Alleviating Poverty Through Education and Action

India

Published December 3, 2012, last updated on February 18, 2013 under Education News

By Sanford School of Public Policy

A new program brings together Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and the Indian Institute of Management in Udaipur, India (IIMU), in a collaborative research and educational effort that aims to help transform the lives of some of the poorest people in the world.

The project will match faculty researchers from both institutions with Indian nonprofit organizations that not only can provide valuable logistical support for faculty research projects in India, but also can act on the findings.

“There are many academic and activists who are eager to collaborate, and our world-class researchers can provide established organizations in Udaipur with the knowledge base to make their efforts more effective,” said Anirudh Krishna, a Sanford professor of public policy. Krishna co-leads the initiative with Professor Janat Shah, director of IIMU.

Krishna, a former official of the Indian Administrative Service in the state of Rajasthan, has made alleviating poverty and enhancing human development the focus of his scholarly work. Shah is an expert in green supply chains, and will be involved with research projects in the fields of energy and climate change.

The countryside around Udaipur is home to some of the neediest people in India. Udaipur is a center for both governmental and nongovernmental organizations serving this population who can assemble field research teams and offer the infrastructure needed to put research-based improvements in place, Krishna said.

The three-year start-up program has received $500,000 in pilot funding from a variety of sources, including Duke’s Office of the Provost, the Sanford School and IIMU. Some of the funding has been applied to five Duke-led pilot research projects, which will identify faculty collaborators at IIMU, Krishna said. The recipients include Subhrendu Pattanayak and Marc Jeuland (Sanford and Duke Global Health Institute): Contextual factors that influence adoption of improved cookstoves, improving health outcomes among low-income households.

Read the full story on Sanford’s website.

Countries: