Singapore president highlights India's Aspirational Districts programme at Philanthropy Asia Summit
SINGAPORE: Singapore President
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
has singled out India's "
Aspirational Districts Programme
" as an example of giving power to people in developing regions. Shanmugaratnam was addressing the
Philanthropy Asia Summit
(PAS) 2025 on Monday.
Themed 'Priming Asia for Good', the summit brings together thought leaders to spotlight solutions, innovations, and actions from across Asia to address global challenges in the interconnected areas of climate, education, and health.
The summit is being held from May 5 to 7.
Shanmugaratnam elaborated on the programme, saying "But innovation also involves organisation. For instance, if you look at India, one of the unsung successes is what they call the Aspirational Districts Programme.
A well-chosen name for the most underdeveloped districts in India."
He noted that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who launched the initiative in 2018 with the aim to quickly and effectively transform 112 most under-developed districts across the country.
"I believe
Gates Foundation
joined Piramal Foundation and Tata Trusts in helping to fund it," he added.
He observed in detail that the programme gives ownership to the community - developing community health workers, para-nurses, and data systems, supported from the centre - targeted especially at maternal health and health of the child in the earliest years.
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Shanmugaratnam said he has visited some of those districts, and seen how they are working because they give ownership and agency on the ground to the people in the village themselves.
Shriti Pandey from Delhi, who was at the summit and has closely studied the programme for a year, agreed that the programme has empowered women in the villages.
Pandey said she has seen women in these districts who were definitely empowered and were involved in projects such as running the clinics and Anganwardis.
"A few baseline parameters are definitely getting better under the scheme, especially around health," said Pandey.
Pandey has spent time a year in one of the districts in Madhya Pradesh and worked with a few in Bihar.
"A lot of foundations and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are adopting the scheme as a structure to fund projects," she told PTI on the sidelines of the summit. But there are a lot of infrastructural activities that still need to be done in terms of waste management, schools and education, said Pandey, who did a rural fellowship for a year and was a part of the programme in 2016-2017.
Part of the fellowship condition was to live in one of the villages in Madhya Pradesh for an entire year, while working for Aga Khan Trust, said Pandey, Founder and CEO of the Strawcture Eco for empowering sustainable construction.
Taking note of such programmes, and as part of ongoing efforts to support and scale solutions in climate, health and their intersection, Singapore's Temasek Trust and its ecosystem entities - the Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA), Centre for Impact Investing and Practices (CIIP) and Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (C3H) - along with like-minded partners announced new global initiatives at the conference opening on Monday.
PAA launched two new Communities - the Health for Human Potential (HHP) Community, which aims to mobilise over US$100 million by 2030 to improve
maternal and child health
and address infectious diseases, and the Just Energy Transition (JET) Community, which supports Asia's shift toward clean, inclusive, and people-centered energy solutions.
CIIP and the World Economic Forum's Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA) initiative, supported by PAA, highlights the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance in Asia, warning it could cost the region up to USD 700 billion by 2050 and surpass cancer as the leading cause of death.
The report calls for urgent, coordinated action and outlines four high-impact intervention areas to guide funders and partners in tackling this critical health challenge.
Co-Axis, a digital impact marketplace connecting funders with high-impact solutions aligned to the UN SDGs, has secured S$1.25 million in catalytic capital from the Richardson Family and Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (C3H) to scale solutions in climate, health and their intersection, said the organizers in an official release.
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