UNDP offers global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations that can withstand crisis, and that drive and sustain growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. It call this people-centred approach “human Development”. UNDP is committed to help India achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the national objectives articulated in consecutive Five-Year Plans. It aims to improve the lives of the poorest women and men, the...

Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS) is one of India’s largest grass-roots initiatives for water and livelihood security, working with its partners on a million acres of land across 72 of India’s most backward districts, mainly in the central Indian Adivasi belt. SPS takes inspiration from the life and work of Baba Amte (our Pramukh Sahayogi) who rejected charity and successfully empowered even the most challenged. SPS is headquartered in a drought-prone,...

‘Aser’ means impact in Hindustani. If Development programs are to lead to desired outcomes, their impact on the ground needs to be regularly assessed. ASER Centre seeks to use simple yet rigorous methods to generate evidence on scale on the outcomes of social sector programs. It also aims to strengthen the link between evidence and action by building the capacity of individuals and institutions to design, conduct, and understand assessments...

-Al Jazeera   Activists and feminists seek implementation of law to check violence against women as new government is sworn in. New Delhi - Two days after Narendra Modi emerged victorious in India's national elections, Kiran battled the heat and crowd to see the man she had voted for in the ancient city of Varanasi. Modi, a leader of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, who took oath as the prime minister of India on...

-The Hindu   Government plans to initiate 100 smart cities It's curtains for the UPA government's flagship programme, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The new Union Urban Development and Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister (HUPA), M. Venkaiah Naidu, who assumed office on Wednesday, said a new mission would be launched soon in place of JNNURM. The new mission would focus on the modern concept for cities based on GIS-based planning...