Birds of a feather (BoF)

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a period of anxiety and uncertainty for all of us, especially school-going children. These challenging circumstances have forced students and teachers nationwide to pursue education in entirely new ways. The New Education Policy recognises that education is to not only develop cognitive capacities but also social, ethical, and emotional capacities and dispositions. We would like to share how we have paired this immediate need with the country's long-term vision for improved education through our two-year socio-emotional development program for children and adults.

Agami has worked closely with formal and informal systems of justice and seen for itself the importance of investing in citizen changemaking capacity to address justice needs at scale. 

This is rooted in the idea that citizens have a role to play in creating solutions for themselves and their communities. That it is not enough to equip citizens to be legally literate, and that we must equip thousands of people, particularly young people, to exercise greater agency and actually address justice needs.

We seek to double down on this belief and energy to scale access to justice in India, where thousands of people have an opportunity to participate in transforming a system that has historically been seen outside the scope of individual, and especially youth, intervention.

We are already seeing signs of it. The pandemic saw young leaders step up with creativity and abundant energy to bridge the gaps in the formal systems where needed and serve their communities. They know how to understand the needs of people, mobilise communities, work with local authorities and processes, deal with imperfect information, create awareness, find solutions and take action. These are the very same building blocks that we need to make justice for all a reality.

This deep dive will be the first, and therefore, the beginning of public conversations on what it'll take to build a movement to generate accessible justice solutions to every Indian.

How important are internal team support mechanisms? What support do teams need in the new normal? What kind of capacity building efforts are essential for teams post-pandemic? How can leaders strengthen internal teams functioning in the new normal? The session will focus on the key policy pivots undertaken by most large-scale non-profit organisations with respect to supporting internal teams. Themes will largely include support offered under direct medical aid, vaccination, mental health, and bereavement support. The overarching goal is to highlight best practises adopted by organizations in the nonprofit sector to build resilience within their teams and systems, challenges faced in the process and solutions implemented to circumvent the same.

Impact is the new Mainstream :  is an evolved understanding of Impact Investing and will feature two renowned impact investors who will help understand the imperative need to look at resilience and returns with an impact lens. 

The Session will lay threadbare how impact has shown significant results in the pandemic  and how in a world where a global health crisis has left many with no means to reconstruct their lives, Impact investing model offers an opportunity to address the most pressing challenges the pandemic has presented. 

The Session would also cite how ESG and returns go hand in hand and how impact has changed over the years, the post pandemic view and how impact and sustainable driven investments are changing the investing landscape overall.

The Key takeaway from this leadership panel  would be to make them understand that impact investing has come a long way and is no more a good to have but a must in the post pandemic scenario and how it drives true economic revival.

Disability is a Large Problem. 1 Billion people - 15% of the world’s population live with some form of disability. There are 70 million people with disabilities in India. Disability leads to Poverty, Unemployment, poor access to Education & Healthcare.

AssisTech Foundation (ATF), www.atflabs.org, is India’s first assistive technology focused ecosystem that supports and promotes innovative disability technology start-ups. Since its inception, ATF’s goal has been to create more awareness about the world of disability and bring about a positive impact through the start-ups we nurture.

During the session we will talk about how technology is transforming the lives of people with disabilities and a number of amazing assistive technology startups who are a part of ATF portfolio will present their solutions.