The first symposium of the South India Research Partnership was held on 29th June 2019, convened in partnership with Secret Pillow Project India by Canterbury Christ Church University. 

Participants at the meeting included INGOs, NGOs, Senior Academicians, Senior Corporate representative and development professional as enlisted below:

Sl. no	Name	Organisation	Designation
1	Mr. Ezekiel	Terre Des Hommes Netherlands	Program Manager
2	Mr. Suresh	EDUCO, SPAIN	Country Director
3	Miriam Samuel	Madras Christian College	HOD, Social Work
4	Mr. Prasanna	Anna University	Research Scholar, Transport Engineering
5	Ms. Prathibha	Anna University	Research Scholar, Transport Engineering
6	Ms. Beula	Stella Maris	Head, BSW
7	Dr.Benita Marian	Stella Maris	Professor
8	Mrs. Geetha Samuel	Urban Planning Expert	Chief Planner and Member CMDA Retd
9	Padmashri Mrs. Anitha Reddy	AVAS, DWARAKA	Managing Trustee
10	Biren Ghose	Technicolor	Country Head of Technicolor India and President of ABAI
11	Dr Raja Samuel	Madras School of Social Work	Principal
12	Dr. Ashok Gladson Xavier	Loyola College, Chennai	HOD, Social Work
13	Br. Victor Das	Sacred Heart Brothers Society	Sacred Heart Brothers Society
14	Prof.Manoj Chakravarti	IIMB	Chief Operations Officer of IIMB-CCGC
15	Dr.Esther	Canterbury Christ Church University	Canterbury Christ Church University
16	Ms. Nirmala	Network Coordinator- Designate	Secret Pillow Project/ Canterbury Christ Church Collaboration
17	Ms. Fiona	Secret Projects UK	Manager – Partnership Development
18	Mr.Vivian Marian	Secret Projects India	Student Intern
19	Ms.Dipanwita	Secret Projects India	Volunteer
20	Rochelle D’Souza	Technicolor India	Senior Executive – Corporate Communications
21	Sr. Christy	Gonzaga College of Arts and Science Kathampallam	Head of Dept. English
22	Ms. Jaya Sudha	Gonzaga College of Arts and Science Kathampallam	Asst. Professor

The day began with a welcome by Dr. Esther on behalf of Canterbury Christ Church University. She shared the general principles of the network. Dr. Esther was keen to ensure that there was no duplication of work already done while the network supports social development taken up by the members.

This was followed by setting the stage for the symposium by Prof. Manoj Chakravarthy. He brought about some vital statistical development facts that inspired the team to look at the country’s development in a broader light given that India is the capital of NGOs in the world while visible difference is not noticed to a great extent. He shared the states in the country under 3 categories under the SDGs as:

• The aspirant (Assam / Bihar)
• The performer (Andhra Pradesh / Karnataka / Goa / Punjab / Rajasthan … etc.)
• The front-runner (Himanchal Pradesh / Kerala / Tamil Nadu … etc.)
• The achiever

India is one of the few countries to enact CSR as law. This can bring about systemised response to social development or be a tick box activity according to him.

Mrs. Anitha Reddy presented the voice of the masses in both rural and urban setting while sharing the work of her organistion. She highlighted the need for infrastructure such as housing and roads where the poor are the most neglected increasing their vulnerability . Highlighting the SDG1 on poverty that if addressed covers the other 16 SDGs, Mrs. Anitha highlighted the vulnerability of women and children. She shared the influence of children and youth in developmental work and listening to them to be vital for development. Amongst her work, a notable project was that of integrating three different religious communities under community housing that was referred as the beacon of light by the then Chief Minister of Karnataka. This was used to highlight the relevance of community integration and peace building.

Mr. Biren Ghose shared the role of Art and Culture towards building a harmonious society. He shared the impact of visual effects in connecting with the audience. Getting CSR right was his personal mission where he felt that the creative side of the brain is subdued in most academic institutions that need attention. He highlighted communication as a connector. He strongly believed in using art to influence society and create positive change.  This was further highlighted with some video clips relating to the movies made by the company. With deep concern for dying traditional art forms and culture, he felt that technology could be a great influence to sustain artists while ensuring retention of traditional artists in their fields for the generations ahead. He concluded with thoughts on future curriculum and integrating technology in developmental models.

The participants shared their research capacities while highlighting their development work.

Dr. Esther shared the critical emerging themes based on her visit to India in March 2019 and meeting with the participants. Followed by this, the participants were divided into groups to develop a research project in collaboration.

Small groups  presented undertaking to progress developmental research projects with seed funding from the GCRF with a view to develop these into projects that can be submitted for larger grant applications. The three projects which are all collaborative between different universities and/or NGOs will focus on 1) Children, the arts and wellbeing 2) The accessibility of urban transport for disadvantaged groups including women and people with disabilities and 3) Child marriage with a focus on specific rural areas.

Project groups will produce brief proposals with budgets and longer-term ambitions by mid-July, and fuller reports by September. It was agreed to make  presentations on developments by the next symposium to be held in Chennai in January 2020, and in the interim period, Esther Coren and Nirmala Rani will liaise with all groups to support development of larger funding bids to support the longer term development of the three projects.

Dr. Esther and Mrs. Nirmala shared the proposed future plan while opening it for discussion. Sharing of best practices and knowledge and best practices sharing, fund raising through joint bids for grant applications were some the key areas to be considered in the way forward. Quarterly updates on progress made as a network to be shared along with the network. A face to face meeting in January 2020  at Chennai was finalised.

Professor Manoj summed up the action plan and journey through the day.

The participants signed stating that they agree to partner in the network developing capacity for research, evaluation activity and undertake feasibility research in areas of mutual interest ensuring local benefit.