Author: Deepti Kc
The development sector in India has been a vibrant scene – many
private and public institutions are engaged in efforts to raise the
living standards of the rural poor. From non-profit organizations
offering financial services to for-profit social enterprises, India has
served as a laboratory for social innovation and social
entrepreneurship. However, awareness about the social enterprise is
fairly low among India’s bright student population, many of whom
remained focused on pursuing conventional and lucrative careers. Not
many of the urban students are aware or have witnessed the challenges
that the poor face, be it in the urban or rural setting. We at CMF
have always believed that this fact can be changed by creating a
platform for students wherein they can gain systematic knowledge about
development programs and conditions in rural areas and urban slums.
Recently, we organized an exposure trip for 20 MBA students from IFMR Business School,
wherein the students played a role of field researchers in a research
project focusing on financial behaviour of the poor from urban slums.
The main objective of this field trip was to enable students to hone
their social skills and critical thinking and also instil a feeling or
sense of the communities that they work with. As field researchers,
students went to five slums of Chennai to collect rigorous quantitative
and qualitative data on the effectiveness of microfinance programme.
They were asked to interview 100 microfinance clients and document their
observations and thoughts during the exercise.
Our team learnt that one of the benefits of sending students to the
field is that they are exposed to beneficiaries first hand. Such
exposure trips can provide students practical insight into actual
problems faced by the poor in India. We believe that encouraging primary
research and providing students with a chance to observe social
organizations in action will boost their awareness about the social
sector and in the long run, we will be able to rope in more young minds
in the social sector. CMF is committed to achieving this goal and we
hope that more young minds feel invigorated enough not only to enter the
sector but also to commit themselves towards making a positive change
for the poor.
Students’ Views
“Urban poor was not the picture of poverty I had in mind, however, I admit that they are
not leading a comfortable life- land and housing are two major issues faced by people.” -Abshishikth K
“Understanding the needs and aspirations of the poor and how they
met the same despite the odds was an eye-opener for me.” Yamini
“There are even lessons that one can imbibe from the poor, given
the fact they earn less and have multiple sources of income – they
budget on a regular basis and plan accordingly.” Yogarchana
“Social sector is very diverse and its various mechanisms make research in the same a very exciting career prospect.” Suvarna
“There is a lot of work that needs to be done in this sector and the umpteen number of
social development programmes are questionable as problems still loom large.”Debanjali
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