Leveraging Social Entrepreneurship for Development: Strategies to Promote Innovation and Leadership

Posted on 19 March 2010

The next session of the NGOs & Development study group will meet Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 4:00pm in Weil Town Hall (Belfer L1) at the Harvard Kennedy School.  This discussion, entitled “Leveraging Social Entrepreneurship for Development: Strategies to Promote Innovation and Leadership”, will be led by Nishith Acharya, Executive Director of the Deshpande Foundation. 

Nishith Acharya is Executive Director of the Deshpande Foundation, an American philanthropy focused on economic development, health and education in India and the United States. Nishith leads the Foundation’s strategic planning, grant making, evaluation and advocacy efforts for a wide array of causes, issues and partner organizations.  He was previously Chief Executive Officer of Youth Tech Entrepreneurs, a non-profit that developed technology and business education curriculum for students at the high school level.  Nishith also served five years as a Presidential Appointee in the Clinton Administration, where he worked with the Administrator and Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.  He has a Master’s in Public Administration from George Washington University and a BS in Political Science from Northeastern University.

More About the Study Group

The Study Group on NGOs and Development meets biweekly to consider, discuss and debate issues related to emerging paradigms in development, evolving roles of NGOs, and specific management, leadership and governance challenges.  The study group brings together interested students, practitioners dealing with these questions in real time, and academics investigating similar questions.  The goal is to create a climate for genuine discussion and lively exchange, in which all participants come to the table with a commitment to share, listen and reflect.  The study group is a space for building relationships, exchanging ideas and connecting real-world challenges to scholarly study of NGOs and their role in development.  Guests will serve as resource people and catalysts of discussion.

For more information, contact Balu at ramaswami_balasubramaniam@hks10.harvard.edu