IITM - Rotary Centre for Social Development

Description

IITM-Rotary Centre for Social Development aims to be a knowledge Centre that provides academic and policy research to advance World understanding, goodwill and Peace by means of Social Development of Communities in the 17 SDGs that are aligned with Rotary’s 7 Areas of Focus:

Community Economic Development
Basic Education & Literacy
Disease Prevention & Treatment
Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
Peace & Conflict Resolution
Maternity & Child Health
Supporting Environment

IIT Madras has been working in the areas of multiple SDGs through the domains of technology, science, and social sciences. However, some SDGs have to be considered in terms of the broader umbrella of economics and social sciences as an interdisciplinary mode of operation and formulation. The proposed centre aims to fill this gap by involving faculties and students to create knowledge and databases on these 7 Areas of Focus. A unique set of combinations between faculty and students ranging from B-Tech, Masters, and interns will help document the economic and social policies in the SDGs stated above.

The centre will focus on the following objectives.

To create an awareness of the SDGs with a focus on peace and conflict studies related to the socioeconomic fabric of the Indian economy.
To create a dashboard of information related to the 17 SDGs aligned to the Rotary’s 7 Areas of Focus, which will be helpful in economic and policy analysis through various publications, such as refereed journals, monographs, working papers, white papers, seminars and conferences.
To design Social Development Projects suitable for Rotary’s Global Grant and CSR Grants Program.
To create one- and two-week certificate programmes related to the above SDGs for practitioners, students and those who need such programmes.
To engage with Rotary and work with Rotary (Tamil Nadu) to create a dedicated database management system at the word level (Chennai as the first case study) and gradually engage with the rest of India.
To promote and provide internship opportunities to the students interested in these intervention areas.
To evaluate government (state and central) programmes related to the above-stated SDGs.
To engage with the existing student community on campus and increase discussion and activities with the students in disseminating knowledge through a behavioural approach in line with the theory of change.

Goals of the centre

Short-term Goals

White papers on various SDGs.
Creation of a sustainable database and dashboard for Chennai.
Internship related to the above SDGs.
Students papers and views on solving issues related to the above SDGs.
Hackathons and students’ competitions.
Competition for the practitioners.
Drive for a cleaner and sustainable campus.
Newsletter from the centre.
Participation in various seminars and conferences.
Organizing conferences and seminars.
One-week training and certificate programmes.

Long-term Goals

More than one-week certificate programmes for professionals.
International conferences and academic events.
Journal publications.
Research Project formulations and fundraising.
Policy modelling related to the above SDGs.

Income generation

Professional Charges for providing Social Project Reports, Community Need Analysis Reports and Impact Analysis Reports of Social Service Projects.
Consultancy Charges to CSR Companies.
Project Management Budgets available in Global Grant and CSR Grant projects.
Income created out of a Corpus.
Certificate Courses and Other Short term Training Programs.

The proposed centre will focus on applied and policy research on relevant SDG goals.

The Team

Prof. Santosh Kumar Sahu, Principal Investigator and Centre Head, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras.
Prof. Krishna Malakar, Co-Principal Investigator, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras.
Prof. Pramod Kumar Naik, Co-Principal Investigator, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras.
Prof. Sandeep Kumar Kujur, Co-Principal Investigator, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras.

Advisers

Prof Rajesh Kumar, Head, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras.
Prof Rajnish Kumar, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras.

The centre will also identify appropriate experts from Japanese Universities, Sydney University Australia, and Universities from the US for international participation.