Social impact projects and the intent behind it

Time of India

01-06-2025

Passionate about fitness, health, nutrition, community work. Currently looking after Strategy, Data Insights and Partnerships at Lakshyaa and REACHA. Studied Economics at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, USA. Recruited to play Squash at Trinity. At Trinity, member of the Squash team that won 2 National Championship Titles in USA. Represented India in Squash in U17 and U19 junior categories. LESS ... MORE
In today's time, the way India is progressing and developing at a fast pace, it is becoming equally important that various stakeholders who are main drivers of this development journey of the country, also come forward, and strengthen/contribute towards upliftment of rural and remote parts of the country as well. The development journey, if skewed, would create equality gaps in a large, populated country like India.
Many have come up with social impact programs for the same reason to strengthen the rural parts of the country. Often, important stakeholders present in these communities share their honest feedback during interactions about such interventions. Many a times, there is a feeling that programs are imposed on them, where the party that is bringing the initiative for them is often not sitting with them and understanding their needs. It is very important to make field visits in those tough conditions, away from comfortable cities, to really understand the ground dynamics, and also gather true aspirations of people.
A social impact intervention exercise should not be solely in line with who is bringing it and what their goals and targets are. It has to be heavily mapped with the requirements of the people on ground. If it is not, then sustainability around it would be difficult, and the resources invested in it would not have as high an impact and return. The same would also not truly benefit people for whom the intervention is created.
Another important point is to have empathy and patience. Bringing in a change should not always mean statistics and just meeting targets. All these metrics are a good way to ensure that the intervention is broadly on track, but there always has to be a qualitative way of measuring the impact, too. Change in people's thinking, increased confidence, greater ability to take risks, etc., are some areas that are much more important than mere numbers, as these changes will stay with the community members forever. These positive qualitative factors can actually play an important role in stories of community members beyond intervention, while numbers and targets are reporting factors to showcase the work being done during intervention.
Understanding the root cause of community issues should be the core to make any attempt to strengthen the community. Another important thing one should reflect on is that we should think twice, maybe many more times before praising or conveying that we are making a big social change in rural, remote communities for the interventions we bring in. Self-acknowledgment and getting validation/attention again in a city and comfortable setting is relatively easy, but if we genuinely think from the standpoint of the person who is in that tough rural setting, and us getting attention on their names while they are still there is something to think about. Acknowledgment, as far as done in a balanced way, should be good, but continuously patting back without understanding and assessing what the interventions truly have meant for whom it was initially created is quite meaningless and shallow! Social Impact should include constant and frequent follow ups with the community members to keep understanding their progress and needs, and how we can continue to keep strengthening them! Lastly, acknowledgement coming grounds up on a sustained basis would be the greatest validation.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.