One of the things that will remain in my mind is the milky mushroom production we have seen during our stay at the Tamil Nadu Agriculture university (TNAU) in Coimbatore. The TNAU focuses on Agricultural Education and Research and supports the State Agricultural Department by delivering research products. When we arrived at the university our…
Tag: social impact
Twoandahalfweeks in India – field visit to MGR Nagar, Karamadei and housing project
One of our field visits has taken place on 9th April 2014 at MGR Nagar, Tholampalayam. Here, in the very rural areas in Tamil Nadu just a very few years ago the families were unorganized and lived in Purambokku land which belongs to the government. They lived in thatched huts – with very little hope…
HIV had destroyed many lives – playing with children from ABHAYA home
Today, we visit a children home in the city of Coimbatore, South India. When we arrive, we are very surprised: We stop in front of a nicely painted entry and a lot of the children have prepared a warm welcome. They are at least as curious as we are: a huge number of childrens’ eyes are looking…
Twoandahalfweeks in India – Kerala, the land of Ayurveda and much more
It is time to go to Kerala and to discover social engagement activities in South India. The flight from Pune to Cochin takes about 1,5 hours only, but just at the very first view Kerala appears as a completely different place: this is not just a different climate zone, but also a different way of…
Twoandahalfweeks in India – WOTR: a successful watershed development program
“The WOTR, the Watershed Organisation Trust, has over years entered diverse sectors and grown institutionally and geographically. Headquartered in Pune, WOTR has a physical presence in 7 states ( Maharashtra, Andra Pradesh, Mafhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Orissa). Their aim is to support a large scale multi-actor, multi-level, multi-sectoral, community led watershed development program…
Twoandahalfweeks in India – Contrasts and challenges
When I arrive at the airport the streets are empty. 3 a.m. in the morning. Everything works well: Visa check, changing money, meeting the pre-ordered taxi driver at the arrival meeting point, getting into the hotel. I feel welcome in India. People here are very kind, without any doubt. The first adventure? Just take a…
Social and business – the two worlds are still there. We need the big vision!
The two worlds are still there. Business thinks business and social is social. Simply said. But what about the huge trend, this trendy movement becoming big and bigger which is called “Social entrepreneurship”? Yes, that’s interesting to both organization types. People like it. Just the idea to fulfill society’s needs and to combine it with…
Why knowing the marshmallow test is important for creating social impact
Do you know the marshmallow test? The original “marshmallow test” was conducted by Stanford psychology professor Walter Mischel in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The test was meant to measure which children could delay gratification. Follow-up studies showed that children who could postpone eating a marshmallow at age 4 outpaced their peers in many…
From traditional marketing to social change activities – a huge challenge!
Whenever it comes to social change, the main question from marketers is: if we change our thinking, if we make social the driving element, how can we measure the impact? How can we measure the outcome? Where is the profit? Show me numbers. Indeed, the direct connection to business growth is difficult to demonstrate. At…
Changing the world: start a social enterprise or empower them
Starting an own social enterprise is one of many possibilities on how to change the world. Another one is to build a network and environment that empowers social enterprises. Which is your way? What’s happening in many parts of the world, is that there are many social entrepreneurs engaging in various critical areas: education, environment,…
Go India, go future! 