Udaipur : Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIMU)’s Centre for Development Policy and Management (CDPM) has signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Communeeti, a New Delhi-based public policy think-tank and research organisation. This MoU consolidates research and consultancy in the public policy and development advisory field. Professor Ashok Banerjee, Director IIM Udaipur and Mr Pratyush Prabhakar, Founder of Communeeti, signed the agreement to pave the way for collaborative research and consultancy work.

All MBA students of IIMU will benefit from the policy-oriented research that CDPAM and COMMUNEETI will undertake in the coming years.

The MoU was signed at the IIMU campus and was attended by Professors Saurabh Gupta and Professor Dina Banerjee, co-heads of CDPM, and Ms Divya Singh, co-founder of Communeeti. The MoU will open new frontiers for research in; development studies and public policy.. The scope of cooperation also includes areas like collaborative research, impact assessment, and evaluative studies of Welfare Schemes. IIMU’s CDPM and Communeeti will cater to the policy needs of the governmental sector, bilateral and multilateral development agencies, and international and national NGOs.

Commenting on this collaboration, Prof. Ashok Banerjee, Director – IIM Udaipur, said, “As an institution committed to community development and impact assessment, these collaborations are a part of our larger objective of impact, sustainability, and development. Communeeti is a professional organisation and has worked on various government projects. This MoU will enable us to create a foundation and drive focused research and policy-making related to the public policy and development sector. This MoU will disrupt the industries, the nation, and society towards a better future, and we will keep supporting the other areas of mutual interests in the future.”

The policy-oriented research and evaluative studies of various public welfare schemes and projects sponsored by the government and international agencies will help strengthen the weak link between development research and practice in the context of India. The CDPM of IIM Udaipur comprises world-class faculty specialising in research on rural development, education, gender, migration, labour, sustainability, livelihoods, agricultural transformation and entrepreneurship. Communeeti has experience in working closely with several ministries of the central government.

Communeeti is a non-profit organisation and a think-and-do tank to combine academic research with field action to drive change. They facilitate the development and implementation of forward-looking, effective and inclusive public policies. They empower communities with an awareness of public policies and facilitate their active participation in policymaking. Also, they work with the student community on public policy education, empower them with the proper knowledge and tools to understand and analyse policies and nurture them as future public policy professionals.