Okapi contributed a white paper on Institutional Design for Flexible Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in India to the Kelkar Committee on PPPs. The paper, which reviews international experience in PPP project and contract designs that enable partners to adjust to changing circumstances, is available here for comment - and comments are welcome. The full Committee Report has just been released. We look forward to developing these ideas and contributing to building capacity for innovative PPP approaches over the coming years.
Okapi has recently wrapped up a project mapping social enterprise ecosystems in agriculture, health and energy across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan with country-based partners. The study took us to Dhaka, Chittagong, Lahore, Islamabad, and Kabul, where we met fascinating individuals and organisations starting and running social enterprises and incubators, investors, and others providing support for the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The study was for the World Bank Group and the SAARC Development Fund. Stay tuned for publications from the project. [photo: Turr Lahore]
We worked with the UK-based Social Innovation Exchange and Indian School of Design and Innovation to host the Summer School on Social Innovation in Mumbai this November, with participants from over 20 countries across 6 continents. Three days saw discussants participate in panel debates, attend workshops, visit social innovators and social enterprises across the city, and debate social innovation in the context of urban India. Conference report here.
In October we were knowledge partners for CII’s Startup Conclave 2015 – a one day conference of interesting policy discussions with Join Seceratries from the Ministries of MSME and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, talks by startup ecosystem experts and experieced entrepreneurs, and pitches by startups. Our snapshot report of India’s startup ecosystem, which draws on the conference, is now available here.
We've just finished up our comprehensive review of private sector experience in expanding access to improved biomass-based stoves and associated fuels in India. A big thank you to everybody who spoke with us, and also to the World Bank Group's Asia Sustainable Energy and Alternative Energy (ASTAE) Program for supporting the research. The Roadmap for Leveraging Private Sector Experience in Cleaner Biomass Cookstoves to Improve Access to Clean Cooking is now ready for review - download it here and please send your comments to in the coming weeks.