour for the evening. Furthermore, ISDM’s founder Ravi Shreedharan, stirred the gathering with the story of ISDM’s journey till date and Q&A sessions between the audience and speakers.
The event created awareness in the ecosystem prior to the launch of ISDM’s 1 year Post Graduate Programme in Development Leadership and received feedback from various sector stakeholders.
The conference saw a participation of over 90 students and professionals from the development sector, corporates, academia and engaged them in a prolific discussion on the need for a structured management development program.
With the recent budget announcement, the government has showcased its priority of uplifting India’s global ranking on social development parameters (e.g. the Human Development Index). While higher allocation of funding to this sector is important, a more strategic, effective and efficient utilization of the available funding will go a long way in ensuring better quality, sustainable impact at scale.
This can only be brought about by creating a pool of committed, passionate social leaders and managers who understand the nuances and complexities of ‘Management for Development’ as different from Business Management – Individuals who have a holistic understanding of what Development means and use that as a foundation to build strong robust social impact organizations with appropriate strategies, structures, systems, processes and most importantly culture.
The Indian School of Development Management has been set up with this express vision of changing the way we look at leadership and management for the social sector and facilitate creation of an entire ecosystem around Development Management.
The 1 Year PGP in Development Leadership is a programme created ‘by the sector, for the sector’ and will offer learning opportunities in the classroom and on the field with partner organizations. Faculties from leading sector organizations and Universities (Harvard, INSEAD, Azim Premji University, Ashoka University and others) will be developing and delivering the programme.
Speaking at the conference Ravi Sreedharan, Founder of ISDM said, “In the current scenario we see an acute shortage of professional management in the social sector. While the industry sees several individuals who aspire to bring change, they lack the relevant functioning and training to pursue their dreams. We have launched ISDM after a thorough study of the development sector in India and with an aim to make it an aspirational sector and enable individuals to become active citizens by recognizing the sustainable development goals. We want to create opportunities for leaders and managers and make a significant difference to the impact, scale and sustainability of organizations working for the betterment of society and thereby improving the quality of life of the underserved.”
ISDM will launch its campus in NCR with the first batch of 60 students in July 2017. To ensure that passionate and talented students don’t face a financial constraint, ISDM is offering 100 % scholarship to all students of the first cohort.
